The Brass Statuettes Ch. 06

"We have chairs, but the children pay better attention if they can sit on the floor," Maddy explained. Gloria turned back to the children. The woman with the guitar glanced at Madeleine, who nodded 'okay'.

Gloria took a place on the floor among the children she knew loved her so much. Brenda and Madeleine stood off to the side. A little boy came forward, wearing a crown made of construction paper.

"First they'll sing "Las Mananitas", which is the traditional birthday song in Mexico," Maddy explained to Brenda. "After that, they'll sing the traditional American "Happy Birthday" song. Then, they'll break the piñata and after that, we'll have a birthday cake." She pointed to a paper mache donkey on the other side of the gym.

The Assistant introduced the birthday boy and immediately started strumming the guitar. On a downbeat she led the group in singing.

Estas son Las manañitas (These are the morning songs) que cantaba el Rey David. (that King David sang.)

Hoy por ser día de tu santo (For today to be the day of your saint) te las cantamos así.

(we sing to you like this.) ¡Despierta, mi bien, despierta! (Wake up, my dear. Wake up!)

Mira que ya amaneció. See that it is already dawn...) Qué linda está la mañana en que vengo a saludarte. (How beautiful is the morning in which I come to greet you...

Brenda listened to the singing and watched Gloria lose herself in the moment. She wondered what was happening as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She had never soothed neglected feelings with borrowed children. At the same moment, she felt happy for Gloria and sorry, too.

Brenda knew enough to not mention her observation to her mentor—at least the sympathy part. Feeling sorry for Gloria was not permitted in Gloria's realm. Envy and admiration were acceptable emotions. Her feelings of pity began to change as they must, but she was not sure to what.

When the festivities were over Brenda and Gloria returned to Madeleine's office.

"This was truly one of the nicest days I've had in a long time," Gloria proclaimed.

"We were glad to have you with us," Madeleine replied. "We always are."

"I was just wondering," Gloria asked, "Why did you use the guitar? I thought you would have used a piano."

"What piano?" Maddy replied. "That's on our wish list for next year."

"I can't believe that we didn't think of that when we set this up," Gloria said.

"We'll manage 'til then," Maddy assured her.

"Is it a lot?" Gloria asked.

"We could pick up a good, used upright for about three thousand, plus moving costs," Maddy said. "We don't have a need for anything more than that."

Gloria fell silent; a pensive expression etched on her face.

"I couldn't ask it," Madeleine said, "especially after your donation for the ESL teacher's fees."

"I thought that the guitar was kind of nice," Brenda said.

"Yes, it was," Gloria agreed, "but in the back of the room I bet it wasn't loud enough to hear, and we'll have more students soon." Gloria paused again for a second and then her face brightened. "Why don't you pick this up, Bren? You'll be surprised how good you'll feel!"

"That's a nice idea, Gloria. I could talk to Blake..."

"Don't worry; Blake will understand. He'll never miss it, anyway. He'd spend that much on a new set of golf clubs."

Brenda looked at Gloria, and then to Maddy, and back to Gloria. "Blake..." she began a feeble protest.

"Blake-shmake," Gloria interrupted. "I'll tell you what, I'll write the check right now and you can cover it when I see you next time."

Brenda could see that Gloria was in one of her excited, one-track moods. "I have my checkbook with me," she said.

"Better make it thirty-five hundred," Gloria said to her as Brenda began to write. "Piano movers can be very expensive."

**********

"I didn't mean to trap you into buying that piano," Gloria said to Brenda as they drove back to Brenda's place. "It's just that I get so excited when I'm at the school."

"It's okay, Gloria. I'm glad to do it. It's just that Blake and I talk these things over first."

"We discussed the proper way to break that kind of news to the husbands last week at my house," Gloria reminded her.

As they approached Brenda's neighborhood she looked out the window at the stately homes and manicured lawns. It occurred to her that because her bank account was lighter from the piano donation, the guilt of all of it was less heavy. It had been a good investment.

It would be worth it to let Blake know in Gloria's prescribed way; and, besides, she hadn't given him one in a while.

"Yes, I remember," Brenda assured her. "Is that the way you're going to tell Alvin."

Gloria stopped the car at a red light. She drew a deep breath and turned her head to look at Brenda and a wry smile appeared. "Bren, by the time I get through telling Alvin about the fifteen thousand, he'll wish that I had written the check for twenty."

Brenda laughed a bit. "I'll think I'll try that approach, too."

"There you go!" Gloria exclaimed. "As I've said many a time, 'Who says our work..."

"...can't be fun," Brenda finished the adage.

************

It was Friday morning; Gloria was trying hard not to stumble down the stairs. She would have stayed in bed for at least another hour, but it was exercise day and Raul would be showing up for her weekly session. She was tempted to call him and cancel until next week, but she realized too well that the weekly phys ed sessions were necessary for what she wanted.

Her bleary-eyed state had nothing to do with being hung over, insomnia or mood. It was just that she chose to inform Alvin about the fifteen thousand dollars that she donated to the preschool and that meant a nightful of sex to help him see it her way. Gloria had nearly forgotten how physically demanding sex could be, if performed a certain way; and of course, she hadn't received the number of hours of sleep she was used to.

As she was nearly finished descending the stairs, she saw Juana off in the kitchen, carving up her grapefruit. She wondered if grapefruit and dry toast would be enough to get her through one of Raul's torture sessions.

Actually, she had been surprised how well things had gone with Alvin the night before. Alvin was agreeable about the donation without the benefit of physical persuasion. He chuckled and mumbled something about taxes and then kissed her. It wasn't a deep soul-kiss, just an affectionate one on the forehead. It tripped a wire inside her, however, and she decided to give him the full treatment, anyway.

As much as she was surprised by offering herself to husband gratuitously, Alvin surprised her even more. He refused to allow her to perform her oral arts until he had first sent her to nirvana with a climax of her own; and then she let him come inside her. He said something about 'not wasting it.' It had been years since she felt as loved or wanted. She felt so good that after she recovered from the first act she teased him back to erection and gave him the oral service that she'd planned to perform in the first place. All that, along with the related foreplay, had taken more time than she had budgeted for the task, and that cut in on her sleep time.

So, although she felt like staying in bed and couldn't, she was in a good mood. A night of renewal with Alvin, on top of the happy time at the Preschool was too much for her to expect. It never crossed her mind to capitalize on the euphoria—to find the cause and make it happen again and again. In Gloria's book each chapter was a short story, standing on its own, having nothing to do with the past or future.

She just hoped that Juana and her husband hadn't heard her primal orgasmic scream in the wee hours of the morning. She consoled herself in the knowledge that the windows were closed due to the air conditioning, so the sound would never have carried out to Juana's and José's cottage.

"Buenos dias, Señora Warner," Juana said as she poured the coffee.

"Buenos dias to you," Gloria answered back as she sat down.

Juana snapped her head up and swiveled it around to look at the Señora. Gloria noticed and realized that it was because she so seldom spoke, or even acknowledged the meaning of the simplest Spanish phrases. The maid placed the bowl of grapefruit before her. "Dee toast weel be 'eer in a meenute," she said.

Gloria noticed that Juana's mood was better than usual, even taking account the exchange of Spanish 'good mornings'. It darkened Gloria's outlook slightly. "She knows. She must have heard us last night. How do these Mexicans always know so much about these things?"

"Señor Alveen was very 'appy dees morning," Juana volunteered in a sing-song voice, perhaps in reciprocity to her mistress' civility.

Gloria exhaled a sigh of relief. "Alvin must have said something—or she read between the lines." That was alright with Gloria. It wasn't that she was embarrassed at having sex—just any of the physical manifestations of it. It reminded her to go upstairs and check the sheets on the bed for telltale traces before Juana got up there to make them.

Gloria finished her toast and took a last gulp of coffee. She looked at her watch and realized that she barely had enough time to get out to the mini-gym for her stretching before Raul arrived. There would be no time for hiding stains in the bed sheets. "What the hell—she' already figured it out, anyway." She rose from the table and made her way to the mini-gym.

********

TO BE CONTINUED

Dear Readers,

Thanks for reading. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Don't forget to send me your comments.

AW