In Part 09, Sharlene has returned from her trip and finds that it’s quite a challenge to come up with distractions so she’s not constantly requesting that he give her pleasure. It’s a different challenge for her to remain calm while she provides an orientation about the new company to the trainers from the Project before she and her partners begin to learn the general processes of the Project.
A peek inside:
. . . He pushes the cart while she holds on to his arm and sometimes lays her head on his upper arm. They’re partway done when she hears a nearby woman clearly say, “Little gold digger,” with contempt.
Sharlene turns and asks, “Did you call me a ‘little gold digger’?”
The other woman hesitates, but is unwilling to back down, “Yes, I did. Why else would you be hanging on an old man like that?”
“You assume a lot about people you know nothing about. Why should I be interested in his bank account when mine is bigger? I’m interested in his golden heart, so in that sense I guess I am a gold digger.” Sharlene turns to George and asks, “Old man, can I have the gold that’s in your heart?”
“Since you’ve been turning the lead that was there into gold, you can have all you want.”
Sharlene turns back to the woman, smiles, and says, “To be truthful, you have the relationship backwards, I’m not his gold digger, he’s my toy boy,” she wiggles her fingers, “Bye,” grabs George’s arm and they walk away from the woman’s bulging eyes and gaping mouth while they try to keep their chuckles from bursting into laughter. They manage to finish their shopping, swing by the post office to pick up the mail, both hers and the company’s, and soon have the vehicle emptied and the groceries put away.
After they pour fresh glasses of iced tea, he raises his in salute and proclaims, “Here’s to my little gold digger, may she always be successful in turning lead hearts into gold.”
She starts to chuckle, then has to set her glass down as she laughs, hugs him, then tells him, “Well done, my toy boy.”
“You were more polite than I would have been. Actually, I probably would have just ignored her, since I know that anything I came up with to say on the spur of the moment wouldn’t have been polite.”
“I think the thing which bothers me most about such an attitude is she assumed I would be dumb enough to be interested in a man simply because he has money.”
“The sad thing is many women are.”
She nods her head as she responds, “I know. Even women who are fully capable of financially providing for themselves still look for a man to financially take care of them. I was surprised how many women who were doing well in difficult classes in both college and in medical school were looking for a husband to provide for them. That was another thing which turned me off to the standard male-female relationship.”
He hesitates to remind her, “Um, I offered to take care of you.”
“I know you did, lover, but your attitude isn’t like the typical man. You didn’t offer to take care of me because you thought I was incapable of taking care of myself, you did it because you cared about me and that I was out of work for an unknown period of time.”
He’s unable to think of a verbal response, so he simply hugs her tighter.
. . .
A little later when she steps back into the room, he asks, “What time tomorrow do we have to start behaving ourselves because we might have company?”
“I’m not sure, why do you ask?”
“I wouldn’t want to be caught by visitors when we’re half-dressed chasing each other around the front room. I suppose we could use the excuse of practicing tai-chi, but I don’t think either Klara or Mariam would believe us.”
She chuckles then says, “No, they wouldn’t, even if it was true. So, are you going to let me chase you?”
“You’ve already caught me, but in the interest of fair play and equal opportunity, the Mad Maniac ought to allow Little Miss Gold Digger to have her share of villainy.”
