Chapter 1

Infant, toddler, child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric reflect the changes in the physical body over the course of a full lifetime. More important than changes in the body, are the different roles a person plays in the theater of life. A small sample of roles a person can hold include friend, employee, boss, lover, spouse, leader, follower, parent, grandparent, consumer, producer, and provider. A life isn’t being lived, unless a huge number of roles are being played.

As the number of roles taken by a person in the course of a day increases, it’s unfortunate how we tend to forget a role or two. A woman who is a cook, mother, maid, wife, chauffeur, laundress, PTA member, employee, lover, companion, and supporter; can easily forget to be lover, companion, and supporter to her husband. The man that is a father, gardener, employee, provider, handyman, husband, lover, companion, and supporter; can easily forget to be lover, companion, and supporter to his wife.

The darkest hours of the night, when all are asleep and the house is quiet, is when a person is haunted by the roles forgotten in the course of the day. Why didn’t we make love today? Why didn’t I complement her on the promotion? How was it that we didn’t have the time to walk on the beach together? When did she stop supporting me? Sleep is disturbed by such questions and the body wakes as tired as when it lay down to rest.

The importance of roles can change slowly over the course of time. Meaningful roles can become displaced by more mundane roles. When did vacuuming the carpet become more important than fucking on the floor? When did being a good employee, and working overtime for a minuscule raise become more important than supporting the child at the baseball game? When did doing this thing become more important than doing that thing?

It’s only after the consequences of having relegated those meaningful roles to the background are reaped, that it becomes obvious that one has screwed up their life. The child runs away from home, the spouse has an affair, and the house becomes a dry sterile environment that kills the spirit. Loneliness becomes the watchword of the day. Men and women, in the throes of depression, cry to heaven, “Oh Lord, let me be loved.”

Infant, toddler, child, youth, adolescent, adult, and elder. Looking back to previous stages of our physical growth, we think of how much better things were back then. They weren’t, it was just that we didn’t see the true consequences of our actions at the time. We didn’t recognize the missed opportunities until long after they had passed.

Upon stepping out of the auditorium, Ed was greeted by hearty cheers from his family, friends, staff, and classmates. The crowd shouted, “Congratulations, DOCTOR Ed Biggers.”

Smiling broadly, Ed replied, “Thank you. I appreciate the help that each and everyone of you provided me.”

Beth and Kelly grabbed him, one to an arm, while Ling stood behind, pushing him down the hall to a double size classroom. Around the room were several tables filled with food created by Marguerite. One table was filled with presents, brought by everyone in attendance. Ed looked around and saw the banner taped against the wall. In very large block letters it said, “CONGRATULATIONS DR. ED BIGGERS.”

This had been a surprise for him. It was nice to know that everyone was more confident in him than he had been. For the past three hours, he had sweated and paced nervously thinking thoughts of everything that could go wrong. The presentation and defense of his dissertation had gone well. In fact, it had been so easy and was over so fast, that he could hardly believe it. The questions that he had been asked were much simpler than he expected. The end had been anti-climatic: a simple good job from the committee members.

Having been through this process himself, John knew what Ed had felt before and after. He said, “See, you were worried for nothing.”

Ed replied, “I guess so. It went pretty smoothly.”

“It always does when you know your stuff,” said John.

A very impressed Shirley came over to him. Afraid to kiss him, she hugged him as she said, “Wow, I remember when you headed off to college. I didn’t believe that you would make it this far, but you did it. I’m so proud of you.”

A line had formed behind Shirley as others came over to say something to him personally. Sherry came up to him and kissed him with a passion that curled his toes. She said, “I can’t believe the bully turned into a scholar. The whole town is proud of you.”

His old neighbor, Maria kissed him on the cheek. Smiling at him shyly, she said, “You’ve become the man I always thought you could be.”

Her wife, Rosa, grabbed Ed and hugged him tightly. Tears rolled down her cheeks in happiness as she said, “Congratulations, Ed.”

Richard Green came over and said, “Great going, cowboy!”

Seeing Richard and Ed together, John Green came over and said, “Hey, I didn’t know that you knew each other.”

Surprised to see his cousin, Richard said, “Hey, John. How’s my favorite cousin?”

“Just fine,” replied John. There had been a time when the two men didn’t get along at all. That was back when Richard was a loud, abusive, crude drunk. Past differences had become forgotten by the time that Richard married Linda. John’s daughter, Kim, came running over and threw her arms around Richard in a friendly hug. She asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to congratulate Ed on going from cowboy Ed to Dr. Biggers,” replied Richard.

Distracted by the presence of Richard, John and Kim Green congratulated Ed and went off with the cousin. When Grace arrived, she joined them as they discussed how each of them knew Ed. Ed had no idea that Richard was related to John, although the common last name should have clued him in.

Jim, Sherry’s husband and their lawyer, came over to congratulate Ed. Winking, he said, “You’re now a doctor. Folks will have to start calling you Doc Biggers.”

Laughing at the mental image that Doc Biggers invoked, Ed replied, “That sounds like the name of a sex toy company.”

In response to the joke, Jim and Sherry burst out laughing. With a saucy wiggle of her hip, Sherry said, “I’ll just have to try that Doc Biggers Sex Toy.”

Ed blushed when a half dozen women in the room piped up, “Me, too!”

With a broad smile that showed her white teeth, Cathy came over and put an arm around Jim and Sherry. Ever since Sarah, the granddaughter of William Redman, had greeted Jim at the door, Cathy had taken every opportunity to tease her former boss. Turning to Sherry, she asked, “So tell me, what did Jim say when he came home after Sarah led him around the house naked?”

While Jim blushed at the reminder, Sherry giggled and said, “If I remember correctly, it was something to the effect that he had wished it was Cathy.”

Laughing, Ed said, “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Sarah came over to them and saw the laughter. Knowing Cathy, she was sure that the woman was teasing Jim again. She said, “Are you pestering this poor man again? I tell you, he was a perfect gentleman. I was very disappointed.”

The comment invoked a great deal of laughter. Sarah and Cathy double teamed Ed while congratulating him. There were times when the staff was just too much to handle. After that, the four of them disappeared to eat and talk, leaving Ed behind to meet the next in line.

Dale and Terry Taylor were next to congratulate him. After shaking hands with Dale and hugging Terry, Dale leaned over and whispered, “We have a present that we’d like to give you in private sometime.”

Curious about the nature of the present, Ed asked, “Can you give me a hint?”

“No,” said Dale. Terry said, “We did get permission from your wives.”

The couple pushed each other in a good natured manner as Ed realized that the present probably was something sexual in nature. He blushed and said, “Tell me when you want to give it to me and I’ll be there.”

Terry blushed and said, “We’ll let you know.”

The happy couple went over to Marguerite, to thank her again for the feast that she had prepared. Marguerite had come to like the couple very much and on her days off sometimes visited with Terry. Ed, watching the four of them together, thought that it was interesting how knowing one person led to knowing another and then another.

Nevada Hayes came over to Ed and shook his head. He said, “Ed, I have to say that when you started this stuff, I was afraid that you were making a big mistake. Now that you’ve finished, I have to admit that I was wrong.”

“Nevada, I knew that you had my best interests at heart. I appreciate that. A man can’t have a better friend than that.” Ed looked at his former boss and realized that he was beginning to look old. The face had wrinkles that hadn’t been there when he worked for the man. The back was bent a little rather than ramrod straight. He asked, “So how are you doing?”

The old man looked around at all of the younger people in the room. With a sigh, he said, “I’m getting ready to retire. Just looking for the right person to take over the business.”

The initial line had disappeared as the initial excitement wore off and hungry people went to graze the food on the tables. Ed put his arm around Nevada and asked, “This person, does he need to be a cowboy or would you prefer a business man?”

Thoughtfully, Nevada looked at Ed and said, “I hadn’t thought about it.”

While scratching the back of his neck, Ed said, “When I was writing my dissertation, I met a kid that was majoring in business. I was just thinking that if you kept ownership of the business but let this kid run it, you’d have a nice little retirement check coming in every month.”

The two men discussed the possibility while walking over to a table. As they loaded up their plates, an agreement was reached for Nevada to interview Gary Dow. Nevada promised that he would go over and talk to Cathy to make the arrangements. Satisfied, with the arrangement, Ed started to eat.

After the first bite of food, he realized how hungry he was. In the morning, he had been so nervous that he couldn’t eat much of a breakfast. Lunch had been worse and he had skipped that altogether. He spent the next fifteen minutes eating.

He was finishing a taco when Kim entered the room. She came over to Ed and, after kissing him, said, “Hello, Ed. Congratulations.”

Happy that she could make it, Ed smiled at her. Kelly and Beth waved and stepped out of the room knowing that Kim was not comfortable around them. He kissed her back and said, “Kim! I’m so happy that you came.”

She looked around at the people in the room and asked, “Where are Kelly and Beth?”

Disturbed by her continued avoidance of his wives, Ed answered, “They stepped out when you came in.”

Kim was silent for a moment and then said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” replied Ed. He spoke to her back since she had already turned and was heading out the door. Watching her leave, he wondered where she was going and what she planned on doing when she got there.

In the hallway, Kelly and Beth were hugging each other. The continued unease of Kim around them had begun to hurt. It was a shock to both of them when Kim left the party and approached them. Hesitantly, she said, “Ladies, can I talk to you?”

Slowly, Kelly turned to face Kim with a tenseness in her stomach that was impossible to ignore. Too much of this and she worried that she would develop an ulcer. She answered, “Yes, you can.”

Looking around to see if anyone was watching, Kim said, “Okay, I’m willing to sleep with you.”

Looking in disbelief that Kim would even make the suggestion, Beth asked, “Pardon?”

With a little more control than she thought possible, Kelly said, “That’s nice. I’m not willing to sleep with you.”

Very surprised at the answer, Kim asked, “Why not?”

“It would be rape,” answered Kelly as she looked at the woman. Although Kim was putting on a brave facade, it was easy to see that she was terrified. Kelly added, “We don’t rape.”

Stuttering, Kim said, “I ... I ... I thought that was what you wanted.”

Beth and Kelly went to Kim and put their arms around her as they led her back into the room. Beth said, “Listen to me. We only want you to be happy. We want Ed to be happy. You don’t have to love us, or have sex with us.”

Kelly added, “We would be happy if you could at least like us.”

Confused, Kim stumbled along between them. When she looked up, she was facing Ed with tears in her eyes. She whispered, “They don’t want to sleep with me.”

“Of course, they don’t,” said Ed. At the hurt look in her eyes, he explained, “They only sleep with people when there is a mutual affection and desire. You don’t have affection or desire for them, so they will leave you alone, regardless of what you offer them. The only thing they’ve ever wanted for you, is for you to be happy.”

Looking over her head, Ed winked at Kelly who went with Beth over to table to snack on something. His wives were discussing the sad state of Kim. Sherry noticed that they were upset and went over to help them. She listened and then looked over at Kim with a frown. When she headed over to Ed, the wives tried to stop her, but she shook them off.

Sherry, a large woman, strode over to Ed and said, “Ed, I care about you a whole lot; but I’m going to take this young lady somewhere else for a few minutes, and I’ll drop you where you stand if you try to stop me.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” replied Ed. He had no idea what had been going on and decided that he didn’t want to know.

With a grip that was just short of painful, Sherry pulled Kim out of the room. Kim followed behind trying to figure out who this woman was. As Sherry pulled her along, she passed by Jim and said, “Come!”

Jim followed them out into the hallway just as confused as Kim. Sherry came to an abrupt halt and turned around looking at Kim. She said, “Darling, you have some problems and I suggest you get them taken care of. I don’t care what happened in your past, but you’ve got some lessons to learn about love. Until you learn, I forbid you to see Ed.”