Playing Hard To Get

“Mama. Mama.”

“You heard that?” Lionel asked, but Tasha couldn’t respond. She slid from the windowsill to the floor and was cradling her face in her hands as she wept. “Say it again, Toni. Say it for Mommy on the phone. That’s right! Your mommy is on the phone.”

“Mama,” the toddler said and this time even she herself wanted it to be clear that everyone could understand what she was saying. “Mama.”

“Yes, baby girl,” Tasha said, “it’s your mommy.”

“Mama,” Toni repeated and then she requested in the only way her two-year-old mind could what she wanted most. “Mama…home…home.”

“Yes, Mama’s coming home.”

?

Later in the night, and much closer to the morning, on another stage in another part of the city Tasha would soon leave for good, another player was also preparing for her grandest performance to date.

Troy was in the bathroom of her brownstone, sticking gold cones to the tips of her nipples to match her thong and blond Farrah Fawcett wig. “Lady She-Ra” was what the package containing this costume read when Troy had retrieved it from the shelf at a sex shop downtown. “He-Man” was the matching ensemble—a cape and a studded crotch cover, which Kyle thought was a headband—being showcased in the bedroom by her costar. He had a golden sword and golden boots. She had a golden whip and golden stilettos.

It was one of Kyle’s fantasies. To save a damsel in distress. To save mankind. To save the world, using the power of his sword.

“I am the princess of power!” Troy practiced, shaking her golden nipple covers a bit to be sure they didn’t fall off. “Can you save me? Do you have the power in your sword?” She toughened and softened her voice, unsure if she should sound hardened or needy. “Do you have the power in your sword? Do you have the power in your sword?”

“Ready!” she heard Kyle call excitedly from the bedroom. He was standing in the center of their bed wearing his crotch cover on his head and nothing beneath his cape.

Troy kicked the bathroom door open and stepped onto the threshold, her legs wide apart as the light from the bathroom pushed a shadow through her thick thighs. Kyle smiled immediately at his wife.

“I am the princess of power!” Troy said. “Can you save me? Do you have the power in your sword?” Her voice was innocent, helpless.

“Yes! I do, Queen She-Ra!” Kyle answered, pointing his sword at Troy.

“Well, save me!” Troy demanded, using a line she hadn’t practiced. She cracked her whip and as it rippled, it flicked the underside of the door, slamming it suddenly against her face.

Kyle leapt from the bed, racing to her just as it cracked against her nose and almost sent her crashing to the floor.

“Oww!” Troy cried, falling into Kyle’s arms.

“You okay, baby, you okay?” Kyle asked frantically. He moved the loose blond hair from her face.

“My nose! The door hit my nose.” She covered her nose with her hand.

“Let me see.”

Troy moved her hand so her husband could see her nose. She looked into his eyes as he searched for bruises. His crotch headband had slipped over his eye and the right collar of his cape was poking into his cheek.

“I don’t think anything is broken. There’s no blood,” Kyle said. “You feel okay? You want me to get some ice?”

Troy smiled at him.

“You’re the most handsome He-Man I’ve ever seen,” she said.

“What?” Kyle looked at her, confused. He’d forgotten the outfit and the occasion and was just caring for his wife.

“I’m slipping away,” Troy said dramatically, resting the top side of her hand over her forehead in mock distress. “I see a light and I am slipping away into another life!”

“Really?” Kyle asked, catching on.

“Save me, He-Man! Use your sword to save me! That’s the only thing that can wake me up!” She-Ra’s hand fell heavy to the ground as she fainted and went limp in He-Man’s arms.

Kyle stood and carried his damsel to the bed. He placed her on top of the sheets and she (while allegedly comatose) managed to arrange her body into the position of a sexy offering.