Samson and Sunset

by Dorothy Annie Schritt

  1979-1980

  The Discovery

  Sterling had been working on a project since he retired: he was building Maggie her dream ranch house, a mile or so away from the Big House. Every woman in the Seventies wanted a ranch house.

  Life was back on track, and I never missed a chance to ravish Shay’s gorgeous body. Every morning we waited with bated breath for the school bus to come and get the kids.

  I once asked Shay if he thought we should buy a book with sexual positions in it.

  “Are you kidding? We could have written the book!” he said proudly.

  “Shay, are we over sexed?”

  “Why, do you want to cut down?”

  “Are you kidding?” I said. “I think we should do it even more if we can work it in!”

  “Well,” he said with his Shay-grin, “Callie, I can always work it in.”

  The kids were now fourteen and sixteen. Kelly was old enough to get her driver’s license, so Shay bought her a car. It was only two years old and she was thrilled. Wes was more thrilled than Kelly that she could drive, I’m sure he thought that gave the two of them their freedom. Well, think again kids! Shay was a very good father, kind and reasonable, but he was also strict. He didn’t believe in corporal punishment. Instead he’d sit them down at the table for The Talk and let them tell him what they thought they’d done wrong. He let them tell him how they thought they could do better, and usually he had them think of their own punishment. Oh, he’d grounded them a few times, but the only person in the family he’d ever spanked was me, that one time. Of course, I’d never let the kids know about that; they’d never let me live it down!

  The kids wanted to drive to school but since the bus drove right into the farmstead to pick up the farmhands’ children, Shay made them take the bus. He did let them drive in for special occasions. He had worked it out with Kelly that she had to earn her car by cleaning the stable every Saturday if Lucas was there. If he wasn’t, she had to wait until one of us could be there. He never told Kelly why. “It’s just a rule you can’t break,” he said. I know Shay didn’t want a repeat of what had happened to Maggie and me.

  ***

  Both of our children had a special friend in their life of the opposite sex. Kelly had been dating a nice boy named Randy for a little over a year, while Wes seemed to have a new girl every couple of weeks; that boy was his father’s son. Like Shay, Wes was going to be tall. He had big dark brown eyes and that I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude like Shay. He never worried about his grades, but they weren’t bad. Granted, he wasn’t going to get a scholarship or anything, but he didn’t want one. He was a jock, very popular. Hell, he wasn’t going to college anyway, he told us. He wanted to run the farmstead or be a pro-baseball player.

  Wes did things that just cracked Shay and me up. One day I was looking out of the kitchen window, watching Wes cart all these boards out back from the shop. He stacked them in piles by size; then he went and got a toolbox and a saw.

  “Shay, come here,” I said quizzically, “look at what your son is doing.”

  Shay stood there looking out the kitchen window with as much of an amazed look on his face as I had. “What the hell is he doing?”

  We never said anything to Wes, just continued to watch him out of the kitchen window for the next few days.

  Finally, he had this huge contraption built.

  “What the hell is that?” Shay asked me with a little chuckle.

  A couple days later, Shay and I were sitting at the kitchen table in the afterglow of an afternoon romp, drinking iced tea, when Wes came in the back door. He went to the refrigerator, got out three cans of pop, opened one and chugged it as we sat there watching in silence, then opened the other two and poured them down the drain.

  “Hey, Mom, Dad, come outside. I want to show you what I built.”

  He didn’t have to ask us twice. We were up from the table and out the door, on our way to the see what our son had concocted. Wes took a long narrow board and stood it straight up in the air. Then he put three pop cans in a row at the very opposite end of this big narrow handle that was nailed to a kind of wooden box.

  “Now watch.” Wes pulled down a handle.

  This moved it to a board that moved several other boards, eventually connecting to a huge six-by-six pressure board, which slid heavily onto the first pop can, crushing it. Then it crushed the second and then the third can. He’d built the first can crusher we’d ever seen, made in 1979.

  Wes had a mechanical mind, just like his father. Shay and I looked at each other in true amazement. That was our Wes; there was no doubt he was Shay’s son.

  Now our Kelly was sixteen and really quite the lady. She was a no-nonsense girl, unlike Wes. She was a horsewoman, had raised several of Samson and Sunset’s foals and trained them to show. She was in the Moonlight Rider’s Club, 4-H, and always entered the County and State Fairs. Her wall was full of ribbons and trophies. She used to try to trick ride, but I wouldn’t watch that. It was a mother’s nightmare.

  Kelly had green eyes like my dad, with long wavy dark-brown hair. She was about five feet, four inches and still growing. Her grades were excellent; she was always doing homework. She wanted to be a veterinarian. I tried to get her to think about being a nurse and join the Gray Angels Program at the Hudson Hospital, something you could do when you turned fifteen. It didn’t pay much, but it helped young girls decide if they might want a career in nursing.

  I always thought I’d have liked to have been a nurse, helping people feel better was something I knew I’d love doing. But that didn’t interest Kelly; she wanted to work with animals. Well, all right then. We told her we’d support anything she decided to do.

  Our kids always had friends out to the farmstead. Teens loved coming to our house. Sterling and Maggie were very generous about them using the tennis courts and the pool. One day we were going to Sunday dinner at the Big House and Kelly asked if she could invite Randy next Sunday. We said sure, we had no problem with that; Maggie and Sterling would love it.

  Next Sunday came and we went to dinner at the Big House as usual. We were instructed with all the do’s and don’ts by Kelly before we got there. She wanted us on our best behavior for Randy. No kissing, necking, and acting like a couple of lovesick teenagers. When we finally all got to the table, Shay and Sterling couldn’t contain themselves. Questions like, “Well now, what are your intentions, young man?” and “What do you plan on doing for the rest of your life?” just somehow slipped into conversation. But this was nothing compared to Wes, he was relentless. He couldn’t wait to tell Randy all of Kelly’s faults and the dumb things he thought she’d done.

  We got through dinner and when dessert was served, Sterling said he’d like to have the floor for a minute. Everyone turned to him while he stood up, addressing Shay and me.

  “Callie, Shay; Maggie and I are moving into our new house around the middle of December, and we would like the two of you and the kids to move into the Big House and take over. It’s time for you two to take your place as head of this house. Shay,” he turned to his son, “you’re running this operation now.”

  “Callie,” Shay turned to me, “what do you think about that?”

  I sat there just totally unable to speak.

  Shay laughed. “I think for the first time ever, my wife is speechless.”

  “I’ve never,” I swallowed, “I’ve never thought about who’d be living here in this grand house. I certainly never thought it would be us… I’m blown away! I just don’t know what to say. I never ever dreamed or dared picture myself in this beautiful home.”

  I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. I wanted to run and tell everyone, “I’m going to be living in and running the Big House!”

  Shay looked at Maggie and said with a grin, “I’d say Callie is borderline overjoyed, verging on hysterically beside herself.”

  I jumped up and hugged both Maggie and Sterling.

  That night I kept interrupting our lovemaking every few minute
s, saying things like, “I’m going to put the gold sofa in the den!” More lovemaking, and then, “I won’t change the paint or the drapes. Or maybe I will!”

  “Oh for gosh sakes, am I in this little endeavor alone, chatterbox? Do you think you could shut long enough to make love to your husband?”

  The next time I made some remark about decorating, Shay put his hand over my mouth, flipped me flat on my back and said, “Woman, shut!”

  Then he put those gentle lips of his on mine and I forgot about the Big House and got caught up in my Shay Man. He fulfilled my every need and more.

  After about an hour and a half, I was lying happily in his arms.

  “Miss Callie, may I have the floor for a minute?”

  “Yes, sir, you got it. The floor is yours for one minute. I’m timing you.”

  “Callie, darlin’, I was wondering if maybe your mother might like to come and live with us in the Big House. You know that suite you decorated is just like new; no one ever used it after us. I like your mom and I like being around her. I think she’s lonely living in Hudson by herself and I really don’t like her being there alone. We’ll have the room, so why not ask her to live with us?”

  I sat straight up and looked at Shay. I was staring at this wonderful man, thinking: how many sons-in-law want their mother-in-law to come to dinner, let alone invite them to move in with them? Didn’t I say this man never ceased to amaze me?

  “Oh, Shay.” Now he had me crying. “She will be so happy! Especially when she hears it was your idea! She’s going to feel so wanted. She is lonely. I worry about that too. Just think how happy she’ll be! She lived for years down on Oak Street and now she will be living in the Big House! And just think, darlin’,” I said. “Callie Westover is going to be the mistress of the Big House. Mistress. Can you believe it?”

  Shay reached up and pulled me back down to his lips, kissing me with his gentle sensuous mouth. It looked like lovemaking was back on.

  ***

  My mother was so happy when I told her Shay had asked if she’d move in with us. She cried as many tears as I had. I think it was her reward from God for all she had done all her life for other people.

  Mom would keep what she wanted. Martha, my big sister, would take what she wanted, and the rest would go to auction. We wanted to have Mom all ready to go when it was time to move into to the Big House. We planned to move in the last two days of December, 1979.

  Finally moving day came.

  Shay let me do what I wanted to the Big House. I didn’t make a lot of changes, but as Shay said I gave it the “Callie touch.” We bought another gorgeous new bedroom set for the master suite. I wanted to make our love nest absolutely stunning and sensual, a place where Shay and I could consume each other.

  Wes took Shay’s old room; he wanted Shay’s old exercise equipment, said he needed to “buff up for the girls.” Leave it to Wes to be thinking of girls. Kelly took Debbie’s old room and I let her pick her paint and get a new bedroom set and accessories. Hulda was staying on with us. Yonnie was going to work full time for Maggie, but she promised she’d come over to visit. We got Mom moved into that grand suite Shay and I had lived in. Mom told us she felt like a queen.

  Hulda asked me for my ideas on how I wanted the house run. Oh, she would find out how easy I was to work for.

  We kept breakfast buffets in the small eating area, and continued evening meals and big fancy Sunday dinners in the grand dinning room. Sterling and Maggie had an outstanding invitation, like Shay and I had, when Maggie ran the house. Christmas Eve would now be at Sterling and Maggie’s, and we would host Christmas day at the Big House with the formal dinners and cocktails. This was how this family had worked for generations; I wasn’t taking that away from them. The oldest son took over the operation and the Big House.

  Every time I walked past a mirror, I stopped and looked at myself and said, “Hello Kathrine. Do you realize that you’re the mistress of this manor?” Even saying it in the mirror, I couldn’t seem to convince myself of it. I was so happy. I couldn’t imagine a better life.

  Every time Shay walked through those bedroom doors it was like the room was on fire. My heart raced, my breathing quickened. He was my master. He really did own me—body and soul—but I wasn’t going to let that go to his head.

  Just when I thought it couldn’t get better, Susie told me she was getting married to a guy from Hudson and they were looking for a place to rent. I went right to Shay and told him. Then I just looked at him with my Callie-eyes that said it all.

  “Alright, alright. You can rent our old house to Susie.”

  Now it was complete! I had my lover, my children, my mother, my great in-laws and, now my best girlfriend all living within walking distance. I extended Susie and her new family an open invitation to Sunday dinners whenever they liked. I was in heaven.

  ***

  By mid-January of 1980 we were completely settled in. One bitterly cold night, Hulda made pot roast with all the trimmings for supper and cherry pie with ice cream for dessert. I was sitting next to Shay as usual. He was barefoot, and he kept running his foot up and down my leg under the table. With all the family there eating, I had no choice but to show no reaction. But I was getting turned on. At one point Shay dropped his napkin and bent under the edge of the table to get it. While under there, he ran his hand clear up between my legs. I swear the kids must have seen me jump, and I knew then that he knew I was aroused. Gosh, it was all I could do to keep myself in my chair.

  Finally I said, “Oh, I’m so tired. I think I’ll shower and go to bed.”

  “Hey, Mom,” Wes piped up, “thought we weren’t supposed to lie. Everyone knows you’re going to bed early so Dad can nail ya.” He grinned, Shay’s grin.

  “Wesley Wilson!” I said with a flushed face. “I don’t know where you come up with such talk. It must be those kids you hang out with. I want you to stop being so crude.”

  “Yeah, Mom, that must be it; my friends. But I’ll try to be less crude,” he said, grinning, as he left the table.

  I left also, flustered and more than a little embarrassed. Shay was close behind.

  “How does it feel to get busted by your own son?” he asked, walking into our bedroom suite behind me.

  “You got busted too, big boy!” I reminded him.

  We had the most wonderful steamy half-hour shower with Shay lathering my whole body.

  “Hey, Callie, don’t buy anymore of this perfumed soap, it masks your juicy pineapple scent. I love that scent, woman, it’s like being in an orange grove, or on a beach surrounded by pineapple trees. It’s my own personal Callie scent!”

  Shay washed my hair and rinsed my body off. As usual he got a little carried away with the shower hose. Boys will be boys. Then he dried us off and towel dried my hair.

  “Gosh, woman, you smell so good I could eat you whole!”

  “Well, mind your manners, Shay Westover. Didn’t your mother ever teach you to just take one small bite at a time?”

  I raised each of my arms as Shay put on my underarm deodorant, and then unscented baby lotion. I loved being lotioned up by Shay. He was never in a hurry. I turned around and he did my shoulders, back, bottom and down the backs of my legs. Then I’d turn around: time to lotion the front! He’d start with my neck, then the arms, then on to my breasts. Well, he was sure taking his sweet time lotioning my breasts.

  He was arousing me so much I said, “Move along, big boy.”

  Shay moved down to my stomach, around my inner thighs and down my legs. Wow, what a rubdown! Then he picked me up and carried me over to the bed. Once there, he stood me up, opened the covers, and threw all the pillows down to the floor; picked me up and lay me flat on the bed. Then he stood there just looking down at me.

  “Am I going to lie on this bed alone all night, or are you getting in here with me?” I asked him.

  Shay slid down on the bed on his stomach, placing the upper half of his body across my chest. He braced himself on his arms and then
I saw those beautiful lips coming oh so slowly toward mine. He kissed and caressed the upper part of my body with the gentleness of a person having sex for the first time, someone not quite sure if he knows what to do. It was so cute. He ran his fingers around my breast area with a cloud-light touch. I was so damned turned on. Finally, he lay on his back and pulled me up in his arms. Then I got the enjoyment of lying on top of that sensuous, gorgeous body of his.

  We were at this foreplay for over an hour; then I was digging my fingernails into the sheets, into Shay’s arms; my body twisting in ecstatic torment while my toes curled under and locked.