A Tasty Morning
Lee Stetson was a light sleeper. Ever since he and Amanda ended their mystery marriage and he moved into the house at 4742 Maplewood Drive, he found himself awaking each morning right before the alarm sounded. Rousing from sleep and turning slightly to look at the clock, he smiled to himself. There before him was his beautiful wife of eight months. He reached over and turned off the alarm before the offending irritation began. Silently to himself, he began counting, 'ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one….' Right on cue he heard the alarm sound in the boys' bedroom down the hall and the morning's chaos was about to begin anew. He heard the thump of Jamie's feet hitting the floor from the top bunk and then the sound of Phillip's groan as Jamie turned on the light. Jamie was the first one into the bathroom for his morning shower leaving Phillip in bed to fall back to sleep as he did on most mornings until the snooze alarm sounded again. Lee loved this time of day. He had come to think of it as the quiet before the storm. Gently he turned to face his wife. This was the part of the morning he liked best. Lee rolled over and kissed his wife, waking her up to greet the day before them. "Good morning, beautiful," he said. "How did you sleep?"
Amanda stretched and rolled closer to him. "Just fine. And how 'bout you?"
Nuzzling her neck he replied, "I had a wonderful dream about a gorgeous brunette, who kept finding ways of getting herself into trouble."
"Oh? And I suppose you were the one to help her out," she teased.
"Yep, I sure was. And do you know what?"
"No, what?"
"She had the most delightful way of showing me how grateful she was," he said as he trailed a line a kisses down her neck to her chest."
"Jamie! Hurry up. You're hoggin' the bathroom again. You're gonna make us late for school," shouted Phillip from the hallway.
Amanda shook her head and disengaged herself from Lee's arms. "Guess you'll hafta fill me in on your dream another time," she said rising from the bed and pulling on her robe.
Lee watched her as she headed into their bathroom. Yes, the morning's activities were definitely underway. He laid back looking at the ceiling, thinking how it seemed that he was living in a firehouse. The boys were bustling about, slamming doors and bantering with each other. Normally, he and Amanda would also be milling around their bedroom getting ready for work. And Dotty was typically up helping everyone get ready for the day. But this morning, two pieces of the usually hectic Stetson-King household were out of place. Dotty was visiting her sister, Edna, and would be gone until next weekend. And even though it was a Friday morning, Lee and Amanda had the day off. Well-deserved time off for a long weekend. Joe was scheduled to pick the boys up after school and they were going sailing with him.
Lee decided to get out of bed and head downstairs to put the coffee on. He slipped on a pair of sweats and threw on his robe. Amanda would be down shortly to make breakfast for the boys and just like every morning, she would try and get him to eat something as well. Some things never change.
He had just turned on the coffeemaker when Amanda breezed into the kitchen. Greeting him with a morning kiss, she turned toward the stairs and hollered, "Boys, what'll it be for breakfast, pancakes or French toast?"
"Neither Mom, we don't have time. Jason's dad is driving the car pool this morning and Jason and Phillip have to be at school early for basketball practice," Jamie shouted from the second floor.
"Well, then, how 'bout some cereal," Amanda called back.
"That's fine by me," Phillip answered.
Lee shook his head. It seemed everybody in this family hollered in the early morning hours. He chuckled to himself and headed out the door to retrieve the morning paper. As he came back inside, he was almost bowled over by his two stepsons racing down the stairs.
"Hey, hey, ease up fellas. Jason's dad won't be here for another twenty minutes," he gently reprimanded.
"Sorry, Lee," Jamie said.
"Yeah, sorry. Can I have the sports page?"
Lee handed him the sports page as they sat down for breakfast. The boys were wolfing down their cereal and Amanda was bustling about the kitchen finishing up their lunches.
"Fellas?" she called out to them. "You remember your dad's picking you up from school today, right?"
"Yeah, Mom. He's been telling us about this really neat sailboat. I can't wait to see it." Phillip's eyes were bright as he talked about the anticipated trip.
"Do you both have your bags packed?"
"Mine's all done, but I'm not sure about Phillip. He was too busy talking on the phone last night to get his stuff together."
"Shut up, Worm Brain," Phillip said glaring at Jamie.
"Fellas, that's enough," Amanda said. "Phillip, you'd better make a fast trip upstairs and get your things together so you won't miss your ride."
"Okay, Mom," he said as he finished the last of his cereal. Rising from the table but glaring at his brother, Phillip walked to the sink to deposit his dirty bowl.
After he left the room, Lee inquired, "Another girl? I thought he just broke up with uh… Tiffany. Wasn't that her name?"
Jamie laughed, "Yeah, but now it's Jennifer," he feigned, rolling his eyes at Phillip's most recent change in girlfriends. "I just don't see what he sees in all these different girls."
Lee chuckled to himself. "Give it a year or so, my boy, and you will, believe me, you will.'
Jamie rose and went to the frig. He poured himself a glass of milk and searched the cabinets for the bottle of chocolate syrup. Since it was a new bottle, he took off the cap, peeled back the foil seal. He poured a generous helping into his glass and proceeded to stir it with great intent, watching it dispense throughout the milk changing it from white to chocolate brown. He gulped down the drink in one breath. While he was setting his glass back down on the counter, Phillip charged down the stairs.
"Come on, Jamie, Mr. Davis is here. We're gonna be late."
Jamie slapped the top back on the bottle, put his glass in the sink, and ran over to give his mother a hug. "Bye Mom, bye Lee," he exclaimed as he rushed out the door, grabbing his lunch, backpack, and his overnight bag. Phillip breezed into the kitchen and grabbed his lunch, and said his goodbyes to both Lee and Amanda before heading out the front door, slamming it closed.
Lee sighed. The hurricane was over for the day. Lee breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that he minded it. In fact, he'd never been happier than he was to find himself a part of this family. He just wasn't yet used to all this hubbub each morning.
"So, what are we going to do on our day off, Mr. Stetson?" Amanda asked, as she sat down next to him.
"Hmm, well, I really hadn't thought about it. What do you have in mind?"
"Oh, nothing in particular. You know, we could just spend the day like…." She paused for emphasis, "normal people."
"Oh yeah, you and me a couple of normal people?"
"Well, maybe just for the day. We wouldn't want to over do it."
Lee chuckled. He rose to refill his coffee cup.
"Are you sure I can't fix you something for breakfast? We have cereal. And my offer of pancakes or French toast is still open."
"And I appreciate it, but no. I'm just not a breakfast eater."
Having finished her bowl of cereal, Amanda said, "Well in that case, I'm going upstairs to take a shower." Putting her bowl in the sink, she reached over for the now empty cereal box. Putting it in the garbage, she noticed that the can was full.
"Lee, would you mind taking out the trash? This can is about to overflow. I know it's Jamie's job, but he was in such a hurry this morning, he must have forgotten.
"Yeah, I'll get it. You go up and have your shower so we can begin our day as normal people."
Amanda headed upstairs chuckling. Lee turned his attention back to the morning paper and his mug of hot coffee. 'The garbage can wait until I finish this,' he said to himself. After several quiet moments, he drained the last of his coffee and stood. He arranged the paper back into neat folds and took his mug to the sink. Seeing all the dishes that were accumulating, he mumbled to himself, 'I guess this is how normal people spend their days,' and he began to load the dishwasher. He was about to head upstairs to get dressed when he remembered Amanda asking him to take out the garbage. He took the can out of the under-sink cabinet and pulled out the garbage bag, setting it on the kitchen island. He dutifully placed another bag in the can before setting it back in its place. He remembered a dressing down that Jamie had recently received from Dotty because he forgot to put a new bag in the can. Lee didn't want to find himself on the receiving end of such a tirade. Turning, he picked up the bag from the island and headed out the back door. What he didn't realize is that the garbage bag knocked over the bottle of chocolate syrup sitting next to it. And, while Jamie had tried, in his haste, he hadn't gotten the lid back firmly in place so the syrup was now draining out of the bottle onto the kitchen floor.
Lee came back inside having completed his task and headed for the sink to wash his hands. What he saw made him stop and stare in disbelief. "What the…." His words were cut off as he inadvertently stepped on the errant bottle cap. He quickly hopped to his other foot to relieve the pain. Because he was barefoot, however, and slightly off balance, his feet flew out from under him due to the gooey mess. He landed rather unceremoniously face first in the puddle of chocolate syrup on the floor. 'Great, just great. Look at this mess. Amanda is gonna kill me,' he thought as he tried to get up. Unfortunately, his feet were now covered by the chocolate confection and he simply couldn't get his footing. Another slip caused him to land spread eagle on his backside. This time, he cracked his head slightly on the floor. 'Good, Stetson,' he said to himself, 'by the time you get done, you'll have mopped up the floor with your clothes.'
Amanda finished her shower and put on her terrycloth robe. She gathered her damp towels to take them downstairs to the washer. Before she headed downstairs, she gathered up the towels from the boys' bathroom. Half way down the stairs, she heard Lee cry out.
"Ow, damnit!"
"Lee, are you all right?" Hearing no response, she raced down the stairs and headed into the kitchen. Her eyes widen when she saw the dark pool on the floor because her first thought was that it was a pool of blood. "Lee!" she screamed out.
"Yeah."
She heard him but still didn't see him. She hurried further into the kitchen and the sight before her eyes caused her to gasp. There sprawled out on her kitchen floor, covered in some dark liquid, was her husband, looking like a kid caught in a candy store. "What happened?" she managed to utter. Looking around, she saw the tipped bottle of chocolate syrup. Looking back down at Lee and realizing he wasn't hurt, she felt a giggle bubble up from deep inside her. She tried, she tried with all her might not to laugh, but it was impossible. There sat Lee with chocolate dripping from his face and hair. It covered his chest and well, pretty much his whole body. Dropping the load of towels, Amanda doubled over in laughter at the sight before her eyes. No one would ever believe that the 'oh so cool Scarecrow' would find himself in this predicament. Trying to control her laughter, with little success, she asked, "are you okay?"
"Fine, just fine," was the curt reply she received.
"Well, I heard you cry out and I thought…" she let the remainder of her thoughts go unexpressed.
"Really, I'm fine, I just hit my head when I fell. Do you think you could help me up here?"
"Yeah," she said playfully, "just let me get Jamie's camera. I think a shot of this would be a nice little addition to my 'Lee Stetson' collection, don't you?" She started to rise, but she was not quick enough. His hand shot out and grabbed onto her arm. With a gentle hug he pulled her onto his lap.
"Oh no you don't," he smiled as he planted a quick chocolate kiss on her lips. "You're not going to use this as evidence against me."
"Oh Lee, look at me. Now we're both a mess," she said as she struggled to right herself. "How in the world did this happen?"
A look of desire swept over his face as he responded to his chocolate covered wife now sprawled across his lap. "Who cares," Lee said, "let's just make the most out of it." Reaching out he smeared stream of chocolate down her nose. "Did I ever tell you that you have a cute nose?"
Amanda laughed at his playfulness. "Yes," she replied, "I believe you did."
"Good. And it's a downright tasty one at that," he said as he began to kiss her nose, lightly licking at the syrup.
His lips moved to settle over hers. She could taste the chocolate on his lips. Soon, his tongue began a gentle pressure on her mouth begging for entrance. She responded by allowing him entrance and she delighted in the sensations he caused. He tasted of chocolate and coffee and the taste she knew uniquely as her husband. Amanda moaned as she felt his hand reach inside her robe and cup her breast. His thumb swirled over the nipple leaving a trail of chocolate in its path. Pulling back from her mouth, his eyes lit up as he saw the dark swirls on her breast. He leaned her back against his slightly elevated legs and pushed aside her robe. His lips settled over her and his tongue eagerly lapped at the chocolate. Amanda arched her back, giving him more of her to taste. Lee willingly complied. Amanda began her own exploration as her hands wandered to his chest. She untied the belt of his robe and pushed it off his shoulders. She gently pushed him back as he reluctantly gave up his feast. Slowly but deliberately, she began drawing circles on his chest. She drew a heart over his causing him to smile. When she drew circles over his nipples, it caused him to gasp. He held his breath as her mouth descended upon his flesh, at first teasing, then enticing.
Lee groaned as Amanda worked her magic on his heated flesh. He reached down, cupping her face in his hands and gently lifted her head so he could ravish her lips. He trailed kisses all over her face and she returned them in like fashion. He felt her chuckle when she reached his left ear. "You have chocolate in your ear, she whispered, and then began deftly using her tongue to remove it. Lee reached down, pulling her body closer to him. In doing so, he could see that between his thick terry cloth robe and Amanda's, most of the chocolate had been soaked up. He turned to lie down on his back, his robe underneath him and the damp towels pillowing his head. He pulled Amanda up his body until she was lying on top of him. Amanda buried her face in the crook of his neck, while his hands wandered down her back. She shivered slightly from his touch.
"Cold?" he asked.
She looked up and him and replied with a wanton smile on her face, "Not in the least." To emphasize her point, she wiggled slightly on top of him. She sat up, straddling his hips, knowing where this little interaction was headed. Smiling down at him, she teased, "you know, buster, when this," she made a point of looking down his body and then back to his face, "is over, you're gonna have an awful lot of cleaning up to do." As she spoke, she pushed his sweats and his boxers off his hips.
Returning her wicked smile, Lee gently lifted her hips and joined their bodies together. "So, is this how normal people spend their time off?" he asked as he gently thrust his hips.
"Who cares," was Amanda's reply as she gave herself over to the sensations they were creating.
As they enjoyed the afterglow of there lovemaking, Lee began to stir. The hard, cold floor was now not as enticing as it had been before. "You know," he stated simply, "I think I might just become a breakfast eater if you serve this every morning."
She laughed as pushed herself up off his chest. "If you don't get busy, it's soon gonna be lunch time."
"Who cares," he said mocking her earlier reply, "we have the whole day off and the house to ourselves."
Standing on one of the towels she'd pulled out from under Lee's head, Amanda reached out a hand to him and helped him up. "I think we ought to get as much of this off us as possible, then head upstairs to take a quick shower. After we clean up, we can tackle this mess."
"That sounds like a plan, my dear," he said as he began wiping the remaining chocolate from his chest.
"Well, it's good thing you landed by the sink. At least it makes the clean up a little easier." She wet one of her dishtowels and wiped the remaining chocolate from her body. Once she was satisfied she was clean and her hair was no longer dripping chocolate, she hurried into the laundry room and grabbed several more clean towels. One she used to wrap around her body and the others she used to lay on the floor. As she was making a second trip to the laundry room, she glanced at Lee. There he was standing buck-naked in the kitchen. He was definitely a sight to behold. While he had done a passable job on his front side, his back and butt were still chocolate covered. Amanda chuckled and offered her help. "Here, let me help you with that." She took the dishtowel and wiped off his back. Rinsing it out, she began to tackle his backside. Lee was finding her work quite stimulating. She then moved to complete her task by wiping off his legs. She then handed him a clean towel.
Grinning wildly, he smirked, "What, you don't like what you see?"
Amanda grinned back. "Oh I like what I see, but I don't think the neighbors need to see quite that much of you. And besides, with our luck, Mother is libel to come bounding through the front door. Or even worse, Francine could show up at the back door." Lee swallowed meekly as he fastened the towel around his waist casting a quick look to the back door. "Oh yeah," he murmured. She headed into the laundry room with the last of the chocolate mess. She placed all the towels and robes into the tub to soak out as much of the chocolate before washing them.
"There, I think we're good to go for now. After we shower, I think you ought to be the one to mop the floor since you created this mess."
"Me?" he asked innocently.
"Yes, you," she said as she poked him teasingly in the chest. " I am quite certain that when I went upstairs to take my shower, the kitchen was still intact." Moving closer to him, she leaned up and whispered in his ear, "If you do a really good job, I promise you a very 'special' reward once it passes my inspection. Besides, we wouldn't want to be invaded by those nasty little ants, now would we?"
As she took him by the hand and led him towards the stairs, he laughed, "it's okay, I know a great exterminator."
Their quick shower ended up lasting well over an hour because Lee insisted that he needed to examine every inch of Amanda so that no bit of chocolate remained. His exploration continued as he carried her into their bedroom and gently laid her on the bed. Soon they were wrapped in each other's arms traveling to places only lovers know.
Amanda snuggled against Lee's chest and softly said, "You know, you should be thankful that I'm such an understanding wife."
"Oh, believe me, I am very thankful." Lee was completely worn out from his early morning activities and growing more sleepy by the moment.
Amanda chuckled at his comment and she, too, found herself drifting into the world of slumber.
Awaking from their nap after about an hour, they decided it was time to take on the task of cleaning up the kitchen. Amanda didn't even have to coax him into helping her. He did feel bad that the bottle had spilled all over the floor, but, then again, he fully enjoyed himself once Amanda joined him on the floor. Those memories flashed through his mind as he drew a bucket of hot water and poured in the cleaner to begin his task. While he was busy swabbing the deck, Amanda was busy in the laundry room. She loaded the washer with half of the towels and headed into the kitchen. Lee decided that he'd better wipe down the cabinets before he mopped the floor and was intent on his task when she snuck up behind him.
"You, know, you're becoming quite the domestic," she chuckled as she saw him jump.
He turned to her laughing at her comment. "Yeah, well, you provide a really excellent incentive program."
They worked side by side for the remainder of the early afternoon. Once into the cleaning 'mode" Amanda discovered several other things that needed cleaning and decided since Lee was being so helpful, she would put his efforts to good use. She cleaned out several cabinets, putting down fresh shelf paper and discarding things that were no longer needed. She even had Lee pull out the refrigerator so they could clean behind it. She smiled to herself thinking of an earlier time when they were in the kitchen of Angelo and Eva. Lee was looking for some way to distract himself from Eva's presence that he tackled cleaning the kitchen.
After two more loads of laundry and the final mopping of the floor, Amanda finally pronounced the kitchen clean. They headed into the den to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet. Lee's stomach suddenly growled and he glanced at the clock. It was after one.
"Yeah, since we passed inspection, how 'bout I take you out for lunch? I'm really getting hungry here but we won't be able to get into the kitchen for another half hour or so. What do ya say?"
"That sounds like a good idea to me. But, while we're out, I need to stop at the grocery store. Do you mind?"
"Me, mind a trip to the grocery store? That sounds like something 'normal' people do."
"Come on then, let's go. It shouldn't be too crowded at this time of day."
"Hey, we're having lunch first, right?"
"Anything you want, my normal husband."
They stopped for lunch at a little sandwich shop. Over lunch they talked about the boys and Dotty and Francine and her latest boyfriend and well, just everyday stuff.
"You know, I think I could get use this," he said sweeping his hand across the table.
"What?" she asked slightly confused.
"This..us..just sitting here enjoying the day with no Russians chasing us, no dodging bullets, no shop talk."
"Oh, that," she smiled knowingly. "Well, since we're being so 'normal' we'd better get to the grocery store.
Lee was acquainted with the grocery store, but he'd never thought much about it before. Most of the time, he made a quick dash in and out, stopping only long enough to grab the items he needed for that particular moment. Since he'd become a member of the King household, he'd made only limited runs, mostly to the convenient store to pick up milk, bread, or pop. It seemed with two growing teenage boys in the house, they could never keep these items in stock. When it came to grocery shopping, that task was left usually to Amanda and Dotty. They both seemed to enjoy spending the time together and it gave them both a chance to engage in some girl talk. Lee normally stayed at home with the boys and spent the time washing the cars or playing ball.
Today, however, Lee was content to push the cart, allowing Amanda to determine their path. He was amazed at the selection of produce now available. He was even more amazed that Amanda spent five minutes deciding which pears to buy. Then it was another several minutes inspecting all the baskets of strawberries before making her selection. He simply smiled as she gave him an apologetic look. He didn't care. As long as he was with her, he didn't care what they were doing. He simply enjoyed being with her.
With the cart nearly overflowing, she directed them down the aisle stocked with salad dressings. She needed a bottle of Italian to serve with the salad and lasagna she was planning for dinner this evening. Lee pushed the cart to the end of the aisle, trying to maneuver out of the crowd's way. He found himself at the end of the aisle in front of the ice cream toppings. Seeing the various bottles of chocolate syrup, his mind began to wander back to this morning's adventure. He reached for a bottle to add to the cart and he spotted the caramel topping. His eyes lit up. He liked chocolate but caramel was his favorite. He quickly looked around for Amanda. Seeing that she was still viewing the bottled dressings, he slipped the caramel topping into the cart. He turned back to the shelf and picked up a bottle of the chocolate syrup. As he was placing it in the cart, Amanda arrived to add her selection. Somewhat embarrassed, Lee said, "I..uh..I thought we needed to buy Jamie a replacement."
"Yeah," Amanda smiled back at him with a wicked smile on her face. We wouldn't want to run out." Taking hold of the front of the cart, she steered it and her husband into the dairy aisle. "The last thing we need is whipped cream," she uttered as she saw a look of surprise sweep over Lee's face.
Monday morning came all too quickly for Lee and Amanda. The morning chaos began, just like always. People yelling, doors slamming, the morning rush hour at the King Stetson house was well underway. Lee stood in the kitchen smiling as he took it all in. He was in a very good mood and he owed it all to Amanda. She had indeed given him his just rewards and they spent most of the weekend discovering just how many ways they could please each other with caramel, chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream. His grin grew wider as he recalled those moments.
Arriving at work, they headed downstairs to the bullpen at Billy's insistence. Upon their arrival, Billy commented, "Well, well, Scarecrow, you look like the cat that swallowed the canary. What were you up to this weekend?"
"Oh, nothing in particular, just a normal weekend in the suburbs," he replied winking at Amanda.
The End
Story Notes:
Scarecrow and Mrs. King belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon productions. I receive no profit from this writing, just enjoyment.