Like Sheep Gone Astray by Lesile J. Sherrod Page B

before she took another order from him, he would have to kiss her black behind. And then she would turn her back to him so he could get a good look at her behind leaving the room.
    Of course then he would try to kiss it and she would remember why she was working for him. Leaving him was impossible, dangerous even. But at least the perks were good.
    Nikki was mad that she'd had to leave the fur stole in the car. But even she knew it didn't go too well with the plain-Jane black skirt suit she was wearing. She loved that mink stole. It showed the world her power. She would wrap that dead thing around her voluptuous curves the way she wrapped men around her pinky. She was absolutely irresistible. Or so she would like to think.
    Nikki looked down at the hideous long skirt that skimmed her calves and the green wool overcoat she had on instead of the silky mink stole. She turned up her nose at the ensemble. Much too conservative for her taste.
    She was on assignment. A new assignment. But then again, when was any assignment ever new? They were all one and the same. Only now they had gotten more complicated, building treacherously one on top of another. She thought of the blocks her three-year-old son, Devin, played with at the day-care center. Each one piled one on top of another, higher and higher, until they all fell down.
All fall down
. Wasn't there a nursery rhyme or something that went like that? Nikki shook her head, dismissing the thought.
    She looked down at her red, yellow, and black fingernails. Each nail sported a different lavish design. “Don't be mad 'cause I didn't take them off,” she said smugly to herself as she added a drop of glue to one of them.
    She knew the nails were too loud and too busy for the image she needed to portray. But it was too late. She had waited until she'd gotten out of the car before she threw off the fur-trimmed leather gloves, brashly exposing all ten colorful tips. She enjoyed slamming that pretty black Jaguar's door in that man's pretty face. Couldn't say nothing to her. Hmph. It felt good to have some power.
    Nikki blew a large pink bubble and then sucked it back into her mouth with a loud
pop
! She realized her mistake immediately and took a quick look around her, hoping that nobody had heard or seen her blow that bubble. She quickly spit the gum out of her mouth, wrapped it in a piece of tissue she found in her purse, and tossed it into the bus-stop trash can. Fortunately, there was no visible living soul within blocks to view her mishap. Who would want to be around this desolate part of town? Even so, she would have to be more careful.
    “This task involves subtle sophistication and class,” she mimicked his words out loud to herself. “You must be dedicated, sincere, and, above all, convincing.”
    She rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. This assignment wouldn't be any different from any other. All men were the same at heart. Weak. Especially when she started working her prizewinning walk. Eat your heart out, Tyra Banks. Nikki knew the exact moment when she had a man where she wanted him. Her mother would tell her that's what got her in all this trouble in the first place.
    She'd been sitting at the bus stop for almost two hours and had watched six buses pass. She was just starting to wonder if she should do something to keep from looking fishy when finally he emerged from the building across the street. She knew he was coming to the bus stop. He would be catching the number fifty-seven to Drylaw Avenue, where he would transfer to the twenty-nine. The next bus was coming in three minutes. She would have to work quickly. Nikki didn't even break a sweat.
    As soon as he neared the bus stop, she let out a loud, mournful sob, just as she had practiced. Men were suckers for beautiful women who were crying.
    “Ma'am, are you okay?” He rested a foot on the bench and leaned in toward her. His eyes were gentle and sincere, but Nikki was not swayed. She had a job to do.
    “Ooohh,”