With Dignity
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Matt returned to the basement and sat on the side of the bed. He put his elbow on his knee as he leaned over and rested his chin on the back of his hand, in the position of Rodin's sculpture, The Thinker. Matt stared at the coal furnace that was five feet in front of him and did not speak. Jasmine, from under the cover and anxious to get on with the business at hand, finally asked, "Matt, what's bugging you?" "Honey, I've just ran into a situation that I ain't sure I handled right. I've studied the Midshipman's Manual and I know this incident was not covered," he muttered.
"Matt," Jasmine inquired, "Just what's that manual about?" Without changing his position, he began, "It just tells how a Naval Officer should act in social situations and stuff about rank and wives. I brought you a copy because..." he hesitated. At last he continued, "Jasmine, I'm not like most of the boys at the Naval Academy. A lot of them come from middle and upper class families. I learned about classes of people in a social studies course. The girls they bring to the dances got money, from the clothes they wear, when I go over to watch the dance. Those people ain't like us." "Matt," Jasmine stated forcefully, "The reason you went to the Academy was 'cause those coaches and those fine looking Naval Officers, in uniforms with all that gold braid on them, came all the way down here from Annapolis to get you to play football for them. You could get a free college education and your grades were good enough to get in. You were the only Muddy Flats boy to go the college. Nobody ever told them that the teachers gave you A's because of all the free carpentry work you did for them. You are a fine carpenter, Matt."
Jasmine continued, "We are about the only ones in this neighborhood that finished high school and I did take the extra course at the secretary school to get my good job at the mill. I sort the mail and take it to the right people. I do all the filing and make the coffee, fresh, two times a day. Some days, and every day when it rains, the boss sends me to the deli on Main Street for his sandwich. He always gives me a dime tip. One time he didn't have a dime and gave me a quarter. Matt, I have a lot of responsibility at that factory.
When you get out of the Academy, you will make just as much money as the other boys. So what is the big deal?" Matt, looked serious, "Jas, those people have better breeding than we got." "Matt, you breed horses and dogs and things like that, not people! People are just born. Nobody goes around hauling people to farms and places like that to breed them. People just stay in their own beds and it comes naturally. Well, except for when it happens behind Mr. Cooper's chicken house, in the bushes," as she remembered their first sexual encounter on a hot August night, years ago. She continued, "And maybe back in history when kings married off their daughters for political purposes. I learned that in a high school history class. And even then, they didn't watch what the young people did in bed anyway, I don't think."
Matt removed his underwear, stretched out on his stomach outside the covers, and kissed Jasmine on the cheek, "Jas, it's more than that, what I'm trying to say is these people come from where the streets are paved and they got sidewalks. They take vacations and stay in hotels or motels. They own cars and eat in fancy restaurants, with real waiters. Why they even pay more money to sit down stairs at the theaters with live people acting. Jas, they got background. We live in the slums and are dirt poor. We come in the middle poor class, I think, next to the bums and hoboes that don't live nowhere. This is where we was born and where most of the people born here will die here. But we have to better ourselves and that is why I brought you the manual to study so you will know how to act and what to do when we get married in June."
Jasmine reached for Matt's hand and squeezed it, "Honey, if that's all you want me to do, we'll be ready to move to where the streets are paved, when we get married. I'll memorize the whole darn thing and do and act just like I'm 'spose to. Oh, what did you do upstairs that wasn't covered in the book?" Matt groaned, "I ran through the living room in my underwear and grabbed my suitcase just as Mr. Peabody come in." "Oh Matt, big deal, Myrtle Beach probably took care of that already. Forget it." Jasmine suggested. "No, Honey," Matt protested, "you missed the point, I didn't speak to Mr. Peabody, I just nodded my head, picked up the suitcase and ran like hell! My point is, should I have spoke to him, being in my underwear?" "Gosh Matt, I never have given any thought to circumstances like that. Are you sure it isn't in the index under situations involving underwear?" "No it is not, and I already read the whole book, it took a long time." He replied as he slid under the cover and caressed her.
After a few squeezes and deep kisses, Matt, breathing deeply stated, "Jas, I gotta poke it in now, I can't wait!" "I'm ready too, get the rubber on," she whispered. Soon Jas, with her legs and arms wrapped around his back, was moaning with each deep lunge as Matt, breathing sighs of fulfillment, stated, "Jas, I can't last long this time, but I'll make it worth your while a little later." In a few minutes Matt whispered, "Jas, I'm coming now!" as he bulldoze into her with all his strength. He ejaculated as Jasmine climaxed, and squealed with delight as the two middle bed slats split, sending the mattress to the floor.
Jasmine was stuck under Matt as the sides of the mattress curled up, making a boat of the bed. "What the hell happened?" Matt muttered as he looked at the sides of the mattress. "Matt," Jasmine cried, "you are squishing me, I can hardly breath. Get off me now!" "I'm trying," Matt answered as worked his way over the side of the bed and stood up. Jasmine, short of breath, made no effort to move.
The upstairs door swung open, casting a light directly on the bed and its occupants. Myrtle Beach, standing at the top of the stairs, with a small pillow covering her lower body as her breasts bounced up and down, yelled, "What in God's name was all the noise about? Poor Mr. Peabody is damn mad. It scared him so bad, he lost his erection before he had time to come." At that minute, Mr. Peabody, wrapped in a white sheet, appeared beside Myrtle Beach. He didn't speak as he looked at the scene below and thought, I was sure that was Willie Vine's boy that ran thought the living room half naked. I know I can't get it up again. Myrtle Beach shouldn't keep all the produce I brought.
Myrtle Beach, afraid her dignity was at stake, covered her forehead with her hand and looked seriously at the scene below. " Matt did you break the bed slats?" Jasmine whispered to Matt, "Don't lose your dignity Matt." Matt realized the rubber was still hanging on his manhood, turned his back to Myrtle Beach and removed it as he mumbled, "I believe I just did." He leaned over, covered himself with his hands and turned toward Myrtle Beach. "Yes Mam, I guess I did." "Well see that you fix it in th
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Jasmine lives in the Muddy Flats slums with her mother, Myrtle Beach-Sands, (a prostitute) and her aunts, Ruby Red, (a telephone operator who has trouble, as the switchboard stool is not large enough for her obese bottom) and Crystal Ball (who does all the housework, cooking and laundry but aspires to be a prostitute.) Mother Pear (an ex-prostitute) is their mother. She loves pretty names and her twelve inch black and white television. Mother Pearl doesn't do anything but eat, drink gin, and watch television. She says it's her "bad bladder" that causes her trouble. Crystal Ball says that she's just lazy.
Matt Vines, Jasmine's boyfriend, lives next door with his daddy Willie, a lazy house painter who enjoys sex, especially with Sara Crumms, the widow of the late Pickings Crumms. Matt is away at the Naval Academy because he is an excellent football player. Some Naval Officers, with all their fancy gold braid, asked him to play for the Academy, not realizing that he is extremely stupid. His teachers had given him A's for doing their home repairs. Matt is a first-rate carpenter, and with all his fine equipment, a magnificent sex partner. Jasmine found this out, when they were young teenagers, one summer night behind Mr. Cooper's chicken house.
While hitchhiking back to the Academy from Christmas leave, Captain Harry P. Nutts, U.S.N. gave him a ride. After he tells the Captain about the astonishingly ridiculous happenings in Muddy Flats during Christmas and shows him a picture of Myrtle Beach, Harry P. Nutts becomes an important part of the story.
In June when Jasmine and Matt were married she met Matt's roommate, Virgil Friendly, who also played football but is a brilliant student. He joins the rest of the characters in the book. Later Charley Jolley, a plumber, enters the picture.
After the wedding the young couple start on a stormy adventure in the U.S. Navy. What fate awaits them and how will it affect their lives and the lives of the other members in this unusual group?
About the Author
Kelley Lanier is a retired librarian and commercial artist. Her hobbies are astrology, bridge, painting, swimming and writing. She lives in Florida's warm climate. Kelley has a son, a daughter and two grandchildren. This is her first novel that can be described as a completely humorous, romantic and erotic story.