Satisfaction Delivered
’We need him blindfolded,’ the host said. She was blind. A good journalist. ‘It makes the conversation equal. A surprise. It will loosen him up.’
The boss nodded. ‘Find a sleep mask by tomorrow.’
I wrote it down. I was managing the project.
Wednesday evening. I opened my laptop. Delivery took three days. Pick-up was on the edge of the city. Taxis cost a fortune. The shoot was Thursday night. I sat staring at the screen.
The driver arrived in the morning. Tall, forty-five. Charming, with terribly crooked teeth.
’Why so sad?’ he asked.
I told him. No time, no mask.
He smiled. ‘Do I have to teach you everything? Go to a sex shop.’
I found a kiosk near the subway. I went inside. Silicone shapes. Leather harnesses. The cashier wasn’t a tattooed girl with father issues. She was fifty-something. A plump, tired auntie.
’I need a blindfold,’ I said. ‘Complete darkness.’
’Leather or silk?’ she asked.
’Black silk. It’s for a man. For a shoot. And I need an official invoice for my company.’ I looked at the fabric. ‘Are they good? Does it really block the light?’
She took out a receipt book. She started writing.
’Oh, yes,’ she said. ‘I sleep in one myself. In the afternoon. The grandkids run around screaming, and I just put this on.’
I stood there. I pictured the apartment. The screaming children. The toys on the floor. And her, resting on the sofa, shutting it all out with a bondage mask. I looked around the shop. The neon. The massive dildos. The mannequins in fishnets. I wondered what else she brought home to test.
She stamped the paper.
’We have other things,’ she said. ‘Toys. Erotic lingerie.’
’I’m flying solo these days,’ I said.
I put the mask in my bag. I didn’t need anything else. The thought settled in the room, heavy and sad.
I went back to the studio. I handed the paper to the Finance Director for reimbursement.
She looked at the receipt while opening the safe and laughed until there were tears in her eyes.
The stamp read: Sex Shop ‘Satisfaction’.
She handed me cash.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Iryna Somkina is a Kyiv-based writer. She is Best Small Fiction nominee; her works appear in Gone Lawn, ANMLY, Heavy Feather Review and everywhere else. She explores ambivalence of intimacy in gritty reality.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE…
Arthur by Bruce Gee
How this new abstract painting by Malatifa Orion challenges everything we thought we knew about…
before the moon and 2 more by John Yohe
ode to the dead rat i found in my dairy queen blizzard by John Sara
in the world and 2 more by Mykyta Ryzhykh
The Tyger by James Callan
Image: Barszcz – 2023.05.13.jpg
Leave a Reply