Samson and Sunset

by Dorothy Annie Schritt

  ***

  I was very quiet as we cooled the horses out. Shay had mounted Samson and I was getting ready to mount Sunset when Shay said, "No, no, no, you’re not riding her back, you’re walking and leading her."

  I was not in any position to protest and besides, I didn't think my skinny little bottom would have wanted to sit right then anyway.

  ***

  Shay made some conversation on the way back to the house, but the only thing I said was, “Please, please never let anyone know that you had spanked me.”

  "Too bad, princess, if it comes up, it comes up. Because you need to understand right now: if you ever have another little temper tantrum like that, no matter where we are or who's there, you’re going over my knee, little girl. Now you just remember that!”

  You know, I did remember it, and I think for the first time in my life I knew everything wasn't going to go my way all the time. I'd met my match. Damn!

  After we got the horses put away, I walked to the Big House and went in through the kitchen. Cookie and Kelly where cooking up a storm.

  "Hey, sweetie,” said Cookie. “Supper will be ready soon."

  "I'm not hungry, Cookie. I'm not coming down to eat tonight."

  "What!” Cookie said. “Well that’s a first. We’re going to miss ya. You feeling okay?"

  I told her I was fine and went into the informal dining room. Wessy was there with Maggie. He always lay in his bassinet during supper.

  I said hello to Maggie and asked if Wessy had been fussy.

  "Oh no,” she said. “He's such a good baby.”

  She seemed happy watching him, so I headed upstairs and went right to a bath to soak my stinging, boney bottom. I heard Shay come in, and he walked into the bathroom and sat down on the edge of the tub.

  "Your bottom hurting a bit there, princess?”

  "Just get out,” I said. “Go eat. I'm not coming down."

  "Oh my, are we still pouting?"

  "I just don't want to face all those people and please don't tell them."

  "Well, Callie, if they ask, I'll tell them, ’cause ya know, everyone saw the little scene out front; you playing jockey like you did, running Sunset like that. I swear, sometimes you act like a wild Indian."

  Well, I thought, maybe my Indian spirit did get a little riled up!

  Shay went downstairs. I got out of the tub and dried off, put on a cute matching bikini-underwear and bra set, then a pretty little slip-on dress over that. I sat down on the sofa, and thought: Why am I going to miss supper? If I’m there I can probably keep Shay from telling anyone what happened.

  So I opened the door and started down the stairs. Immediately I heard a lot of loud laughter coming from the dining room. Everyone got real silent for about 30 seconds when I appeared in the doorway. But that was as long as they could contain themselves, and they just burst out laughing. Maggie had to use her napkin to wipe the tears from her eyes.

  “Come in, honey, and sit down,” Maggie said.

  “She probably can’t sit,” Shay said with a straight face.

  “Oh, Kathrine,” Maggie said, “we’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing at how funny it would have been to see Shay spanking anyone! He doesn't believe in that any more than you do, and I'll bet he never spanks the kids. He's too gentle hearted.”

  I tell you, he could do no wrong in that house.

  After supper Shay asked Cookie if she'd baby sit for a while; said he’d get her a big box of chocolates if she did. She winked at him as if she knew the score.

  “’Course I'll watch my two little baby dolls. You two just run along now and settle things up.”

  When we got to the suite, Shay put his arms around me and slowly moved me toward the wall, where he pinned me.

  “God, woman, you turn me on so much,” he said. “I was so turned on by that cute little red ass of yours, and if we hadn’t had to cool the horses out, I’d have fucked you right there."

  "Thought you didn’t like that kind of language?"

  Shay pulled his head back and sort of gave me a ‘who's the boss look.’ I, too, was becoming turned on.

  ***

  I think he found me to be very submissive that night. The heat between us was especially electric. When the great sex was over, Shay held me in his arms and said, “So. Did you learn anything today, Callie?”

  “Why? Was I supposed to?” I said, all innocence.

  “Gee, woman, you still can't admit it, and you still have some of that smart mouth!”

  “Well,” I said, "it was like you thought you were in The Taming of the Shrew!"

  “Really?" Shay said, chuckling, "I thought it was more like the Tanning of the Shrew." I gave him a look and he pulled me close, kissing me gently, saying, "Princess, you stay in here, I'll go get the kids and put them to bed."

  He left, but before he brought the kids up for bed, he returned with a glass of iced tea and a small glass of orange juice. Shay knew I liked to put orange juice in my tea, so I knew that was his little peace offering.

  I sat up to drink some of the tea, saying, "I just don't know how you could beat your wife."

  "Beat my wife! Callie, I never beat you. I would never beat you. Now a good spanking, that's different. Especially if the person receiving it is in need of one, and you definitely were in need of one. And you know, I studied law in Omaha, it's legal in Nebraska to spank your wife if she needs it.” He sat down on the bed and added:

  “I told you someday I'd tame you down, and today I did. I see I did it without breaking your spirit, but that's a good thing. I really love you, Callie, and you scared me to death today. I thought you'd kill yourself riding like that. If the spanking helped to give you some perspective about some of your foolish actions, then it served its purpose. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you, princess.”

  He hugged and kissed me, then headed down to get our babies

  ***

  Now here is something that Shay never knew: I would never tell him, but that little spanking he gave me, well, with every swat I just got more sexually aroused. He could have swatted me 100 times more! I liked that authoritative side of Shay. He was so handsome it turned me on just looking at him. Now this would always be my secret, as I wasn't going to let him spank me again, and knowing this information, he most certainly would have done it again, and again, and again.

  ***

  Well of course the story got all over Westover. Shay's friends idolized him and now they were calling him King Shay. The wives were amazed. One even asked me if Shay had really spanked me.

  "You heard right,” I said.

  "Oh,” she said, "You’re so lucky! I'd give anything to have Shay Westover spank me.”

  Well, she'd never get to know how fantastic it really was. That was my little secret.

  Parting Gift

  Every Monday Cookie went to meet her sister for lunch in Hudson, and afterward they would do their week’s grocery shopping together at Shakley's Super-Market. She always called me before she left to see if I needed anything. I was craving licorice, so I asked her to get several packages, plus some Bloody Mary mix and club soda (I still didn't drink liquor, but I liked Virgin Maries.)

  "I knew that," Cookie chuckled. "I already had that on the list without even asking you."

  She always left us a huge bowl of soup (chili, chicken noodle or vegetable) and a tray of sandwiches in the fridge, wrapped in tinfoil. Our Cookie took care of us. All we had to do was set the table and warm the soup on the stove. I think we could handle that.

  Shay came in as usual about 3 in the afternoon. The kids were napping and he was frisky, so we showered together and gave the sheets a run for their money.

  "Do you want to go riding Callie?"

  “We can't,” I said. “Maggie’s out and Cookie’s in town shopping. Let’s just lay here and savor the time alone, nap a bit. It's a good day to cuddle, darlin’."

  Shay heard Maggie downstairs, so he called down and asked her to keep the kids whil
e we napped awhile. I'm sure she thought we were going to have sex.

  One thing about Maggie, she loved having the kids, so she came up and got them.

  "Bye bye Mommy, bye bye Daddy," Kelly said as they went out the door.

  I cuddled up in Shay's arms and we went to sleep. Damn. The phone rang and woke us up.

  “Don't answer it, Shay, someone always wants you, let them work it out themselves.”

  "It could be Maggie," he said, as he grabbed for the phone.

  I rolled over on my side in disgust.

  "What...? What...! Where!!"

  I turned around. Shay's voice was so different. I’d never heard that voice before; alarm, disbelief, sadness.

  "I'll go right now, I'm on it," he said.

  "Shay, what is it? What's the matter?”

  Shay was sitting on the edge of the bed, just holding the phone in his hands.

  "Cookie died,” he said.

  "Stop it, Shay, that's not funny. Stop it. I don't believe you,” I whimpered. “You’re just trying to fool me, stop it. Stop.” My eyes were filling with tears. “Please, tell me you’re just fooling with me."

  "I'm sorry, Callie, she's gone."

  ***

  The next few hours were just a blur for me. I truly can't retrieve that time.Cookie, my Cookie, was gone

  I remember Shay got dressed and went downstairs. He said he was going out to find Joe. Oh God! How was Shay going to tell Joe? I started praying.

  “Let this not be true, a mistake maybe.” I threw myself on the bed and started sobbing.

  Time just stood still the next few days. My mom and dad came and got the two children.

  Shay didn't come back to the suite that night. I knew he and some of the guys were probably with Joe. In the morning I went downstairs and Maggie was just having coffee. I toasted her a bagel, put some cream cheese on the side and gave it to her. I told Maggie I'd make lunch. She thanked me and went about making phone calls.

  It was about 7:00 a.m. when Shay came in, took off his boots, poured a small glass of brandy and just drank it down. Then he lay down on the bed in his clothes.

  "Callie, get me up at 11. I’m taking Joe into Hudson to make funeral arrangements."

  When I brought a cup of coffee to the bed, he was already asleep. I covered him and let him sleep until 11. When I woke him, he was sort of in a daze.

  He showered and dressed and, as he was putting his billfold in his back pocket, he rushed out the door. I ran to the door as he was going down the stairs and asked him when he'd be home.

  His reply was, "When you see me."

  Everyone gave each other their space for the next few days. Everything was in disarray. I fixed lunch and sat at the table with Sterling and Maggie, who had been trying to find someone to replace Cookie (as if that was possible.) Maggie got a lady from Westover to come and work for a few days to see if she could handle the job. I didn't want to hear about it.

  ***

  I learned that it had happened while Cookie and her sister were grocery shopping. She had leaned over into an open cooler and just keeled over into it. She’d had a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead at the scene. She had Joe and Shay as contacts in her billfold and her sister couldn’t get a hold of Joe, so she’d called Shay.

  Shay and I slept together the next few nights, but we just seemed to cuddle and there was no conversation.

  I thought to myself, are they really this cold?

  Shay showed no emotion over what had happened. He just seemed to be working extra long and hard. I'm sure he was doing Joe's part. I asked Shay if he wanted to talk about it. He said there was no reason and changed the subject. I couldn't understand Maggie either—so busy trying to get domestic help. Didn't this family realize the immensity of what had happened? Nothing would ever be the same.

  I knew Maggie needed help, but I was there, and all she had to do was ask me if she needed anything. I’d told her as much. She didn't know this at the time—of course neither did Shay—but I was a great chef. I could cook up a storm.

  Well, Maggie ended up hiring one of the other farmhand's wives for Cookie's job and gave her a permanent position.

  ***

  Cookie's funeral was Thursday afternoon at the Saint Luke's Church in Westover. Shay worked late the night before and I fixed supper for him.

  "We have to be at the church by 2 p.m., Shay," I said as I cleared away the plates.

  Shay was a pallbearer.

  "I know that Callie," he snapped.

  "Shay, I know you’re tired, but I’m not only stressed myself, I'm tired, too." I got up and went upstairs to go to bed.

  When Shay came up he drank a brandy and just sat out on the sofa in the den. Then he turned on the news, listening a bit. After a few minutes he shut the TV off and came to bed.

  He sat the alarm clock for 5 a.m.

  "Good grief, Shay," I said (perhaps the wrong choice of words.) "Why are you getting up so early?”

  He didn’t answer; just wound the alarm with a blank expression.

  “You act like you don't even care that Cookie's gone,” I said and turned on my side.

  Shay turned towards me, put his arm around my waist without a word, and went to sleep. But I lay awake a long time. Guess Cookie meant more to me than she did to Shay, I thought sadly.

  ***

  I got up when Shay did. Might as well, I couldn't sleep. I ran a hot bath and soaked while Shay showered and dressed. He bent down to kiss me goodbye, but I just turned my head away. Shay paused a second and just looked at me; then turned and left.

  I started getting ready at about 11 so Shay could use the bathroom to get ready when he got back. I laid out his clothes on the bed: a black suit, black boots, a gray pinstriped shirt with a white collar and a black tie.

  Shay was filthy when he came in around noon. On any given day I'd have said, “Why didn't you take those dirty jeans off downstairs?” But today it didn't seem important.

  When he was ready he looked so spiffy; he was truly the most handsome man I'd ever known.

  "Lets go, Callie. Don't want to be late."

  We took our own car and Sterling, Maggie, Debbie and Becky went in theirs. The drive was pretty silent. I was disillusioned with Shay not showing any emotion. I just wasn't raised that way. I couldn’t understand it.

  ***

  After the service at the cemetery, everyone went back to the church for lunch in the basement and I made a point of sitting at a table with some neighbors I'd gotten to know. I went where there was only one chair. I just didn't want to sit with Shay. His actions, or lack thereof, had disappointed me.

  While we were eating lunch, our neighbor, Dale Houseman, said, "You must be mighty proud of that husband of yours."

  I looked up at him and was about ready to comment when he proceeded to tell everyone at the table, "Ya know, we have twelve men on the cemetery committee, but Shay wouldn't let anyone dig Cookie's grave but himself. He was up diggin’ with a pick and shovel on his own all night. The ground was still partially frozen. He came back early in the morning to finish the job. I went out there at one point and offered to help him myself, but he said, 'Cookie would have wanted it this way. She was my Cookie. I need to take care of her the way she took care of me.'"

  Tears filled my eyes. Here I was so mean to Shay, thinking he didn't care about Cookie, and he was up all night digging her grave. Well, people handle their pain differently; who was I to tell him how to mourn. What pain he must be holding inside.

  Well, if he didn't want me to know, then that's how it would be.

  When we left the church, I sat close to Shay on the way home. He said he had to go to work as soon as we got home. He didn't know that Dale had told me that Shay wanted to close the grave himself. So I knew he was headed back to the cemetery. How hard it must have been for him, out there in the cemetery alone under the dusky sky turning to darkness, covering his Cookie with dirt.

  I sat down and cried my eyes out for Cookie, Joe, Kelly
and myself; but my heart was with Shay.

  I was in bed when he got home. He showered and came to bed in silence, lying on his back with his hands clasped together on his chest. I lifted up on my elbow and opened his hands with my free hand and laid my head down on his chest. I moved my face up to put it beside his and his face was wet with tears.