Amethyst Purple Pt 01

Amethyst Purple

Foreword

This is a work of fiction which exists solely in my imagination.

While I've used actual towns, landmarks and locations in the following tale, none of the people, events or businesses depicted have any actual or implied connection to any actual event or person, alive or dead, with the exception of certain historical references. These references are included only to allow the reader to be able to relate better to the timeline of this work of fiction.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs in the body by causing normally thin and lubricating secretions to become thick and sticky. This causes tubes, ducts and passageways, especially in the lungs and pancreas to become clogged, reducing or eliminating the organs' functionality. May is CF Awareness Month and is identified with the color purple.

With its vivid violet purple color, Amethyst is recognized as one of the more desirable gem varieties of quartz and is thought by some to have healing powers.

Prologue

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Rome, GA

"Mister Kilgore, are you OK?" Queried Judge Henry Collins, concern etched boldly in his expression.

Defense Attorney Ted Kilgore was having his worst day yet. As a child and later as a teenager, Ted would grow short of breath before most of his friends when they were out playing and he had always been smaller than any of his contemporaries. But recently he'd been growing tired more quickly and having difficulties breathing more often than he'd ever experienced before. Now, it was beginning to affect his courtroom performance, having again interrupted his questioning of a Police Detective who arrested his client for a Residential Burglary, a felony his client could scarcely afford to be convicted of with his sad criminal history. Ted knew he was fighting a losing battle, his client almost certainly was guilty of the crime but he was ethically bound to give the best defense possible with the information and circumstances at his disposal. The problem was that the occasional coughing attacks and his trouble breathing was preventing him from concentrating on the witnesses' testimonies and how he could mitigate their tendencies to incriminate his client.

"Yes, Your Honor, I'm just feeling a bit under the weather this afternoon."

"Well, if I may be so bold, you don't look too good. And you sound even worse. How many more questions do you have for this witness?"

"I'm nearly finished with him Your Honor, just a few more questions."

"Very well, go ahead then and we'll break for the afternoon if the State has no objections."

"We have none at this time, Your Honor, but we reserve the right to change our stand based on questions yet to be asked of our witness." Assistant D.A. JoAnn Reeves responded."

"OK, proceed Mr. Kilgore." Judge Collins directed.

"Thank you, Your Honor." "Detective Wheeler, you testified that your investigation led you to a pawn shop on Shorter Ave where you recovered items of jewelry and a pistol that vaguely resemble property reported stolen from a residence on Blacks Bluff Rd, is that correct?"

"No Sir, I testified that I recovered the stolen items themselves, not just something resembling the stolen goods."

"I see, how can you be certain that these are those specific pieces of jewelry? Is it not possible that the complainant from that original report mistakenly identified the items you confiscated from the pawn shop? I mean the photographs showing Ms. Holtzclaw wearing them aren't clear enough to eliminate sufficient doubt..."

Ted's question hung unfinished as he slumped to the floor in a barely-breathing form wearing a Brooks Brothers suit.

"Sheriff, get an ambulance in here! Now!" Commanded Judge Collins as Deputies and Kilgore's twenty-nine year old Paralegal, Kelsey Hayes, rushed to his inert form lying in the middle of the courtroom floor. "And Bailiff, please escort the jurors to the Jury room." Judge Collins then addressed the jurors as they stood to exit the jury box. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, as late in the day as we find ourselves I will excuse you for the remainder of the day. I would ask that you return tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock am prepared to complete this trial. My standard admonishment remains in effect in that you are asked not to discuss anything you've heard or otherwise witnessed in these proceedings among yourselves or with any other party. You are excused for the day." The Judge then likewise excused Detective Wheeler and the Prosecuting Attorneys then commanded that the courtroom be cleared of all non-essential personnel and asked for the bailiffs to ensure that the hallways were clear enough to allow Medical Personnel a clear pathway to the courtroom.

Saturday, November 26, 1988

Knoxville, TN

"Dude, quit yer' bitchin', we had a deal. I sat through that AC/DC noise with you last month, now you can listen to real music tonight."

"Right, who the hell is Randy Travis? And Titty Shepherd?" Ted Kilgore asked his dorm mate, Don, with a resigned sneer.

"T.G. Shepperd. You know: War is hell on the home front, too. God only knows what a woman goes through..." In the off-key voice of an unskilled fan of the artist.

"Damn, I hope he sings it better than you do." Ted moaned. "You know, we could be at the bonfire out at the Farm right now, and most likely getting laid."

"There'll be more parties, there's still Christmas and the most epic party of the year is always at New Years, anyway. Besides, we got pretty good seats, too."

"If you say so, it looks like we're gonna be slap in the middle of the row. We'll have to climb over a dozen people if we need to get a drink or go to the bathroom or something."

"Dude, do you always bitch this much? Or are you on your period or something? If you're that worried go get a drink and take a piss before the concert starts."

"Sorry, my parents never listened to anything but Country music when I was growing up, I guess I just took my rebellion a bit farther than most people do when I swore I'd never listen to another Country music song when I came to UT." "At least it looks like we'll have decent company, anyway."

As the two made their way to the seats designated by their tickets they noticed a group of six or seven girls sitting in the seats behind theirs. The way they were leaning in toward one another it was apparent that they were not accompanied by any guys, just a group of girls out enjoying an evening concert as a group. They were all wearing orange pullovers with a big white "T" on the front.

"Yeah, I don't recognize any of them, do you?" Don queried his friend.

"Nah, I don't think so."

"Who knows, Ted, you might get some cooter tonight after all."

"Well, I'm here under protest, so I get first choice."

"They're here to listen to Country music, they probably won't have anything to do with your heathen ass."

"I don't know, they look like they've got all their teeth and fingers and their eyes aren't crossed or on the sides of their heads and they don't look like they have telephone poles for family trees so, who knows? The night is definitely still young."

"...AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MR. T. G. SHEPPARD!"

Ted felt a hand on the inside of his left elbow that pulled him lightly around toward the girl attached to it who was standing behind his seat. Short, about 5'2" and a frame slight enough to make resisting a strong breeze a task, she had the lightest complexion of anyone he'd ever known. Her coal black shoulder blade-length teased hair made Ted think of a midnight halo and her striking ash-Grey eyes were offset by earrings set with purple crystals.

"I can't see the stage."

"Would you like to come stand in front of me?" Ted returned.

"...THANK YOU! THANK YOU! IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK IN KNOXVILLE TONIGHT..."

"How can I trust you not to get handsy?"

"You can't." Ted grinned.

"Good answer." she smiled back

Ted held both her hands and helped her climb over the back of his seat and move into the aisle in front of where he was standing.

"...I HOPE YOU'RE ALL HAVING FUN TONIGHT 'CAUSE YOU KNOW, I LOVE YOU EVERY ONE!..."

"I'm Ted Kilgore, what's your name?"

"I'm Martha Williams but I don't mind if you call me Marti."

"Marti, I like that."

By the third song they were swaying together in the limited space afforded by the aisle between the seats, Ted's arms wrapped around her from behind.

"...HOW MANY OF Y'ALL WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN?! YOU SAY AS LONG AS NOBODY'S PLANNING A TRIP FOR TONIGHT? THAT'S FINE BY ME! JUST LEAD ME ON! ONE, TWO, THREE!..."

Marti turned her head and looked up at Ted. "Hey, I want to stand behind you in your seat and hold on to you so I can see better over your shoulders."

"I've got a better idea." Ted said then reached down and Marti squealed when he gripped her by her waist and lifted her to his shoulders, situating her legs on either side of his head. "I only ask one favor, don't flash anybody. I'd be crushed if I missed seeing that."

Marti chuckled and, smiling, said "You might get your own flash later, after the concert."

When the lights came up after the final encore, Ted reached up and lifted Marti down from his shoulders and stood her lightly onto the floor in front of him. She turned to face him and looked up into his face with a sly smile lifting one corner of her mouth.

"Why do I feel like I've just been violated?" Ted asked, reaching up to rub his fingers through the moisture on the back of his neck.

"Probably because you pretty much have been for the last hour and a half." Marti responded, still showing her sly half-smile as their group joined the crowd slowly drifting toward the doors.

"Do y'all live on campus?"

"Yeah," Marti responded, "We live in Volunteer Hall, what about you? Where do you live?"

"We have rooms at Laurel Hall."

"How is it we've never met before? U.T. isn't small but it's not that big either. And don't tell me that you spend all your free time studying and you never socialize or date either."

"Oh, no, I certainly socialize on the regular and I date a fair bit." Ted smiled.

"Ah, I see. So you're a man-whore, are you?"

"Now, you just met me, don't judge me because I haven't found my perfect mate yet, she has to be out there somewhere. Who knows? You could be her."

Marti laughed. "I don't know about all that, maybe I'm not ready to settle for just one guy yet."

Ted noticed his dorm mate watching their exchange then noticed the rest of the girls who were accompanying Marti also walking alongside them and smiling at the pair who had been lost in themselves for the entire show.

"Oh, Don, this is Marti Williams. Marti, this redneck is my dorm mate, Don Evans."

Marti then introduced each of the girls in her group and one said "We were taking bets on whether the two of you would remember the rest of us before we got to the parking lot or not. Y'all have been lost for the past three hours." The entire assembly all laughed.

"I'm a bit hungry." Proclaimed one of the girls.

Don suggested a late night trip to the Waffle House so that's where they found themselves thirty minutes later filling two booths and laughing at each other's jokes and anecdotes.

As they walked out the door, Marti laced her fingers with Ted's, turned toward a blonde girl from their group and said with a grin "I'll catch up with y'all sometime tomorrow."

"You mean later today? It's after midnight now." The blonde responded with a smirk.

"Maybe. I don't have to be anywhere before class Monday morning, maybe tomorrow is exactly what I mean." She returned with a matching smirk of her own.

When the trio got back to Ted's and Don's dorm room in Laurel Hall, Ted gave Marti a toothbrush from the pack he kept and one of his concert t-shirts before showing her their small bathroom and clean towels and washcloths. He considered joining her but the bathtub really wasn't large enough to play in so he waited in his room, Don had apparently already crashed; the door to his room closed and no light showing under the floor gap.

After Marti was finished, Ted took his turn in the limited space of the bathroom then joined her in his bedroom where she lay waiting under the covers of his bed. She was still wearing his Scorpions Love At First Sting tour t-shirt and her shining coal-black hair was spread into an almost iridescent halo around her reclining head. The dim lamp on his night stand illuminated Marti lying comfortably in his bed, waiting for him to join her. Neither of them had discussed her coming to his room but somehow both had known she would.

Ted draped his damp towel over the back of his desk chair and slipped, nude, between the sheets with Marti. He rolled over to face her and she raised her head slightly from her pillow as he slipped his left arm under her neck, reaching down to caress her back. He kissed her for the first time and felt her lips part to admit his tongue to dance and flirt with her own. Ted interrupted their kiss briefly to roll back and turn off the lamp at the bedside before returning his attention to Marti. With his right hand, he reached up under the well-worn t-shirt to cup her breasts. They weren't large by some men's standards but they filled his palm nicely, her proud nipples surrounded by skin tightly puckered and wrinkled enough to feel its firmness. Marti moaned lightly through their kiss. Their lips swelled in sensitivity, their breathing became deeper and their pulse rates began to increase as their bodies demanded more oxygen to feed their growing passion.

Ted directed his hand away from Marti's breasts, along her abdomen to her left hip, finding it bare then stroking down her thigh toward her knee before reversing course up her inner thigh to the furnace that lay protected there. Long before his fingers reached the junction of her thighs, Ted found tangible evidence of her arousal; for several inches below her pussy, her skin felt like a bottle of massage oil had been poured but not rubbed into the flesh. Her aroma wafted from under the covers and his own arousal increased exponentially. When he dragged his index finger through her trough Marti tilted her head back with her eyes closed and moaned deeply.

"AAAHHHHHH....."

When Ted leaned down and began to nibble at her erect nipple through the t-shirt, Marti's moans and sighs increased in volume and duration. He lifted himself up to kneel beside her and raised the hem of the t-shirt up from her waist. Marti reached down to help him slide the offending cloth up over her head and off onto the floor somewhere beside the bed. Ted could find it some other time. He returned his mouth to Marti's breasts, alternating from one then to the other as he slipped his fingers back into her channel and continued to spread her free-flowing secretions around her labia and clitoris. As Marti's writhing intensified, he slipped farther below the sheet until he lay between her knees and began kissing her inner thighs, devouring the succulent effusion that continued to flow from her lips. Marti reached both hands and gripped Ted by the sides of his head in her need and tried to force him to directly attend to her pussy but he resisted, instead he continued to tease her; licking, nibbling and kissing the immediate areas around her pubis. When her distress seemed to near critical Ted relented and dove into the center of her singular present concern. When he thrust his tongue into the gap between her labia Marti gripped the hair on the sides of his head even tighter and he was certain that her howl when he closed his lips around her engorged clitoris and flicked his tongue back and forth across its tip had awakened everyone on two adjacent floors of his dormitory. Marti's entire body went rigid, the strength she hinted at earlier trebled and all sound from her throat ceased. Ted continued to alternate from licking at her labia to brushing his tongue side to side across her clitoris while Marti's stone-like body shuddered occasionally. She finally began to relax and take tentative breaths once again and started gently stroking the sides of his head where only moments before she had been trying to pull his hair out by the fists full.

"What are you doing to me?..." She murmured "I've never felt anything like that before."

Ted crawled back up beside her and swung his legs off the side of the bed and began wiping the prodigious amount of her excretions from his face and neck with the towel he had draped across his desk chair earlier. He then pulled a black and gold foil packet from the drawer of his night stand and tore it open. Ted slid back under the covers and rolled the condom onto his cock then rolled back toward Marti and resumed his caresses.

Their initial passions assuaged, they made love slowly the first time, both of them somewhat depleted by their earlier entanglement then they both drifted off to sleep with Ted snuggled up closely behind her, arm draped across her side.

By the end of the concert the evening before, both Ted and Marti were astonished by the immediate comfort they felt with one another, as though they really were life-long friends. By the end of the night they recognized that the chemistry between them was stronger than they'd experienced with anyone else. By New Years they were inseparable. By the end of the spring semester they found an apartment off campus and decided to live together through their final year at U.T. then get married after they both achieved their degrees the following year.

Friends of both Ted and Marti noted that the pair's normal unrepentant promiscuity had surprisingly been subdued to an apparent serious monogamous relationship. Neither had eyes for or interest in anyone but the other. This was a new experience for both since they each had been considered "free-spirits," never dating anyone more than a hand-full of times before moving on to someone else and enjoying the variety that a playboy (or playgirl) lifestyle provided.

During the summer break, Ted was awarded a paid internship with a mid-sized local attorney's firm and Marti landed a paid internship with a major accounting firm, both in town allowing them to keep their off-campus apartment. They spent their free time hiking trails in the Cohutta's in north Georgia, sections of the Appalachian Trail from Amicalola Falls to Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the trail, and kayaking rivers like the Nantahala in North Carolina and the Chattahoochee in North Georgia, where the movie Deliverance was filmed.

When classes began again in the Fall, Ted and Marti had "found their groove" and a stranger witnessing their domestic lives for the first time would've believed they'd been a couple since birth. Their final year at college seemed to flow by effortlessly, Ted passed the BAR exam with a top ten score and Marti completed her Masters in Business Accounting, also among the top of her class. Ted was transferred to a full-time position with the law firm he interned with and Marti found a position with a major national bank.

Saturday, August 11, 1990

Gatlinburg, TN

Ted and Marti were married in a rented log cabin in Gatlinburg, TN and the reception was a picnic on a creek near a small waterfall. The three Bride's Maids wore vivid purple sheath dresses that ended just above their knees and each wore their Bride's Maids' gift of Amethyst earrings, similar to the ones Marti wore the night she met Ted at the Thompson-Boling Arena.

Marti 's mother was scandalized at the unconventional wedding but her father just grinned, shook his head and raised his bottle of Amber Bock in silent appreciation of the ingenuity of it all. He had just saved several thousand dollars that he had resigned himself to having to spend on the wedding his wife had expected for their only daughter. He later pulled Ted aside and expressed his appreciation by handing him an envelope with 50 $100 bills inside for their honeymoon, admitting that the traditional wedding his wife was lobbying for would've cost him more than twice the amount.