It has been many years since I obtained what I thought at that time was my heartâs desire. I was a senior at the end of a five year course at a prestigious university. On our Spring Break, I made what I later discovered was a bad mistake, and went to Florida. Never mind where, but it was sunny and overly warm for someone used to the snows of northern Springs.
Many of the "breakers," some few of whom I knew, were the typical college girls of those days and wore little more than very tiny thongs, no tops, at least during the day in the sunshine. What they wore at night.....
One group from our university, three of the five of them, went to the same college as I, stayed pretty much together, and although I was certain they must be sorority sisters, they just acted that way. They remained, as I said, in a group, but they flirted outrageously with any boyâman, I guessâwho passed by, and obviously promised a lot more than they wouldâor could, I thoughtâperform. I suppose their group acted as chaperone and emboldener in one. I found myself smitten by one particular beauty, a slim, dark-haired gal from Buffalo, New York, whom I had once dated, back in freshman year.
After three days I was becoming frustrated and bored out of my mind, but luckily my good friend, a gay fellow from Germany named Reinhardt, dropped by. Reinhardt, despite his predeliction for guys, had never hit on me, and we remained pretty close for not having sex; he was in the College of Technology and Engineering, which I thought, being an Arts major, was guys doing things to steel and concrete.
"Actually, not entirely, Herman," he said when I had expressed this thought to him. Reinhardt liked my name, although he said I did not spell it properly (should have been "Herrmann," heâd tease)âGod help me, he was an admirer of Herrmann Goering, but as a WW I ace, not as the overly fat Reichsmarschall and possible queer, definite sybarite.
"I see you looking, Herman, and you have want in the eyes, no?"
"Well, perhaps youâre right, Reinhardt, olâ buddy, but thereâs no way Iâm going to break one of these gals loose from that bunch, is there?"
"Well, thatâs as may be, fr-riend." When he was particularly enigmatic, Reinhardt liked to roll his "r"s.
"What, you engineers have come up with something to pull a girl from her bunch of friendsâon Spring Break?"
"No-o, not exactly, Herman, but there just might be something I could help you with.."
When he got excited, which he obviously was now, Reinhardt fell back into a heavy Germanic accent, so he sounded so guttural that I had trouble understanding him for a second or two. I imitated his accent. "You tr-ruly dink you can, hah?"
"Donât you make fun uff me, Herrmann! I give you der Nazi saliute und ruin your chances foreffer mit pretty Jewish girls, hah!" he replied.
"Shit, donât do that, Reinhardt, Jewish girls are as nice as gentile, any day." I had in fact been living for about eighteen months with a blonde who turned out to be honestly blonde and Jewish, too. She always amazed me with her personal bias against Hispanics! Thatâs why we broke up finally. Despite my name, I came from the Southwest and my mother was Mexican. And thatâs why Iâd come to Spring Break in the nameless Florida town.
"Well, Iâm sorry, Reinhardt, but what is this that you think you can do for me?"
"O K. We still develop this, you see, for. . .better I not tell you who. . .and we can use field test. Had no idea who to ask, but will you help us by testing?"
"Sure, Iâll do a lot for you, buddy."
"Would you...?"
"You know me betterân that, Reinhardt!"
"Yah, just the testing, then."
"All right, I trust you not to say one word of this to anyone, even girlfriend, understood?"
"Yes, I swear." "Very well. You meet me in half hour at my room, 431 in P........ Inn. O K?"
"Sure, Iâll be there." I spent the half hour, or part of it, admiring my belovedâs curves and the way she tossed her head. She was, of course, quite unaware of my interest, I thought.
"Well, here I am, Reinhardt. Oops, sorry, did I interrupt some...?"
Another guy was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, but he was clothed. He got a really hard look in his eye. So I was sorry I had said anything.
"No, youâre not interrupting a tryst, you think, eh? This is Martin, he and I work together on this projectâsenior honors, you know, eh?" I was enduring a mostly "fixed" competition in blank verse withinout college for the same end, and I groaned sympathetically.
"Nein, we make out good. Martin has refined to point of excellence, all we need is final test and we can produce. Eh, Martin?"
Martin was sour-faced, but he allowed a fleeting grin to cross his mouth. I noticed that his eyes did not light up as well.
"Yes, Reinhardt. This is our subject?"
"No, this is our object. . ive. . .the tester, Martin."
"Certainly, Can he be trusted?"
I was resenting Martinâs high-handed manner, and I broke into their discission.
"Martin, youâre the guy who set off those fireworks by remote, two years ago, right?"
"How. . .how the hell do you know that?" he asked, taken aback.
"Well, Iâve known it for some time, but. . .you see. . .Iâve never told anyone else about it. I liked the way you set that up, as I understood it, the way it was explained to me."
"Who. . .do you know that could explain that?"
"Well, since I havenât told anyone about your doing that, Iâm not going to tell you who told me. I know heâs never told anyone about it, either!"