Seda, Part 5

Seda

Part V

Nick Timbers opened the door of his condominium at their knock.  "It's about
time," he said to Seda, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Hello, Nicholas,"
Seda said giggling. "We were held up because I was giving him the blouse."
She motioned toward Bradley. "What do you think? Does he not look proper?"
Timbers glanced at Bradley whose head was down.

"You always know what to do, Seda," She smiled.

After getting a gin and tonic from Timbers, Seda looked at Bradley and raised
her eyebrows. "I know what to do but it seems you do not."

Bradley realized what she meant and swiftly lifted out a pack of Ismir from
his blouse and removed a cigarette before sticking the pack back in. Then he
fished his lighter out of his right pocket.  He tapped on end of the
cigarette against the lighter and then handed the cigarette to Seda.  She put
it into her mouth. Bradley then flicked the lighter and held it for her.
After a deep inhale and blowing out a cloud of smoke, she said, "That was
better than the other day. You must keep up the good work."

Seda smoked three cigarettes and then handed Bradley her almost finished
drink and said she had to use the bathroom. While she was gone, Bradley
wandered over to the food table. He set down Seda's drink and then took a
plate and put various cheese chunks and crackers on it, along with chips and
dip.  He took a cold beer from an ice chest on the floor. Then he went and
took a seat in a chair and ate.  When he finished, he sat there for about a
half hour, glad to rest.  At the same time, he wondered where Seda was.  She
had been gone nearly an hour now.  Putting his plate and beer can in a waste
basket in the kitchen, he went off in search of the bathroom. He asked
someone and was told it was down the hall. He went there and found the door
open and the room unoccupied. He poked his head in a bedroom and then into a
study. There were people from the party at both places, but no Seda.

He returned to his chair in the living room. A few people were gathered in
about three or four clusters, but none of them was Seda.  He sat there some
more and then stood and looked out the living room sliding door. It was
twilight now, but still clear enough to see. He pulled the sliding door open
and went outside. No one was on the patio. The condominium had a grass yard
that ended about 10 yards from the house. A hedge stood there and it appeared
another smaller yard beyond that. He began walking across the bigger yard,
heading for the hedge when he heard a familiar laugh. It was Seda's laugh.
It seemed to be coming from beyond the hedge.  Staying as quiet as he could,
Bradley approached the hedge and peered around it carefully. The smaller yard
contained a large wooden storage shed that indicated the end of the property.
In front of the far edge of the storage shed he saw two figures.  Immediately
he recognized Nick Timbers and Seda. 

He moved down toward the end of the hedge where he could get a better look
and hear what they were saying. He now had a side view of them and what he
saw turned his whole body limp.  Seda had her back against the storage shed.
Timbers, who had taken off his sport coat and laid it on the lawn, faced her.
With his left arm, Timbers braced Seda's chest against the shed.  Her skirt
was raised and Timbers' right hand, all of his arm, in fact, was beneath the
skirt. To his horror Bradley saw Seda's feet leave the ground. Somehow, and
Bradley had no idea how, Timbers, using his fingers inside Seda, was able to
lift her up. It was just a few inches but the sight caused Bradley to nearly
faint.  

Bradley didn't move as he strained to catch their words. They weren't
whispering, which was in his favor.

"When I get you to Florida," Timbers said, "I'm going to drill holes in you.
You won't be able to walk for a week."

Seda giggled. "Is that a promise? Do you really promise that? Do not say
promises you do not mean to keep, Nicholas."

"Count on it."

"Well, I will just have to see." She giggled once more.

"Listen," said Timbers. "When we get on the plane, I'm gonna screw you . . .
at 35,000 feet."

"I hope that is not just talk," Seda said. "Talk they say is cheap, you
know."

With that, Timbers appeared to drive his right hand deeper into her, causing
Seda to squeal.  "In Florida I'm going to take you front and back," he said
as he slowly let her feet come back down to the grass. "And then I'm going in
here and leave you something." He indicated Seda's mouth, Bradley saw. "You
better not have a cigarette in there when I do this 'cause' you're gonna
swallow it." Seda laughed loudly and moved her head toward his face to
eagerly accept his kiss. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, clawing at
the back of his shirt. The kiss lasted close to two minutes, Bradley
estimated. When it was over, Timbers pulled his right arm out from under her
dress. He wiped his hand on his trousers once and then twice.

As the two figures came apart, Bradley staggered away from the hedge.  In a
daze, he moved across the big lawn and opened the sliding door and went
inside. His hand shaking badly, he grabbed a beer and sat down again in the
chair where he had sat earlier.  As he sipped, waves of fury and crushed
feelings swept over him.  He thought if he had a gun he would shoot them
both. When he came to his senses he realized how dumb that would be.  That's
when he realized how dumb he was. When he finished his beer, Bradley decided
he wanted to go home as soon as possible.  Just then, Seda came in through
the sliding door.  

"I must be having a cigarette this moment," she ordered. "Quickly now,
quickly now." Bradley stood, his knees rubbery, and took out an Ismir, tapped
it and then lit it for her. He watched her immediately and almost violently
gulp at the smoke, forcing it to what appeared the bottom of her chest
cavity. 

"I was taking a walk by myself," she said after three or four of such
ferocious drags. "It is peaceful out there at this late time of the day.
Dusk is always a best time, do you not think?"

Bradley looked up and said, "I guess." Then: "Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes, I think we should go," Seda said. "We need to say goodbye to Nicholas.
Have you seen him?"

"No. I wondered where you were."

"Now you know. I went for a walk. I needed some time by myself. I will go
find Nicholas." She went in the kitchen and came out with Timbers.  

Seda said her goodbyes and Nick Timbers actually reached out to shake
Bradley's hand.  Bradley took it, feeling like a complete ass. He said
nothing.

In the car their words were few. He handed Seda both packs of cigarettes and
lighter. The traffic on the roads was light.

"I will be in Florida next week," Seda offered.  

Bradley knew the answer but he asked anyway. "Why are you going there?" 

"There is a convention for marketing. Nicholas thought it would be a good
idea for me to go. To meet some people there. People in the marketing." 

"Oh."

"Do you not think that is good idea?" 

"I guess it is, yes."

"You are needing to be more happy for me. This can be a great opportunity."

"OK. " Bradley felt too beaten down to say much more. "I am happy for you."

"I am happy too." She stared out the window, her exhale making a curtain of
gray across the glass.

When Bradley pulled in front of her apartment. Seda gave him a quick kiss on
the cheek, got out of the car and walked toward her door.  Turning her head
slightly around, she called, "Don't forget. As soon as I am coming back from
Miami we will be shopping. The two of us, together. We will go the department
store and try on those things. It will be so much fun, I know!" With that she
was gone.  

Bradley shook his head and drove off. He had no idea what to do now. He drove
aimlessly for a while. He was angry, maybe more angry than he had ever been.
Angry at Seda definitely. Just as angry at himself for getting caught up in
such an awful and sick relationship. Yet he felt a sense of relief, too. That
the relationship was over, that he knew Seda was a horrible liar, a horrible
person.  Crazily, madly, the more he drove around the more the anger in him
seemed to be winning -- and in an idiotic way.  I will show her, Bradley
decided. I will learn to smoke while she is gone and then when she comes
back, she will decide that I am Mister Right for her and everything will be
fine. 

It was a nutty idea, nutty and insane, he knew, but it was the only idea that
came to him.  Yes, that is what I will do, he vowed. 

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