The Book of Masks (Vol. 5)

For the Love of Sarah Johansson

Previously: "A Little Light Torture to Start With" 

"I don't have anyone in my life, honey," you tell Sydney. "So I'll have to think of someone for you. Someone for me, too." You add. You feel a lascivious smile spread across your mouth. "Someone delicious."

Sydney gives you a wary look. Across the room, you see your doppelganger's glance turn a little fishy.

"Why don't you go run an errand?" you tell him. "Doesn't your dad have any chores for you?"

"Will—" says Sydney.

"He was taking a nap," Will retorts, though he starts to heave to his feet.

"Well, go gas up the truck or something. I want to talk to your girlfriend. Alone." You turn toward Sydney with a bright look as your double shuffles for the front door.

"Will— Mmphgh!" Sydney grunts as you cover her mouth with yours again. "This is, um, nice and everything," she says as she tears her mouth away and turns her cheek to your questing tongue. "But I thought we were—"

But you're hardly paying attention to her. You run one hand up between her shoulder blades, and with your other you reach over to palm her thigh. You push yourself onto her, and pull her closer. Your teeth find the side of her neck.

"Will!" she says, and succeeds in pushing you away. "I thought we were going to talk!"

"After!" you exclaim, and shove a little closer to her. "I want to—!" You stifle a shriek at the sudden, brilliant thought. "We should do it in Caleb's bed!"

"Will!" Sydney jumps to her feet and scrambles out of reach. You grin hungrily after her.

"Will," she repeats more calmly, and pat herself down, "you said you wanted to talk when you texted."

"We can talk after. Or during!" you plead.

"No!"

"Alright," you grumble, and sink back onto the sofa. "What do you want to talk about?"

She sighs.

"So who do you know—? Who does Caleb's mom know, that I could be?" she asks.

You pretend to be cagey for a moment. "You mean to be my boyfriend?"

Her face falls. "Does it have to be your boyfriend?"

"Hey, remember when we were talking about you becoming Sarah here, and you were all, like, 'Are you gonna love me when I'm old and got flabby tits?' You saying I gotta love you when you got flabby tits, but you don't gotta love me when—"

"No! Will! I just mean—! Well, I'm just surprised you want, you know. Cock."

You think, Sounds like you're the one with a problem with cock. As in, you don't want one. But you say nothing aloud.

"Well, it's because I was thinking how much it would fuck with Caleb's head if his mom started having a guy over, and he heard them going at it. Every night," you add as one of Sydney's eyebrows rises. "And he has to talk to the guy every morning when he gets up to get breakfast. Because, you know—" You bite down on your grin. "The guy's staying over and fucking his mom every night."

"Oh," Sydney says. "Kinky." But she doesn't sound too impressed. "You have someone in mind already?"

"No. I'd have to think about it."

"Well, do that. Though if, uh, Caleb's mom has any girlfriends—"

"Not really. Just some of the girls at the store she works with. Although!" You cock your head and regard Sydney speculatively. "I guess some of them could work. If that's what you prefer."

Sydney says something, but you don't hear her, for one thought will follow on another, and it now occurs to you that Renny Brent, the motorcycle-riding store manager with the side hustle in drugs, would be both available and exactly the kind of greasy douchebag who would freak Caleb out to see his mom involved with. But for now you only tell Sydney that you've thought of one possible, but you'll try to think of some others, so as to give her some choices.

* * * * *

Beyond that, she wants to know all about Sarah Johansson and Caleb, so you give her your impersonation's biography. How Sarah was born and grew up in northeastern Ohio, where she excelled at running around with a fast and fun-loving crowd all through high school while getting Cs in her unchallenging classes. How she moved to Saratoga Falls to go to college—working her way through it—because her best friend, Ginger Black, was going to go there after graduating. How during her sophomore year she became involved with Daniel Johansson, a graduate student in the math department. He got her pregnant and then married her after she dropped out of college. For two years they were reasonably happy, though she was always uneasy because there seemed to be something ... odd ... about Daniel, like a piece of his personality was missing. And you tell her of the day the roof fell in, when he abruptly left her, saying that he was returning to his other wife, the one he had never divorced.

"So he was a bigamist?" Sydney asks. Will's jaw is hanging open, for he has never heard any of this from Caleb.

"I guess. Sarah never really looked into it further." You shift on the sofa, and are bothered enough by your impersonation's emotions that you look around vaguely, wishing that you had a cigarette.

"Did she ever hear back from him?"

"No. She totally tried to forget he ever existed, until— Well. A couple of years ago. His other wife's sister contacted Sarah, told her that Daniel had been arrested, and gotten committed to a, um, psychiatric hospital."

Sydney's eyes widen. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She didn't ask. But the sister-in-law said he wasn't ever going to come out, that he was probably in the place for good."

"Oh my God," Sydney gasps.

You give Will a crooked smile. "And Caleb's got a half-brother," you say. "With his first wife."

"Holy—!"

"Yeah!"

You go into the kitchen, less because you need or want something from there than because, in the absence of a cigarette, you just need something to do with your hands. You get yourself a glass of water, and pat yourself down, then return to the living room, where Sydney is bending over her phone.

"Well, that's pretty much all," you conclude after settling yourself back on the sofa. "She's worked at various jobs every since. Longest stint was as a cashier at the Safeway until it closed, and then she moved to the Seven-Eleven. What are you looking up?"

"Oh, I'm just making notes," she says. "Why doesn't Sarah have any friends?"

"Just doesn't. She had a couple at the Safeway, other places, but they didn't stay in touch."

Sydney remains concentrated on her phone, so you let your mind wander back to the friends that Sarah had. Faces come back to you, along with names, but none of them are particularly attractive, and the ones that are attractive were teenage boys and girls who worked as sackers. The only person you linger over is Brian Coyle, the assistant manager at the store, who was in his mid-thirties when Sarah worked there. He was handsome and friendly, but his body even then was already beginning to melt and soften and puddle around the middle. He was also married with a kid.

"Hey, lookit this." Sydney interrupts your reverie by thrusting her phone at you. It displays a photo of a youngish man with softly curly, rusty-brown hair. His and mouth droop in a lazy, relaxed smile. Your first thought is that it's a photo of Caleb, but after a second or two of studying it, you realize it's only a resemblance to your friend.

"Yeah?"

"It's Caleb's half-brother," Sydney says. "He's a sophomore at Keyserling."

"Whoa!" You jerk in surprise. Now you understand the resemblance, and you see his father's features in his as well.

"You wanna fuck with Caleb," says Sydney, "how about telling him he has a half-brother. And bring that half-brother out to the house."

"And make him a Brother?" you ask. Sydney grins and shrugs.

* * * * *

That's not exactly the idea you had in mind, but you don't dismiss it entirely, even as you steer Sydney back to the idea of getting Sarah Johansson a boyfriend. After telling her about Renny, you feel compelled to offer another choice, and that can only be Brian Coyle. Sydney looks him up online, and finds a Facebook page for him. It says that he is now the manager at the Best Buy; and there is no mention of a wife, which intrigues you. Sydney says she'll add his name to Renny's on the list. But she also insists on adding that of Charles Johansson.

There isn't anyone else, however, which leaves you feeling despondent. It's only after supper (which you take in front of the TV; when Caleb returns, he eats in his room) that you realize the despondency is mostly Sarah's—the afternoon's reflections have emphasized how alone she is.

As bedtime approaches, you are starting to resign yourself to picking up one of her female colleagues at the store—there are a few attractive, post-college girls who work there. But Sydney has another idea, which she calls you with as you're getting ready for bed.

"How would you like to feel a fat, hard, black cock between your thighs, Mrs. Johansson?" is her opening gambit.

That's all for now.

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 5)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 5)"