"Like a Super Hero's Cape"
Chapter 1

                I had just put the first annual appointment scheduled after lunch into exam room two when a shrill urgent beep chimed out noisily through Dr. Curtis’ pager. She took it out of her pocket and looked at it. She grimaced at the beeper and went over to the phone at her hallway workstation.
                “This is Dr. Curtis…”
                While she was on the phone, I stepped back into the lab to check the pregnancy test that was percolating on the counter. It was negative. Crystal, the young college student waiting to get her Pap smear in the exam would probably fall off the table from relief. She had confided earlier that she had caught her boyfriend cheating on her in his fraternity house, and she wanted a complete STD work up and pregnancy test along with her yearly Pap. At least she doesn’t have a baby to worry about in all this mess, I thought, shaking my head. I hadn’t heard Dr. Curtis ring the doorbell, signaling for me to join her as her chaperone for the rest of the patient’s exam, so I went ahead and dipped Crystal’s urine to check for traces of blood and protein.
                As I approached the workstation to document the results in her chart, the doctor was already on her way out of the exam room with samples in her hand.
                “What’s your hurry, sister?” I joked.
                She gave a half smile, visibly distracted.
                “Sorry. It would have taken too much time to wait on you to come in. I gotta get out of here like right now,” she said. She wrote furiously while she talked.
                “Dr. Shaw is going to finish up the rest of my annuals for the afternoon, but I need you to call my other patients and reschedule them. Tell the two follow-ups that they can come in first thing in the morning, or they can come about two forty-five. I should be out of surgery by then.”
                “No problem, boss,” I said. “Are we having a baby, today? I don’t remember anyone being due this week.”
                She sighed deeply.
                “There’s not anyone. Sonia is in distress, again.”
                “Oh, no,” I moaned.
                Sonia was kind of the sweetheart of out practice. She had been through so much trying to have a baby. She had already gone through two miscarriages and a stillborn. For some reason, as each pregnancy progressed, she would develop pre-eclampsia, a condition in pregnant women that causes their blood pressure to climb dangerously high, putting both mother and child at risk.
                But through it all, she always managed to always stay in great spirits. She was always cheerful and positive. She would bring cookies and other goodies for us all the time. We loved it when she came in for appointments because she always brought sunshine into the office, no matter how rough of a day we happened to have. She was just like a part of our extended family.
                I had never met her husband. Apparently he worked out of the country during the week, so she would always come in for her appointments by herself. But, I assumed that they were close because she talked about him all the time, and she showed no evidence of being unhappy with their arrangement. She told us that he was making preparations to start his own business that he planned to have up and running by the time the baby came, so he could spend more time at home. I had never met him, but she affectionately called him ‘Bay,’ short for ‘Baby’ so much that even the girls in the office called him that, too.
                She was so close, this time. She was almost at her thirty-fifth week. I said a quick, silent prayer that she would be able to hold on long enough to bring this baby safely into the world.
                “Okay, I’ll take care of everything for you. Tell her that we’re thinking about her.”
                “I will. I’ll call you guys later to give you an update.”
She rushed out of the office, her lab coat blowing behind her like a super hero’s cape. As I watched Dr. Curtis leave, I hoped that her super powers would be enough to save Sonia’s baby.

(End Chapter 1)

"Wild Nights of Fantasy Passion"
Chapter 2


“I am the most beautiful boogie man. Your most beautiful boogie man. Let me be you favorite nightmare. Close your eyes and I’ll be right there. Wide open…All over…again…” Mos Def, 2005

                It was almost midnight when the call was made over the loudspeaker to begin boarding my flight. The airport still bustled with people making their respective connections, but oddly enough there was still hardly anyone waiting to board the huge commercial airline that would take me home. The attendant explained that it was not unusual to have an almost empty flight this time of evening. After all, it was the middle of the night. She gave me a reassuring smile as I boarded the plane and chose a window seat in the rear. Other than the lights that lined the runway outside, there was only darkness as far as the eye could see. I settled back into my seat and closed my eyes, listening to the roar of the engines as we taxied down the runway for takeoff. The hum of the motor was comforting and I began to doze off immediately. The gentle touch of a hand on my shoulder interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see the handsome pilot standing in the aisle next to me. Though his hat covered most of his face, I could tell from his strong jaw line that he was a beautiful man. He had smooth, chocolate skin, and a smile that lit up the cabin. The sound of his smooth, velvety voice lit a fire under my skirt.
                “Excuse me, miss, but I understand that you are traveling alone on this flight.”
                “Yes, I am,” I answered, slightly startled and confused.
                “Well, I’ve come to guarantee that your flight is the most pleasurable and memorable flight you’ve ever had.”
                I smiled at him. “Well, thank you. I’m very flattered, but shouldn’t you be flying the plane?”
                He leaned over and stuck his hand between my legs. “I guess I should, but if I do that, then what is the co-pilot supposed to do?”
                I squirmed in my seat in anticipation. Here I was being groped by a strange man that claimed to be the pilot of an airplane that I was flying in, but incredibly, I was aroused instead of alarmed. I grabbed his necktie and pulled his face closer to mine. As he fell toward me, his hat came off. To my amazement, the pilot turned out to be Desmond and he had come to induct me into the mile-high club.
                Our welcoming tongues danced to the beat of the song that was playing in our hearts. We began to explore one another right there in the back of the plane. The temperature in the cabin seemed to rise as fast as the intensity and the urgency of our lust. Our clothes seemed to melt off in the heat of the moment as I straddled his seated frame.
                Desmond entered my flesh with a forceful thrust and my body reciprocated with all the yearning and fire that had been pent up inside both of us for so long. I oohed and ahhed in ecstasy, not caring if the other passengers on the plane overheard my moans.
                I rode him, long and hard, faster and faster until my screams became impossible for me to suppress…
                I jolted straight up in bed, panting. My pajamas and sheets were covered with wet, sticky remnants of a dream that I never wanted to wake up from. It was a dream with a recurrent theme, becoming more and more real with every forty winks that I took. I had been having these wild nights of fantasy passion every since I agreed to reacquaint myself with Desmond Thomas a year ago.
                It started as a harmless-platonic-haven’t seen my old friend in a while-let’s keep in touch kind of thing. All I did was stop by my old work to visit people that I hadn’t seen in a while. Well, I really did want to see Desmond in particular, but I swear it was completely innocent. Aside from the fact that I had always had a secret obsession with Desmond, I considered him to be enough of a friend to want to remain in contact with after I left my job with World Computers. So, I stand by my decision to pay him a visit after not having seen him in a couple of years, even if my motives were not necessarily pure.
                I met Desmond about five years earlier while working a temporary job at World Computers one of the major corporations in the area. I had previously separated from the army after four years of active duty service, where I provided direct patient care in the hospital where I was stationed in California. Since I was not a registered nurse, I had trouble finding a job once I returned home. The civilian work force was not very accepting of military training methods and was skeptical to hire for some positions without formal schooling. So, I was secured a position driving a forklift in one of World Computer’s warehouses while I put myself through school. There, Desmond also worked as an up and coming young professional.
                The first time I laid eyes on him, every ounce of religion I ever had oozed right into my panties, along with the excitement that was welling up inside me as I shook his hand. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He was about 5’9 with a slim to medium build, and slightly bowed legs. His mocha chocolate complexion was flawless, and I was sure that he could read my mind with those piercing, dark brown eyes. He had a bright, sincere smile that turned up only at the left corner, giving him the look of a young boy up to no good. His hair was perfectly faded, and the waves in his head made me seasick.
                His dress was simple. We worked in a warehouse, which was no place for suits and ties. He wore an oatmeal- colored sweater that showed off his frame nicely; not baggy like a sweatshirt, or tight fitting, like a muscle shirt. It was a crew neck sweater with two buttons at the neck with no collar. He also wore a pair of brown steel-toe boots. And of, mercy, did the man have some big feet.
                How odd that I would meet a man and pick such an inadament body part to fall in love with. But it wasn’t until I went to shake his hand that I knew I had to have him. His hands were neither big and hairy, nor were they short and feminine looking. They were perfect, just like the rest of him. His nails were uncharacteristically clean for a warehouse worker, and wrinkles around his knuckles gave his hands an inviting look, like slightly worn leather. I could tell by looking at his hands that he was no stranger to hard work, but they felt like a new baseball glove. He had a strong, firm grip that told of confidence. I almost didn’t want to let go. I couldn’t help but notice how much better that simple gold band on his left finger made the rest of his hand look when I finally did release my grip.
                De was a well-liked member of the staff at World Computers. He wasn’t in a supervisory position, but everyone always went to him with his or her problems. He was always willing to help and he always had a kind word to say to everyone. In the time that I worked there, I don’t think I ever saw him get upset with anyone or anything. His even temper and willingness to help made him well respected among the male staff, and his good looks made him choice eye candy among the few females throughout the warehouse.
                Since there were mostly men in on the job, harassment was a usual occurrence. There was never a shortage of dirty jokes or explicit conversations. It was definitely not a place for sensitive feelings or the faint of heart. I have to admit that as much as I loved to engage in those sexually explicit conversations and listen to and tell dirty jokes, Desmond and I never directly engaged in that type of conversation. We were usually bystanders that occasionally listened to and laughed at the same jokes, but our conversations were on a different level. The talks we had were usually casual and lighthearted, but always full of intellect.
                Desmond was the type of person that could have an intellectual conversation without boring you to death. He was obviously of above average intelligence and well rounded, as well. He didn’t, as my mom says, “ have a head full of book sense, but no common sense.” He was a joy to converse with, and unlike most of the other men on the job, I never had to worry about engaging in unsolicited vulgar talk.
                He frequented my work area just to chitchat whenever we had down time. He was always interested in how things were going and things that interested me outside of work. We had a lot in common like our love for old trucks and jazz music. Our close association, in turn, caused many people to talk especially the women. Desmond had a way of making all women feel special and I got more attention than they did. Mostly everyone got along well, so some of them tried to probe me, indirectly for information.
                “I noticed that Desmond picked you to go with him to the new warehouse this week. Are you sure that’s the only place y’all went?” Pam, one of my co-workers asked me one day. They always tried to make a joke out of it, but hoped that I would give them the confirmation they sought about what they suspected about Desmond and me.
                “Girl, we went to his house and had a long lunch,” I would tease with a smirk.
                Nosy heifers. They were just jealous because they wanted what they thought I was getting, but also wanted the rumors to be true so that they could have something to talk about.
                After driving a forklift at World Computers for a little over a year, I finally found a job at an obstetrics office that felt that my skills would be an asset to their practice. So, I took the job and made plans to leave my old job and my friendship with Desmond behind. But Desmond apparently picked up the secret vibes I had been sending and asked me if he could call me from time to time after I left the company. I gladly gave him my number and agreed to meet for lunch or something whenever time permitted.
                Although I had a sneaking suspicion that we had a mutual attraction for one another, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what made him decide that he wanted to keep in touch with me after I left the job. Though Desmond and I had really become great associates at work, our dialogue never went past the parking lot. He was such a social person; I didn’t really believe that he thought much of our conversations. I mean after all, our exchanges rarely contained anything of real depth, and we certainly had not become involved in any way. And let’s not forget about that little gold band that served as a red flag to me every time I thought about stepping over the line. So, I was still somewhat surprised that he still wanted to remain acquaintances after I left my job.
                We exchanged numbers and began talking on the phone quite a bit. But after a few months, I guess we both got busy and the calls became less and less frequent. Still later, I moved to another part of the city, had my number changed to an unlisted number, and became engrossed in other things and other men. I still thought about Desmond from time to time, but when I finally tried to contact him at work, his extension and his beeper number had both been assigned to someone else within the company. I hadn’t spoken with him in a couple of years until recently.
                I won’t pretend like it was by sheer accident or fate that I ran into Desmond again after all this time. My boyfriend, Maurice stays away so much these days that instead of absence making the heart grow fonder, it has made my heart wander. One evening after work about eight or nine months ago, after having been stood up the night before for the hundredth time, I decided to pay the old World Computer crew a visit. Okay, so I really had no interest in seeing anyone else. My sole motive for driving thirteen and a half miles in the opposite direction of home was to see if there might be a chance that Desmond still worked there.
                I was feeling a little lonely and unwanted at the time, so I figured that a little harmless ego stroke from another man was just what I needed to boost my morale. It wasn’t like he was going to hold me or anything, I’d just talk to him on the phone like I used to do when I was bored and needed something to do while Maurice was doing his thing. It turned out that Desmond was indeed still on the job, now in charge of the second shift crew. He had a lot more time to talk on the phone these days, and he seemed to be just as starved for soothing small talk as I did. Since that day, we have talked on the phone almost every night at ten o’clock and then he haunts my dreams for the rest of the night.     
                I rolled over and turned on the lamp on my bedside table to wake myself up. I was so tired, I felt like I had actually had a man in my bed the night before. I had been having these dreams for almost two weeks. They had become more vivid and intense in nature, each one leaving me breathless and horny. I felt like I was trapped in a porno movie. Fortunately for me, Maurice was out of town. I was beginning to feel guilty for re-opening this can of worms, and these wet dreams made me feel like I was cheating, even though Desmond and I were doing nothing more than talking on the phone. And the last thing I needed was to have an orgasm in my sleep and breathe Desmond’s name in the process.
                I went into the bathroom and turned on the water for a shower. I briefly entertained the notion of turning on the cold water in order to snap myself out of the horny state I was in, but quickly dismissed it. Hell, it wasn’t that bad. I chuckled under my breath and went into the other room to wake up my daughter, Tomika.
                Tomika lay on her stomach spread eagle in the middle of the bed, like the coyote after the landing at the bottom of a cliff. Her mouth hung open, but she had her thumb stuck in it just the same. She looked so peaceful lying there that I hated to wake her. I stood there for a minute and watched her. She was the spitting image of me when I was a child, but she looked just like her father when she was asleep. It was always amazing to me how a child could look exactly like both parents at the same time. Too bad Lance wasn’t interested in what she looked like. We hadn’t heard from him since Tomika was two years old.
                I turned on the light and called to her.
                “Time to get up, baby,” I said to her, as gently as I could. Unfortunately, neither of us were morning people, so we always treaded lightly in each other’s territory in the mornings. I ran the risk of pissing her off by waking her up to suddenly, and she ran the risk of giving me too much attitude after I woke her up. After I called out to her, I quickly left the room so I would not have to witness that first eye roll or hear that first mumble under her breath.

(End Chapter 2)