Ben was dozing and that was for the best. As I pulled the bed sheet up to cover his naked body, I felt powerless to stop the flood of emotion that engulfed me when I recalled the events of the past few years and I wept as the memories streamed thru my conscious mind.
The Philadelphia Story: Final Chapter
ONE:
After graduation, I remained in the Philadelphia area seeking employment. Chock full with two and four year colleges, I stood a much better chance of finding a teaching job than in Florida.
After my interviews at various campus locations, I spent time exploring the tremendous diversity of activities that existed within a few hours drive of the city. Melissa and I went clubbing on Delaware Avenue and spent New Years Eve in Atlantic City playing the slot machines.
With New York City close by, I attended my first Broadway show, "The Lion King" and did all the touristy sightseeing one associates with Manhattan. On a cold February day, I made the pilgrimage to Washington DC and was awed by the stark beauty of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. Then was moved to tears by the tragic waste of so many lives whose names are enshrined on the wall.
Several months passed and not one offer from any of the positions that I applied for. I was just about to give up hope when one dreary Thursday afternoon with grocery bags in both arms, I was walking up the front steps to my apartment building and the doorman handed me an express mail envelope.
"Came about an hour ago." He stated.
Per Melissa's instructions to me, the out of town neophyte, I tipped the doorman.
"Always tip the doorman." She would say like a mantra.
Inside the privacy of my apartment, I tore open the envelope and read the enclosed letter.
"Dear Ms. Lowry,
The College of Liberal Arts is pleased to offer you the position of Instructor in the English Department..."
I gaped at the letter in wide eyed disbelief. My first job in the academic world and only a thirty minute commute from my apartment. The following week I met with the Dean and he outlined the course details and requirements.
"If you're available, I have a Freshman English class in summer session that you can teach." He stated and I accepted immediately.
With a two week deadline to prepare lesson plans and course materials, I worked feverishly and finished the day before the scheduled start of classes.
On my first day, the Dean introduced me to the faculty in my department. I taught both summer sessions and formed several social friendships with my colleagues. We went to a local tavern called the Rusty Whistle for happy hour every Friday afternoon. I wanted to continue the tradition that I started with Melissa in graduate school.
When the faculty was at full strength the size of our happy hour socials doubled. During our first social of the fall semester, I saw many new faces but one caught my eye. She was sitting at the far end of the table with a colleague I met last summer. Jerry waved his hand in a "come here" gesture and introduced the very pretty woman sitting next to him as Nadia.
"Nice to meet you." I said cordially.
I sat next to Nadia and discovered that she was from Russia and moved to the United States with her parents when she was in her early teens. This was her third year teaching Biological Sciences at the college.
Nadia's voice had the barest hint of an accent when she spoke and I told her so.
"I studied English in school before I came to the United States." She said with pride in her voice.
As Nadia's piercing blue eyes held my gaze, her cheerful but reserved manner gave her an air of gentility. With her peaches and cream complexion and blonde hair pulled back and twisted in a French braid, she made my pussy twitch.
The happy hour social was breaking up and Nadia invited me to dinner at the seafood restaurant next door. After we ordered, we talked as though we were old friends instead of new acquaintances. I listened with rapt attention as she recalled growing up in Russia.
"Everyday I had gymnastics training." She said with bitterness. Then lamented,
"I wanted to be a Ballerina and dance with the Bolshoi."
However, Nadia's parents wanted her to be a gymnast and compete in the Olympics. She remembered in detail the small apartment with the shared bathroom, the scarcity of food and waiting in long lines for something as mundane as toilet paper.
Nadia's parents were chemists but because they were suspected dissidents they rated far less than other people of similar stature. Even with the fall of communism and greater freedoms, they desired a better life and moved to the United States.
By the end of the meal, I felt like we were bosom buddies.
During the week, our paths crossed several times on campus and we both commented on the unseasonably warm weather. At happy hour on Friday, Nadia invited me to her parent's home on Saturday for a swim in their pool.
"My mother and father keep the pool open until the end of September." She chirped in a happy voice.
At first I thought it was odd that Nadia, who I guessed to be about twenty seven or twenty eight years of age, was still living at home. But, when I saw her home, I whistled thru my teeth. The large colonial style house occupied an oversized wooded lot in an upscale neighborhood of suburban Philadelphia.
Nadia gave me a tour of the house and I met her folks. I found them to be charming but with a sophisticated air and they possessed a command of the English language that rivaled their daughter's.
We quickly adjourned to change into our swim suits and Nadia went into her bathroom. As I was primping my hair in her bedroom mirror, I heard the bathroom door open.
"Cindy, could you help me with something?" she asked in a pleading way.
Nadia was having problems tying the strings of her bikini top and I remedied the situation. When she turned around, she took my breath away.
"Does it look Ok?" she questioned with concern and I nodded my head in agreement.
Nadia explained that she found it at a small boutique in Manayunk. When she came out of the dressing room she felt "over exposed" in the bikini.
"It's only four triangles of cloth and some strings I argued. But, the salesgirl insisted it was a good fit." She said with some pride.
Good fit? The damn thing fit her perfectly.
"The only problem I have is tying the strings. I'm all thumbs." She remarked with humor.
Nadia's body had a beautifully proportioned look. The curves and lines flowed together in a symmetry that one rarely sees in the human form. It was the type of body one acquired from nature, heredity or God and while it could be honed by workouts was unattainable simply by working out. Although Nadia was of medium height at 5' 5", she had a light footed, airy way of walking that made her look taller.
As we sunbathed by the pool, Nadia and I discussed a variety of subjects. While I was initially drawn to Nadia's beauty, I was intrigued by her intelligence and dynamic personality. She was conversant on a wide range of topics and we had a few heated but scholarly arguments.
TWO:
With the passage of time, our relationship grew from a social one to a close personal friendship. When Nadia's mother discovered that I lived alone, I was invited to dinner on many occasions. Although I was unfamiliar with Russian cuisine, her mother skillfully cooked meals with a palate that combined a variety of ethnic ingredients from different cultures.
Nadia taught me how to play chess and "whooped my ass" until her father gave me some helpful strategy instructions. We went shopping, saw movies, toured the museums and attended concerts. In December, she took me to see a Pennsylvania Ballet performance of "The Nutcracker" and I was moved to tears by the majesty of the production.
But, Nadia had a wild side and we frequented clubs where she would dance until closing. Although she had many male and female admirers, she declined all requests for her cell phone number and dates. The same admirers bought her drinks and she never refused a free drink. I found it amusing that the prim and proper Biology Instructor was equally at ease in a museum environment and in a nightclub shaking her booty.
During the Christmas school break, I was having dinner with Nadia and her parents, when freezing rain coated everything and turned the roads into a skating rink. Her folks insisted that I spend the night and Nadia produced a bottle of vodka from the freezer. We sat at the kitchen table and drank shots with the consistency of syrup. The cold liquid turned fiery as it progressed down the throat and warmed the insides of the body.
By now my infatuation had developed into genuine romantic feelings. Nadia was everything one could hope to find in a woman or a man with a generous nature, kindhearted, sexy, beautiful, intelligent and loving.
After a few shots were consumed, Nadia took me, the bottle and the shot glasses to the hot tub in the basement. As she took the cover off the hot tub, I realized I had no swimsuit and when I pointed this out to her, she just laughed.