The Convent Rose (The Roses) Read online

  Both the truck and the trailer were custom-detailed with gold pin-striping. On the door, the long gold line curved into racing letters spelling out “Bodey.” The boy checked out the door in the side of the trailer. It opened into a small room for tack and had a cot that folded out from the rear wall. Then, he fiddled with the dual-speaker radio inside the air-conditioned, leather interior of the cab. Standing on the deep running board, Bodey showed his manners by raising his hands for silence.

  “Big Ben has always treated me like his son, and I want to thank him for getting me this fine rig and for not getting me one of those sissy sports cars he gave his daughters.”

  The group laughed appreciatively and began to wander back to the bar and snacks being served by the hired help. Bodey signaled to his buddy and dangled the keys.

  “Want to unhitch the trailer and go for a ride? Maybe we can find some girls and bring ’em back to the party. So far, the only ones here are Ben and Bets’ old friends.”

  “Hold on until you get my gift.” Rusty eyed the access road at the foot of the hill.

  “No need for a present,” Bodey answered hastily, knowing how every cent Rusty earned went into his college fund.

  “Didn’t cost me a dime. The phone call wasn’t even long-distance. And here they come now.”

  A sharp, red four-seat convertible turned off the access road and passed under the Three B’s arch. Filled to bursting with Mount Carmel girls, some still in their uniforms, others dressed for the occasion, the sporty car roared up the hill.

  “I called my Cousin Renee about that blonde chick. It seems Cuz was having a sleepover tonight for some of the Academy girls, so I invited them to the party. You know what they say about Catholic girls. Can’t wait to do it once they get away from the nuns.”

  Somehow, seven young women had jammed into the jaunty little car. They waved like a fourteen-armed octopus and shouted to the guys as Renee brought the convertible to a screeching halt. Bodey scanned the group for Miss Fancy Pants. Four bottle blondes, but none of them was her. Oh well, at least this group looked happy to be here.

  Rusty signaled to his cousin to park on the grass between a Caddy and a Mercedes. The girls tumbled out, swayed up the rest of the hill, and skirted the new truck and trailer without giving the rig a glance. They moved on to the rear of the house with Bodey and Rusty in the center of their swarm and ran smack into Betsy Barnum.

  “It’s so nice some of your friends could come,” said the cautious mother. “Since y’all are here, please help yourself to some Coke or Dr. Pepper over at the bar. Bodey needs to blow out the candles on his cake. Then, we can get to the food. Renee, I know you, and these girls are…?”

  “Courtney, Jennifer, and Kelley,” she pointed to three of the blondes. “Julie, Sally, and Noreen, my friends from the Academy.”

  Renee tossed auburn locks a shade brighter than Rusty’s hair. Her freckles were carefully obscured by make-up, and her lips and eyelids smeared with quickly applied cosmetics. She had thrown on a backless sundress and attired four friends of similar size in party clothes probably from her vast closet. The other two still wore their plaid kilts and white blouses.

  Renee gushed, “We’ve heard about the bashes at the Three B’s, and we weren’t about to miss a minute of this one. Thanks for inviting us.”

  Knowing full well no invitation had been sent to this somewhat slutty girl, but assuming her son had called them, Betsy Barnum fell back on her own manners. “Nice to meet y’all. Well, go on now and get something to drink. Bodey, the candles are dripping wax on the cake. Blow them out like a good boy.”

  Courtney and Kelley snickered. Bodey turned red as a Texas sunset, but obediently walked over to the cake and did the birthday routine. The guests clapped. Betsy started cutting the cake, placing little chocolate squares on paper plates.

  The schoolgirls, meanwhile, circled the pool. Kelley pointed out the grossness of the pig’s head on the table while short, plump Noreen shook her head of dark curls sadly and said, “Poor Piggy,” her deep brown eyes filling with tears. The others, heading for the bar, passed without a glance at the table.

  Renee put on her most sophisticated air and requested a rum and Coke from the college boy tending the bar. He eyed her up and down, then shrugged and poured the drink. It was private party, and none of his business. The rest of the girls lacked Renee’s nerve and settled for diet versions of Dr. Pepper and Sprite. They swooped down on a bowl of spiced pecans and carried it away to a table on the lawn where the flock settled. Renee, seeing Bodey on the loose, waggled a finger at him and he came.

  “Say, Bodey, I heard you want to know all about Eve Burns. I can tell you, you are wasting your time on the Princess. She doesn’t date, probably wants to be a nun. Besides, she’s Daddy’s little girl. I invited her to my party tonight, but no, she’s going to New Orleans with her father to see a play over the weekend. I’m surprised she isn’t here. Her dad is over there talking to Mr. Barnum.”

  A bluff, blond man nearly Big Ben’s size and red in the face from drink, gestured with a long-necked beer bottle to make a point. Ben’s voice boomed over the crowd noise. “Yep, I agree about them A-rabs. They’re a sneaky bunch. Who knows what they’ll do next when it comes to oil prices. But this is a party. Let’s forget about the future for a while—eat, drink, and be merry, right!”

  “You sure your boy wouldn’t rather have Jag or a nice Mercedes roadster?”

  “You done sold me two new Cadillacs last year, Dickie, so quit being the salesman. Bodey got what he wanted. The boy plans to do the rodeo circuit when he’s not in school. I said to Bets, let him do what he wants, but she is insisting on four years of college for the kid. Hell, I never went to college, and I’m richer than anyone at this party.”

  “Is that so?” Richard Burns said. “Nice to find oil on your ranch in Texas, though.”

  “Go on and enjoy the party!” Big Ben slapped him on the shoulder, then turned to pinch up a piece of the steaming pork with a little bit of the shining browned skin attached from a vast platter just set on the table. Ben swallowed the gob of meat and reached for a pitcher of margaritas. He banged on it with a serving fork.

  “Listen up folks, one more time! We got another surprise to announce.” Big Ben checked to see if his ranch manager had arrived. Trim Ted Niles, cleaned up in a white shirt and wearing a black string tie, had slipped quietly into the party and now sat at a table on the land he’d once owned.

  Big Ben beckoned the boys away from the Mount Carmel girls. He put his beefy arms around their shoulders.

  “Bodey here, got offered a scholarship from McNeese University where he plans to head up their rodeo team. I tried to talk him into A & M or UT, but he wasn’t having none of it.” Applause, hoots, and hook ’em horns signs came from the audience.

  “I said Big Ben’s boy can go anywheres he wants. He don’t need a scholarship, but I do know a lad who does, Rusty Niles, a great roper and steer wrestler who would be an asset to your team. Rusty, you and Bodey are going off to college together. Let’s give these boys a hip hip hooray!”

  Ben Barnam held up Rusty’s arm like he’d just won a boxing match. Russell Niles dipped his head so his reddish-brown hair flopped across his eyes.

  “Okay, now. Let’s eat this here pig before he gets cold and turns to lard. Boys, you go first.” Big Ben gave them a friendly shove and lined up in back of Bodey.

  The teenagers filled their plates. Bodey headed straight back to the Mount Carmel table where the girls had accumulated a few stray margaritas. Rusty Niles went over to his father seated nearby.

  “It’s not right. If the scholarship was for Bodey, they shouldn’t give it to me.”

  “Don’t be a fool, son. Bodey Landrum doesn’t lack for money.”

  “We’d have money like Uncle Jed if you had gone into real estate and sold off the land for houses like he did instead of giving it away in one piece to Mr. Barnum.”

  “Big Ben gave me a good price and a promise
not to subdivide the ranch. I’m sorry the money had to go to paying off the mortgage and the rest of your mother’s medical bills, but that’s the way of life. We still get to live here, and I got a good job with Three B’s. It don’t pay to be too proud, Russ. Pride can ruin a man.”

  “I’m not proud. I’m ashamed and embarrassed.” Rusty left his full plate on the table in front of his dad and stalked off to the barns to brood.

  Bodey watched his friend go. He’d heard enough of the conversation over the chatter of the girls to know Rusty needed his support right now. Who cared how they got to college? Going to the same school they could do rodeo together, chase girls, and generally cut loose. He’d point that out to Rusty, cheer him up. He started to rise, but Renee Niles pulled him back to the table. She’d been pouring the margaritas into the empty soda cans just in case Mrs. Barnum came around to check up on the group.

  “Anyhow, I said to Eve Burns, how come you didn’t get a car last fall for your sixteenth birthday when your daddy owns Burns Luxury Vehicles? She says her daddy drives her to school every day, and that is their time together.” Renee lowered her voice as if she were in the confessional. “Her parents are divorced, you know. He still has to pay for her schooling. I don’t know why she’s such a snob when everyone knows her daddy is the worst kind of womanizer.”

  “I don’t think she’s a snob. Eve is just quiet. She likes to paint off by herself and spend time in the stables with the horses. She wants to go to art school, not the convent,” dark-eyed Noreen claimed, ending her statement with a hiccup.

  “Oh, drink up, Noreen. This is your night. We’ve all done it except you, and we have two fine cowboys ready to help you out.”

  “I don’t think I can.” Noreen put her hand over her lips to suppress the hiccups. “It’s a shin—a sin, you know, sex before marriage.”

  “If Catholic girls never lost their virginity, there wouldn’t be so many Catholics in the world. It’s like your duty, Noreen. If you won’t do it tonight, you’re out of the club,” Renee bullied.

  Noreen downed the contents of her Sprite can as fast as she could. “I’m almost ready. Bodey?”

  “Not Bodey. It’s his birthday, and he doesn’t want some inexperienced little virgin ruining his fun. Let’s walk over to the barns, and I’ll give Bodey a present he won’t forget.”

  They tried to stroll casually past the cadre of adults, but the drunkest of the girls kept giggling and drawing attention. Mrs. Barnum called out from a table where Mr. Burns showed her a glossy brochure of Jaguars from his newly acquired franchise. “Where you going, Bodey?”

  “Ah, just takin’ the girls to see the foals out in the pasture. They’re real cute.”

  “Don’t be long, you hear?”

  Bodey nodded and kept walking. He’d heard about Rusty’s cousin. The group crossed the road and headed for the nearest of the barns where a few mares in season were being boarded. Plenty of empty stalls full of clean rice hull bedding stood ready for a romp. As soon as Bodey slid the door open wide enough to slip the two girls through, he found Rusty kicking at a hay bale.

  “Hey, Russ. The girls want to give us a present,” Bodey announced happily. When he got closer to Rusty his voice dipped, and he whispered, “That Noreen is a virgin. Never had one of those myself.”

  Russell Niles jerked his head up and appeared startled and suddenly shy. His Cousin Renee busily worked out logistics.

  “Noreen, you go over and stand by my cousin. The rest of you girls get out and walk down the hill. Pretend to admire the horses. Bodey, you come along with me to the other end of the barn while we find ourselves a comfortable spot. Noreen Courville, you know what you have to do if you want to be part of the Sexy Seven.”

  Renee led the way to a clean stall near the rear door of the barn. She checked to be sure the walls were high enough for privacy and saw Noreen and Rusty moving into a stall near the front door.

  “Good. If anyone gets caught, it will be them. She crooked her finger at Bodey.

  “You got condoms, cowboy?”

  “Sure. Big Ben told me never to leave home without ’em. There’s two in my wallet.”

  “Here’s how this is going to happen. I want my tits and down between my legs rubbed for a good long time before you stick it in, you hear. You may kiss me as much as you want. You put on your own condom, too.”

  The ground rules laid, Renee unhooked her backless sundress and dropped it to her waist. Two firm young breasts sprang free, the pink nipples already jutting out in anticipation. Bodey clamped his hands down on the boobs and began to rub.

  “Not so hard, Bodey!”

  “I know what I’m doing! Big Ben took me to a real whorehouse in New Orleans when I turned sixteen, but I had two other girls before that after rodeos and some since.”

  “Then shut up and do it.”

  Bodey applied his mouth to Renee’s nipples to free up his hands. He let his fingers wander under her dress and strip off her pink bikini pants. He worked with his fingers until she was good and slick and gasping and bending back into the rice hulls. As he knelt between Renee’s legs, he unzipped and fumbled a condom from his wallet. Shoot, he should have given one to Rusty. Well, shoot, just shoot.

  At the other end of the barn, Noreen sat huddled in a corner of the stall. Her eyes were wide, and her lips quivered. “I’ve never done this before. I had to get a little bit drunk to do it.” A gentle burp passed her lips.

  “We haven’t done anything yet, Noreen, and you shouldn’t let Renee push you into it. She’s bossy and mean. Why, we don’t have to do anything. We can just say we did.”

  “Really? No, Renee will want some kind of proof.”

  Noreen’s dark eyes seemed to fill her face, they were so wide. Rusty bet she thought she was fat, but the girl had a nice round figure and a pretty pink and white complexion like the china figurines his mom collected. His dad had broken some with his clumsy attempts to use the vacuum. The rest sat covered with gray dust.

  “Give me your panties. I’ll get you some proof.”

  Self-consciously, Noreen removed a pair of pristine white cotton panties from beneath her plaid kilt, taking care that she showed nothing off in the process. Rusty listened for a moment. The moans and grunts from the far end of the barn were loud enough to cover his exit from the stall. He found one of the nervous mares there for breeding, raised her tail and rubbed the crotch of the panties against the horse. He crept back to where Renee watched, her dark eyes peeping over the stall. “Here,” he said, offering the panties.

  “Oh, yuck! Gross! I can’t put these back on!”

  “Suit yourself. Here.” He wrapped them in a ball and stuffed the wad into the pocket of her blue, parochial girl sweater.

  “I can’t go back to the party naked down there, Rusty.”

  “Okay. Let me think. Turn around. Don’t look.”

  Noreen heard the sound of his zipper going down, his pants dropping. She worried that he might have changed his mind completely. A few seconds later, the sounds reversed. The cloth swished upwards. The zipper zinged to the top of a pair of pants.

  “Here, wear mine. I put them on clean before I went to the party.” He dangled his tighty-whities on one finger.

  Noreen took them gratefully, stepped into the leg holes, and pulled the underwear up. The cotton was still warm from his body.

  “Rusty Niles, I believe I want to kiss you.”

  She did. Her lips were plump and tasted of the salt and lime of margaritas taken on the sly. Rusty put his arms around her and prolonged the kiss. Noreen opened her mouth to breathe, and he slipped in just a little tongue. He found his hands moving to the soft breasts under the simple white blouse.

  A shout came from the far end of the barn, then an order. “You just keep moving, Bodey Landrum.”

  Sounding a little out of air, Bodey called, “You need a condom, Rusty?”

  “Got my own, thanks!” Russ tried to answer in the same gasping voice. He whispered to Noreen. “Lie
down and sort of swirl your head in the rice hulls.”

  Rusty lowered himself carefully on top of Noreen. If he wasn’t careful, he’d embarrass himself. They kissed some more until they heard a shriek from Renee. Russ rolled off of the girl and instructed, “Try to look satiated, will you?”

  They lay side by side waiting for Bodey and Renee to put themselves back together. Noreen closed her eyes and breathed through half-open lips. She put a hand behind her head making her rumpled white blouse gap. Rusty could see the swell of one flushed breast. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. Finally, the other couple came clumping toward their stall. He helped Noreen up and was brushing rice hulls from her hair and skirt when Renee looked in.

  “Well, how did it go, Noreen?”

  “Great, really great. It didn’t hurt at all. I think Rusty Niles is the most wonderful boy I’ve ever known.”

  Bodey raised his dark eyebrows at Renee. Renee looked at her cousin as if she’d never seen him before. She sniffed. “Coming from a member of the Courville family, I guess that is a compliment for all of us lowly Niles.”

  Then, Renee said smugly, “Well, I guess Bodey Landrum is the best lover I’ve ever had, and he’s going to be the best bull rider in the whole world.”

  “Bodey, Bodey Landrum! Some of the guests are leaving. You come out here and say good-bye.” Mrs. Barnum’s voice came closer and closer to the barn.

  Frantically, Rusty Niles brushed Noreen’s backside. She tossed her hair trying to remove all the rice hulls. Bodey, though, he just sauntered out meet his mother in the spring twilight as if nothing had happened. He did keep a hand over the place where his championship belt buckle had gone missing—down the front of Renee’s dress. Oh well, he could win another one. Renee followed him, her frock looking as if she had slept in it, her hair as full of rice hulls as if she had been showered with confetti.

  Bets gave her son a once-over stare along with Renee and the sheepish couple behind them. “I think it’s time for your little friends to go home, too.”

  The boys walked the Mount Carmel girls back to their convertible. Despite Mrs. Barnum watching from a distance, Renee gave Bodey a sizzling good-bye French kiss of some duration. “Happy birthday, cowboy. I hope you enjoyed your present.”