---

THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF SEVEN STORIES.

---

Virginia Giddings was in a loveless marriage to someone who had no clue who she was.  Twelve years older, the man she married was looking for someone to replace his first wife and Virginia checked off all the boxes.  Elias Giddings could be charming when he was making a deal.  That’s what had made him wealthy.  And when he was making the deal for Virginia, he spared no effort in the charm.

Of course, it was partly her own fault.  Being a teacher of British Literature at Pecos Baptist College she was more than familiar with stories of aristocratic gentlemen pursuing younger women to wed them and move on.  But she didn’t recognize the familiar plotline when she was in the middle of it.  Nearly as soon as the honeymoon was over Elias turned into a different man.  Or, maybe he just reverted back to the man he’d always been.  Nevertheless, she didn’t recognize him and soon came to not care for him much.

It wasn’t that he didn’t provide for her, he did.  In fact, others looking at the marriage from the outside would have thought Virginia, Jenny to her friends, had won the lottery.  He didn’t beat her.  He wasn’t mean, just indifferent.   His business dealings took priority over everything else.  He was gone frequently.  They didn’t argue.  That would have required more effort than Elias was willing to put into the relationship.

They would go out together for business or civic gatherings and appear to be the perfect couple despite the age difference.  But at home, they led completely separate lives.  That’s not what Jenny wanted, but it suited Elias just fine, which is all that mattered.  The marriage quickly turned sexless.  Jenny assumed it might have had something to do with his age.  And then she determined it might have been her.  Perhaps she wasn’t attractive enough.  Maybe she wasn’t gifted in the arts of how to please a man.

Either way, frustration gave way to complacency.  Jenny fell back on the old Irish prayer, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  She accepted what she couldn’t change, having figured out the difference.

In the spring of 1972, near the end of the semester, Elias traded in Jenny’s 1967 Mustang on a new Imperial.  Powered by a 440ci V8 paired with a three-speed automatic transmission, the car was finished in Honeydew over gold patterned cloth upholstery. Features included a gold-colored vinyl top, fender skirts, cornering lamps, wheel covers, whitewall tires, power brakes, power steering, woodgrain interior trim, power-adjustable front seats, power windows, power locks, fold-down center armrests, an AM/FM/eight-track radio, a remote deck-lid release, and an aluminum radiator. Jenny hated it.

The Mustang had been the first new car she’d ever bought, the one she had when they got married.  The fact that he’d traded it in without her knowledge painted a picture that was a metaphor for the marriage.  The fact that he replaced the scrappy little Mustang coupe with a butter colored barge galled her to no end.  Of course he didn’t do it to irritate her, and she knew that.  But the fact that he showed not even the slightest inclination to ask her, get her opinion, or give a thought as to what she might actually want made her chafe.

She accepted the car, but felt twenty years older every time she got behind the tilting / telescoping steering wheel.  The gold patterned cloth reminded her of the panties her grandmother would wear, but she kept her feelings as hidden as the headlights.

When Trixie at the Klip-N-Dye went on and on about how lucky she was to have a man who would spend such a vast sum of money on such a fine automobile as a gift for his wife, Jenny just nodded and said , “Yes, of course,” quietly.  Almost in a whisper.

It was about a month or so after the Imperial showed up in the driveway that Jenny got a call from a friend in Amarillo.

“Jenny?” her friend said on the other end of the line.  “It’s Carol.”

They made small talk for a bit.  Friends from their college days at Southwest State Teachers College, they didn’t speak all that often, but it was always good when they had the chance to catch up.  Like Jenny at Pecos Community College, Carol taught at Panhandle Junior College in Amarillo.

“Anyway,” Carol said after all the formalities.  “The real reason I’m calling is to ask you something on a professional note.  We’ve had a teacher quit unexpectedly.  Her husband got a transfer at the last minute.  She’d been scheduled to teach two ‘mini-semesters’ over the summer.  British Literature.  Your specialty!  You’d be perfect for it.  I know it’s short notice, but I told the department chair I’d call and see if you could swing it.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

“You could stay here with Cole and me.  Won’t cost you a thing.”  Carol had obviously thought about the details and was making the proposition as attractive as she could.  “You could go home every other weekend or so, if you want to.  Whatever works for you, really.”

The silence on the other end of the line was Jenny attempting to not come across as too excited, or say ‘yes’ too quickly.  She was already writing the script in her head for the way she would tell Elias she’d be gone for the summer.  She didn’t want her college friend to know just how much she wanted to get out of the house, get out of Fort Stockton, or go some place where she didn’t know anybody.  Amarillo wasn’t as far as she wanted to go, but it was far enough.

“Well, it sounds intriguing, but I don’t know,” Jenny declared in a voice that she tried to make as convincing as she could.  “Let me visit with Elias when he gets home and make sure that wouldn’t conflict with any plans.”

What she was really thinking was “Screw Elias.  He could barricade the door, hide the keys to that Harvest Gold tank in the driveway, and put an armed guard at the front door.  This is exactly what I need.”

“Can I call you back tomorrow?” she asked her friend.

“Of course.  But I really want you to come.  So does Cole.  It could be a fun summer.  And we haven’t got to spend any real time together in years.”  Carol seemed to really be excited about the whole idea.  “Call me back tomorrow.”

That evening when Jenny mentioned the idea at dinner at the Silver Slipper Supper Club, the indifference with which it was met by her husband across the table didn’t surprise her.  In fact, it made the summer in Amarillo seem even more desirable.  Elias had met Carol and Cole at their wedding, so he knew who they were.  But he had no other questions.  “If that’s how you want to spend your summer, go ahead,” he said as dessert was served.

The next afternoon when she got home from school and called Carol back to accept the summer position she again had to do all she could to not display the excitement she felt.  However, as soon as she hung up she began planning and packing.

---

---