The X-Man by Brian R. Lundin (100 best novels of all time .TXT) 📕

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The doorman ranged my apartment and announced that a Monique Brown had arrived; I was at my apartment door and watched as she walked from the elevator. She carried a large bag, but still had the grace of an African princess. She wore a white pleaded skirt and a green pleated blouse, gold earrings danced from her lobes.

MONIQUE
Dinner time, I’m counting on the fact that you have probably not had a good, old-fashioned, soul food meal in a while

RINGO
Good guess

MONIQUE (POINTING TO A BAG)
Show me the kitchen and get out the way and
get a bottle of the Chianti out and let it breathe

I did as ordered and sat down on the kitchen island chair and watched her as she unpacked the bag. A sudden cool breeze blew through the slightly opened window and captured the scent of her perfume.

RINGO
Like Miles?

MONIQUE
Heck yeah, got “Porgy and Bess?

I put the CD on and watched as Monique began placing microwave food containers on the island counter and removing lids.

MONIQUE
Smothered chicken and gravy, steamed rice and vegetables, removing another lid she said, home made buttermilk biscuits

RINGO (HANDING HER A GLASS OF WINE)
This is a treat. A toast to home cooking and the chef
Monique slowly sipped the wine, humming her approval.

MONIQUE
I know white wine is supposed to go with fish and chicken, but the gravy makes the meal unique, so the red is fine

I got the silverware and plates out the cabinet and sat them on the island as Monique placed the containers in the microwave and swayed to Miles version of “Summertime.” She took another sip of wine and retrieved two scented candles from her bag, melted the ends and placed them in candle holders. The microwaves timer went off and she removed the containers. I topped off our wine glasses and we stared each other through the light of the flickering candles.

MONIQUE
Dinner is almost ready, ready to eat?

RINGO
Hm, something is smellin’ real good

Monique placed heaping amounts of food into our plates and sat.
After dinner I cleared the table and we went into the living room and I positioned some large soft pillows next to the large window as Monique brought in the candles, we stood and looked out the window, the weather was warm and the bright moon caste an eerie glow on the dark waters of the lake. Muted voices could be heard drifting up from the sidewalk and a sailboat could be seen in the distance and Piper rubbed against Monique’s legs.

MONIQUE
How you doing John?

RINGO
Ok, but this X-Man thing is starting to get to me. We know for sure he’s responsible for at least five young women in the prime of life cut down by a damn maniac

MONIQUE
I’m concerned about you. Lieutenant O’Shea is struttin’’ around like a chicken with its head cut off and getting on everyone’s nerves and blaming you for not catching this monster. In my profession we seek reasons for a person’s actions, the why-fors for their behavior, we need completion just as police officers do and too many incompletes in one’s life and the stress and tensions can become too much to bear

RINGO
That’s why so many cops gets divorced and commit suicide. I’ve isolated myself, being a cop is all I ever wanted to be, but being a cop consumes you, entirely, slowly but surely. It had taken everything out of my life, when I found out that my ex-wife was having an affair, I was devastated and angry, and I kept asking myself why. When I confronted her she told me that I was married to the job not her, and when I think about it, she was right. The long hours, the coldness and aloofness that comes with being a police officer must be hard on any relationship; I am beginning to resent all that being a cop have taken from me

I took another sip of wine and suddenly felt pleasantly light head. I sat on a pillow and Monique joined me.

RINGO (CONT)
What about you, how did you get involved in police work?

MONIQUE
After graduating from the University of South Carolina I opened a clinic in my home town and most of my patients were neurotic, old white women and court referrals. One of these referrals was an eighteen-year-old black girl name Jean. Jean was abandon when she was three and was placed in a foster home when she was five. Her foster parents worked and she was left in the care of the foster mother father who was in his late seventies. From the time she was five until she was thirteen he sexually molested her. At first he made her give him blowjobs while he fondled her and masturbated, as she got older it was intercourse. As strange as it seems for her to get pregnant by such an old man, she did when she was fourteen. When she told the foster parents who the father was, of course they didn’t believe her and the foster mother aborted the baby, herself. After that, the girl became insolent and hard to handle; she started staying out and was gang raped by a group of young boys when she was fifteen. Finally, the foster parents went to court and she was sent to an orphanage where two elderly attendants raped her. When I got her she was all screwed up and angry, and I believe she was schizophrenic. I considered recommending she be institutionalized, but I thought I could help her, big mistake. She attended counseling for about two years and then she stopped coming. About a year later she entered a nursing home and killed three old men and was subsequently killed by the police. I felt guilty, I made a mistake that caused the life of four people, and she should have been institutionalized

RINGO
There was no way for you to know what she was going to do

MONIQUE
But I am a professional, I should have seen the signs, but I didn’t. After that I started researching how police departments dealt with people with mental problems, and to my surprise most of them didn’t. Their answer to dealing with a mentally handicapped person who was violent was a bullet in the brain or a jail cell

Monique took another sip of wine and Ringo noticed the tears. He cupped her in his hands and kissed away the tears. After his divorce Ringo had always thought that nothing or no one could touch him emotionally many things didn’t, but Monique felt so precious to him that he never wanted to lose her. The lights were low and the CD player changed to Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain. Monique lay back on the over sized pillows and pulled me on top of her. She started unbuttoning my pants as I unbuttoned her blouse. She wiggled out the blouse and exposed her small breast, I moved down her body, kissing her stomach and thighs. She removed my pants and I raised her skirt and pulled down her panties. I felt her body become rigid and arc beneath me and could feel her stomach muscles tense and ripple as I entered her. Her moans merged with the size of the waves on the beach as we collided with the rocky shore. I kissed her lips as I trusted deeper; Monique rolled me over on my back and straddle me making my erect penis go deeper. She moved steadily above me and kissed me hotly. My tongue found her erect nipples and I gently sucked them. The timing of our exhilaration and efforts increased and I encouraged her to join me in my release as I lifted and dropped her heavily upon me. I begged for her release and suddenly her ripping contortions directed my senses to the depths of her being. Feeling her heat I released into her and she cried out softly and held me tightly, we both moaned in total ecstasy as we climaxed together, then we were both still.
I kissed her lips as I withdrew and she rolled off and lay beside me. One of her legs flung sideways across my chest as we listened to the sounds of our breathing even out and the haunting melody of Miles. The scent of sex lingered, but the breeze through the window was chasing it from the room, the currents of cool air felt good as she rubbed my naked chest and stomach. Perspiration dropped from my body onto hers and I kissed it off as it disappeared along her neck and breast.

MONIQUE
John I like you a lot, but let’s take it slow Ok

RINGO
Ok, I said as I felt the rising again in my loins.

We made love again and when I awoke, she was gone.


The little man had watched Reverend Wilson interview and was incensed.

ESAU (SCREAMING AT THE TELEVION)
Who the hell he thinks he is calling me a monster and a coward, I’ll show them who’s a fuckin coward

INT:- First Church of Deliverance- 26 September 2008
Mariah Woodberry was quietly laying down in the pew on the far north side of First Church of Deliverance her head in her arms, she was tired and needed sleep but she was there waiting for Reverend Wilson, he had urged her to come so he could help her and her five children find a place to stay. Fortunately, he had arranged for the children to stay, at lease for the night, with a single female member of the church. She was glad that he told her to meet him after he finished his rounds in the senior building she didn‘t want anyone to see her. Esau Sneed had the cab driver drop him in front of the First Church of Deliverance. The church occupied the entire west side of the street, attached on the north was a day care center and to the south a three flat senior citizen building. A sign on the well manicured front lawn read, “OUR DOORS ARE ALWAYS OPEN” and a large parking took up the entire east side of the street. Esau entered and noticed three people, one man was dosing and another man was deep in meditation. Mariah watched as the little man entered and sat beside an old woman who was praying. There was utter silence in the large church and she saw the old woman close her bible and heard her say “Amen.”

OLD WOMAN
Welcome brother, can we pray together?

Mariah watched as the woman handed the man a gold trimmed bible and touching his hand.

ESAU
Yes, I would like that

Mariah sat in total silence and watched as they both lowered their heads as she read a scripture, in a few minutes she stopped and patted Esau hand again.

OLD WOMAN
Are you new to our church?

ESAU
Yes, I’m new to the city and I am looking for a good church

OLD WOMAN
Well, you’ve found one

ESAU
Who’s the pastor?

OLD WOMAN
A wonderful man, a true man of God, his name is Reverend Wilson


ESAU
Is he here now?

OLD WOMAN
No, he’s generally administering to the seniors until nine, and then he comes in for nightly prayer


Esau checked his watch, it was eight -forty five.

OLD WOMAN (GETTING UP)
I’ve got to go, hope I see you