The Club - Epilogue
When Bobby awoke, the club lounge was nearly empty. One lady and her male were heading toward the vestibule to pick up their street clothes. A couple of butler males, out of uniform, were cleaning up here and there around the lounge. In the brief moment before the fog of sleep had cleared from his head, Bobby wondered if everything that had happened to him with Suzy had been a dream. When he recalled Suzy, he suddenly sat bolt upright. Suzy, Cindy and Jennifer were nowhere in sight. Bobby was sitting alone, stark naked on the couch.
The elegant lady who had been mistress of ceremonies came over and sat down across from Bobby's couch. She was now dressed in her street clothes - a pullover, blue jeans, a fringed tan leather jacket and tan boots. In one hand, she held a wrist-length pair of tan leather gloves. Her other hand held a small envelope.
"Bobby," she said. "My name is Laura. My husband and I are the owners of this club. Bobby, I want you to understand that this club is a secret establishment. Our patrons know this club only by two initials: G. L. People learn about this club's existence only when a patron like Suzy decides to invite and sponsor a friend like you to enjoy an evening here. Here, we are free to act out our deepest and truest desires. What occurs here is not an enactment of fantasies. It is an enactment of truth. But word of what transpires here must never pass beyond the front door. Suzy would have explained this more fully to you; but you slept so long that she finally had to leave, and she didn't want to wake you. However, she left this envelope for you. Bobby, sometimes our patrons see only one aspect of each other while they are here at the club. I just want you to know that Suzy is a very, very nice young lady. She is one of the nicest people we know who visit our club."
Laura handed Bobby the envelope. Bobby wanted to open it on the spot; but, because Laura and her husband were preparing to close, he decided to wait until he was outside. He thanked Laura for everything before claiming his clothes at the coat-check counter.
When Bobby stepped out into the alleyway, he was surprised to see that a pale sun had climbed well up into a hazy sky. There was still a chill in the air as he walked back to his parked car. It was about ten o'clock on a quiet Sunday morning and only two other cars were parked along the city street. Bobby never did get directions home from Suzy, and he had no idea of where he was. He just decided to drive until he came to a recognizable landmark. Eventually, he found his way back to his suburban home.
As he got out of his car, he suddenly remembered the bag of porno mags that he had placed under the passenger seat. He took the magazines along with Suzy's envelope inside his house and set them down on the kitchen table. Then he pulled up a chair, sat down and just stared a moment at the envelope. Last night seemed like a dream that was now light-years away. He still wondered if it had all really happened. But the envelope sat there before him on the kitchen table. And his bullwhipped rump was almost too raw to sit on. With trembling fingers, Bobby opened the perfume-scented envelope and removed a greeting card with a print of a Van Gogh still life on the front. Inside the card were one 50 and two 100-dollar bills.
The card read: "Dear Bobby - I've enclosed your share of the prize money, which we split equally four ways. I'm not very good at wording this, but I hope I did not involve you in anything that you may now have regrets or misgivings about. When I met you on my way back to the club, you seemed like a sincere, considerate man who just wanted directions on how to get home. I hope I did not lead you in a direction you did not want to go. Everything I said to you at the club was true, but some of it may have been truth that you were not ready to know. Anyway, I hope the experience was positive for you. - With kindest regards, Suzy."
Bobby wanted to see Suzy again more than anything. In the following weeks and months, he searched the old warehouse district to find the entrance to the club again. Every Saturday evening, he strolled the streets and alleys near the river in hope of finding the unmarked door through which Suzy had led him off the alleyway. He was never successful in locating the small pub that served as the club entrance. There were so many converted warehouses and so many streets that all looked similar. Bobby was never even sure whether he was scouring the right neighborhood. But, just over two years after his eventful evening at the club, he did see Suzy again, and it happened like this -
About 7:00 pm on a Thursday evening in early December, Bobby was finishing his Christmas shopping at a mall on the other side of town. As he entered Heatherby's, he suddenly recalled that this was the posh clothing store where Suzy and Jennifer sometimes purchased leather gloves. Out of idle curiosity, he decided to walk past the glove department in the ladies' section. As his eyes perused the many softly gleaming pairs of elegant women's gloves displayed behind glass under the counters, he pictured Suzy and Jennifer trying on different pairs while the little bald clerk waited on them. He didn't see the clerk they had described. When Bobby inquired, he was told that the clerk he was seeking worked Fridays thru Tuesdays.
Since Bobby had finished most of his Christmas gift shopping, he decided to wander back toward the men's wear section in a corner at the back of the store and perhaps purchase a few things for himself. Back there, he found a classy-looking black leather jacket. Bobby had never worn leather before. He decided to try it on. It was his size and made of very supple leather. He bought it and decided to put his old jacket in the shopping bag and wear his new one around the mall. As he was leaving the men's wear section, he saw a display of men's leather dress gloves. Bobby had never worn leather gloves, either. For some reason that he didn't quite understand, he didn't think that he could wear them in public without feeling extremely self-conscious. A pleasant older woman behind the counter asked if she could help him.
Excruciatingly self-conscious, Bobby asked if he could try on a pair of black leather gloves in the smallest men's size. Wondering if anyone was watching, he worked one of the gloves onto his hand. It was silk-lined, extremely supple and fit perfectly. He then decided to try another black pair - a pair that was completely unlined. Both pairs had a skintight fit and were so comfortable that Bobby felt almost sinful with them on his hands. He recalled Jennifer's description of how her full-length black kidskin gloves made her feel like she was 'wearing sex' on her hands.
But Bobby just wasn't sure that he could wear gloves in front of other people. He thought to himself, "It's different for women. People expect them to wear gloves. They can wear them any time and place they want. They don't need an excuse like cold weather." Then he heard a soft, seductive woman's voice behind him say, "Either of those pairs would be a very nice choice." Even after more than two years, Bobby recognized the voice instantly! An electric tingle of excitement coursed up his spine as he turned and saw Suzy.
She stood there smiling serenely at Bobby. Her deep blue eyes, offset by golden-brown eye shadow, appeared more startlingly beautiful than ever. Her lips gleamed with an iridescent shade of hot pink lipstick. She was wearing a pale blue pullover with a mauve silk scarf, chocolate-brown leather pants and matching spike-heeled boots. Bobby's eyes immediately glanced at Suzy's hands, which were tightly sheathed in elbow-length chocolate-brown leather gloves. In the same instant, he recalled Suzy's comment about how men try desperately not to look as if they're glancing at a woman's gloves. He could feel his face blush nearly purple. "Bobby," said Suzy, shaking her head with a sincere smile, "it's all right." To Bobby's amazement, she came over and gave him a warm hug.
"So," Suzy said. "Are you going to buy some gloves?"
"I - I really don't know," said Bobby, feeling deeply embarrassed, as if he had been caught on the verge of doing something illicit. Then he said, "Suzy, would you care to have an ice cream soda with me out at the food court?"
"Sure," said Suzy. "I'd love to. How have you been?"
On their way out to the mall food court, Suzy did some window-shopping. Occasionally, she and Bobby popped into a store to make a purchase. They had lots of time to chat. Bobby told Suzy that he had recently been promoted to working in the layout department at the same newspaper where he had previously labored as an apprentice pressman. He learned that Suzy was a vice president at a local publishing firm. As they discussed their jobs and some of their purchases, Suzy and Bobby also learned that they shared an interest in the visual arts.
"So G. H. Harrington didn't fire you or hold any sort of grudge against you for seeing him at the club?" asked Suzy.
"No," said Bobby. "In fact, I sometimes wonder if it might actually have had something to do with my promotion."
"I doubt it, Bobby," said Suzy. "Nothing that happens at the club is supposed to go beyond the door - unless, of course, two consenting patrons want it to. I think you might underestimate your own talents and abilities. Bobby - not to change the subject - but I don't think I can handle an entire ice cream soda. May I split one with you?"
"Sure," said Bobby.
They had finally arrived at the food court soda fountain. Bobby bought a root beer soda with vanilla ice cream and brought it to a table Suzy had picked out. They sat on stools on either side of a small circular table. It reminded Bobby of the table where Suzy and he had beers in the pub at the club entrance. "Suzy," he said, "I've searched all over, trying to find the club again for the past two years."
"It's still there," said Suzy. "Where have you been looking?"
When Bobby described the area, Suzy said, "That's not the right neighborhood. That's the Oakmont River district. The club is off Chelmsford Street, about three quarters of a mile downriver from there. Those two parts of town are separated by a park along the river. I like to go running there."
As Suzy and Bobby sipped their soda through straws, Suzy's forehead touched lightly against Bobby's. She had removed one of her gloves and laid it off to one side on the table.
"Bobby," Suzy asked, "why wouldn't you buy those gloves you were trying on? You looked scrumptious wearing them."
"I d-don't know," said Bobby. "I - I just don't think - that - well, you know."
"Think what?" said Suzy. "You just don't think that wearing gloves is manly because they feel so sensuous, right? Bobby, do you know how many women's heads you would turn if you wore those around the mall here? And besides, woolen mittens and fuzzy knit gloves are for little kids. Grown-ups wear leather. If we went back to Heatherby's together, could I talk you into buying the ones you tried on?"
"Sure - I guess," said Bobby. He liked the idea of turning women's heads, especially Suzy's. They went back to the men's wear section together, and Suzy talked Bobby into buying the two pairs of gloves that he had tried on. Then they strolled back onto the mall concourse again.
"So," said Suzy, "are you going to wear any of those?"
Taking a pair out of his shopping bag, Bobby said, "Maybe these." He and Suzy sat down on a bench at the edge of a mall fountain, and Bobby started working the new gloves onto his hands. With her own gloved hands, Suzy helped Bobby smooth them down between each of his fingers. A thrill shot through Bobby. At the club, he had yearned to be close to Suzy but did not believe it possible. But, now at the mall, sitting with Suzy's leather-clad hip pressing against him, could he dare believe it possible?
Suzy held Bobby's black leather-gloved hand in her brown leather-gloved hands. She said, "They go nice together, don't they? I mean the colors - black and brown." A sense of exhilaration engulfed Bobby as he felt the warmth of Suzy's hand through their gloves. Even though leather separated them from actual physical contact, he felt indescribably close to her. But he noticed that she looked at him with an earnest sort of expression tinged with something that he could not quite define. Was it sadness or perhaps regret?
"Bobby," she said. "You know, there are times when I almost wish that we had met differently - perhaps in a mall, like this - or maybe some other place. I have a dark side that I have to vent, and that was the side of me that you saw at the club. I make no apologies for that side of me. I'm a hedonist - an unabashed hedonist. I would be dishonest to try to deny that. I want to experience and savor as much of that side of life as possible." Then Suzy's voice dropped almost to a whisper as she continued, "But I also know that first impressions are lasting ones, and I just wish that - oh, I don't know. I guess I better get going now and let you finish your Christmas shopping."
When Suzy stood up to leave, Bobby got up, too. She gave him a big hug goodbye. After walking a few steps, she looked back at Bobby with a wistful smile and said, "Don't be too shy about wearing those gloves. Who knows - you might turn the head of some beautiful woman."
Bobby watched as Suzy walked off down the mall, turned a corner and disappeared from sight. He felt a sudden, stabbing pang of loneliness far greater than the physical pain Suzy had inflicted with her whip. Suddenly, he asked himself why he was letting her just walk off. Did he still resent her for the sexual power she held over him? She had been trying to say something but seemed unable to find the words. Was she trying to tell him that she wished they could get to know each other better? Bobby realized in a flash that she had all but spelled it out for him.
He took off running down the mall. He was sure that he had lost her. But when he turned the corner, he saw Suzy down at the far end of the concourse. He called to her, but she did not seem to hear him. Racing to catch up, he reached her just as she was at the exit.
"Suzy," he said, "Suzy! Hold up a second. You know, I'm finished Christmas shopping, and there's a great movie showing at the mall cinema. Would you like to see it with me?"
When Suzy turned, Bobby noticed that her beautiful, cerulean-blue eyes were moist. But then a smile slowly lit her face like the sun breaking through clouds. She caressed Bobby's face with warm, leather-gloved hands and said, "Bobby, I'd love to."
The End