Bad Love

'Don't know him.'

'I'll bet.'

'I'd be happy to show you credentials.'

'Sure, slip them through the phone.'

'Want me to fax them?'

'Nah… what's the diff? So what do you really want?'

'Just to talk to you a bit about the school.'

'Good old school. School days, cruel days… hold on…' Click. Silence. Click. 'Where are you calling from?'

'Not far from your office.'

'What, the pay phone downstairs, like in the movies?'

'Mile away. I can be there in five minutes.'

'How convenient. No, I don't want to bring my personal shit into the office. Meet me at Cafe Mocha in an hour, or forget it. Know where it is?'

'No.'

'Wilshire near Crescent Heights. Tacky little strip mall on the… southeast corner. Great coffee, people pretending to be artistes. I'll be in a booth near the back. If you're late, I won't wait around.'

• • •

The restaurant was a narrow storefront blocked by blue gingham curtains. Pine tables and booths, half of them empty. Sacks of coffee stood on the floor near the entrance, listing like melting snowmen. A few desperate-looking types sat far from one another, poring over screenplays.

Meredith Bork was in the last booth, her back to the wall, a mug in her left hand. A big, beautiful, dark-haired woman sitting high and straight. The moment I walked in, her eyes were on me and they didn't waver as I approached.

Her hair was true black and shiny, brushed straight back from her head and worn loose around her shoulders. Her face was olive tinted like Robin's, just a bit rounder than oval, with wide, full lips, a straight, narrow nose, and a perfect chin. Perfect cheekbones, too, below huge gray-blue eyes. Silver-blue nail polish to match her silk blouse. Two buttons undone, freckled chest, an inch of cleavage. Strong, square shoulders, lots of bracelets around surprisingly slender wrists. Lots of gold, all over. Even in the weak light, she sparkled.

She said, 'Great. You're cute. I allow you to sit.'

She put the mug down next to a plate bearing an oversized muffin.

'Fiber,' she said. 'The religion of the nineties.'

A waitress came over and informed me the coffee of the day was Ethiopian. I said that was fine and received my own mug.

'Ethiopian,' said Meredith Bork. 'They're starving over there, aren't they? But they're exporting designer beans? Don't you think that's weird?'

'Someone always does okay,' I said. 'No matter how bad things get.'

'How true, how true.' She smiled. 'I like this guy. Perfect mixture of sincerity and cynicism. Lots of women love it, right? You probably use it to get laid, then get bored and leave them weeping, right?'

I laughed involuntarily. 'No.'

'No, you don't get laid, or no, you don't get bored?'

'No, I'm not into conning women.'

'Gay?'

'No.'

'What's your problem, then?'

'Are we discussing that?'

'Why not?' Giant smile. Capped teeth. 'You want to discuss my problems, jocko, fair is fair.'

I raised my cup to my lips.

'How's the java?' she said. 'Those starving Ethiopians know how to grow 'em?'

'Very good.'

'I'm so veddy glad. Mine's Colombian. My regular fix. I keep hoping there'll be a packaging error and I'll get a little snort mixed in with the grind.'

She rubbed her nose and winked, leaned forward, and showed more chest. A black lace bra cut into soft, freckled flesh. She wore a perfume I'd never smelled before. Lots of grass, lots of flowers, a bit of her own perspiration.

She giggled. 'No, I'm just joshing you, Mr.- sorry, Doctor No Con. I know how touchy you healer types are about that. Daddy always had a bovine when someone called him mister.'

'Alex is fine.'

'Alex. The Great. Are you great? Wanna fuck and suck?'

Before my mouth could close, she said, 'But seriously, folks.'

Her smile was still on high beam and her breasts were still pushing forward. But she'd reddened and the muscles beneath one of the lovely cheekbones were twitching.

She said, 'What a tasteless thing to say, right? Stupid, too, in the virus era. So let's forget about stripping off my clothes and concentrate on stripping my psyche, right?'

'Meredith-'

'That's the name, don't wear it out.' Her hand brushed against the mug and a few droplets of coffee spilled on the table.

'Shit,' she said, grabbing a napkin and blotting. 'Now you've really got me spazzing.'

'We don't need to talk about you, personally,' I said. 'Just about the school.'

'Not talk about me? That's my favorite topic, Alex, the sincere shrink. I've spent Godknowshowmuch money talking to your ilk about me. They all pretended to be utterly fascinated, least you can do is fake it, too.'

I sat back and smiled.

'I don't like you,' she said. 'Way too agreeable. Can you get a hard-on on demand- no, scratch that, no more dirty talk. This is going to be a platonic, asexual, antiseptic discussion… the Corrective School. How I spent my summer vacation by Meredith Spill-the-Coffee Bork.'

'Were you there for only one summer?'

'It was enough, believe me.'

The waitress came over and asked if we wanted anything else.

'No, dear, we're in love, we don't need anything else,' said Meredith, waving her away. A wine list was propped between the salt and pepper shakers. She pulled it out and studied it. Moving her lips. Tiny droplets had formed over them. Her smooth, brown brow puckered.

She put the list down and wiped the sweat from her mouth.

'Caught me,' she said. 'Dyslexic. Not illiterate- I probably know more about what's going on than your average asshole senator. But it takes effort- little tricks so the words make sense.' Another huge smile. 'That's why I like to work with Hollywood assholes. None of them read.'

'Is the dyslexia why you went to the Corrective School?'

'I didn't go, Alex. I was sent. And no, that wasn't the official reason. The official reason was I was acting out. One of you guys' quaint little terms for being a naughty girl- do you want to know how?'

'If you'd like to tell me.'

'Of course I would, I'm an exhibitionist. No, scratch that. What's it your business?' She moistened her lips and smiled. 'Suffice it to say I learned about cocks when I was much too young to appreciate them.' She held out her