“PIT #35: Black Enough

Points In Time

Elysium Fields

Topanga Canyon, California

Sunday June 7, 1986

3:37 p.m.

“Yes, Henry…” May as well get it all out. “...my soon to be ‘ex’ husband is a high school teacher in ‘Watts’.”

“High school in watts, tough area.”

“Yeah, Ken, it is. But he’s a big guy and is able to handle it.”

Sitting in the open, as she is, with this group of seven that— other than Marsha, had immediately accepted her as one of ‘theirs’, that in return she feels at home with, completely contented — or possibly a bit of a nervous reaction, Lita’s thumb involuntarily caressing Mitchell’s penis.

Lita ‘might’ involuntarily be caressing Mitchell’s penis, but to Mitchell and the group, involuntary or not, Mitchell’s ‘lower’ brain awakening, responded.

The group of seven, now eight sitting in a semicircle on three blankets in the shifting shade of two trees, with Morgan— as most usual reclining on the ice chest, sat to the left of the open circle with Ken to the far right.

Looking at him… Looking at ‘it’. At the moment wanting nothing more than to sense it filling her mouth. Then to draw it to conclusion, but...

“How do you...’we’, uh, handle it here? I mean…” Lita’s eyes casting downward “...with ‘every thing’ right in the open.”

Attempting to give a ‘somewhat’ reasonable explanation. “We’re all friends here… Really ‘good’ friends and we ‘see’ each other without clothing whenever we’re here…” Morgan motioned about the field “… so there’s no mystery or shame about how and what we see of each other.”

“And we’re all self responsible adults all over fifty…”

“Excuse me! We’re not ‘all’ over fifty, yet.”

“Sorry, Janice…” Sandy said “... ‘Almost’ all of us are over fifty and know when…” motioning to Mitchell’s now fully retracted penis “...a guy gets a hard-on, ‘cause it happens pretty regularly around here.”

“But you ‘don’t’…”

“Fuck in front of each other! No, like Morgan and me…” looking at him “... went into one of the private rooms in the…”

Interrupting Marsha . “Even when we were in Janice’s pool last week…”

Interrupting Ken. “You were ‘all’ in a private pool together, ‘naked’?”

“Yeah. Of course we were naked and...”

Recalling his wife fucking Ken, while he and Sandy were fucking, as back to back, his back brushing against Marsha’s back — was rather surreal.

“...actually we, uh, kind of ‘did’.” Mitchell added.

Attempting — not in a judgemental way, to know how the group handled sex while in private. “There were…” pouting as Lita counted “...one, two, three, four girls and three guys. What’s ‘kind off’ supposed to mean?” she asked.

Recalling ‘fuzzily’ finding Janice’s thin ass in the pitch black  room and fucking her from behind as she was— he assumed, ‘eating’ Evie which Mitchell recalled felt ‘really’ good… Not the ‘eating’ Evie part.

Still trying to explain, without sounding like too much of a bunch of horny old farts. …

“After dinner, when we got back to my place…”

“All seven of you were out to diner, together? Dressed. I hope.”

“Yeah, we were. And after dinner when we got back to my  place, we had a drink and I have some ‘really’ good weed and we were all…”

“Absolutely smashed.” Ken said “And we all, kind of, got naked and…”

Again, not said judgmentally, but more so jealously. “Kind of got naked and found your way into Janice’s pool and…”

“Well, you know, some things kind of happened …” not wanting to mention Morgan’s emotional break down “...then when we got into Janice’s ‘black room’ with the two king size mattress’ on the floor…”

“ ‘Stop’… Just talking about it’s making me horny as hell.”

“Any time you want to do it again Mitch.”

“Yeah, Janice...” discovering she had lesbian tendencies toward Janice “… ‘I’ do.”

Knowing from past experience she ‘did ‘have lesbian tendencies. “Me too, Evie.”

“Fine! What if I, uh, ‘Doctor Berger’ orders ‘in’ next… ‘Saturday’ okay with everyone?”

“Who’s ‘Doctor Berger’?”

“Janice’s Ex husband.” Holding Lita’s hand to his thigh, and penis. “So, you want to?”

Feeling her heart pumping just a bit faster. “Yes…” Lita said “... I do!”

“Okay, then. Eight o’clock okay?”

Looking at Marsha, who enthusiastically nodded affirmatively “Marsha and me…” her husband said “...we’re in!”

“Ken and Sandy?”

“Yeah. Can’t wait.”

No need to question Evie… ‘Morgan’?”

Three weeks ago, when Marsha had originally approached the group with Janice, her Asian appearance instantly reminding him of Mae. But her ‘Valley Girl’ demeanour quickly dispelled that first impression.

Marsha’s ‘mother’ like attitude became a ‘calming’ factor to the old Vietnam veteran, and his sexual experience with Marsha in the black room brought Morgan the first true peace he had felt since the loss of his wife.

“ I’m in.”

“I don’t know how to get to your home, Janice.”

“Where do you live, Lita?”

“ ‘Brentwood’.”

“Why don’t you come to my store in Van Nuys and I’ll drive, or if you’d rather, you can follow… Any problem with your husband?”

“Henry? No. He’s not around anymore.”

“Okay, so we’re all set for dinner and a, uh, pool party next Saturday?”?”

Said for herself, for Morgan, informatively for the group — as if they hadn’t figured it out for themselves, and ‘especially’ for her husband … “Can’t wait!”

“Lita, you we’re going to tell us why you came here, to Elysium knowing that most probably you’d be the only black person Here.”

“Janice, believe me, I’m not compering myself to you…” her eyes going to Janice’s chest “… because in a way… In a ‘very’ minor way, I think I’m here…” making an overhead encircling motion with her hand… her other hand “...for somewhat the same reason as you, Janice.”

Having no idea what that reason might be. “How’s that?” Mitchell asked.

“ ‘Henry’, my soon to be ex-husband wants a divorce because he doesn’t think I’m black enough.”

“ ‘Not black enough?”

Evie: The tone of the naturally dark complected Sephardic Jew was possibly two shads lighter than Lita.

The tone of Janice Kim’s flesh reminiscent of light ivory.

Morgan, the near eternal outdoors man had skin the colour of darkly burnished copper.

Sandy and Ken, both naturally light complected, always appeared to be one shade of tan away from a sunburn.

Marsha and Mitchell, eternal sun worshippers, both deeply tanned— Mitchell, usually after a USCG spring or summer six week ocean patrol on ‘CGC Halfmoon’, other than facial features could be, and had been considered an Ebony coloured Negro… At times possibly even darker than Lita.

“ ‘Not black enough?”

This certainty catching the attention of the entire group.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Look, I just met all of you and don’t think you want to hear all my marital problems.”

“Lita, If you’re a friend of Mitch's…” knowing he and Marsha were in the process of becoming a ‘thing’… their eyes touching “...then you’re a friend of ours, and it’s okay to say whatever you want.”

“You ‘sure’?”

“Lita, when I became a part of…” her hand encompassing the group “… everyone knew my problem…” patting the place on her chest where her left breast had been “...and I told them all about ‘Doc Berger’ and my marital problems. So ‘don’t’ worry about it!”

“He says ‘I embarrass’ him.”

“Lita…” Janice said “...you are ‘positively’ beautiful!”

“How the fuck could you embarrass him?” Ken asked.

“He’s extremely active in the ‘NAACP’ and some other black organisations.”

“So?”

“He refuses to take me with him when he goes to meetings.”

“This bothers you?”

“Evie…” laughing “...I hate ‘em. They bore the shit out of me.”

“So, then?”

“That’s not the point, Morgan.”

Still lying on his right side, closely… actually right onto to Lita’s left hip. His head propped by his right shoulder, propped by his elbow, Mitchell’s hand extremely reluctant to leave the vicinity of Lita’s ass.

“He also says that ‘not only does my skin bother him’, but that I look like a bad intimation of ‘Dorthy Dandridge’.”

“You’re ‘not’ Dorthy Dandridge’…” Ken said “... but looking like her in ‘any’ way is certainly not a bad thing.”

“Maybe to a white guy.”

“Lita, I’m a white guy and ‘nothing’ about looks bad to me!”

“Yeah…” her hand still on his thigh, her thumb still ‘accidentally’ lightly against the side of his somewhat no longer flaccid penis “...but you’re a horny white guy.”

Marsha fighting the urge to put her finger down her throat, preceding to puke.

‘Yeah…” kissing her warm shoulder “...I am!”

“Horny or white?”

“Both.”

“And he ‘hates’ my ass. Henry says it’s to small for ‘any’ Negro lady.”

“Oh, baby!” I said, stretching my hand further, now onto the underside of Lita’s pussy. “Ain’t ‘nothing’ wrong with ‘your ass!”

“Maybe to a whit guy, but most black men like bigger ass’s on their Ladies… Apparently my husband sure does.”

“Lita…” I whispered directly into her ear “....I’d ‘love’ it if we could go someplace…” cocking my head towards the Elysium lodge “...anyplace where I could kiss your ass.”

Whispering back, “And maybe other places, too.”

“So this is why you said that, ‘ in a way, you were here like me’.”

“Janice, unless I’m all wrong, you’re here at Elysium because you… ‘fuck it’!” Lita’s voice rising, “You’re here because you are ‘you’ and this is…” again gesturing to her missing breast “...how you’re ‘always’ going to be! So people ‘look at me’! And if you can’t stand the sight of me, ‘fuck you’! And if you don’t want to see me, then ‘fuck you, too’!”

People on the nearest blankets looking in their direction.

Taking a deep breath, lowering her tone… “Sorry.”

“Lita, you ‘pegged’ it! That’s ‘exactly’ how I felt… How I feel, and was glad when you…” looking at Marsha “...came over and invited me to meet your friends.”

“ ‘Your’ friends!” Evie corrected.

“ ‘Cause I got you guys steak and lobster dinners?”

“Nah… Well, yeah…” Marsha said “... but it was your Doctor that got us steak and lobster dinners …”

“Along with some ‘great’ wine.” Evie added.

“Nah, he only paid for it.. .I got it.”

“Yeah, and that lobster was delicious. So when you see him, tell him ‘thank you’ for me, will you?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that, Ken. If I ever see the old fucker again.”

Ken and Sandy moving out of the sun, into the shade of a large tree branch. Evie siting alongside Janice, finished the last of the wine in her plastic coffee cup. Crossing her hands behind her head, Marsha lay back. Morgan, relinquishing his spot alongside the ice chest, went to lie alongside Marsha. Mitchell happy just holding Lita’s ass. As for Lita, she was happy her ass was being held by Mitchell.

“So your husband wants to divorce you because he thinks you’re not as pretty as you pretend to be. Because your skin is not as dark as he wants it to be and thinks your ass isn’t big enough.”

“That’s about it, Mitchie.”

Tickled because this the first time she’d called him ‘Mitchie’. ..“He’s full of

shit!”

“I think so, too. So I came her to see that if so long as ‘no’ black man would want me, how’s about a white man?”

“And you got me the second you walked into the pool.”

“But you thought I was someone else.”

“Someone else that looks like you, only a bit older.”

“Makes a difference…” lifting her left breast and letting it flop back onto her chest “...doesn’t it?”

“Not to me, baby. I love your tits and your ass and ‘whatever’ colour your skin is.”

Once more Marsha imagined herself making the gagging gesture.

Next PIT #36: Changes