At last, finals were over and the summer stretched before us like the
blue ocean. To celebrate my freedom I was going to spend a week at
David’s - and meet his parents. I found the prospect rather
intimidating really. I just wanted to be alone with him, instead I’d
have to make polite conversation with these upmarket people. But I knew
I would have to do it sooner or later, especially if he was to become a
fixture in my life. That was the plan after all.
But first I spent my last evening with my roomies, the ever dour Rani
and the crazy Helena. After a few drinks Rani wasn’t so uptight, and
Helena was, well, she was Helena. Despite some differences we cried at
our parting of the ways, and promised to keep in touch. As far as
Helena was concerned I really meant it. We’d lived in each others
pockets for three years and there was a bond. Rani was going back to
India so there wasn’t much chance we’d see each other again, but I took
her home address anyway, and fantasized, rather nastily really,
that I’d use it for a wedding invitation she’d have to turn down.
Eventually it was too late, we all headed for bed, but Rani turned
back. Then she did a really strange thing. She hugged me.
“Dana, this is going to sound like jealousy or sour grapes or
something, but I want you to listen to me. Before you get seriously
involved with that boy think carefully about the future. ”
She sounded so sincere, so, un-Rani-like, that for once I did really
listen. But I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I asked her outright.
“It’s hard to put into words without sounding insulting,” she replied
“but let’s say some of his choices don’t make any sense. In fact
they’re quite disturbing. Think about it.”
I did. I couldn’t sleep. I kept going over it in my head. But I was in too deep now.
David collected me and all my junk in his father’s SUV. What a great
car. It had a hitch on the back, and he told me we were going out on
his parents’ boat one last time before they sold it.
“They’re retiring” he said “and moving to the East, that’s where they
come from. I’m staying out here, so I’ll have to find a place of my
own.”
I was hoping, maybe even half-expecting him to ask me there and then to
share it with him, but nothing more was said. I thought it would be a
bit much to suggest it, so I put that idea on hold. It was a rather
nice idea though.
When we arrived his parents greeted him as if he’d been away a week
instead of a couple of hours, but they greeted me just as warmly. It
was a bit overwhelming, but nice at the same time. They put me
completely at ease in fact. We had lunch, and then David excused
himself to help his father get the boat ready. This was all new to me.
My family’s sole vehicle was a truck, but I didn’t mention that. I just
said we lived in the country and when they asked what my father did I
told them he was a salesman and didn’t offer anything further. David
would learn about my humble origins soon enough, maybe, if I ever had
to tell him. I just wanted to forget it.
Joan, David’s mother was easy to talk to, and we chatted while getting
a few things together for our boat trip, but I wasn’t expecting
what came next at all.
“I expect you’re wondering why we don’t mind you sleeping with David.”
You could have knocked me down with a feather. A very small feather.
Nothing had actually been mentioned about exactly where I’d be sleeping
during my stay, and I didn’t see where David’s father put my larger
bags. But they had disappeared. Obviously they’d been put in David’s
room. I didn’t know what to say, so I told the truth. She laughed.
“Oh, Dana, I’m sorry, he should have told you. Don’t worry, we’re not
going to make a big thing out of it, in fact we’ll act as if it was
nothing, but I ought to tell you that it means a lot to me that David
has found a girl like you.”
Like me? What on earth had he said?
“I’m really very ordinary actually........” I begun, but she had something to get off her mind.
“Dana, we are aware that David is different to other boys because of
his bad eyesight. We’ve always done everything we could to make up for
that. I’m a woman, I know how girls can be, and he’s never had any real
luck romantically. Now that he’s found you, someone who, well, loves
him for who he is, the least I can do is not get in your way.
Especially as it’s my fault.”
A look of regret that only a mother can have came over her, and I told her to continue.
“You seem like the sort of person who’ll understand, Dana. David’s
biological father, and that’s about all he was, he may as well have
been a sperm donor for all that he’s done for his son, well, he was in
a band. We were on the road when David was born.”
“Oh my God” I blurted out, I couldn’t hold it back “You don’t seem the type!”
“Well, you see, I was, very much the type. No more than a groupie
really Dana. We had a relationship of sorts, but it was very
short-lived. I’m not sure it would have lasted anyway but after.......
like I said, we were on the road, and David was a healthy baby,
thankfully, so we never saw a doctor, and I just got behind on things,
like his shots. I kept meaning to get them done, but we were always on
the move. Well, before I got round to it, David got measles. He was
really ill, I thought I was going to lose him.....”
She broke down. I put my hand on her shoulder.
“....it’s OK Dana, just a lot of guilt. I’ve never told anyone this before. Not even Bill. Actually....not even David.”
She wiped her tears.
“I really thought I was going to lose my little boy. He was such a
sweet age, about 18 months old, and full of energy. I just enjoyed him
so much, and then he was so sick. I didn’t even take him to a doctor
then, I just kept him cool, and hugged him. But eventually his fever
went down, and the rash went away, but he wasn’t right. He wasn’t David
anymore. Instead of the bouncy fun little guy I knew he just sat there
all day hugging his toys. His.....father....thought he was
brain-damaged, and he told me to get rid of him.........”
That was it, the floodgates. She sobbed until I swear I heard her heart break - how many years had she held this all in?
“He wanted to just leave him in a church, or a mall or somewhere, it
was all too inconvenient for him.......so I collected what things I had
together, took David and left. I had nowhere to go. I’d traveled right
across the country with the band. I had no money, nothing. I didn’t
have the courage to call my parents. I didn’t know what to do Dana, all
I had in the world was David, and I didn’t know what was wrong with
him, and I was on the street.”
“Well, I just started walking and it started to rain, so I stopped
inside a doorway, and a lady coming by asked me if I needed any help. I
told her I was homeless, and she was so kind, she got me a room in her
building for free until I found a job, and she watched David while I
worked. Then one day when I was picking him up she said to me “I think
there’s something wrong with your boys eyes”. I hadn’t even thought of
that. I thought it was his mind you see. We took him to her doctor, and
he said the illness had damaged his eyes. It seemed so simple when they
said he just needed glasses, and he’d be fine, and he was. I mean he
started to run and jump and play again. It made such a difference to
him. But you never saw such a little boy in such strong glasses.
Then as he got older it got worse, they warned me that would happen.”
“Of course he got teased at school, but I always made sure he had the
right answers, and knew how to run if he needed to. And when he got
bigger, well I’d met Bill by then, and he taught him how to fight. Bill
was so good. He has been a real father to him. He’s always been there
for him. And, I don’t need to tell you, Bill has provided well for us.
His business has been really successful, we’ve had everything we needed
and more....David has had everything. Except a girl, you see, and
now....I just want you two to be happy.”
It made sense. I was proud of her, she wasn’t cosseting her only child,
like it would be so easy to do, she was giving him wings.
David and his father arrived back and ended our chat abruptly, but I
thought I understood what she was trying to get across to me. Her boy
was so precious to her.
We carried food and drinks down to the jetty and got into the boat. It
was a beautiful afternoon with a breeze and the guys took turns at the
wheel. Each time it was David’s turn I stood next to him and he showed
me places along the coast that he knew, and promised to take me.
Finally his parents went below and gave us some space. I swear I saw
Bill wink at me.
This was the return journey, and it was so incredibly romantic being
beside him, as the sky got redder over the water, and we watched the
sun go down together, just before we reached his home. Even then we
stayed on the boat after it was tied up, and just sat talking. I saw
his parents pull the drapes across up in the house, and I understood.
He did too.
“Did you ever make love on a boat?” he asked, and moved closer.
“Actually, I’ve never been on a boat before.”
“Really? Then we MUST introduce you to the movement of the ocean.”
My dress buttoned all the way down the front. He started at the bottom,
and as he opened each one I felt my desire for him rising inside me. By
the time he reached my waist I wanted him to hurry, but he was savoring
every button. Finally he opened the button between my breasts and my
dress just fell away. I had nothing on underneath. He seemed surprised
at that, but delighted. He looked up at me and the lights from the
jetty reflected in his thick glasses. Without a word he reached for a
blanket under the bench, laid it down on the deck, put his strong arms
under my back and my thighs and lowered me down onto it. He ran his
hands up and down my body, and I tingled all over, I wanted his
hardness inside me, and he didn’t make me wait any longer. Quickly he
took off his pants, entered me firmly, and a huge smile came over his
face. As he thrusted he told me he loved me over and over. When it was
all over, I held him very tight, and I told him,
“I love you so much it terrifies me.”
He kissed me and nuzzled my face and I could feel his glasses against
my cheek. It was so fantastic that I started to cry, and he thought
he’d hurt me, but I reassured him.
“Oh my God I love it when you do that” I told him “and I can’t explain why, but please, do it again.”
He laughed, and laid his head on my shoulder. I could feel the
thickness of the lenses against my neck. It was so beautiful, that I
totally lost myself in the sensation. We lay there for so long it
started to cool off. I half got up, intending to button up my dress,
but as I looked at him I was overwhelmed again with the way his eyes
looked, the sparkle of the lights in those amazing lenses, and the
metal arms reaching into his blond hair. I reached down to feel if his
pants were still undone and was greeted instead by a big erection,
which I eagerly slid onto, and I rode him like a pony. In my passions,
sweat dripped from my brow onto his glasses, and when we were done I
took them from him, to clean them on the top of my dress. It was a
service I hoped to perform regularly, and he seemed happy to let me.
Even at just a couple of feet away, I guess I was a blur he didn’t even
attempt to focus on, but as I got slowly closer to kiss him I saw him
squint for the first time as I was almost, but not quite sharp.
Then, just a couple of inches from his eyes he said, “I can see you
there”. And he smiled. I think that was the moment when I realized just
how very bad his eyes were, and how helpless he was. Rani’s words went
through my head. He was happy with this situation, everyone worried
about him, but he seemed to revel in it. I was curious about something,
but now was not the time to ask. I wondered how he explained his
preference for the older-style lenses to his eye doctor and family.
Also, considering how the cost would be no big deal, his parents were
bound to have offered to pay for him to have laser surgery at some
point. How had he explained that he didn’t want it? No, now was not the
time to ask. I was afraid he might misunderstand my questions, he might
think I wasn’t happy with him as he was - but I was. I wasn’t like the
others. And I didn’t want to give him ANY doubts.
As I finished polishing his glasses and put them back on him, I couldn’t resist asking him however,
“Do you feel vulnerable?”
He grinned, broadly, but said nothing. I wasn’t sure, but I got the
feeling that meant the answer was yes, and he liked it. There was
something more he wasn’t telling me. He was enjoying this.
We dressed ourselves, straightened each others hair out, and made our
way back up to the house. It was quite a steep path and he went ahead,
holding my hand and pulling gently so that the ascent was effortless. I
really hadn’t chosen my shoes very carefully, well, I hadn’t packed for
a boat trip, I had only the tiniest heels, but dead flat would
have been better, and as I stumbled slightly on an unlevel step he felt
it immediately and grasped my hand much tighter, stopping me from
falling.
“Do you feel vulnerable?” he asked, and beamed.
Part Four
