I found myself falling in love with LaReigne Lucrece at this later stage in my life. He came to me totally out of the blue (by accident) one day at a red light. Yes a red light. I was acting up as usual with my comedic Halloween bloody leg hanging out the side of my car with a magnetic sign next to it saying, "My Last X Husband." That produced LaReigne to jump out of his little convertible sports machine, run around to my side of the truck and hand me his card. He said, "Call me Babe, or I'll call you...." You see my number is on the side of my vehicle in the form of an employment advertisement.
Several days past with no call from the handsome Frenchman. And then my phone rang, only to hear the very raspy voice of LaReigne Lucrece. I cant say I was not pleased. Of course I was and to say I hadn't waited for it would be a lie.
As time passed we became very close as well as intimately close. He was the most romantic lover I had experienced in my life. No really. He seemed to love me from somewhere deep inside his soul along with every other part of his being. I was not used to a man that gave of himself so deeply and with such intent.
My neighbor, who leaned toward hearing from the beyond stopped in to blatantly tell me not to see this man anymore as he is known for sleeping with women and then telling them he has to leave the country for various reasons. I argued with her, saying no no, he loves me. She flipped her long black hair and curtly walked out of my apartment saying, "You will see Missy!"
The affair continued a glorious few weeks longer. Then without any warning one evening after an amazing lovemaking session, you know, the kind where it seemed extra intent was at hand? It was then he told me he needed to talk to me about something. I obviously was not prepared for what came next although I handled it perfectly, thanks to my neighbor and the fact I was not a young woman with a brain of mush. He said, "I rent out my home in Paris to friends and famous people for parties. There have been some problems and I have to go back and take care of them. I hope you will understand my little Cheri." I did not flinch nor fall apart. I did not cry. I did not react in anyway whatsoever except to offer up a slight grin. He immediately caught it and said, "What is that? No, what is that? I said, "Oh nothing, I understand how these things can happen. So when are you leaving?" He replied to me as soon as possible. I said, "Well lets have an outing before you go LaReigne? One last outing? Okay?" I found myself listening intently to what he might have to say. I decided I wanted to follow this game out to the end. Who knows, might make for a good book someday. I never did know when to quit. Nor did I ever learn to play poker. I should have.
The following day LeReigne and I picnicked near the lake. We were walking and reminiscing close to a wooded area when my neighbor, the one that foretells the future, comes walking out of the woods and down a hill towards us saying loudly how she is aware of his intentions, how dare he do this to her friend, we have all told her who you are and what you are like. What you have done to many of the women in your past.
LaReigne stopped dead, turned and looked directly into my eyes just as he did when he made passionate love to me. I pretended to be stunned. To know nothing of what this woman was spewing. That is when I looked at her and said, "STOP!" He turned and walked away. It was too late for me to repair the damage. Stupid woman anyway! I wanted so badly to turn the tables on LaReigne. For once I wanted to come out on the head end of a deal vs the tail end. I have always heard one should never try to con a con. And I had and I had lost. And now he was gone forever.
After the Frenchman ordeal settled down I was summoned to a property my family owned. I was to prepare it for sale. I had never seen it before so I put the address in my GPS and headed out for the county side. I didn't tell anyone where I was going. Something I forgot to do more than once.
After what seemed like thirty miles I finally came to the address. I couldn't see the main property until I followed the long driveway up to what appeared to be a huge mansion. It looked like something out of a movie set. The garage door opener worked so I pulled right in like I owned the place. I guess I did in reality. I was selling it for our family trust even though I knew very little about it. I was about to discover more than I wanted or needed to know. When I initially walked in all appeared to be a normal, yet a very royal mansion. Marble floors, gold embossed framing around each doorway, as well as the intricate wood carvings surrounding each fireplace in every room. Still there was a very erie feeling surrounding me. The thought came more than once that I should let someone know where I was. Yet I did not. I made it up the winding staircase to the second floor and couldn't help but notice how many rooms there were with closed doors. And in the center of all these doors were barred rooms. Oh my God it was a prison. The entire second floor of our family mansion was a prison. What was behind the doors? I tried to open one but I was not able to. I pushed as hard as I could and it only budged enough for me to see light through the crack. Those doors had not been opened for many years. It was then I was halted in my every movement and thought. I heard voices. Here I am in an old mansion, out in the middle of no where, a jailhouse with locked doors all around it, I am hearing voices and no one knows where I am. I just need to get out of here and now. It was at that moment that I recognized LeReigne's voice. What was he doing here? Fear began to rush through every cell of my body. My rational mind concluded this could be him trying to gain hold of my families property in some way. I found my way down the stairs and out into the garage. My spirit sensed he knew I was there. The men with him were there to help him kill me.
On the floor was a piece of paper with a small round type metal item that looked like a battery. His plan was to soak that in gasoline. Pretend that it was a love letter he intended to give me when he left for Paris. But when I took it, it was to blow up in my hand and take me out. My spirit told me this. I decided to reverse his game. Do it to him instead. I jumped into my vehicle.....put it in reverse. My intention was to get down that driveway and out of there. Forget winning any game with LaReigne. Get out and back to the reality of my old life in the city. It was then that I went into fear mode. I couldn't tell if I was in drive, or reverse, or neutral. I was terrified. I couldn't recall if my doors were locked or even which way the lever went to lock/unlock. At that point, LaReigne jumped into my vehicle. He stared into my eyes grinning. I had lost once again and on a larger scale than I ever dreamed could happen to this small town woman. I had lost at life once again. I had nothing else to lose. I drove as fast as I could to the end of the driveway.....the only control I had was behind the wheel of that vehicle and he was not going to take that away too. No one would ever take that away again. I pulled out of that driveway of life into the path of an oncoming semi going 70 mph. I had just enough time to look into LaReigne's eyes and soul and smile letting him know I won.
Just remember never try to con and con. This time: No one won that game. No one.
Marlene Sylvestre's photo.
Absolutely riveting!
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery........if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor" But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot.....they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low. The next time you're washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:-
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting Married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof... Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor."
The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire... Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat".
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial... They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer". And that's the truth...
Now, whoever said History was boring?
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery........if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor" But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot.....they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low. The next time you're washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:-
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting Married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof... Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor."
The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire... Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat".
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial... They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer". And that's the truth...
Now, whoever said History was boring?