Chapter 4
ITALY
Jane.
"I always thought of Italy as such a sunny country with happy people jumping up and down on grapes but, when we arrived in this country, it was cloudy and the people looked sad. This just goes to show you that one should never generalize about something as big as a country.
"Italians are also noted for being romantics so I hoped that this would not be another false generality. When I walked down the street with Veronica and Slone they seemed to get all the attention because they are built along the more generous lines Latin men seem to prefer. Veronica, because she was the youngest and the only blonde of our small group of divorcees, garnered almost all of the attention. She had her can pinched a few times while I, being narrow where a broad is supposed to be broad was passed by. In this nation where huge bosoms and wide hips are sexually stimulating I felt that I was going to bring all my erotic skills to bear before I landed my next fish.
"I picked a night to do my boy-chasing when Veronica and Slone were more interested in sampling Italian food than Italian males. (I suppose this accounts for the fact that both of them have the ample beamage that so many men seem to adore. But, this sounds catty so don't take my statement too seriously.)
"I hired a car and drove around Rome like a young man out to pick up women. Even after my adventures with boys I still can't get used to the male position of being the pursuer and seducer.
"It was early in the evening so the streets were full of teenaged boys. They were hanging out in front of stores and on the street corners as if hoping for some fantastic thrill to snake them out of their doldrums. For one boy, at least, I was about to become just that thrill.
"My knowledge of Italian was limited but I did know a few words and phrases to get by on. I had no idea of how I was going to accost a boy and just hoped that an opportunity would show itself. Then I saw a lad leaning against a streetlight all by himself. He was about sixteen with a mass of black curls and a slim figure. Like all the other young males I had seen thus far he appeared to be waiting for a sensation to enter his life. I parked, the car right next to him and, in my bad Italian, I asked him for directions to a hotel several blocks from the one I was really staying at. I did not want to give him the name of my hotel because that just might complicate matters. I still remembered the trouble Veronica almost got into in Cairo with that bay she seduced right on the hotel's grounds.
"The boy seemed pleased that he could be of service and tried to give me directions as best he could. I wasn't really lost and the hotel I wanted was only a few blocks away. I urged him to come and sit next to me in the car while we pored over a map of Rome. The boy slipped in beside me without any further pushing and pointed, out the best route to the hotel on the map. Still acting the helpless tourist I offered him money if he would ride in the car with me so as to give me a block by block direction. With the hotel very close by I wasn't going to take him out of his way so he agreed.
"When I first came to Rome I noticed the large, dark nearly deserted parking lots behind some of the hotels and I realized they were good seduction spots. That was why I had rented a car in the first place. The hotel I asked the boy to bring me to had just such a parking lot.
"We arrived at the large, dark area in a matter of a couple of minutes. I parked the car in the darkest and most remote part of the lot and placed my hand on the lad's knee. 'How can I ever thank you?' I said in Italian.
"The boy's knee jumped slightly as if I had touched him with an exposed wire. I slipped my hand down along his leg until I reached his crotch. Again there was that jump but he didn't take my hand away. In silence I rubbed his crotch until I felt his male member grow and harden. 'Nice boy,' I said. 'You like me, too?'
"The only reason the boy could think of for a mature woman to make a pass at him was that I was a prostitute. 'I have no money for you,' he said.
"'You don't need money,' I told him. 'I'll pay you."
"He looked at me in sheer disbelief. To make sure that something hadn't been gained or lost in the translation, I pressed several lira notes in his hand that amounted to ten dollars. He looked at the money and then at me. 'Have you ever made love?' I asked.
"'No,' he answered with a very small voice. He looked down at his shoes now as if ashamed by the admission. In Italy virginity in the male was considered laughable while girls were supposed to be virgins until the day they died if they never married.
"I rubbed the boy's crotch again and asked him his name. His name was Tony and, as I had figured, he was sixteen years old. When he didn't make a move towards me I asked him if he wanted to love or still be a virgin. He swallowed noisly and, as if in answer, he stuffed the lira notes in his pocket. I pulled my dress up and exposed my legs. The only light came from the rooms of the hotel which cast a dull yellow pall over the parking lot. I had parked just beyond the yellowish gloom but enough reflected into the car for us to see all we had to see.
"When I pulled my panties down the boy undid his belt and slipped his trousers off. He then pulled off his shorts and sat there naked from the waist down except for his shoes and socks. I turned towards him and spread my knees wide so he could look at my sexual area. He turned to me and actually started to masturbate. I was sure that this had been his solace for some time and, by habit, he had returned to it when he was aroused. 'No,' I told him. 'Don't waste yourself like that."
"I hadn't made love in a car since I was a teenager myself so I had forgotten just how uncomfortable it could be. It was especially difficult since I also had to deal with a virgin Italian whose language I could barely make myself clear in. But sex is an international language and we were soon closing the communications gap.
"I could see a face appear at one of the hotel's windows and look out but that was all the reaction I could observe. The boy edged upon me more carefully now and managed to avoid hitting the horn. I took his engorged meat in my hand and pressed it against my cleft. Tony moved down into me and he gave an excited gasp when his organ filled mine. With hand signals and a few Italian words I had to tell him what motions he had to take now. Tony was a quick-study and he was soon ramming me good.
"In the dull yellow gloom I watched the rise and fall of his naked buttocks. I embraced him and dug my fingers into his shirt. It was of poor quality and faryed from too many washings. Tony was a poor boy and I was sure he could use the money I had given him.
"He used swift, piston-like strokes as his hard maleness cut into my flesh. The small car we were in began to rock back and forth as the boy fornicated for the first time in his young life. Suddenly a light swept past us but Tony kept on thrusting. I tried to warn him that another car had just come into the lot but he was too enraptured by this new sensation to care.
"I heard a car door slam and a couple arguing as they walked away. They hadn't seen us after all. I hugged the boy tighter and sucked on his ear as if to squeeze out that male fluid and complete the sexual act.
"Tony gave out a series of gasps and then he climaxed. I patted his back and said: 'Nice boy, nice boy."
He rested on my body as he spilled into me the first of his erotic wine.
"It was just as hard for us to break contact as we had to make it and Tony hit the horn again with his elbow. This time he lost his balance when the sound blasted and his whole weight fell against the horn. The noise brought a dozen people to as many windows and I heard shouted complaints. I pulled on my panties and smoothed out my dress while Tony struggled into his clothes. As soon as both of us were, for the lack of a better word, decent I started the engine and stepped on the gas. I drove Tony back to that same corner and, to get him to leave, promised I'd pick him up again the next night at the same time. I hated to lie but he had shown signs of wanting to stick to me like glue. Once you arouse the beast in a male, no matter what his age, he is hard to shake off.
"When I drove away I glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw the young Italian boy leaning against the lamp post as before only this time he wasn't waiting for a fantastic thrill to come rolling up to him ... it had already come and gone."
Veronica.
"As I write this I find it hard to sit down because my poor ass is covered with all kinds of bruises from pinching men. Italians really do pinch women in the rear. All this time I had thought it was propoganda put out by the Italian Tourist Bureau to attract female visitors from all over the world.
"I'm sure that by now that Jane has told you about her affair in a parking lot in Rome. You'll notice that my letter has another postmark and is dated a week later. This will come as a shock to you but, in all the time I was in Rome, the most romantic city in the world, I didn't screw a single boy! It wasn't for the lack of opportunity, though. I just had to crook my finger and I'd have a dozen boys on top of me. It was just that I felt I needed a vacation from all this boy-chasing and I acted like a regular tourist. Slone had the same idea so both of us visited a bunch of fountains and resturants where we took lots of pictures and gained a few pounds. After all, we're not on this world cruise just to see the insides of bedrooms and the meat between the legs of teenaged boys.
"I found my playmate in a tiny town you've never heard of. The three of us were just knocking around Italy until we came upon this quaint, out-of-the-way inn. Jane, being the linguist of our group, got the man to rent us rooms. As it happened he had only two rooms left; a double and a single. Jane and Slone bunked together while I had my own room. It was comfortable and very inexpensive since it was off the beaten trail.
"When I took the room I had no plans to go boy-hunting until Palo opened the door. He was a homely kid of fifteen who had a great deal of charm about him all the same. He had spent several years in America and so knew how to speak to me in English. 'Yes, sometimes I'll go back to Brooklyn, New York,' he told me and made Brooklyn sound like an exotic foreign port.
"Come to think of it does a native of the South Seas look upon himself as exotic? I suppose everyone else thinks that all the exciting, rare and sensual places are in other countries. Palo thought his small, beautiful Italian village was dull while Brooklyn was the nearest thing to heaven. This just bears out the old saying about it always being greener in your neighbor's pasture.
"So much for bromides. You want to hear about my affair with Palo who was only fifteen years old.
"After my brush with danger at that hotel in Egypt you would think that I'd avoid making it with a boy under the same roof but this case was different. To begin with we only planned to stay the night and we'd be off, off and away before Palo spread the glad tidings. And, besides, for the first time since I started on this cruise I actually slept with a teenaged lover.
"In America when we speak of people sleeping together we usually mean that they just had sex. So far I hadn't slept ... really ... with a boy and the chill in the air about the Italian village made me hunger for something warm to hold on to all through the night.
"I waited until Palo made his last round of the night before I turned on my charm. His parents, who owned the inn, were already asleep and he was the only one of the staff awake. When he knocked at my door I answered it dressed in a sheer nightgown which easily revealed the fact that I was naked underneath. Palo came in with some towels and, when he saw me, his eyes popped out. 'What's the matter, pet, ever see a nightgown before?' I cooed.
"He stammered and stuttered. 'N ... not like yours,' he said.
"I stood in front of a light so that he couldn't miss my body. Palo stood rooted to the spot and stared. 'Would you mind dropping by after you've finished your rounds?' I asked. 'I can't sleep well and I'd like a little company. We can talk about Brooklyn, New York and all those other fabulous places."
"He readily agreed and hurried to complete his rounds. A moment later he knocked at the door. All his towels were gone and there was an obvious bulge at the crotch of his tight pants. The boy tip-toed into my room whispering that his parents didn't like him to be with guests but, since they were asleep, he would risk their wrath for me. Jane and Slone were in the room next door and I reasoned that they didn't try to make the kid because they were too selfish to share. I was willing to send the boy over to them once I was finished. The fact that Palo had returned made the seduction a foregone conclusion.
"I told the boy he should take off his shoes because no one would hear him then. When his shoes were off I said: 'Let us both get more comfortable.' I took off my nightgown and revealed my naked glory.
"The young boy sucked in his breath and those dark eyes went wide. 'You've never seen a naked woman before, Palo?' I asked.
"'O ... only in girlie magazines,' he confessed.
"So I had me another male cherry. I lay down in bed with my legs spread and urged the boy to strip, too. He cast a nervous glance towards the door as if suspecting some kind of trap. Maybe he expected a photographer to come bursting in and shake him down for his weekly tips. Palo took off his clothes and his body was much better looking than his face. His shoulders were wide, his stomach was flat, his hips were narrow and his glorious penis was large and rigid. I had hit the jackpot with this lad.
"'Come over to the bed, Palo,' I said soothingly. 'We can talk. There is nothing wrong in being naked. I always sleep this way, don't you?' " 'S ... sometimes."
"'Maybe we can sleep together? If I like you I'll give you a big, fat tip."
"I dimmed the light and Palo crept under the covers with me. I reached out for him and brought him close to my naked body. 'Let's talk about Brooklyn,' I said realizing that this was the furthest thing from his mind. 'Have you ever been to Coney Island?'
"The poor child stammered even more. 'Y ... y ... yeah s ...s ... sometimes,' he managed to say.
"The boy was caught between wanting to have relations with me and the feeling that I was just a somewhat crazy American who only wanted to bed down in the nude with him. I decided that I had tortured the youngster enough and offered him my body. 'Now I'll show you how to make love,' I said and rolled over so that he was on top of me.
"I manipulated our bodies so that his heavy male member touched my pubic patch. 'Stick it in,' I encouraged the teenager and he pushed the rounded head of his sex organ into my slitted opening. 'That's it, pet,' I whispered, 'Now push it all inside me."
"Palo all put pinned me to the mattress with his ramming motion. I swept my hands over his firm, muscular frame and felt his entire being react as if it were a huge male sex organ itself. The boy might have been a virgin for the first fifteen years of his life but this, clearly, was not to be his natural state. He took to fornication like birds took to the air.
"The teenaged Italian lad shook the bed as he plowed into my flesh. I was afraid that his parents would hear the noise and come up to investigate but I didn't want to stop this bucking boy now. Palo's rammings increased in tempo and then he collapsed on me as his orgasm spewed away his virginity.
"I stroked his body from neck to anus as he poured into my body. My nipples were erect with wanting, too, and I thought of how nice it was to have an entire night ahead of us in which to explore all that sex has to offer together.
"'Suck my tits, darling,' I said.
"Palo placed his mouth against one of my nipples and sucked. He was as hungry for this as I was to give it to him because his teeth began to hurt. 'Easy, please,' I said. 'Don't bite them off."
"The boy mouthed my other nipples until it stuck up in the air like a red worm coming out of the white ground. Palo licked both of my breasts and I no longer needed to direct or urge him to do anything. He slipped further on down my body and sucked my belly button. The teenaged lad went still further down my flesh until he reached my pubic area. Again I had to warn him not to chew so hard as he performed cunnilingus.
"I rolled over on my stomach wondering if he knew what he could do in this area. Palo kissed my butts and said, with genuine feeling: 'You have a beautiful ass, lady."
"Thank you,' I said. 'For that you can have it."
"The boy licked each butt halve and then spread them. His tongue swept against my anus and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. He stretched out upon my body and his rearoused male flesh pressed against my opening. 'Not too fast,' I muttered. 'Move in on me easy there because you are a very big boy."
"Palo inched into my anal passage and I clutched at the mattress for support. Like all women I'm a bit masochistic so sodomy satisfied my need for pain mixed with pleasure. The fifteen year old lad got the thick head of his masculine member into me and then plowed on until the entire object throbbed within me. He rose and pushed down and then repeated the action until, once more, he climaxed spewing out hot, thick fluid.
"When the boy rolled over on his back in a state of weariness I kissed him full on the mouth and let my lips part. Palo responded by opening his mouth and our tongues played with one another. I pulled on his limp organ but it did not rise up for another sexual bout. I had drained the youth and, finally, he was in the mood to talk about Brooklyn.
"We talked for awhile until Palo fell asleep in my arms. He nestled his head between my breasts and I patted his hair until sleep overtook me, too.
"I was the first to wake up in the morning. The naked fifteen year old boy lay deep in the pillows and mattress and I thought it a shame to wake him but I was sure that his parents would be up and about soon wanting him to go back to work. Palo's lashes fluttered and he smiled when he saw me. 'Darling, it's six in the morning,' I said. 'I think you'd better get back to your own room before your mother and father ... '
"These two words were like cold water suddenly being thrown in his face and he jumped out of bed with a thud. He pulled on his clothes and, just as he zipped his fly up, the door opened.
"Slone was standing there in a robe and a smile on her sleepy face. 'I thought so,' she said, I knew you couldn't keep your hands off the kid, Veronica."
"The boy seemed frightened by this intruder and he started to edge towards the door. 'Wait a minute,' I said slipping out of bed in the nude, I want to give you something."
"I gave him some lira, about five bucks worth, but he was more interested in my nakedness. His hands cupped my breasts with the money still in it but I backed away before he got too aroused. 'Don't tell anyone what we did, Palo,' I urged, 'especially your parents."
"He seemed surprised that I would entertain such a thought. 'Of course not!' he exclaimed. 'Do you think I'm crazy in the head?'
"When the boy slipped quietly downstairs to his own room Slone turned to me and said: 'Kind of a homely kid, isn't he?'
"'Yes, but a wonderful lay,' I answered. 'You cannot judge a book by its cover."
"I believe I'll close this letter with that bromide. Two in one letter-is two too many."
Slone.
"You'll notice by the postmark that I'm in the southern tip of Italy. I waited until I was just about to leave the country before I went on a lad-hunt.
"By this time the other girls must've told you all about their affairs. I even caught Veronica with her boy. Well, I didn't exactly catch them in the sack together but this kid was just on the way out of the room when I came in. Veronica never learns. Suppose the boy decided to tell someone about the kind of female she was while we were all still there? These small-town Italians are very rigid about sex just like the small-towners in our country are. But, at any rate, we all got away and now it's my turn to let you in on the gossip.
"I was walking along a long, wide, deserted beach taking in the sun when I saw a boy trying to push a row boat through the surf. Since I had a bathing suit on at the time I didn't mind getting wet so I went over to help him. He was about sixteen, tall and thin. He didn't know a word in English and I didn't know a word in Italian but he introduced himself by pointing at his chest and saying: 'Vincente."
"I pointed at my chest and said: 'Slone."
"With the social graces disposed of I dug my feet into the muddy sand and helped push the row boat past the surf. Vincente jumped into it and I found myself being dragged out to sea so I hung on to the side of the boat. The boy hauled me in and I knew he was powerfully strong because I'm no lightweight and he handled me like a ten pounds of flounder.
"I lay in the small boat as Vincente struggled with the oars. He indicated that he was going to row me 'over to a dock because the undertow was too strong and dangerous. I sat up and smiled at the boy. He was strangely pale for his work and this section of the country but attractive in a mysterious sort of way. As he rowed away from the shore we were surrounded by empty sea. That familier urge took hold of me. Why not here and now"!
"Vincente stopped rowing and took in a deep breath. I used that moment to remove the bra part of my swim suit. The youngster looked at me blankly. I took off my bottom part of the suit and lay back in the boat completely naked with my legs parted wide and my sexual cleft on full display.
"The boy muttered something in Italian. I shook my head to indicate I didn't understand. He then slipped one of his index fingers through two fingers of his other hand in a sexual way. I nodded. Contact had been made.
"With almost painful care he removed his sweater, his pants, his shoes, his socks and his undershorts and piled the garments safely inside a box. The sun shone brightly on his lean nakedness. Vincente had hairy legs and the ribs of his chest showed through his skin. His sex organ was long like the rest of his body and it hung limply against the wooden seat of the boat.
"High over head a jet plane made a white trail in the sky and I wondered if anyone in the plane was looking down at the two naked people in the row boat; a woman of forty and a boy of sixteen. Vincente braced his arms against the sides of the boat as he came closer. As he moved I could see his sex part slowly erect. It appeared that, in the southern tip of Italy, everything took time to react.
"Vincente paused when our genitals were opposite one another. He took his now stiff manhood in his hand and guided it into my widely-spread slit. The boy slipped his virile tube into my body all the way to his pubic hair and then placed his entire body upon mine.
"As everything else had been thus far he moved unhurriedly. The boy didn't lift out of my body entirely but, rather, raised upwards for about an inch and then pushed back down into me again. He kept repeating these casual, easy motions for what seemed to be a very long period. I would have enjoyed such patient love-making if it weren't for the uncomfortable position I was in. The floor of the boat was wet and smelled of fish and the sun overhead was very bright and hot. When the boy moved the boat rocked so sea sickness became another discomfort I had to put up with.
"From the time I removed the top part of my bathing suit I knew that this boy was very mature and experienced for his age. He seemed very sure of himself. A woman can tell if a lover is inexperienced or not by the way he handles himself. Vincente-, the sixteen year old Italian fisherboy, had probably been making love for years before I got to him.
"Over and over he repeated that gentle yet virile movement as the boat drifted aimlessly over the still water.
Sea gulls flew by and looked down at the two humans locked in passion. All around us there was silence and I knew that we were alone from horizon to horizon. The boy stopped moving and then climaxed. I closed my eyes against the sun and felt his sperm shoot into me in the only fast motion I had experienced since I boarded his boat.
"When it was over the boy sat back and I struggled painfully to a sitting positon. I looked behind me and saw the land which cut a thin, tan-colored wedge between sea and sky. Tiny waves lapped the sides of the boat as we both moved.
"Vincente sat hunched, naked, and smiling more to himself than to me. He was a strange lad. I wondered just what he thought of a woman my age who so blatantly threw herself at a teenaged boy. His hands suddenly moved in a swimming gesture and he was over the side of the boat before I knew it. As he splashed around I wondered if he wanted me to join him. When I put one foot over the side he waved me back. He then made another motion with his arms and hands. I gather that he wanted me to row in order to keep the boat from drifting away. I now could see why it wasn't safe for two people to be in the water at once with an untended boat allowed to drift away ... the only lifeline.
"The boy sliced through the water like a fish and almost soundlessly pulled himself into the boat again. He shook his head as a dog would getting rid of excess water. He smiled at me with very white, perfect teeth and waved towards the water with one hand. He wanted me to swim now. I wasn't as graceful as he was getting out of the boat but I managed to lower myself overboard. The water was warm and still so I showed off my swimming ability to the boy to prove I wasn't such an old lady after all. Vincente sat naked in the boat and watched me with that secret smile of his playing around his mouth. Then he pulled hard on the oars and the row boat shot off.
"I swam towards-the departing boat but Vincente kept it just out of my reach. I looked towards the land and realized that I would not be able to make it especially with that under-tow. 'Vincente!' I screamed.
"'Slone!' he cried back in a mocking tone.
"The harder I swam the further the boat pulled away. I always knew that there was something odd about the boy and now I realized that he was a sadist and, probably, a murderer. And yet I had to depend on him for my very life. 'Vincente! Vincente!' I kept screaming in desperation.
"'Slone! Slone!' the boy called back and laughed.
"I started to panic. I lost what skill at swimming I had and started to struggle in the water. I went under and swallowed some water. As corny as it may sound the phrase, 'this is it', went through my mind. I thought it was a cliche that fiction writers favored.
"When I bobbed to the surface I gasped for breath. I was sure that it was my last until a shadow past in front of me. The boat! I reached out and grabbed it a'nd, as before, Vincente pulled me into it with ease. In anger I struck his face with my balled up fists forgetting that he could just as easily throw me back into the sea. This boy could murder me and get away with it. What witness was there, expect the gulls, to prove that we were seen together? I stopped striking him and slumped into his arms in utter exhaustion. 'Slone,' he said gently and stroked my hair. 'Slone."
"I tried to gather what meaning he wanted to impart. I recalled a novelty record in which only two names were repeated over and over again with different meanings to convey a story: 'John and Marsha.' This is what our relationship was like. Had Vincente been joking with me? Had his joke gone out of hand? Was that all there was to it? After all, he did come back for me when it appeared I was going to drown.
"I slid down his naked body as he repeated my name, trying to impart some kind of message. My lips brushed against his long, limp tube of flesh. In my own way I wanted to convey a need for his love and protection so I opened my mouth and took it orally. As I fellated the Italian fisherboy he patted my sea-soaked hair and whispered my name in a constant, sing-song manner. I had the feeling that he was at least a little mad.
"His tube filled out, swelled, stiffened. I kept bobbing my head up and down, fellating, quite literally, for my life. I was so completely in this boy's hands that I had to do anything he wished in order to survive.
"Vincente's male organ rose to its full length and power and then exploded with volcanic fury. His lava spewed into me and I kept mouthing him until the fury passed and his flesh grew quiet again. I lifted my head and met his eyes. He smiled and then handed me my bathing suit. I put it on and Vincente, with that maddeningly slow motion, dressed himself. He leaned on the oars and the row boat darted swiftly towards a dock that began to grow in the horizon.
"A couple of women started waving as the boat neared the dock and then I realized that Veronica and Jane were there looking at all the colorful fishing boats. If the boy wanted to kill me now he'd have to do it in front of witnesses. I waved back to show him that I was not without friends.
"When I stepped off the boat the girls started to tease me about the boy I was with. I asked them for money in which to pay the strange lad and I got several dollars in lira. I was too disturbed to really count. When I handed it over to Vincente he did another strange thing. After looking at the money for a long time he spat on it and then threw it away. The bills fell into the water where they floated and some younger boys dove in after the cash. Vincente rowed away without looking in my direction once. Had I insulted him with an offer of money? Was it not enough? I don't know. I couldn't answer these questions and the girls had to lead me back to the small hotel we were staying at. They realized that something was wrong and they didn't press me with any questions. It was two full days before I could repeat what I've just written now. Perhaps you could tell me about Vincente. Although I had had the most intimate of all relationships with him he remained an utter stranger, aloof, alien, like one of those voiceless sea gulls.
"My affair with Vincente proved to me that I was on a really dangerous mission. When a grown woman arouses a teenaged boy's sexual interests she is playing with fire. How is one to tell if the next boy is sweet and loving or paranoid and hateful? I had already been robbed of some money in Egypt and now I had almost been robbed of my life in Italy. I'm hardly a person to complain about the way Veronica seduced boys so close to their parents.
"I have given some thought to ending my voyage into the land of virile young boys but I've decided against it. I am sure I will come across other bad experiences but it is better to learn by them than to run away and hide. The one comfort I am getting out of the bad experiences is the sure and certain knowledge that my husband had had his share of them, too, with his teenaged lovers."