Singing St. Louis Blues

Our romance did not advance at some torrid pace. In fact, in spite of the early license, I did not receive a repeat performance and certainly we did not have intercourse. Instead, Susan would invite me to her condo for "coffee". I would come over as she had installed cable which I did not have at my home and because of her work schedule, she did not really watch or need. She said she had purchased cable because of poor over the air reception in the condo which I showed her could easily be rectified if she had only realized that her TV was set to the wrong input (already set for cable and not air) when I had delivered it. Well, I was there for ESPN, the History Channel, A and E, and companionship. We kissed, engaged in petting like teenagers but did not have sex. I found a ridge above her anus between her buttocks and would use that with some lubricating jelly to effectuate my release. As a strange aside, at dusk after dinner at my home with my parents as I walked her to her Celica, she said "I want to see you jerk-off." I said, "Pardon-you want me to what?" She repeated, adding, "I've never seen a man do that". This coming from a woman who worked as a nurse before she entered the insurance industry. She watched in real rapt fascination as I worked quickly-fearing my parents could come out at any time. It was not, I think, a typical relationship. We planned our first trip together for St. Louis. We stopped on route at the gambling riverboat in Metropolis, Illinois. I had another hint of something wrong-I lent Susan $200 to gamble with expecting to share her winnings equally if there were any and to get any remaining principle back if she did not lose it all. I had some remarkable luck at the tables, my first hand was poker and I lost. I decided to shift tables to a "luckier" one. I thought my next try was another poker table and demanded the croupier give me three cards. He asked, "Are you sure-are you sure you want three cards?" As the other players looked on aghast, the dealer doled out two deuces and an ace and I had twenty-one on a $2 bet at two hundred to one. I was so dumb I did not even realize I had been playing blackjack. I did not want to test my luck and did not gamble anymore that evening. I heard my name called on the boat's PA system and worried something had happened to Susan who had started complaining of back pains on the ride or that I had been accused of cheating. When I arrived where I had been summoned I realized it was nothing dire, I had just missed signing the back of one of the traveler's cheques when I bought our chips. Susan had heard the summons and we reunited. I asked how she did at the tables and she claimed she had won, but she never offered me the $200 I had lent her back or offered to split any winnings as I thought had been agreed. Because I had won and still wanted to have a good time, I did not press the issue. When we arrived at the University City Marriott, it was late-11ish. After checking in and stowing some luggage, we went to the hotel restaurant which appeared to be bustling. By way of synchronicity, the establishment was technically closed but had been leased for a wedding where the groom was an insurance agency owner from Susan's hometown of Huntington, West Virginia. The kitchen was closed but the bar was opened. Susan had a mixed drink and I had a Budweiser. Susan was over-friendly with the groom and a couple of male wedding guests, basically rubbing herself all over them. They did not object, but I certainly did, and I literally carried her back to our room. I had never seen her that way-she had always projected a certain reserve in my presence. She must have realized her lapse in decorum and claimed her drink must have been drugged. She was hungry, and I went to the front desk to see what might be open nearby. As luck would have it, a pizza delivery man approached me on the way back to the room. He asked, "Are you Mr. Harper?" I replied, "What do I owe you?" and bought someone else's pizza. I brought it back to the room and we ate with Susan passing out after a few bites. I ate and listened to a prostitute servicing her customer in the adjacent room. In the morning Susan and I took a sauna and kissed a little. If another patron of the hotel had not joined us, I would have tried to fuck her for the first time which certainly would have been my first in a sauna and Susan's, who had suddenly proclaimed virginity, first time anywhere. I was determined to rid her of that on the trip, but as we walked around the zoo, Budweiser, and Grant's Farm, Susan seemed to be in excruciating pain. Susan fought the pain as we went up in the Arch where I was seated in the car as we ascended with a Polish Catholic engineer who now made St. Louis his home and who visited the marvel, he said with great frequency. He described the great freedom we enjoyed here, his admiration for the then sitting Polish Pope, and for the great contribution of the Solidarity union and Lech Walesa. I was impressed by him until he started to tell me what was wrong with this country: The Jews. We proceeded after the Gateway Arch to the riverboat casinos to see if I (we) still had the Metropolis magic. Evidently, our luck had changed because the armed security guard who was checking identifications refused us entry, saying my license was counterfeit and mangling it as he examined it. We decided to dine at Ruth Chris that night with Susan changing into something "Bohemian" in the car. As we entered, a St. Louis Ram football player, who had just participated in the game against San Francisco in the last held at St. Louis's old stadium, exited the establishment with his family. There were literally no other patrons there, just Ruth Chris staff remained at the late hour, but the maitre d' asked if we had reservations. I asked, "No, do we need them?" He haughtily said, "Yes, but I will see what I can do," as if he was doing us a favor to let us eat at the overpriced restaurant. I indignantly told Susan we would find someplace else to eat. The valet parker who had taken my key two minutes earlier refused to relinquish it because my ticket had not been validated. It was the valet key, so I simply took one of the two sets with the remote entry (Susan had the other in her purse) and we drove to a different restaurant where I had steak soup for the first and only time in my life. We went back to the room with Susan's pain flaring back up; and in the morning, I drove back to Nashville. We stopped in Glasgow, Kentucky on the way back where Susan was excited when she saw a car dealership bearing my last name. I told her my Dad had bought a saffron, 1977 Cadillac there. When the sales staff, hungry for a customer approached, Susan introduced herself as Mrs. Goodman. After browsing cars, I asked why she had taken the use of my name and she declared, she felt like Mrs. Goodman already and one day soon surely would be. We went to an antique mall where I showed Susan some place mats with John Barrymore art decorating them, a remarkable coincidence as an original Barrymore that was replicated in one of the four mats had been on the wall of my parent's den throughout my life. Susan insisted I buy them to commemorate our first trip together. When I went to make the purchase, the mall owner tried to cheat me by saying they were four dollars each rather than four for the group. I would have set them down and left, but Susan saw my hesitation and forced my hand, by saying, "Mr. Goodman you're not going to go cheap on me now." So with a dollars worth of dining room place mats in hand that I had just paid almost twenty dollars for, counting tax, we headed south. Susan complained of more back pain which softened my dismay at being taken and focused my concern on her health. Upon arrival home, Susan reclined on my parent's living room floor and I asked my folk's who saw her suffering if she could use my bed. They agreed, and she seemingly reluctant, did as well. On the next day, Susan's doctor found she had kidney stones. She would habitually go to my bed ever thereafter without asking or being invited, and yet, we still had not had sexual intercourse.