Samson and Sunset

by Dorothy Annie Schritt

  A concerned look crossed his little face.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  “I’ve never slept in a bed by myself before,” the little guy said.

  “How come?” I asked.

  “There are too many of us, not enough beds. So I sleep with my two brothers.”

  After I made two pizzas for supper, got the kitchen cleaned and set Manny up on the sofa watching our one television station, Shay walked out onto the porch. I saw him walking around the front lawn area, so I went out and asked him what he was doing.

  He looked over at me and said, grinning, “I’m looking for an old crow, so I can eat it.”

  “Is that your way of telling me you were wrong about the two convicts getting this far?” I walked up to him, smiling. “Is that your way of saying your Callie was right?” I grinned, remembering the scene it had caused on the trip up here.

  “You know, we were lucky, Callie, they weren’t violent men. One had committed armed robbery and the other, forgery, the sheriff told me. They escaped in a laundry truck that was headed this direction. They just wanted to wait until dark and leave in one of our pickups.”

  At about nine, it was getting dark out. I asked Shay to fill the tub and I found a big t-shirt and some pajama bottoms so I could cut the legs off short for Manny to sleep in. Shay asked the boy if he needed help taking a bath and he said, “Hey, Mr. Shay, I’m a big man now, remember?”

  After his bath, I got Manny into bed, found a book and sat beside him with one arm around his shoulders, and read to him for a while.

  “You smell so good, Mrs. Callie,” Manny said.

  “Well, maybe it’s my perfume.”

  “I don’t know, does your perfume smell like a whole bushel of fresh oranges, ’cause that’s what you smell like. Gee! I wish my mama smelled like you, Mrs. Callie. I could just lay here and smell you all night!”

  I wondered if that was a hint that he didn’t want to sleep alone. When I got ready to leave, he looked concerned.

  “You’ll be able to stretch out all over the bed,” I told him. “You’re such a big man now, we’re so proud of you, Manny.”

  I realized he was still rubbing his little feet. After looking at them, I was shocked to see that the poor little guy still had some stickers in his skin. I got a pair of tweezers and pulled the leftover burrs out. Then I put a soothing lotion on his feet. I saw him look toward the doorway. As I looked up, there was Shay, barefoot, leaning on the doorsill with a cup of coffee in his hand, wearing his tight blue jeans and a light blue western shirt, un-tucked. He was smiling at me. Gosh, that man just took my breath away every time I saw him. He was so damned handsome.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “Princess, I love watching you with children. You’re not complete unless there’s a child in your arms. That’s when you’re a happy woman. You were born to mother, Callie.”

  “Mr. Shay,” Manny said. “You’re the strongest, bravest man I’ve ever known. I’ll bet you’re not afraid of anything are you?”

  “Well, Manny, everyone is afraid of something, it’s what you do with the fear that counts.”

  “What are you afraid of, Mr. Shay?”

  Shay thought for a minute, then he said, “Well, I think the thing that scares me the most is when Callie goes shopping and takes my checkbook. That really scares me!”

  We all laughed, I tucked Manny in, and Shay and I were off for our showers. That night we showered separately. When we were in bed and I was lying there in Shay’s arms, I felt so safe.

  “Shay, do you think the little guy is scared? He’s had quite a day,” I said. “If I were his age, I would be so afraid.”

  Shay let go of me and got up, returning with Manny in his arms. He put the child between us and Manny was so happy, holding Shay’s right hand and my left hand. Shay had his other arm across the top of the pillow, playing gently with my hair. We all did the ‘good night’ thing about four times, you would have thought we were the Waltons, then off to sleep, all three in the king bed. What a day! So much for ‘calm.’

  ***

  The next day, Manny’s mother came to pick him up. He hugged me tightly for a long time. “I’m going to miss you and Mr. Shay,” he said through tears.

  Shay and I stood there, arm in arm, waving goodbye.

  “You know, Callie,” said Shay. “I think he loves you. You gave him so much of your time, you made him feel safe and happy. You gave him time he didn’t have to share with anyone else, my princess.”

  Shay picked me up and carried me into the house. “I’m going to ravish your naked little wonderful luscious body for hours, ’cause, woman, now I have you all to myself.”

  ***

  Gracious, what a man! First he gave us both a sensual shower and dried us off, lotioned me and brushed my hair. Shay loved it when my hair was wet—it had a natural curl and with his fingers he would make it curly while it dried.

  He carried me to the bed, swaying back and forth like he was rocking me, humming a lullaby. He lay over my body, his arms under my shoulders and his hands under my head, elbows braced, holding himself up, he looked down into my eyes and kissed me, slowly moving his mouth downward; gently kissing my neck, then my breasts, slowly running his tongue around my nipples.

  “Woman, you taste so damn good!”

  Oh, that man just rattled my cage.

  “Shay,” I said.

  “Yes, princess.”

  “I don’t want you to think this sounds dumb, but I really want an answer to what I’m going to ask you.”

  “Haven’t I always told it as it is? What’s your question?”

  “Shay, when did you know you were in love with me?”

  He lay there looking into my eyes. Then he said, “If I tell you, I don’t want you to let it go to you head.”

  “Shay, you know I’m not like that.”

  “Well, princess, remember the night your car broke down at King’s Drive-Thru and you jumped out of your car in three inch heels, tight blue jeans, and a cute little maternity top? Your platinum hair glowed under the neon lights. You glowed. I didn’t know who you were or anything about you, but you just sucked the breath right out of me. I knew I wanted you. I think I fell in love with you when you yelled, ‘Knock it off, can’t you see my car broke down?’ You had my heart right there at King’s Drive-Thru,” he said sincerely.

  “When did you know you were in love with me?” he asked.

  “I fell in love with you the second I walked up to your car at Kings Drive-Thru,” I said. “Your beautiful face, your eyes, your features, I couldn’t believe you were real. You just took my breath away, right then and there. I had to force myself to yell at you, and that is the truth.”

  Who knew? Love at first sight. I think that lovemaking session was one of our hottest. It felt like the first time. I felt engulfed in his love.

  ***

  Thursday came and we were on the road for home. Shay had taken me away to win me back and it had worked. Once again I was putty in his hands. A love like ours doesn’t die.

  1978

  Outrunning Trouble

  I wasn’t glad to be home. I had really enjoyed this trip to the Sand Hills and I could have stayed another week. But picking up the kids at Mom’s was fun, especially when we gave them their puppies. Kelly named her little Peke, Bugsy, and Wes named his Keeshond, Fagan. Those two dogs were with us for many years, they became part of the Westover family.

  After that, thank goodness, we had a few normal years. The mid-Seventies turned into the late-Seventies. As usual, we were hot and steamy every morning and night; afternoons when we could work it in.

  Shay let me do a little design work. I did a few doctors’ offices, some dentists’ offices, several friends’ homes, as well as some strangers’. I enjoyed keeping busy.

  One night after we showered, Shay crawled in bed. “Aren’t you coming, babe?”

  I lay down on my back on the floor.

  “No,” I said. “I�
��m going to do a workout routine I’ve been learning. I’m going to do it every night before I go to bed so I can stay in shape.”

  Shay was looking into the dresser mirror so he could see me from the bed. “Good grief, woman, how much better could your shape get? You mean I have to lie here and wait for you?”

  “You can get down here and exercise with me!”

  “Nope.” He lay back. “I get enough of a workout all day long.”

  While I did my workout on the floor Shay lay in bed, braced on his elbow, watching me in the dresser mirror. I didn’t have a workout suit yet, so until I could buy one, I did my workout naked. I think I did some erotic moves; standing on my head, spreading my legs wide open, holding that position for four or five minutes, kicking my legs up high over my head, dancing up in a pivot, like a ballerina.

  After about twenty minutes, I jumped in the shower, dried off, lotioned up and crawled into bed. In the time it took me to type this sentence, Shay was on top of me. I didn’t get a lot of foreplay, either. He was quite aggressive. I think he climaxed in less than ten minutes… But of course he stayed with the sexual foreplay until I got there.

  When he was lying on his back taking some deep breaths, I said, “Shay, are you starting to get tired of making love to me? You were so fast, and that’s just not you.”

  “Babe, I was watching you work out naked for twenty minutes and I was so damned turned on, I’m surprised I made it that long. I thought I was going to have to start without you. This is one man who will never get tired of the inside of your life, Callie Westover.” He rolled over and took me in his arms.

  “Now I want to talk to you, Callie.” He sat back and propped me up under his arm, my chin on his chest. “Callie, guess what you bought today?”

  “I don’t know! What did I buy?”

  “You bought a trucking business! You bought Westover Trucking, Callie. You now have eight semi-trucks.” Shay grinned.

  I sat straight up in bed. “Where did I get the money to buy this?”

  Shay had once told me that just one truck costs around thirty thousand.

  “Well, most of it was paid for by the settlement we got from the hospital mix up,” he told me. “But we are going to have to tighten things up a bit around here for a while.”

  “Are you going to drive?” I asked.

  “Once in awhile, but I’m going to have drivers. I need to be here to help on the farmstead. I won’t be gone much, Callie.”

  ***

  The trucks he got were red. The rig Shay got for himself was the most beautiful truck I’d ever seen, candy-apple red, lots of chrome. It said Westover Trucking on the sides in bold silver print. Shay maintained all the trucks himself, and he didn’t let any of the drivers “deadhead”—no driver ever drove back from a delivery very long with an empty truck.

  Shay was a good boss; if a driver could supply half his own insurance, Shay matched him. He was easy to work for, but if a driver scratched or didn’t respect the rig, Shay gave them one warning and after that they were fired. He ran a topnotch business.

  I don’t think a day went by that Shay didn’t remind me to be thrifty in all I did. I could stretch a Sunday turkey dinner with all the fixings to next Saturday’s soup or Thursday’s shepherd pie. I made so many casserole suppers that Shay told our friends one night that not only was I the casserole queen, but that I even threw the bread and butter in with the pan along with the meal.

  I wasn’t sure I liked that remark. I thought it made me look a little like a hillbilly hick. I clipped every coupon I found, watched ads and caught all the sales. Mom and I went to yard sales so I could find jeans and tops for the kids. I felt I was really doing my part to help save money for the business. According to Shay, it sounded like we were almost broke. I guess that’s why the casserole thing just didn’t sit right with me. I was doing my share to save, so that hurt.

  The day after the casserole queen remark, while the kids were watching The Cisco Kid in the other room, Shay and I were in the kitchen. I got out a separate dish for every single thing; a roaster for the meat, a kettle for potatoes, a salad bowl for the salad, a boat for the gravy, meat platter for the cooked meat, a butter dish for the butter, a dish for the dinner rolls, a bowl for the Jell-O, a tray for the vegetables. I had the table covered with pans and dishes.

  Shay rubbed his chin. “What are all these for?”

  “Well, these are the dishes I’ll be using to make a lot of separate foods for you, Shay. May cost a lot more money, but at least they’ll be in separate dishes, and, you might be interested to know, so will the bread and the butter. I’m giving up my crown as the casserole queen,” I said frostily.

  “Now don’t tell me my little princess is pouting…”

  “That was a crappy thing to tell our friends while I’m trying hard to scrimp and save money you don’t have,” I snapped. “I do it to help you, Shay!”

  “Oh, princess, I was just kidding.”

  “Well, I didn’t take it that way. So now you’ll get everything separate.”

  “I like the way you do it. I love your casseroles. But you know what I love the most? The thing you make that I really crave?”

  “I have no idea, you’ve never told me,” I said, unmoved.

  “It’s your meatballs and sauce. I think you make the best meatballs and sauce in this world. You should market them!”

  “Cool way to change the subject, Shay. Just get out of the kitchen while you’re ahead.”

  He walked out the back door. Now we had done a little snip-snapping at each other, so I guess one might think we were arguing. About twenty minutes later Shay came back inside. I was at the sink and he came over and smacked my bottom in his loving way. I turned around and put my arms around his neck. He picked me up, carried me upstairs and locked the bedroom door.

  “What about the kids?” I asked as he set me on the bed.

  “Hell, they’re consumed with that show. They don’t even know we’re here.”

  I think we emerged from the bedroom about an hour and a half later. When I finally had supper ready, I called everyone to the table.

  After the blessing and passing the bowls around, Kelly, who, at this point was twelve, said, “Wessy, don’t forget, you owe me five dollars!”

  “I won’t. I have it up in my room,” Wessy said. He was ten, now.

  “Why do you owe Kelly five dollars?” Shay asked, looking at Wessy.

  “Oh, when you and Mom were arguing in the kitchen, I told Kelly you guys would be locked in your room in about an hour and Kelly said she bet me five dollars you’d be up there locked in your room in less than an hour, so she won.”

  Shay just looked at me. Our kids were making bets about our sex life. Here we thought we had them fooled!

  “Does it bother you kids that Daddy and I still have a lot of special love time with each other?”

  “Heck no, “ Kelly said, “I like you guys the way you are. My friends are always saying how cool my parents are.”

  “What about you, Wessy?” I asked. “Does it bother you?”

  “It’s a guy thing, Mom,” he said, “so I’m on Dad’s side. I say he should go for it and get it while the getting’s good!”

  I near fell off my chair with that remark. I think both Shay and I were shocked at how grown-up our kids where getting. I could certainly tell Wessy was Shay’s son—he was a little lady’s man in the making.

  “Mom, Dad,” Wessy said, as if reading the mood of the room, “I’m too old to be called Wessy. I don’t want you to call me that anymore. Call me Wes like my friends. And never mess up and call me Wessy again, especially if girls are around, okay, Mom?”

  Boy, they had grown up. It was Shay and I who still acted like two teenagers. Just the other day I had been at the sink washing dishes, looking out my window, watching Shay on his back working on the underside of one of the semi trailers, and I was getting turned on just watching him. That man spewed sex in everything he did. There was at least two feet of
space above him under that truck, and it gave me an idea.

  I dried my hands and went out the back door. Hell, we were alone and the kids were in school. I went to the trailer and crawled underneath alongside Shay in just my underwear and socks and a loose button-down shirt.

  Shay looked sideways at me. “What are you doing, Callie?”

  I crawled on top of him. “I’m here to inspect your semi! I want to see if your screwdriver is working correctly?”

  Shay lay down his wrench and grinned. “You’ll just have to check it out for yourself to see if it passes your inspection.”