Fresh Contacts
by Jerry Guarino
Beth Johnson bent over the
sink, held one eyelid open and inserted a new
contact lens, then blinked in the mirror before
inserting the other one. “Ah, there’s
nothing better than fresh contacts.” The
pretty college coed was finishing her freshman
year at one of those prestigious Eastern
universities. Beth loved gardens and botany
science.
Her parents sheltered her time. She grew up in
the cotillion environment of Philadelphia society
and came out on her seventeenth birthday among
the other young women expected to become junior
league members. She attended Haverford High
School and spent her summers at sailing and
tennis camps in Maine. Although she was accepted
at Princeton, she insisted on going to Cook
College for their landscape architecture program.
Meanwhile, her boyfriend Frankie was driving to
campus for his classes. Frankie was a sophomore,
but older, having spent four years in the Air
Force before college. He had G.I. Bill money from
the government which covered most of his expenses;
fortunately because his parents lived paycheck to
paycheck. Frankie studied English and American
Literature, about as different as life could be
from being stationed in Vietnam.
“Hi angel” he said to Beth as they met
for their first class.
“Hi Frankie. Sorry we couldn’t get
together last night.”
“No worries. I had to study for that exam on
Poe this afternoon. What about tonight?”
“Sure, can we go to a movie? That new movie
Jaws is supposed to be good.”
“I guess. But how scary can a movie about a
shark be. You know it will be some fake
mechanical fish; won’t be realistic at all.”
“That’s not what my girlfriend Jennifer
said. She spent half the movie hiding in Donnie’s
chest with her eyes closed.”
“All right. Whatever my girl wants, you know
that.”
Beth gave him a hug and kiss. “Thanks
sweetheart. That’s what I love about you,
you’re so good to me.”
“We better get inside. French class waits
for no one.” Frankie took Beth’s hand
and they entered the large auditorium, sitting
halfway down in the middle, close enough to see
but far enough that the graduate student giving
the class wouldn’t call on them.
After French, the couple split up for a while.
Beth heading to the science building for her
biology class and Frankie heading off for three
English classes. They wouldn’t see each
other until about 4, have something to eat and
head to the movies.
Frankie and Beth had an idyllic romance. It was
just what Frankie needed after the war and Beth
liked dating someone older and more mature than
the freshman boys. She was a proper girl from a
proper family, something else Frankie liked. His
blue-collar family from East Orange, N.J. never
mixed with her upper class types. He treated Beth
like a queen, in hopes of holding on to her.
***
Sitting in the movie
theater, Frankie realized what Beth’s
girlfriend was talking about. “That sure
looks real to me.”
“I thought you said it was going to look
fake,” she said while snuggling into Frankie’s
arm.
“All right, I was wrong. Those Hollywood
guys are getting better at their moving devices.
I can’t imagine anything more realistic than
this.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to
sleep tonight,” said Beth as she squeezed
his arm in fear.
“Good, I better stay down with you then,
protect you from nightmares.”
The scary movie gave them a good reason to shake
off the nerves that night. Lovemaking brought
them back down to Earth. By morning they had
recovered from the scary music too, those now
familiar cello notes two at a time signaling the
shark’s return.
“Let’s go to the pancake house for
breakfast dear. I’m starving.”
“I know why,” said Beth. “You had
quite a workout. Just let me get my backpack.”
Frankie and Beth continued to date for a year.
They seemed quite content. There weren’t any
signs of dissonance. Then one day, Frankie was
sitting in class taking notes when he felt a
distinct pain in his groin area. He headed over
to the campus medical building to check it out.
After a test, he discovered he had contracted
Gonorrhea. Doubly sad, he realized Beth had been
cheating on him as well as having an STD. He took
some medicine from the clinic and headed out to
find Beth. How could she do this to him? He
thought they were meant for each other. He
finally caught up to her at the quad.
“Beth. What are you doing?”
“Hi Frankie. Nothing why? What’s up
with you?” as she gave him a hug and kiss.
“I just came from the clinic. You gave me
Gonorrhea. I just came by to tell you to go have
yourself checked.”
“I don’t know what to say dear.”
“How could you? I thought you loved me.”
Beth averted her eyes. “I do Frankie. I just…”
“Just what? Decided to bang some low life
downtown. Who is this guy? Is he a student?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know! How many guys have you
been screwing?”
“There was this party last week. I told you
I had to study. These guys gave me a drink and I
passed out. When I woke up, I was alone in this
club. I don’t know who I had sex with or
with how many guys.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You should
have known better than to go downtown alone.
Weren’t any of your girlfriends with you?”
“Linda was, but she left me around 10 o’clock.
That’s the last time I remember seeing her.
When I called, her roommate said she went home to
Maplewood. She hasn’t returned any of my
calls. I still don’t know what happened to
her.”
Frankie was disgusted, but conflicted about his
feelings. “This is because your family never
let you live in the real world. I need time away
from this.” He walked out, still angry but
unsure what he should do next.
Beth called and left messages, but Frankie didn’t
return them. He decided to move on. Beth stopped
contacting Frankie. She understood.
***
Frankie left right after
finals to spend time with his family. He was
mowing the lawn when approached by a neighbor
holding a letter. “Frankie, look I got into
Rutgers.”
It was Maria Novelli, the girl next door. Frankie
hadn’t seen her in a couple years, since
leaving for college. “Hi Maria. Hey that’s
great news. Which college?”
“Douglass. I’m supposed to go down for
orientation next week.”
“The woman’s college. Good. You’ll
actually get some homework done.”
“I was hoping you might have time to give me
a tour.”
“Well, I’m going down on Friday to get
an apartment. I’m tired of commuting from
here. Do you want to go with me then?”
“I’d like that.”
***
Frankie and Maria started
dating that year.
Fresh
Contacts by Jerry Guarino
Copyright June, 2013 – All Rights Reserved
|
