Chapter Two
"No, it's not very funny. I lost my virginity in the backseat of a town car. Can't say as I'd recommend that experience."
Madge moved toward her, arms outstretched. "Why didn't you tell me? My poor baaaa-beeee." Tears coursed down her face. "Now I understand. You're afraid of sex. That's why you don't want to get married."
"No, I'm not afraid of sex. I just don't like it very much."
"You can't know that." Madge hugged her.
"I do know that. I had another lover," Marianne confessed.
Madge's eyes bulged, Marianne's revelation obviously rocked her mother's world. But Zeus flinging lightning bolts from Mount Olympus, Madge needed a fast forward into the twenty-first century. Marianne knew from long experience how old-fashioned her mother could be in her attitudes and beliefs. She figured that her mother had grown up in the 1950's, and had liked that decade so much, she got stuck. Just like a needle skipping on a vinyl record album.
"We'll talk about this later. We have company," Madge replied, her back stiff. Marianne’s meddling mama obviously didn't want to confront such a blatant contradiction to her beliefs. Burying her head in the sand was how the older woman always handled news she didn't want to hear. It wouldn’t surprise Marianne if her mother decided she’d been victimized in some manner.
“You should be careful, Marianne. Once you get a reputation for being easy, that’s all the boys will want from you.”
“I don’t date boys, Mom. That’s illegal.”
“You know what I mean. In my day, women guarded their virtue. Virginity is precious. Now you won’t be able to go to your husband untouched. Such a shame. I don’t care to discuss this any longer. What if someone wandered in and overheard us? I don’t think I could take the shame.”
Marianne nodded. Fine. She didn't care to discuss it either, especially since it had now become all about Madge Wilson. "I'll go back outside. How long until dinner?"
"Twenty minutes."
No comments:
Post a Comment