Samson and Sunset

by Dorothy Annie Schritt

  Shay was there when my doctor came in to look at the incision. It really didn’t look bad, a little less than an inch-long with about nine stitches. My doctor said everything looked good, so in the next few days if my iron was up, I could go home.

  “When will I get the results of the biopsy?” I asked Doc Sam.

  “It usually takes about three to five days, Callie, but as soon as I get them I’ll contact you.”

  “I want you to be sure Shay is here when you tell me,” I said.

  Doc Sam assured me he would do just that.

  Shay was still there when Patty came on shift, so when she ducked her head in, I said, “Shay, I want you to meet my special friend, Patty. She wants to be a nurse. Patty’s Wes’ age, and I just think we should introduce them.”

  “Now, Patty,” said Shay, smiling, “don’t let my match-maker wife here set you up with someone you don’t even know.” He winked at her. “Patty, I’m glad to meet you.” He extended his hand and the girl took it shyly. “Callie has been singing your praises all morning, so I’m going to slip out and let you gals have your girl time. Callie,” he turned to me, “the kids will be in to see you this evening after school, and I’ll be in after I get through with work.”

  He put his gentle lips on mine for a long, sensual kiss; my Shay wasn’t shy. But Patty was, she turned her head away politely.

  After Shay left I told Patty how happy I was that she was back on duty. I was so thankful for the time she’d spent with me yesterday, and the good lotion rub.

  Then I said, “Patty, I have something for you. Something I want to give you to show you my appreciation. Here is a meal ticket, and a taxi pass, for the next year. I don’t want you ever to walk home alone in the dark again.”

  “For me?” Her eyes widened as I held out the tickets. “Truly? For me?” It was the voice of a child getting her first Christmas present ever.

  She leaned down and hugged me warmly. She was so precious I could have held her in my arms forever. I could tell Patty didn’t want to let go of me either.

  “Mrs. Westover,” she said as she hugged me, “you smell so good!”

  “Probably my perfume,” I told her, leaning back onto my pillow. “Shay likes my natural scent the best, but when I do put on perfume, this is his favorite.”

  “How can I ever thank you enough, Mrs. Westover?”

  “Patty, you already have. And please, I want you to call me Kathrine, that’s what everyone calls me. Well, everyone except for my Shay, he calls me Callie, princess, darlin’, babe—and he gets in an occasional baby doll,” I smiled.

  “Kathrine, can I ask you the name of that perfume? I just love it and maybe I could get a small bottle sometime.”

  “It’s Paris by Yves Saint Laurent. I’m glad you like it, sweetie.”

  “Is it very expensive?” she asked doubtfully.

  “It’s about eighty dollars,” I said, feeling bad as I thought of how many groceries that could buy her and her grandma. “But I don’t buy it myself,” I added quickly, “my Shay always gets it for me as a gift.”

  Patty spent more of her time on duty with me than any other patient. I think she had three patients assigned to her that day. She didn’t neglect anyone, just came into my room a lot when she was free.

  “Now remember,” I said as it neared suppertime, “you’re going down for supper at 5:00 p.m.!”

  She flashed me the biggest grin.

  When Patty got back from supper, Kelly and Wes were there. Of course, I’d told them all about Patty, teasing Wes that I’d found him the cutest girlfriend. After introductions, I could tell I had rendered Patty and Wes shy around each other. Wes just sort of stood there with his hands in his pockets, rocking sideways a little. I could see Patty was flustered around him.

  “So is my mom giving you a bad time?” Wes asked.

  “No, she’s the best patient I’ve ever had!” Patty answered sincerely.

  Kelly had a small conversation with Patty and they seemed to hit it off quite well. Then Patty left so I could visit with the kids. Kelly told me that Patty seemed like a real nice girl.

  “Yeah,” said Wes begrudgingly, “she’s alright for a girl. I guess she’s pretty cute.”

  “Wes,” Kelly teased, “you are both the same age, but I don’t know if it could work out, seeing as you act more like five than fifteen!”

  After a good visit, satisfied that I looked alright, the kids said they were going to leave and go shopping for something.

  “Wait a second, Kelly, hand me my purse,” I asked. “Here’s some money. I want you to go to my favorite department store, go to the perfume department, and buy a bottle of my favorite perfume. You know which one. Have it gift-wrapped and bring it when you come see me tomorrow. Can you do that, sweetie?”

  “Sure, Mom, we’ll get it,” Kelly said.

  They both hugged me and were out the door, with Wes sticking his head back in right away, adding, “Hey Mom! Tell Patty Cake I said goodbye.”

  I chuckled. That boy. Patty Cake, what a cute name. Brought back memories of when I was little and played patty cake with Mommy and Daddy and when Kelly and Wes were little and Shay and I played patty cake with them.

  ***

  Patty and I spent the night visiting again. This time she wanted to know about my family. I told her we were sort of complicated, that we lived on a farmstead near the river in Westover. She was tickled to learn that I lived in a town named the same as my last name. I didn’t tell her the Westovers practically owned the town, or that it was named for great, great, great Grandpa Westover.

  I looked at that sweet child sitting there and said, “Patty, would you like to come out and have dinner with us sometime when I get out of here? We’d sure love having you. I could come into town and pick you up if it would be okay with your grandmother.”

  She said she would love that, and we exchanged numbers.

  ***

  The next day Shay was there at 8:30 a.m. as usual.

  “Well, my love, where did you sleep last night?” I asked.

  “In the guest room, darlin’.”

  “Oh, I’ll bet you’re just kidding me.”

  “Oh yeah, my princess? Just ask the kids and your mom, smarty pants!”

  He was hugging and kissing me and we were getting so turned on that we realized with a quick glance at each other that we had to stop this endeavor right now. Shay pulled a chair up and just held my hand.

  “Well, did you give your little friend her gifts?” he asked.

  “Shay, she was so grateful. She met the kids, I even invited her to come out for dinner one day,” I told him.

  “It was the cutest thing,” Shay chuckled, “when the kids got home, Kelly was talking about you, and Wes was taking about Patty Cake! Is that her nickname?”

  “No, that’s what your son has named her.”

  We both grinned and Shay said, “I got the impression he was a mite smitten.”

  It was about ten after ten when my doctor ducked his head in.

  “Oh, I’m glad you’re here, Shay,” he said. “We got the results.”

  “That was fast!” I gasped. “ Oh, Shay, hold me, I’m so scared. I’m sick, just sick!” I cried through massive tears.

  For any woman who has ever had to sit and wait, then hear those words, “the results are in”—it’s a moment only those women can truly understand. Shay reached over and cradled me in his strong arms. My doctor moved to the foot of my bed and opened the folder. You could have heard a pin drop.

  There was no movement in that room until my doctor smiled.

  “Kathrine, you don’t have breast cancer. You have fibrocystic breast disease; the lump was benign. You’re going to be with us a long time, Kathrine,” he said in an extremely happy voice.

  I broke down, sobbing tears of relief. Shay held me and I could tell he was crying right along with me. Sometimes we forget that this news isn’t just our news, it’s also our family’s news.

  “Well, I’m out
of here, you kids can get back to your necking,” Doc Sam said cheerily. “Kathrine, I’m keeping you until tomorrow morning. Shay can take you home around ten.” He paused. “I’m so happy for you, kids,” he added and was out the door.

  I swear I saw tears of joy in Doc Sam’s eyes. After all, he’d been through a lot with us.

  Shay and I sat there clinging to each other. It was news that had lifted a weight off our hearts. I grabbed for the phone and called Mom right away. I told her I’d tell the kids when they got to the hospital after school. When I delivered the news, both of my children looked like they’d been given a gift. They ran over to me, one on each side of my bed, and hugged me.

  After a major hugging session, Kelly reached into her bag and handed me a beautifully wrapped box. “Here’s the perfume you wanted, Mom.”

  “Oh, thank you, sweetheart.” I took the pretty box and placed it on my bedside table.

  After the children left, Patty popped her head in and I said, “Come in! Come in!”

  I told her my big news and this child jumped up out of her chair and came over and threw her arms around me.

  “My dear, sweet Patty, I have something for you,” I said in a soft voice, handing her the package.

  “What? Kathrine, I can’t believe you got me another gift after all those wonderful passes you gave me,” she said in excitement.

  I watched her open it and saw her eyes grow big as golf balls.

  “Oh, Kathrine, it’s the expensive perfume. I can’t believe you got me this! It’s too expensive to wear!” By now Patty was crying. “I don’t know what I’m going to do when you go home tomorrow,” she said through tears. “I’ll be coming here at one and this room will be empty.”

  “Come here, Patty, girl.’” I hugged her. “I have your phone number and you have mine. You can count on the fact that I’ll be calling and coming to get you to come out to our house for dinner. You have my promise on that, my little Gray Angel.”

  Patty stayed close to me throughout her shift, and was back to hug me before she left to catch her cab.

  My Shay Man was there at 8:30 a.m. the next morning to take me home (several hours earlier than my discharge time, but I had no complaints, I was so happy to see his beautiful face.) I was excited to get home and back to lovemaking.

  “Just think!” I told him. “No more bras to bed!”

  The Hand Of Grace

  How many times had I said I was glad to be home? I think this one topped them all. Hulda and Mom roasted a turkey with all the fixings for supper. When our whole family sat around the table that night, Sterling and Maggie were there with us, and of course I always had Hulda sit at the big table and eat with my family. I made that rule in remembrance of my Cookie. I asked if it was okay with everyone that I give the blessing that night. To my amazement, after I was through, each and every person at the table said a separate little blessing, thanking God that I was safe at home.

  I had never felt so loved in my life. I had the best children in the world. They were strong little soldiers through all of this. I think in a lot of ways Wes grew up a lot that week. I knew he was thankful to God that his mother was okay. It was good to be home. I was a blessed woman.

  When supper was over, Shay picked me up out of my chair and said, “Mommy, you’re anemic, Daddy’s putting you to bed.”

  Gee, not even a silly remark from Wes that night!

  I still had to wear a small bandage until the stitches came out. Shay went into the bathroom and I heard him turn on the shower. Then he returned to the bed to gently undress me, pick me up, and put me in the shower. After undressing himself, he got in to wash me. Now I really knew I was home! My home was in Shay’s heart, and that’s where I was. He told me I could live there forever, so I was home.

  Shay was ever so careful while showering me. He was gentle, carefully avoiding my bandage; it was like he thought I might break. He washed my hair, rinsed it, and kept kissing the flesh around my neck.

  “I know my princess is home…I smell her beautiful body scent,” he said as he nibbled on my shoulders.

  He had my back against his chest and those big strong arms around me. The shower was long, hot and steamy, just like what followed in the bed.

  ***

  Throughout the years of our marriage, I had several girlfriends ask me how Shay and I could make love for two-hour sessions. Well, as I told them, it was actually about two hours from the start of the dance to the end of the dance. We spent about half an hour in the shower together, then we dried each other off and lotioned one another up. Fifteen to twenty minutes of sensuous kissing, followed by an immense thirty minutes of foreplay, and then slow gentle sex, which led to rigorous, aggressive, wild, thrusting sex, bringing each other to complete fulfillment.

  All in all, it took around two hours. We always referred to our sexual liasons as The Dance. It's so like a dance, the way you move forward to ask a person, they accept; the positioning of bodies, getting into one another's rhythm, the heightened awareness of the other person. Then the end of the dance, the grand finish!

  Everywhere Shay went the next couple of days, he took me with him. To the field, the barn, the irrigation pump houses. He wouldn’t let me out of his sight. He always had that gentle warm hand on me somewhere. If all men could love their wives like this, there wouldn’t be divorce. Children would grow up with their birth parents, what a wonderful world it would be. People say that’s nothing but a dream. So what if it is a dream? I heard it in a song once that dreams don’t have to hide inside.

  ***

  Wednesday morning, after taking care of my every need, Shay reached over on the end table, picked up his credit card and handed it to me.

  “Callie, I want you to go shopping and get the sexiest dress you can find and all the accessories. I’m taking you to the Golden Spur Steakhouse Sunday night just to show you off. Surprise me with your Callie touch, but make it so sexy that I find myself unable to eat my steak without choking on it,” he grinned.

  “Shay, darlin,’ I’m going to knock your socks off,” I said. “You’re going to want me before we get off the dance floor!”

  “Hell, woman, I’m going to want you before we even get on the dance floor!” Shay said as he slipped out of bed. He kissed me and went to shower.

  That little kiss enticed me to get up and go into the shower with my gorgeous husband; nothing like a hot morning shower and some extra fulfillment to start out the day.

  As we got out and dried off, I said, “Shay, you know, I promised my little Gray Angel, Patty, that I would have her out for dinner one day and I’m going to do that soon. I think I’ll take Kelly shopping with me Saturday and call Patty and ask her if she wants to go with us. It would be fun, we could even do lunch.”

  “If that makes you happy, princess, call her,” said Shay.

  I sat on my bed in my robe and started to dial Patty’s number. Oh shucks, she would be at work until ten that night. I’d either have to call her at work or about 10:30 p.m., which her grandmother might not approve of. I asked Shay what he thought would be best. He said he thought I should call Patty after she got home from work.

  So that night, around ten ’til eleven, I called the number Patty had given me. I was pleasantly surprised that Patty answered.

  “Hi, sweetie,” I said. “This is Kathrine Westover.”

  “Oh, hi Kathrine!”

  “Kelly and I are going shopping Saturday and I was wondering if you’d like to go shopping with us. Then we’ll do lunch. Patty, this shopping trip is my treat.”

  “Oh, Kathrine, I would love to go,” said Patty excitedly. “What time would we be going? I could meet you downtown…”

  “I would love to meet your grandmother,” I said, “so if that’s okay with you, I’d like to pick you up at home.”

  “Kathrine, I live in a trailer court. It really isn’t a very good neighborhood,” she started to explain.

  “Sweetie, it doesn’t matter where you came from,” I found myself
saying, “what matters is who you become.” I smiled, thinking of Maggie saying that to me over lunch with her big green eyes. “It doesn’t matter one bit to me,” I added. “It’s you that matters to me.”

  The trailer court was actually about four blocks from where I grew up. When we drove up, Patty and her grandma came outside. Her grandmother, a hard-looking woman, was smoking a cigarette. Probably an easy lay in her day, from the looks of it.

  I got out and said hi to Patty. Then I extended my hand to her grandmother. “Hello, I’m Kathrine Westover. I was one of Patty’s patients. You have a wonderful granddaughter.”