office rape
" D’yuh get salvation, Annabelle?" Earl teased, fondling his earring as she turned in at the sidewalk. She paused at the bottom of the porch steps and perched a foot on the first one. She took in the fruit jars setting on the edge of the porch, one full, the other half empty. She swatted a fly away from her face. She could smell the ferment in the air--not only the whiskey but a certain animal rawness emanating from the brothers; she saw the joint being passed around, could smell the acrid odour. She placed a hand on her hip, the long-nailed fingers pointed toward the ground.
" Maybe more than you all got, I reckon," she said, with mild reproof, her back arched, her breasts full against the thin cotton of her bodice. Someone snickered.
Billy Bob was leaned back against one of the pillars at the top of the steps. He stared at her with a faraway look in his eyes as if he were thinking something over.
" Where’s mom?" Jimmy asked. " She went over to visit with Auntie Ellison. And it’s a good thing she did. If she could see you sorry bums now there would be hell to pay."
" Um, such language," Lester grinned, punching Zeke lightly on the shoulder. " She won’t be back till late, then," Billy Bob mused. He was staring at her with a strange look. It was a look she had never seen before. Kind of cold and impersonal. It made her nervous. Especially when she saw that same look in the eyes of the others.
She had seen what liquor could do to a person. Their father had been a drunk. Nice when sober, but a screaming, wife-beating monster when he’d had a few. And lately she had seen a similar change being wrought in her brothers. Anymore they were like strangers. Always drinking and smoking dope. Being rude and obnoxious. They hadn’t bothered going to church for ages. And hardly ever dressed decently anymore. She stared at them. None of them had a shirt on. Nothing, in fact, but denims--not even shoes. They looked like hillbillies. She felt ashamed of them.
Jimmy, who was sitting near the bottom step, reached up suddenly and tugged on the hem of her skirt. " Stop that, Jimmy!" she scolded. " What are you doing?" " Helping’ yourself to a little, squirt?" Earl grinned.
" Aw, what are you guys all talking about?" Annabelle said glancing about, suddenly feeling like the class clown being made fun of. Their jokes no longer included her, as they once had in the past, but were now more and more of late directed at her. She didn’t like it. Somehow they made her feel dumb, out of it, square--but worse, objectified.
Blushing she started up the steps. " Where you off to?" Billy Bob asked, thrusting his leg out in front of her, blocking her path. " I’ve got homework to do," she replied. She sighed and rolled her large, blue eyes.
" Let me by, Billy Bob. C’mon. I’m in no mood to play games." " Who says I’m playing games?" His eyes were focused on her tits. " I’ve taken daddy’s place, " he said, cryptically.