The Lady in the Gold Lexus

By Shervin Ira Wood

          It was almost lunchtime and as usual she was the first to arrive at the prestigious primary school run by the best university in South Florida.  She eased the gold Lexus into the parking space and reached behind her and unbuckled the three-year-old girl. Her long dark arms held the toddler tightly to her breast as they headed for the covered walkway and stopped a few feet from the glass door.

 She set the little girl down. The other mothers began arriving, and soon the sound of chatter filled the walkway. She picked up the child again and stood in silence. The white skin, blue eyes, and blond hair of little Vanessa in her arms contrasted with her own black skin and shoulder-length, braided hair. She waited.

 The thirty or more mothers who had gathered were now in small groups, standing on the lawn and near a mound of earth that was covered in cedar mulch, which was intermixed with multicolored begonias. They were discussing the major issues of their lives. Somehow they reminded her of her former boss in her native Antigua in the Caribbean.

          Five and a half years ago she had been fired from her legal secretary job because her boss accused her of having an affair with the husband of one of the firm’s better American clients. She was devastated at first but she had quickly recovered a few nights later when she met another of the clients at a nightclub in St. John‘s.

 His name was Martin and he offered her a job to come to Ft Lauderdale to work as a nanny and housekeeper for he and his wife, and their expected baby boy. She had hastily accepted and arrived in Florida a few weeks after the birth of Matt, the son of her new boss and his wife. 

          In her small island nation she had always stood out from her friends and family. She was more focused and dedicated to achieving her goals, and she was willing to sacrifice to get where she wanted to be.

 From a very early age her mother had instilled in her the belief that she would go far in life and that she would marry a rich American man and live in a beautiful world.

          Like her former boss these mothers were the elite of society, and they were here waiting at this exclusive school to pick up their little prodigies. The majority of them wore either short-shorts or exercise outfits.

          Their body language made it obvious that they knew for a fact that they were the cream of high society. Yet she got the impression that these few minutes of interaction, amounted to the social high point of their day.

 It was common knowledge here that their husbands preferred making money and acquiring assets rather than enjoying the bliss of marriage and family life. Many of them were obviously trophy wives and seemed to have nothing in common with their husbands, except that they were beautiful possessions acquired by egotistical and rich men, whose adoration had quickly faded.

          As usual, they ignored her. She felt it was because of the color of her skin. On an earlier occasion, one of them had started a conversation with her. The friendly white lady had told her, in the course of the conversation, that she resembled a neighbor’s Jamaican maid. From that time on, she made sure not to let her guard down, and spoke no more than a few words to any of them.

          Today the group to her right was discussing ants and lizards. Everywhere in South Florida seemed to be over-run by crawling insects and lizards. There were ant nests in every yard, and lizards kept getting into their large and elaborate houses. The exterminator was at one of their homes, even as they were discussing the infestation problem.

          Behind her, one mother stood clutching a bald headed baby boy, listening to her friend complain about how disappointed her five year old son was yesterday. Apparently his Trinidadian born swimming instructor showed up at their house almost an hour late. Her poor son had been so inconvenienced, and now he was no longer interested in learning to swim. So their recently installed backyard pool was probably a waste.

          If only money could buy common sense, she thought to herself, maybe their rich husbands could arrange for them to get some. She knew they were all living on borrowed time.

 Their husband’s fancy could change at any moment, and a younger woman could replace them with a newer model, with a lot less physical and emotional mileage. That’s why they forced themselves to the gym every day. Trying to keep their bodies slim and trim, and thereby hoping to maintain their prized position.

 She knew that her own future was secure as the wife of her former boss. And she knew that Matt and Vanessa loved her.

          The teacher’s aide was now at the door, waving to one of the mothers who stood near the back of the line. The children were slowly being released to mothers standing behind her.

She stood in silence at the front of the line. She thought again that it was because of the color of her skin why the teacher’s aide was bypassing her. Finally she saw Matt coming towards her.

          Smiling, she bent to meet him and he embraced her and kissed her cheek. She kissed his hair and patted his shoulder. His sister was a mirror image of him. The same blue eyes and straight blond hair, the identical body posture, and now the matching, happy smile. He was five and she was three.

“I love you” he said..

“I love you too my darling son” she told him, her Antiguan accent replaced by a smooth American twang.

          She took his hand and they headed for the car, the huge diamond ring glistening in the sunlight on her delicate hand.

“Mommy. I want a hamburger and a chocolate milkshake” Matt suggested, his voice in a tone of pleading.

“We’re meeting Daddy for lunch at Vinney’s Italian Cafe,” she gently informed him. He frowned and looked disappointed.

“Boga King,” chirped Vanessa.

“I have a good idea,” she said, looking back at them smiling, her forehead wrinkled in anticipation.

“What if we go to Vinney’s and then we swim in the pool? And we can practice our swimming”.

“Yip-ee!” came Matt’s excited reply.

“Pool!” said the delighted Vanessa.

          In a way she was still working for their mother, and she felt proud of how expert she had become in keeping the children happy. She had taken care of Matt from the time he was six months old.

          She and their father had been devastated when their mother died suddenly while giving birth to Vanessa. She was the only mother Vanessa had ever known. Matt, was two at the time of his mother’s death, and he seemed to have forgotten his mother after a few months. He had later started calling her Mommy, and both she and his father never bothered to correct him.

          Martin took the loss of his wife badly. His only brother came down to Florida for the funeral and stayed with them for about a week. Once he had left Martin seemed to sink into depression and for the first few weeks had to get medication to keep calm. He nevertheless soon put all of his energies into his fledgling cellular phone business, and this kept him occupied and on weeknights he often worked late.

          On weekends they took the children to the beach, and the malls. At the malls they had turns pushing Vanessa in her stroller, and holding her while Matt walked alongside. He knew exactly where every toy store was located in every mall they visited, and his father distracted him by buying him one each time.

 Vanessa also seemed to enjoy the many soft toys her father bought her. At the beach Martin played at the water’s edge with Matt while she took care of Vanessa under the willow trees.

          She had taken over complete control of the children and house, cleaning, keeping them in freshly pressed clothes, and even reading to Vanessa and Matt. She planned their days and weekends, did the grocery shopping and cooked their meals.

          They had all become fond of her tasty Antiguan cooking.  Her mother had taught her from a very young age how to cook ‘ducana and salt cod stew, with tomatoes and onions‘.

She had found a Caribbean neighbor in the community who had several banana trees and who gave her the banana leaves to wrap the grated white sweet potato and coconut for the ducana. She also took great pride in preparing meals of curry chicken, jerk pork and oxtail. Her mother had taught her well.

“A sure way to a man’s heart is through his mouth. Just give him good food, and he will fall in love with you.” her mother had often said. She cooked soups of  ‘goat water’, and ‘conch water’, especially for him, and he loved the treat.

          Gradually he had turned his attention to her. She pretended not to notice his changing gestures, his quiet stares, and the way he looked at her slim dark body. And gradually as time passed the loss of his wife became less noticeable in his behavior and his attention towards her became more profound.

          The peak of his attention came one Sunday night after they had all spent a happy day at the Ft Lauderdale beach, and had an early dinner at a cafe on the River Front Walk. It was a night that they both now fondly remembered as ‘the night’.

          She had been standing in the dim light of her shower. The warm fine spray caressed her smooth dark face, her wet lips pouted; the water pulsated against her firm, erect breasts.

 Beads of water ran down her slim body making distinct lines in the white perfumed lather that covered her.  Her wet hair had clung to her willowy neck.  Suddenly she had become aware of someone watching her.

          She knew it was him, and strangely, she had wanted him to watch. She turned off the water, pulled the clear shower curtain open, and stood there silhouetted in the faint light, facing him.

          Droplets of water ran down her long, naked thighs, her tingling nipples pointing towards him. She just stood there wet and smiling, giving him a full frontal view of her glistening body. She was burning with desire.

          The next morning found them in her bed, locked in each other’s arms. Even as they slept, smiles of satisfaction adorned their faces. He had asked her to marry him that morning, and by that weekend they were husband and wife.

          Today, her husband sat in their white Mercedes, waiting for them in the parking lot of Vinney’s. She spotted him as soon as she and the kids drove in.

“Dad-du!” said Vanessa happily.