fond of Seymour in his short time at Valdosta University. The ladies often talked of his charming style and the tilted grin that sported a small dimple in his left cheek. Certainly he would be a catch for any of the young women on campus but they respected his choice to put school first, especially considering the challenges he’d overcome to get there.
CHAPTER THREE
Blanche was allowed a reprieve from working the late shift on her first day, so at 6:30 p.m. she gathered up her few personal items and left the stately building in anticipation of a quiet night curled up with her latest romance novel. The humidity wasn’t as thick as it had been at noon so there were couples taking advantage of the beauty of the day, walking with fingers interlaced or arms around one another with the occasionally wandering hand drifting lower to cup a rounded bottom. Blanche sighed as she watched the young lovers move about the downtown area, wishing she could find someone who was thoughtful, caring, but with a hunger to match her own. For now the daring young World War I pilot fighting to free the lustful French maiden from the hands of the barbarian Hun would have to fill the void. Walking away from her first day on the job she felt a sense of both relief and satisfaction.
“I think I’ll do okay here,” she thought, standing on the sidewalk looking up and down the street for the closest bus stop. “Screw it, I’ll walk and enjoy the evening as well, even if my pilot ace isn’t here to walk with me.” She turned on her heels and headed in what she hoped was the direction of Caroline’s establishment.
Finding herself in a section of town that could be perceived as unsavory, to say the least, was not what Blanche had bargained on. The sun was setting and a much rowdier crowd was filling the streets, headed for local bars and eateries. Her feet ached from the days work and the miles she’d walked, most likely in the wrong direction. With cell phone in hand, she remembered that her service would not be available until tomorrow at the earliest so she slipped it back into her purse just as an old, rusted out impala with dark windows slowed to almost a stop and cruised by her, very close to the curb.
“Lookie here now Missy!” floated over the breeze in a deep Southern drawl.
Blanche jumped; startled that someone was behind her. She turned to see an elderly black man sitting on his porch, a short stone throw away. “Excuse me, were you talking to me?”
“Yessiree, ya’ll oughtent be out here all by yosef. Bad things be happinin’ to a raght pertty little thing like ya’ll if’n ya ain’t careful,” the older fellow uttered, from his perch on the porch.
The exact dialog was lost on Blanche but the message was abundantly clear. “I’ve been looking for a taxi but haven’t had much luck.”
He chuckled and shook his head, “Ya ain’t gonna be findin’ any cabs dis pawt of town ta night.”
“Great, that’s just great,” she fumed, scuffing her soles on the rough concrete like she was five years old again. “You wouldn’t happen to have a phone would you?”
“We sho nough got a phone, but ain’t had no powah to it fer some time now. My boy, Jasper, could hep ya with a lift. Where ya’ll be needin’ ta go?” he said, waving his hand and motioning Blanche up onto the porch.
Blanche could feel her anxiety level rising like mercury in a thermometer on a hot day. Wishing not to be impolite, she slowly started to decline, moving her head side to side, when she noted that the Impala had flipped around at the end of the street and was now pulling to a slow stop, engine idling.
“Well, you know what, maybe I’ll take you up on that offer if it’s not too much trouble,” she said, making her way quickly up the sidewalk to the relative safety of the porch.
“You sho is a pertty little thing missy, what be yo name?” the dark skinned gentleman said, extending his bony hand and baring his large yellow, coffee stained teeth.
“Delaney, I mean, Blanche, Blanche Delaney,” takes his hand in hers surprised by the power in his grip.
“Pleasure to be meetin’ ya Miss Delaney, I’d be Rufus and my boy Jasper could sho nough get ya home. Ya cum on in now, ya hear.” He pulled the rickety screen door open and ushered Blanche into the dimly lit living room.
Stepping into the tidy space, an aroma reached her delicate nostrils, not unpleasant, but also not definable. Rufus pointed to a couch with a large afghan thrown over the back, leaned into the doorway of the kitchen and hollered down the stairwell.
“Jasper, Jasper, listen up boy! Cum on up here. Got a job fo ya.”
Moments later, the unmistakable sound of someone lumbering up a flight of stairs, then a giant of a man filled the frame of the doorway, dwarfing his father.
“What you need pops?” Jasper boomed, his deep voice reverberating in Blanche's chest.
Reflexively she moved her hand, lightly pressing the area just above her cleavage. The motion drew Jaspers eyes to meet Blanche’s, and then dropped to the exposed tanned flesh, her breathing accelerated.
“Jasper, dis here is Miss Delaney. She be a bit lost and needin’ a ride to her place. Ya do that for us, ya hear.”
“Miss Delaney,” Jasper nodded his large head in her direction, Blanche responded with a nod of her own, pulling the top of her shirt together in the process.
Her breath continued to come in quick intakes, her head very light now; she reached for the arm of the couch and plopped down on the seat.
“Ya okay, dere little missy?” Rufus said, moving quickly to her side.
“No, I mean yes, I’ll be fine just feeling a bit light headed. Could I trouble you for a glass of water?” Jasper moved from the doorway and she could hear water running in the adjacent room.
“There you go, sorry if I scared you, coming in the room like that,” Jasper said.
“No, no, just the long walk, the heat and the humidity. Guess I’m not quite used to it yet,” she said, drinking the water down quickly.
Blanche suddenly came to the realization that the position of the trio was somewhat ‘uncomfortable’. She on the couch, Rufus standing at her side with the arm of the couch between them and the hulking Jasper standing directly in front of Blanche, her head at the level of his crotch. He stood at least 6’5” and was covered from head to toe in a fine mist of sweat, his muscles large, stretching his skin to a fine sheen. He wore only a very small, very tight pair of shorts that were struggling to contain all of him. She’d read about women getting trapped in these very circumstances and how stupid they were.
“That’s not what a real woman would do,” she had said a hundred times, yet here she was in a home alone with two men, strangers, in a strange place and totally at their mercy. Jasper sensed her uneasiness and took a few steps back and sat on an opposing chair.
“Thank goodness,” she thought, pulling the hanky from her purse and wiping her neck.
“Where is it I can take you?” Jasper said, not taking his eyes off her shapely form.
The color in her cheeks began to recover and her breathing slowed. Rufus’ demeanor was very non- threatening and within minutes she began to calm down and her breathing normalized.
“I’m staying at Caroline’s Bed and Breakfast, are you familiar with it?”
Jasper lowered his gaze to the carpet and shook his head, then looking back into Blanche’s face asked, “Is that over on Jackson Street, got a big porch and flies a Confederate Flag in the front?”
“That’s it, you know how to get there?” she replied, a spark of hope in her voice.
“Yeah, that’s not too far, only take us a couple minutes to get you there,” the bodybuilder said.
Relief must have shown on her face.
“Ya’ll was lookin’ a might worried there missy. We’uns don’t mean ya no harm. Ya ain’t used to bein’ round black folk?” Rufus inquired, gently patting her on the arm.
“No, it’s not that, just been a long day and I’d like to get back to my room. This is so very kind of you to offer me a ride.”
“Pops, I’ll go get the truck and bring it ‘round to the front, if you’ll help her out I’ll take her home.” Jasper stood, again startling Blanche with his obvious strength and brawn.
She couldn’t help finding him attractive, etched features, chiseled — thick muscles, and a ‘carved from stone’ buttocks that shifted as she watched him walk away, the color in her cheeks rising as he left the room. A moment later she could hear a vehicle roaring to life.
“Sounds like he be riddy ta go.” Rufus took her elbow, helping her to her feet and moving toward the front
