Part II
Billy Bingo: The Forgotten Past

Chapter Four

Billy and his parents, Maureen and Frank, have gone to New York from Georgia to visit his sister Bess. She still works as a secretary in New York for an obscure Literary Agency. Bess does not know that when Billy was ten he drove the car that run over Ralph Shath and George Destone, killing George Destone. Bess does not know that her boyfriend George Destone was a blackmailer who had blackmailed their mother for money and for sex. Bess fancies that she loved George Destone and that he loved her and that theirs was a star crossed love affair. Bess continues writing changes and trying to sell her play about her love affair with George Destone and his unsolved death by a mysterious driver.

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Twenty year old Billy Bingo feels somewhat odd being his twenty-seven year old sister’s escort to the Way Party in New York. He and his parents had somewhat surprised his sister Bess with their visit from Georgia and then they, not Bess, had invited Billy to go to the party with her.

As Billy and Bess get into the Cab, Billy tells Bess, “I could just hang out at a bar while you go to the party. They will never know.”

“Don’t be silly. I will have the most handsome escort at the party. I am glad you are going with me.”

“I will try not to embarrass you.” Billy clears his throat. “Say do you have some gum? I’ve got major dry mouth.”

Bess opens her pocketbook and fumbles through it for a pack of gum. Billy notices she has a lot of papers in her large bag. She finds a pack of gum and hands it to Billy.

“What are all those papers?”

“My play that I will never get produced. Still, I keep trying. When I run into someone who I think might be interested, I always have the play with me.”

Billy notices the cab driver looking at him in the mirror. Billy looks at the cab driver’s face reflected in the glass of the driver’s door. There is something about the driver that looks familiar. Dismissing the odd feeling, Billy looks away from the reflection and looks at his sister. “You are looking good. Maybe you will meet the love of your life at this party.”

“I’ve had the love of my life.”

Billy squirms in the seat. “Mom thought you might be living with a man. She had this whole sitcom scene worked out in her mind.”

“Just my cat Roofus.” Bess turns and admires Billy in his suit. “If you meet anyone at the party, don’t let being with me cramp your style.”

“Style. What style?”

Bess laughs. “How is Steve Webster doing?”

“Pretty good. I do some decorating jobs with him and his mother Linda. One I worked on was featured in Fancy Magazine. Course, Linda got the credit while Steve and I did most of the work. But that is cool. I like Linda.” Billy pauses and tells Bess, “Steve and I aren’t lovers. Not that Steve hasn’t tried to have sex with me.”

Bess grins. “I met a real nice woman, Clarice Cassidy. Actually she went to High School with me but we weren’t friends back then.” Bess can’t believe she is telling her brother this. “She and her husband are swingers. I considered when she made sexual advances but then I decided I was being crazy.” Bess blushes. “Still, I’ve fantasies about her husband Hutch Cassidy.”

“The name Clarice sounds familiar to me.” Billy notices the driver’s expression in the mirror. The driver slows the cab down and he glances back at Billy like he is about to say something but he doesn’t.

“Clarice lived in Rockdale the same time we did and you may have heard me mention her before. She had a twin brother.”

“Had?”

“He died around the same time George Destone was run over. He hung himself or someone made it look that way. I think there may be a connection in the death of George and the death of Tommy.”

Billy feels the blood flow from his face. He can’t tell Bess that George Destone was not the love of her life. He can’t tell his sister how George was blackmailing their mother. He certainly can’t bring himself to tell Bess that when he was ten years old he dressed up as a Moslem woman, stole a junk car from a garage, and run George Destone and George’s cousin Ralph Shath down. Billy sits in silence.

“George was involved in drugs. I now know this from Clarice. Clarice says her brother Tommy Harris was also involved in drugs. We both think drug dealers had something to do with their deaths. I’ve added that dimension to the play.”

Billy and Bess get out of the cab. Bess pays the driver without much paying attention to him. Then she and Billy enter the grand home where the party is being given. Billy is amazed at the size of the Ballroom.

As Billy looks around, Billy notices a woman who reminds him of Marilyn Monroe. Their eyes fix and Billy swallows a gulp of air. Billy feels both a familiarity and an aloofness as he and the woman goggle each other. She glances away from Billy as she hands her drink to a rough look man standing next to her.

“Of course. I know them,” Billy tells his sister. “Well, not really know them. That is Kane Bishop and Sylvia Trundle. They were at the Apartment Complex one night.” Billy thought it best not to explain to his sister how he had stalked them. “She looks a little different all dressed up for the party but I know it is her.”

Bess looks over at them. “You probably remember them from Rockdale as well. I like Sylvia. She is so beautiful.” Bess takes a drink from a waiter’s tray as he walks by.

Just when Billy is about to turn his attention elsewhere, Sylvia smiles at Billy. Billy’s mouth falls open in a rather stupid look as the woman, 35-22-35, blonde and with blue eyes, begins her stunning and highly sexual walk across the Ballroom floor toward him. Then there she stands right in front of Billy and Billy feels 2 foot tall.

Bess introduces Billy to Sylvia Trundle. Sylvia grabs Billy by the arm and tells Bess over the sound of the music, “I almost met your date one night. He told me I look like Marilyn Monroe. Now you know I’ve got to dance with a man who tells me I look like Marilyn Monroe.”

Being dragged to the dance floor by a woman Billy thinks at some point must have been a centerfold model, Billy feels as though he is in a dream. Excited to be dancing with such a beautiful woman Billy forgets about Bess for moment. He then notices Bess is standing alone. “We need to find someone to dance with my sister.”

Sylvia glances at Bess who she has known since High School and who she has really never liked. “I know.” Sylvia points. “There is my boyfriend Kane Bishop over there talking to Clarice and Hutch Cassidy. I can get him to ask Bess to dance.”

Billy looks at the rough looking Kane Bishop, a biker, who’d that night at the Apartment Complex Billy had wondered what it might be like to have sex. Now Sylvia has just described Kane as her boyfriend in one sultry breath and in the next she has suggested he might dance with Billy’s sister. Words escape Billy but Billy is sure his look has conveyed the message, “Are you fucking crazy?” He quickly attempts to interrupt that look with a flirty smile. “Not your boyfriend. Of all these people here, there must be someone else who isn’t attached.”

Billy watches the woman Sylvia has called Clarice walk up to Bess. Clarice sort of reminds Billy of a young Vivian Lee. She is small woman but even from a distance Billy notices her expressive eyes. There is an elegance about her but there is also a vulnerability. For a moment Billy pictures her as young man. “Okay, that was fucking weird.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Billy notices that Dirk’s father, David Jenkins, is walking toward Bess and company. “David Jenkins is here.” Billy looks around for Dirk or Jackie but doesn’t see either of them.

“Do you know David Jenkins?”

“No. I know his son Dirk and his wife Jackie.” Billy adds, “I’ve seen pictures of him of course.” The image of David getting ready to try to fuck him in the ass flashes in Billy’s mind. “I may have met him once.”

Billy watches Kane Bishop walk up to where Clarice, David, and Bess are talking. Bess pulls out a couple of pages of her play from her large pocketbook. Clarice makes a point to search for a certain page to show Kane Bishop.

Sylvia watches as Billy watches. “What is your sister doing?”

“She is trying to find a producer for her play. I haven’t read this version but she says she has added a drug angle to it. Apparently George Destone and Tommy Harris were involved in drugs.”

“Back in Rockdale, Georgia?” Sylvia has a distant, worried, look on her face.

“You know Rockdale.” Billy knows that is where he had followed them. It still bothers Billy that night he’d followed them to the Destone Garage where his mother had been forced to have sex with her blackmailers Ralph and George. “I once lived there.”

“I live there. Kane and I both do.” Sylvia looks at Billy with a puzzled look. “You like playing games don’t you?”

“Yeah. Games are good.”

Sylvia points. “There is Judge Haskel. He is one bad ass character and he is here with that awful woman.”

Billy looks in the direction of where Sylvia is pointing but there are people moving about that blocks his being able to see them. Billy thinks the name Judge Haskel sounds familiar but he doesn’t quite place where he has heard the name before. Billy doesn’t say anything but rubs his face gently against Sylvia’s face as they dance moving gracefully with the music.

“I’ll be right back.” Sylvia runs over to say something to her boyfriend Kane Bishop. She then runs back to Billy. She doesn’t offer an explanation to Billy and he does not ask for one.

Billy and Sylvia dance until Billy is getting tired and ready to say bye to her. He looks around for Bess and notices that Bess is now standing with a handsome young man who favors Zac Efron. The people she was talking with have moved on.

Just when Billy is about to excuse himself from Sylvia, she whispers in Billy’s ear. “Let’s you and me slip out to the pool house and fuck.”

“I don’t know.” Billy starts to explain how she has a boyfriend and he doesn’t want to be her boyfriend’s punching bag but instead says, “I better stay where I can keep an eye on my sister.”

“Come on. Your sister will be okay.”

Then Sylvia grabs Billy and pulls his face to her face and she kisses him. “I really want to fuck,” she breathes in his ear. Sylvia takes hold of Billy by his belt and pulls him toward an exit. Billy does not much resist. As he is pulled he does turn to look to see where Kane Bishop is standing. At first he doesn’t see Kane but then he sees Kane standing and talking to a woman. Billy hopes that Kane doesn’t notice Sylvia pulling him from the ballroom.

The pool house is dark. Billy thinks it is spooky. Sylvia tells Billy to get naked while she goes look for a candle. He hesitates but then she kisses him again before leaving and in total darkness Billy removes his clothes. Sylvia returns and tells Billy that she couldn’t find the candles.

“How am I going to get redressed in the dark.” Billy feels vulnerable. Too vulnerable.

“Wait, I know one more place I can look for candles.” Sylvia leaves Billy standing there naked. Waiting for Sylvia to return, Billy is thinking more and more what a bad idea coming out to the pool house is. “No luck.” Sylvia giggles as she puts Billy’s hands on her naked breast and guides him down to sit on the floor. He feels goose bumps. Billy kisses Sylvia’s nipples.

Sylvia tells Billy, “I know who you are? You are a bad boy. I like bad boys.”

Billy continues kissing on Sylvia’s breast.

“I once was afraid of you. Now I am here in the dark with you. I have chills.”

Billy runs his hands through Sylvia’s hair. He kisses her earlobe.” He whispers, “Are you role playing?” Billy doesn’t understand why Sylvia would be telling him that she once was afraid of him.

Sylvia snickers as she plays with Billy’s huge cock. “If you like. I know how much you like games. Pretending.” Sylvia kisses Billy’s nipple and then her hand is gone from his cock and her lips are no longer touching Billy anywhere. Billy hears Sylvia pulling away from him.

Billy hears muffled voices outside.

Billy hears a man’s voice, “Are you a peeping tom?”

Billy hears a woman’s voice. “I am sure that Leg Man has the tape that can prove who killed my brother. Leave me alone. I want to go talk with him.” There is a moment of silence. “Stop! You are hurting me.”

Billy hears Sylvia moving around. “Where are you going?” Billy flings his hands around searching but he can’t feel Sylvia anywhere near. “Sylvia. Sylvia! Where are you?” Billy fumbles around thinking he will find his clothes. He doesn’t, but touches something. He doesn’t much consider what it is. He drops it and accidentally knocks it up under what he thinks is a sofa. He continues grabbing around in the dark hoping to find his clothes but they aren’t there. “Oh shit.” He has an epiphany. “I have fallen for a prank.” He sits feeling hopeless in the pitch black darkness of a strange room where a strange, beautiful woman has led him.

Billy sees a beam of light flashing around the pool house. Billy stands up and feels his cock brush against something. “Who is there?” No one answers. Billy has no idea what he is going to do. Suddenly there is a bright light in Billy’s eyes and whoever is holding the light is walking toward him. Billy uses his hands to hide his cock and balls for he knows he is visible in the light even if he can’t see the figure walking toward him. Billy hears footsteps behind him and he turns around. Someone hits Billy on the back of his head. In a distorted blur he eyes the face of someone in a beam of light as he falls semiconscious to the floor.

Billy hears a woman’s whisper. “Men. Always thinking with their dicks.” In a semi-stupor Billy can’t decide on whether the whisper is from Sylvia, the woman from outside or someone else.

Half unconscious Billy grapples to fight the hands trying to take hold of his arms. Billy feels someone squatting over, barely touching, his head.

“We need to hit him again.” The whisper is unrecognizable.

Billy moans with the strike of a flashlight against the back of his head. He doesn’t fight but just allows himself to be dragged across the floor. Billy struggles not to pass out. He thinks when the time is right he will again try to fight. Then Billy feels another hit to the back of his head and he passes out.

Billy isn’t sure how long he has been knocked out when he starts to come to. He is partially floating in the lighted pool with his head resting on his arms on the rough cement side of the pool. His hair is wet and so he knows at some point he was submerged. Billy smells the strong smell that he guesses is jasmine perfume. He looks around the large pool but sees no one. Even though his clothes are wet and floating in the water, he is thankful when he notices them. With a pounding headache, he swims around the pool to gather his clothes as they float here and then there as though they are alive and trying to teasingly escape his reach. After winning the game with his clothes, Billy gets out of the pool and slides his legs into his dripping, navy blue pants. Wearing the soaked pants without underwear he shakes from head to foot and sprays water like a wet dog. He then puts his wet, clingy, white dress shirt on to wear. It is an uncomfortable garb. He slings his dripping jacket over his shoulder and without bothering to put his socks or shoes on he reenters the party. He feels eyes watching him in curiosity as he walks and puddles across the ballroom floor toward Bess standing alone in the corner and nursing a drink and chewing on ice. He walks up to her. “Some more friends you have.” His words begin terse but then soften as he reminds himself that his anger is not at his sister.

Bess is lost in thought and has not paid attention to her brother’s entrance. In an absent minded manner she questions, “What friends?” Then she turns, taking full notice of Billy and his predicament, she is stunned. Then as she gets over her shock she can’t help but laugh. “You look so pitiful.” There is both sympathy and mocking in her voice.

Billy does not want to alarm his sister. He does not want anyone to realize what a serious situation he has just survived. “You think this is funny?” Billy considers the humor in how he must look and laughs with his sister. He takes Bess’s icy drink and pours it over his hurting head. “I thought I felt a dry spot.” Billy enjoys relief as the ice and alcohol from the drink seems to reduce the pounding pain permeating through his skull.

“How did you end up in the pool?”

Billy does not tell Bess what happened. He shrugs. He stares at Sylvia standing with a big grin on her face as her boyfriend Kane Bishop chuckles. Billy quickly loses his sense of humor and feels furious. Still, he is careful not to show his anger. He casually walks away from Bess. Now there is a strut in his walk as he approaches the much larger Kane Bishop. Billy nods and with an arrogant look but in a teasing voice tells Kane, “Glad I could entertain you.” Billy considers punching Kane Bishop in the stomach and then the chin. He would like to stomp him into the floor. Knowing that would accomplish nothing good, Billy continues to carefully control his anger. He turns and still all wet he puddles his way back to his sister. “You ready to go.”

Sylvia starts to go after Billy but then Kane grabs her by the arm. His eyes motion toward a group of people who are watching them. Sylvia looks toward the crowd and then falls back next to Kane as he unhands her. Sadly, she rest her head on his shoulder and from the opposite side of the room watches Billy with his sister. She can’t guess what they are saying.

Bess directs a puzzled glance at Sylvia and then Bess nods at her wet brother. “Sure, we can go.” She starts to use her cellphone to call a cab but then Billy stops her. Billy’s billfold and keys and all are in his pants but his cellphone is missing. “I’ve got to find my cellphone.”

“Where do you think you lost it?” Bess notices Billy’s odd expression and then giggles. “I know. That is always a stupid question.”

“Either in the pool or the pool house.”

Billy and Bess walk out to the pool area. They look around the pool deck and in the pool. There is no sign of the cellphone.

Seemingly out of no where, Hutch Cassidy joins them on the pool deck. “What is going on?” Hutch stares hard at Billy. “You are Bess’ brother? I didn’t know.”

Billy considers why should he know but then figures the words are polite enough. “Yeah.” Billy points to the pool house. “Sylvia Trundle lured me in there for a joke. Someone hit me over the head, dragged me out here, and then threw me in the pool.”

Bess screams, “What! They could have drowned you.” She starts to march back into the ballroom to confront Sylvia but Billy stops her.

“Sis! Don’t! Anyway,” Billy continues, “I lost my cellphone.” Billy points to the pool house. It is probably in there but I have no idea how to turn the lights on.”

Hutch tries to hide his own agitation and walks inside the pool house and flips a switch on and off. The lights do not come on. Hutch winks at Bess, trying to calm her and himself, as he walks past her. Without stopping he tells her, “I will go get someone who knows where the fuse box is.” Hutch quickly vanishes back into the ballroom. Billy and Bess can hear Hutch screaming inside, “Kane! You need to take your crazy girlfriend home before she murders someone.”

Bess and Billy look at one another. Bess shakes her head. “I don’t know what the hell Sylvia was thinking. I kind of thought of her as a friend.”

“It was a prank. Don’t worry about it. I figured it was her boyfriend that knocked me out and threw me in the pool. But Bess, I really don’t know for sure who did what.” Billy’s head is no longer hurting and Billy really does want to think that his being hit on the head and thrown into the pool was little more than a harmless caper, but Billy knows he could have died. Still, whether the attack on him was the mischief of a bored couple or somehow connected to whatever that was going on outside of the pool house before Sylvia vanished and he was hit over the head, Billy does not want his sister to be overly alarmed.

The young man Bess had been talking to comes out with Hutch. He walks to the side of the building and opens a box. He flips a switch and lights come on inside of the pool house. Then he walks around and Bess introduces him to Billy as Sammy Way. Sammy, Billy, Bess, and Hutch enter the pool house to look for Billy’s cellphone. Billy looks around and tries to orient himself to where Sylvia had led him. He walks to the round sofa and notices what he thinks is one of Sylvia’s earrings behind the sofa. He walks behind the sitting area to pick up the earring and then thinking his cellphone may have slid under the sofa he feels around the floor beneath it. He feels something but it isn’t his cellphone. Billy pulls a revolver out from under the sofa.

Billy walks up to Sammy. “I found this under the sofa.”

Sammy takes the revolver and opens a drawer in a desk. “Why is this unlocked? My dad is going to have a fit.”

“Sylvia brought me out here. I apologize for being out here but...”

“I know. I’ve dated Sylvia before. I understand. Believe me. I understand.” Sammy looks at the wet clothes Billy is wearing. “You and I are about the same size. I will get you some dry clothes to wear.”

“Thanks.”

Hutch climbs the stairs up to a balcony area overlooking the lounge area. Billy calls to him. “I wasn’t up there.” Then Billy stops to think. “Then again my cellphone isn’t where I was so I guess it could be anywhere.”

Bess tells Billy. “I called your number and it was ringing up there.”

“Oh. I didn’t hear it.”

Following the sound, Hutch finds Billy’s ringing cellphone laying on top of folded boxer shorts in a large over stuffed orange chair. Hutch calls down to Billy. “I found your cellphone.” Hutch pauses. “And I guess these are your boxer shorts.”

Billy tells Sammy, “Well, this is embarrassing. My sister will never take me to a party again.”

Hutch comes back down to give Billy his shorts and cellphone. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Billy shakes his head. “Why would someone put them up there? That doesn’t really make sense.”

“A spare key to the desk drawer is kept up there but I don’t know.” Sammy tells Billy, “Follow me and we will get some dry clothes for you.”

Bess remains in the pool house with Hutch. She tells him she does not feel like going back through the Ballroom and facing the people. She and Hutch sit down on the round sofa. He puts his hand on her leg and pats it. “No reason to be embarrassed.”

“My brother is now getting naked with the only man who showed me any interest tonight. Embarrassed? I wish I was embarrassed but when Billy is around it is like I am invisible.”

Hutch grins. “When I am with Clarice I am always the husband. That is how I am defined. I could find the cure for cancer and I would still be the husband. I don’t really mind though. Not really.”

“Clarice is great. She has given me some good advice with my play. I feel closer to getting it to a quality where I can get it produced than I have ever felt before.”

“I wish you would reconsider and consider having sex with Clarice and myself.”

“I have had fantasies but I am afraid the reality might spoil my fantasy.”

“I promise you that it will be better than you could ever imagine.”

Meanwhile Billy is up in the large bedroom of Sammy Way. Sammy pulls some designer blue jeans from his closet and a tie dyed T-shirt from a drawer. He then stands and watches Billy take his wet clothes off. When Billy is standing totally naked in front of him he throws Billy a towel from a quilt rack in the bedroom.

Sammy shakes his head. “Now that is the biggest fucking cock I have ever seen.”

Billy isn’t sure what to think as Sammy stares at him. Sammy looks like he wants to make a pass at him but he doesn’t. “So, you’ve dated Sylvia?” Billy uses the towel on his hair and then other parts of himself. He does not rush to get dressed.

“Yeah.” Sammy walks to his closet. “I am ready to get out of this suit.”

“You look handsome in it.”

“Thanks.” Sammy kicks off his shoes and starts to undress. “Do you want to go see a movie with me tonight?”

“I live in Georgia and hardly ever see my sister.”

“Sure. Bess is invited.”

Sammy stands in front of Billy totally naked and with an erection. Billy and Sammy stare at one another. They each consider walking toward one another. Then Billy shakes off the thought of having sex with Sammy. “I need to get back down to Bess.”

“Sure. Do you like Zac Efron movies?”

“Yeah. You know. You favor him.”

Sammy gives Billy an “ah shucks” look. Billy and Sammy quickly get dressed. Billy grabs up his wet clothes and they rush down to the pool house. As they enter they see Hutch and Bess kissing. Billy clears his throat to let Bess and Hutch know they aren’t alone.

Hutch pulls out his cellphone to call his wife Clarice to see if she is ready to leave the party. He tells Bess that she isn’t answering her phone. “That is odd for her not to answer.”

“Maybe her battery is dead.” Sammy tells them, “That is the excuse Sylvia always gave when she didn’t answer my calls.”

“It sometimes happens.” Hutch looks around and then stares at Billy. “I guess I better go find her. I was hoping she and I could take the two of you home so you wouldn’t have to call a cab.”

Sammy speaks up. “Billy and I were talking about going to see a movie and wanted you all to come with us.”

Bess moans, “I am tired but you two go on to see the movie.”

Sammy shakes his head when he sees the disappointment on Billy’s face. “I’ll drive you home and we’ll go pick up a pizza and rent a movie to take back to your place Bess, if that is okay.”

“That will be cool.” Bess looks at Hutch. “You and Clarice are welcome to drop by if you’d like.”

“Once I find her, I will let you know.” Hutch waves bye as he goes to look for his wife.