She met some really awesome people in them. She was an active member in the Kindle Reading Club, Just Read and Southside Divas Book Club to name a few. It was part of her job to know what books were good and which ones to solicit for their shelves and give honest opinions and referrals to other readers who came into the store as well as promote the bookstore’s physical location.
Since she did not have to call Rome over and wait for him to battle traffic to come be with them, she simply went to his place on the couch, smashed between the girls watching reality TV and whispered in his ear, a message that barely had sound, but he would have heard it a mile away regardless. She said two words, “I’m horny.” Then she said goodnight to the girls and told them to also retire when that program went off as she switched her apple bottom seductively to the bedroom to wait on him to cleverly find a way to excuse himself from the sandwich he was in the middle of.
Little did he know, the girls were so engrossed in their program, they could care less if he was dumb enough to miss the rest of the show because Mom didn’t want to go to bed alone. They had mutually decided when he left, that they were going to punish him for leaving in the middle by not telling him what happened at the end.
Rome entered the bedroom and watched his manhood arise every second as he locked the door and watched Charlotte drop her clothes to the floor- piece by piece. He watched her 36C’s bounce softly as she moved about, while her nipples stood at attention waiting on his command, as they had done that day in the bookstore’s bathroom.
For the life of him, he could not understand what in the hell was on Greg’s mind that he could throw this type of jewel in the trash. Sure, he had heard the saying before that one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, but this was ridiculous! Rome could wait no longer; he pounced on her and brought her to the bed to taste her. He was hungry like a starving child in Africa for her sweet juices.
At the rate he was going, with the help of the extra electricity in his body, he felt like he could love her all night and when her eyes met his, he decided at that moment, that he would do just that.
Chapter 10
At five a.m., when the alarm clock when off, Charlotte rose to get up without hesitation, even though it had only been an hour before, that Jerome was delivering her the last orgasm that she could take in one session. She had to practically push him off. He was an animal that night and she loved every minute of it. She had never had so many orgasms or engaged in sexual activity for such a long period of time before. They had been pleasing each other in every way possible for over six hours!
It was nothing short of incredible. His touch was gentle and his attention to her pleasure spots was impressive. She looked over at him sleeping peacefully and smiled down on him, as she thought about how grateful she was to have him and wondered why his girlfriend did not appreciate a man whose love was electrifying. Whether he was born that way or became that way from his disability, she would sign up for his love again and again. With or without HIV, Greg was no competition for this man.
She got up to fix breakfast and let him sleep a little while longer, before she came back to wake him. She woke the girls up, told them to get up to eat and then ready to go, so that they could be on the road by 6:30 a.m. to make it to the villa to rest for a few minutes before entering the waterpark at 10am. She always needed to get the girls up at least an hour earlier, because neither of them had mastered the art of jumping up. They always dragged in the morning because they never wanted to go to bed at a decent hour at night.
Since Rome could never wake up and eat breakfast right away, she made a cup of coffee for him and put a Danish on a TV tray for him to have breakfast in bed. His eyes were smiling when she walked in with her breakfast as if she had the breakfast of champions in her hands. She knew how tired he was, because she too was just as tired, but knew that she would take a nap on the road when they left, since he got his nap in just then. He sat up and reached to caress her breast instead of grabbing the tray. He was insatiable, she decided with a smile. She promised him a continuation later, but first, they needed to get going so that later could hurry up and get there.
They were walking out of the door to go, on time. Rome had already loaded up his truck with their bags, movie rentals and water toys for their enjoyment. He mounted the monitors on the back of the front seat headrests, so that the girls could watch the Twilight sagas in the backseat as they drove, then took their places, locked the seatbelts and started their first family vacation. Charlotte and Jerome held hands in the front seat and jammed to some old school dusties on low, so that the music would not be heard over the movie playing in the girls’ headphones.
Chapter 11
Charlotte smiled as the sun rose and warmed the truck. She closed her eyes as she enjoyed the sun’s warmth. She sat there smiling with her eyes closed, imagining that she and Rome were laying on the beach holding hands, getting their vacation tan as the waves splashed quietly up on the shore. Her imagination seemed and felt so real, so she decided to stay a little while longer, even though she was supposed to be awake and enjoying the sights alongside her man as he drove.
She died with that same smile on her face as they passed through Mount Prospect. Jerome also died with that same smile on his face, while he held her hand and joined her on the beach for that tan. His truck ran off of the road, hit a ditch and began to roll over several times before it stopped moving and lay on its side with the wheels still spinning.
During its roll over, though Charlotte died instantly, her body was ejected from the car and across the road, since she had decided to remove her seatbelt in order to get into a more comfortable position to hold Jerome’s hand. It was amazing how far she was propelled away from the truck. What was even more amazing was how her body went into the direction of oncoming traffic, yet no one hit it.
Immediately after Jerome had fallen asleep, his head slumped over into his lap, causing the airbag to come out and hit him in such a forceful way, that it snapped his neck. He died instantly in his sleep, smiling. They never felt a thing.
The girls in the back seat were pinned where they sat. Emergency crews had to come and rescue them and rush them to the hospital. Estelle suffered from a broken hip: while Adele had a broken arm with of course scrapes and bruises. Their worst scars were carved into them emotionally. They were forced to watch two people that they loved die before them. They were trapped in the car with Jerome for almost thirty minutes, as they screamed and cried for him to wake up the whole time while his seatbelt held him hanging hostage in the car and his foot was still on the gas pedal.
Mrs. Sheri did not need to be contacted, she was up watching the news since she could not sleep and saw the accident from the sky cam helicopter. She could not sleep a wink, knowing that they would be on the road that morning. She never could, until her loved ones were safe at their destinations. She was totally against putting an entire family in the oldest killing machine for this very reason. According to the traffic reports, they were only twenty minutes from Northbrook, where she was.
She threw on her good wig, popped her partial teeth in her mouth, grabbed her Ugg boots, loaded up her necessities in the nearest waist bag and took off. At the rate she was driving, she would be at the scene before the car had warmed up. It was the middle of January and she normally wouldn’t treat Old Faithful that way, but she knew her car would understand this time. It was early on a Saturday morning, but she didn’t care who she woke, when she turned her gospel cd on and turned up the volume and the bass knob to activate the box in her trunk as her own siren to let the world know that she was riding with her God and he was going to check on his children.
Mrs. Sheri drove, prayed and sang; sometimes in a different order and sometimes at the same time. She didn’t know what to expect to find when she got there; they had only reported the rollover accident. The ground crew had not given a report at the time.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will stren
gthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Chapter 12
Mrs. Sheri arrived on the scene and identified herself to the police on the scene as next of kin, at the very moment, she heard the coroner announcing, “Time of death 7:10 a.m.” She came armed with the love and support of Jesus. She was a rock. The last thing her family needed was her to be unstable and unable to take care of business. She stood there strong and waited patiently on the side, by the policeman’s patrol car waiting for a report and instructions.
As she looked on, she prayed for strength and sang her hymns aloud for all to hear, then went back to sending prayers up:
Thank you, Lord, for being there for me and allowing me to cry out to you in my times of need.
It is amazing to me that the Lord of the Universe would take time to listen to me and to care about what I say.
God, there are things happening around me right now that I do not understand. Some of these things make me feel weak, helpless and afraid.
Even in the midst of this, I know that you are the Lord.
I know that the situation is in Your hand, and I trust You. I beseech you for strength and for wisdom that I would be able to endure this situation and be able to handle it in a way that would bring glory to Your name.
In Jesus name. Amen.
She stood out there, looking on the whole time. They asked her if she wanted to sit in the police car, to stay warm while she waited. She refused. Her loved ones were out there in the cold. Why should she be warmer than they were? She would stand there as long as it took. Steadfast. Unmovable. There was a time that she stood in a four- hour line in the cold, waiting on a store to open, so that she could shop for bargains on Black Friday; she could stand here for her family.
Mrs. Sheri wanted to cry. Crying was always a good way to release emotions and start the healing process, but she refused to do that too. What if her grandbabies saw her crying? That would not help the situation at all. In fact, it would only make it worse. If they were alive, no matter what the condition, she decided that she would smile. Smile her widest smile and wave at them, whether they saw her or not. She wanted them to know that Grandma was there with her God- god of Jacob, Israel and Abraham, and everything was going to be all right.
Even as the officer gave her the official report that both of the adults had expired, she stood there and smiled. She told the officer that they had gone home to be with their father. “They would be fine,” she said confidently as she clenched her crucifix.
The officer continued to stand there with the accident reports in his hand to compile the information for the formal death certificate. He realized that she was the woman’s mother, but they still needed the man’s information. Mrs. Sheri looked at him and allowed the blank expression to take control over her smiling face. She confessed that she knew nothing about the man. She only knew his name was Rome. It was short for Jerome...
Chapter 13
Mrs. Sheri spent the day at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, humming and thanking God for sparing her grandbabies life. He didn’t have to do it, but he did. He could have left her alone, with no one to love and share the rest of her life with, but he didn’t. As she sat there in the waiting room, she pulled out her android phone and started to Google information.
She knew that she needed to make funeral arrangements. It was a good thing that she kept a life insurance policy active for Charlotte. She took out the $100,000 policy at $20 per month, five years ago, when Greg first jumped on her. Mrs. Sheri hoped her relationship would never come to her needing this policy, but for the same reason that her mother took one out on her when she stayed with her abusive husband, she did the same- just in case.
Mrs. Sheri called her pastor to confirm the story that had been playing on all of the local news stations by then, because “the next of kin” had already been notified and they were using Charlotte’s whole name. Greg could have heard it, if he lived in the area, but because he stayed on the far, east side of Chicago, she doubted that the news would play it as much. If they did mention it, it would probably be as an afterthought.
She did not need to add Greg into the situation. His actions proved that he had no interest in being an asset to them. He was preoccupied with Greg. Out of respect, she would tell him about the funeral arrangements, when it was announced to everyone. She hoped he wouldn’t have some lame idea to finally be the father that he never was to the girls and attempt to play the “custody game.” If he did, she decided she would play the you need to heal and learn more about your sickness, while she obtained custody until he was ready for them card. That should work, she thought.
Her pastor immediately made preparations to have the home going service at their church the following Saturday and referred her to a good funeral director, who would take good care of her daughter’s body. Pastor Gray Evans then asked her what arrangements would be made for the gentleman. Mrs. Sheri had that look from earlier come across her face again. She shamefully confessed that she did not know any information about the young man and the police were treating him like a John Doe. His body would remain in the morgue until someone claimed it.
Apparently, the vehicle had flipped and rolled over quite a few times, because Charlotte’s body was found 120ft from where the truck landed. A lot of the vehicle’s contents were sprawled across the road, so the state trooper suggested that his identifying credentials might have been lost in the marsh alongside of the road or even wedged in some place inside the vehicle. Since the vehicle had been towed away and totaled, searching the vehicle any further was not an option. There could have been quite a few different scenarios that involved his identifying credentials, including him simply not having any.
At any rate, the police were not willing to pursue the identity crisis issue any more and she did not know anything more about him than his first name and his mother lives somewhere on the West side of Chicago. Like the police, without his information, there was nothing that she could do for him either. She could only announce his death in the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times and Defender, in hopes that someone will find it, after looking for him and contact her for possible connections.
Mrs. Sheri was mentally and financially incapable of adding onto her already full plate of having to plan a funeral and bury her daughter, while caring for her injured grandbabies that both required convalescent care. Pastor Evans understood the situation and prayed for peace and closure for Jerome’s family before he said goodbye. After his call, Mrs. Sheri reflected on her situation. She would use it as a testimony for life insurance.
Her situation could have been much worse. She could have lost them all. She would have been desperate for funds to bury not one, two but three people at once. The average cost for a basic funeral was $6,500 x 3 = $19,500. A bill that must be satisfied in a week’s time for a proper service! If this was doable, many people would simply save their money and pay off of their cars instead of financing this dollar amount for five years. The fact of the matter is if it cost $20 a month for an adult and $20 for two children to have life insurance, it is a bill that you can’t afford not to have- hence the term life insurance. It is definitely for the living to attempt to continue on after the event of a family member’s untimely death. Mrs. Sheri would be a major promoter for life insurance for all going forward. Anything else would be uncivilized, she thought as she went to Gerber’s website to purchase life insurance for the twins
Chapter 14
Months passed by before their lives remotely resembled normal. Initially, she feared inwardly, that they would relapse into their ways of old, when they last were faced with a rough situation involving their mom. So she worked hard to counter that reaction with God’s love. If she did not take them to the church because of conflicting appointments or physical setbacks, she bought bible study home to them. Every day she made a point to tell them how much she loved them and was so blessed to have them.
She made a point to not just tell them b
ut to use their very own real life situation to show them how a situation could easily be looked at as negative, depressing and dark was filled with love, gratitude and blessings instead. How important it was to value life and the decisions that they make in it.
Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
Greg came by to see them immediately after the funeral and was unable to deal with their physical condition in addition to his unstable mental state. After he left, Mrs. Sheri knew they would not hear from him again, which was fine with her. Though she often wondered if he felt that since his wife had passed away, if he felt comfortable fornicating in comparison to committing adultery.
At any rate, as the girls became more and more involved in the church programs and were able to mingle with like-minded peers, they began to love the lord as much as she did. Adele made the conversion almost effortlessly, while Estelle on the other hand, often suffered from that backbone issue and had breakdowns where she would allow her anger to consume her. She blamed God for their loss and sufferings instead of their blessings.
During those times of setbacks, Mrs. Sheri could only pray for her and be patient. She knew it would be harder for Estelle because of her backbone, her background and the fact that her injuries were more extensive. Her broken hip was slow to heal and often caused reoccurring painful reminders when the weather changed for the worst. She had stifling arthritis pain that they could never truly prepare her for in physical therapy. For a long time, she seemed to walk around with an internal fight between good and evil. In the beginning, the evil side won quite often.
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