Free House of Sin: Part One by Vince Stark

person. I felt my presence did actually speed up the process slightly and lighten her load. I was enjoying myself.
    Leah floated around, re-stalking the displays with boxes of cherries and other produce that were stacked behind. When the line of customers died down she would banter with the other merchants, I contributed to conversations sometimes but this was very much her space and I was trying to respect that so let her lead the day. I tried not to get caught looking at her as she stretched to grab something. She would perk her bum up and it was a challenge not to notice her shape in those tight jeans. They were ripped in places, it made me think of those black tights. I could tell these tight, tired, jeans meant something to her and I did not make plans on ripping them off. I imagined her wiggling her bum to help me slide them off.
    A bell rang.
    All the merchants reacted to the sound of the bell.
    “What’s up” I asked while I was reorganizing boxes of potatoes, I was really getting into this.
    “Time to pack up” She raised a hand to high five. I am not a fan of the high five but at this moment it felt right. “That was the five o’clock bell, it means the market is over, we did it!”
    I am not sure exactly when I showed up but I only then did I realized several hours passed us by, it felt like minutes.
    “You did good Jack.” She had a playful tone.
    “What happens now,” I asked.
    “We tear all this stuff down.”
    “Let’s do this thing” I was looking around for my plan of attack. All the other venders displays were disappearing before my eyes, they looked like they had done this a million times.
    “Stack these next to the tent” Leah shoved a box of potatoes in my chest and pointed where they were to go. The next few minutes I was bossed around by her, together we collapsed the tent, and in no time we were standing next to a pile of boxes and a folded up tent. “Wait here” she said and took off.
    “Jack Willow?” A passer-by asked carrying a box awkwardly.
    “Hey”
    “Good show Friday”
    “Thanks” I responded as he walked on by.
    My feet and back were tired and I was starving, I hadn’t eaten anything but cherries. I hoped that wok place with the curry was still open.
    Honk
    A car horn demanded people to make way, an old truck backed slowly, meandering around obstacles. Leah had an arm out the window propping her up. She was twisted around looking back asking people to make way as she backed up the old truck. She edged back to where I was and exited the truck with a twirl.
    “Nice truck” I said looking it up and down. It really was, a mid-fifties Ford, red in color with wooden rails along the box.
    “Thanks”
    I began loading up, it took no time at all before everything was in place in the back of the truck. Leah was leaning on the truck like a sexy farmer girl.
    “Well Jack, it’s been fun”
    It seemed like the start of a good-bye, I didn’t want to part yet, I realized it probably was the appropriate time say good bye but I wasn’t ready.
    “Lets grab something to eat” I suggested.
    “I want to get home Jack”
    “Where’s home?”
    “Princeville”
    “Princeville? You really are a farm girl” I knew Princeville as a rural area I drove through on my way into work. “I know a good restaurant there”
    “There is only one restaurant in Princeville and it is not good” She laughed, “I have a dog to get to, and I have been slow cooking a roast all day”
    A silence hung between us, I sensed if I said nothing and just stood there she would invite me over for dinner.
    “Where’s your car” she asked
    “Motorcycle”
    “Motorcycle . . . I hate following people, or people following me. There is only one exit for Princeville, head north ‘for eight miles, red barn on the right.” She did a twirl back into her truck. She was thinking, probably questioning inviting me over. I rested my hands on the door of the truck.
    “Can I bring anything?
    Leah started the