Читать книгу 'The River' Blood Brother Chronicles - Volume 1 - T. Beaulieu - Страница 10

Upstairs, running her bath, Kelly sits down on the edge of the grand tub. As dark thoughts surround her being, the beauty gazes into the bath water.

Surrounding the lovely blonde is large room of glamor and pampering. Marble floors and gold fixtures, exotic soaps from Paris and Italy, potions and lotions of every type. Kelly is in the lap of luxury, she always have been.

Sad, the thoughtful lady-of-the-house looks around, taking in her wealth. Profits passed down through a powerful family with deep connection in antebellum South.

Running her delicate fingers under the warm tap, the young woman tries to get images of the ravaged young woman out of her mind. Tonight, through the gracious effects of an over the counter drug, Kelly will finally sleep easy.

Heroin will be her choice of escape.

“Misses ....you all right?,” Sally whispers, slightly startling her friend.

Smiling, Kelly turns to her trusted best friend, the only person on earth that understands her.

“Yes hun .......”

“Stop with the missus - we are sisters,” the young woman says sadly.

Looking back at the water as Sally pours in a bit more bubble oil, Kelly has so much on her mind.

The saucy maid grins as the rose fragrance of the bath oils makes her sighs gently. Looking her her friend’s long face, the assistant breaks into a grin.

“Then let me wear them diamonds then,” Sally laughs

Not missing a beat, even in her own angst, Kelly scoffs sarcastically. “And where

are you going to wear them love?”

“Aint no colored balls for miles around.”

With love, the sassy flapper looks up into a youthful face, round and beautiful. Sally truly is a looker, able to pull any man she wants, white or black. Kelly respects her friend all the more because the beautiful woman wants nothing but an education. Instead of using her looks to get what she wants, Sally uses her mind and wit.

Kelly adores this about the young woman. Secretly wishing she had done the same.

The flapper looks up from the running tap. “The men still talk’in?”

Sally grins, sitting on the lavatory as her maids uniform crinkling slightly.

“Like Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb. They both try’in to hatch a plan. Might as well be two roosters lay’in eggs if ya’ ask me,” Sally chuckles.

Kelly laughs at the remark, playfully swatting Sally on her knee. Her fingers soothed by the overtly warm water flow, Kelly peers up to her assistant. “What would I do without you .....? “

Sally says nothing. She means not to get too emotional, especially with the pain in her bosses eyes. One of them has to be strong.

Running her hands through the hot water, too hot to step into. The lovely flapper unties her long elegant pink silk robe. She looks up at Sally, scoffing at the maids uniform the studious young woman insists on wearing. “Why you wear that damn thing ?”

“I told you not you,” Kelly smirks.

Resting her lovely face on her palms, elbows on her white stockinged knees. Sally wants to talk about what is bothering her best friend. She will not push the issue. At least not tonight.

“Because I’m ya’ maid,” she says dryly with a grin.

“This is what maids wear.”

Looking into eyes that seem as if they have been somehow been undone. As if the strength has been drained from a woman whom she knows as a tiger, Sally decides to push the issue as she straightens out her maid’s apron.

“What's wrong hun. And don’t damn lie Kelly Anne.”

Sally has good reason to confront her boss. Since being in jail, Kelly has had fitful nightmares. Almost every night the young assistant has to soothe late night screams and and restless tossing and turning.

When Slick is away on his blood business, the young woman has taken to sleeping with Kelly. Often holding the woman till she falls back to sleep. Secretly Sally has shed her own tears. It hurts her heart to see her friend so broken.

Sally looks down at her simple black shoes. “Its that women ....aint it?,”she asks, looking up at Kelly.

As she turns, suddenly, as if a ghost haunting her, Kelly sees the broken black woman in Sally’s caring eyes.

Instantly turning from a visage that brings back heartbreak once again, the blonde flapper ganders back into her dark thoughts.

“Yeah....,” the blonde whispers.

A whisper unto itself, low and slight. As if needing only for her friend to hear, not even God. Especially since he did nothing to help the situation.

Sally smiles softly as she caresses Kelly’s forearm. A gentle touch that is needed.

“Mo’ of ya’ powder tonight?”

“I got the syringe already steam’in,” she says.

Hearing this, eyeing the soap bubbles, each resembling soft clouds. Kelly sighs deeply with tears in her eyes. Looking to her friend, the beauty deeply sighs.

“Yeah .....”

Quickly, as her mama did for her, the young maid does what she always has done for her Kelly. The poor little rich white girl with the heart of gold and diamonds. She gathers the blonde up in her arms, both siting on the edge of the grand porcelain tub. Holding the socialite tight and warm, Sally smirks. They both need a laugh.

“Now look’a hur’ smut bag. I kno’ just what will make ya feel awfully good,” she jokes.

“He got muscles and from down du'r’ in Central America.”

“I’mma call ova’ ya’ boy friend. Hav’em give ya’ some good lov’in when Slick and Benjamin leave for business,” Sally laughs.

Sally watches Kelly’s eyes laugh, about to chuckle.

“Or do ya want tha’ Irish one that be talk’in funny. You know he’s always look’in at my black tail like he want a damn bite?,” as Kelly giggles.

Sally’s words make Kelly giggle in fits in her arms. Both glad for it. “Or...girl, let me see...”

“Do ya’ want tha’ rich one. Now he got my vote,” Sally says with a little sass.

“I don’ messed round’ and hurd’ some pip’in hot gossip ‘bout him tho’. “ Kelly chuckles. “Do tell ‘Miss Gab-O-Lot.”

Sally grins as she sits of the edge of her seat. The young assistant relates how her others days work brethren have related to her that the ambitious rich young man has taken to bedding rich socialites.

Kelly smirks comically as she hears the piping hot gossip served fresh. “He’s rich. He aint doing it for money.”

Sally nods. “I said the same thing to Miss. Thomas. You know she works for the Jeffersons on Buller Drive, in that big ass house with all them damn ghost.”

Kelly nods, glad to have her mind off her troubles. She already knows the story. Men are so predictable. “And he is bedding the Lady-of-the-House?”

Sally laughs out loud. “Girl naw. That bitch got mo’ wrinkles than a set of balls. Naw heffa’. Your friend is try’in to sleep with her daughter.”

Both woman giggle like two school girls. They know that the rich gigolo has his work cut out for him. The woman they speak of is Farah Jefferson. A true beauty, the dame is a known lesbian and does not care whom knows. Sally and she had mild affair of the heart just last summer.

Sally snickers. “She gon’ cut his dick off .....”

Kelly laughs as well. “Serves his sneaky ass right. Men are so damn silly. Everybody know that gal prefers woman over men.”

“Just what the hell is he do’in?”

Sally leans in, as if for a whisper. “ Her mama put him up to it ......” she says. Putting her finger to the side her nose, Kelly does the same. Their sign that there is much more to be said. Both are going to have to find out more info.

As the room grows silent, Sally smiles gently to her boss woman.

Friends know how other friends tick. Nothing gets Kelly feeling better than handsome men and gossip. Both in good healthy doses.

The young blonde grins, feeling better all ready as Sally hugs her tight.

“See-I knew it. Ole’ smut bag like ya self, dick and talk’in bout’ otha’ folks woes. The remedy fo’ all sinners indeed,” Sally laughs.

Kelly nudges her assistant hard in the ribs.

“I have you mind I sign your pay checks missy,” Kelly snarks.

“And one aint bounced yet. Well so far,” Sally chuckles.

“But I have ta’ admit. You a mightier woman than myself. I can’t split my pie up into slices like ya’self.”

Kelly chuckles in her friends trusted arms. Instantly both young women think about Salvador, a dashingly beautiful young latin lover.

Suddenly both hear Benjamin and Slick down stairs, laughing and talking. Kelly ganders up into Sally’s trusting face, wondering what the pretty woman must think of her.

Though Slick and she adore each other, both have always had an unspoken arrangement when it comes to sex. Always away on business in other states, the young hustler understands that his young beautiful wife has needs.

Desires that he can not always be there to take care of.

Kelly also knows that her arrangement with her husband is to somehow make right the fact that Slick will screw anything that is pretty and has a vagina.

It hurt at first when the vixen found out that she was not enough for the handsome stud.

But that notions soon fell away when the young flapper was finally honest with herself. Slick is a contract killer, a man that gets paid to murder other people. A human being living on borrowed time. He should be living his life to the fullest.

As soon as Kelly was clear and honest with herself, her love for Slick grew profoundly. It was as if a knowing had flowered between them, an unspoken understanding. Like two deeply connected friends that just so happen to be in love with each other. The blue eyed hustler’s does have one rule. Do not fall in love.

Slick has went as far as threatening to kill the unlucky man. Whomever he is.

“Do you think that I am an inconstant woman?,” the flapper asks into Sally’s warm brown eyes.

Sally turns into the direction of the men’s voices. Two of whom the ladies trust more than their own fathers, though Benjamin can be very seductive in his ways. The assistant cradles her boss closer, kissing Kelly on the forehead.

“Naw-not at all baby girl,” Sally smiles.

“Ya’ think Slick is a choir boy when he off kill’in fo’ the highest bidd’a?”

“Naw-in this day and age, a woman has to take hur’ destiny in tha’ palm of

hur’ hands,” Sally says softly.

“She has ta’ mold it like tha’ wet clay Eve and Adam was mold’d from.”

“Hur’- in this creation, a woman has ta’ find all that she means ta’ be in this beautiful world.” the young maid says softly.

Kelly looks to the wise young woman with a grin. “You are going to do well in your studies. Your already wiser than most white men I know. Hell, most men period.”

Sally scoffs at the flattery, realizing how ironic the words are.

Just two days ago, while shopping for food, the young black woman was called a ‘stupid nigger’ by a white trash cashier when she questioned the amount of change that was handed back to her.

When the racist was told that the money she had taken belonged to Kelly McDuff, of the McDuffs, the irate woman’s face grew beet red. Throwing the rest of the money at Sally.

Thinking of the moment, the assistant laughs slightly, making Kelly giggle. “Did’cha really get that girl fired fo’ call’in me a nigger?”

Kelly nods with a girlish giggle.

“If she wants to work, she is going to have to leave the damn state.”

“We know everybody and don’t take it lightly when somebody tries to steal,” the young woman says bluntly.

“I wish I could have been there to fire her ass myself-right on tha damn spot.”

Sally reaches in to see if the tub water has cooled, smirking. “That aint your store women. Ya can’t go fire’in folks ‘cause ya feel like it.”

Unfazed, Kelly listens to the men downstairs. She hears a familiar laugh, high pitched but gruff. “I have a huge account with Patrick's. Hush ya’ self Sally Mae.”

Kelly reaches down to feel the water herself.

“Heck-just last month, I spent about $200 dollars for that party you did not want to attend,” she smiles.

Looking up, Sally listens with Kelly. They both hear Benjamin laugh so loud downstairs, the man sounds as if he is yelling. A hearty bellow.

Kelly looks from the men’s voices, into Sally’s eyes. Suddenly a dark glance takes over the women’s angelic face. “ The cunt demeaned the only woman on earth I would kill for,” Kelly hisses.

The gentle dark statement takes Sally aback slightly.

“The bitch better be glad she is still walking amongst the living .......” Just as quickly, a warm smile returns to the loving flapper’s face.

Sally nods without words. She knows about Kelly’s dark moods. Sometimes they last for days, sometimes seconds. But they always creep the assistant out.

Sally listens in as she hears her boss man’s thick tongue. Benjamin laughing more.

“You think the men are going to do as we need for them to do?” she asks.

Smiling warmly at the question, Kelly thinks back to a love making session that took place just that morning.

Slick was so passionate, more so than usual. The man used all of his beautiful body to please her. Fingers, hands and tongue, it was all beautiful. Slow and well paced.

Sally grins as she looks into her best friend’s dreamy eyes. The assistant knows that look on the young blonde’s face all too well.

“Ah-humm. That short-blond-cock diesel bastard got that good lov’in. Don’t he?,” she laughs.

Kelly smiles as she playfully nudges Sally. “One thing about Slick’s sex baby-girl. That sex fucker does not play around. He worships me,” the young blonde purrs.

“If I told my beautiful man to pull down the sun and moon. Rest assured, he is going to find away to do it.”

Smirking, Sally thinks back to her own session of love making with the man whom is laughing the loudest in the moment. Benjamin, even out of sight, is a ham. Sounding like a hyena in heat.

Suddenly thinking back to the conversation that they all had over dinner, the need for retribution, Sally’s face turns serious.

“Is there anything we can do?”

Kelly’s mind breaks from her mental images of love and her man’s delightful voice downstairs.

Peering over slowly, the young woman is curious at what she just heard fall from her assistant’s lips.

“What ever do you mean Sally Mae....?,” she asks, instantly cross with the question.

“You know. To help them?,” Sally asks, almost wishing she had not asked the question.

Suddenly Kelly rises on her two feet with a stern finger wagging.

“Little lady, you are one year from Howard University.”

“Why in all of creation would you want to get involved with that mess?”

“Murder is not for the light of heart my dear Sally,” the young woman concludes. Hoping the question is just that, a simple curiosity.

Silent, listening to Slick brag about something downstairs, the woman look to each other with giggles. Blue eyes to dark brown, almost one soul. In that moment, both feel as if they understand each other. They both know that something has to be done. Nothing will be said. No need to.

Gently Kelly rises to take off her dress, asking Sally to fetch her terry cloth robe. Letting the fine silk Hermes blouse fall from her shoulders, undoing her brassier, Kelly sighs with relief. Sally arrives with a pink terry robe, placing it in on a vanity chair.

Sitting back down, contemplating as Kelly turns to her half naked, Sally watches as her friend takes off her skirt and slip.

Scooping up each falling articles even before they hit the bathroom floor, the assistant silently folds each neatly. Both will be washed by hand.

Sally looks back to Kelly with a knowing that they share as spirit sisters. The socialites eyes draw deeply into Sally’s, seeing past logic.

Yes they will have to take action. Both are sure as sunshine on a hot day.

The bright young woman sits back down on the lavatory, watching her boss bathe, wondering.

“I know it seems strange. I just ...... they’re so cruel to us,” the young woman finally says.

Enjoying the warm water, Kelly instantly pulls up a vanity seat, ushering her bright eyed maid close. Concerned, Kelly washes her arms, watching Sally sit. The conversation she is about to have with the bookish young woman is only to save face. A deterrent, a fork in the road away from a path thought could change the maid’s life forever.

Though secretly, washing under her arms, Kelly wants her sister to experience murder and all of its sweet glory. Kelly desires this so much, it scares her sometimes.

Like the good example she is to Sally, Kelly sits up straight in the tub as her eyes beam into the assistant.

“Get that mess out of your pretty little pressed head Sally.”

The flapper playfully splashes the young woman. “Do I make myself clear?,” she finally asks.

“Yes’um,” Sally murmurs. An answer she uses when thinking. Usually meaning she is not genuine.

Washing under her breast, Kelly glares over. “I mean it Sally ....,” Kelly says with authority.

Sally says nothing as she looks all around the luxurious bathroom, then to Kelly’s tender eyes. Washing, the blonde studies the future black doctor, a first in her race and sex.

Suddenly Sally laughs out loud, reaching in to playfully splash Kelly.

“You so full of shit woman. That tub should be a damn commode,” the woman smiles.

Gestures all around the large room they are in, full of toiletry finery any woman would be envious of, the assistant speaks with passion.

“Look around ya’ Kelly. Look - all of this. Ofcourse you would say that.”

Kelly stops mid wash, her eyes glaring at her protégée. “Excuse me ....? “

Snickering, Sally rise from the vanity. She has to stand on her two feet, needing to be heard.

“Look Kelly-I love ya’ mo’ than my mama’s collard greens and corn bread. That’s tha truth.”

“But I want to be apart of this. Those men killed all seven of my uncles.”

Standing tall as Kelly washes slowly, the blonde looks up into eyes that have seen their share of cruelty as well. Coming from a place deep, Sally suddenly starts to shed silent tears. Wet drops of inner turmoil that have not healed, wounds that have only festered.

In that moment, peering back into time, the young assistant sees her mama’s face. Being a little girl, Sally was not able to do anything. As if the present has stitched itself with the past, Sally feels painfully helpless. She watches as her small hands finding her mothers tear stained cheeks.Wiping away tears that will never cease.

“They nearly killed both of my brothers. One is slobbering all over himself cause’ what they did to him.”

“I aint gonna be the same ever again Kelly. Neither is my family.” “That event happened over fifteen years ago. It still haunts me.”

“And I’m sho’ it drove mama to tha grave even quicker than she was headed,” the young maid quips.

Kelly watches as Sally began to pace the grand bathroom, her eyes steaming with a silent fury as they stare down to imported pink marble.

Swinging her head around to a misty eyed Kelly, Sally’s pretty face is a mask of pure frustration. “If I was a man, I would be expected to do something.”

“Hell it would be my duty,” the maid says quickly.

Kelly understands her friend’s point of view, she really does.

As much as the flapper wants to put a gun or trusty razor in her spirit sister’s hands, letting her do what God would not. Both woman live in Jim Crow South Carolina. Slick and Benjamin are not always around to save the day.

The young flapper listens to Sally, but her point has to be made as well.

“Yes my love, I understand. But you are a black woman. If they catch you ?,” the young blonde expresses, suddenly breaking into tears.

With her creamy pale cheeks turning beet red, Kelly splashes water on her face. As if to hide her tears even from herself.

“Do you know what they did to that woman in front of me ?”

“Now you wanna end up just like her - huh girl ?”

Sally looks down to her employer with her hands on her hips. A woman whom understands her plight living in the skin that she is in, if only by empathy and friendship.

“I aint gon’ be no damn girl Kelly Anne,” Sally grins through tears.

Glad for the humor, Kelly grins as well.

“Uh-hum. Then stop with little girl thoughts.”

“Little girl thoughts. Is this what you say ?,” Sally issues.

Walking to the far end of the bathroom, the maid’s mind races. As the pretty cinnamon colored woman thinks back, tears form once again. Threatening her pride and gumption.

Secretly, washing slowly, Kelly watches with a small smile as her plan reveals itself flawlessly. The idea of revenge has to be Sally’s. The need for blood has to be her’s alone.

Looking out a bathroom window to the dark streets below, Sally thinks back to one of her uncles. His rotting twisted body swinging in an afternoon sun beaming bright, a horrid visage that stays with her till this very night.

The young man’s skin was once beautiful and deep, always shimmering with power. When relatives found his body after a week, it was moldy and rotting, black and putrid. A man always with a beautiful smile, teeth as white as seashells. Sally remembers that the teeth had all been kicked out of the corpse’s twisted mouth. Brown eyes that were always kind, bulged out sickly. One peeked away by crows.

Looking past the present, sally tries to get the memory out of her head as her back strengthens.

With her feet planted firmly, the maid swings around to her mistress.

“Either ya’ help me or not. If I end up like that girl. So be it.”

“But rest assured Kelly Anne. One of em gon’ be in hell before they get me.”

Secretly Kelly’s heart jumps for joy as she witnesses her best friend blossom into a murderess right before her very eyes. Witnessing Sally’s strength, the power in her brown eyes. It is a formidable experience for the young flapper.

“Why?,” the flapper asks half heartedly. She must keep up pretense.

“The menfolk are going to do as told.”

“Yeah hun - but what about tha’ woman. Us ?,” Sally asks, sitting back down to a gob-smacked Kelly.

“The woman-why hun?,” the blonde asks, washing.

Secretly the young woman does not need a reason, but the idea has to be cemented in Sally’s logic. Almost there.

Sally looks upon her Kelly, telling a story even the socialite did not know.

It happened years ago, when the two women were girls in two different worlds, yet in the same town.

The young assistant relates to Kelly that one of her uncles, Cleo Hargrove. A brilliant black man of distinct beauty and flair, killed for no other reason than pride.

Once the talk of black South Carolina, the dynamic man was the relative that first put the idea of college in the young woman’s head.

Cleo was a proud man, down from Harlem in New York. The new Mecca of black thought and genius.

Sally relates to Kelly that her mother told her that there was trouble as soon as Cleo arrived in South Carolina. From the train station, there were evil glares about his fine suit and elegance.

One white man even spit on Cleo’s fine shoes. But the proud man kept his head up high.

As Kelly sits back in the tub, fixated, Sally runs her more hot water. The assistant tells of the time her Uncle Cleo was in the general store with her mother.

“Thats when that vampish evil bitch saw my uncle.”

Kelly looks up, her brow furrowed. ‘Who hun. Who?”

Sally looks past her boss woman as her eyes seem to heat with hate and revenge.

“Vennessa McClaren.”

“Lawd, I hate that woman.”

“She saw my uncle and wanted him for herself right then and there,” Sally seethes, her blood boiling like lava.

Kelly washes as she turns from Sally. Seeing her beloved with such a look on her face hurts the flapper to her core, like fresh tiny paper cuts across her soul. If the sordid vamp Sally just named was in the room. Kelly would drown the bitch in scented bath water with little more than sighs and content girlish giggles.

Kelly gets the delicious thought out of her mind. Pretenses must be kept.

“And your uncle said no dear ..... ?” she asks gently.

Sally nods with more tears in her eyes.

“You see -,” the young woman starts, then stops.

“Uncle was a ....a confirmed bachelor. He was special,” Sally laments.

Kelly only nods with a gentle smile. Some of their best friends are these special men Sally speak of. Kind souls with sexual interest that are more geared toward their own kind.

“He had no use for that retched bitch,” Sally adds, her voice teeming with anger.

As the young lovely woman tells her story, Kelly tears up as well.

Sally recollection is so full of detail and imagery, it leaves the bathing beauty numb. Cold, even in the soothing hot water.

Instantly the flapper thinks of her hairdresser, Floyd, and his joyful banter while making her ‘movie-star gorgeous’. Then the sensitive young woman thinks one of chauffeurs. Alex, a kind man with a lover whom is kinder than even he, Harold.

Last year at a private Christmas party given at the mansion, Kelly invited everyone, even their lovers, male or female.

It mattered not. Over cocktails, Sally and Kelly silently watched as Alex and Harold sat side by side, secretly holding hands. Though their amorous touch was clearly out of sight, even amongst friends. One could feel their love.

It was like a soft ray of gentle glory, subtle but touching. Both men smiling at the festivities, happy there was a place they could be together as a couple.

Kelly stares back to her Sally, her own blood boiling. So much so, beneath the bath water, Kelly is starting to tremble. A trait much like her husband.

“After my uncle said no numerous of times, always a gentle man. That bitch lied to her daddy, say’in my uncle hit her on her flat ass,” Sally fumes.

The assistant looks over at her loving boss lady with a face that is simply heartbreaking.

As Sally speaks, her cracked voice echoing all around, the young flapper cries gently with a thought that rings in her heart. She knows Cleo would have loved that Christmas party. He would have adored the jokes, filling his tummy with all the good food.

The thought makes Kelly cry even more, as if loosing a friend she has never met. The question has to be asked. Ironic as it is.

“You think Cleo would have liked my Christmas party last year?,” the blonde ask. A question clearly of the subject, yet right on point.

Sally smiles warmly, feeling her eyes burst with more tears.

In some strange way the odd question makes everything light and tolerable in tha moment. The assistant suddenly giggles. So glad for it indeed.

“Girllll -- he would have a ball Kelly Anne,” she says with a soft chuckle.

“And ya’ know he could cut-a-rug too.”

Kelly beams brightly. “Yes love. We could have taken all the rugs off the floor in the front parlor. Danced up a storm.”

“You know I would have to have first dance. I am the boss lady,” the flapper giggles.

Suddenly Sally swerves her sassy hips. “I beg you spicy nerves Miss Rich-I- Want-Everything. He my uncle. We gon’ share him. Hell, he got two arms and hips. We’d be on each,” she laughs out loud.

Taken, the studious assistant watches as Kelly relates her own life and friends to a man she has never met. A human being that died when she was a little girl herself. Its all in Kelly’s bright eyes. Looking off, seeing laughter and parties, conversations and secrets that will never be shared.

It is a touching moment. One of the reasons why Sally loves Kelly.

“I’m sorry. Continue,” Kelly says finally, splashing water in her tear streaked face.

Sally smiles as she turns away. If she sees Kelly cry, then she will start crying. The story needs steely resolution and stoic hatred to be told. Straightening her back once again, the maid continues.

“That night - Kelly Anne.”

“What they do love ...?,” Kelly asks gently.

Sally fights back tears with the shards of hot anger, as if acid just below her skin.

“They broke into his motel room baby-girl.”

“He was dead two hours later. Only after they kicked the teeth out his head and tried to mangle him so bad, one of the eyeballs popped clean out.”

“And you want to kill - this woman?,” Kelly asks. Hoping beyond hope.

Sally turns to look to her mistress as a fire burns in a soul like never before. “ I want ta’ beat that bitch till she aint no mo’ lil mama ?”

The mistress-of-the-house leans back in the tub, feeling her feet and legs grow heavy as lead under her bath water. Though she is happy.

“Is revenge only meant fo’ the white privileged?” “Aint I human too?” Sally asks as her voice cracks.

Kelly agrees with a nod.

“But what about college?,” the blondes asks. This is a concern.

“Hun-I’mma black woman, they would never suspect me.”

“Especially since we gon’ do it together,” Sally smiles meekly.

“But I have never ....,” Kelly starts, right as her friend cuts her off.

Sally laughs through her tears. “Now befo’ ya’ start ly'in.”

“Keep in mind ya’ in water and the good lawd’s lightening will fry ya’ like Sunday chicken.”

“Your first husband. His daddy and four brothers to boot.”

“And let us not forget about Chicago.”

Sally smiles at what comes from her mouth, revelations. “Kelly, as much as you love me. There are times even you underestimate my intelligence.”

Instantly Kelly is taken aback, shocked. “I have nev ....,” she starts as Sally cuts her off.

“I know you want me to murder that woman. You want this for me. I know this Kelly Anne. And I understand why and I adore you for it.”

Kelly sits back, shocked. Nobody knows about her sorted past. Not even Slick, or so she thinks. And her plot to have her best friend experience revenge first hand, the young flapper had no idea she was so transparent.

But this is Sally Mae.

One of the smartest woman Kelly has ever known.

The bathing beauty folds her wet arms, glancing up into a bright face. So intelligent. “How long have you known bitch...?,” Kelly laughs.

“Hell woman. Since I got tha’ job. About your past that is,” Sally smiles.

“And your little plot to pop my ‘blood cherry’. Hussy-its all ova’ that pretty face of yours.”

Kelly laughs out loud, splashing bath water Sally’s way, getting the bathroom parlor floor wet.

“Everybody on tha’ colored side of town know bout’ Benjamin. And they all know that he and Slick tight as two thieves try’in to split a gold nugget.”

“I just put two and two together,” Sally quips.

“Also consider this. Maids gossip is worse then clucking hens in heat. A few of your fine white friends have been talking behind ya’ back babes.”

Quickly Kelly sits straight up in the tub as more water splashes on the floor. “Who!,” she yells.

Sally walks over, grabbing a sponge. Gently the assistant relaxes Kelly with gentle scrubs along her arms and chest.

“Who’s the riches woman in this town?”

“Hell-in five states. Who is gonna to tell?,” Sally smirks.

“That’s how I know we can do this. Anyone even suspects. “

“They gon’ be too scared to talk. Let alone even imagine a fine lady white taken advantage of by Chicago gangsters and jazz who’s changed her ways.”

Kelly grins as her friend washes her back. “ You know they think I’m christian,” she chuckles.

“Lawd - if they only knew,” Sally laughs, glad for it.

The young maid continues to wash her misses, wondering.

Both woman are silent for a few moments until the awkward stillness in the air has to be broken.

A plan has to be at least discussed. Kelly splashes her friend playfully.

“So. spit it out. What you have up those crafty starched sleeves of yours,” she

smirks.

Excited, Sally rises, sitting on the vanity. She is ready to spill the best plan known to man. At least thats what she thinks.

“Ok-now keep in mind those stuck up heffa’s always up in your bizzwax. We gon’ seduce them. Lill them with kindness,” Sally quips as Kelly laughs.

“Pun intended,” the flapper chirps happily.

Exactly, I’mma need you to recommend me for a job as their housekeeper,” Sally says.

Kelly stops her friend in mid sentence.

“Hold the hell up missy. And what am I going to do about my house?”

Sally laughs, looking around the luxurious washroom.

“Well you can hire somebody else. Temporarily ofcourse.”

Hearing the suggestion, the young bathing blonde laughs out loud, making Sally smirk. “And if they cook better than you-your outta’ job,” she grins.

Quick as a whip, hands on her hips, the young maid scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“Girl - what?”

“Bye wit’ all dat.”

“And who ya’ gon’ gossip with and tell all ya’ deepest darkest secrets too?”

“You forget, I knows where all the bodies are buried. So to speak. Cause’ I

buried them myself fo’ ya,” the young maid smiles.

Chuckling, Kelly splashes at the young woman, nearly missing Sally’s leather work shoes. Her only pair. “Lies missy. I bury my own bodies.”

“Lies would be just that,” Sally snides.

“You be too busy check’in ya makeup. Sit’in on tha proverbial bumper, ask’in me how long I’mma take.”

“Anyways, I can then work my magic. Ya’ know that mean bitch takes her pills in the morning and at night ?”

“Yeah, she’s always saying she gets uptight. Nerve medication she says,” Kelly remarks, intrigued.

“Well, I have a cousin who works at a pharmacy. We can lace those pills with enough arsenic to kill her ass,” Sally grins.

“Not at once ?” Kelly cuts in.

“Hell naw Kelly Anne. Slowly baby girl-slowly indeed.”

“I give that bitch a good two weeks. She gon’ be deader than week old road kill,” the maid chuckles, wondering what her best friend thinks.

Kelly smirks as she playfully snatches the sponge from Sally. The flapper washing, thinking for a few minutes. Looking up into an understanding face whom knows her best, she is convinced though silent.

This is murder and a good friend would never let another friend take such drastic actions.

But a woman has to do what a woman has to do.

After a while, Sally sits, watching and waiting for an answer.

Suddenly Kelly quickly glances at the crafty young woman. “I have an apothecary of my own. Your cousin-he a negro?”

Sally nods, bright eyed.

“Then hell naw. Thats another black life in danger.”

“I want no more blood on my damn hands woman. I’ll take care of the pills.”

“You catch my drift girl ?,” Kelly smarts back, serious.

Sally nods, happy, not really sure why she instantly touches the gold rosary around her neck. Thinking about her plan to kill another human being, the assistant is instantly ashamed. Gently, the young maid lets the religious trinket drop in between her cleavage. As if not wanting God to know of her plans.

Kelly continues to wash, looking into Sally’s overtly sensitive brown eyes. “How long have you known me?,” she asks.

“Bout’ seven years. Since I was fourteen,” Sally answers.

Kelly nods. “Off and on. Benjamin convinced me to hire you because of your good references and you have been like my loving shadow since then.”

“You are a good woman. I’m not trying to let you get corrupted,” the lady-of- the-house says softly.

The plan to have Sally take revenge suddenly turns Kelly’s stomach for some reason. She can not explain it. As if doing something that is beyond wrong. Her word is final.

“And as far as you being there in the midst of them damn devils. God only knows what can happen when I’m not got-damn around.”

Sally immediately stands to her feet, hands on her hips. “Kelly Anne-I’mma be fine!

“Hell naw you won’t,” the blond snaps back.

“Those damn brothers, they are known for raping colored woman and you prime pussy gal,” Kelly retorts.

Suddenly realizing what she has said as the flapper laughs to her friend. The maid is taken aback at her bosses choice of words.

“Sorry-been hang’in around Slick too damn much. But you know what I mean,” Kelly smiles.

Snatching the sponge from her employer, washing Kelly’s long delicate arms, sally grins. “Yeah ofcourse. Then what you got planned?”

“My plan was good till you cut it in half heffa.”

“You are going to work for them during the day. Night fall comes, you get your black ass out that house. Do you hear me Sally Mae ?,” Kelly says with a seriousness that sends a chill up Sally’s spine.

“Yes’em,” the maid nods.

Kelly and Sally are silent a few moments as the assistant gently washes her friend’s cares away. All except for one. Feeling sensitive fingers along her wet skin, as if a mother to a child, Kelly looks over.

She wonders what is on the young woman’s mind. Anytime the young diva is silent more than two minutes, Sally is cooking up something.

Finally the young woman does asks a question. One she has pondered.

“You made a comment, ‘good’.....you know -- ‘woman parts,” the young woman smirks. The vulgar word not to her liking.

Kelly laughs as a she watches Sally run more hot water.

“You can plot to kill, but have a problem saying pussy ?,” she laughs.

“Really Sally -- really?”

Sally turns to the bottle blonde grinning. A smile as pretty as sunshine after a rainy day. “I aint a hussy like ya’self,” the maid smirks.

“So said your bed springs last night when Benjamin came for a visit,” Kelly laughs.

Sally grins as she tests the tap to make sure it is not too hot.

“Thats different. That damn creole would be any woman’s weakness.

Thats how he was made. Blame God Kelly Anne,” the young woman laughs.

Sitting back down, thinking back to her long dead uncle, a man whom would have adored the creole, Sally looks off.

“Its been twelve years hun,” she says.

Thinking, the maid looks into the bubbled water, almost about to cry if not for Kelly’s wet comforting hands caressing her cheek.

“And God is taking way too long huh babe?,” the bathing beauty smiles.

Sally smiles weakly as a tear struggles free, down her cheek into the milky, white fragrant water.

“He must have forgot all my prayers. Probably got more important matters to tend to,” she smiles weakly.

Tenderly, Kelly wipes tears from her friend’s soft dimpled cheeks.

“Then a woman has to do what a woman has to do. Sometimes all a woman got is her gumption.”

“Sometimes that very forthright has to be bigger that even God himself,” Kelly says almost as a whisper.

“You gon’ help me?,” Sally smiles.

Kelly wipes away another tear as her own eyes start to mist.

“As the hell I will.”

“I am going to make sure you stay as far away from this plot as possible.” “Your involvement goes as far as this conversation in my bath. I’ll take care of

the rest little lady,” the kind hearted socialite smiles.

As time flutters on into a light late twilight, the two woman are silent for a few moments once again. Sally washes Kelly’s back, asking something else that is on her mind. “When you spoke about my -- you know lady parts.”

“What do you mean?

Kelly rise in the water with a laugh that is as light as her soft heart, scoffing playfully at her gossip mate. “You mean your pussy .... ?”

“Hun, this little act-wait ... ok-I know its not an act - per’se.”

“Look, your going to have to get them ears full of the dirt of this world.

“You got men right outside my front door right now. If given the chance, would not think twice about ravaging the both of us.”

The harsh sentence makes Sally smirk slightly.

“Faster than a rabbit fuck-these bastards would take what they wanted. Then slit our throats,” Kelly explains, her voice harsh and deep.

“So you are going to get your ears ready to hear what the world has to say. All

the world has to say.”

“Just make sure that what you hear does not trickle down to that golden soul of yours,” Kelly smiles.

“Learn what you can, even the nasty bits that bother you. There is a lesson to be treasured. Even in the thickest, dirtiest of mud, a lotus blooms.”

With her wise words, the same that was told to her by her father, the socialite playfully splashes her maid once again. Suddenly both woman hear Benjamin’s voice. “Besides that missy, mess’in around with that creole stallion.”

“You betta’ get hip. “

“You aint no damn virgin you know,” Kelly chuckles.

Sally smiles as she hears Benjamin downstairs as well. Blushing as quick thoughts of sensual love shoot across her mind. Each mental picture like a hungry sparrow headed for a wheat field. Fast and potent. “That word-its just a nasty word. Thats all,” she smiles, washing Kelly’s arms.

The blonde flapper shrugs as she sinks down into the tub, letting the milky water cover her pink nipples. “I agree. Guess I been hanging around Slick too much.”

“Look hun-I’m a worldly woman. I make no excuses for myself. I’m pretty and I use what God gave me to get what I want.”

“In this old world, a wet pussy will always be fed. And well I might add.” Kelly says bluntly.

Sally wincing at that word. The vulgar term making her cringe as if said by the devil himself .

Kelly smiles at her friends reaction. “You, on the other hand, have a good mama and daddy.”

“Etta and Samael are two of the best people I know. You got school to look forward too.”

“You keep them pretty chocolate legs closed. You don’t have to do what I do gal,” the socialite smiles gently.

Sally laughs, splashing her mistress playfully. “A colored girl can’t do what you

do anyways Kelly Ann. And get away with it.” she laughs.

Kelly laughs, splashing her friend right back.

“Tell that to the sexy colored gals in Harlem hun. Each more prettier than the next, and they all got sugar daddies. White and black.”

Sally continues to wash Kelly’s long creamy white arms, gently laying her own sleeved arm next to her friends. The comparison is beautiful.

The flapper enjoys the comparison as well.

“Chocolate comes in so many different colors. From white to dark,” she laughs out loud as Sally chuckles hard.

The young maid looks across her mistress’s fine white skin, then to her own soft brown elegance. Silently comparing her breast to Kelly’s, sally admires what nature has blessed her with.

There have been times Sally has looked at herself in the mirror, especially when dressing up in her maids uniform. Gandering at her young supple body and all of its curves.

She knows Benjamin loves her deeply, always saying how she is the best woman he has ever met.

At the thought, the maid chuckles to herself. The lovable killer always says this after he has had his fill of her young flesh. Laying on the bed like some beautiful golden king, his eyes soft and satisfied.

“Men’a say anything aft’a cum’in,” Sally says to herself.

Kelly looks up quickly with a grin.

“And make promises.”

“I make mine keep his.”

“Hold that wonderful fine white ass to the fire if he don’t,” she smirks, washing her breast.

As the two women think, both from different worlds, now together in each others lives, they are grateful. Life is funny that way.

Gently their laughter dies down, each looking to the other, wondering.

“You do realize that there are four women we have to take care of?,” Kelly says out of the blue.

“And I got four schemes to send each right back to hell where they came from,” Sally says with confidence.

Kelly leans on the edge of the tub, intrigued even more. She plays with the hem of her friend’s maid uniform. “Do tell Sally Mae -- do tell.”

Downstairs, already three glasses of wine between them. Slick and Benjamin, also known as ‘Skeeter’, are silent as they look to each other. Both brothers know what has to happen.

As Slick has a long sip, he considers what the woman are speaking about upstairs. He hears their giggling, then long silences. “Yo’ kno’ wha’ tha’ woman is plann’in right?,” he says.

“Yep - kill’in tha’ McClaren women. One at’a time ya hur’ naw.”

“Sally told hur’ sista’ and hur’ sista’ told me. Try’in ta’ have me convince hur’ not ta’ do it,” Benjamin says solemnly.

The creole loves Sally, though he took advantage of the young woman last summer. He has always had a soft spot for the studious young woman. An ambitious beauty whom wants to become the first colored woman doctor in the South. Benjamin really does care her.

If marriage was in his blood, the young down-to-earth beauty would be Benjamin’s choice over all.

“Shhh -- iiitttt. Kelly gon’ take care of’at.”

“Yo’ think she gon’ let tha’ sweet lil pickaninny get any blood on hur’ precious hands.”

“Kelly wu’d cut off her own hands befo’ that happens,” Slick comments, sipping.

Benjamin eyes the ceiling. Kelly’s bathroom is right above.

Both men smile silently, knowing the woman are probably plotting right as they speak. “Yo’ right. We g’on keep an eye out.”

“Make sho’ they don’t get caught up,” Benjamin chuckles.

“So about tha’ plan. Wha’ tha’ fuck we’s have ta’ do?”

Lounging in his dining room chair, Slick fingers the fine wooden dining room table. A gift from his wives stepfather. Another man the killer had to put down for slapping Kelly at a dinner party. His wife was none the wiser.

The blue eyed thug fingers the fine wood grain as wine buzzes pleasantly in his mind. “Ya’ aint gonna to like it tho’.”

“And personally. I don’t giv’a fly’in bat fuck,” he finally says.

Benjamin sits up in his seat.

“And why tha’ fuck not ?” the creole killer sneers.

“Cause it involves ya’ gett’in caught,” Slick smirks.

He is ready to be called everything but the child of God.

“Tha’ fuck it don’t nigga,” Benjamin nearly laughs off his chair.

“Wha’ tha’ fuck ya’ talk’in bout’? “

“Ya’ must be out'cha ya’ fuck'in white devil mind if ya’ think Imma let them mean peck’a woods get me in’a rope noose,” Benjamin almost yells, mindful he is in Kelly’s house.

“I swear fo’ tha’ almighty. If I wu’d leave ya ta’ plan tha’ maze fo’ a stupid rat.

“Ya dumb ass wu’d forget tha’ fuck’in cheese.”

“I think I hate ya’ right naw,” the creole sneers.

Slick says nothing as he chuckles at his business partner.

“Keep talk’in ya’ mongrel mutha'fucka’.”

“I’mma split ya head to tha’ white meat. Ya’ daffy bast’turd.”

Benjamin smiles. “We can gon’ take this outside asshole,” he laughs.

“I’d beat ya’ so bad. Ya asshole’ll be puff’in out proud cause’ ya face w’ud be fit ugly mutha’-fuck’a.

Slick snickers as he looks up to his dinner room ceiling. He wonders what the girls are talking about. “Naw. I’d kill ya’ dumb nigga ass.”

“Then Sally and Kelly gon’ be all in my face.”

“Fuck ya’ and tha’ train ya’ rode hur’ fru’m fuck’in hell.”

Benjamin say nothing as he playfully glares at his kid brother. Both have been through thick and thin. The best and the worst.

Slick is silent as well, sipping his wine as his brilliant mind spins round and round.

The creole thinks back to what was just said a few moments ago.

He is about to leave, looking around for his jacket. “Yo’ really fuck’in serious aint’cha ?,” he ask.

Slick laughs as he sucks his teeth. Grabbing a toothpick, the killer pays his brother no mind.

“Look, ya’ greasy hair’d pretty fucka’.”

“They already watch’in our asses.”

“It aint gon’ take but’a quick rat fuck fo’em ta’ finally put two and two together. Even them dumb fucks.”

The blonde haired killer looks to Benjamin as he raises his own two fist. Both scarred and mangled, though barely noticeable.

“Ya’ got hands like mine fuck’a .”

“Them menfolk aint g’on get tha’ best of ya’. “

Slick leans back, cocking his well made shoes on Kelly’s dining room table. He can heat his wife upstairs so she will not know. To be honest, his feeling are kind of hurt by Benjamin’s comments. Though the creole will never hear a word edge wise. Out of both men, each very intelligent, Slick shines with his ability to see the whole picture of any situation.

“I’m just say’in all ya’ gotta’ do is chill easy fo’ a few days.”

“We can’t do this shit alone son.”

“Otha’s gotta’ to be involv’d. We murda’ a sheriff and his sons.”

“Those two heffa’s up stairs talk’in bout’ knockin off tha’ women as well, shhhhiittttt.”

“We look’in ta’ be hung fuckin side by side.

“We gon’ bust hell wide open. Take ova’ when we kick the devil’s ass,” Slick laughs.

Benjamin says nothing as he looks at his half brother suspiciously.

“I hate’chu .......,” he sneers.

Slick leans back, crossing his arms. “And ya’ still gon’ do what tha’ fuck I say mutha'fucka. I need ya’ to do this.”

“Look’a hur’. I see ya’ point fo’sho,” the creole says.

“But again fucka’ -- damn I hate repeat’in my damn self. “

“What is yo’ fuck’in plan?,” Benjamin asks once again, almost exasperated. He is ready to punch the blue eyed hustler.

“Look, they watch’in us like chicken hawks to a hen coop already.”

“Imma need ya’ to turn ya’self in,” Slick says.

Instantly the sharp dressed hustler is cut off by Benjamin, getting more and more upset as he talks with his hands. Things are about to get very ugly.

“Hello crazy fucka’!”

“I’mma a negro muth’a-fuck’a!!”

“These cracka’s don’t like negros,” the handsome creole hustler nearly yells, cut off by Slick.

“Take tha’ base out’cha voice in my house nigga,” the blue eyed hustler warns.

“And keep ya fuck’in voice down. Kelly and Sally come down hu’r. I’m lynch’in ya’ myself asshole,” the hustler whispers hoarsely.

Instantly, both men look to the ceiling. They hear gentle notions of laughter. The girls did not hear a thing.

Slick watches as Benjamin sits back down, still upset. “Let me finish asshole.”

Benjamin cocks up his feet on the dining room table as well. His eyes shooting fire at his kin. “Naw nigga. You is finished. Betta yet, you try'in ta’ finish me off.”

“Shit nigga. Ya’ don’t wanna work wit’ me no’ mo’. Just fuck’in say so.” Slick shakes his head without saying a word.

“I mean..... damn. Ya try’in ta’ git’ me kill’d and shit,” Benjamin laments. “Ya’ know’ wha’. I’m tell’in my sista -in-law. She gon’ be all in tha’ ass nigga.”

Slick deadpans the creole. “She already kno’s asshole.”

The creole shakes his head dramatically. “Damn. My whole fuck’in family try’in ta’ have me hang fru’m a fuck’in tree. Its a damn fuck’in conspiracy,” the hustler says as Slick grins, trying his best to keep a straight face.

Benjamin quickly looks to his kin. ‘We gotta take this outside mane. I wann’a beat ya’ sum'thin real bad right naw fuck’a.”

“Its rain’in outside asshole .........,” Slick says, choking down a chuckle. Trying his best to not break out in giggles.

Suddenly, from the kitchen, Hilda the house cook looks in. “Who belly’ach’in like all dat’ thu'r?,” the cooks grins.

Slick grins to the cook. Benjamin. His panties all in a fuck’in bunch,” Slick grins.

That was it. The creole glares at his baby brother. “Nigga. I’mma beat’cha so bad. Mama gon’ come back fr’um tha’ grave jus’ ta’ save ya’ ass,” Benjamin laments, right as Hilda slips back in the kitchen.

“Dontch’yall break nu’thin. Kelly gon’ beat tha’ shit out of yall both.”

Instantly Benjamin yells toward the kitchen. “Aint'cha got shit ta’ cook. Git ta’ wu’rk,” he grins.

Quickly Hilda peeps around the corner, looking to Slick.

“Slick, baby.....is he talk’in ta’ me? Tell ya’ brutha I will beat’em wit’ all this’hur’ gu’d pussy,” the older cook laughs out loud.

Benjamin comically frowns with a chuckle. “I think my dick jus’ ran away .....”

Slick sighs heavily, looking up heavenwards. “Dear drunk Mary. I kno’ right naw

is cocktail hour in heav’n.”

“But please ma’am. Put su’m tape on this nigga hur’s mouth.”

“Thank ya’ lawd. Kiss Baby Jesus.”

“Yeah....amen,” the hustler prays with a chuckle.

Benjamin is silent, holding in his chuckles.

Sighing, slick crosses his arms. “Ya finish’d yet asshole....?

The creole only laughs.

“Anyways .....as I was say’in.”

“I already have two of ‘em policemen on my salary son.”

“They aint gon’ do nuth'in to ya’ unless I pay’em to .”

Thinking of a million and one things that can go wrong, the creole scowls. “I’m tak’in a lot of fuck’in risk,” he sneers.

“And I gott’a damn judge and detectives. All und’a my damn belt,” Slick says. He does not tell his partner that Kelly’s money is paying for it all.

Hearing about judges in on the plan, Benjamin is slightly relieved.

Glancing upstairs as both men hear the woman giggle, like clockwork, the creole has one question.

“Who’s pay’in fo’ all of this?,” he asks, quick as a whip.

Slick smiles, hearing his wives signature chuckle.

“Who else, ‘Ms. Moneybag-Good Pussy’,” he winks.

Right as Kelly walks in.

Instantly, hearing her husbands response, the sassy blonde quickly slaps the thug in the back of his head.

“Say that again and it will be your face next,” she grins, Sally giggling behind

her.

His head smarting something awful, Slick rubs the back of his skull as Benjamin laughs. “Yep .... ah ..... honey. Benjamin and I was jus’ talk’in bout’ how we gon’ need ta’ take a few days away.”

“We gon’ to NOLA',” the blue eyed hustler grins.

Sally returns from the kitchen with some warm milk for her mistress, handing it to her Kelly.

“Sounds like trouble .....,” the assistant says, pecking Kelly on her forehead. .

“So. Why ya tell’in me. As you so eloquently put it, you have my money,” the blonde flapper quips.

Slicks grins meekly, still rubbing the back of his head. “Just thought ya’ should kno’. Thats all bebe.”

Sitting across, Benjamin laughs as Sally snickers.

“Ya’ pussy whipp’d lik’a school boy in a brothel nigga,” the creole laughs.

Glaring over at the creole as Sally snickers more, Kelly grins, sipping her warm milk. “You want some of what I just gave to his ass?,” the sassy blonde snides.

“Let me get up negro. I’m ‘bout ready for your black ass too.”

The night wears on as everybody talks pleasantries. As much as the men can say. Kelly hates talking about ‘blood business’ especially in front of Sally. Ironically enough.

Soon everyone retires to bed. Benjamin is sleeping his rooms, Slick and Kelly are in their own master bedroom, making love at least twice. A ritual Slick always performs before business. He might not get back alive.

Alone, downstairs in the dark, her tender face lit only by street lights, Sally sips warm milk herself. Thinking about all that has transpired, the young beauty looks off into space. Slowly, she turns to an open kitchen window, feeling the cool night air float in.

The moment is ironic.

Sally adores her new family, the boys and Kelly. But its silent moments like this that make their friendship precious. Like relaxing after a good meal. Closing her eyes as silence takes over her gentle soul like a serene peaceful blanket, a breeze floats by. Pleasant and reminiscent, the young woman feels instantly thankful.

Caught up in her thoughts, Sally does not see Benjamin as he watches her longingly, nor did she hear the scoundrel creep downstairs for her attention.

Gently in the dark house, the creole’s gaze falls to the young woman’s small perfect breast showing through her simple cotton night gown.

“Gu’d night angel,” Benjamin whispers, almost as a thought.

The lovable thug looks away lovingly as he carefully creeps back upstairs, getting the young woman out his mind.

Kelly secretly told him how upset Sally was earlier. His love needs her to be at peace tonight. Besides, he has done enough damage already.

The creole thinks about how he took advantage of the young nymph, shaking his head.

As his feet gently make their way to steps leading upstairs, Benjamin looks back to the woman he loves with all his heart.

The lights are out in the dinner room, all is dark except for outside street lamps illuminating Sally. As if an angel deciding on the creole’s redemption.

Benjamin smiles at the thought, finally looking away as he makes his way up the stairs. Not making a sound.

Sitting at the kitchen table, Sally looks around as she smells a familiar after shave. The lovely dame instantly smiles.

“Benjamin .... you can stop hid’in boy,” she grins, so very glad.

Nearly up the stairs, the handsome carmel skinned hunk grins.

“I’m still here baby-girl ......”

Looks like tonight is going to be better than he planned.