Betrayal Part 2

I kept a good pace almost all of the way into town. After about twenty minutes of purposeful riding I hit a wall again on the last uphill before town. The hill loomed up in front of me and I felt defeated by it before I even started. I felt like I had nothing left. I coasted slowly to its base and got off the bike. Without changing my hold on the handle bars or stopping my slow progress, I began to walk up the hill.

The headlight of a motorcycle came up behind me. The motorcyclist came up right along side of me and my bike. He idled at the same pace I was walking. I thought, “What now?”

“You know, you’re supposed to ride that thing.” the motorcyclist said.

I answered without even looking at him, since his comment pissed me off. “If you had ridden as far as I had today without a motor, you might be walking too.”

He laughed. “I suppose you’re right. My name is Evan, nice to meet you.” He held out his right hand to me.

I looked at Evan as we passed a street light. His face said sunshine and starry nights all at once. I guess he looked like I had always pictured Hermann Hesse’s Goldmund character in Narcissus and Goldmund. He had ringlets of golden hair framing a boyish, but masculine face of I’d say about 25 years old with fair skin. He was beautiful and looked pretty cool on that bike, too. I extended my hand, and we shook hands.

“I’m Sue.”

“You look like you could use a beer, Sue. There is a bar up on the right ahead about a half mile from here. Can I buy you a beer there?”

“Sure.” I said, against my better judgment. At least it was a public place. How much trouble could I get into? Actually I was really flattered. Here I was at the end of my rope feeling lonely and used, when this great looking guy rides up and asks me out. I was willing to be home late for this diversion. My next worry was that I don’t really drink beer. I’d just order something else, I guess.

Evan sped off ahead on his motorcycle. Its red rear light became smaller and smaller until it was a tiny dot at the top of the hill, which then disappeared. The noise of the motor faded too. It seemed like it would take forever to walk that half mile over the hill. Evan was probably already there, unless he was just yanking my chain with his invitation. As I came to the top of the hill I could see the little roadside bar at the bottom. How is it that I had never noticed it before? I guess it was because I couldn’t sell there, and that’s all I was tuned into. I put my left foot on its pedal, and pushed off with my right foot to gain momentum. I swung my right leg gracefully backwards, over the seat and onto its pedal. I took no more than that to get the bike going down the hill.


Small neon signs blinked their pale pink and blue beer advertisements in the window of the small tavern. It was a simple cinder block building painted white, with a corrugated metal roof. The parking lot was gravel. I looked at the line of motorcycles parked out front. I located Evan’s bike parked on the end, and parked my bike next to Evan’s, as if it too was in the ranks of the motored. Why not? I had ridden many miles on that bike, and it my view it was worthy of inclusion into the ranks of any motored vehicles. It did look out of place though, especially with that sales case on the back. I decided to leave the telltale case outside.

I looked through the large rectangular front window of the bar. It was the kind of place that had peanut shells on the floor. Evan sat at a small round table with two beers in front of him. Damn, he had already ordered. I could never be so rude as to not drink some of that beer. He looked too good to be true sitting there just waiting for me. In that short moment I got nervous, like a fifteen year old girl on her first date. He had only seen me in the dark, what if I walked in there and could see that he changed his mind when he got a good look at me? The confidence I found to walk in that place was from all the miles I had covered and people I met.

I opened the door and walked into the bar. Men sitting on bar stools turned to see me, some with leers on their faces. Evan and I made eye contact, and as I walked to his table, the men turned back to their beers to mind their own business. Evan smiled and looked really glad to see me. I sat down behind the unclaimed beer. Evan was wearing blue jeans, a plaid button front cotton shirt, and a blue jean jacket. The first few buttons of his shirt were open and I could see curly blond chest hairs on well toned pectorals. The gold hair on his wrists shone in the light over the tanned skin beneath. His hands were clean, and the nails on his strong fingers were smooth and even.

“Thanks for asking me out for a beer.” I said. “You wouldn’t believe how much I needed one.”

“Well, you looked a bit at the end of your rope out there. I don’t figure that you usually walk that bike.”

“You’re right about that. I rode maybe forty miles today.”

“Forty miles! Shit! If you don’t mind my asking, what are you doing that for?”

“I’m selling bible related books door-to-door for the summer. I am a college student. Here, I’ll demonstrate.” I looked deeply into his eyes and mustered all of my Parchment learned innocence and sincere earnestness. “Hah there Evan. My name is Su-san Fair-vieew, and Ah’ve been callin’ on all the church folks in the neighborhood. Y’all do go to some local church, don’t ya?” I paused slightly for effect, and completed the approach with an almost plaintive, “May Ah come in?” I raised an eyebrow to punctuate the question.

“I guess I’d let you in after hearing that.” Evan said.

“Actually, I probably wouldn’t go into your house since you are a man alone in it.”

“That’s probably smart. But, really, you wouldn’t come into my house?” He winked and said the last part flirtatiously.

I left that question unanswered, but smiled to acknowledge his flirting.

“Do you go to school here at the University?” he asked.

“No. I go to school at the State University of New York at Cayuga in upstate New York. I’m majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. I am going back there in a few weeks, at the end of the summer.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He looked genuinely saddened to hear that I was not local. “And you’ll be in your...”

“Junior year. How about you?”

“I’m taking some economics courses part time at the University. I’m thinking about going for an MBA.”

We went on making unimportant small talk, but what was really going on, as far as I was concerned, was some real chemistry between us. I was getting more and more excited just sitting across from Evan, just from being at the same table with him. I didn’t want to leave, although now it was nearing eleven o’clock. I wanted to somehow let him know that I wanted to see him again, but I didn’t want to seem too forward, or easy. I tried to keep in mind that I really didn’t know who this guy was. But, I had been so selfless in my work all summer, and had suffered much, working some 80 hours a week. Didn’t I deserve a short summer relationship? I continued to smile and make eye contact instead of saying what I felt. It wasn’t difficult to look into those soft grayish-blue eyes across the table.

He let me talk. I felt as if I had spoken to no one all summer, but I kept the conversation light. I could not hide my fatigue though, and he noticed it.

“Well, its getting late.” he said. Before I could worry that this was it, he continued. “How would you like to come to my house for dinner tomorrow night? We could do some steaks on the grill.”

What a relief, he was asking me out. He must have been experiencing the attraction too. I had felt that there was no way that it was just me. Without hesitation, I answered. “Sure. That sounds great!”

“Do you want me to pick you up?”

Now the careful and wary side of me took over. If I let him pick me up, I would have to tell him where I lived. I wasn’t in the habit of doing that. If I could ride there on my bike, I could scope the place out and come home if it didn’t look safe. My wariness had kept me safe all summer, and I wasn’t going to abandon it now. “No thanks. I’m not sure exactly what time I will get done selling tomorrow, so why don’t you just give me the directions. Is it far?”

“Not at all. You just go west on Broad Street and take the first left after you cross the Oconee River.” He completed the directions. His house was only a couple of miles from where I was living. “Approximately when do you think you could be there?”

“Maybe around eight?” I had worked late today, so being at Evan’s house by eight would not jeopardize my eighty hour week.

“Great, see you then.”

I wanted him to kiss me, but that would really be too fast. Hesitantly, I stood up from the table. I had only drunk a third of my beer. I hoped he wouldn’t notice. I walked out of the bar alone, as I had come in. When I got outside, I could see through the window that Evan was paying for our beers. I had looked to make sure that he was not coming out to follow me. To my relief, Evan bought another beer and went back to the table, where his jacket was still on his chair. My trust in him went up a notch. If he had ill will, he knew I was vulnerable out alone on a bicycle. This was obviously not his intent.

I pulled my bike out from the line of motorcycles, and walked it to the road. I mounted it, and headed for home. I was still feeling high from my encounter with Evan. The best thing about it was that I would get to see him again tomorrow night. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow, and that was certainly the first time I felt that way all summer.

I came to my street and wondered if Mary and Chris would still be up.

Mary was downstairs having milk and cookies with the Sanders when I came in. She sure did look at home with them, but then why shouldn’t she? They were very welcoming.

“Sue, please come and have some milk and fresh baked sugar cookies with us.” beckoned Mrs. Sanders.

I joined them at the table, and Mrs. Sanders went into the kitchen to get me a glass of milk, a plate and napkin. I looked at the white, hand cross-stitched table cloth. The warm wood paneled room and crocheted seat cushions on wooden chairs made me feel more comfortable than I ever felt in my own home. Mr. Sanders’ grey eyes in his soft wrinkled face under neatly brushed white hair looked at me with pride. His hard working tenant was home from the bookfield. Why couldn’t they be my parents? Mrs. Sanders came back to the table and placed my setting in front of me. “Well dear, I dare say you are glowing this evening. What happened?”

Mrs. Sanders could read me like a book, I guess. Mary looked interested too.

“I met a guy on my way home from selling today, and he asked me out for dinner tomorrow night!” Mary looked dubious, but the Sanders smiled as if they were happy for me.

“Are you going to go?” asked Mary.

“Yeah, he seems really nice. He’s a student at the University. So, I’ll be home late tomorrow night.” Mary seemed accepting of this and I took it as a good sign. I wasn’t sure how she would react and was relieved that she seemed positive. She didn’t even bring up Gregg or Chip. I wasn’t sure just exactly what she knew about my relationship with them, since I had told her nothing.

When we went upstairs, Chris was already asleep. I too, was exhausted, and fell asleep quickly.

Betrayal Part 3

The morning dawned, and before I could open my eyes, my first thought was, “Shit, another day knocking on doors”. But then I remembered Evan. It all seemed like a dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I went through my morning routine. I showered, and dressed, pulling on my same old jeans and the New York Harbor Independence Day Bicentennial Tall Ships tee shirt, my Mom had sent to me. I put on my scratched and dirty white leather sneakers. I put my Yankee cap in my sales case. It would stay there until my hair dried in the breeze.

I hadn’t sold in the area where Evan lived yet. For some inexplicable reason, I hadn’t even been to that part of town. It seemed convenient that I could sell there all day and not use much travel time getting to his house when I was done. I checked the map I had for his neighborhood. I located the dot that represented Evan’s house from his directions. It seemed that his house was part of a smallish subdivision right on the Oconee River. According to the map there were enough houses in the general area to keep me busy for three or four days. But, being slightly paranoid, I decided to approach the area from the south that morning, instead of heading directly west as instructed by Evan. That way I would not reach his exact neighborhood at all that day. I didn’t want him to think I was hovering around the area just waiting for our date, or worse yet to be seen by him in some chance encounter. How would I explain that?

This was what I was thinking as I rode my bicycle southwest. The morning selling was uneventful. It was mid afternoon when I came upon a junk yard with a shop and house on the premises.

I was pleasantly surprised that no dogs ran out to ‘greet’ me. I walked down the dirt driveway past heaps of rusting car parts, old appliances like refrigerators, and washing machines, and just plain junk. Most of the stuff looked completely worthless as it lay helter-skelter with weeds growing tall in between the piles. The shop and house were even less impressive. The structures had clapboards that were peeling and needed painting badly. The roofs were tin. Across the front of the shop, a sign hung at an angle proclaiming, ‘Big Jim’s Used Car Parts’, in flaky red letters. No customers or Big Jim were around in the shop. I despaired that these folks would have any money for books. But, I went up to the front door of the residence anyhow. An old tired hound lay in the cool dirt under the porch. He barely lifted his head when I walked up the steps and turned his cloudy eyes towards me. “Hey ol’ boy, staying cool?” I called out in friendly greeting to the dog. His tail wagged almost imperceptibly and he returned his graying head to its dirt pillow. Only the screen door was closed and I could hear people talking inside.

I knocked on the door and stood back a pace. A frumpy woman in a worn and faded pink house dress with curlers in her hair came to the door. You could have stored nuts for the winter in the bags under her eyes. She said, “Come in.”, before I could even start my approach. So I did. The wooden floor had no shine on it whatsoever and it felt gritty under foot. Guess it had been a while since it had been swept.

“Who is it Mother?” came a voice from the brown vinyl couch that looked and smelled like it came from a gas station.

“It’s some girl selling something.”

I came to the center of the living room slowly, following ‘Mother’. I supposed it was ‘Father’, otherwise known as big Jim, on the couch across from the television set. He was very heavy and looked like he had become one with the couch. He wore a blue work shirt and brown work pants in a size that I sure couldn’t have guessed. He had a tired, lazy look around his eyes, like one I’ve seen on Zero Mostel, though I can’t say in which movie. The reason became apparent when I looked on the coffee table. Two six packs of beer were on the table next to the Family Bible. ‘Father’ was drinking his six without even removing the cans from the plastic rings holding them together. Until then, I had never believed that anybody really drank beer that way. The corner of a case of beer could be seen under the table. Mother sat down in her chair, a weathered thing with the fabric peeling off of its foam backing. She had poured her beer in a glass. I was hard pressed to compliment anything in that house.

“Some weather we’re having, isn’t it?” That was the best I could do.

“Yeah.” burped Father. “You’re not selling magazines are you, ‘cause if you are you can get right out of this house.”

“No sir. I’ve got Bible books.” I patted my case to make the point.

“Bible books, well hell’s bells, Mother, call the children in.” He was obviously drunk and feeling fine.

“Kids! Get in here!” she yelled apathetically from where she sat. Four kids, who looked young for the age I thought their parents were scrambled as if from nowhere into the living room. The eldest was maybe twelve and they looked better kept than their surroundings would have indicated. They sat quietly on the floor around me. I sat on a chair across from Father. I decided to show the Family Bible Library set, although I didn’t think they could afford it. The kids paid attention to the demonstration and sat straight up so that they could see the pictures I was pointing to. When I was almost finished with the demonstration, Father interrupted me.

“You kids want them books?” They all nodded their little heads in unison. “Okay, girlie, how much are those books? I’ll take a set.” I was just beginning to wonder how I would get a deposit when Father pulled a wad of cash from his pocket to emphasize that he was serious. This was the biggest wad of cash I had ever seen. It was as big around as the beer cans in front of him and the outside bill was a twenty. This probably represented all the money he had. He repeated, “Just how much are they, I’ll pay it all in cash right now.”

Before I could think, my mouth was saying, “Those books are two-hundred dollars, sir.” I had opted to double the price as advised at the last sales meeting. It seemed so unnatural, and I feared that Jim would guess that I was making up the price. But he took the rubber band off of his roll of money and started counting out the twenties. He stopped at ten and handed me the cash. “Great, I’ll deliver your books during the last week of August.”

He seemed a little disappointed that I didn’t have any books with me to give them, but after another sip of beer he seemed okay with it. I couldn’t wait to get out of that house. “Well thank you very much, I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. Take care!” With that I was out the door with their two-hundred dollars. I could just pocket the hundred extra I charged Jim. It was my cash now, and I didn’t even need to report it to Parchment. I grabbed my bike and rode hastily off their property. For all the world I felt like a thief. What I had done was perfectly legal, but I felt like a criminal. I rode on to the next houses, pushing my doubts to the side. I could be hard enough to take those people’s money. It was just business. That money would go for buying my college books, instead of his beer. In the back of my mind I wondered if they knew anybody else I had sold that set to this summer. If they spoke to anyone else between now and the end of the summer, they could find out that I had charged them twice as much. I might have to face that when I delivered their books.

There was a tiny subdivision of brand new houses that came up next on the road. I walked up the stoop of the first house and noticed that my legs were shaking. I couldn’t stop them from shaking. I forced myself to pay attention to the business at hand and deny my feelings. I knocked on the door and stood back a couple of paces. The woman of the house came and opened the door. I began my approach.

“Hi there Mrs. Jones. My name is Sue Fairview and I’ve been calling on all the church folks in the neighborhood...” During this I continued to shake and now I was also starting to sweat. “May I come in?”

“Did you know that you are shaking and white as a sheet?” There was a look of concern in Mrs. Jones’ eyes. “You better come in, sit down, have a glass of water, and tell me about it.” I followed her into her nice neat and brightly lit little house. She put me in a kitchen chair at a cleanly scrubbed Formica table and brought me a tall glass of ice water. I drank the whole glass. As I looked at her round cheeks and perky brown eyes under arched eye brows I noticed that I had been holding my breath, and I took some deep breaths before I began to speak.

“I made a big sale at the last house. You know, Jim’s junk yard.” She nodded that she knew it. “He asked me how much the books were and pulled out a wad of cash big enough to choke a horse. When I saw that wad of money, I doubled the price, and he gave it all to me in cash. I stole from them.” Tears rolled down my cheeks as I confessed all to this total stranger. I had no way of even knowing that she wouldn’t force me to go back there and return the money, or worse yet, call the police on me.

“Honey, it’s all right. What you did is okay. You are out here selling books, and in this land you can charge whatever you want, and whatever big Jim is stupid enough to pay. Let the buyer beware.”

“But it’s more than I charged everybody else this summer.” I sobbed.

“So, just don’t do it again if you don’t feel right about it that’s all. Chalk this one up to experience. You’ve learned something about yourself; you are an honest, caring person.”

She was so kind and supportive. She was also right. I could live with it if I decided that I wouldn’t do it again. I made a silent vow that I would buy the family a Bible Dictionary out of the extra money I charged them, and just tell them that they won it as my one-hundredth sale. That made me feel a little better about it too. As I looked at Mrs. Jones across the table, I found myself feeling that trying to sell her a book would be too great an imposition after what she had done for me. She would have indicated by now if she was interested. I collected myself after a while of listening to her reassurance.

“I feel that there is no way of thanking you enough for being there when I was in need, Mrs. Jones.”

“That’s alright Honey. It was my pleasure.”

When I was ready, she showed me to the door. The sun was still high in the sky, even though it was past mid afternoon. The sun still warmed my shoulders, and made the black seat of my bike hot. I was alright to continue selling that day, and I no longer felt tortured by what I had done. How had this woman absolved me? I looked back up at her house, but the door was already shut. I finished covering that little subdivision that afternoon, although I did not make any more sales.

Betrayal Part 4

Finally it came time to go to Evan’s house. Even though I had been distracted by the events of the day, the day went by slowly and I thought more and more about my date as it came towards evening. I knocked off selling around seven-thirty. There was still light left in the day as I rode to Evan’s street. It was not a very developed area. There were lots of leafy green trees on either side of the dirt lane he lived on the end of. It was a shaded and bumpy dirt and I had to pay attention to avoid big holes as I rode it on my bike. At the end of the lane was a cul-de-sac with two houses and two more drives continuing on from it. I could hear the river flowing, and peered down one of the drives to see it. The Oconee was red with silt, but looked as though it would be a very pleasant lazy river to canoe on. Evan’s house was the one on the left, right off of the cul-de-sac. It was a small ‘A’ frame house surrounded by woods and painted brick red with white trim that had two stories. There was a detached one car garage, and I supposed his bike was in there because I couldn’t see it in the driveway. I wondered if he had roommates to help pay for the house. I hoped not though, because there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be alone with Evan. There was a routered wooden sign with his last name on it in front of the house. It said, The James’, as if a family lived there. Leastways, he must have been living here a while to have put up that sign. Tall oaks grew up all around, giving the property a rustic, yet still suburban look.

Evan came out the front door with his dog to welcome me. He still looked great in his tee shirt, shorts and bare feet. “Hi, Sue! Glad you could make it.” He gave me a little hug and proceeded to properly introduce to the dog. “This is Brandy. She is an Irish Water Spaniel. Sit Brandy. Shake.” I shook the dog’s paw and she whined a hello and tried to lick me. I had never seen anything like her. She was the color, body size and style of an Irish Setter, but had soft curly hair like a poodle. There was no hair on her pink belly. I gave her a pat on the top of her pillowy head and she licked my hand.

“I love your dog! I’ve never seen this breed before, but she really is a beautiful animal.”

“Yeah, the sad thing is that she has some hip dysplasia, so she has a little bit of a hard time getting around some days.”

We went into the house together. The interior of the house did not look like a student was living there. He had every kitchen utensil a house wife could dream of and the place seemed completely furnished with new looking stuff. None of it looked cheap, either. I kind of wondered about this, but then I noticed a wedding picture on a shelf in the hallway.

“Who’s this?” I asked.

Evan walked over to the picture and brought it to me. “That’s me with my first wife. We divorced two years ago. I was too young when I married and made a mistake. I married her because she was very nice and really pretty, and I thought it didn’t matter that she wasn’t very smart. But it did matter. Fortunately, we didn’t have any children.”

I looked at them in the picture. He was wearing black tuxedo and was removing the garter from her thigh. She looked like an American beauty queen in her lacy wedding gown. Her long golden, brown hair was swept back from her high forehead by the band of her wedding veil. Her white teeth shined from a perfectly lipstick shaped mouth. Her eyes were green, like mine. She seemed to have a short, yet Barbie doll like figure. They were the perfect couple. I handed him back the picture and he placed it back on the shelf. Now it made sense to me that the house was completely outfitted. The sign out front made sense now too.

Evan went to the refrigerator and pulled out a Styrofoam package with two thick T-bone steaks. We took them outside, where the grill was already lit. A brand new looking set of grilling implements hung from the front of the grill. Evan put the steaks on and we went back inside. We opened a couple of cokes and sat on the couch in the living room drinking them. I felt sparks flying between us, and we hadn’t even kissed yet. It was all in the way that we looked at each other, and how great he smelled. I wanted to be close to him and I had already decided that I wanted to sleep with him. “Would you like to see the rest of the house?” he said politely. He showed me the downstairs and then said, “All that is upstairs is the bedroom.”

“I’d love to see your bedroom.” I said without feeling that I was taking a chance. He understood what I meant immediately and we raced each other up the flight of stairs. I got there first and took flying leap onto the bed, he did a horizontal spin. Evan held me close.

Before he did anything he said, “You must promise me that if at any time I do something you don’t like, or don’t want to do, that you’ll let me know right away, and I’ll stop.” I was wowed by his maturity and concern and his saying this made me feel very secure, especially after what I had been through this summer.

That being said, we began unclothing each other. He was maybe 5 feet 8 inches tall, and his body was beautiful. His skin was tanned golden brown, slender but with well developed muscles underneath. His erection was quite short, but really wide, massively so, the widest I had ever seen. He said that his nickname in high school was stumpy. I asked if he had any condoms, and he replied that he did not use them, but only spermicidal foam, before and after. He quickly produced the proper equipment from a bedside drawer. We began with kissing, and then he moved over me into a sixty-nine position and began kissing me between my legs. I told him that I was not into this position. What I did not say is that I did not know how one is supposed to concentrate on giving pleasure when one is getting so much oneself. I have always had that problem. Without hesitation, he quickly changed back so that he was facing me. His mouth had the musky scent of me and I eagerly licked it off of his lips and tongue. After some more caressing, he tried to enter me and he was more than a really tight fit. I wasn’t sure that it was even going to work. It was kind of like being slammed by a velvet brick. It was a bit painful, but I was finding out that that was not all that bad. The pain just made me hotter and I moaned with anticipation. What pleasure there was in the trying! When he finally entered me I came immediately and he just kept on, bringing me at least twice more as he pounded his muscular body into mine. Good god he was a tight fit! I had never felt anything quite like it and cried out in pleasure each and every time I came. He came twice, all told. Evan was a sensitive and responsive lover. He was always making sure that I was getting pleasure from him.

About an hour later, the sun had set completely and we were nude and sweaty. He sat up and exclaimed, “Oh my God, the steaks!”

We raced downstairs naked and outside to the grill. Oh boy, were they done. Evan laughed as he pulled the little charred remains off the grill. “Don’t worry. I have some hamburgers in the fridge. Sorry about the steaks.” He noticed me standing there nude and came over to hold me again. It was remote and dark enough out there that we could not be seen. His body was warm and smooth against me.

Some time later, we had the hamburgers.

Betrayal Part 5

“How would you like to go for a swim in the Oconee?” Evan asked.

“I don’t have my suit with me.” I remarked without thinking.

“We can go skinny dipping here. I do it all the time; I never wear a suit at night.”

“Oh. Okay!" I had warmed up to the idea. A swim would be very nice.

“You do swim well, don’t you? There is a slow current, and the river is over my head in the middle.”

“Yes. I was captain of my synchronized swim team in high school. You look like you’ve done a lot of swimming.”

“Yeah. I was on my high school swim team and worked for several years as a life guard. I swim in the river all the time for exercise.” He grabbed some towels and we went out the door naked to go swimming.

I followed him closely on a narrow path between the trees and down to the river. Brandy followed us. She seemed ready for a swim too. The clearing around the river allowed enough moonlight for us to see the water pretty well. There was a shallow pool on the river’s edge that had no current. Brandy jumped right in and started to swim up river. She obviously knew the routine. I was glad she went in first because I could see where the river began to get deeper. Evan and I held hands as he led me into the water.

The river bottom was rocky firm but not too uneven. Evan followed the dog swimming upstream in the crawl stroke and I swam behind him more slowly in a synchronized crawl. The water was refreshing without being too cold and the current did not make it too tough to make progress upstream. We swam a few hundred yards or so up the river. At one point the dog swam back downstream as if to check on me. She swam right along side and brushed her coat on my shoulder under the water. Seeing that I was doing okay she swam ahead easily again.

Every now and then Evan lifted his head from swimming to check on me. One of these times, he treaded water to talk. He came up to me and said, “Okay if we swim back now? It’s much easier going down stream. We could even just float down river.” I agreed. I floated on my front, sculling just enough to keep my head up over the water, and Evan floated on his back. The lazy flow of the warm river swept all of us down it and back to Evan’s place. We got out of the water and I got cold even in the warm night air. Evan handed me a towel, and we ran back to the house to get warm together.

The evening had been idyllic. Looking at the clock in his bedroom brought me back to reality. It was eleven o’clock. “I guess I’d better go home now.” I said reluctantly. I really did not want to go back.

“You’re more than welcome to stay the night if you’d like.”

“How bad do you think it would be if I called my roommate Mary and told her I wasn’t coming home?”

“Well, it’s kind of late to be out on the road and traveling through those neighborhoods anyhow. Besides, if you stay here you will be half an hour closer to where you were selling today.”

He was right about that and it’s not like he could give me and my bicycle a ride home on his motorcycle. He handed me the phone and I dialed it. Mary answered.

“Hello Mary, it’s me. We were having such a good time and it got late so fast, I thought I would stay here for the night.” It struck me as weird to have to call for her approval, but I thought that it was important to stay on good terms.

“It’s probably best at this point. Are you sure you can’t come home?”

Obviously it had upset her a little that I had not come home. But her feelings were not enough to stop me from doing what I felt was best, and wanted to do most.

“Yeah I think its best that I stay here. Okay?”

“Yeah, so I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

“Absolutely.” I had promised. I wasn’t even thinking that far ahead to be honest. I hung up the phone.

“Is she upset that you’re staying here?” Evan asked.

“Yeah, it seems so. I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow when I see her.” Evan nodded and we turned out the light and slept.

I was in the middle of a deep sleep when I awoke suddenly to Evan’s voice. He was sitting up in bed screaming.

“Stay awake! Got to stay awake! Stop...”

“Evan, Evan.” I called soothingly. “Wake up, it was just a dream.”

He stopped talking and looked at me. I could see him come to consciousness as I watched.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry I woke you. What happened?”

“You were saying something about staying awake and stopping in your sleep.”

“I’m so sorry. I used to have a ‘76 Datsun pick up truck and last week I fell asleep at the wheel and had a wreck. I wrapped it around a telephone pole. It’s totaled, but luckily I was okay. That’s why I only have the bike now. That is, until my insurance comes through on the truck.”

“How terrible! I guess you’re having nightmares about it.”

“Guess so.”

We held each other for a while and drifted back to sleep.

The next morning I awoke at Evan’s to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Evan was already up. I pulled on my jeans and tee shirt and went down for coffee. When I got to the bottom of the stairs Evan met me and gave me a warm hug. We sat down at his kitchen table in front of our coffees.

“Do you want me to fix you some eggs before you go out?” asked Evan.

“No thanks. I can get something on my way out to my territory.” Getting food from Mrs. Jones while selling was especially easy at meal times, easier than selling books.

We went upstairs to shower together for the first time. Showers with Evan turned out to be a sensual delight. I soaped him up, playing with the soap on his chest and pubic hair. I soaped the thickness of his groin, while he soaped me. We began kissing again. He was too thick to have sex with in the shower easily, so I soaped him until he came. We cleaned off again and he produced two clean towels.

“When can I see you again?” said Evan while we dressed.

“Well, I’d better spend tonight smoothing over Mary so that she doesn’t feel that I’ve abandoned her. Sometime later in the week would be nice.”

“I just want you to assure me that this wasn’t a one night stand.”

“It wasn’t. I can’t wait until I can see you again, but the company can fire me if I don’t play by the rules that they define.”

“You’re kidding! I would think that what you do in your personal time is your business.”

“I agree. But that’s the way it is. We’ll get together again as soon as we can. Trust me I’m really looking forward to seeing you again. I’ve got your number.”

Betrayal Part 6

Evan looked a bit worried as I left that morning on my bicycle. I was elated. Finally I had a boyfriend that seemed really nice. Every minute that we were together was heavenly and exciting. As soon as I could get Mary to accept him, and meet him, she would see for herself that this was okay.

The day on the bookfield sped by. All I could think about was how I would explain my absence the night before to Mary. I was sure that she would understand.

I rolled home at about nine o’clock in the evening. I stashed my bike on the sun porch and carried my sales case inside. Mary was sitting on the top of the stairs crying. When she looked up and saw me she came down to the center hallway to meet me.

She seemed bursting to tell me something, but I felt that I had to speak my apology first, since I assumed that my staying over at Evan’s was what had upset her.

“Mary I’m really, really, sorry about last night.” I looked at her face to see if the apology had made any impact, but now she broke into sobs. I continued, thinking that she was just touched by my apology. “I stayed over because of bad planning, and if you want, it will never happen again. I plan to apologize to Chris too. I’m so sorry if what I did has upset you. Let me know what I can do to make it up to you.”

I felt good about apologizing. After all, Mary and I had been through a lot together. If I put myself in her shoes, maybe I would have felt abandoned if my roommate did not come home. But Mary seemed still more upset when my apology was finished. She staggered back a few steps and sat back down on the stairs.

“Sue, stop. I’ve got to tell you something. Please sit down.”

Now I was really concerned. Mary’s level of emotion was comparable to when she was hit by that car. I sat on my sales case opposite from her. “Okay, tell me what the problem is.” I went into my listening mode.

“It’s kind of a long story. I don’t know why, but it is really easy for me to sell books. I can sell for four or five hours a day and I’ve sold plenty. It’s just so easy. Too easy.” She continued to sob at his point.

“You mean that you’re sales so far have come from just half days? How can you sell so much? Do you get a good deposit?”

“Sue, I’ve been selling in the projects.”

This statement hit me like a ton of bricks. “Mary, how could you? It’s so dangerous!”

“I’m only there during the day, but, Sue, I can sell to almost every house if I like. That’s why my territory is lasting better than yours and I have enough to share with Chris. I’m making half of the calls that you do every day. You’re right about the deposits. I’m only collecting deposits at one in ten houses I sell to. I’m assuming that I won’t be able to deliver to some of the houses because they didn’t put a deposit down, but you’ve seen my sales at the meetings. I’m one of the best sales people this year.”

She was right about that. She was doing really well. “Mary, what has this got to do with last night?”

“Well, since I don’t need to sell all day, I come home to the Sanders’. I love them, they are so sweet and they’ve been really good to me. I have dinner here almost every night. Sometimes I come home and take a nap.”

A nap? My face could not hide what a bombshell this was. My mouth opened and my brows crinkled together in astonishment. How could straight as an arrow, clean living Mary be doing this?

“I lived every day fearing that you or Chris would come home early, find me here, and discover my secret. Neither of you ever have. I have lived with such guilt. I can’t believe that you never suspected.”

I never had. I had trusted that we were both out in the bookfield selling all day. She certainly had me fooled. The only tip off to all of this was that I remembered that she was always home before me.

“Mary, why are you telling me all this now?”

“It gets worse. I never intended for you to find out. I told the Sanders that when I was home in the afternoon, if anyone called, to say I was out. But, they forgot that today. I came home at two and decided to take a nap. The phone rang, and Mr. Sanders, without even asking who it was told them that I was there. I know he didn’t mean to, I can’t blame him. I figured it was too late to keep up appearances, and I took the call. It was Robbie.” She collapsed into fits of tears again.

I gasped. What rotten luck for Robbie to call while Mary was home. But, even though she had been dishonest with me, I was still on her side. “Did you tell him that you just came home because you weren’t feeling well?”

“I tried something like that, but he knew! He knew I was lying. He knows everything!” With this she looked directly at me and exploded into gasping sobs.

“He knew everything? You mean that you admitted what you had just told me?” I couldn’t believe the weakness in this.

Her words continued in breathless gasps. “He told me that if I didn’t tell him everything he would fire me on the spot! I had to tell him. I had to tell him everything! He knows things.”

She looked at me as if I was supposed to understand something more here, but I didn’t get it. “What do you mean he knows ‘things’?”

“I told him that you stayed out all last night.”

“You what??? Why in the hell did you do that?”

“I had to! He was coming down so hard on me. I was carrying so much guilt. I had to confess, and I was angry that you didn’t come home.”

My head was spinning. Mary had told Robbie. I was furious at her. I needed to know a bit more before I expressed this anger. “What did Robbie say?”

“He wants you to call him tomorrow at noon.”

A rage towards Mary boiled up in my throat. Traitor! She had ratted on me to deflect the heat she was taking from Robbie. I bit my lip hard to keep from letting loose at her.

“Sue, I’m really sorry. Do you think you can ever forgive me for what I did?”

I couldn’t bring myself to even answer her. I had to think this out. My number one priority was to stay for the rest of the summer. I had stuck it out for so long; it was only a couple of weeks left until delivery. I did not want to jeopardize my goal of staying so close to the end. Slowly, I swallowed my anger which was like hot bile in my throat. I could not speak for some minutes while I sought to control it. Mary looked imploringly at me with reddened and swollen eyes. I had left myself open to this by staying out all night. It didn’t make what she had done right, but it was stupid of me. In my heart of hearts I knew that I could control my anger now, but I held no hope of ever being able to forgive Mary for what she had done. I decided to just do what I had to do to stay and finish the summer.

“Again, I’m sorry that I stayed out all night, Mary, and it will never happen again.” With that I got up, picked up my case and ran up the stairs past Mary. I tried not to notice the look of dismay on her face as I went past. When I reached the top I could still hear her crying.

Chris was in the room trying to look busy at the kitchenette sink. I’m sure she had heard about everything that went on. I put on as calm a face as possible and walked over to her.

“Chris, I just wanted to apologize for staying out all night last night. It will never happen again.”

“Thanks, but that’s okay Sue. I didn’t have a problem with it. I think it’s great that you met a nice guy.”

I acknowledged her reply with a nod, put down my case and headed out for dinner. Mary was now in the living room being comforted by the Sanders. I did not stop and headed for the door.

My bike rode easily without the sales case on it. I rolled down deserted but well lit streets. I wasn’t really hungry anymore. Recent events played over and over in my head. I was really hurt that Mary had betrayed me. How could she? All this time, I thought that we were friends. She was willing to sacrifice our trust to relieve the weight of her guilt and minimize her punishment. I never, ever would have done that to her. She was a filthy rat. The dry breeze swept past my tear stained face.

I thought about calling Evan, but I didn’t think it right to unload my problems on someone I had just met. I didn’t want to frighten him away with my problems, or even worse, appear weak and vulnerable to him. Besides, I really wanted that relationship to be fun and an escape from the bookfield.

I pedaled the bike as hard as I could; building up terrific speed. The hot breeze kept my face dry. Each time my legs pushed the pedals down I imagined using my pain as steam powering an engine. Each burst of steam flushed pain powered the bike. There was so much steam. I could power the pedals for miles and miles at this rate. I felt like collapsing into a shrieking rage. I pedaled more forcefully. I headed for a hill and stood on the pedals, pushing with all of my might, and topping the hill in record time. I rolled to the bottom, and rode up the hill again and again. My thighs burned with exhaustion by the time I stopped. Exasperated and completely empty, I rode home.

All of the lights were out and every one was asleep. I was glad. I didn’t want to see anyone’s faces. The kind faces of the Sanders would melt me, and I wanted to retain a stony resolve. Mary’s face would anger me more. I snuck into the room where Mary and Chris were asleep and laid on my bed, still in my clothes. My legs were still throbbing from my exertion. I slept, and dreamt of betrayal so wicked that it could not be true of anyone. Thank goodness it was only a dream.

Betrayal Part 8

An hour later we lay covered in hot sweat. He turned his blue eyes towards me and looked right through me. Then a car drove up. My eyes opened widely wondering who it was. He inched up to look out the window. “It’s my Dad. You stay here. I have to go down, but I’ll be right back.”

And with that he left. He grabbed his shorts and headed down the stairs. I sank into the pillows. I could hear talking outside and once even peeked out the window to glimpse his dad.

Evan returned in a bit. “Have to suck up to the old man. He pays for most of this.” He gestured to the house.

“What did he say?”

“He asked if I wanted to get back to the piece of ass upstairs, but I told him I already had that.”

“Oh Evan, you charmer.”

We both laughed. He got serious again and said, “So why don’t you tell me what happened to you today?”

I just blurted it all out. “Mary got caught at home when she wasn’t supposed to be by a phone call from Robbie, our sales director, and to keep from getting fired she ratted on me about the night I spent away from home with you. I called Robbie today and he told me I was fucking around on the bookfield. I had to eat mightily big crow so as not to get fired.”

“When did this happen?”

“At noon.”

“I see. Well, you thought that night might have been a problem. I’m glad that you didn’t get fired but its hard for me to think that you have to put up with this much shit for your job. It just doesn’t seem right or worth it.”

“That’s why I came here to see you. I just had to have some time to get away from it all.”

“I’m glad you thought of me first!” He smiled and kissed my forehead. “Are you still very angry?”

“Yeah. I think I’ll be angry for some time.”

“Maybe this will help.” He got up from bed and went to a hallway closet. When he came back he was holding a rifle. “I like to target shoot when I’m mad. Come on. Give it a try. Do you know how to shoot?”

“No. I’ve never even touched a gun before. Where are we going to shoot? In the bedroom?” We still had no clothes on. I had learned over the summer that guns were common here. Almost everyone had one. It didn’t cause me too much concern that Evan had a target rifle in the house. He beckoned to me with one hand and held the rifle with the other. I went over to where he was standing. It was the first time I noticed that the bedroom had a second floor balcony on it. Evan opened one of the sliding glass doors.

“This is a 22 caliber rifle.” He took a box of ammunition out of a nearby drawer and loaded the bullets into the rifle. “It’s loaded now. Never ever point a gun at anyone unless you intend to kill them.” His voice was dead serious now. “Let me show you how to hold the rifle properly.” He placed the weapon in my hands and positioned it so that my left hand supported the barrel and my right hand held the trigger mount. He showed me how to sight down the barrel. He bent over and picked up the lid of what seemed to be a jelly jar from the floor of the balcony. He tossed it out onto the lawn as if he were trying to skim a stone. It landed about ten yards away from the house and its metallic top shone brightly in the sun.

“Now aim at the jar lid. When you think you have it sighted, hold your breath, and squeeze the trigger.”

The rifle felt light in my hands. I sighted down the barrel and could see the jar lid. I held my breath, but the rifle jerked, and so I didn’t shoot. Here I was, standing naked on the balcony aiming a rifle! I tried to concentrate again on the target. This time I took a deep breath, sighted the target as I exhaled slowly, and squeezed the trigger gently. The gun made a loud ‘pop’ noise and jerked back slightly. The lid skittered away a yard or so as the bullet struck it.

“You hit it!” Evan exclaimed. “Good job. How did that feel?”

“Pretty good. Let’s throw another out there.”

“No, no. You have to hit the same lid again. Each time you hit it, it gets harder. Just picture Robbie’s face on the lid and try it.”

I hit the lid three more times in succession before it skittered right out of sight. I had to admit that it felt good.

“You’re quite a shot, a natural.”

“Thanks. Yeah, must be I inherited it from my dad who was a marksman in World War II. That was fun!”

I handed Evan the rifle, and he made sure it was unloaded. He leaned it up against the wall of the bedroom. We spent the rest of the afternoon together. It was glorious. It was the first time off from the bookfield that I had taken all summer and the break made me feel rejuvenated. I treasured every moment that I spent with Evan.

At nine o'clock I returned home. I don't think I could have come home at all if it were not for the break.

Six Flags

One afternoon in bed, Evan said that he wanted to take me to Six Flags. I was stoked about it. But he asked me to stay in bed while he got up and moved around the room. He produced a small mechanical device, some pot and some cigarette papers.

“Ever tried pot?” he asked.

“No. Lots of people use it in school, but it was never offered to me. This would be my first time.”

“Cool.” He smiled, rolled a perfect joint using the mechanical cigarette roller, lit it, took a toke, and offered it to me. He said, “Pot smoke expands in your lungs, so don’t inhale too deeply.”

I inhaled, and he was right. I had to cough some out. I passed the joint back to him and he took another toke and passed it back to me. This time I was more careful. When we had smoked the whole thing, he asked me how I felt. I just felt really good. Happy; carefree.

He had borrowed a car from a friend so that we could drive there without being on his bike. It took about an hour and a half to get there.

First we went on the parachute ride where you are strapped into a seat alone and they raise you up really high, slowly and then drop you really fast as if you are sky diving. It was the most tremendous rush. More so I suppose because I was high to begin with.

Then we took a ride on the roller coaster. This one went up-side-down in one spot. Evan told me that the best way to experience it when high is to hold your hands up when you are up-side-down. He was right. It was another tremendous rush. I just don’t know any other way to describe it. I felt weightless for a moment. I never had so much fun on a roller coaster.

Then we stopped and lit up another joint in a spot where we were unlikely to get caught. After we finished it we took on the House of Fright.

It was really dark in there and scary things popped out of corners. He found a secluded corner and we made out. Like teenagers, we couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. We were stopped by someone who came out of nowhere and asked us to knock it off. I guess we weren’t the first ones to have that idea.

Next we went on a ride for children where we got into little boats shaped like swans or ducks that were tugged around an indoor water course. It was really dark in there. Some cute music or other played, while little figurines danced. We sat next to each other in the boat and kissed the whole time we were in there. We both got pretty excited.

The whole Six Flags experience was a high for both of us though I didn’t think they would use this story in their ads. It was a perfect introduction into the world of pot. We had to leave around nine to get me home in time. The ride home was sad for me. I just wanted to stay with Evan forever. But, I only had a couple more weeks to be there. Oh well, that was still a long way off from now.

After a while of driving, Evan turned to me and said, “Sue, I need to pull over to rest. I worry that I will fall asleep at the wheel again.”

I sure didn’t want to argue with him since he already had wrecked his truck, and I sure couldn’t drive. So we pulled over. He put his head in my lap and slept for maybe an hour before he began screaming in his sleep again. I woke him gently and he really freaked out when he saw he was waking in a vehicle. It took me some time to assure him that everything was okay. Then we drove on to my place. We kissed good bye and parted ways. I hated that we could not spend the night together after such a great day.

Delivery Week Part 2

Fortunately, that was the roughest delivery I had. We had been taught in sales school that we would have to enter the house, ripping the box of books open and dumping the books on the floor while saying, “Hey, Mrs. Jones, kids! Here are the books you ordered!” and making a big scene by unwrapping each book to intimidate them into paying the remainder of the tab. I hardly ever had to resort to this tactic. My sales were all very solid. Folks were happy to see me and the books they had bought. They had the cash ready and in hand to pay me. When I left, they were all smiles.

The end of the day was welcome after making deliveries. It was going really well; the woman with the shot gun was the only dissatisfied customer. Jeff turned down my street and as we approached the house he said in a somewhat incredulous tone, “Is that your boyfriend?”

I saw Evan on his motorcycle in the driveway, waiting for me. He really looked cool on that bike.

“Yup. That’s Evan.” I answered. “Why?”

“Did you know that he is the main pot dealer in the county? I mean, I sell to my high school, and he supplies me.”

“What? You’ve got to be joking. Evan?” I didn’t know what to think.

“Yeah, he’s the guy. You ought to be careful around him. I mean, not that he’s dangerous or anything. I guess I’m just surprised you’re hooked up with him.” With that last comment we pulled up to the house. I thanked Jeff and got out of the car. Jeff waved to Evan, and Evan seemed to make a connection as he waved back. Jeff drove off quickly.

“What are you doing with that guy?” Evan asked pointing in the direction Jeff left in.

“Oh, I hired Jeff to help deliver my books since I don’t have a car.” I answered as calmly as possible. I thought better of asking Evan if or how he knew Jeff, even though they had waved to each other. I wasn’t exactly sure whether or not to believe Jeff’s accusation about Evan, and I didn’t really have too much time to think about it. I certainly didn’t want to let it slip to Evan that I had any suspicions about him.

Evan said, “I dropped by to see if you wanted to go out tonight. A joint North of town is having a band; we could both go on my bike.”

“Sure, let me get a jacket and drop off my sales case.”

Moments later we rode off on Evan’s bike. When we got to the small bar it was packed with people. The air was smoky, which usually I detest, but I was thrilled to be there with Evan. Jeff’s accusations must have been at least overstated. Evan bought us some beers and we listened to the music. It was very loud, hard rocking, rock and roll. It was too crowded to dance, and no space had been cleared between the tables. Evan kept one hand on my waist and pulled me closely in front of him as we listened. He pressed my ass to his groin and we swayed to the music. I was really getting turned on as he breathed into my ear. I leaned my head back against his chest and closed my eyes. My god, I was falling for him.

Delivery Week Part 3

Suddenly, I felt an urgent desire to urinate. I turned to Evan and screamed over the music that I was going to the ladies room. He nodded and kept an eye on me as I headed for the back. I pushed my way through the crowd that seemed reluctant to move. I had to make body contact to force my way through. Finally I got to the ladies room, and I must have been lucky, because there was no line. I got right in and did my business, trying not to see how filthy the place was. I wiped myself with the tissue and noticed a blood stain on it. I was not having my period, so the blood was puzzling to me. Blood in my urine, I thought, why would that be? I began to feel alarmed because all I could think was that something that I didn’t understand was wrong with me. I pulled up my jeans and made my way quickly back to Evan. He looked very concerned as I told him quite frankly what the problem was. He took my hand and helped to lead me out of the bar.

When we were outside he said, “I think you might just have a bladder infection, but let me drive you to the hospital right now to get it taken care of. I’m sure it will be alright.”

I nodded thinking how secure it felt to have Evan there. He seemed to know what the problem was. I chose to believe him as we sped off to the emergency room.

It was around eleven o’clock by the time we go to the ER. I had never been to an ER before, but Evan was there and a great comfort. I don’t recall anyone else being in the waiting room, as it was late, and a week night. A nurse escorted me to a bathroom where I filled a cup with urine. There was no visible blood on the tissue this time, and, it’s just like me, I then worried that I had made a mistake and nothing was wrong.

Next the nurse took me to a separate examination room and asked me to wait. The room was completely white. White tiles on the walls, white linoleum flooring, and white ceiling. The cabinets were metal painted beige. I figured I was supposed to sit on the examining table, which was covered with a white paper sheet. There I sat. The room was cold and the fluorescent lights seemed extraordinarily bright glaring off of all the white surfaces. Time passed, and I had opportunity to worry anew. It wasn’t so much that I worried that I was deathly ill, but I worried about what painful procedure might be imposed on me.

After about a half an hour a male physician’s assistant came in. He was quite good looking.

“Hi, I’m Shawn. Could you please describe your symptoms?” he asked.

I did, and felt like maybe my story wasn’t good enough to merit being in the ER. But I had no doctor in Athens, and Evan suggested it, and seemed to know what was best.

He asked a few questions and then said, “I think we may need to do a pelvic exam.”

Suddenly, I felt suspicious because even my little bit of biology training led me to think that this exam was not needed. “Why?”

He looked flustered and quickly deferred from the pelvic. That sexist bastard just wanted to get into my pants. He told me that my urine sample was loaded with white blood cells and confirmed that I had a bladder infection. After some time he gave me the medications from the hospital pharmacy that I needed and described how I should take them. When I walked out to see Evan, he was a sight for sore eyes. It was comforting that he knew what was wrong. He took me home to the Sanders’. He kissed me sweetly good night.