An Excerpt
During the past two weeks, I have been more productive in my creative endeavors than I've ever been in my entire life. I truly feel inspired lately. It's a great feeling. It's liberating.
I'd like to share just a bit of that inspiration with a short excerpt from one of the stories I'm working on. Enjoy...
"So did you like mellow him out or something?" Beth seemed eager to get back to the conversation.
"Not exactly," Jean replied. "Well, not just then anyhow. I mean, like I said, he was pretty much a scoundrel and even though he never you know, treated me badly, we weren't dating in the traditional sense of the word. It's strange, probably, to everyone else out there, because everyone has these notions of what love is supposed to be and how people are supposed to act in a relationship. But we were just mutually attracted to one another. And it wasn't just the physical attraction, there was something cerebral involved. We challenged each other's worldviews; we made each other reconsider our fundamental assumptions. That's not something you come across every day."
"It's really eerie to hear you talking about that because I feel the same way about him," Beth inserted. "I guess he's good at that, and always has been, huh? That's why he's the recruiter, so to speak?"
"Well, yeah," Jean replied, "that and he's so trustworthy. After fifteen minutes with him, I was ready to bare my soul to him, not to mention have his children. So even though he had a whole harem of women while he was in Paris that summer, I didn't really care. It wasn't like he was trying to hide anything from me, you know? We talked about it all the time, and maybe some of those flings found what he was doing offensive when they found out he was living with me while pursuing them, but I never did. Because he was honest, and he knew I could have asked him to leave at any time. I never did ask him to leave because, well, I guess I've got some pretty progressive views on relationships."
"Shit, you're kidding me!?" Beth exclaimed. "I mean, he was totally cheating on you, and you just let him? God, you must be like every man's fantasy girlfriend."
"Oh I doubt that. Most men wouldn't be able to keep up with me, and I think most men don't like feeling inferior. Which is not something that I have any qualms about doing. Frankly, I don't tolerate idiocy."
"But you're alright with infidelity?"
"Not exactly, but my definition of infidelity is probably quite different from most people's, just like what I expect and want from a relationship. We kind of struck it off, and I just offered him a place to stay while he was in Paris. I knew he wasn't ready to settle down or anything, and frankly, that's not what I was looking for either. I think most people get into relationships looking for some kind of stability, but we both knew that that wasn't what we were looking for in each other. What we gave each other was the chance to grow, and to leave society's burdens behind.
"I like to think that our relationship sparked something, or was at least the catalyst, that brought our organization into existence. Back then, we called it The Seventeen."
"So why aren't you One and Two? What's with Seven and Seven Teen?"
"There were others involved, mostly his friends from childhood, and when we all decided to make a go at this thing, it was decided that the first fifteen numbers would go to the 'founding members' a.k.a. all the buddies from childhood, and I chose Seven Teen because it's my favorite number. Yeah, Six Teen actually came after me."
"So... how are your views on relationships now?"
Jean laughed. "Just get to the point, right? Would I care if he slept with you?"
"Uh, well..."
"I have to admit, things are a tad different now," Jean replied, calmly, reassuringly, "We're older, we've been through a lot together. And I do mean, a lot. We've buried bodies, gone to the ends of the earth, made all sorts of plans, outwitted every international police and spy organization in the world, caught international criminals for those organizations, saved each other's lives, figuratively and literally, time and time again. We've kind of become, dare I say, comfortable. I mean, I would probably be devastated if something were to happen to him, you know what I mean?
"But that's not really answering your question," Jean admitted. "I'm still damn liberal about relationships, Beth. I love him, and I haven't been with anyone else since I met him. But I didn't, and don't, hold him to that. It just happens that I haven't had to in a long time. But I suppose I wouldn't mind him sleeping with you, so long as he still loved me. I mean, I think the two of us are, together, way more than we are individually, and I really enjoy pushing the barriers together that we couldn't have challenged alone. It would really hurt to lose that. So sex isn't everything in our relationship; it's not even the most important thing."
"That is so weird. You sure you're not like, Mormon or something? Resigning yourself to sharing your man with other women? I don't think I could ever..."
"Ah, but that's why you're here, Karen," Jean interrupted. "To think what you didn't think you could think before. We're like the Army, you know, be all you can be, only we let you keep your free will."