Moonlight Salve 1

Naomi sat outside on the steps of the old house, that sat across from her own, in the vacant lot. The silver beams of the moon caressed her bowed head, working their way down her forehead leaving kiss marks of light behind. A single beam traced the path that tears had followed and continued to follow on their way to the ground, their ultimate destination.1

She shifted her head and watched the shadows of the trees in the distance do their voodoo dance, seemingly calling forth the smaller shadows of the night. It seemed a complete different dance from the one they had danced just hours earlier, when she had peeked out her bedroom window and sighed with a smile on her lips as she thought of all that was planned for her on the day of love, February 14, 2007. The images of the day played through the movie screen of her mind and even the drops of water flowing from her eyes could not make them any less clear than they were.2

*Six hours earlier*3

The sunlight streamed in through the bedroom window and a sparrow let out a loud shriek that jumped Naomi. She laughed throwing her head back and, ignoring the bird, continued to apply a light covering of makeup to her face. Today was the day she was going to pick up her driving licence after waiting six years to do the test! The thought ran through her head and caused her to giggle in delight. The fact that she would get a brand new car from her father was an added bonus. But those weren't the main thing that had her smiling so much that day. And although the car was nice, it certainly wasn't the thing that adding a becoming colour of coral to her cheeks. Today was Valentine's day! And for once in her life she had someone to celebrate it with.4

Rene.5

The thought of that name caused her skin to tingle and the sun beaming all through out the room had nothing to do with heat that suffused her body. A sigh broke out of her now pinked lips and she ran a hand down the curves of her body in anticipation. She blinked when she realised what she was doing and gave herself a little shake.
"Stop it." She said to herself, with a hint of laughter in her voice. " You'll get someone to do for you quite soon enough." 6

Just the thought of that brought out even more colour on her cheeks, and everytime the picture of the maple syrup colour skin on her man entered her mind, her cheeks would flame again. Naomi heard a strange, yet familiar sound hitting her ears each time that a thought of Rene entered her head. Whenever a thought of his muscular arms, his dark brown, sun streaked hair, his surprisingly green eyes, the sound would hit her ears again and again.7

It took her a while to realise that the sound she was hearing was the sound of little mewing moans escaping her lips. Naomi laughed, guiltily and leaned her head back again the wall.
" Oh Shoot!" Her eyes had caught sight of the huge cat shaped clock on her wall. " I'm late, I'm late, I'm running late."
She spun around hurriedly, hopping haphazardly across the room, painting herself into a pair of tight jeans, while at the same time trying to pack her day bag and grab her mobile to call Rene, while trying to brush her permed blondish brown hair.8

"Hi, Rene here."9

Naomi smiled to herself then rushed to say, "Oh hi baby, I'm now getting..."10

"I'm not here right now but leave a message I will definitely most likely without a shadow of a doubt get back to you."11

She sighed. His voicemail always fooled her with the lengthy pause after the initial greeting. 12

She sighed again, and decided to leave a message as the instructions said.13

"Hi baby, just calling to tell you I'm leaving here soon, going to pick up my licence and then to my dad's office to get the keys for my car." 14

Her voice started to bounce with excitement.15

" I can't wait to see you this evening. I love you, baby!"16

She thought about wishing him a "Happy Valentine's Day", but decided to leave it until that evening when she could do it in a much more mutually pleasurable way. She hit the end button, turned to pick up her bag, stuffed the mobile into the front pocket and headed for her bedroom door. 17

Just as her hand reached the knob, a quick blow of breeze entered through the half opened bedroom window and knocked something down from the dressing table. The sudden noise caused her to jump and spin towards the direction of the sound. Holding her hand to her chest, she regained control of her breathing. Still holding her chest,Naomi walked over to the dressing table, bent down in front of it and picked up the metal square that had been pushed off of it. Turning it over, a cry of dismay flew from her mouth as she caught sight of the spider cracks in the glass of the picture frame that held a cozy image of her and the same guy she had been thinking about all morning in very close proximity to each other.18

She ran her hand slowly and carefully over the fractures in the glass, trying to decide what would be the best course of action to solve the problem. The loud squawking of the alarm on her clock decided for her. Naomi carefully laid the broken frame on her bed, making sure that no splinters of glass cut the 'happy moment' photo that rested underneath. 19

"I'll deal with that when I get back." She said aloud as she always had to do in order to remember things.20

She grabbed her bags again, headed for the door and turned the knob. This time she actually made it through the door but was stopped by the sound of her mother's querying voice. 21

"Naomi! Are you leaving now?!" Her mother's voice floated down the upstairs hallway.22

"Yea, Mum. I'm running late. Talk to you later! Bye!"23

"Naomi, before you go...You got a message from the agency, they want you to start working at Miklos Sarenti International two weeks from today."24

Naomi's bags dropped from her hand to the floor, mimicing the movement of her mouth. She left them there, barely even noticing where they were and hurried down the hall to where her mother's voice seemed to be coming from. Entering the third door on her right, the sight of her mother lying on her side in the big king size bed that her parents shared greeted her.25

Her mother turned her head to meet the open mouth stare of the cafe au lait skinned daughter that everyone said was like looking at a younger mirror age image of her. She bounced off the bed and gave her child a huge hug.26

"Yes, Honey! I know you wanted this for sooooooooo long. I am so happy for you!"27

Naomi still looked shocked. Quickly,she shook herself out of her catatonic state and hugged her mother fiercely.28

"Oh Mummy, I can't tell you how...how...I can't even say what I'm feeling." 29

With that she laughed, thinking that this day was getting better and better. It was Valentine's day and obviously Cupid and all his brothers and sisters of luck were working overtime for her. Naomi gave a contented sigh and stepped back from her mother. Her mother smiled in a way that only proud mothers can do.30

"Anyhow, Nai, I know you are late. We'll celebrate this tonight...Oh no, make that tomorrow,right? You are going out with Rene?"31

" Yup, some restaurant or the other." Naomi tried to downplay her emotions which were positively about to explode. " I'm going by him first though. I might stay over. So if you need me you can call me there, aight mom?"32

" HMMMM. I hear you. Use condoms!"33

"MOMMMMMMMM! I'm 24 years old!" She blushed a blooming shade of rose red.34

Her mother let her brown eyes rest on her older daughter's reddened face and laughed exposing the even white teeth that all her children shared.35

"You could be 90, and I'd still try to protect you, Sweetie. Have good day today, hear? Oh and have you seen Noralee?"36

Naomi started to back out of the room. " One, I plan on having a great day. Two, no I have not seen my little sister since last night when she came to borrow a silk blouse from me. And," Naomi dashed through the door, " If I were 90, you'd be dead and you wouldn't be protecting me ANYWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! LOVE YOU TOOOOOOOOO!" 37

Laughing, she ran to her things and heaved them over her shoulder, ignoring the teasing words her mother sent after her. She checked the time registering on the time piece adorning her wrist and increased her pace. The bus stop was only 2 minutes away and as she made the short trek there from her house, she couldn't help but thinking over and over again that this would be the last day she would have to depend on mainly on public transport, if she wanted to go places on her own.38

She paid her fare and made her way to the very back of the bus, where the highest seats in the bus were. Slipping her earphones over her ears, she flicked the switch on her mp3 player and let it find the song she considered as her's and Rene's. The mellow bone-melting voice of Ginuwine seaped through the earphones and into her ears.39

"I love you more everyday, You show me love in everyway..." 40

The crooning took her mind into the zone that was filled with memories of things that she and Rene had done in the year that they had known each other.41

"There's nothing else for me to say, But I love you..." 42

She could almost feel the familiar touch of his lips whispering over her neck as his fingers lightly touched her lower curves, leaving his invisible mark all over them. She shivered inwardly just at the thought of his technique of running his hands over her shoulders and sides, not letting the skin touch but letting its presence arouse her senses.43

"I don't stop loving you, and I won't stop kissing you. You're the reason why I smile."44

Ginuwine's voice took her deeper into the memories of her mind and played on the built up anticipation in her body. The scents of sexual tension, sweat and cologne always radiated off his skin and the mix was a potent factor in her passion, increasing it at least 2-fold. 45

Naomi leant her head back on the seat, let the music wash over her and bring very real visions of Rene teasing her light brown nipples with first his fingertips, then the moist warmth of his mouth. A low frustrated moan almost exited her lips, but it was quickly called back and buried as she shifted in her seat. 46

"And I won't stop holding you, and I won't stop loving you. You're the reason why I smile."47

Rene would usually then ease his mouth followed by his fingers down a path that picked its way through the mounds that were her breasts, down past the indent in the center of her lower belly, past the first inklings of curly dark brown hair and to- Naomi jerked up and let out a loud gasp as a tremor started to course through her body. She turned her head towards the window in embarrassment and looked out at the passing scenery. 48

It was a good thing she did because if she had spent a couple more seconds in her daydream she would have missed her chance to stop the bus at the right bus stop in time.
*******************************************************************49

The man behind the counter at the Licensing Authority looked up and gave a smile to the young lady standing in front him. 50

"Good morning, how may I help you?"51

Naomi smiled back, barely keeping her excitement under wraps.52

"Hi, my name is Naomi Anderson. I took my driving test on Tuesday, they told me to come back today to collect my licence."53

The man reached behind him and pulled out a heavy blue book.54

"Did you pay your fees already?" 55

Naomi nodded.56

"Good, Anderson...Anderson...First name again?"57

"Naomi. N-A-O..."58

The man chuckled and said, " I think I know how to spell Naomi, but thanks anyhow. Here we go. Naomi Anderson."59

He pushed the book towards her and handed her a brown envelope.60

"Check the envelope to make sure that you have the right card and then print your namein this column, and sign here verifying that you collected your licence."61

She leaned forward, her forehead almost butting the glass partition that was up between her and the man. Drawing the book through the slot in the door, she took the envelope lying on it and did a breath of a prayer before tearing it open. Her face, mouth contorted in a half smile that was forever frozen in time, stared back at her from the hard white plastic. Naomi stared back at it, almost not believe what she held in her hands finally.62

"Miss Anderson???"63

The vaguely familiar male voice jolted her from her intense stare battle with her photographic self. She raised her head towards the man talking. He smiled knowingly.64

"Miss Anderson, you need to sign here. There are other people in the line waiting," he said, not unkindly.65

"Oh, yes. Sure. No problem. Here? Okay!" 66

Naomi printed her name down, then hastily scrawled its signature replica in the designated column. Pushing the pen and the book back towards the man, she offered him a quick expression of gratitude, then strode away from the counter.67

The rain clouds were setting themselves up for an afternoon after when she emerged from the building. Naomi barely noticed them, only stopping very briefly to ensure she had packed her small pocket umbrella. She placed her hand in her jeans pocket where the small white card had been stuff. Her fingers felt around its edges over and over again. The yellow bus with blue stripes, different from the blue one with yellow stripes she had taken that morning, stopped in front of her. Beckoning dancehall music streamed through its open doors and the conductor stepped back to allow her to enter.She handed him her bus fare, one dollar and fifty cents, and eased to sit in the very front seat next to the driver.68

The barely controlled excitement burst through and she pulled the new licence card from her pocket. She would have sat there gazing at it and grinning like a complete fool to herself, if it had not been for the conductor peering over her shoulder a couple of seconds later and interupting her stupor.69

"Waitttttttttttttttt. Somebody got dem licence! I like I going to have to stop working van and be somebody mechanic!"70

The driver grinned at the conductor and glanced over in time to see the embarrassed expression now dominating Naomi's face.71

"Boy, why you doan leff de girl nuh! You did get on so too when you...Oh wait, you can't drive, can you?"72

"I did just waiting for a four horn sheep like you to bring that up! You can't left good people to mind dem own..."73

The conductor and the driver traded insults and comments, while Naomi's face returned to an almost normal expression as she tucked her driver's licence into her purse. Deciding to ignore them, in a friendly sort of ignoring of course, she checked her mobile. Her face contorted into a slight frown when the sign flashed on her screen saying no messages. Rene should have at least texted by now, if not called. Her thumb hit the speed dial two button and soon the ringing in her ears signalled that her phone was trying to connect with her boyfriends.74

"Hi baby, waz up?"75

She gave a sigh as his baritone voice washed over her ears and into her mind.76

"Hi, Rene. Did you get my message?"77

"Yeah baby, I did." He sounded a bit hurried, but he was usually busy around this time and she was accustomed to making only short calls during this period of the day.78

"Okay, honey. I'll check you later. I'm going now to stop by my dad and pick up the car."79

"Aight, baby."80

"Bye, I love..." The sound of a click and then the call drop tone sounded in her ear.
She noticed the conductor and driver trying hard not to let her know that they were listening in on her conversation.81

"..you. Have a good day!" She continued talking as if Rene was there and then acted as if she was hanging up. There was no way these guys were going to know that her call had gotten cut off.82

The conductor was the first to comment.
"Oh, Oh. Sweet ting got a man. So I can't be your man too?"83

The driver took one hand from the steering wheel and smacked him on his arm.
"Ya idiot. Wha she going to want wid a man like you? Girl, Don't mind he, hear? He is a bare idiot. But you gotta excuse he...He get drop pun he head when he did a baby. Actually he get drop pun he head yesterday..."84

"You!! Only you hear! Trying to edge in pun a man game. Who you feel you is? If you din driving I wud hit you, ya know! Sweet ting, ignore he, he don't know nothing. When somebody the other day ask he if he want corned beef. He say sure but keep de corn, he don't like salad!"85

Naomi couldn't help but laugh at that one. For the entire ride to the city centre the driver and conductor continued insulting each other much to the merriment and enjoyment of the passengers. Some even joined in with a few remarks of their own. Naomi was still laughing when she alighted and got on to the bus that would take her by her father's office. A few chuckles escaped her through that journey and were still occasionally finding themselves bubbling to the surface when she make the short trek from the stop in front her dad's office to the waiting room.