Chapter 5

"Honey, calm down and try to make sense!"

"Ralph, I'm perfectly calm," Melody said as she tried to sort her mind. "And I thought I made sense."

"So far you've told me that you let Harold Stone lay you, that we're getting an extra hundred dollars a month because you're a whore, that Mrs. Waller is a bull-dyke Lesbian, that Harold Stone diddles his students, that Mrs. Waller breaks some of the girls into being little Lesbians, that she and Mr. Stone's aunt were gay lovers, and that Harold Stone thinks you're a Lesbian and wants you to lay some of the little girls. That makes sense?"

"But it does, Ralph! Maybe I haven't expressed myself well, but that's all true."

"Melody, you're hysterical."

"I'm not, Ralph, I swear I'm not. It all happened. Every bit of it! Why won't you believe me?"

"Well, if you insist it's all true, I suppose I'll have to. How about a drink while we try to sort this all out?"

"Anything. Strong. Something to relax me. I haven't slept since you left."

Ralph's mind ran in circles while he poured two double bourbons on the rocks. Unless Melody had cracked up, Ralph knew her well enough to know she was telling him exactly what she believed. He returned to the living room and handed her a drink.

"Okay," he said as he sat on the floor with his back against the wall, "let's take all this and analyze it. We'll take things one at a time. What's first?"

"Oh, God, I don't know. I suppose that I laid Harold Stone," Melody replied with a sigh. "It was the night you left. I was terribly blue and depressed and he came up here with a magnum of champagne...."

"A magnum?"

"I think that's what you call it. Anyway, it was the biggest bottle I've ever seen. We danced and I got tight. Then he made a pass at me and I took him up on it."

"Okay, so what? I laid a secretary in New York last night," Ralph said. "You and I have always believed in sexual freedom, and God only knows how many people we've both laid. So what was so special about Harold Stone?"

"I knew you'd say that," Melody replied with a sigh, "but it isn't that I feel guilty about laying him. It's ... it's my attitude. You see, I didn't want to lay him. He wasn't the least bit attractive to me, but I went ahead anyway. Then I deliberately led him into that bet about getting him hard again. I mean, Ralph, that's being a whore!"

"I'll admit that was out of character, but remember you were drunk. People do funny things when they're tight. Besides, the raise will help us. I'm sure that had something to do with why you did what you did."

"Oh, Ralph!"

"Be practical, honey," Ralph said softly. "Anyway, let's move on to the next thing."

"The fact that we're working for a bunch of weirdos?" Melody said sarcastically.

"Perhaps, but you're labeling. Now, take Mrs. Waller and Mr. Stone's aunt. What's so unusual about them being gay lovers? You've always felt that gay people had every right to their belief."

"I know, I know," she responded softly, "and I can't understand why that upset me so."

"After all, Melody, there are millions of homosexuals in the world. It's common, and there's nothing wrong with it. You've said so yourself a hundred times." He stood up and walked over to put his arm around his wife's shoulders. "You know, I think what dings you is Harold calling you a Lesbian. This is maybe a poor time to talk about it, but we should air it out. I've often wondered if you weren't gay."

"Ralph!"

"Well, it's true. Have you ever reasoned it out in your own mind? You don't like intercourse, isn't that true?"

"Does that make me a Lesbian?" she demanded, her body tense.

"Not necessarily, Melody, but it opens the door to it being possible. Surely you can see that. And if you are, what difference does it make? Have you thought that out?"

"Ralph, I don't want to talk about it!" Melody pushed his arm away and stood up to walk to the kitchen to refill her drink. She couldn't bring herself to tell him that she hadn't been able to think about anything else since that night-that Harold's words rang in her ears every moment of the night and day. She poured herself a triple and walked slowly back to the living room.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about it, what else is there?" Ralph said. "The fact that Mrs.

Waller plays with some of the girls and Mr. Stone lays the willing ones bothers you?"

"Yes, Ralph, it does. Doesn't it seem ugly and terrible to you?"

"Not really. Oh, I know there's supposed to be something sacred about the sex life of a kid. But a lot of that is Puritan bullshit. Kids are horny little human beings. At least some of them are. And the horny ones will haul their ashes with or without the help of an adult. You know that. The innocent ones won't, and no adult can make them. So if these two are seducing little girls, they're seducing the ones who want to be seduced. And if they don't, the kids will get it on their own."

"You honestly believe that?"

"Of course I believe it," Ralph countered, walking to the kitchen for a refill on his drink. "And if you're honest, you'll admit that it's true," he called as he poured the amber liquid into his glass.

"Would you lay a little girl, Ralph?" Melody asked, walking into the kitchen and sitting on the stool by the sink.

"Yes. Sure I would, if the little girl wanted to be laid and I was attracted to her. After all, I'm fixed so I can't knock a female up, so that danger isn't present. And I think in some cases it does a lot of good."

"My God, how?"

"If the adult knows what he is doing, he can teach the child all the joys of sex without creating some of the stupid hang-ups they get in the bathroom or the back seat of a car. You've had basic psychology and you know how tied up in knots an individual can become from some stupid concept of sex gained at an early, impressionable age."

Melody stood up and shrugged her shoulders. Ralph's argument was in a way valid, she knew that. Yet it still seemed wrong, dirty and ugly. "Then you don't think we should leave Heavenly Hills?" she asked, leaning in the doorway to the living room.

"No, Melody, we can't leave. Not until we complete our term contract. He has us where he wants us."

"Even if we exposed him for what he is?"

"And how could we prove it? It would be our word against his, and he'd win. You know what something like that would look like on our records. If we leave, we cash in on our teaching careers, believe me."

Melody knew he was right, no one would ever believe them. She walked slowly into the living room and slumped down in the large chair.

"Oh, Ralph, I'm so miserable!"

"I know you are, honey. Look, I think we have to stay."

"That's easy for you to say."

"Sure, but I also believe that if you bury yourself in your work you'll be able to work this out. And do us both a favor and read up on sexual psychology. Maybe you'll find the answer there."

"I don't have much choice, do I?"

"You can leave if you want."

"Alone?"

"I don't think I can give up my teaching career, Melody. It's all I have."

"I'm sorry, Ralph. Really I am. I don't mean to put our marriage to a test. This is my own ghost, and I'll have to learn to live with it."

"Or destroy it, and I'll help you all I can."

"But if that ugly bastard comes near me again, I'll kill him. I swear I will, Ralph."

"I'll talk to him and tell him I know everything. Clear the air, and let him know where you stand. Don't worry, he won't bother you again."