Kiss it and Make it Better

ART: "Breakfast In Bed" By Henry Lee Battle

"That's quite a shiner you got there" said Gus as he applied some cold water and some paper towells to Carlton's eye..It was swollen. He looked like Mike Tyson had hit him instead of a 5 "5
petite woman with over-sized breasts and a blonde weave. The slight pain was nothing compared to the embarrassment he felt..and the blind hatred he now had for the woman who had caused him this embarrassment, Honey Brown. Honey herself could care less, she was already ingratiating herself with a tall brown skinned waiter, who couldn't stop giggling or sneaking a peak at her more than abundant cleavage..They were exchanging numbers and laughing and giggling like two high school teenagers. The other women, Sepia, Sheila,Vanessa, Victoria and Jill just watched...shaking their heads at how Honey Brown shamelessly through herself at the waiter who had to be a good ten years younger than her.

Sean, Kevin, Conrad, Clerow and even Cock Robbins felt sympathy for Carlton..but all knew that this was the type of thing that could happen when you fool with a woman like Honey Brown, which was why none of them had ever given her the time of day..She was probably a good lay they all reasoned, but way too loud, way too quick to hit a man and way too "ghetto" for any of their tastes...

Deacon Weatherford walked to the bathroom to see if Carlton was alright..

"You okay son? That was quite a punch that gal throwed at you..you shoulda ducked." he said

"He couldn't duck Deacon..He aint know that was comin...I done seen Honey lay out a number of men wit that same punch." said Gus matter of factly...

Carlton had heard enough....He briskly took the napkin and slipped out the back door...He chose to get on the bus and just sit by himself. Meanwhile....The others were enjoying a delicious meal of Crabs...All kinds if crabs...with butter and little mallets to crack them., Corn on the cob...String Beans...Corn Bread, etc. For those who chose not to eat Crabs, there was an ample supply of Fried Cat Fish, Crab cakes, Whiting, Blue Fish....a seafood lovers dream... and a live ten
peice band to match, while they ate and enjoyed themselves...

Anita ate until she was full...She enjoyed the company of her sisters, Victoria, Mabel and Cora-Beth...and she really liked her new brother in law, Clerow..He was so funny ,yet protective...She felt like she was a part of a family for the first time in her life. She danced with Paris and Blake and even with Clerow once...but what she was really wondering was where Carlton had slipped off to. It was clear that Honey Brown wasn't worried about him..She and the waiter danced every dance and he couldn't stop giggling like a chesire cat everytime she whispered in his ear...Soon the two of them disapeared. Anita decided to walk outside into the night air. She walked outside and she saw the bus door opened...She wandered over to the bus and walked up the stairs...She looked into the back and she saw a pair of legs stretched from one chair to another. She smiled, turned around and walked back into the club.

Carlton was in a deep sleep when all of a sudden he was awakened by a shrug.. Startled, he looked right into the face of Anita, who was smiling at him.

"I thought you might be hungry, so I bought you a platter" She said.

Carlton couldn't believe his good fortune...

"What?? a platter?" he asked..

"Yeah,I didn't know what you liked, so I brought you a combonation of everything, some crabs,
catfish, Blue Fish, whiting, salmon cakes, crab cakes-"

"I like all that stuff girl...thanks." He said.

Seeing him suddenly so humble and vulnerable kind of made him even more attractive to her..She paused then said-

"Let me see that eye...Ouu..you got popped pretty good huh?"

"Yeah..so that's why you come in here..to clown me?" he said only half joking.

"No...I know you was about to miss all this good food and I didn't want you to have spent all this money and come all the way down here for nothin." she said.

"Oh really huh? ..well I guess I should thank you for lookin out for my pockets..I am kinda hungry. uh...good lookin out." He said.

"Oh don't sit on this bus like that...your pity party is over...Let mama see that eye...let mama kiss it and make it better.." she said as she kissed his eyelid... Boy she sounded and looked so sexy to him right about now. He tried to resist her ,but she pushed his hand away and kissed his eyelid again...

"Gurl, I wish you'd kiss me and make me feel better" said Carlton.

"Well come here then, set that plate down .." she said..

Carlton moved over and Anita gave him the sweetest softest kiss he'd ever received....He pulled her closer to him and they began making out like two high school teenagers...He wanted to take it a little further, but decided not to..He had already been punched..no need in getting slapped too. He was content to just kiss her and hold her...He had been wanting to, ever since he had first laid eyes on her...

Clerow and Cora Beth were standing outside the Roadhouse getting a little air when Cora Beth said to him-

"Clerow...do you love me?"

"Of course I do...why would you ask me a question like that?" He said.

"Well, I know...that you was Mabel's man and I kinda took you from her....and I have always felt
bad about that..I love my sister and I know that she still feels somethin for you, I know she does
and I reckon you still feel somethin for her and this is all so messed up, me havin your baby and
all and I...I..." she stopped...she was starting to cry... Clerow took his hand and wiped her face of
tears...he held her close to him...

"I'm jus gon have to get over Mabel now ain I?
Cause I'm with you now...and I aint never said that
I minded it..have I? Have I? "

"No." she said...

"Then don't worry about it...I admit..I see your sister and
I wonder about what coulda been, what might have been..
but that's all in the past now...What's real is me and you...
We in the present..an maybe..just maybe..that's the way
it was supposed to be..and I just didn't realize it." said Clerow..

Cora Beth laid her head in his chest and he rocked her slowly right there on the side of the Roadhouse..Mabel watched them from a distance..She smiled..She was never more proud of her brother in law than she was right at this moment..

Anita fixed her hair and her clothes and she and Carlton walked off of the bus together..From a
distance..you could see the full moon.

(Conclusion Tomorrow......)