The sound of enchanting sea was seductive; it never ceased; sometimes whispered; other times roared; yet again it moaned ; and then allured the two lovers to stray in its abyss!
Helen and Steve were spending their honeymoon in South Padre Island in Texas, a far away beach, with clean water, and God given beauty! They were married only five days ago on Christmas eve. That was the day Helen had chosen, since her Catholic training was so deeply rooted in her that even with what she had gone through in her young life, she never questioned her Lord. She wanted to get married on Lord's Birthday. Steve went along with it; even though he really preferred the New Years eve wedding!
For the last five days, all they had done, was walking on the sandy beaches of the island with bear foot. The water of the gulf was warm considering it was winter. They had bitter sweet intimacy!
Still Steve did not know anything about her past. The only thing she had told him about her life was that she did not have a good relationship with her parents; that she was originally from Chicago; that she had come to Texas to go to College and to get away from her parents. He did not know her source of income; but he knew that she had scholarship. He always wondered how she paid for her apartment, had a good car, and how she paid for her other expenses! She told him that she had worked since she was sixteen, that she had quit school then; that she had saved all her money. She always kept a small amount in the bank. He did not know anything about the small, black bag and the "Murder in the Highland Park" which had captured the news media for a while only five years ago. Now the bag was in a safety deposit box in her bank, so she did not have to carry it everywhere she went!
Why was their intimacy bitter sweet? She was afraid of future! She was afraid of Steve finding out about her past. She did not like Steve's point of view about women: "Women are created to give comfort to men!" When he would go to this story that she knew about it from the Genesis, Old Testament, "That God created all kinds of things for Adam and he was still lonely! First He created animals, plants, ... but Adam still felt forlorn. Then he took a rib from Adam's chest when he was asleep and created Eve, who looked like him, yet different , and then Adam was happy and found comfort!"
Helen hated each time he said this story. She was raised Catholic. Going to church on Sundays had been a custom in her home with her morbid parents and spoiled sister! She was baptized when she was seven months old, that was what her mother had told her, and had received her first communion at age seven. She knew all of these! She had gone to Sunday school for many years. But when Steve told her that women were men's comfort, she considered it a point of view of a male chauvinist!
Nevertheless, knowing all these, she still had married him. She did not know why, but it seemed like a right thing at the time. He was going to Vietnam, and she felt sorry for him. If he would be killed there, She would be a widow at a young age, have a military funereal for Steve. They all seemed so romantic!
The period of their dating and engagement was only four months. Nonetheless she got to know what kind of man he was on their first date. So intimacy was bitter sweet with a man, who was not Roger, or his customers, or her father! It was bitter sweet because she knew that marrying Steve was a mistake, and the only reason she went through it was because she felt sorry for him! She always enjoyed sex, yet even though Steve was a good lover, she hated their intimacy while enjoyed it at the same time. She, herself was confused by her double feeling!
To BE CONTINUED
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