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The Wages of a Divorcee's Sin

By: c1992w



Author's Foreword: This submission is a re-telling of my 'More Legacy of Number: 10 Part Series ' (Which was itself a continuation of my 'The Legacy of Number 7 and Number 1.' ) Note further that in the original, I only mentioned Jere as being divorced. In the follow up submitted, as requested by several readers, I give the details of his painful divorce.)

Privately someone liked the storyline but loathed the format. Another said it was my best yet except that I fucked it up by submitting it in 10 Parts and I agree and say, 'sorry.' I blame it on my editorial naiveté. So I rewrote the original in one lengthy story and corrected some of the egregious typos - but it has not been edited by a professional Editor. The usual warning applies in that readers who skim LW submissions in private looking for ... will find no excitement here. It's lengthy and lots of thinking goes on here. I appreciate your private feedback. 

The Wages of a Divorce's Sin 

part one

"I saw you on television last week, Daddy."

The voice was vaguely familiar to Jere Jenkins.

An ordinary Monday workday, the Mathematician sat in a rear corner of the upscale Back Bay food court at work for a client typing into a keyboard that was Bluetooth connected to an e-Tablet. Working here was a pleasure because the eye-candy, high fashion ladies - along with wannabes and pretenders and an occasional one of interest - paraded by him. This mall also offered relief from 'cabin fever' that he felt sometimes when stuck in his Condominium working for long periods of time. As a bonus the sound of shoppers talking drowned out obnoxious, currently popular music streaming from cheap, tinny sounding equipment. In a coffee shop he had found that the music was piercing - but not here. Moreover, when in the mood to talk to someone, he would simply strike up a conversation with a mall walker resting nearby. They almost always are very glad for Human company - albeit all they can talk about is what they saw on TV or Facebook.

The 44-year old consulting mathematician Jere Jenkins solves technical problems for Biotech firms on a fee basis to earn his living. He also was a recent Nobel Prize winner and appeared on a local Community Affairs TV program - Read: there were few viewers but fortunately his estranged daughter, who just spoke to him, caught the show.

He looked up at the sound of a voice never quite forgotten but had gone unheard for 8 years and recognized his now young adult daughter. He calculated her age in his mind and thought, "Hmm She is 22 but what on earth is her problem? She looks awful. And what is she doing back in Boston?" He then said to her, "Hello Kathy, I hope you are well." Trying to make their conversation light he continued, "Hey! You have a remarkably close resemblance to me now that I have seen you again after 8 years. So, I obviously was the sperm donor when you were conceived - no DNA test is required. Heh heh." But she maintained her tense look of having to force back tears rather than chuckle. Remembering 8 years ago when she was a Ninth grader, her hair was Punk purple, and she had hardware rings piercing her face. So today he said, "How pleased I am that your hair is now its normal black and the ring hardware is missing from your face. Have you had lunch?"

"No, and I didn't have breakfast either."

He gave her twenty dollars and asked, "Would you like to go get some food and lets visit?"

She smiled for the first time and left, returning with a full tray and sat down opposite him and began eating, as he turned off the e-Tablet.

He was suddenly very angry with her mother who destroyed the mind of their daughter, since Kathy now looked simply awful, and he thought, "Poor food quality, I would guess is responsible for her looking so horrid. Her clothes are rumpled and she appears to purposely dress to run off young suitors who might consider her 'pretty.' " But he felt no affection because he suddenly remembered what he had painfully forgotten about her since the last encounter. He recalled to himself, " I dutifully paid child support and college costs right up to her 22nd birth day. Her Mom had spirited her to California after our quickie divorce when our daughter was in the 5th grade. I flew from Boston out to visit her a few times, but the last time was when she was a high school freshman who 'hated school,' so she said. That was the time she had become a wannabe punk and, according to my daughter at the time, said 'I also have a ring in my pussy,' as she gave me the finger and told me, 'Go away.'"

The Laureate said, "So tell me about yourself and how did you happen to be watching a Community Affairs program on an obscure local channel in Boston that has almost zero viewers compared to the other channels?"

"I live with Mom in Quincy and she can not afford cable TV. Mom follows your career and told me you would be on the program, so I stayed home and watched that TV show with her. "

Shock must have shown on his face as he said, "Kathy, I wasn't aware that she was back in Boston either. And, how is she doing nowadays," still trying to keep the conversation light?

"She is sitting about 20 feet away hoping you will invite her over. You can see for yourself. May I motion her to come here?"

He thought, "No, I don't want to see that Bitch and I have a tight deadline on this project but it has been 8 years. "Yes, Kathy, you may, if you would like."

An almost unrecognizable woman approached the table after Kathy motioned. He was surprised that he had even forgotten how his ex-wife looked because of the passage of time. The makings of a beautiful woman were still there, however, she obviously was going through a rough spot right now. To put it bluntly, she would have worked wonders with outstretched arms standing in a cornfield guarding it against crows.

He spoke up as a long ago repressed sharp pang hit him that her Mom routinely lied with a straight face and said, "Kathy, I would like to chat for just a moment with your Mom - you don't need to excuse yourself because you are 21 - You O. K. with that?"

Kathy, surprised that her Dad would be that considerate, said, "Yes, I will be fine and just eat the lunch you treated me to. Since I can not eat all the food I bought, may I offer Mom some of it?"

"Of course," as I gestured with my hand.

I looked across at the ugly woman and said, "Greetings Megan. Want to sit down and tell me what's going on in your life?" He leaned forward and raised his voice slightly before she had a chance to respond, "But, you are warned: I remember that you have a history of indiscriminately lying. So, the ground rules for a conversation is that if you tell me one lie our conversation is over. Read my lips! No Lies. Having said that, you know about me as it all came out on the Community Affairs TV program, but I know nothing about your and, more importantly, our daughter's history. So would you like to tell me the highlights of the last 11 years?"

She smiled and blushed because she had forgotten his bluntness and that he didn't suffer fools but then she calmed her mind and said, "Hello to you, dear ex-husband. Thank you for talking to me. First my legal name is once again Jenkins, and I am lecturing at a couple of the smaller colleges in the Boston area. I rent a room from a former colleague from the old days. Kathy is temporarily living with me while she gets settled in her new Starbucks job and saves some money and meets some possible Roomies."

He asked, "How long have you two been back in Boston?"

She continued, "Only a month and a half, and things are tight for us right now, but they are better than they have been in that I am now lecturing 6 classes a week." She paused for a moment thinking if she really ought to tell the complete truth. She said truthfully, "Jere, you predicted when I left you for another man that my red hot romance wouldn't last a year. Well, my new husband insisted on an open marriage 14 months after I fell for him. I refused to do that and he left me. But shortly afterwards I found another who I really cared for while awaiting my second divorce to finalize. In time I married husband number three, and that lasted two years before he left and he didn't contest the divorce I filed. At that point I changed my name back to Jenkins because of Kathy and have given up that love and marriage is possible for me."

He said, "But Megan, that doesn't explain why you are back in Boston renting a room?"

She replied as tears were streaming now, "O.K. No lies! I allowed my night school adult student who I knew to be married to seduce me after my third divorce. The student's wife - a member of a Black Women's activist group - asked her organization to go after me and my position at the community college with a vengeance. They pressured the college board to dismiss me actually producing glossy photos that showed me and my lover having sex with his wedding ring prominently displayed - and the board promptly dismissed me unceremoniously. By the way, in my defense, I learned later that I had been set up for they perceived that I had grown 'soft' on the hottest fad in academia right now, Multiculturalism. Kathy and I returned to Boston right away - also, my parents still live nearby. I think I am the only PhD English Professor in Boston academia living like a pauper because all I can get in this crowded market are lectureships."

He said, "Megan, that is a stroke of bad luck for sure because adultery and fornication is the norm in academia and all other fields too, I guess. But your poor father worked two jobs so you could stay in graduate school and earn your PhD. Does he know you no longer have a career track job and are now lecturing?"

She replied, "No. He is old and ailing and I don't have the heart to tell him, but I plan to later." She shook her head and blew her nose and continued, "You know, Jere, everything you warned me that would happen to me when you plaintively ask me not to destroy our family has happened. I especially recall when you pleaded with me for us to start over. Every disastrous thing you predicted seems to have happened - I still grimace when I remember that my moving out was the only time I ever saw you cry. I distinctly remember your exact words were, 'There is no happy ending with my hot new lover or the exciting life I was going to pursue in California.' You even warned that my red hot romance would last at most a year and I thought you were nuts at the time."

"Megan, I didn't then and I don't now seek revenge, and I am sorry you have hit bottom at barely past 40 years old."

She replied, "I know, its not like you to ever have cared enough about me to seek revenge, but you observe your revenge in spades, anyway." Looking at their daughter she continued, "The collateral damage was that I destroyed the mind of our daughter in the process of mindlessly jumping on to the hot academic bandwagon movement at the time and the hot lover who was a stalwart spokesman of that movement. Words like this at a time like now sound trite, Jere, but truly I am sorry for not only nearly killing Kathy as well as gravely hurting you in the process."

He said, "Me? Yes, my pain was severe, but it was short lived. So will you tell me about your plans for the future?"

She said, "My first order of business is learning to live with myself again, having full knowledge of my treachery. But I started to be on the mend when I watched you on TV."

He said, "That is good news although I can not imagine what statements I made to which you refer. So tell me more details about your plans for the future, if you would."

She replied, "For starters, the one bit of good news is that I am free of the ten most common sexually transmitted diseases," as she opened her purse and held up a charity clinic test results. She continued, "And, for what it's worth, Jere, this is the first time in recent memory I have spoken ten sentences in a row without lying once - either directly or by omission. Once I complained because you were an unfeeling 'hard-ass.' How stupid I was and how glad I would be now if I could find another hard-ass of my own."

"Megan, thanks for deciding to tell the truth and please continue truthfulness whenever you speak or think. The fact is, however, that neither of you look well - you both radiate very poor mental and physical health. I would be interested in knowing the preliminary rehabilitation steps and future plans for your life, if you would like to share them today."

She replied, "The former colleague I bunk with is a disfigured old widow who lives alone in her home place. The home is one-half mile from the subway stop - my rent is prepaid for four months. I will probably grow old with her in that home. Also, Gym memberships are 10 dollars per month and it's walking distance from my rented rooms. I will start working out this week. I will continue to lecture full time - lots of students attend the required courses I teach - while quietly staying on the lookout for a tenure-track teaching position. For companionship I will do volunteer work with babies, and to look for love I intend to have some one-date Internet dates while I look for a 'you'll-do' type companion. Thanks also to watching you on TV I think I can now spot the players vs those who search for a meaningful relationship with a woman."

He replied, "Basically, I think your plan is sound. But the Internet is full of mixed-up people. You sure you now can differentiate the real from the fake - since you are well aware that the fake don't even know they are fake themselves?"

"Yes, because I learned from you! How did you put it, let me think: 'Be very frightened when a candidate lover 'just' feels right - or even a candidate employee job hunting, for that matter, if I ever get into management.' Going back eleven years, it's horribly funny that I had a real problem trying to figure out how you found out about my affair that had just gotten seriously underway - you took no pictures, used no detectives, amassed none of our joint assets for yourself and I was very careful to maintain the status quo with and around you. But, one day I was getting ready to go to my former campus and was served your divorce petition while you were giving a paper in a conference at Texas A&M. Then, last week when watching you on TV it sunk in just how important thinking is for matters of relationships - i.e., smoke-and-mirrors mean nothing for someone who has a presence of mind 24/7 and who never acts on feelings. That is my plan for the future also. Of course I am also aware that a 'you'll-do type' might read me as some hollowed out, used up Bitch crippled with iceberg moral conflicts and will say 'no' to a committed relationship with me. If so that means that I will have to settle for bed hoping for companionship — and that is the reason I said I probably will just be another old maid because I have done enough of the latter for one life time."

Jere suddenly was tired and disgusted even talking to his ex-wife but, like any Human, he wanted to reach out and help her. Standing up for the first time and shaking her hand, he said, "You know your English Language trade very, very well, Megan - when you were a tenured professor you worked wonders teaching Lit and Essay writing to students badly in need of remedial English. Be confident that you continue to have that skill and every year the new crop of students entering college need people with your skills even more desperately than the year before, and you can help them. Good luck to you, Megan, and thanks for introducing me to my daughter again. Would you mind excusing Kathy and me so I can catch up with her plans for the future?"

As she stood, Megan said, "Thanks for listening to me and for being nice about sharing Kathy's food."

"No promises, Megan, but you just might get a query about your internet dating site from a member named, 'Jere.'"

At that she was gone and he was left with his frustrating thoughts.

Jere had noticed that Kathy's tears that had continually flowed lightly during her Mom's and his conversation were now pronounced. He said, "It looks like your Mom ate your food so let's take a pee break. Then why don't you get me a cup of coffee with a cookie and you get whatever else you want, and then lets chat for a while," he said handing her another twenty dollars?

His daughter smiled for the first time, which brought a burning sensation in his eyes as he forced back tears. She said, "Thanks, Daddy,"

After they had settled back into their seats, Kathy told him a tale of woe that she had brought on herself - including her two abortions, drug rehab, being a herpes victim so that she intended to have no sex ever again because of her very pronounced and painful outbreaks, and that she had wasted the college expense money her Dad had paid. She said, "I graduated near the bottom of my class with a useless degree. Worse, that degree rendered me unemployed and unemployable in any related field." An hour and a half later she concluded, " I will start cultivating relationships so I can find a couple of roommates and move out on my own. You should know that I have learned a similar lesson to the one that Mom has learned from you and will start to 'plan my work and work my plan' as of today. Do you remember, Dad, that that was the last piece of advice you gave me as a 9th grader before I told you to, 'go away!' and gave you the 'finger?'"

Remembering the incident vividly, he stood up and was silently crying for the first time. A part of him wanted to embrace his estranged daughter so much, but he dared not send a signal she was in no position to read yet. So he asked in stead, "Kathy, would you like to have lunch with me here every Monday so you can tell me about your progress rebuilding your life, and, more importantly, we can get to know each other again?"

"Oh yes, Daddy. Thank you. Thank you," as she walked off.

When on his way back home he decided to stop off at his store-more rental and take home the box of photos gathering dust there.

At home the first thing he looked at was their wedding pictures. He was shocked at how beautiful his bride was, and even took a magnifying glass and examined her eyes carefully to see if there were any signs he had missed indicating she might go off the rails: but there were none. He still felt coldness when recalling their intimate moments during the first decade of their marriage, "You had to be thinking with your cock, Jenkins!"

Next he looked at Kathy's baby pictures. He suddenly felt very depressed remembering how enamored he had been of that infant. He just took over the care and feeding of her thinking - "I suspect I changed her diapers, bathed, and fed her 90 percent of the time." He thought at the time that his wife was busier than him, but it dawned on him today that she really wasn't busy and was only floundering: "But why did she insist that we have a child?" As he closed and resealed the box again he thought about his ex-wife and said, "Good riddance to you, Bitch!"

——

For the 7th weekly luncheon meeting of Kathy and her father, he had invited her to come to his condo where he would fix a lunch and show her his three bedrooms and office home. In the interval since the first luncheon they had met again each of the Monday meetings and they gradually morphed into excitement for both as they looked forward to the food court meetings. Her complexion and personality had improved remarkably and apparently she had bought some cosmetics so she looked more presentable. Their laughter was heard frequently now and the unspoken agreement was that neither would discuss her mother. He agreed to pick her up at the nearest subway station from his condo and deliver her back there after the lunch meeting.

He pulled up to the subway station drop off parking area and saw her waiting. She really started to look like her father now, he noted with pleasure, and smiled because a young man dressed in a suit was trying to start a conversation with her. For the first time it dawned on him that she was quite beautiful, as he was sure the would-be suitor noticed as well.


The Wages of a Divorcee's Sin



Jere got out of the car and went around to hug her and said, "Hello Dear Daughter, my you look nice today!"

"Hello to you, Daddy, thanks for the treat of you serving me lunch - and I just hope you are not serving coffee Heh heh." Both laughed at that corny joke since Kathy was a barista at Starbucks.

The young man had moved away from her as the car pulled to the curb in front of her, but just stood watching the two of them carefully.

Once driving away he asked, "Do men hit on you a whole lots?"

She replied, "Oh yes. It's both embarrassing and painful. My embarrassment comes from trying to adjust to the idea that men find me attractive; and it's painful because I cannot respond positively to those who impress me - like that young man, for example. I have gone out of my way to be 'ugly' the past ten years so I would not be attractive to anyone. I have had lots of unprotected sex starting in the 7th grade. After I was infected with the Type 2 Herpes virus in the 11th grade, I continued to have sex with the worst kind of boys and men. So now, reprogramming myself is difficult and frightening because I cannot follow through and develop a relationship with a nice man. What did Grandpa say about that, 'The Wages of Sin....'?"

He replied, "I read somewhere that there is no cure for Herpes, but that there are healing salves and to some extent, suppressants. Is that the current situation?"

"Well, sort of. I have joined a support group and their latest word is that protected sex with an infected - or a carrier - victim with no oral-vagina contact results in flare ups at about the same rate as, say, getting an occasional fever blister on one's lips for those who have the Type 1 virus. If I ever get close to a man it will necessarily be a very special kind."

He asked, "In what way must he be 'special?'"

She replied, "He probably will be a carrier of Type 2 himself and we both will need to sleep separately during times of flare-ups. That is difficult for a young man whose system is spewing testosterone like a fire hose. More importantly, he must have lots of relationship savvy and those kinds are few and far between."

After arriving home, he took her on a tour of the condo. She was especially impressed with a view from the master bedroom of the yachts tied up in the Marina below them. When they got to the smallest bedroom Jere pointed to the clothes hanging in the closet and volunteered, "My Lover is a University Professor of post-doctorate Mathematics who is right now a visiting professor in Heidelberg, Germany - and her last instruction to me was to donate these clothes of hers to Good Will. So, since she is about the same size as both you and your Mom, the two of you should feel free to take and wear anything she left behind that you choose."

"Oh thank you, Daddy. That will save me a lot of money if I can wear them - not to mention Mom, who has no money to spend on clothes."

He continued, "We bought this place JTWRS. So far she continues to make her half of the mortgage payments while I make my half plus I pay all the associated expenses. This will continue until she either returns or finds Number 8 - that is a private joke between us. She will return in another year or so unless she and some man fall hopelessly in love. Of course I am hoping she will return so during the interval I remain as celibate as the Pope is supposed to be. If she doesn't return life will go on and I will buy her share of the condo as I can afford it now because I like living here."

"Do you love her, Daddy?"

"No. She doesn't love me either but we fit each other like a comfortable pair of shoes and will cling to each other emotionally until either or both of us are swept off our feet by someone new."

In the living room they sat down and he dug out the wedding album of her Mom and her Dad. As they flipped the pages he said, "Speaking of 'spewing testosterone like a fire hose,' I was doing that when these wedding pictures were taken - ahh 'There was a time....,' but now its just a trickle." Both had a big laugh at the corny joke.

While eating the lunch Jere had earlier prepared, he asked, "How do you like living with your Mom, Kathy?"

She stopped and looked straight at him and said, "In a word, it's awful! We are crowded as there is not enough bathroom or closet space and when we watch TV we endure what the landlady likes - which is not what either of us like. In addition to that we get on each other's nerves big-time because I personally don't like Mom at all - and I am sure vice versa is true. Yet, she is my Mother and stood by me in my darkest hours - and there were lots of them - so we endure each other's company."

He asked, "Have you made any friends who might want to share an apartment with you?"

She said, "There is one lady friend and we are becoming close friends, but she lives with and cares for an aging and declining Mother herself. So no candidate roommates yet."

"Mind telling me how much you personally pay for rent and utilities?"

She told him the dollar amount and he said, "You do have a tight budget because coffee shops have to control their employee expenses. But you look better so you must have been eating some better food."

"Yes, and I work out as well."

After lunch he drove her back to the Subway stop. Before she got out of the car he said, "Think about something, Kathy. For the living expense you currently face each month, we might get along well enough for you to rent my small bedroom from me. If you did that, you would be faced with adjusting to my structured life style which is decidedly different from the one you described as your Mom's landlady."

"What kind of adjustment are you referring to, for example, Daddy?"

"For starters you would need to sign a one-year lease agreement that is legally binding - just in case you reverted to the Kathy you use to be. That way, I would have legal recourse to take action if needed. You would have to keep your room and bathroom clean and neat, make up your bed each morning, and adjust to standing in the cold and heat waiting for the bus that would take you to and from the subway stop. If you were to find Mister Wonderful, copulating in my Condo may or may not offend me and probably would - you certainly must agree to not revert to wanton sex while you lived in my home. You would need to adjust to a structured existence with low volumes on music and TV, etc."

She said, "I think making those changes would be a radical change in my whole life. My thinking tells me its the right thing to do, but sometimes I still get urges to 'party' without bounds when that personality surfaces. I will think about it because the last thing in the world I want to do is to hurt or disappoint you further."

After she opened the car door he said, "I will prepare the paperwork anyway. So if you decide to take up my offer why not pack your things and ask your Mom to accompany you next Monday to help carry them. I will treat the both of you to lunch. If you don't feel up to it, don't worry just show up yourself for lunch like today. You two can also try on some of El's abandoned clothes before I donate them if you wish. How is that?"

Just before she closed my car door she said smiling brightly, "I will see you next Monday, one way or the other. Thank you, Daddy."

———-

The following Monday at the subway station passenger zone he waited along with several other drivers who were picking up someone. Soon people were streaming out of the station as a train had obviously arrived. The last two passengers out of the station were his daughter Kathy and her Mom, Megan, both loaded with luggage. Jere popped the trunk and got out to open the two car doors, smiling at them as they rolled up the luggage. Her Mom sat in the back seat after the luggage had been stowed and Kathy sat in the front. He said to the two ladies, "I didn't have time to fix lunch so I suggest lets stop by Panera Bread and pick up some take out so we can enjoy lunch at home?"

Kathy replied, "That would be wonderful."

Stopped at a red light he looked over his shoulder and asked his ex-wife, "Greetings Megan. Are you settled in now and ready for the winter that will be on us in another month?"

She smiled brightly and said, "Before I answer that, thank you so much for including me in your invitation, Jere. Yes, I am as ready as I can be. As for how I am doing: a lot better than I thought I would be by now. The prospect of having more room with Kathy moving out is really a welcomed change, though I will miss her, of course."

Jere asked, "Are your courses going well?"

She replied, "One of the schools provide a grader, and at the other I do the task. But I do the teaching while sleepwalking because they are elementary courses I have taught for years."

Arriving home, just as he had unlocked the front door his office phone rang. He said to the both of them, "Will you unload the car while I catch that?"

The phone call was from a client and the conversation lasted 13 minutes but he made an appointment to visit the company the next day for details and rejoined the ladies. When he stepped out of his office and looked into the small bedroom both ladies were there looking at El's discarded clothes with the luggage neatly stacked up nearby. In the dining room sat the Panera sacks with the food and he noticed that Kathy had already signed both copies of the lease agreement and her Mom had witnessed them. After the two had come into the dining room he jokingly said, "Neither of you have learned how to write and haven't changed your hand-writing style over the years." This seemed to have broken the ice and all three of them relaxed and sat down to eat.

The conversation flowed freely, and in time Jere asked, "Megan, any luck with finding 'Mister You'll do?' candidates on the World Wide Web?"

She chuckled and said, "Of the two Internet dates I met for coffee, one, at least, didn't walk on his knuckles. You know, Jere, Internetters routinely lie, I think, and usually do so by painting a best case picture of themselves and omit essential information. This makes the first 'date' a pissed off event for both because the two are sitting across from each other and both are bewildered because this is not what either expected. All of our married life you harped on truthfulness and completeness, sorry to say, I then took offense as my preference was to be diplomatic and show my best side. You should know that the admonition you gave me about lying 8 weeks ago changed me a great deal. For one thing I changed my dating profile on the internet." She reached into her purse and brought out a sheet of paper and continued, "For example, here is my on line dating personal profile when I first signed on. I encourage you to bring up my profile now and compare the two to see just how radically you affected me. The URL is on the back if you decide to do it."

At that point, Kathy stood up and said, "While you guys are talking I will try on a couple of outfits your lover left for you to donate, Daddy," as she went into the small bedroom.

Megan said, "But in a related development, I have been spending four hours on Sunday morning on the Premature Baby floor at St. Josephs for the past two weeks now - and I look cute in my volunteer uniform, so I am told."

"You look very 'cute' to me today, Megan, but it might be because I am horny."

Megan looked at him pleasantly surprised and said, "I would have thought a local celebrity would be surrounded by ladies indirectly selling pussy still. No?"

He replied, "I have no complaints about the quantity offered, it's the quality."

She then asked, "What kind of relationship do you have with your Lover, if I may ask?"

"Right now, not any. She left to take a two year visiting professorship in Europe 10 months ago and she will be working for 14 more - I have hopes that I will be invited to spend Christmas holidays with her but the phone could ring at any time and she could announce she had found 'Number 8.' Let me explain. I became her 'sequential monogamous' seventh lover after her marriage destructed and she was my first committed lover since my and your divorce. For those reasons she called me 'Number 7' while to me she was 'Number 1.' We fit each other so well until we bought this condo JTWRS and really enjoyed our life here. But, this academic opportunity that puts her just about number 1 in her game on the planet was something we both didn't want her to turn down. So I was sad because I would miss her but glad for her opportunity. If you are wondering, we are not in love with each other - rather we are just fuck buddies who happen to fit personality wise."

She asked, "Jere, do you want more than that out of life, ever?"

"Yes, Megan, and you and I both thought we once had that when we were first married, didn't we? Being productive plus loving and being loved by someone whose view of the universe is mutually compatible is what life is all about. People like you trying to fix the planet, however, engage in a 'duck and cover' game as they search for a meaning to their unhappy life. The reality is that the tireless do-gooders only fuck up society even more, plus they slowly die from dry rot inside of themselves. Worse than that: the lot of the targeted 'less fortunate' is always made immeasurably worse. I didn't grasp this at the time we got married - or there never would have been a wedding - but now its clear to me."

She said, "You have just identified the other major change in my life. Had you told me this 11 years ago you would have only bored me. Today, it's right on, and every time you talk I feel the tension inside me letting go because now I am beginning to understand the world. It makes me shudder to think that an educated person like me could have been so disastrously wrong. Thank you."

At that point, Kathy came into the dining room with three garments over her arm and said to her Mom, "I can wear these. But, there is a suit in there that would look very cute on you. Its slightly large for me."

Megan said, "O. K. I will look at it."

He said to his daughter, "Well, Dear, anything unusual happening at Starbucks?"

"Well, I got a 25 cent raise on Friday and I bought some shoes that make prolonged standing easier on my legs and back. I find that evening work is preferable because I got to miss the soap opera programs the land lady likes on the one eyed monster in Mom's apartment. I promise you that the TV in my room here will never be heard by you - I will keep the door closed and the volume low when watching."

Megan walked back in modeling a suit that El wore and Jere stood up because she looked stunning. He had forgotten just how sexy her boobs were with which she filled out the top - this was different from El who wore a padded bra when dressed up. He said, "Wow. I had forgotten just how marvelous you look."

"Thank you, Doctor Jenkins. If you will take me to the subway station I will wear this and take the clothes I wore here on the hanger. I am going straight to the classroom after I get home, as I am interested to see if I get another compliment."

He said to Kathy, "Why don't you unpack while I chauffeur your Mom. We can plan a daily routine for both of us at that time, O.K.?"

"Fine. Thanks, Daddy."

After a silent trip he pulled the car up to the curb at the station and turned to look at his ex-wife. He said, "Megan, I....,"

Reacting to his delay collecting thoughts, she held his hand and asked, "Even though I am a damaged woman, my downfall had nothing to do with love and sex, but everything to do with a scatterbrained woman who was chasing the latest and hottest thing going in Humanities academia at the time. It had everything to do with my pursuit of that hollow ideal and was sold to me by a loser. I fully understand that now. Given that, would you afford us the opportunity to get to know each other again - the way you and Kathy have gotten to know each other?"

Jere did not answer her because he suddenly thought of something else and forgot her question.

When Jere returned home he and his daughter spent three hours discussing and writing down routines and the required chores and a time line each of them would function. His daughter quickly grasped the ground rules and went along with them quite willingly. He was feeling less trepidation about his decision to invite her to rent a room. As they sat down to dinner afterwards, He raised his wine glass and said, "A toast to our new father- daughter relationship. Kathy, thank you for undergoing your radical changes during the past two months and our success in living together is a very big risk for both of us. But, should we succeed the rewards will be wonderful if you stay the course. And just maybe, screwing your head on right just might have the effect of your winding up in the arms of that 'special' young man you referred to in our first meeting."

She replied, "I am once again almost a whole person and will not mind walking to the bus stop and continue to be among the best baristas employed by Starbucks while I question everything and trust no one more than my judgment. Thanks for making life possible the second time."

Alone in his office later he read Megan's personal dating profile sheet that she had pre-printed. It was rife with expressions like "A PhD English teacher, I like intense discussions and counter point repartee on philosophy, politics, religion, and romance." She had a phrase like, "

I seek an educated friend and companion who will work with me to build a relationship that is something more."

He pulled the URL up on his computer she had given him to access her profile currently and the first thing he noticed was the snapshot that really flattered her. For the first time he read her personal information with interest:

"Recently relocated here I am a PhD English Lecturer and intellectual in her early 40s. If you are well educated, possess good mental and physical health, capable of using your reasoned judgment to guide your choices, and too brave to lie either directly or by omission, I want to meet you. The woman shown in my profile picture is me and was taken this past July 4th. Diplomatic-types who just 'seem to be' will be wasting my time - and yours - so please don't respond."

He was pleasantly surprised by her profile. His thoughts were, "The Megan I remember always just gestured approximations when discussing something important, but look at this. Wow! Being fired from her make believe world just may turn out to be a banner event in her entire unhappy life. This is great Megan, and if I didn't know you already I would compose a letter that convinced you that I am your dream come true. The reality is though that I do know you and I wonder if the real Megan or the wannabe Megan is expressed on this dating site?"

Recalling her teaching schedule for her classes, He texted her, "Impressed w/ ur current profile. Would you like to have dinner and dancing w/ just me Marriott Saturday night? I pick you up say 7:00?"

Her reply came back in less than a minute, "Yes. I will be ready..." and she gave me a Quincy address which the GPS showed it to be near I-93.

——-

Saturday evening the traffic had been light going South and he recounted the events of the week. He was very happy that Kathy had jumped right into living up with her agreement and by Thursday their moments together were light and humorous. He had thought a lot about Eleanor Parkman and kept hoping for an invitation to visit her in Heidelberg over fast approaching Christmas Holidays, as he was starved for communication with her - not to mention her jumping his bones. He reasoned, "Since I videoed her last, surely she will contact me soon."

Jenkins pulled up in front of a very large house that had to have been constructed in the early 1900s. His first thought was that, "Surely there was plenty of room for three people in that monstrous house." Then he noticed that most of the structure was darkened and concluded it really was either too dilapidated and too expensive to maintain more than just three or four rooms. That would account for them being squashed together - his best guess was all occupants even shared a small working bathroom. He stood up and was about to walk up the broken sidewalk to the front door when Megan came bounding out from a side door, holding a stylish shoe bag. For one fleeting moment he felt sorry for her living in such primitive conditions, but then reasoned - "Ahh it's the wages of sin, I guess. She has been here nearly 4 months and I am sure her bleak unhappiness has taught her some very important lessons about life."




The Wages of a Divorcee's Sin



He held her hand as they walked in the darkness to the passenger side where he opened the door and saw her clearly for the first time. His first thought was, "I don't remember her ever looking this beautiful. Her blond hair flows around her shoulders and even covers one of the ballooned breasts - He still could visualize her very large boobs and nipples in his mind's eye. Oh No! An erection is starting.., I had better say something." They both smiled broadly at each other as she sat down in the low bucket seat of his car and he said, "Megan, I had forgotten just how pretty you are when you're all decked out. You are eye-candy for a horny man - which is vastly different from the first time I saw you in this era at the food court. "Thanks for being my date."

"Greetings to you, ex-husband, and thanks for your compliment and for asking me on a real date this Saturday night. It's been years since I have danced so you will need to be patient. To be quite truthful I am trying to win your heart with my beauty, although you will have already figured that out before I even thought about it."

Trying to divert the conversation from a discussion of something light to something heavy he asked, "Not any of the men in your life danced after you left Boston?"

She replied, "I did some modern dancing to rock music, but ballroom dancing? Sad to say, 'no.' In fact, I haven't done any ballroom dancing since you and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. I have done enough of the modern grunt and groan with jerky movements stuff to know that I don't like it. yuk!"

"I haven't done any either because El is not a trained dancer at all but she did learn some steps. The real problem is that both of us spent too many hours working. Before El, though, I regularly danced at about 3 studios after you and I split."

As we drove towards the Marriott Quincy we relaxed and chatted about how Kathy and I got along our first week together, her classes, one essay a student had written that was actually interesting to her, and finally she asked, "I would have expected that after your Prize was announced you all of a sudden became a celebrity and got invited to lots of parties and met lots of people, and had been seduced by some rich lady who had no idea what you are about, but would be cheered by her friends if she arrived on your arm?"

"Well, Megan, I did all of that and grew weary of it within two weeks - its almost funny that the only pleasing fallout from the celebration was that my consulting business picked up to the point that I don't have time to have a life anymore. But I have taken time to have a life with her since Kathy identified herself to me in the mall two months ago. We do things together. I am even contemplating paying for her some dance lessons if she would like to take them."

She said, "I feel comfortable that she will rebuild her life one way or the other into one worth living - your influence from day one was such my influence is slowly being erased from her mind, and rightly so. You two learning to like each other is a first order miracle in my mind - thank you so much for taking an interest in her."

"Changing the subject, Megan, what kind of queries are you getting with your new profile on the dating site?"

"Funny you should ask, just three in two months to me. I have written 8 candidates and have had zero responses. It appears that I must soften and fluff up my profile to get some responses. But, logically that would be counterproductive, wouldn't it? Why? Because I would only get some one date date opportunities but for what end? You people who use your brain have a decided advantage over others in that you don't waste your time with someone who can only talk about what they saw on TV - or, worse, the only thing that is important to them is what is important to everybody else. Spare 'the-new-Megan-under-construction' from that nonsense."

They pulled into the parking garage of the Marriott and he opened her door like a gentleman and said, "The food is good according to one write up and they have a piano-bass-drums trio for entertainment, and there is a postage stamp size dance floor so lets enjoy ourselves."

They had a marvelous time together and having a real dance partner once again was super for Jere. They even struck up a conversation with an older couple with whom they joined at their table. The surprising thing was lots of songs had rhythms that were just right for traditional smooth ballroom dancing. At midnight, the couple left and so Jere and Megan left because both had had a limit of alcohol and felt very good. After driving back at her house, they sat out front with the engine idling in the chill. He still hadn't hugged or kissed her although he continued to hold her hand.

He asked, "Megan, may I ask a question that has been in my mind all week?"

"Please do, Jere."

"If we were to have sex again, what do you think the chances are that you would even be able to feel me inside of you?"

She took a breath of air to remind herself once again of Jere's bluntness and finally responded, "Neither of us will ever know if we don't try, will we? Heh heh." With a grin on her face she continued, "But, I will tell you this again. I was infatuated with an idea - not a man. My sex partners were 'bam-bam thank you ma'am' intellectuals and pseudo ones at that whose largest drive was decidedly not their sex drive. You might want to make a note of this but people out to fix the planet never make good lovers, period. The men I copulated with as such either had to eat me into having an orgasm or left me with having to use my dildo when the date was over - which I still use by the way."

"What about the one who caused you to lose your position at the community college?"

"He was a Pakistani married to a Black Woman and I was set up. In fact the only reason he succeeded in seducing me was because he accused me of bias since he was an Islamic Mid-Easterner - as a fundamentalist Multi-Culture enthusiast I took up the challenge to fuck him. It is no secret that I have done some stupid things, dear ex-husband. If we are going to get to know each other again, though, then the ugly things like that are open for discussion just like the nice things. Besides all that, however, not one man had a huge cock that, as a porno story might read, 'ruined me for another man.' Reality doesn't work like that, Jere."

He responded, "You have given me something to think about. Logically, harping on the errant sexual thing solves nothing and I should only focus on the future stability of your mindset - given that you will never again get on the particular bandwagon of Multiculturalism, what about other ones that come along where your peers are jumping on them gah gah? Will you be swept up again?"

"Wow, Jere. Now you have given me something to think about. I know that you are unimpressed with what is popular - for example, I don't think you have ever voted for a politician who won an election when you bothered to vote, did you? But should I cut that 'life line to others' that tell me what I should think and what to like and what is good for me? Do I even want to? Hey! I will mull that over. When we were married, I always focused on something else when you talked like this - that way I wouldn't embarrass myself when I chose to ignore you every time you asked a very deep question to ponder. Now, I continue to feel my whole insides relaxing. Jere, If you should continue to socialize with me, I will have more thoughts on the subject as we go along. Thank you so much for a wonderful time tonight."

As Jere drove home he pondered out loud to no one, "Her mind is so screwed up until she has become a complete 'charge-off.' Sad that something like that happens to someone I loved once, but that is the way of the world."

In the following 3 weeks Megan was almost absent from Jere's mind as he was very busy on two projects, and was at his display board for long hours trying to solve a problem for a client that might really increase his income. Of course he felt sorry for Megan but he knew he couldn't fix her broken life, and that all he could do was wait to see if she did it herself. But that would take years and Jere had no such patience. In the mean time, just to get out of the house he had earlier signed up for a group dance lesson at a very large and popular nearby dance studio mostly for the social aspect of it. He was horny, had not heard from El - and had begun to suspect the worst - and there was a vanishingly small chance that he could meet a new tolerable 'fuck buddy' at the studio. At one point, he thought, "How about a paid escort? Business is good and I can afford it. Ugh. Hmmm. Maybe someone will present herself at the coming Mathematics conference. Fat chance!"

On Wednesday he and Kathy were having breakfast together at the kitchen bar, and he said, "I will be conferencing in Chicago tomorrow through Sunday afternoon, and the airport limo should drop me off so that I get home about the same time as you leave for work on Sunday. If you want to invite your mother over to spend a night or two while I am out, go right ahead. The couch makes into a single bed and you can find linen and blankets in the pantry if you two do that."

She said, "Oh Daddy, she comes by to see me at the shop and I always spend my break time with her when she does. I believe that is enough visiting."

She noticed that his frustration rose and he said, "Your mother loves you in spite of her checkered past. Whatever destructive things she did to you, they were not willful acts of evil!"

"I see your point, Daddy, and I will call her. But I have a question: Were the destructive things she did to you and your marriage 'willful acts of evil'?"

"Wow daughter! You have asked a question that will cause me to consider carefully. I will have more to say on that when I return. But, my airport Limo is due in two hours and I have lots to do before then."

——-

Jere Jenkins stood in the check-in line at the Chicago convention hotel. He was reviewing the applied math paper he was presenting the following day ignoring the people around him. Since he was not in academia any longer he didn't expect to encounter many peers from the old days who would still recognize him on sight, but there were a few friends and former students still around. His Proceedings schedule was heavily marked up to call attention to the Presentations of interest to him during the three-day conference (applied Math for bio-tech, nano technology).

Jere heard Eleanor Parkman's laughter before he saw her. Turing around he saw a group sitting in a circle of lobby lounge chairs in front of registration chatting and revisiting each other. The small group was speaking German loudly indicating they were from institutions in the German speaking world. Jere couldn't follow any of the conversation as everyone spoke too fast for his limited practice speaking German recently. He said to himself, "So now you know, Mister Jenkins, why communication from her is way over due." He breathed deeply entering a kind of meditation mode to calm his mind. This enabled him to plan his response to her being here since the two of them would have coordinated their meeting long before the actual date had she had been interested in joint activities."

That evening at the welcome cocktail party he found a number of friends who congratulated him on his Prize and they amiably chatted mostly about academia and tight budgets. People came out of the woodwork to congratulate him as word spread. But, there was no Eleanor.

Looking at his watch and thinking about going about 15 minutes before the planned ending of the cocktail hour, he was making his way to the exit when she walked in on the arm of a very tall but young looking man. He had very blue eyes and platinum blond hair and could have played a Gestapo officer in one of the WWII movies being filmed. Jere stopped in front of her and said, "Hello Number 1."

Once Jere entered graduate school as a young man the first order of business was to practice presenting a stone face. The theory was that emotions play no part when discussing their science but that habit bled over into other areas. By now the Bostonian had mastered that art to the point that it was second nature and no matter what, presenting the 'stone face' was automatic - albeit the mental images in his head was anything but calm. So as he walked up to her showing the automatic 'say-cheese' smile that was glowing. He noted that she had done the same, so the young man with her was oblivious to the fireworks going on inside their two heads.

Not surprised because she fully expected to meet him here, she said "Hello Number 7. Jere Jenkins Meet 'Number 8,'" and then stated the German's name and continued by saying, "He is a visiting Physics Professor from Max Planck, and, Horst, you read that Jenkins just won the Prize in Applied Math."

Horst just smiled and shook hands. Jere responded, "Eleanor, about the only change in my life is that I have re-established a good relationship with my estranged daughter. How are your twins?"

"Thanks for asking, Jere. One will graduate soon and plans to go to graduate school while the other is no longer in college and took a job."

Jere said, "By the way you have an interest in some property in Boston that I want to purchase. Will you look for an email that details my offer?"

"Yes, my email address hasn't changed and I will be looking for it. Expenses are very high and pay is meagre so unloading that will be a relief. Speaking of expenses, we will be spending the Christmas Holidays skiing in the Alps. It's been a while for me since I was on a pair of skis and that, too, will require ski lessons and be expensive."


The two men smiled at each other and Jere said, "Nice to run in to you Parkman - are you giving a paper here? I have only looked at the Proceedings Schedule of the Applied speakers."

"Yes, on Friday. I hope you will come. I will be attending yours tomorrow because Horst is very interested in your topic. By the way I know he would like for you to speak slowly because he hasn't got his solid footing in English yet."

Jenkins said nothing but smiled and continued out the door. In his room, Jere considered going to the bar for one drink but decided against it. So instead he used the time to knock the socks off the people who would attend his presentation tomorrow. He knew his field was hot right now so the room should be SRO since his recent Prize for a related topic was in the write up of his biography. That also meant that he would need to practice in front of the mirror tonight and ask and answer himself any question that the attendees might pose at the Q&A."

Room Service interrupted his rehearsal at 10 P.M. bringing food and after eating dinner it was right back to rehearsal. His head touched the pillow at 1:30 Chicago time.

The next morning feeling very good after sleeping well because of his high carb dinner, Jere made his way into the presentation room carrying his eTablet to the projector operator and setting it at the start point and performing a couple of test visuals. Looking around, his first shock was that it was a large room and the second was that all the chairs were taken and several people were standing and the noise level had risen appreciably as the attendees were awaiting his lecture and were still coming into the room.

Fifty minutes later his presentation ended to very noisy applause - usually every speaker gets some courtesy applause, but that given him really made him glad for all the effort he put into his rehearsal last night. The following Q&A also went without a hitch because he had worked out all the answers to questions he was likely to get in his room in lieu of sleeping and drinking last night. He never saw Eleanor and her new 'Number 8' in the room, although he didn't look for them either.

Since he missed breakfast his next goal was to make his way to the coffee shop, and he did so with people tagging along to ask more follow up and 'what if' questions. At one point a lovely and unusual voice asked a how-to question on an application he happened to have completed work already for one of his clients. He asked, "If your budget will allow my consulting with you, I have developed equations for a flexible nano- drive shaft where the prototype built is being studied. I certainly have some ideas that I would share," as they exchanged business cards he noticed that she was a nice looking Asian with jet black hair who radiated a simple grace. Not pretty, but her tight face muscles gave her an almost smiling and playful look. Jere noticed that her arms were muscular and he forced himself not to smile as a flirting gesture - he guessed she was heavy into aerobic exercising as well as strength training. He asked, "In fact if you will have a cup of coffee with me now while I have breakfast, I'll toss a few pointers where you might investigate on your own assuming you wind up with a fixed budget."

She replied, "Oh thank you! I would love to do that so that I can minimize dead time awaiting my next presentation I have marked for attendance at 12:00 P.M."

Jere was enjoying his breakfast steak and chatting shoptalk with the lady and it pleased him that she was actually making notes as he talked. After a while he asked, "Where are you from," pausing to look closely at her, and then look at her business card and finally said, "June Chin?"

"Hartford. I am a contractor with a Yale group and we are trying to get major funding by grinding out Grant Requests like clockwork. Your presentation this morning along with the notes I have taken while you ad libbed while eating are the outline of a draft of the next grant request I will write."

"Hmm Hey! June Chin. Here is hoping that when you pull that virtual handle again the hearts will line up on that slot machine for your work. But, aside from that Hartford is right down the road from Boston. May I call you June - please call me Jere?"

"Oh please do, Jere. I have no colleagues here and I really appreciate this opportunity to hang out an hour with you - it seems that everybody here is with a group, except me."

He smiled and said, "And me. Lets meet here at 3:00 after the 1:30 presentation. We may like each other well enough to form our own small group. You game?"

"Yes, Jere," she said while offering her hand for him to shake.

--------

In Boston Kathy awaited the arrival of her Mom, Megan, at the subway station. She came dressed warmly for the one plus mile walk to Jere's condo carrying a small overnight bag. After their greeting there was a hesitant hug of necks but afterwards her Mom clung to Kathy for a moment. She finally relaxed and hugged her visitor warmly. After the extended greeting and small talk they began walking.

Nothing was said until after several cars had slowed, showing an interest in two nice looking ladies walking towards Boston Bay, when Megan said, "Its obvious to me that the sight of you stirs the passions of some passers by - enjoy it because at my age only the dead batteries bother to look. I do believe the guy in the red SUV will turn around and come back to offer us a ride. If he does, should we take him up on it?"

Kathy replied, "I think not, as walking is more healthy and soon we will come upon the public beach and the sight of the ocean always relaxes me. Besides that, the overwhelming probability is that he has more problems than either of us that go along poorly with his erection. Heh heh."

Once inside Jere's condo Kathy explained about her visitor's accommodations and said, "Since we have both tonight and Saturday night together would you like to go out or sit and talk or what do you have in mind?"

Her Mom said, "Lets talk about your Dad tonight if you don't mind. Before I get into that, though are you taking a vacation day since your days off are Sunday and Monday?"




The Wages of a Divorcee's Sin



"No, I have traded shifts with a co-worker because I knew it would work better for your schedule."

Her Mom replied, "Jere took me out dining and dancing just once and we both had such a fun time three weeks ago. We laughed and danced but yet he hasn't called me since. Has he said anything to you that might indicate he has an interest in me? Or, heaven forbid, did I piss him off in some way?"

Kathy looked at her Mom closely and said, "I wasn't aware that he had taken you out and he never talks about you. But I am glad he asked you out dancing. I suspect one reason there was no follow up was that he was both busy with his clients and was also preparing for the conference he went to on Wednesday afternoon - again, he is presenting a paper there."

Megan said, "I guess It's naive of me to hope he will take an interest in me again. Does he talk about the joint owner of this condo very much?"

Kathy replied, "Yes, a lot. They are not in love - just fuck buddies - but he is horny and misses her and he hasn't heard from her in a while or he would say so. If they broke up, he wouldn't miss a beat - though he might lower his cull factor to attract the next bed partner. So cross your fingers as you might just get your chance, Mom, especially if you get your act together."

Megan asked, "Do you really think he might develop an interest in me again?"

"It could happen. The basic idea is that if it were important enough to Megan Jenkins, you could change yourself. It's what I am doing in my my own case, and see how it turned out, Mom? Daddy began to be interested in me during our second Monday lunch at the food court because I simply told the truth about what I planned to do and how I was going to go about doing it. You know, I believe now that my being another mixed up kid happened because I learned two opposing sets of living instructions from each of you. To try to get my life together you are becoming less and less important to me, while he is more important. Daddy says that after I fix myself I will no longer feel anger towards you for what you did to us in the past, but for the moment it lingers. So with the goal of repairing my life firmly in mind, I have focused on being direct and to the point and truthful after thinking things through, fully understanding that this new 'Kathy' will limit the number of people with whom to be friends."

"Kathy, I hear you saying that I, too, come across as mixed up and confused?"

"Mom, in a word 'yes.' It's self-evident. You would never have destroyed your family to chase after a hollow pseudo-intellectual dragging an innocent kid down with you if you weren't screwy. Can you not grasp that since then you have been bottom feeding for all your affairs? Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't you recently tell me that your whole body and mind aches for Daddy because he 'set your soul on fire all night' while you haven't even orgasmed with the others who came after Daddy."

Megan smiled because she was embarrassed and didn't want to strike back at her daughter. She changed the subject and said, "You might be right my dear daughter. Suddenly I want you and me to be important once again to each other, too - and it's the reason I jumped at the opportunity to spend this night with you. If you like me then he might come to like me, too."

Continuing her Mom said, "Well, be that as it may, tomorrow night I have a date with a new gentleman via the dating site. I have been corresponding with him for three weeks and we seem compatible - he is a long time divorced state worker. Erudite he is not, but finally at peace with himself he is. He said that his wife had an affair for five years before he found out. Contrasting him with Jere, my husband learned of my future second husband after we had gotten it on only two times and I still don't know how he found out."

"Mom, Can you not see that 'finding out' is not even important to him. Dad reads people quickly and accurately. Both you and I are just an 'open book' to him and if you are serious about getting to know him again get in the habit of refusing to do anything secretive. But before that can happen Megan Jenkins has to first find out who she is and then determine what she wants to do with the remainder of her life. In other words, change yourself so that you are focused and driven and consistent so that being an 'open book' is just one of your nice attributes - trust me, Daddy will notice - unless by that time his interest is totally focused elsewhere! And, for what its worth, other gentlemen will notice you as well. Otherwise, you are invisible to Daddy. But Mom, keep in mind that even should you make these positive changes, the probability of him being attracted to you are small-to-none, but such a change in you would provide that small chance."

The two women hugged each other and Megan said while forcing back tears, "You have given me much to think about, Kathy, but I suggest let's get on with our day. Since you are cooking dinner for us tonight, just what have you planned?"

In Chicago Jere Jenkins made it back to the coffee shop ten minutes late. His fear was that June Chin would give up and attend another presentation rather than wait for him. But, they spotted each other and her big smile broke out. He noticed that her teeth were straight and even, plus dazzling white. The Asian look was very pronounced in her face and her skin was as smooth as a baby's skin. Her jet-black hair indicated that streaks of grey were the norm and the henna dye covered it normally. At first glance she appeared to be youthful but after looking carefully he concluded she was about his age. Jere's guess was that her boobs were small. Her most impressive feature, however, was that she wore no make up or coloring at all, and wore no jewelry and was still a nice looking lady.

Jere slid into the counter chair and said, "Hello June and thank you for not giving up on me."

By this time she was all smiles and completely relaxed and said laughingly, "I felt confident that you would remember because you and I are two introverts alone in a sea of extroverts who seem to thrive in groups - we must create our own group, maybe?"

Jere Jenkins immediately felt good with a pleasant surprise since her bluntness rivaled his - which was legendary. He felt a desire to begin a repartee of the social norms of astute intellectuals attending the conference. He said, "The 'seem to be' and the 'real' partying side by side is the way of modern civilization and introverts like us must adjust. But, aside from that nonsense the reason I am late is that the professor reading the last paper I attended made it obvious that he had not worked in the real world and his arguments started out tightly reasoned but then fell apart on one erroneous conclusion - I pointed it out to him so now I have a new enemy."

She chuckled and replied, "The topic of the paper I attended was good but the lady's slow talk and accented language put we few attendees to sleep. Heh heh."

Jere said, "Its chilly especially when the wind blows off the water but if we wrap up well, a walk along the trail looking out on Lake Michigan for a few blocks would refresh us. That way we could get to know something about each other. You game?"

She replied, "Your idea is much better than the one I had in mind - which was to visit the hotel's gym. Beside that, it's only three blocks to Lake Shore Drive from the hotel. What you say lets get our warm clothes on and meet by the main door at 3:30. O.K.?"

The two scholars entered the tunnel to walk under the busy highway to the two-way bike trail that followed the shoreline. This late in the season only a few bikers and walkers were out in the chill. At this point both unconsciously reached for each other's gloved hand as they walked north.

Jere said, "June, I do not have a wife but have a 22 year old daughter with whom I am in the process of recreating a relationship - until a few weeks ago I had not even seen her since the 9th grade. She rents a room from me in a condo where I am half owner. Her mother is in Boston also but I do not intend to re-develop an intimate relationship with her."

June said, "I am so happy for you, Jere. Would you tell me the details of why the 11 year interval before the daughter came back into your life?"

Jere was at first hesitant about airing the painful details of his dirty laundry to a woman that he only met this morning so he said, "Everybody has a sad story to tell and I wouldn't want to bore you with the details."

She replied excitedly, "But I am interested because my son was out of my life for 20 years and it has been difficult. I am curious as to how you can have accomplished what you have carrying that kind of burden?"

They moved off the trail and he held her close to him, blocking the wind coming off Lake Michigan from hitting her and he said, "O.K., you asked for it."

At this point Jere related all of the events of his married life to Megan Jenkins, including Kathy as they started slowly walking south with the wind mostly at their back. He concluded by saying, "Frankly, Kathy's mother bores me and I will be sticking by Kathy to see if she can actually turn her life around. It's going on three months now and I have the faintest of hope that she can salvage herself."

June asked, "Did Kathy ever fall for the multiculturalism hype?"

"I am afraid, June, that she never understood what it was about, but her take was that the people who waltzed through her Mom's life were just 'certified nuts.' She works for a Starbucks coffee shop and will probably make a career of it because she likes it. I grow to love her more and more each day."

She replied, "I can understand that and thank you so much for sharing this story with me. I, like most Asians I know, tend to hold my cards close to my chest, but I will tell you about my case since you have done so for me."

June continued, "I have an ex-husband and one son born in Taiwan. My husband and I came here when our son was a year old. We left the child with his parents and my parents for joint care of the infant. After two years he went home because he just didn't like North America. He took custody of our son and I visited twice before I gave up trying to influence Sam at all. We divorced and my ex-husband remarried and my son grew up calling another woman, 'Mom.'"

Jere asked, "So what happened to your son when he grew up?"

"He called me one day and said, 'Hello Mom, Its your son. I want a sponsor to attend graduate school at Boston University - I have been accepted and my student visa residency requires I have a sponsor. Will you be my sponsor? Of course I broke out crying, 'yes.' So I met him at Logan and got him moved into an apartment he shared with three other Anglo students near the campus. He is now writing his thesis for his MBA four years later. I drive over to Boston about once a month. His total immersion in English has turned him into a native-speaker along with his working very hard to develop native English reading and writing skills."

Jere asked, "Does he plan to stay here or return after graduation?"

June said, "Well, his Dad - who paid all his educational expense - wants him to return there and work in the family Manufacturing concerns. They have plants in China they own and Sam says his Dad wants him to manage those plants."

"So what does your son say, June?"

"Well, he has a girlfriend with whom he shares an apartment and who owns an inherited cabin on a small island off the coast of Maine - I have been invited up once. Sam wants an entry-level management job in one of the technical manufacturing firms north of Boston so that commuting to Maine on weekends is relatively easy. But, that is between my son and his Dad's family and it will be interesting to see which force on him is stronger - family pressure or doing what he seems to want to do by clinging to the young lady from Maine."

Jere said, "That is a fascinating story, June. But my question is, 'what does his mother - you - hope he will do when the choice has to be made?'"

"I think his career comes first, Jere, and only he can choose whether to return or stay. I would be sorely disappointed with him if he bowed to the demands of his father when what he wants is here. But the same would apply if he really wanted to solve labor problems in China plants owned by his grandparents and he found himself chained to a Maine woman with whom he had grown weary. Its one of life's miracles but that everyone must make his own career and romantic choices."

Jere delighted in the feeling that he was enchanted with her company in that he had found a kindred soul with whom he related to closely. The norm was keeping one's emotional distance while trying to say something impressive - re: trying to impress by seeming to be using approximate language and implying something so that it didn't have to be actually said. But not for Jere, and hanging out with this lady was what he had needed for a long time because in her world, like his, all words convey something specific.

June felt like she had hit the jackpot meeting Jere Jenkins and now hanging with him. Her hero worship gave way to admiration for someone who seemed impervious to tragedy in his life and who had literally 'planned his work and worked his plan.' She had long ago given up on the prospect of even meeting someone interesting, much less meeting someone with whom she had felt instantly at ease. Though the thought of 'fate' stepping in to assist her' fled with her youth, she silently wondered, "Is it possible that fate has taken a hand or is it simply serendipity?"

During their seafood dinner at one of the better restaurants along Chicago's 'million dollar mile' the conversation turned to favorite novelists, philosophers, and music and both could feel themselves being drawn into each other's web. June said, "I won a couple of piano competitions in my high school years and when I am either frustrated or elated today I sit at my instrument and entertain myself because it has the effect of flooding my psyche with a soothing inner peace."

Jere said, "Is there or has their been a significant other or even a second husband to share your contemplative, and obviously worth-while life?"

"There was a famous mathematics professor with whom I took some undergraduate courses - forgive me but I don't want to say his name because you either know him or have studied under him - who seduced me as a 24 year old student. He was 52 at the time. We began a relationship that is still going on in one sense."

Jerry asked, "How still going on?"

He is in an assisted living facility near Hartford in the final stages of Alzheimer's - plus, he suffers from a host of other physical problems. I try to visit him every other week, although he no longer knows who I am - or who his children are for that matter. Everything I am this man made possible initially." She smiled widely and continued, "When we still lived together I would play Chopin for him and he would be transported to heaven. His two children are from two marriages in his youth. They consider me an intruder in their father's life even after 20 years. But the title to my condo passes to me after he passes away - although any remaining assets after his final expenses will pass to his children. We bought the condo JTWRS and paid it off in 9 years. Now I only pay the condo fees, taxes, and utilities." She looked at him and asked, "You said 'joint owner' so what kind of living arrangements do you and your daughter have?"

"Well, June, I had a lover who is presenting a paper at the conference, by the way, for several years off and on - not necessarily committed to each other, in case you are wondering." He then went into the details of how they happen to buy their condo jointly and her initial absence from Boston which led to their break up. He concluded with, "But she is open to selling me her share as she needs cash and lives in Europe. And the Prize created lots more business for me and I will make a cash offer which is about 10 percent under comparable units recently sold. My daughter pays me enough so that she doesn't cost me money for her to live there - e.g., she walks to the bus stop and takes the subway to work. So, things are going well for me and all I need is for someone to share my life."

She smiled mischievously and asked, "Should you and I race each other to the bedroom in our search for 'someone to share our lives?' That is the modern way, isn't it?"

Jere said, "Heaven's no! At 45 I no longer spurt testosterone like a fire hose inside me, so I can wait. Besides, I have had enough experience to know that there is the right time for that when both parties will automatically know - being horny is my usual state, so I don't seek out women unless I can look up to them, and they are in short supply as you might guess."

"Hear Hear! Doctor Jenkins, Lets drink to that! Having said that, my last question is, Will you meet me for breakfast in the morning at the hotel coffee shop?'"

Jere replied, "How about 7:30 at or near our usual seat?"

-------

Three floors above Jere Jenkins room later, Eleanor Parkman lay in her bed, having had too many glasses of wine this evening. Her new lover, Horst, was inebriated and sexually spent and now asleep as a lush sleeps. He was breathing heavily with his mouth open lying beside her and Eleanor had concluded he was decidedly unhandsome at this moment. She thought, "So my German friend is hung like a horse and for a fleeting moment I had a thrill. So what now? There must be some meaning to what we just did - but what? But now I feel like 'shisht' and damn sure need more from a man than to orgasm twice in one fuck session.

"And then there is Jere. Judging by the look of complete indifference on Jere Jenkins' face after meeting me here I now feel dead inside. Damn him! He was suppose to display a look of major pain on his face, and he had the temerity to ask me to sell him my condo share at a moment which should have been one of extreme pain. Maybe it's winning the Prize that shored him up. He may be just an 'applied' man but he is no dummy - and beside that I taught him how to solve the N-Space equations that made his whole damn paper yesterday possible. Damn! Damn! Damn! Of course he immediately grasped that I cavalierly destroyed what Jenkins and I had built together for the past 5 years, and is well aware that I feel like 'sheisse' and is laughing at me now. Or, worse, has forgotten I exist. Damn that Asian Bitch with all her nerve. She was actually writing down what he was saying while he ate his breakfast! He is probably thinking about her right this minute while I remind myself that I passed the big '50' age recently and I have no idea what life is all about."

"Damn it!" She picked up the phone and asked for Jere Jenkins room.

He picked up the phone and answered simply, "Jenkins."

"Its Ell, Jere, can we talk?"

"Eleanor, its past 11 and I am really not in the mood to do shop talk or any other kind of talk. I am going to a 9:00 presentation in the morning. How about tomorrow afternoon sometime?"

"Oh please, Jere, today is my 50th birthday and I feel old and awful and used up and have no idea how to restructure my life so that it has some kind of meaning. Can we talk for just a minute?"

"Eleanor, are you drinking?"

"Yes but I am not drunk, just terribly depressed when I have had too much wine. You know how I am."

Jere scratched his head and thought, "I really don't want to talk to this bitch and she only wants to relieve her conscience. Hell no!" He said to her, "Eleanor, go to sleep. I am going to hang up. Some other time we can talk about what is on your mind." Click. He left the phone off the hook and went to sleep.

----------

At 7:15 A.M. Jere walked into the hotel's nearly empty coffee shop and ordered coffee. He checked the market futures, precious metals, and any email of interest on his table while he waited for June.




The Wages of a Divorcee's Sin



She came in on time wearing an orange and black dress that went very well with her Asian color skin. The most amazing thing to both was that they struggled to keep from embracing each other, but the warm smiles would have told anyone watching at least two people were very happy. She said exuberantly, "Good morning, Doctor Jenkins. You look well rested."

"And the same to you, Doctor Chin. You have brought the sunshine into this cave called a coffee shop, and I thank you. I would like to say that I found a fascinating and stimulating program on one of the 50 TV channels on air, but that is not the case! So I continued re-reading a classic lying in bed. Tell me about your exciting evening?"

She replied, "I rewrote my notes I had taken in the presentations yesterday so that I could completely understand them and find the speaker for clarification if it was necessary."

Jere said, "Well, I got ready to turn on the TV but I may as well have. I got a plaintiff - Can we talk? - Unwelcome phone call from the owner of the other half of my condo, and wound up hanging up on her. I took the phone off the hook and then went straight to sleep."

"Good for you, Jere, because you aren't ruled by your passions."

"Goodness, no! Thank you for noticing."

Through out breakfast the conversation was light and mostly of one inquiring about the other's opinion on several public issues, a couple of which were in the news. Again, their compatibility shined through in momentary disagreement they had. In fact by the time they separated to attend their respective 9:00 presentations, the unspoken signal that both radiated was, "I can hardly wait until 4:30."

-----------

In Boston this clear and bright Thursday morning, Kathy asked her mother, Megan, "Are you up to walking to the subway station or just the two blocks to the bus stop?"

"Oh lets walk to the station because waiting for the bus is such a downer for me. Besides that I need the exercise but since you stand on your feet from 2 P.M. until 10 you don't need it, so lets walk to the bus stop and wait like blue collar workers wait."

"Mom, I am Blue Collar! I am glad to have this job and I am the best and fastest barista in our shop."

While they were awaiting the bus, Megan said, "Thank you so much for inviting me to spend the day and night with you, Kathy. We didn't do anything that people would call 'exciting' but getting to know you and how you think and watch you focus on your job was so rewarding for me."

"Mom, you just gave another example of how I have changed - what other people call 'exciting' no longer has a meaning for me. That is the kind of change in me that impresses Daddy and if you are still interested in attracting him, you might pay close attention."

Her Mom opened her mouth to respond when the air brakes of the arriving bus discharged air diverting their attention. Megan boarded as she smiled back at her daughter who was waving goodbye.

-------------

At 2:50 in Chicago Jere sat down in the presentation room for the 3:00 P.M. paper. There were two empty chairs to his right, and while he was checking the market prices and scanning his emails on his eTablet, Eleanor sat by him and Number 8 sat to her right. She barged right in to the email he was reading and said, "I suspected you would attend this Molecular Motor torque calculations session so we came. Horst is very interested in the topic and I am very interested in you. How are you, Number 7?"

"El, I want to enter some limit buy orders to execute on the open Monday. I am talking about my livelihood, Number 1, do you mind?" The tone in his voice conveyed anger and disinterest - knowing that El was not moved by anyone's anger but being disinterested in her per se was her kryptonite.

She whispered to Jere, "Dammit, I just want to talk to you. Why can you not just be civil about these things?"

Jere answered her by suddenly stuffing his eTablet into his shoulder pack as he stood. He found another seat where there were no vacant chairs either side of him.

The famed theoretician, Eleanor Parkman, found her eyes burning as she was forcing back tears watching Jere thread his way to his new seat. At times similar to this in the past, she would simply shrug off what had perturbed her and find one or more peers with whom to cuss and discuss mundane topics that meant nothing significant to anyone. But today she ached to talk about things bothering her and the only man in the room who could grasp what her problem was refused to chat with her. Her next thought was a raging desire for a drink, though she forced herself to sit through the presentation completely bored with the technical erudition employed for the speaker to make her point.

------

At 4:25 Jere bounded out of his seat disappointed that the presentation was too elementary and twice he had found himself wanting to volunteer the correct descriptive term the speaker could use. There were only two polite questions and then his day was, mercifully, over.

After making his way to the hotel coffee shop entrance he saw June Chin awaiting him at its entrance door. After their greeting, Jere said, "Well since I proposed what we could do for yesterday's fun it's your turn today. "

"O.K. Since this is my first time ever in Chicago I propose we go to their Museum of Natural History and then to the University's Planetarium - both are the best in the world and I will split the cab fares with you. At some point we will have dinner and we will split that cost as well. You game?"

Jere said, "How do you come up with activity suggestions that just happen to be what I have always wanted to do but just never had the time, the right companion, or a momentary mood for that moment?"

"You would really like to go and are not saying that to seduce me?"

He looked at her face seriously and up close and said, "June, please believe me that I will never say hollow things to momentarily please anyone - certainly not you."

"Hey Doctor Jenkins, I will shake on that and will make the same promise to you."

The two lovers spent two hours in the museum and one hour watching the astronomy show and about 9:30 it occurred to both that they were hungry. June asked, "Would you be in the mood to join me in my room for dinner - after we pick it up at the Cheesecake Factory across the street from our hotel?" In the taxi she felt herself being drawn to Jere by his powerful arms, but then turned her head away so he could not kiss her.

"But why not, June?"

"For lunch I had ethnic Chinese food which I brought with me that was loaded with garlic and curry. You are an Anglo-Saxon and my breath would scare you away. I want our first kiss to be something neither of us will ever forget - no matter what happens tomorrow."

"You are right, of course. Thank you."

Jere walked into the room behind June. The first thing he noticed was the hint of the fragrance of jasmine in the air. The second thing was that hand written papers containing Mandarin characters mixed with alpha ones were stacked neatly along the edge of the made up bed. He realized that she returned to her room and organized the notes she had taken from the presentations attended.

June excused herself and went into the toilet. When she returned she said, "You can kiss me lightly now but that is all because if we were to tear each other's clothes off and race to the bed my notes would get mixed up. Now you wouldn't want to do that to my notes would you?"

Tongue and cheek, he said, "Of course, we can not have that!"

He grabbed her and his erection popped up before he could get his tongue into her mouth. He was also pleasantly surprised that she did have boobs that did not feel like a padded bra, which he knew well as was the case for Number 7.

Noticing the unspoken question, she said, "My significant other after our first year together paid for me to have breast enhancements and other cosmetic surgeries on my body. So I have experienced the lustful looks over the years from those men and women for whom I did not feel any desire. There is no man in my life now but I have my hopes and one candidate is you. You see, Jere, I want to have a level of confidence that you are into June Chin so much, body and soul, until your or my perfidy is not even a thinkable thought - and this before we tear each other's clothes off. In my opinion you owe it to yourself to have the same thought about me."

Jere turned her loose and backed away to arms length and said, "But...."

June interrupted him by placing a finger on his lips and continued, "We both have traveled to strange places, met strangers and fell instantly in lust, and raced our partners to the bed. After a brief episode we both have wound up just like you did with the woman you partnered with to buy your condo. Don't you see we are now in our mid-40s and we both need someone for the long haul?"

Jere relaxed and chuckled. "Yes, I see that. You know I remember a high school health science teacher who told the class once, 'Your learning what is really important to a partner stops with the first sexual contact.' After listening to you I finally understand what he was talking about. And, I am inclined to think that you and I are the only ones who know it, June. Can that be?"

She laughed and said, "There are a very few who know it. And a diminishing number who understand it. In fact it's a good bet that the religionists who commanded celibacy except with ones life time partner probably knew this and tried to educate their followers eons ago. But in the intervening centuries the education fell through the cracks and all that remains are the commandments - which have the opposite effect of the originally intended consequences.

An hour later the two newly realized sweethearts kissed good night at her door as Jere prepared to make his way to his room, and noted, "See, your notes are still ordered."

Back in his room the message waiting light was blinking. At first he reached for the phone but then said to himself, "Wait, if my daughter or a customer called they would use my cell phone. Only Parkman would use my hotel phone - and only because she no longer remembers my cell number. So be it. He said out loud to nobody, "Goodnight, Ms Parkman."

---------

Saturday evening in the convention hotel lobby, Chicago, June Chin walked up to Jere and smiled big. He was standing with another couple. Jere introduced the woman, Dimple Walsh, to June and said, "Dimple is the wife of two or three of my favorite all time students from long ago when I was in academia. Meet Keith. He went on to bigger and better things and is now a department head at a college in the West Indies - I was his dissertation advisor. His wife, Dimple, works in a tourist organization in St. Kitt. And they live the good life on that island - for example, cold arctic wind never bothers them."

June was very gracious and the four radiated big smiles. She said, "I met Jere Thursday morning because I was overwhelmed with his paper and have spent all our time since then picking his brain."

Keith said, "I should be so lucky June. Dimple and I invited Jere to go with us to a supper club on the North Shore. The food is good and there is a large dance floor and once there was a super dance combo group and the view of the Marina and the lake below is spectacular. Would you and Jere like to double date with us on our last night in Chicago?"

Jere noticed that June looked at him and gestured by raising her shoulders. Jere assumed that her budget did not include an extravagant night out on the town and asked, "June, would you allow me to treat you to a last fling date in Chicago?"

"Jere, yes and thank you. I didn't bring dance shoes but my dress shoes will work if you will promise to be kind while I come up to speed dancing with you?"

Jere smiled broadly and said, "Dimple and Keith, what time should we meet here to catch a cab?"

After the logistics were worked out, the two couples parted. Jere walked June to her hotel room door and again she kissed him on the cheek and said, "Front door at 7:50 with our supper club clothes on, right?"

"Yes, I can hardly wait, June. See you then."

It was a magic evening for both Jere and June - and his former student and his wife. He was shocked that June was an accomplished dancer in the smooth dances and a couple of times the watchers clapped tellingly at the end of a number indicating applause for this couple's dancing. At one point the leader of the 5-piece group said, "Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. Before we take a short break, please say hello to a recent Nobel Prize in Math winner who is amongst us, Jeremiah Jenkins - some of us couldn't help but notice how magically he and his partner danced tonight. Please stand up and take a bow, Doctor Jenkins?"

The audience noted their presence by cheering him loudly. Soon they were chanting, 'speech! speech! speech!

Jere finally spoke and said, "On the dance floor the man leads and is suppose to make the woman in his arms look marvelous. Tonight, my partner broke the rules by making me look good! So say Hello to June Chin - a real dancer who has had many more hours of formal training than I have had."

When the noise died down Jere turned to Keith and said, "I will pay you back for this. You said you were going to request that they play an Argentine Tango when all you did was pass on the information about me."

The former student replied, "Well, you earned it and these people are proud that an American won and you two were just about the best dancers on the floor. So, since I have been drinking and having a marvelous time on our last night here I said to myself, why not? We are celebrating the end of a successful conference and I get to enjoy the evening with the man who made my career possible once upon a time! And that allowed me to meet the most wonderful woman in the world, Dimple."

Riding back in the cab, the four were silent. Several times Jere squeezed and kissed June's hand. At the hotel they said their goodbyes and thank you's to the other couple and Jere escorted June to her room. At the door she said, "You can not come in tonight as I must pack after I organize and file all my work. Would it be convenient for us to share a cab to Midway Airport about 9 tomorrow morning?"

Jere said, "Yes. I will see you 8:45 at the front door."

—————

PART TWO

Jere and June waited at her airline gate for the Hartford-Bradley boarding process to start. They kept looking at each other as if they had found a real treasure serendipitously, and said very little. At the command of the agent they kissed warmly and June joined the tail end of the boarding line.

Sitting at his own departure gate for the one-hour wait for his plane, Jere had his first thought about what had happened this weekend. The introspection began with, "Jere, ole-boy, are you sure you want to get involved in a long term relationship with a woman struck with hero-worship? After Eleanor ground you into mincemeat, here you are jumping right into another fire. You must be crazy! And, you can not forgive yourself by singing again, 'Blame It On My Youth.'" And then his second thought was, "Jere, you are lucky! Here is a woman ever bit your equal who struck you blind, and seems the same on her part. The getting to know ones prospective lover before fucking and not getting excited about someone already chewed up inside themselves with iceberg conflicts because of an ex-partner, is quite an unusual event in our sound bite age. Could she really be the jackpot you have been trying to win?"

And the third thought to enter Jere's mind was, "You are horny! Ole Boy, Eleanor invited you to enjoy sexual seconds - following the golden boy from Valhalla - and you could have relieved your tensions and cleaned out your pipes in her. Yuk! Yuk! So what do you propose to do about being horny while you and June get to know each other well enough? And how much is well enough? And then there is Megan who would welcome you with open legs - but in spite of what she said, my guess is that she wouldn't even feel a large diameter 8-inch pole inside of her. So, Jere, is continued celibacy for you in the near future at any rate?"

The airport Limo pulled up in front of Jere's condo at the same time his ex-wife and his daughter were locking the front door to leave - Kathy was going to work but Megan?

Jere spoke to both ladies, "Hey! We all three are ships passing in the night, aren't we?" He hugged his daughter and asked, "Have you and your Mom enjoyed hanging out in the condo in my absence?"

Kathy said, "Oh yes, Daddy. We mostly talked about both of our respective futures. And Mom did you a special favor, tell him Mom!"

Megan said, "Hello Jere and thanks for extending an invitation for me to sleep over in your absence - I slept on your couch Wednesday and Saturday nights. You are so nice. But, remember years ago, your very favorite dinner was my Mom's recipe for lasagna she brought from the old country?" Watching him smile and shake his head 'yes,' she continued, "I recreated the same dish and your oven will turn off in about 30 minutes because it's baking now. I hope you enjoy it."

Jere thought quickly for a moment, "Do I really want to talk to my ex-wife or should I just let her go on her way? O.K. Jenkins. Since some people think you are the worlds smartest applied mathematician, and since you know you are horny, it will be interesting to see if you manage to feel any desire for your ex-wife or will June Chin continue to dominate your thoughts if you find yourself alone with Megan." he asked, "Thanks for remembering, ex-wife, would you like to enjoy the lasagna with me? I will drop you off at the subway stop later unless you are pressed for time?"

Megan said to herself, "My first inclination is to accept with excitement because that is how I feel. But, the second thought is to refuse citing dozens of essays I must read and grade before tomorrow - which, to be fair to the students, is true. And staying would be a lie and I have sworn off lying." She thought, "If I felt like he really wanted my company I would stay and let the student papers ride which I have done previously a thousand times. But he really doesn't want me to spend time with him. He is just being nice and trying to give a broken woman some help through life." She said to Jere, "Wow, I would like to but grading papers is on my to do list this evening. Thank you for asking, though, and maybe you will do it again?"

After the farewells and the ladies had started walking to the bus stop Jere said to himself, "I must watch out for my tendency to do things for people - especially Megan - just to be 'nice.'"

After Jere had finished the long forgotten, but still very delicious lasagna that Megan had cooked for him, he went into his office and turned on his computer. He smiled when he saw that June had already written him a short note mostly to thank him for a wonderful conference and weekend. In her last paragraph she said, "Its impossible to relate how much I admire you for going the extra mile to prepare Keith Walsh to defend his doctoral dissertation. Most advisors would only do a pro forma job but he told me privately when you were dancing with Dimple that you made it your goal to see him succeed. She expanded by saying that Keith told her, 'I had lots of conflicts that held me back as an adult when learning to reason - perhaps because I grew up in the Ghetto on St. Kitts as a slave's grandson and that burdened me at first with lots of baggage. But I got to where proof-steps of my Statement came to me easily and Dr. Jenkins coached me on defending each step should it be necessary when I was in front of the Committee. That was the only way I got my PhD in a hard science - and there were no other considerations...'"

She concluded by saying, "Jere, its time for us. I am going to have dinner with my son and his girlfriend next Saturday night at their apartment in Boston. Could I invite myself to spend the night with you afterwards?"