At 05:11 am. Howard burst out of his house in a pair of jogging shorts, Adidas shoes on his feet, and a sleeveless shirt. The air was crisp and cold; it felt almost like spring again. Grey clouds were still breaking out across the sky. Last night's weather report promised scattered showers to occur in the late hours of the morning. Howard was not worried about that as long as it did nothing to ruin his day, starting with him going out for a morning jog.
He set the timer on his watch then set off on his run. He trotted past the street where Tim Simms lived, not slowing down to see if he was home or not. He made it past Dave's home and saw his car in the driveway. Howard continued onward towards the junction ahead then took a left turn.
The streets were empty and streaked with wetness as if it had rained during late hours of the night. He was running hard, feeling the wind slap his face and thigh with each swing of his arm. He felt sweat popping up on his skin as his feet pounded the curb. He listened to the sound of his breathing leaving his body along with his Adidas shoes thumping on the ground. After a while he heard another pair of running feet along with a man's panting breath coming from behind him. Howard tried looking over his shoulder but even then the figure came into view from his right. It was his friend Dave. He was all puffy and red from trying to catch up with Howard and sweating driblets already. He took off his glasses to wipe a film of sweat from his face before fixing it back on his nose.
They jogged alongside each other for another two miles around the neighbourhood. Dave was grunting even harder as he tried to keep up with his friend. They came upon a garden park and decided to stop and sit down on an empty bench to catch their breath. The grey clouds had parted way for sunshine to reign. Dave hung his head down his shoulders panting harder. His face was all pink and Howard assumed he might fall ill any moment.
"You all right, Dave?"
"Yeah . . . yeah, sure, I'm fine. Gimme a minute." He coughed and hoicked phlegm and spat on the ground then wiped his mouth with the underside of his shirt. "It's been a while since I've had such fun running."
He polished his glasses on his shirt but cursed when it slipped and fell from his hand. He picked it up and wiped specks of sand off it before resuming polishing it. Howard did a couple of stretches and calisthenics, loving the sound he heard of his bones shifting into place as well the cool breeze highlighting the sweat on his shirt. He switched off the timer in his watch.
"I was in my living room when I peeped out the window and caught you running by," Dave said when he was feeling better with himself.
"I didn't know you'd be awake or I'd have stopped. It's been a while since we caught each other like this."
"Not since you found out about Jenny and April."
"Yeah, not since then."
Howard sat beside his friend watching cars cruise by.
"How are things going with April so far?"
"Quite good; no complaints. We're starting to mend."
Howard told his friend about the threesome fun they enjoyed yesterday when he visited his secretary. Dave was astounded by what he said and howled with delight when Howard concluded with what he and April had discussed in bed before and after she then sat on his face.
"For real, she's serious about actually wanting to meet Shango?" Dave asked.
"She said she'll still think about it, but I know she's definitely going say yes. I thought by now she'd have made her mind up. Maybe she'll meet with Jenny to learn more about him."
"Whatever she says that's still good news. I'm so happy for you, Howard. You've turned a new leaf about this without much of a fight."
Howard blushed. "Yeah well, fighting won't have gotten me nowhere with April. I either saw things her way or worst. We all got to change and make do with some things. But you're way into this than I'll ever want to go, Dave."
"My guess is you're referring to what you and Tim witnessed at that party, right?"
"That was not the only thing we saw and did," Howard replied with amusement. He glanced around to be sure they were alone before continuing, this time leaning closer to his friend. "I got to suck one of those black men's cock that night."
"Yeah, I saw you and Tim doing that. I was even surprised you both did."
"The guy was fucking scary. And I don't know why but something menacing about him just got us both on our knees. That's something I never once thought I would ever be forced to do."
"But you could have left the room. Doesn't matter if they had yelled at you not to."
"Yeah, I don't know why we didn't. Maybe I was waiting for Ted to make the move first, except when he didn't . . ." Howard could not come up with the right words to explain what he had in mind; Dave did it for him.
"You wanted to know how well it all feels like."
"How what feels like?"
"You know what I mean. To drop to your knees and worship a black cock."
That got both of them laughing. Howard realised only then just how significant his life had changed. In another life, all what he had heard and seen and done these past couple of days would have promptly gotten him admitted into a psyche ward. Instead of feeling uptight, he felt instead was relief. Like he was relieving himself of whatever burden he had unquestionably been carrying all this time. No longer could he hide his thoughts from April, from Dave, and certainly from himself.
"Yeah, I guess I did really want to feel that," Howard admitted. "I know Ted felt the same, even though he didn't say anything. You by chance run into him yesterday?"
Dave nodded. He shoved his glasses up his nose. "He told me he was still giving another try to convince Holly about all this. I volunteered to help out but he told me he's got it figured out somewhat. How come you never told me you were banging your secretary?"
"It was a spur of the moment thing; I was not thinking straight at the time. Also it was all April's fault. She gave me a pass at whatever pussy I wanted to make up for hers. I probably never would have done it if it was not for any of this."
"If it were up to me, I never would have made you find out the way you did," Dave said. "Some men can't really take this, especially coming from their wife. That night you came by after April told you, when we stood outside, I honestly thought you were going to punch my lights out. Not that I would have stopped you if you had."
"I did have that on my mind. Thinking about everything since, it all feels like one giant secret only few people know about. I'm surprised nobody out there's talking about it."
"Oh, they do talk about it, just not to the uninitiated. But it's spreading everywhere. Go online and you'll find tons of stuff that will blow your mind. Some folks know of it, but not too much about it. But many out there are into it like the couple we visited that other night. For many, discretion is something they have to deal with always."
"But you and Jenny seem easy-going about it. It's almost like you don't worry too much about anyone finding out."
"We're discrete when we need to be," Dave emphasised. "I'll even admit that I'm far more discrete than Jenny. A lot of what I do on my own she knows nothing about, like what I did that other night."
Howard was stunned to hear that. "She doesn't know?"
"Well, she might know a bit, I really haven't discussed it with her. She likes to turn a blind eye whenever I do my own thing and that's how it works for us."
"What if she had been the one who walked into that room and found you doing that?"
"Well then I guess the cat would be out of the bag then," Dave chuckled. He removed his glasses to wipe off sweat from his nose. "I don't really know how she'd react. But she were there, I know she'd have been preoccupied with catching her own fun than worry about whatever I'm doing. Get what I mean?"
"Yeah. That couple whose home we were at, you known then long?"
"Charmaine and Lisa are fun to be around. You ought to spend time with Charmaine, you'll learn plenty from him. He used to be Charlie before his operation. I can give you his phone number later if you'd want."
"Yeah, that would be great, thanks. Something else that's on my mind that's weird: I haven't been so horny these past couple of days than ever before, probably not since April and I got married. When we did it with my secretary, it felt like a second marriage for me."
"Your secretary was not upset at all about April?"
"Far from upset, she and April seem tight now. It took a while for me to get hard when watching them in bed together. It was not until I started imagining Shango fucking them both that I got hard. You probably won't take my word for it but it's the truth."
"You gotten your secretary knowing about Shango? You won't want him fucking her too?"
"I'll want that, but no, I haven't brought up the subject yet. But I'll find a way." Howard checked his time. "Better go get ready for work."
They walked back to their homes and said goodbye to each other when they got to Dave's home. Dave waved at him while Howard continued to his. The sky was all blue and the sun hammered his face as he arrived home. April was coming up from the basement where she had taken their bunch of clothes to the wash machine.
"I was wondering where you went," she kissed him as he came to her.
"Needed to get my blood pumping for the day," he went upstairs to take a shower.