A Mirror of Before and After - CHAPTER XV
By Frank Moore circa 1970s
It was about closing time. Buzzy, another of the Before and After crew, came in and sat down beside Debbie on the bottom step of the tower.
“It’s a slow night at Bimbo’s, so I decided to come here and crash,” Buzzy said, wiping his black hand on his Daffy Duck shirt. “Phillip just got a letter from the Merchant Marine school. He is going up to New York next week to get his physical. Hey Moe!”
Moe walked slowly out from the back room, switching off the lights and locking up. Another day of Before and After was about to end.
“Your old man knows somebody high up in the school, doesn’t he?” asked Buzzy.
“Yeah, the president.”
“Could your old man pull some strings to get me in?”
“Anything to get you out of here. I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“What’s with him. Used to be he wore bright clothes … bellbottoms, of course … and go on dates. A real swinger,” Buzzy said.
“He was fun when he came in the store … so light,” Debbie said.
“Then dear Mother came home. Back into grey clothes … and he’s getting fat,” Moe said.
“He doesn’t seem happy anymore,” Debbie said.
“Mother fooled all of us,” Moe grunted as he lifted me and carried me to the back room to lay me down on my mattress. I never figured out why he didn’t just roll the chair into the room. Guess he wanted to prove his strength. Men always did that kind of thing.
Buzzy spread two blankets on the floor beside the mattress and stripped off his clothes ad Moe undressed me. Then Moe carried his roll of blankets to the other side of the multi-colored wall of clothes.
You never could get Moe to sleep in a real bed even when there was on handy … even a mattress was not his style. It freaked Mary, his folks’ black maid, when she came to work at the three-story white house in Georgetown and found Moe … Jeff to her … sleeping nude on the living room rug. But there was many a girl who was willing to sleep on the floor for him. Debbie did that night.
“Ah yes! Before and After … the only clothing motel!” Buzzy chuckled in the W.C. Fields tone and turned out the blacklight.
During the night, I woke up for awhile. The bathroom light was left on. Debbie walked by on her way there. Nude, white body with proud breasts … not overbearing giants … just proud. I was used to nude bodies … but I wondered if I would ever get a girl. I went back to sleep a little sad.