Samson and Sunset (7 page)

  Someone was feeding him info on my
every move. I guess partly I didn’t like being spied on, and partly
I liked that he cared. Mostly I liked that he cared.

  Then one Friday night, about three
months in, Shay said he was coming home for the weekend, and asked
if I would get his car and pick him up at the airport.

  Shay’s father, Sterling (who I’d
sassed at the bottle club) asked me to pull the car up to their gas
pump and filled the tank for me himself. Guess we’d struck up an
alliance of sorts. I met Shay at the airport and was so happy to
see him, but I started crying because they’d cut off all that
beautiful hair.

  “Hey, curly toes,” he said, “it’ll
grow back. Believe me, it grows fast.”

  I told my parents I was staying at
Shay’s, he told his parents he was staying at my place, and we got
a two-night motel suite. Judging from the weekend, you’d think he
came home for only one reason, but hell, that was fine with me.

  Sunday morning Shay went to his
parents’ and I went home. His plane was taking off at 6 p.m. that
evening, and around 2 p.m., he came to the door.

  “Are you taking me to the airport,
princess?”

  “Of course,” I told him

  When I got in the car, his class ring
was laying on the dashboard, strung on a chain.

  “That’s for you,” he grinned, “and I’m
leaving my car with you, too.”

  I knew he was getting serious if he
was leaving that Impala with me for three months!

  ***

When boot camp was finally over, I picked
Shay up at the airport with his car. His hair had really grown. He
wanted to go to his house first, and then into Hudson. When we got
to his house no one was home (he said his mother was in Watertown,
Christmas shopping.) This gave Shay the perfect chance to flip my
back against the wall and pin my arms above my head. He got no
argument from me. This time we ended up in his room; a twin bed is
better than a car seat.

  After we had showered together, we
went to the kitchen to get a snack and I saw something that made my
stomach turn, a note for Shay telling him to call a Phyllis
Shelby.

  “Who’s Phyllis Shelby?” I asked
him.

  “Who knows?” Shay took me into his
arms. “Let’s go out tonight. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “Okay,” I said, letting it go.

  He took me home. 7 p.m. came and went:
no Shay.

  At 9 p.m. I called Susie and said,
“Let’s go somewhere, this is ridiculous.”

  We went to King’s Drive-Thru, parked
and ordered.

  “Hey, Kevin Poole’s car is parked over
there,” said Susie, looking through the window.

  “Maybe he’s seen Shay,” I said.

  We walked up to Kevin’s car. I was
holding a Cherry Coke and at that moment I saw Shay in the backseat
with a girl (Phyllis Shelby, I presumed.) I didn’t think or even
hesitate. I was quick with my reactions (always have been.) I
sloshed that Cherry Coke directly through the window and onto both
of them. Then I took off running to my car.

  Shay was one fast dude. I think he
still holds the track record in several areas at Larimer High. He
was out of that backseat in a flash, caught me just as I reached my
car. Well, it must have been quite the little show for anyone
watching. I was hitting him on the chest, crying and calling him
names. He pinned my arms straight out against my car, saying,
“Settle down, Callie, just settle down.”

  But I still had my legs free and I
started kicking him. Then he pinned my legs with his legs.

  “Let go of me, you bastard! Let go of
me!”

  “Not until you settle down,” he said,
holding me.

  That’s when for the first and only
time in my life, I spit in his face.

  “Oh that’s cute.”

  “I hate you! Let go of me. Let go of
me or I’m going to scream!”

  “Well you just scream. I’ll let go if
you promise to settle down.”

  We stood there several minutes, me
pinned to the car. Finally I got control of myself and said, “Okay,
Shay, I’m settled down. Now you just let go of me because I want to
leave.”

  He loosened slowly, ready to grab
again if necessary. I opened the door and got in. Susie was already
inside and we took off down the road. I took Susie home and went
home myself, completely numb.

  ***

I had waited six months for him and his first
night home he was with someone else. The stories I heard about him
being a player were all true.

  About 1 a.m. the doorbell rang. I
answered; it was Shay.

  “I want to talk to you, Callie.”

  “Go away.”

  “I’m not leaving until you hear me
out.”

  We went out and sat on the porch.

  “Kevin introduced me to her when I was
home three months ago. She had been writing me and Kevin wanted to
date her friend, so we went on a foursome.”

  I knew what he was saying didn’t
really change anything, but looking into his sad, brown eyes I felt
myself forgiving him against my will.

  “Callie, she means nothing to me,
nothing.”

  I finally gave in to the pleading and
soft touches and he ended up sleeping on our sofa that night.

  ***

We went on as if nothing had happened. Spent
Christmas Eve at my parents’ house; it was casual and fun. Kelly
was now a year old and a total riot. We spent Christmas day at the
Westovers’, all formal, etc. Not my thing. Big turkey dinner,
cocktails, and, of course, the house was decorated professionally.
How fun could that have been? I thought. Putting up the tree and
all the decorations is part of Christmas!

  I was asked to bring Kelly to
Christmas, as Shay’s parent’s, Sterling and Maggie, had never seen
her. I took her in and took off her little coat and hat. She was
standing on a kitchen chair when Maggie walked in and just about
went bonkers.

  “I can’t believe it!” exclaimed
Maggie. “Is she real?” Then she went running out of the door
yelling, “Sterling, Sterling! You just have to come in and see this
child!”

  Margaret Westover, or Maggie as
everyone called her, was tall, slim and very pretty. She was in her
mid-forties, had large green eyes, and wore her auburn hair in a
short bouffant; she just about dripped elegance.

  Kelly was pretty much the whole party
the rest of the night. She could say, “Uh-oh, skeddy-o’s,” and I
think Shay’s family had her saying that the whole time she was
there. I met Shay’s grandparents, Grandpa Shannon and Grandma Lila;
they were polite but remote.

  Toward the end of the evening, I heard
Maggie ask Shay why he had never told her what Kelly looked like,
and I heard him say, “Never thought about the fact you’d never seen
her.”

  “Well,” said Maggie, “she is an
unusually adorable child.”

  A little blond beauty with cupid lips,
Kelly did resemble a living doll. She wasn’t fussy and rarely
cried. That kid was a hit wherever she went.

  ***

Big New Year’s Eve party at the club—I was
becoming quite the party person even though I didn’t drink. I had
no problem with anyone else drinking. Well, we really were having
some great times. I could push my questions about other women aside
for the most part; for one thing because I saw so much of Shay. I
couldn’t imagine him having any energy left over, after our hours
and hours of thrills and chills.

  ***

After the holidays, we had the weekend alone
at the farmstead. Every night that we made love was erotic, but
this one night we were alone in the house seemed different. Even
Shay noticed.

  “Your body was extra warm and twingey
tonight, princess. You’re just totally glowing from the moonlight
shining in the window.”

  “Maybe it’s my Indian spirit!”

  “Your what?”

  “Never mind.” I smiled and stroked his
face, stretching out before him, feeling bathed in love.

  “I just felt an extra warmth,” he
continued, rubbing his hands down my body. “Twinges I’d never felt
before tonight when I came inside of your life.”

  He always said that, just like our
first night together. I loved it.

  We lay in the moonlight, just basking
in the afterglow.

  “I wonder what was different,” I mused
absentmindedly, as Shay traced an aimless pattern on my belly.

  1965

  Motel Angel

  Well, Shay and I were having lots of
fun together; like the time he finished the milking for the crew
and told the hands to take off and have a beer.

  “Well, then I guess that’s about 70
head,” he said.

  I opened the back door of the barn and
said, “No, Shay, wait there’s one more out here.”

  “Well call her in.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Just coax her.”

  “Gosh, this is an ugly cow,” I said.
It was very wide between the eyes and had a mean look.

  I was saying, “Come on, Cowie, come
on, come in here…” when I noticed Shay was standing behind me with
his arms outstretched, like he might have to roll me fast to one
side at any minute.

  I asked him what in the world he was
doing.

  “Well, princess, that just happens to
be our stud bull you’re calling Cowie.” He broke into a wide,
tickled grin. “If he charges, baby, you’re going to need to get out
of the way fast. But see, he’s not stomping one foot yet, so you’re
okay. Just move real slow now and back your way into the barn.”

  When we were both safely behind the
closed barn door, I said, “How could you let me do that?”

  “It was funny,” he said, chuckling.
“Oh, come now.” He pulled me close. “I’m just trying to help make
you less afraid of everything.” He touched the tip of my nose
lightly, grinning. “You should have seen yourself.”

  I had to burst out laughing. Shay made
me laugh at myself. No one had done that before.

  We had great times, from mud fights in
the irrigation ditch to long romantic dinner dates.

  ***

One time when Shay’s parents were out of town
for the weekend, he invited me on “a real, dress-up night date,” as
he called it—dinner and dancing at the club.

  That sounded good to me. What a
beautiful date. He was so attentive, always with a hand somewhere
on my body, rubbing sweetly.

  Around midnight we went home to his
parents’ house.

  “Let’s sleep in the master,” he
said.

  “So don’t I get the pink silk
PJs?”

  “Are you getting shy on me now?” he
said. “No PJs for you! Let’s dance awhile,” and he took me in his
arms.

  We danced while undressing each other.
Then Shay scooped me up in his arms. “Let’s go to bed, princess,”
he said and whisked me into the bedroom.

  He opened the bed sheets and put me
inside, crawling in beside me, kissing me very softly. He had his
left arm around me and with one flip he had me on my stomach. (He’d
never just flipped me like that. It startled me, but kind of
aroused me as well.) Then he climbed on my back, his hands on each
of my wrists, and sort of held them out from my head on the bed,
using one of his legs to push one of mine outward, then the other.
I felt totally pinned under him, like I didn’t have any control,
and tried to squirm my way out.

  “Now please, Callie, just settle
down,” he said. “Please, just settle down and hush. Just hush for
one minute. I want to talk to you. Can you feel my heart
beating?”

  “Yes,” I said from underneath him. It
beat discernibly against my bare back, steady and strong. “Well
every one of those heartbeats is for you,” he said. “You belong in
my heart. So remember, if you ever don’t have a place to stay, just
stay in my heart, because my heart is your home.”

  I lay there listening as he ran his
right hand gently down my arm, over my shoulders and my neck and
down my spine. Then he said, “Turn your head to the right.”

  I said, “Why?”

  “Damn, woman, just do it!”

  I did, and he turned his hand over,
palm up, and in the little amber glow from the nightlight I saw
that he had this beautiful diamond engagement ring on his pinky,
diamond side down.

  He had been running it over my body,
he said.

  “I love you so much, Callie. I want
you to marry me. I can’t live without you.”

  Now here is where Callie should have
said something equally romantic. But what did I do? I lifted my
head as far as I could and blurted:

  “Who told you I was pregnant!?”

  “You did. Just now!” Shay lowered his
face near mine, eye to eye. “Well, I say we just got ourselves a
head start!” His eyes were sparkling.

  He turned me over to face him, holding
me close and speaking softly, his lips against my ear. “And you
know what, baby, I know exactly the night it happened. Remember
that night you were so warm and twingey…? The night you glowed in
the moonlight? That was it.”

  This man never ceased to amaze me. He
wanted the baby! Didn’t even question what I’d say to the proposal.
Guess my confession had served as an acceptance. Fine by me.

  ***

When his parents got home, Shay was working
on the engine of his car with the hood popped open. I was lying on
his bed reading. His parents knew he was going to ask me to marry
him when they were gone, so his mother came straight to me and
said, “Well, do you two have any news?”

  I held my finger up with the diamond
on it and she ran outside to Shay. He must have given her the
extra
news, because she kept running back and forth between
the two of us, saying, “You have to get married right away. Why are
you two just doing your own thing? Come on, Shay, you guys have to
do something!”

  Shay, who had just walked in with
greasy hands and rolled-up shirtsleeves, stood in the door and said
proudly in his casual way, “I already did something. It’s Callie’s
turn to do something. You ladies can figure out the rest. Just tell
me when and where and I’ll be there.”