Mardi Gras 1969

Chapter 7

Ebony was awakened from her sleep by a firm gripping sensation. Looking at the clock it read 3:14 AM. A few hours had passed since their relations. As she fully came to, she felt Lincoln forcefully squeezing down on her chest. "Lincoln, hey! Ease up!" She tried squirming her way out of his grip but was unsuccessful. What's going on with him? "Agh," she bit out as one of his nails started to dig into her shoulder. "Lincoln what the fuck! Let me go! I'm not playing with you!" Ebony started to kick and turned to look at him. His eyes were moving rapidly under his lids and his breathing was heavy. That's weird, he's still asleep. "Lincoln, WAKE UP!"

Lincoln's eyes flung open and he panted heavily, feeling as if he had narrowly escaped the attack of an unknown enemy. Another nightmare. Looking down he saw Ebony staring at him fearfully. He released his grasp on her, "I'm sorry, I was just having a bad dream." She looked over him pensively, "Do you have shell shock?" Lincoln paused, a part of him knew he did but was not ready to accept it. "I'm not sure. I just know I been having bad dreams ever since I came back from 'Nam." "What're they about," she asked. "Bad things...I don't want to talk about them." "Ok," Ebony got out of her bed and started heading for her door. She put on a robe as Lincoln turned to her, "Where are you going?" "You look like you could use some tea or something," she let herself out.

Lincoln laid back on the bed and looked over at the clock. Damn, I'm losing track of time. Might as well spend the night. Thoughts of the explosive sex he had hours before came back to him. He grinned. That was something. The way she licked my scar, I'd never had that done before. He had to admit to himself Ebony was probably one of the best he ever had, if not the best. Something about her carefree nature paired easily with his own and he felt like he had known her for longer than just the night. I wonder when I'll be able to fuck her again... His thoughts were interrupted as Ebony came back into the room, a cup of tea in one hand a plate of plantains in the other.

After removing her robe, she handed him the tea and laid down on the bed with the plate. "Those for me?" Lincoln asked. "Yea....they were, until I realized I was kind of hungry." Ebony stuffed a few plantains in her mouth. "You could at least save some for me!" Lincoln exclaimed. She looked back down at the plate, "I'll think about it..." she continued to eat the plantains hastily. Lincoln looked over her body which was still naked, "Quite an ass you got, what's your secret?" Ebony smiled and pointed at the plantains, "These are, you eat as many of them as I do and you just might get an ass like mine. No guarantees though!" They both laughed and Lincoln continued to drink his tea.

"This is really good, what's in it," he asked. "Ginger root and cinnamon, helps to warm the blood on cold nights." "Hm I see." He thought of all the different foods he had tried in her presence. I could get used to this. "I think my brother has shell shock," Ebony passed the plate of plantains towards Lincoln. "How you know?" "He writes to me, is over in 'Nam right now," she shook her head, "Was devastated when I found out he was being drafted. A lot of our brothas don't come back from over there, and if they do, they're not the same." "Well I can't disagree with you on that. I know I didn't," Lincoln looked down at his tea.

"What is war like?" Ebony asked. Lincoln thought about it for a moment. "Hell. It's hell on earth." "You've really had it bad. To come back from that, and then lose your family... If that happened to me I'd probably lose it," Ebony turned to him. Who said I hadn't... He didn't respond. "Who do you still have?" she asked. Here she go with the questions again. "I'm not sure," Lincoln replied honestly. "Do you have a woman," she asked. "Yea, my Aunt Lily is helping me to rebuild Sammy's." Ebony reached out to Lincoln, squeezing his arm, "No. I mean a woman." He reflected on the relationships he had over the past year. He did have sex regularly and with different women, but nothing fruitful ever seemed to come from it. "I guess I don't," he shrugged and drank some more tea. He felt the need to ask her a question that he wasn't sure he wanted an answer to, "You have a man?" Ebony sighed, "Yea of course I have some guys I talk to here and there, that I fuck, that I go out with." Lincoln struggled to put the thought of another man fucking Ebony out of his head. "So you have options," Lincoln responded. "Yea if you wanna call them that," she turned to look up at the ceiling.

"So what's with all the questions?" Lincoln asked her as he noticed a contemplative look coming back to her eyes. "I don't know Lincoln, I really like you. I think we have good chemistry, definitely have good sex." "I agree, but it's only been a day. We still don't know each other very well yet." "Maybe it's just me but I feel like I've known you longer than this..." Her words brought him back to his earlier thoughts. So she's thinking the same thing. "Well I enjoy your company. I could use more of this, or whatever we have going on here." She turned towards him smiling, "I think you could too. You know what I could use some more of?" He looked at the plate, "Plantains?" "No!" Ebony laughed, "I mean that," she pointed between Lincoln's legs.

"Ok. I won't deny you," Lincoln got up and put the tea on Ebony's desk. "How do you want it," he asked. She looked towards him, "I'm not sure how. I just know I want it." He looked down at her desk and picked up a bottle of oil, "I think I have some ideas."