My thanks go to my proofreaders LadyCibelle, and my friend SH, for attempting to sort out my foul-ups for me. But I must remind the reader that I still retain my annoying habit of fiddling with my tales of woe, almost every time that I open them.
*
I'd lain back on the sun lounger after taking a quick swig of the big iced cocktail the waiter had just delivered. And I had just turned my attention back to all that nubile - near naked - young flesh, clad as it mostly was in almost non-existent bikinis, when I spotted her emerging from the water like Aphrodite had from the sea in Greek legend. Or should I say, that I noticed the little black bikini, it's hard to say exactly what took my eye first.
From the moment I clapped eyes on that shapely body, I realised that there was something very familiar about it, even if at that distance -- about two hundred yards or so -- but I couldn't work out exactly what. However, as the woman progressed up the beach in my general direction, her hand went up and pulled the matching black bathing cap from her head.
The moment those flaming red curls unfurled themselves, I knew exactly who she was, but for the life of me I couldn't understand how she had washed up on the same island - let alone beach - as I, several thousand miles from our hometown.
I might not have known that she was on the island, but as she got closer, it was pretty obvious to me that she knew that I was there. And what's more, that she was making straight for me. She had to have pre-knowledge of my presence and exact location, because I'd had difficulty in recognising her at that distance, red hair or not. There was no possible way she could have spotted me almost lying down on that lounger as I was.
It never crossed my mind of course, that she might have already spotted me before she went into the sea and had decided to make a dramatic appearance. Not that it did her any good because I pretended to be asleep behind my sunglasses. I wore mirror sunglasses so the females would not be aware of me perving their nubile bodies as they paraded about the beach and hotel patio where I lay.
I'm not unattractive, but at thirty-three and feeling more like I was fifty-three, I wasn't really in the running for picking up any spare, even if I was on holiday. I'd had my fill of close encounters with the female of our species by then. Two failed marriages and a failed long-term relationship was enough for me, thank you very much. I was quite happy to lie there and fantasise thank you.
Mary Beth sashayed directly up to the foot of my lounger and then stood there staring down at me, her hands on her hips.
I pretended to be sound asleep.
She coughed once and then a little later she "Ahem'd."
Nevertheless, I didn't move a muscle, concentrating my mind hard on keeping my breathing deep and regular. With luck, she'd come to think that I was in a drunken stupor and go away.
Eventually she called out my name, but when I still didn't react. Then she said, "Fuck you. Tony Smart why do you have to drink so damned much all the time?" Then she turned and walked past me into the hotel.
I gave her plenty of time to get out of sight before I checked that the coast was clear. "Shit!" I said out loud. "What the fuck is she doing here?"
I'd first clapped eyes on Mary Beth Thomas. That's it Mary Beth by the way, not Mary Elizabeth. Wow betide anyone who ever called Mary Beth, Elizabeth. Apparently, she'd been named after some American actress that her grandfather had had the hots for in his younger days. As the first female born to the family Mary Beth was given her name; I suppose to keep the old boy happy.
Anyway, I first ran into her when we were both sixteen on my first day in Technical College. With a lot of other students, I'd been milling around in the lecture room that was to be our base for the year, when Mary Beth made her entrance. With a delightfully shapely body and that flaming red hair, no bugger -- well male student anyway - in the room could miss her. Every male eye in the place -- no matter whom they were apparently talking to - was on Mary Beth as she went up to the lecturer and asked him where she should sit. The randy bugger playfully suggested the front row where he could keep a friendly eye on her. Beth chose this moment to demonstrate her loud voice and called him a dirty old man, if not with a little playful tone to her voice, and everyone took it as a joke.
Her actual words were, "Here! We'll have to watch this one girls, I think he's going to be as bad as the rest of these perverts!" The rest of these perverts she was talking about were her male fellow students. Who, of course, were still ogling her.
Mary Beth then threw a withering look at one poor guy as she passed him on her way to the rear of the class. Where she very soon collected a little group of female Queen worshippers around her.
On one point Mary Beth was right, she did have to watch the boys. Very soon, she was getting hit on and asked to go out on dates by nearly every reasonably looking guy in our class and many from other classes as well. I had to give it to her she didn't string any of the guys along. Actually, she told them to piss off in no uncertain manner, and of course always at the top of her voice. Eventually nearly all of the guys got the message and they stopped pestering her for dates. Which I assumed, had been Mary Beth's plan.
Another odd thing about Mary Beth... Well don't you think it was odd, a very beautiful young woman who, to all intent and purposes, kept every guy at arm's length no matter how handsome they were? "Bloody odd if you ask me." I thought at the time; but I was to learn otherwise later. Anyway after a few weeks, word was spread around by some of the young wolves in the college, that Mary Beth was a lesbian. I suppose to cover the fact that they hadn't managed to score even a date with her.
Anyway, the odd thing I'm talking about was her female group of friends. Unlike most catty little female groups, obviously they weren't a closed shop. Neither was there a need for any girl to particularly fit in with the leader's ideas, basically Mary Beth's; for she couldn't abide female bullying of any kind. Any mousy little girl was apparently welcomed into that little... eventually very big, gang. About the only thing they all had in common was that they were all very dedicated to - and vocal on the subject - when it came to the women's Liberation movement; but we'll gloss over that part if we may, it has no real bearing on the story.
After watching Mary Beth's appearance that first day, I thought I had the situation pegged correctly and I had no intention of being made a laughing stock of, by trying my luck, no matter how much I fancied her on the quiet. There were plenty of other fish in the sea for me to chase after; I have always believed that there's little point in wasting time chasing the unobtainable.
I suppose six months had gone by, when we were assigned group projects by our physics lecturer. The group members he randomly pulled from a hat, or to be precise a wastebasket. It was some surprise to me when I discovered Mary Beth had come over to join the group I was in. Even more surprising was the fact she had very little to say for herself that first day. It didn't strike me until later, that physics was hardly Mary Beth's forte.
By the third or fourth week of the project, Mary Beth was really struggling and holding the whole group back and some of the group members actually dared to get uppity with her. Oddly, Mary Beth didn't bite back, but she looked embarrassed.
"Tony you got a minute?" The lecturer called out to me at the end of the session.
I turned and saw him standing there with Mary Beth at his side.
