Sherry hooked her arm around my arm as we walked to the truck. She looked so different in her flowery sun dress with her long hair neatly brushed. The dress was short and low cut, revealing a little cleavage. I was slightly taller and being with her felt so natural. Though we had only known each other for a few days, I felt like we had known each other for a lifetime.
It's hard to explain, but I remember there was an immediate attraction when she came home that first night. Most of it was physical. She was sexy and flirtatious, but I knew there was a lot more to Sherry than a beautiful body. I remembered her telling her parents she made the Dean's List and won first prize for her philosophy essay on Aristotle and was on the wrestling team. I remembered she went to the WTO protest in Montreal and how concerned and knowledgeable she was about poverty in Third World countries. Sherry was passionate, playful, intelligent, sexy and knew who she was and what she wanted. I liked that.
Both of us were quiet in the truck as we drove to the restaurant. Sherry was looking out the window. She seemed deep in thought. I was thinking about Sherry and what was happening with us. I remembered her statement in the cabin, "No one can control me. I want my body to be as free as my mind." I glanced over at her, wondering what she was thinking. She looked so pretty in that flowery dress, but she also looked sophisticated and older. Though we were quiet, it didn't feel awkward. The quiet felt good after such an intense afternoon of playing being Mary Jane and the towel fight and the wild sex we just experienced. Sherry looked over at me, our eyes meeting briefly. She smiled then she turned back to look out the window. It felt peaceful in the truck.
"Turn here," she said. "The restaurant is up this road about a mile."
"I'm really hungry," I said.
"I am too, "she responded. "We really worked up an appetite, didn't we?" she said, smiling at me.
She was quiet for a moment, looking out the side window. She then turned to me. "I really like being with you," she said. "Thanks," I said, looking at her. "I like being with you, too."
We didn't say a word after that and just let the words sink in as we drove quietly to the Bangkok.
When we parked and got out, she hooked her arm around mine again as we walked from the truck to the front door. I opened it for her and she walked ahead of me. I loved how her legs looked in the short sun dress and how the cleavage from her tits was slightly exposed. I felt fortunate to be with such a lovely, sexy, vibrant woman. I could not believe this was happening to me. The hostess recognized Sherry and smiled. "Hello, Sherry. How was school this year? It's good to see you." She had a white flower in her long dark hair.
Sherry gave her a big hug. "I couldn't wait to have my first dinner here," Sherry said. "It's good to be home." Then she introduced me, "This is my friend, Pete." She said. "Pete, this is Maia. She's the owner."
Maia led us to our table. We were seated at a small table in the corner of the room. The waitress greeted us, brought us menus and then tall glasses of water with lemon. I opened the menu and turned the pages knowing I would have difficulty deciding what to order.
"Let me order for us," Sherry said. "You'll love the food here and I have some favorites that we can share. Do you mind?"
"Not at all," I said, enjoying letting her take charge.
When the waitress came back, she put a silver tea pot and two cups on the table. Sherry looked away from the menu and up at the waitress. "We'll start off with an order of spring rolls and we'll share a bowl of sweet and sour fish soup, then we want an order of the Pad Thai with shrimp and an order of curried chicken with brown rice and broccoli." The waitress took our menus and bowed slightly.
I poured the tea into Sherry's small cup and then into mine. She leaned forward across the table, allowing me to get a good luck at her tits. She knew I was looking at her breasts and smiled. "Whatcha looking at, buddy?" she said, laughing then leaned back in her chair. I took a sip of my tea then looked at Sherry. "So, do you think your dad is going to fire me?" I asked.
"I'll talk to him and so will Mom," Sherry said. "He's really a great guy. He's such a good father, but he's a control freak." She paused. "But it has gotten worse as I got older. He's trying to protect me." "Why is he so protective of you and insists that you to stay away from apprentices?"
"I'm his work of art," Sherry said. "He calls me his jewel." She took a sip of tea. "I've been home schooled my whole life except for a short time when I went to the local high school. Dad and Mom taught me everything and introduced me to books and ideas I would have never had in school." Sherry took another sip of her tea and then the spring rolls came. She put her napkin on her lap. "You'll love these," she said, picking one up and dipping it in the mustard sauce. I did the same.
Sherry continued her story. "We had great discussions at dinner and I always helped with planting and taking care of the animals. I was in charge of the chickens ever since I was six and I saw the calves born every spring and the lambs. Dad made me my own art studio on the 2nd floor when I was ten and I learned to make jewelry. I got really good at that and sold my jewelry at the Farmers" Market every Saturday. I even got orders for jewelry for Christmas gifts. When I was eleven, Dad bought me the horse and Colby, that was his name, was my best friend until I went to college." "Wow!" was all I could say. "So you learned everything at home and still got into Brown."
"Right, Sherry nodded. "When I was sixteen I wanted to try the local high school just to be around other kids and to see what it was like." She picked up another spring roll and held it an inch from her mouth while she spoke. "But that turned out to be a joke. I couldn't believe how easy and stupid it was. None of the kids really cared about what they were learning. And sitting there listening to the teachers talk while we answered the questions at the back of the chapter got boring real fast."
The waitress brought us our soup and Sherry moved the plate of spring rolls aside. I took another one and dipped into the mustard. "So what happened at the high school?" I asked, thinking back on my own experience.
"I remember the moment I finally had it with that school. It was in geometry, something I had already learned from Dad. He was a math major in college. The teacher was going on and on going over stuff for the fifth time because most of the kids weren't interested. I couldn't stand it any longer so right in the middle of class, I closed the book, left the room, went down to the counselor's office, handed her all of my books and said, "I'm leaving. You should have seen her face when I said that. She said, 'what do you mean you're leaving?'" I looked at her and said. "You people don't realize how valuable my time is to me and this is the biggest waste of time in the world." I turned around and left her office and walked out. "I went back to home schooling and just working on the farm. I decided I would apply to college. Dad was really against it because like I said, I was his work of art. He didn't want me to get messed up by the city and people who didn't share his values. He loved teaching me and so did Mom. Like I said, I was his jewel.At first I liked it when he said that, but then as I got older and wanted to go to college and I didn't like being his jewel. It was hard for me to tell him what I felt because I knew how much I meant to him."
Sherry took a sip of her soup, "Great soup, isn't it," she said, then continued. "I was reading a book by D.H. Lawrence at the time called 'Women in Love,' and that was an awakening for me." Sherry took another spoonful of soup. "Reading that book made me realize how beautiful sex was and how important it is to be free and open to life." Sherry paused and we both ate more soup. It was spicy but delicious. "This is the best soup in the world," she exclaimed, then continued, "After I read that book and went away to college and had sex for the first time, I realized that sex is honest and beautiful. How can anything that feels so good and gives such pleasure, be bad?" We were just finishing the soup when the waitress brought us our platters and took the soup bowls away.
I was fascinated with Sherry's story and how she thought about life. I loved how she looked at me while she spoke. She was so clear and talked with such intensity that I was gripped by her words. Sherry looked down at the Pad Thai and put some on her plate. I helped myself to the curried chicken. Then she continued speaking.
"It hurt me to see Dad's face when I told him I wasn't his jewel anymore. I told him I knew he loved me and has taught me so much, but I can't belong to him or anyone like I'm a possession. I told him I was applying to Brown and a few other places." Sherry took a sip of water. "This pad thai is pretty spicy but that's the way I like it," she said. "Here, try some. How's the chicken?" she asked and took some and put it on her plate.
"Any way, when I told him my plans, he said he didn't want me to leave home and go away to college, that there was still so much he had to teach me and how much he wanted me to learn about life and the farm. I told him I appreciated what he has taught me but if he really loved me he would not keep me here like a bird in a cage. He got angry when I said that and denied he was making me a prisoner and how corrupt it was in the world and how he didn't want me to get hurt and tarnished—that was his jewelry metaphor. He did not want his jewel to get ruined and that's why he wants to keep me away from apprentices. He thinks they only want to have sex with me but don't care about what a beautiful person I am—that's what he says."
"I understand," I said. "That's too bad that he doesn't really know me and lumps me in with all apprentices or just guys in general."
"Right and Pete, when you said to me the other night you didn't want to make me or anyone else be in your movie, that blew me away. Most men don't think like that. They want their women to be possessions. I really believe you and that line from your poem about the sun rising from your lyric heart—that meant so much to me. I felt you were someone who was in charge of his life and would want me to be in charge of my life and not try to control me."
"Thanks for saying that, Sherry, that's true. it's not right, in fact it's immoral to get in the way of someone else's spirit."
"That's it. I need to be free. I want the freedom to think, to travel, to speak my mind." She paused with a big smile "and fuck!" She laughed. "I want to be free to have sex when I'm turned on by someone. I love my body and I love how I feel when I'm fucking. I feel alive. I love using my body to give me and others pleasure. What a gift our minds and bodies are. What a goddamn fucking great gift it is to be so alive and to feel pleasure."
Listening to her was turning me on. I was getting aroused by her passionate words and the intensity of her eyes as she spoke. "You're amazing" I said. "I want to make love to you. Listening to you gives me a hard-on."
