It wasn't long after our "reunion" after 23 years of losing touch that I learned about Maribeth's fantasy journal. I believe that she was embarrassed to reveal its existence and it was only when I began to share some of my own that she finally revealed that fantasies were an important part of her life and the journal was where she hid them.
When she first chose to share this with me was just after we had returned from a memorable ten day stay in Mexico City. I had shared with her some of my erotic stories that I had begun to write on long business trips, particularly when they were out of country. In one, I wrote about an exclusive sex club in which females were required to be nude at all times and it had revealed a hidden desire that Maribeth thought was unconscious until my fantasy pulled it to the surface.
It seemed to be a key to a lock that opened a whole new chapter in our relationship. The open sharing of fantasy is a wonderful aphrodisiac and we both plunged in enthusiastically.
Maribeth's journal was a 5x7 inch red leather bound folio. The entries were all in her beautiful small script and when she first showed it to me I held it lovingly in my hands for a long moment looking at the gold embossed letters on the cover that simply said, "Journal."
We were sitting at one end of the living room couch in Maribeth's home surrounded by her cats who were being curiously protective. Maribeth, dressed only in the beautiful multicolored silk robe I had given her after a trip to Japan, snuggled close enough that when I opened her journal she could read along with me.
The title at the top of page one simply said, "Prologue." My eyes dropped to the first paragraph and I began to read aloud.
Prologue
So I have chosen to write. Having a memoir has a certain appeal, perhaps it is merely my vanity. Perhaps it is to have some evidence of my existence to leave behind as I have no children. Perhaps it is that I have reached the time in my life where I am looking at my future through my past, and a memoir is my method of re-finding myself. Affirming my identity, if only for myself.
I am not sure how one goes about writing a memoir; I am not given to reading such things. Is it appropriate to consider the present and reflect upon the future before moving to the past? Or should I begin, "Once upon a time...?"
I have no true idea, so I will simply work my way about it. Supposedly a memoir ought to be entirely written by the autobiographer, but I will include the correspondence I've had with my lovers. The letters that were written to me, and by me. There is prose that has been dedicated to me, poetry as well. Shall I include these things? Perhaps I might, perhaps not. My memoir does not have to be written by me entirely, it is my memoir. I am writing for my own gratification and I have been known to be capricious. I think I shall also include my fantasies. In moments alone I have played a few so often in my mind that I have come to regard them not as fantasy but rather as memory.
Yes, there's definitely a place for those.
The question is now, where should I begin? So many things crowd to the front, things that were life altering, or stand out in my memory as special. In my mind, of all my lovers, I miss Gary terribly. My most vivid memories and fantasies are about him. Perhaps I should begin at the beginning, where I lost my virginity and discovered that sex was a wonderful exploration of the senses. Such innocence in my almost juvenile paintings. I still find myself smiling fondly at the thoughts of my naive and delighted virginal love.
No, now that I think about it, the loss of my virginity was not the beginning of my sexuality. It was before I visited Gary in Virginia and he assisted me across the threshold into womanhood. No, it was earlier. In his apartment on Maplewood Avenue that I learned the beginning of sensuality and learned to crave it, to crave all things sensual rather than simply the base act of sex. My introduction to the full eroticness of my body would be the perfect place to begin my memoir. Perhaps debauchery of the flesh is too overwhelming for some, but for me it is the celebration of my life.
Chapter 1: The Beginning of Sensuality
I first met him at a Halloween party at his fraternity. A fellow whose first name was Hal, whose surname I have long since forgotten, asked me to be his date to the party, but he didn't own a car, so he asked Gary to pick me up and 'fetch' me, then shuttle us back to his place.
Besides me, there were two other females in the car, one's name was Vicki, a platinum blonde, but I forget the other, but both seemed to be looking for Gary's favor. On the way, the two girls were giggling something hysterically and whispering'...it'a cherry...a cherry...' I must have had a look on my face akin to SNL's Church Lady. Gary made an attempt to apologize for their behavior, but I was wondering if he was bringing both for himself.
I don't think I saw Hal for fifteen minutes the whole night. Gary did not lack for feminine companionship, but once he asked me for a dance. It was a slow ballad and he pulled me tight against him. I was feeling a warm glow that began in my chest and spread outward. I don't remember much about that first dance except when Gary whispered in my ear, "You're a terrible dancer." It was true, I felt I had two left feet, but he followed his comment with a depreciating laugh which seemed to assuage my embarrassment.
Much later, and to both my surprise and joy, we ended up in an upstairs bedroom making out on top of a bunch of coats that had been thrown in a bed. Gary kissed me like nothing I had ever felt before. Later we went back to Gary's apartment. Norb and his wench met us there and hormones raged for a couple of hours, kissing, touching and 'making out.'. No one, especially me, remembers Hal; he was a very very quiet nonverbal mousy person and I guess I was only 'technically' his date.
Gary and I dated for the next two months, with many dates ending up in his apartment on Maplewood. They were the most enjoyable days of my life. My body had just started to bud into womanhood and I was joyfully getting used to the growing weights on my chest and the creamy feel in my slit when Gary kissed me.
Unfortunately, for me, Gary graduated and was commissioned into the Army. Vietnam ruined our relationship, but I still fantasize about him.
This never actually happened, but I wish it had.
I had chosen to major in psychology because my aptitude for most other areas did not satisfy me. For example, my artistic abilities, while enough to wile away time, were never going to provide a living. I could not abide mediocrity in any arena, least of all my chosen field. Instead, I took my passion and channeled it into the academic side.
It was with this mindset that I began my relationship with Gary. So it is understandable that I often thought deeply about what was happening between us.
Once, I thought of us in his apartment. We had been discussing how men and women view the world differently and we had been discussing art, and specifically the Venus de Milo. I had opined that women might view themselves as Venus. The pinnacle of the female ideal, when Gary asked me a question.