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.

________________________________________

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

                

Birth of a Nation

On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to discuss the fighting that had erupted in Massachusetts between colonists there and the British Army.  Delegates from all thirteen of the original British Colonies were at the Congress.  On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, based upon a resolution passed by his Colony’s Convention, proposed to the Congress that “Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” On July 2, 1776, Lee’s resolution was approved by twelve of the Colonies.  New York gave its approval one week later. 

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence which refers to the “Unanimous Declaration of thirteen united States of America.”  It concluded that “We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America...declare, That these United Colonies are...Free and Independent States.” 

The reference to thirteen, to an uncapitalized united, and to independent States is proof that the original thirteen British Colonies came together in the Declaration of Independence for the purpose of declaring independence from the British, for each of the thirteen States. 

The declared independence was, of course, rejected by the British.  It took until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, after seven years of war, for the British to finally accept the independence of those thirteen American Colonies.  In the first article of the treaty, “His Britanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to be free sovereign and independent states.”  

The original document, ratified on March 1, 1781, that governed the relationship among the thirteen newly independent States was the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.”  Article 2 of that document declares that “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence.”  Article 3 proclaimed that “The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other.” 

As this league of friendship ultimately proved unsatisfactory, representatives from the thirteen independent States reconvened in Philadelphia to draft a new document, the Constitution of the United States of America.  The Preamble of the Constitution declares that “We, the people of the United States...establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” It was now the United States, not the thirteen united States. 

Article 7 of the Constitution proclaimed that, “The Ratifications of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution Between the States so Ratifying the same.”  On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to so ratify the Constitution, thereby establishing a Union between it and the other eight States (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia) that had previously ratified it.  Today is June 21, 2015, the 227th anniversary of the birth of a nation, the United States of America.  Please celebrate this anniversary today and every June 21st.    

The other four non-ratifying independent States (Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island) could have been considered to be foreign nations by the United States of America.  However, Virginia ratified the Constitution four days later on June 25, 1788 and New York followed suit the next month on July 26, 1788.  North Carolina joined the United States of America the following year on November 21, 1789.  Finally, Rhode Island, which had at first rejected the Constitution, ratified it on May 29, 1790, almost two years after the establishment of the Constitution of the United States of America.  The thirteen previously independent States had now given up their independence to form one independent united nation.

Please note the following from Dr. Richard R. Beeman, John Welsh Centennial Professor of History Emeritus, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania: 

“There is no question but that the thirteen American colonies, when they declared their independence, considered themselves "united States" in that common cause, but NOT The United States.    And the Articles of Confederation reinforced that notion of thirteen independent and sovereign states--making it clear that the states, not the "central government," was supreme.  Indeed, the Articles of Confederation are properly considered more of a "treaty" among those sovereign states than America's first Constitution.    The drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution was an important step in creating the United States, but, in fact, if you look in the public press during the period between 1789 and 1865, most of the references to the central government are spelled "united States," not "United States."  It is only after the Civil War, when the notion of a perpetual union is enforced by force of arms, that the American nation is regularly referred to as the "United States.””

 

Mirage

One summer afternoon in 1965,  I was in New York City with my parents.  As tourists, we were wandering around the streets of Manhattan looking for something to do.  We passed a cinema on Broadway and decided to go in and watch a movie.  It was called Mirage and starred Gregory Peck.  In those days, his name on a marquee was enough to attract the movie-going public.  This black and white film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and had an excellent supporting cast of Diane Baker, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, Kevin McCarthy, Leif Erickson, and Jack Weston.  The screenplay was written by Peter Stone, who two years earlier had written the screenplay for the very successful film, Charade (which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song), starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, along with the same Walter Matthau and George Kennedy.

When we entered the cinema that day, Mirage had already begun.  But for us, this was normal.  When we would go to the Oswego Theater in my home town, the decision to go would usually be a spur of the moment one and our arrival would have no relationship to any movie schedule.  We would watch the movie from the point at which we arrived until the end.  Then we would sit through previews, newsreels, cartoons, serials, and sometimes a second feature, until finally our movie would begin again.  When the point of the movie arrived when we had entered the theater, we would get up and leave.  One of us would say, “This is where we came in.”  To me, that was normal.  Today, I think it a very strange way to see a movie.  Today (and for most of my life) I am guided by the movie schedule.  I would not think of entering a theater after the movie had started.  

However, that day in 1965, I am glad we entered the cinema when we did, after the movie had already begun.  Why?  It had to do with the story and how it should have been told.

Mirage begins when David, a chemist who works for a private foundation, has discovered a way to neutralize nuclear radiation, which is a good thing.  However, it creates the possibility of radiation-free atomic bombs, which can be a bad thing.  He takes his yet undeveloped discovery to the office of the president of the foundation, which is on the twenty-seventh floor of a New York City skyscraper.  David believes his discovery is too dangerous and decides to destroy the only copy of its formula.  He opens the window and starts burning the paper it is written on.  The president of the foundation, a humanitarian who believes in the formula’s peaceful uses, tries to stop him, loses his balance, and falls out of the window.

David, utterly shocked at seeing this man whom he admires fall to his death, suffers “unconscious amnésia.”  He walks out of the president’s office forgetting who he is and what he has just witnessed (this is where film actually begins).  At exactly this point in the movie, my parents and I entered the cinema.  Like David, we had no idea what had just happened.  All four of us were confused.  However, the rest of the theater audience knew exactly what had happened (wrong).  Slowly over the next hour and a half the mystery is solved.  The shock gradually gives way and David’s memory slowly returns.

In my opinion, the story should have been told in this manner (and it was):  both the protagonist and the audience equally in the dark.  It would have created a more interesting detective story similar to an earlier Gregory Peck movie (Spellbound directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945) where his character also had amnésia.  There, both Peck and the audience had to simultaneously try to put all the pieces together. 

Mirage plays out as a Hitchcock-like suspense thriller.  After the shock, David doesn’t remember who he is, but a beautiful woman tells him they have a relationship.  That is a good thing.  On the other hand, two gunmen threaten him for some unknown reason, which is a bad thing.  It all relates to sinister forces that are trying to obtain his formula, which he has forgotten all about.  However, by the end of the movie, good triumphs over evil.  If you get a chance to watch Mirage, which I recommend, it will be a good lesson in how movies should be edited.    

 

Happy Half-Birthday

In the Walt Disney full-length feature cartoon, Alice in Wonderland (1951), Alice enters the house of the Mad Hatter, attracted by the sounds of a celebration inside.  The Mad Hatter, along with the March Hare and a very tired Dormouse, is celebrating their respective unbirthdays.  These obviously are all the days of the year which are not their birthdays. 

This gave me idea.  Celebrating every day (but one) as an unbirthday is a bit much.  But, celebrating only once a year on your birthday is too little it seems to me.  Therefore, I invented the half-birthday.  And today, June the 7th, is my daughter Rachel’s half-birthday.  Happy half-birthday, Rachel.

After all, people will say to you, “How old are you?”  If you want to give out this information, you tell them your age as of your last birthday.  But that birthday could be ten months ago.  So the age you provided is thus misleading.  You are actually closer to your next birthday.  But you are not there yet.  So breaking the year in two halves makes more sense.  Now when you tell them you are say, thirty and a half years-old, with a half-birthday only four months ago, you are providing more accurate information.

In addition, think of the advantages of this extra day of celebration.  The economy will benefit from people spending money on half-birthday cards, store-bought presents, gift cards, chocolate and ice cream half-birthday cakes, half-birthday parties, pizza parties, surprise parties, etc., etc., etc.  We will all be a little happier as we receive more personal recognition from our spouses, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and colleagues.  I don’t see any downside to my idea.  Do you?  So when is your half-birthday?  

Fourth Lake, Chapter 5

Eventually, Phil left the divided highway at Exit 23 and headed into the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.  In 1894, this mountain range became the first and only wild land preserve in the United States to gain protection within the confines of its own state constitution.  It contains about six million acres, which makes it larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, the Great Smokey, the Everglades National Parks combined.  It is also larger than each of the seven smallest states that make up the USA: Hawaii, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.  The rocks making up the Adirondacks are among the oldest on Earth, about one billion years old.

Finally, Phil took New York State Route 28, heading west.  It would be about 70 miles before they would reach Fourth Lake and the tiny little town of Inlet, New York, just outside of which Judy had rented a cottage for their two-week vacation.  Its residents like to say, it’s a destination for visitors who want to enjoy the nearby wilderness.  Their motto is “where mountains and memories meet.”

Driving along Route 28 was at times a slow and laborious process on treacherous turns with many hills and valleys.  While Phil had to pay close attention to the road almost every second, Judy could sit by and take in the magnificence of the landscape.  She noticed how sweet the air smelled.  Then, there were the trees everywhere, lush and green.  The leaves were so plentiful that often you couldn’t see the brown bark of the trees.  Occasionally, Judy noticied clear water, both in the form of still lakes that reflected the images of the trees on the far side and bubbling brooks where the current seemed to dance off the rocks that were small impediments to the water.  She thought of James Fenimore Cooper’s masterpiece, The Last of the Mohicans, which was set in these mountains.

In the late afternoon, they reached Inlet, a town you could easily drive through in less than one minute.  Judy pointed out the sign for Woods Inn, the restaurant where she wanted to have dinner and Phil pulled into its parking lot.  The temperature was a few degrees cooler than it had been in New York City when they left that morning.

Woods Inn dated from 1896, eight years before the town even existed.  It was actually a magnificent, white, four-story structure with a green roof that faced out onto Fourth Lake.  The bottom floor housed a tavern called the Laughing Loon.  On the second floor was a reception area plus a large, elegant dining room.  Instead of the dining room, Judy preferred sitting at one of the tables that were set up on the long terrace overlooking Fourth Lake.  The reflection of the sun’s rays as it was setting glistened on the water’s surface.  As Judy looked around, she could only see trees and more trees hugging the water’s edge.  Phil ordered the 14 ounce prime rib, well done, and the mashed garlic potatoes.  Judy’s choice was very unconventional, the grilled venison with long grain and wild rice.  They shared a classic caesar salad, a bottle of merlot, and a large piece of home-made apple pie.

After a marvelous dinner, Phil and Judy got back into their car for the thirty-five second drive to their cottage.  As they were walking to their car, the two walked past Mitch Riley, the fifty year-old bartender at the Laughing Loon.  They didn’t notice him, but he definitely noticed Judy.  Mitch, a slim, bald man, had an eye for the ladies and knew few women who looked as good as Judy did.  He hoped she would pass his way again.

The keys for their cottage were in the virtually identical cottage next door where their landlords, Harry and Peg Williams, lived year-round.  While Phil tended to the luggage, Judy knocked on the front door. 

“Hello.  Who’s there?” asked a male voice.

“It’s Judy and Phil Black.  We’ve come for the keys to our cottage,” she replied.

“I’ve been expecting you.  Come on in.”

Judy entered the beautifully decorated cottage.  There she saw a handsome young man, perhaps the age of a graduate student, who greeted her with a big, toothy smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Judy.  Unfortunately, my aunt and uncle couldn’t be here because of a medical problem.  Nothing serious, but they had to go to Albany.  My name is Joe Williams.  I’m sure you’ll be very happy with the cottage.  If you need anything, just come over and I’ll take care of it.  Here are the keys.”

“Sorry to hear about your aunt and uncle.  I’m sure we’ll have a great time.”

Judy noticed a twinkle in Joe’s eyes that caught her special attention.  Before she left the cottage, she turned to look back at Joe who was still looking at her with that same toothy smile. 

Their cottage was just what Judy had wanted for their romantic getaway.  It was rustic both inside and out.  To the right and left of the cottage were trees.  In back was the road to Inlet and in front was Fourth Lake.  The cottage was simple, but decorated in a similar fashion to their landlord’s.  It was basically a very large room with a separate full bath.  The large room included an area for their bed, an area which included a small round table, two chairs and a TV, and a separate kitchen space with a refrigerator, a sink, and a stove.  Toward the lake was a patio with lounge chairs and a barbeque.  After unpacking, they sat on the patio, relaxing and admiring the view.

“It’s beautiful, Judy.  You picked a winner.”

I’m glad you’re not disappointed.  I’m sure we’ll enjoy ourselves here.  We have everything we need.”

“Let’s just relax now.  I’m kind of tired now from the drive up.  And I didn’t get much rest yesterday, or all last week for that matter.”

At 7:00 PM, Phil and Judy watched the only television they would see that day, Sixty Minutes, which was one of their favorite programs.  Mike Wallace was interviewing President Nixon’s White House Chief of Staff, General Alexander Haig.  The General claimed that Nixon was hanging tough throughout this difficult Watergate ordeal.  He expressed confidence that they would have the votes to win once the impeachment issue would get to the full House of Representatives.  Any resulting decision by the President would be based on what would be in “the best interest to the American people.  That will be the criterion on which Richard Nixon rules, governs, if you will, continues in office or might decide not to.”  The interview was very troubling to both Phil and Judy.

After the program was over, they returned to the patio to enjoy the sights and sounds of the lake.  Later, she asked Phil to fix her a whiskey and soda from their well-stocked bar.  He agreed, but after ten minutes, Judy wondered what had happened to her drink.  She entered the cottage and saw Phil fast asleep, face down on their king-size bed.  Judy had a fantasy of both starting and ending the day by making love with her husband.  It was not to be.  She left Phil where he lay.  She fixed her drink herself and returned to the patio to look out over her view, which was diminishing rapidly.  Judy was still thinking about sex.  She enjoyed it.  She needed it.  What had occured that morning had only whetted her apetite.  She was so disappointed that Phil had let sleep overtake him before they had a chance to make love again on their new bed.  Tonight it was too late for Judy and Phil.  But as Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day."

Fourth Lake, Chapter 1

Judy’s eyes slowly opened from a blissful night’s sleep.  She had been dreaming, but as soon as she awoke, the memory of the dream fell into an abyss of oblivion.  She was lying on her back; her head lay gently on her pillow.  She was so relaxed that, at first, she had no desire to move.  There was no hurry.  Judy turned her head slightly to her left and noticed that her husband, Phil, wasn’t in bed with her.  Then, she remembered that he hadn’t been there when she went to bed the night before at about 11:00.  There was nothing good on TV at 10:00.  Judy read Les Miserables for an hour before her eyes started to close and she put the book down.  Sleep came quickly and easily.  She turned her head slightly to her right to look at the digital clock on the night table.  It read 6:56 AM.

Phil had told her that he had to work late every night this week, including Saturday, if they were going to be able to get away on their two-week vacation to the Adirondack Mountains. 

Judy sat up and examined Phil’s half of the bed.  Had he been there at all last night?  She couldn’t be sure.  She was a housewife, not a detective.  She felt a momentary twinge of panic.  Had he been in an accident on his way home from Manhattan?  Had he left her and run away with his secretary?  Where was he?  The panic disappeared with the sound of the shower being turned on in their bathroom.  Phil must have awakened slightly before she did and slipped quietly into the shower.  Or perhaps he had just arrived home and went straight to their bathroom.  It didn’t matter; he was home.  She was safe, at least for the present.

Judy got out of bed and started walking toward the sound of the shower.  She was wearing a floor-length, light blue nightgown and the white panties she had worn the day before.  She opened the bathroom door without knocking and entered.  Steam from Phil’s hot shower was starting to form on the mirror in front of the sink.  Judy could see his face, through the transparent shower door, as he looked up toward the shower head while rinsing his dark, blondish hair.  His eyes were closed and he didn’t realize, as yet, that he had company.

“Good morning, darling” she said.

“Oh, Judy!  I didn’t hear you come in.  Did you sleep well?”

“Great!  How about you?”

“So, so.  I got in a little after midnight.  I woke up about 15 minutes ago.  I tried not to wake you.”

“You didn’t.”

Judy noticed his wonderfully tall, masculine body, shimmering from the constant flow of hot water.  For a man of forty, he kept in great shape.  To her, he didn’t look that much different from the first time she saw him, almost 20 years ago, when he was the point guard for the University of Pennsylvania’s basketball team.  It was December 1955 and Judy, as a cheerleader for the Violets of NYU, had made the trip to the Palestra in Philadelphia to help her school to victory.  However, she couldn’t keep her eyes off number 10 in the cute white uniform of the opposition.  His chiseled face and his blonde hair made him look almost too beautiful.  Judy marveled at his muscular shoulders, arms and legs that were not hidden by his skimpy uniform, trimmed in red and blue.  Unfortunately, his cute butt was completely covered by his tight-fitting short-shorts.   

As she was staring at her naked husband, Judy began to have the desire to feel his warm, wet body, up close.  She couldn’t exactly remember the last time they had made love.  He had been so busy lately.  She removed her nightgown and panties and opened the shower door.  Her naked ex-gymnast’s body revealed a slender 5’ 3”, thirty-eight year-old woman, not much altered by having delivered two babies.  Judy’s perfectly-formed breasts and long dark hair would catch the eye of any man.  She felt some of the hot water splash on her body.  It felt good and welcoming.

“Judy!  What are you doing?  I’ll be out in a minute.”

“No.   I don’t want you to leave.”

Judy put her arms around Phil’s neck and kissed him passionately, with her mouth and tongue desperately searching for his.  She wanted to make love to her husband.  He seemed to have been avoiding her for too long.  She found him and cornered him at a time and in a place where he couldn’t escape.  The hot water now poured over them both.  After an initial hesitation, he succumbed to her feminine charms.  Phil returned Judy’s passion and lust.  He grabbed her right breast and her left buttock.  She gently took his erect penis in her soft hands.  After ten minutes, they were both drained and revitalized by their lovemaking.  It was a great way to begin their vacation trip to Fourth Lake.

Fourth Lake is in the Adirondack Mountains Fulton Chain of Lakes, named for Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat.  Fourth Lake, the largest in the chain, is 5.5 miles from Old Forge, New York (population 800), at the beginning of the chain in the west, to Inlet, New York (population 400) at its far end in the east.  Near Inlet on Fourth Lake is Eagle Bay, New York (population 300).  First Lake, Second Lake, Third Lake and Fourth Lake are really one long lake separated by narrow straits.  There is a stream that allows access from Fourth Lake to the much smaller Fifth Lake.  Old Forge is about 270 miles north of New York City.

To be continued next month…     

 

Marty Kolins

Marty Kolins was born 100 years ago tomorrow, May 25, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York.  Actually, he was born Martin Yeager, the first and only child of his two parents.  Unfortunately, his father died when Martin was a little boy.  What a tragedy when this happens.  No man would ever love him as much as his natural father.  Apparently, his mother had some financial difficulties as a result of her husband’s death and Martin went to live with his grandparents who raised him for several years. 

Eventually, his mother remarried and Martin went to live with the newlyweds.  She had a hard job convincing her new husband to accept Martin as his son.  He legally adopted Martin who then became Martin Kolins.  The couple later had a daughter and a son, Martin’s half-sister and half-brother.  Martin’s step-father showed favortism towards his biological children in contrast to being much less supportive of Martin.  I believe that Martin tried, for the rest of his step-father’s life, to show him that he was worthy of his love.  It was a difficult task.  This striving shaped Martin’s character.

Martin graduated from Erasmus Hall which then was a prestigious public high school in Brooklyn.  He applied to Columbia University, but was turned down, in spite of his excellent grades, because, as he was told by an admissions officer, “We have a quota on Jewish students.”  Anti-Semitism was also a constant theme in Martin’s life.  So instead of Columbia, Martin went to New York University.

As with America as a whole, the Great Depression hit Martin’s family very hard in the early 1930s.  His step-father had been a successful businessman, the owner of a company that manufactured ladies’s garments.  He not only lost his business, but the family lost their home as well.  They were literally thrown onto the streets.  This shocking turnaround psychologically devastated his step-father.  Martin became the family breadwinner.  He initially got a job as an usher in a movie theater in the Bronx, a long way from Brooklyn.

Then Martin caught a break.  Through a family friend, he got a job as an accountant, for which he had no training, at the newly created company, Joseph E. Seagram and Sons, Inc.  This was 1934.  Prohibition had recently ended its foolish experiment in the United States and The Seagram Company, Ltd., the Canadian liquor enterprise, had established its American subsidiary at the Chrysler Building in New York City.  With the exception of his service in World War II, Martin spent the next 50 years working for Seagram’s.  Martin changed his major at NYU from liberal arts to accounting.  He also changed the mind of his step-father as to his worth.  I believe that Martin was relieved that he was working for a Jewish owned business where he would be protected from Anti-Semitism.

Some time after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Martin, who was responsible for his parents, two siblings, plus a new wife, was drafted into the US Army.  After basic training in Texas, he was sent to a military base in Hawaii, then an American territory.  Shortly before his infantry unit was to be shipped out to somewhere in the Pacific where there was some serious fighting going on, Martin caught another lucky break.  While loading crates onto a ship, he broke his right arm.  He was sent to an Army medic, who did not do a very good job placing his arm in a cast.  Martin was sure it was a case of Anti-Semitism.  He never had full use of his right arm for the rest of his life.  And he spent the rest of the war in Hawaii.  After which, he returned to New York and Seagram’s.

In May of 1969, Martin, who was then the Federal Tax Manager in the Tax Department, convinced his boss that he needed an assistant.  He found one in me.  I had started working for Seagram’s in March of the previous year in the Accounting Department.  I began my new job in the Tax Department after lunch on the 15th of the month.  Martin, or Marty as I called him, was a great boss and a truly nice man.  He treated me, as he did everyone else, with the utmost of respect.  We were a team until he retired from Seagram’s in 1984 after 50 years when his wife, also a Seagram employee, was eligble to retire as well after 25 years with the company.  I succeeded Marty as Federal Tax Manager.

One thing I must mention about Marty was that he was a heavy smoker (when smoking was permitted in the office).  He would smoke one cigarette after another.  He constantly had a cigarette in his mouth and he would literally smoke his cigarettes all the way to the filter.  On his desk he had a large round ash tray that was black on the inside.  By the end of the day the ash tray was so filled with cigarette butts that you could not tell what color the ash tray was. 

One day, I was in Marty’s office discussing some work-related matters.  After some minutes, I realized he wasn’t paying any attention to me.  He kind of leaned forward in his chair, looking down, without saying anything.  Finally, he got up and walked out of his office and out of the department.  I returned to my desk, not knowing what to make of his untypical behavior.  Luckily for Marty, in those halcyon days, Seagram had a Medical Department with a doctor on duty, for Marty was having a heart attack.  I didn’t see him again until several days later as a patient in Lenox Hill Hospital.  Once he recovered, he quit smoking cold turkey,    

Marty died of another heart attack in April of 1997 at the age of 81.  I, along with many others, wanted very much to pay homage to him by going to his funeral.  Unfortunately and foolishly, there was no service (after his cremation).  He deserved better. 

Marty and I worked together for 15 years and during that time he told me much about his life.  Much of it was funny, the way he could tell stories.  A favorite expression (in Yiddish) of his was “If it’s free, spread it all over me.”  However, some was tragic.  I knew that his siblings pre-deceased him.  He cut himself off from his nieces and nephews because he didn’t think they would want to maintain any contact with him once his brother and sister had died.  Foolish!   He went through a very messy divorce from his first wife.  She had a lawyer and he didn’t .  Foolish!  He literally left their relationship with only the shirt on his back.  His wife maintained sole custody of their teenage daughter.  Occasionally, she would run away from her mother and go to stay at Marty’s home.  Once, the mother kicked in his front door to retrieve their daughter.  Marty was very disappointed with his adult son when he tried to stay neutral during his parents’s divorce.  Marty became estranged from him for a time as a result.  Foolish!

As Marty lived in my neighborhood, I ran into him occasionally after his retirement.  I was always happy to see him.  Let us leave Marty with one anecdote that typified the kind of person Marty was.  A colleague of ours in the Tax Department who smoked once made an off-hand comment that he had run out of matches.  This was not a request, simply a comment.  Marty left the building and went to a nearby store to buy a box of matches.  He returned and gave it to our colleague.  Marty was still trying to prove to his step-father that he was worth it.