Novel - The Ozone Café - Tattoo Lady, 2

Tattoo Lady (contd)

Everyone makes an effort for the party to be the coup d'etart of all parties. Winifred's mum and dad arrive with freshly cooked prawns, Ronny and Marjorie hover at the doorway with a bottle of champagne and homemade sausage rolls. The dining room table is filled with all kinds of assorted meats, chicken, turkey, ham. Strong smells of antipasto with olives, Gruyere cheese, dried tomatoes, salami, deliciously erupt through the room. Bill Sanderson and his lady friend are sitting in the corner with drinks on their lap, watching Pomadina's antics, while she spins crazily on all fours.

In the kitchen, Sandra pulls Vincenzo by side, away from an in depth conversation with Betty from the Club. 'I want you to meet my friend, Mandy,' says Sandra, bringing Vincenzo a little closer by pulling on his knitted vest. 'Mandy and I work together, Vin. We've known each other for fifteen years, through thick and thin.'

'Through divorces as well,' adds Mandy, shaking Vincenzo's hand. 'I've heard so much about your wonderful cooking and your Ozone Café, I'd like to take a look sometime,' she says, sweeping her blonde hair over her shoulders.

Vincenzo felt a little tongue-tied and all he could manage was a nod, saying, 'anytime, I be there.' What a babe he thought, nice looking, nice figure, smart too. He couldn't help thinking that tonight he would let his hair down, although he only had a few on top. It didn't matter. Wait until they hear the music. He waved all the women in from the kitchen to the lounge room where the men were seated. He asked his sisters to stand beside him. He wanted to make the introductions just right.

'Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me...I mean I am a very proud man tonight. Be quiet Pomadina,' he says, shaking his finger at the dog, so that she sat up on er haunches for the first time. 'My three lovely sisters have paid me the honour of a visit, so it is fitting that I pay them the honour of introducing them, one by one.'

Vincenzo proceeded to name his sisters, each time telling his guests about their little quirky natures, their good points, their not-so-good points (which got a laugh), and how back in Paola with a big family, they didn't have very much money, but the family was close and he promised that it would always be so. He got loud cheering at the end, with plenty of back slapping. Everyone warmed to Vincenzo. You see a man will be blessed by "the one above who sends down the warmth of the sun each day", if he leads a virtuous life, if he is good and kindly and leads the life of a saint. Well not quite so for Vincenzo, although he tried very hard to please everybody. However, Vincenzo's life was full of sunshine, and tonight he thought while God was sleeping he might get up to some wild things.

After the champagne and toasting, and before everyone dispersed, Vincenzo made another announcement. 'In the backroom,' he says, waving Bill Sanderson over. 'We got a machine, so just wait a minute, we gonna bring out the music.'

After a few minutes, with loud sounds of crashing, Bill and Vincenzo trolley in the largest juke box you have ever seen.

'Oh, man, the real deal,' says Rennie.

'It's a Seeburg, one of the best playing, sounding machines you'll ever find. But as from tonight it belongs to Vin. Let's rock 'n' roll the Seeburg, Vin.'

The women stand amazed at the sight before them. A nickelodian on wheels. It blipped and blinked on seconds of being plugged in; red, yellow, green, and blue lights flickering on and off as Vincenzo stacks some of his favourite records. Sandra and Rennie help clear the room, lifting the carpet rug from the floorboards. 'Let's dance,' Vincenzo says, clicking his glass with Anna's.

It was the Fourth of July, the end of the war, end of the revolution, Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve and Vincenzo's party all rolled into one. The discs clicked over, spinning the sounds of Bobby Darren, Elvis Presley, the Animals, and with uproarious laughter they clicked their heels, swung into a jive, or jigged on the spot, all singing along to the night has a thousand eyes, and a thousand eyes can see but true...uuuuuu.

Vincenzo knew he would have to dance with Mandy after his three sisters, Marjorie, Betty and Sandra. He gulped down two shots of Vodka for Dutch courage. He walked out to the back verandah, where Mandy was talking to Ronny, about real estate.

'Hey, watch that man, he sell you his grandmother,' says Vincenzo.

'I'm thinking of moving here, Vin. What do you think of that?'
'Okay, but I bet you can move on the dance floor better. Madam, would you like to dance with me?'

'Guess, I'll give it a burl.'

'Huh?'

'I'll try Vin, but I can't dance. I never learnt.'

'Doesn't matter. Come with me. I show you. Flapper style.'

It was Vincenzo's chance to show off his dance skills. He boogied, jitterbugged, and showed Mandy the Charleston. She nodded her approval, moving in close to his jiggling knees, telling him she could also cross her knees like the roaring thirties.

Puffed out, Vincenzo guided Mandy out the front, to the small porch where there were just two convenient cane chairs for them. 'I think I danced my knees off,' says Vincenzo. 'I can't feel them, oh, yes there they are. Still on their best behaviour.'

'Are you always on you best behaviour?' asks Mandy.

'Tonight, I very drunk....and you the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Mandy, I wanna...make...make you the most delicious meal in my café. What you say to that?'

'Why don't we go there now. You can show me around. No-one will miss us, they'll all drunk in there.'

Vincenzo's ears pricked. His groin suddenly ached. When was the last time, he thought, that he had been alone with a woman, a beautiful woman like this. And she was coming onto him in a big way. He couldn't believe his luck. He patted his belly. No, it was no longer a rotund lump of lard, he had lost weight, slimmed down with all the walking along the beach. He was only fifty six, still young and his body was telling him that he would like to touch this woman in the night, enter her gently from behind and feel lost in the smell of her Venus de Milo body.

'Okay,' he said, slapping his knees and getting up. In fact he sprung from the chair, delighted by the soft, delicate skin of Mandy's hand placed in his.

'It's just a short walk. Good shoes. Flat. Just right for walking along in the sand.'

'I once came to Satara Bay when I was little, for a holiday. But it's all changed. The Club is bigger, and there's more shops. It seems everyone on the Sunrise Coast commutes down the line to Sydney. I could do that until I found a job, maybe, in Heystbury.

Vincenzo opened the front doors, turned on the lights, then doused them quickly to just cubicle lights. He wanted to keep this wonderful mood happening. He was itching to ask this woman to be his friend from the very start, but thought it wise to take things slowly.

'What's up there?' Mandy points, wobbling slightly towards the first stair.

'It's my bedroom, and bathroom, of course. Actually I have two bathrooms and one other room for Pomadina.'

Vincenzo suddenly realised that he had forgotten Pomadina. She would fret, at first, then probably during the night would scratch at the front door. 'I forget Pomadina,' he said, giggling. 'Come with me. We have another drink upstairs.'

'I love your café, what I can see of it.'

'It's better in the daylight. Here, I show you my family.'

Mandy gently put down the photo album that was in Vincenzo's hand, and bent over in front of him, pulling down her lace panties. Vincenzo couldn't believe the beautiful porcelain sight in front of him. 'I wanted to show you my seahorse tattoo,' she says, pointing to another, below the bikini line. She lifted her blouse to reveal two full breasts pushed up by a wire contraption, and lowering the lace to almost the tip of her nipple, she showed Vincenzo her ladybird on the left, and her Scorpion on the right. Then Vincenzo discovered another tattoo on her belly, touching it with his hands like a precious jewel. He found himself kissing another slightly above her pubic hairs and then he was searching his naked body for war scars, but there were none, and both these two single people began pressing into each other, the dark pressing down gently on their bodies, their tongues finding the sweetness of each other's mouths. For a moment the ladybird flew away, the scorpion crawled under a rock, the seahorse rocked away, the butterfly winged skyward, and two swords sunk deep into flesh during the night, and one very hard sword belonged to Vincenzo.

* * *

In the morning Vincenzo had plenty of opportunity to study the nude body beside him. Mandy looked like Lady Godiva. Her hair was slightly wrapped around her body so that it covered one of her breasts as she lay on her side. He was smitten.