Chapter 4: Why Us?

When Bill Pierce got home, Carolyn’s student who was going to be one of their two dinner guests was already there, but Eric didn’t seem to be. The girl was a bit of a waste of resources. He was a T&A man, and she had tits; she had an ass. The tits and ass, though, didn’t have much of a girl to go with them. The hair was blonde, probably dyed, but a decent dye job if so. She didn’t look, however, like the sort of girl who could bring off dying her hair. She didn’t even look like a girl who would want to.

“Well,” he said to the boys, “we have a guest. Do you want to introduce her to me?” Carolyn was sure to have introduced her to the boys, and they had to learn to remember names. They either couldn’t or were overtaken by shyness.

“I’m Candy Wharton,” the girl said. She’d waited long enough for him to be clear that the boys weren’t going to answer.

“Miss Wharton,” said Paul.

“How do you do, Miss Wharton? I’m Bill Pierce.” She was in jeans; there was no reason for him to continue to wear a suit. He hung his overcoat in the closet, hung his suit coat beside it, and left his tie on. “Now, if you’ll excuse us for a moment, these two boys are the wrong side up.”

He started his usual roughhouse with the twins. As Paul had gone first more than his share recently, he held Johnny upside down while Paul tried to tickle both him and Johnny. Before that got old, he set Johnny down. Paul ran away, trying to hide behind Miss Wharton once, but Johnny went around one side while he went around the other. He carried Paul far enough away from the girl that she wouldn’t be kicked by mistake. Then he turned him upside down. While Johnny was trying to tickle his brother, the doorbell rang. He carried Paul to the door to open it.

“States Attorney’s Office,” Eric said as he walked in. “We have reports of serious child abuse here.”

“Well,” he said, “they abuse us horribly, but nobody here is serious. This is, Miss Wharton.”

“Eric Stewart. I’m sorry for the humor.” Eric, like Carolyn, thought that playing with kids took a back seat to entertaining adults. Some adults, sure, but not students. “I didn’t know you were here yet. I’m Paul’s godfather as well the position you’ve heard about.” He hung his parka in the closet but kept his suit coat on.

Soon, Carolyn called them to the table. He left the downstairs half-bath for the guests and took the kids upstairs to piss and wash. Carolyn had the boys sit between them, nobody for Uncle Eric today. She sat, as always in the dining room, with her back to her picture. The meal was a beef stew, peas, and salad, with brownies for dessert. He left for the church while the boys were on their second brownies. They were too interested in the dessert to make a fuss. Since he was leaving Uncle Eric with them, they probably wouldn’t have made much fuss, anyway.

The meeting was as boring as he’d expected. He’d been on Finance longer than on Pastor-Parish, but he played a much lesser role on it. Sometimes, he suspected that he’d been put on because the then-pastor, Jake, had thought he would pledge more if he knew how desperate the financial condition of the church was. Tough, he’d had a kid on the way and was saving for a down payment. He probably should raise the pledge now, though.

Back home, the guests were gone, and everybody was tucked in bed, including Carolyn. She was awake, though. She was reading with the overhead light on, but she put the book aside when he came out of the bathroom in pajamas. He turned off the overhead light and locked the bedroom door. When he got into bed and reached for her, though, she pulled away.

“I’m thinking that you’re only entitled to one grope a night. You got your ration after dinner.” Well, he’d been a hero the night before. He could hardly expect to be a hero two nights running.

“That was hardly a grope. That was a kiss. We always kiss goodbye when one of us is going out.”

“A kiss goodbye is all very well. I don’t like your hand on my butt when others can see -- not the boys, and certainly not my student.” That was almost everybody who had been present besides the two of them.

“But it’s all right in front of Eric?” he asked.

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that I need to keep up my reputation in front of my students. Eric already knows I’m married to an utter pig; I might not like his being reminded of that.”

“Well, I’m married to you. They both know that,” he pointed out. “I’ll bet your student even knows where babies come from.”

“Sure she knows we fuck, except kids that age sometimes think we all lose our ability when we pass 30.” A milestone he’d passed before he’d met her, but a recent event for her. “Knowing is one thing, and seeing it happen is another.” Well, she wanted their sex to be in privacy. They were now in privacy. Q. E. D.

“Well, in that case, “he pointed out,” the only way to maintain her blissful ignorance is to fuck in secret, and she’s gone now. So, it’s our duty to the purity of girlhood to fuck now, while she’s gone.”

“Bill, you’re impossible.”

“Are you saying ‘no’?” Sure, she was annoyed with him, but she didn’t really sound that annoyed with him.

“No, but your reason is pure bull shit.” Well, his reason had been a joke. On the other hand, she wasn’t saying ‘no.’ When he bent over her for a kiss, her mouth opened. He took his time, and when he finally entered her, she raised up in welcome.

Later, raising the back of her nightgown so that their go-to-sleep cuddle could include his cock touching her skin, he thought that their sex had levels. The night before had been special; tonight had been standard, but it was a very high standard.

Friday, after the boys were in bed, he opened his mail. Carolyn sorted it, opened her own and anything for the two of them before he got home. His envelopes and any letter for the two of them that she thought he should read were on top of the TV set every night. Tonight, he got an appeal from some group called INFACT. They probably should have written to Carolyn; she was the one who had told him that breastfeeding was best for kids.

Apparently, formula companies overseas were promoting formula to kids whose health depended even more strongly on breastfeeding. Well, babies he would never even see were much less important to him than those he could hold. They were still important, though. He wrote INFACT a check.

Monday evening, he had an important meeting of the Pastor-Parish Committee. This one dealt with salaries for 1980. The pastor was on equitable salary, and that gave him a moderate raise every year. They couldn’t afford more, and the Annual Conference wouldn’t allow them to pay less. (The Annual Conference helped with that salary.) The organist, Dennis Murray, was another matter. He was fairly new, and he had worked out well. Carolyn, for example, really liked him, and she was in the choir. They would like to pay him more than they were, but the budget was very tight. They finally compromised on $50 more a month.

Saturday, Carolyn had some news for him. She wouldn’t be singing that Sunday. Candy Wharton would be coming to church and sitting with them. So would a couple of women to support Miss Wharton. He shouldn’t sit next to any of the women.

“Not you?”

“Well, me, but you’ll be on the end -- probably the inside. Candy is off men.” Well, that was fine. The woman he wanted to sit next to was Carolyn.

In the event, that’s what they did. Miss Wharton didn’t look all that jumpy. Of course, he merely shook hands with her. After church, Eric came up. The boys greeted him, but he seemed more interested in Miss Wharton. Obviously, he hadn’t got the memo. The women went off together, and Carolyn didn’t warn Eric off even then.

“Happy?” he asked at Sunday dinner.

“Happier. What do you think of her?”

“She has all the pieces of a pretty girl.” Really, though, she didn’t seem to have a center. Carolyn’s criticism bothered him all the time, but she was there.

“Isn’t that all you look at? The pieces?” now, Carolyn was picking a fight. That was a weird interpretation of his words.

“Not for long. Was she a beauty before it happened?” The boys were interested in their food and didn’t ask what happened.

“Can’t really remember. She wasn’t a memorable student before she came to me.” Carolyn was a woman -- and wasn’t he glad she was? -- the male professors would have remembered if they had a pretty student.

Thanksgiving was great. Some time, they might do what the Dan and Gladys did -- invite a few of the church lonelies to share their meal. Right then, they enjoyed being a family. Carolyn, who prided herself on not being a housekeeper, roasted the turkey and got the feast on the table. Sure, she’d had help. Hell! Not even Gladys raised her own turkey like the Pilgrims had. But Carolyn had done the roasting herself. They had started later than their usual lunch, and they didn’t get up from the table much before 2:00.

After dinner, he took the kids up to their room to watch the game. They were hyper after too much sugar and an hour of sitting still. He was, on the other hand, logy. He was stuffed. They would sit still for TV, and they were getting to an age to appreciate football.

The weather Friday was miserable -- rain which turned to sleet but never quite turned to snow. The kids went back to their cartoons, and he watched with them for a bit of family togetherness. They didn’t pay any attention to him, and they didn’t move enough to reward his attention to them. He snuck off to get a Coke without offering them one. He didn’t mind the expense, but they’d ruin their teeth.

Carolyn was in the kitchen on a similar mission. She looked in the ‘fridge.

“Cranberry sauce?” Carolyn asked.

“I’m about cranberried out. TV’d out too. You thought we were bloated last night. The turkey overdose then is nothing to the kids’ TV overdose now. How can they watch all that?”

“It flickers. It draws their eyes.”

“If the weather was bearable, I’d get them to play a little catch.” Well, one of the family was getting something done. “Getting pages written?” he asked.

“Can’t quite get the section on residence to gel. I’m catching up on prep for Micro. You know what pisses me off about business schools?” Well, where had that come from? And he’d been being friendly, too.

“That your husband attended one?”

“That’s not their fault. I knew before I married you. No. You learn two different sets of rules: This is how businesses behave in the market, and that is how you should behave when you run a business.”