That Girl, Sadie by Bill Tope

That Girl, Sadie by Bill Tope

i

“Well, what do you want me to do with her?” asked Mike, growing exasperated with his friend and housemate.

“Just take her off my hands for the evening,” implored Ed earnestly.

“I don’t know,” replied Mike, staring uncertainly into the living room, where teenage Sadie was lingering near the table containing all the bottles of alcohol for the Christmas party later that night. She was clad in faded jeans and a blood-red sweater.

“I can’t have a kid hanging around all this booze and drugs. She’s my sister’s kid and for tonight I’m responsible.”

“How did that responsibility get transferred to me?” Mike wanted to know.

“Because, I know she’s safe with you,” replied Ed, then hurried ahead with, “look, take her to a movie. I’ll pay.”

“And then what?” asked Mike. “The movies let out at eleven. The party will just be getting started then.”

“By eleven, Ella will be by to pick her up. She’s going to an old lady’s party or something. She said it’ll be an early evening. Don’t worry, man, we won’t run out of beer or hash before then.”

“But, what if she doesn’t like me?” queried Mike.

“I ain’t asking you to marry the girl. Just chaperone her for a few hours, okay? Keep her out of trouble, man.”

In the end, Mike acquiesced and was introduced to the redoubtable Sadie.

“Sadie,” said Ed, “this is my housemate, Mike.”

“Hi, Sadie,” offered Mike. Sadie was a beautiful girl, but she was clearly underage, thought Mike. A bomb, just waiting to explode, in an environment like a college party.

“Hey,” she said, blithely observing him with cloaked eyes.

“Mike’s going to take you to see a movie,” continued Ed.

“But, I thought you guys were having a party,” protested Sadie.

“You wanted to see Patton,” said her uncle. “Look, I’ll see you guys later. Thanks, Mike,” he said, clapping his roomie on the shoulder.

“Patton, huh?” said Mike.

“That was six months ago,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve seen it twice since then.”

“I haven’t seen it,” Mike pointed out. ‘I don’t get out to the movies much, I work most nights,” he explained. Sadie only scowled. “I’ll tell you what: you pick the flick, and we’ll go. Anything you want to see.”

“Anything?” she asked slyly.

“Anything,” he assured her.

ii

Sadie told him where she wanted to go, but it was all Greek to Mike; he never saw movies, nor did he read about them in the newspaper. He didn’t know Lawrence of Arabia from Bedtime for Bonzo. He paid their admission and they took their seats.

Sitting in the twelfth row of the half-full theater, Mike and Sadie gazed wide-eyed up at the screen, where Marlon Brando brutally sodomized a young woman. Sadie, eating popcorn, paused her chewing and stared. Mike’s face was red as Sadie’s sweater and he looked away, but was drawn, almost magnetically, back to the screen.

“What’s the name of this movie again?” he managed to ask.

“Last Tango in Paris,” Sadie replied.

As they left the theater, they walked the rain-slick streets, their breaths wispy little clouds of vapor in the cold December air. Sadie carried with her a foam cup of soda from the movie.

“Could I ask you something, Mike?” said Sadie.

“What?” he asked.

“Have you ever corn-holed a girl?”

Mike stopped walking, his eyes wide and his face red. “Don’t….talk about stuff like….”

“Like what we just saw?” she completed his sentence. “You must’ve considered it, thought about it. You date, don’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “some…I work a lot.”

“Mom thinks you are uncle Ed are queer for each other,” she stated matter-of-factly.”

“What!”

“I told her it was no skin off my nose,” she went on. “I’ve done it before with a girl,” she said. “Well, nearly,” he hedged.

“Done…what?” asked Mike, thoroughly perplexed by this 15-going-on-35-year-old girl.

“S.E.X.,” she said pointedly.

“Oh, well, we’re not….gay,” he asserted.

“Yeah,” said Sadie, “that’s the new word they got for it. If you’re not ‘gay,’ then why is your face so red?” she asked.

“I blush easily,” he confessed.

They continued walking until they came to Mike’s El Camino. They climbed in.

“This is a crazy-ass truck,” observed Sadie, touching the leather seats.

“Thanks,” said Mike.

“Did you and a girl ever do it in the bed of this beast?” she asked next.

“No!” he exclaimed.

“Why not?” she asked. “Come out some summer night, park under the stars and unfold a blanket in the back of the truck and do it to it.” Mike’s mouth fell open and he stared at her. “What?” she demanded. “If it was me, I’d take my lover out and do it.”

“What do you know about lovers? How old are you, Sadie?” he asked.

“Nineteen,” she said with a straight face.

“Humph,” snorted Mike. “Ella,” he said, referencing Ed’s sister and Sadie’s mother, “is just 31. Are you saying she gave birth to you when she was 12 years old?” he asked with high skepticism.

“Alright,” Sadie said. “Busted. I’m 13. How old are you?” she asked.

“22,” he said.

Sadie seemed to turn this over in her mind for a few moments, then she said, “How many lovers have you ever had — in your whole life?”

Mike blushed again and, fitting his key into the ignition, said, “None of your business.”

“Ten? Twenty?” she pressed. “One?” she asked. “Mike, have you ever been laid?”

Mike, his face the color of a cherry Tootsie Roll Pop, finally shook his head no.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked Sadie. “Your house tonight should be Pussy Central!” Then she paused. “Mike, you weren’t injured in some freak accident or anything, were you? I mean, you still have a dick, don’t you?” Mike assured her that he was normally endowed.

Said blew out a relieved breath. “Thank God. I was afraid that I’d stepped in it there for a minute. Well,” she went on, “I’m in the same boat.”

“Hmm?” he asked.

“I still got my cherry,” she said loud enough for passersby to hear. They stared through the truck windows at her. “Like you,” she added.

Mike glanced at his watch. It was only ten o’clock. “What do you want to do now?” he asked.

“I want to get high,” Sadie said. “I want to get drunk, and I want to get laid.”

Mike, by now accustomed to his companion’s outrageous statements, remarked, “Well, it’ll be a really big night for you, then.”

“Damn straight,” said Sadie.

iii

Driving now through the rural section of town, Mike turned to his passenger and asked, “What are you majoring in, in high school?”

Sadie furrowed her brow. “Hmm?”

“Uh…what are you studying?” he amended his query.

“Oh! Algebra, Biology, American History….same old shit,” she summarized. Uncle Ed says you’re pre-med?”

“That’s right,” he said, “but I remember high school like it like it was last night. Are you a good student?” he asked her.

“Straight Cs,” she replied, unashamed. “Except for one class, which I’m acing.”

“Which class is that?”

“Human Sexuality and Reproduction,” she replied with a smirk. Mike immediately blushed again. “Do you have a problem with your metabolism or something?” queried the young woman. “Because you keep getting red.” Mike didn’t say anything. “I’m only getting a C in Biology, but I know that it can’t be healthy for you. Hey,” she said, looking out the window at the passing trees, “where are we going?”

“It’s early yet,” said Mike. “I thought we could take a night time drive.”

“Ooh, are we gonna go parking?” She giggled.

“No!” he exclaimed, scandalized. “I’m not parking with you.”

“Or anyone else, for that matter,” she muttered. “What are you doing, saving yourself for marriage?” Mike blew out a weary breath.

For twenty minutes, the El Camino plumbed the depths of the forest roads, until at length, Mike checked his watch. Sadie caught the gesture and asked, “What time is it?”

“Nearly ten thirty,” he replied. “I guess we can head back now.” Pulling onto an old logging road, he did a turnabout and maneuvered the vehicle back in the direction from which they came.

“Hurry, Mike,” urged Sadie. “We want to get back to the party before all the beer and dope are gone.” Mike frowned at the young woman.

“What?” she demanded.

Up ahead, fifteen minutes later, off to the side of the road, they spied a figure limping down the highway, his thumb out. Mike zoomed on past him. In the distance, they could hear the man bellow angrily at them.

“Why didn’t you pick him up?” asked Sadie.

“Noo,” he scolded. “You don’t ever pick up hitchhikers!”

“Why not?”

Mike gave her a disdainful look. “Because most of them are derelicts from the logging camps.” He shook his head. Sadie shrugged.

Two minutes later, a tire blew and the rubber thunked along the highway, disintegrating. “Shit!” said Mike.

“I hope you got a spare,” said Sadie.

“I do,” said Mike, “but I don’t have a flashlight!”

“That’s alright, I’ll light matches while you’re changing the tire,” offered Sadie, digging through her purse.

“Why do you have matches?” he asked. “You don’t smoke, do you?”

“No, I’m an arsonist,” she explained.

“Good. Kid your age shouldn’t smoke.”

It took several minutes for Mike to remove the lug nuts, then the tire, and replace it with the spare and finally, tighten the nuts back. “There,” he said, standing up again, “that should…” But he was interrupted mid-sentence by the sound of shoes scuffling through the underbrush and then the crack of a heavy branch smacking him upside the head. Sadie screamed.

“Shut up, you little shit!” snarled the man who had just attacked Mike. Sadie, eyes wide, cringed back against the side of the car. “I thought that numb nuts here would take all night to change that flat,” he cackled conversationally to the girl. Mike lay unmoving upon the ground. “Now,” he went on, “let’s check some things out.” Stooping, he relieved Mike of his wallet and rifled through it. Next, he peered through the driver’s window, spotted the keys and gloated. “See you children later,” he said, and began to climb into the El Camino.

“But what about us?” cried Sadie, nearly hysterical.

“What about you?” he asked indifferently.

“Mike might be really hurt,” she pointed out.

“More reason for me to beat it,” he  told her. He paused for a moment, looking Sadie up and down. She fell back a step. “Shame I ain’t got more time, else I’d take you for a little ride, too.” He appeared to be turning the idea over in his mind for a moment, but then shook his head regretfully, turned the ignition and swiftly sped away.

Sadie rushed to Mike’s side and tried to slap him awake, but he was out cold. Then she splashed some of her soda on his face and this had the desired effect.

“Wh…what…?” he asked groggily.

“You got cold cocked and then we got carjacked,” she summarized for him. Mike sat up with a groan.

“Now what’ll we do?” asked Sadie.

Mike ignored the question. “He didn’t….did he touch you?” he asked.

She shook her head no. “He didn’t have the time,” she replied.

“We better get started,” he said, picking his empty wallet off the ground, and they took off walking.

“How far are we from town?” she asked.

“At least ten miles.”

iv

Once they got within five miles of downtown, they got a ride with an old man who wanted to know if the pair of them “Were getting it on?” Mike assured him that they were not. The man seemed disappointed. Depositing them in front of the police station, the old gent motored away.

“Let me do the talking,” instructed Mike.

“How’s that going to work?” asked Sadie. “You were out like a light the whole time.”

“I guess you got a point there,” agreed Mike.

Inside, the pair reported the assault and the stolen vehicle and were soon on their way. “Could we get a ride home?” asked Mike.

“What’re we, a taxi service? Beat it, kid,” said the cop, who was probably younger than Mike.

At length, they arrived back at Mike’s home. Sadie hurried to the bathroom. Mike found his housemate enjoying the company of a sexy, raven haired young woman named Amelia, who was all over him. Mike gave Ed the high sign. Ed excused himself to talk to Mike.

“Hey, brother,” he said, slurring his words. Mike could tell that the other man was ripped.

“Sorry we’re late,” apologized Mike.

“Are you?” asked his friend, looking at his wrist. Though there was no timepiece there, Mike said, “Hell, it’s early yet.”

“Where’s your sister, Ed?” asked Mike.

Ed seemed to consider this question for a moment before he said, “Oh, yeah. Ella called and said she and her old man got juiced and they’re spending the night at a motel. So, brother,” he said, tapping Mike on the chest with the back of his hand, “you got the little princess for the rest of the night.” He laughed uproariously.

Suddenly Sadie turned up. “What’s so funny?” she asked. Without answering, Ed stumbled back into the party, threading his way through the many guests to reach the girl again.

“What’s happening, Mike?” she asked.

“Look, it’s nearly one o’clock,” he said, “so why don’t you run off to bed?”

“What about my mom?”

“You’re staying here for the night,” said Mike.

“Groovy!” said Sadie.

“Why don’t you run on up to bed?” he suggested again. He had a monster of a headache.

“No way!” she replied. “Besides, where am I going to sleep?”

“My bed,” he replied, and told her which room was his.

“Dig it!” said Sadie. “This’ll be my first time; yours too!” she exclaimed, pointing a finger at his chest.

“Go to bed and sleep!” he told her.

“What’ll you being doing?” she wanted to know.

Mike sighed. After the ordeal on the logging road and the theft of his car, he didn’t feel much like partying now. In fact, he still felt groggy and a little nauseous. “C’mon,” he said, “let’s crash.” He led the way up to his bedroom on the second floor and immediately began to disrobe. Sadie stood and stared at him, grinning. Suddenly Mike remembered she was there.

“Shit!” he said, covering himself with the shirt he’d removed. Sadie laughed out loud.

“Go ahead and crash, Mike,” said Sadie. “I’m going to go down and grab a soda. I’m not sleepy,” she told him.

v

Divesting himself fully of clothing, Mike collapsed under the covers of his bed. He was awakened sometime later by a wet sensation in his ear. He opened his eyes and blinked. What the hell? He wasn’t alone in bed! Next, a hand extended slender fingers down to his crotch and began doing things which were unspeakable — but which he liked. Then Mike thought with alarm: Sadie?

Reaching down to the offending hand, he caught a wrist and brought it above the covers. “Stop that!” he said gruffly.

“I’m sorry,” said Amelia, retracting her hand. The sexy girl from downstairs. He stumbled for words.

“No,” he said. “I’m sorry. It felt…good!” Amelia smiled and continued with what she’d been doing. And things progressed from there.

vi

The next morning, Mike awoke alone again and he wondered for a moment if last night had been only a dream. Then he winced and looked over his shoulder at the nail marks on his skin. No, he thought with a smile, it hadn’t been a dream. Throwing on some clothes, he made his way down the corridor to the stairs, where he found the ineffable Sadie, sitting alone on the steps, her chin in her hand.

“So you’re finally awake,” she remarked.

“What did you do all night?” he asked, unhappy with himself that he had abandoned his young charge.

“I got high,” she revealed. “And I got drunk; I drank half the night,” she said. At Mike’s furrowed brow, she revealed, “And I threw up the other half.” He smiled gently. He’d been there.

“You didn’t…..”

“Get laid?” she finished his sentence. “No. But I did learn a lot,” she said. Mike cocked his head, “I watched you and that Amelia chick. God, she’s got some moves.” Mike, of course, blushed. “Not so bad yourself, Mike,” she added. “All in all,” she said, “it was a good evening.”

Mike grinned stupidly, until he remembered the theft of his car. As though reading his mind, Sadie said, “Pigs found your car. All four tires were missing and it was up on concrete blocks.” Mike scowled. “Engine’s still there, though,” Sadie assured him.

“You  haven’t seem Amelia, have you?” he asked. “You know, the girl…”

“Yeah, I saw plenty of Amelia last night and this morning,” she reminded him. Mike blushed again. “She climbed in bed with Uncle Ed, once she tore him away from the bong. She’s there with him now. You want to go in and say good morning?” she asked with a devilish grin.

Mike waved her offer away. “You know, Sadie,” he said, “I’m sorry there weren’t some kids here your own age. It couldn’t have been much fun hanging with an older crowd.”

She shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad. I learned a lot,” she said. “Now, don’t blush!” she cautioned. “It occurred to me that you’re a pretty  righteous dude, Mike.” He smiled with pleasure. “I’ll tell you what, I can wait for you.” He blinked. “The age of consent in this state is 17, and I’ll be 14 is a few weeks. “Then,” she said determinedly, “we can be together.”

“But, what if I don’t want to wait three years?” asked Mike pragmatically.

“Who says you got to wait?” asked Sadie. “Keep on stropping your razor, and by the time I’m of age, you’ll be a superstar. You’ll be too old to attend my senior prom, of course,” she said thoughtfully, “but there it is.”

 “Maybe you should find a boy your own age, Sadie,” he suggested gently.

“No way!” she chirped. “You’re gonna be a doctor; I know which side of the bread has the butter — with apologies to Marlon Brando, of course.”

* * * * THE END * * * *
Copyright Bill Tope 2024