Men of All Seasons Box Set

The Fine Art of Reading Riley-8

Sadie Harrison had already completed her cleaning chores at Stone’s Tudor when he returned home from his errands and s*x romp with Cameron Phillips. A vacuum sat in the middle of the living room floor, and Stone could smell Pledge on the maple end tables, proving that she had already dusted or was in the process of dusting. He found her in the dining room, dusting off the chandelier above the table that sat six comfortably. The woman looked top-heavy and always wobbly, destined to someday fall over, particularly now while reaching forward and upwards with a five-foot feather duster, stretching every muscle in her overweight body.

Sadie was the strongest black woman Stone had ever known, always a supporter of the local Black Rights Legion, a foundation that protected African-American men and women from being brutalized by racist cops in northwestern Pennsylvania, among other areas. Sadie organized and attended fund-raisers for the group, and she spoke as one of its key members, protecting communities from violence and disparage in the modern world of violence committed against blacks. Her IQ ranked at average, and never did she use correct grammar. Had it not been for her upbeat and positive attitude, her BRL foundation wouldn’t have taken off, leaving the woman heartbroken.

“How are you, dear?” Stone asked, stepping closer to the table.

The feather duster fell out of her right hand, and its plastic handle clicked against the dining room table’s surface. She grabbed at her heart with both palms and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Jesus, Mary, and Jo Jo! Mr. Daye, you scared the poo out of me! How many times have I told you not to do that? What were you thinking?”

“My apologies.” He tried to soothe her, knowing the woman had always been on edge and nervous most of the time. He believed she needed something for anxiety, a little pink pill with quite the kick and easy to swallow, just to calm her down. Sadie didn’t do any kind of drug, though. Not cold medicine. Not aspirin. Nothing of the sort. Her body had been drug-free for the last forty years of her life, and that’s exactly how she wanted to keep it.

She pulled out a chair and sat down, waving a hand in front of her face as if it was a fan, attempting to cool down. “Don’t ever sneak up on a woman twice your age. Some of us know karate and those fancy moves like your nephew’s friend, Tender. Other women would have beat you to the ground. I, on the other hand, am a lady, just as I’ll always be. Amen to that.”

He wanted to laugh but didn’t. Instead, he moved up to Sadie, placed a palm over her shoulder, and provided it with a gentle squeeze. “I’ll call your cellphone before I come in next time. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like I’ll live longer, and you won’t have to arrange my funeral, young man.”

“Exactly. That’s my intention.”

For the next fifteen minutes, they talked about Sadie’s duties for the day: clean both bathrooms, prepare appetizers later in the day for his guests, and place and organize the Robert Riley tomes on a reading table in the living room for the guests to pick through from those he had retrieved from Turn the Page Books. He also wanted her to light an arrangement of candles for the evening, hinting that it would make the house smell better as opposed to all the cleaning supplies she had spent that morning and afternoon using. He expressed such a concern with politeness, of course, not ever wanting to be a tyrant and crossing a line by disrespecting the woman.

“Can you please make sure the candles are something fruity and flavorful, if you don’t mind, of course?”

She agreed to all of his conditions and demands, just like she had numerous times before. Sadie was good that way, always on task, on the ball, a productive employee, and someone Stone would recommend for any household duty, although he wanted to keep the woman to himself.

It was now time for Stone to get a shower, since he’d been unable to give himself a thorough clean up after the s*x with Cameron Phillips. Not only did he feel dirty, but he also smelled dirty, of sweat and semen mixed together. He preferred to feel Cameron’s hot spray of semen on his naked frame for the rest of the day, relishing its heat and a gluey wash-down, but he smelled rank. He excused himself from Sadie and her work, trotted upstairs to the bathroom, undressed, and stepped under the shower’s spray.