Nancy's Quest

Passion in James County XIII

Nancy's Quest

By D.C. Roi

Chapter nine

Benny Morris walked toward his home, trying to understand exactly what had happened to him that day. "Why did Mrs. Dillon do that?" he wondered. He shuddering a little when he remembered how wonderful the love-making he had experienced with his beautiful neighbor was. "Why did she pick me?" He still couldn't believe he'd actually gotten to make love with the woman of his dreams.

The young man was under no illusion that he was some kind of hunk. He knew he was a little pudgy, and that a lot of the girls didn't want to go out with him because he wasn't a jock and got excellent grades. The fact that he was bright, smart, and had a fantastic sense of humor didn't mean much to the girls in his high school class.

He had been working for the Dillons for five years, ever since he turned thirteen, and he liked both Mr. and Mrs. Dillon a lot. Mr. Dillon was a really nice guy, and he paid well. As he thought about his neighbor, he felt guilt sweeping over him. "It wasn't fair to do that to Mr. Dillon," he thought. But he also had to admit to himself he wasn't sorry he'd done what he did.

Mrs. Dillon, well, Benny thought she was the prettiest woman he'd ever seen. And the nicest, too. He'd harbored fantasies about making love with her as long as he knew there was such a thing as making love. He never dreamed he'd actually get to live out his dreams, though.

He liked their kids, too, but the Dillon kids were quite a bit younger than he was, so he didn't have much in common with them.

"Why did Mrs. Dillon do that?" he asked himself again as he drew nearer to his home. He thought about asking his mother, but wasn't sure how she would react if he confessed that he'd spent the afternoon making love with their attractive neighbor. On the other hand, if he asked the question the right way, maybe his mother could help him figure it out.

Benny was an only child and only had one parent. His father died when he was ten when a hidden brain aneurysm exploded in his head one day while he was at work. As a result of his father's death, and what he'd gone through learning to cope with it, the young man was extremely close to his mother, and because he had learned to cope with tragedy early in his life, he was a bit more mature than most of his contemporaries.

His mother, who was working as a teacher at the time of his father's death, went back to college and got advanced degrees in psychology. She now worked for the school district as a psychologist.

Benny walked into the kitchen and found his mother standing at the kitchen counter, making dinner. "Hi, Ben," his mother said. "How was your day?"

"Not bad," he said. He took a deep breath. "Mom, did you ever think about cheating on Dad?" he asked her.

His mother turned around and looked at him, wide-eyed. "Ben, what on earth made you ask me that?" she said.

"Well, you know, I...I was wondering why people do stuff like that," he replied. "I mean, if someone's married, what makes them cheat?"

"It's really hard to explain, honey," his mother said. "There's always a cause, I guess. You know, the old business about 'my wife really doesn't understand me,' or 'we just rew apart.' Usually, those are excuses, not reasons though." She studied him. "Why did this topic come up all of a sudden?"

Benny shrugged. "I found out that the mother of one of my friends is having an affair," he replied. It was the truth, almost. He didn't mention that she was having the affair with him. "The thing is, I've seen her with her husband and I always thought she really loved him, you know? And he loves her, too."

"Honey, without knowing the particulars of a situation it's really hard to say why people do things," his mother replied. "Sometimes there's an underlying problem, maybe a lack of self-esteem, that causes a person to do something like that. Women, in particular, fall prey to that. Our society still tends to classify women by who the happen to be married to, not by what they do."

"Oh, you mean, maybe, she's doing it because she doesn't think she's really a very nice person, is that it?" Benny asked.

His mother nodded. "Sort of," she replied. "It's more likely that, somehow, she's doing it to punish herself, maybe for something that happened a long time ago."

"Boy, I guess I have a lot to learn about people, don't I?" Ben said. "Maybe, when I should study psychology instead of becoming a teacher."

"I wouldn't be upset if you did," his mother said, smiling. "But I'd be very proud to have you be a teacher, too. A good teacher can keep things like we've been talking about from happening by building his or her students' self-image and showing them they're good people."

"Oh, wow, I never thought about it like that," the young man said.

They ate dinner, a wonderful pot roast his mother had prepared. After he did the dishes, Benny went up to his room, finished his homework, and went to bed.

"What could be making Mrs. Dillon act the way she is?" he wondered. "I mean, she's so pretty and all. And she's a really neat person, too." He didn't find it at all odd that instead of thinking about having a chance to make love with Nancy again, he was worrying about her.