Fourth Lake, Chapter 6

Judy woke Monday morning from a sound sleep, fully refreshed and fully alone, again.  She looked around for any signs of life and found none.  She called out Phil’s name and received no response.  She said it two or three times, to no avail.  Finally, she got up and searched the cottage.  Nothing!  She started to worry a little, again.  It was like twenty-fours hours had passed and nothing had changed.  Had he abandoned her on Fourth Lake?  Had he run off with his secretary?  Had he...

Judy looked out of the window with a view of the lake and saw Phil dressed in beige bermuda shorts and a white Penn t-shirt squatting by the shoreline looking out at the clear, blue water.  She put on her bathrobe and slippers and walked down to the lake to greet her husband who had not abandoned her after all.

“Good morning, darling.”

“Good morning, Judy.  All this nature’s so fantastic.  I’m glad you talked me into coming.”

“I wish you’d have wakened me.  We could have made love and then come down here together to enjoy all this.”

“Oh, you were sleeping so soundly, Judy.  I didn’t want to disturb you.”

She grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him towards her.

“Please, Phil, promise me that you’ll wake me the next time.  I want us to spend as much time together as possible over the next two weeks.  This place is beautiful.  I know that.  But, we came here because I want to know where we stand and where we’re headed.”

“Look, Judy, I guess I haven’t been the best husband to you, but I’m trying.  I’ve been working hard and I have a lot on my mind at the office.”

“I hope you’re not talking about your secretary.”

“Please, not again.  There’s nothing going on there.  Stop it.”

Tears came to Judy’s eyes.

“Phil, you’ve got to admit that she’s young and beautiful and I’m getting older and have had two kids and ever since she started working for you, you seem to have lost interest in me.  You never tell me you love me and never put your arms around me and you never say you want to make love to me.”

“Of course, I love you, Judy.  I wouldn’t be with you if I didn’t.  Maybe I’ve forgotten how to treat you and maybe I’ve been taking you for granted.  But, believe me, I love you, not my secretary.  Beside, you’re far more beautiful than she is.”

He kissed her lips like he meant it.

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, I’m sure.  Are you hungry?  Let’s go to the local market and we’ll buy some food.  And then I’ll make you a great breakfast of pancakes with butter and maple syrup.  What do you say?”

“Okay!  I need you, Phil, and I love you.  But, you’ve go to show me.  It’s important.”

“I know, Judy.  Let’s go.”

In the U.S. House of Representatives that day, the Judiciary Committee approved, by a vote of 28-10, a second article of impeachment as follows:   “President Nixon repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, such as (1) endeavoring to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposes not authorized by law, (2) by directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service and other governemental agencies to conduct investigations not related to national security, the enforcement of laws or any other lawful conduct of his office...”

When Phil heard it on the car radio, he said to Judy that “I’m sure every president has done something like that against one of his political opponents.  That’s nothing to get kicked out of the White House for.”

A presidential spokesperson denied that Nixon would resign.  He was confident that the House would not vote to impeach.  “We do not feel that it will go to the Senate.”  However, Senators Mike Mansfield, Hugh Scott, Robert Byrd, and Robert Griffin met to plan for the first trial of a U.S. president since 1868 (Andrew Johnson).  In addition, House Minority Leader John Rhodes estimated that the votes against the president would reach about 300, well over the majority necessary.  Rhodes was not a happy camper.  In a final piece of bad news, Howard Phillips, Nixon’s former Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, announced the creation of a new organization called Conservatives for the Removal of the President.

Judy and Phil drove to Inlet’s only food store, which was smaller than anything like it in Little Neck.  After they had loaded their wagon they had to wait in line several minutes at the store’s only check-out counter.  That gave May Flanagan, the check-out girl, plenty of time to check out Phil, the handsome, new tourist.  She was a cute, 35 years-old brunette with relatively short hair.  Her husband had abandoned her about four years before to move back to Syracuse.  She loved living near Fourth Lake more than she loved him.  Unfortunately, there was a scarcity of men in the area.  As she was recording their purchases on the cash register, May kept an eye on Phil, who returned awkward glances at her.  Luckily, Judy was too occupied with packing groceries to notice the predatory female who was giving her husband the once over.

They loaded up the trunk of their car with enough bags of food and other necessary household supplies to last for a week.  Judy wanted to return one day to Woods Inn for dinner and perhaps go to the Laughing Loon for a drink, but she wanted to cook their meals in their cottage as much as possible to create a more intimate atmosphere between the two of them during their vacation on Fourth Lake. 

Later in the day, they took a swim in the lake from the píer in front of the cottage, which was built to accomodate the many boat people who liked to frequent this part of the Adirondacks with its many lakes.  In spite of the heat of the day, the water was neither hot nor cold, just very refreshing.  Judy was wearing a very small red bikini that showed off her flat stomach, especially for a woman who had given birth to two children.  Phil had on a pair of black Speedo swim trunks which showed off his manly physique. 

Judy swam over to Phil and put her arms around his neck and kissed his lips.  She looked into his eyes as adorably as possible.  Under the water, she wrapped her legs around his waist.  She wanted his full attention. 

“I love you, Phil, very much.  Do you love me?”

“Of course, I do.  You know I do.  I was just about to tell you.”

“How much?”

“You and the kids mean everthing to me.”

“Let’s not talk about the kids.  This trip is for us.”

“Okay.”

“Do you know what I’m talking about?  I don’t just want us to be our kids’s mom and dad.  I want us to be lovers, passionate lovers.  That’s what I want.  Is that what you want?  Maybe it isn’t.”

“Sure.  I want to be your lover.  I love you.  You’re a hot-looking woman.”

“I’m hot-looking, Phil?  Okay!  But am I too hot to touch?  Are my lips too hot to kiss?  Are my breasts too hot to hold in your hands?  Is my body too hot to feel on top of yours?  Am I too hot when you’re inside me?”

“Sure!  Sure!  Sure!  What do I have to say to satisfy you?”

“You have to prove it to me, Phil.  I can’t just take it for granted any more.  You have to prove to me how you feel about me.  This is your chance.  There are no kids here.  No clients, no colleagues, no family, no friends, no family nor neighbors to interfere in our lives.”

“You make it sound like a test.  You’re putting pressure on me, Judy.”

“Every day when you go to work, you have to prove something to your clients.  If you don’t, they go somewhere else.  Well, think of me as your most important client.  You’ve got two weeks to prove that you’re the best.  Otherwise,...”

“Otherwise what?”

“Look, it’s real easy, Phil.  If you put out the effort, I’ll meet you half-way.  But, you’ve got to show me.  If you just act on what you said, that you love me and that you want me, everything will be okay.  The problem has been that you haven’t shown me this over the last couple of years.”

“You know that’s because of my work.  It’s exhausting.  By the end of the day, I’m sapped.”

“Bullshit!  If you want me, you find the time and the place and I’ll be there.”

Judy got out of the water, went into the cottage, and then into the bathroom and closed the door.  She was dripping wet.  She had left her towel by the lake.  She sat on the toilet, leaned forward, put her face in her hands and cried.

Phil got out of the water and sat on the edge of the dock with only his feet dangling back in the water.  He stared out to the west where the sun was starting on its downward arc reaching near the peak of the mountain that stood on the opposite side of Fourth Lake.

Later, after dinner and after enjoying a gorgeous sunset together on their deck, Phil and Judy, without saying a word, went inside and headed toward their bed.  Judy pulled down the covers and started to disrobe.  Without taking her eyes off Phil, she slowly removed her blouse and then her bra.  Following her lead, he took off his tight-fitting t-shirt.  They laid down on the sheets from opposite sides of their king-size bed.  Phil got on top of Judy so that his well-toned pectoral muscles rested on her firm, but soft breasts.  With their arms wrapped around each other, they pressed their lips together and slowly began to make love.  Judy slept well that night.  She thought progress had been made.

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I will be on vacation for the next two Sundays.  Watch for my next post on July 19th.