I gathered up the center of the rope in my fist, including the rings. I gave one end to Marie. “Marie, you were there the day Sue and I first dated. I looked at the love you had for Mark, and thought how wonderful it would be one day to have something similar. Would you do me the kindness to hold this, the symbol of our beginning, that first promise?”
She grinned. “I never knew you to be so dramatic, Trey,” she said. She held the end, looking around the table.
I gave the other end to Sue, on the opposite side of the table, still clutching the middle, hiding the rings and knots. “Sue, I can depend on nobody but you for this. Will you hold this symbol of our future? Guard it?”
“Of course, honey.”
I looked at the women. “Get a good grip. Firm. Don’t let go no matter what. You hold my past, present and future in your hands.” My hand held the middle, but my other hand slid beneath the table and took a half-dollar out of my pocket.
“Marie, you’re guarding the past. Sue, you’re protecting the future. But who’s watching the present? If I were to turn my head, for even a second, what would happen?”
I had them on the edges of their seats. Damn this was fun. “I’m going to lower my eyes for one moment. I want you each to pull the ends of your ropes when I do.” I lowered my head, one hand still extended, providing the necessary cover. “Pull.”
When they did, I lowered my head over my other hand, and dropped the coin on the glass surface. You could hear the distinctive sound of metal on glass, and they all gasped. I palmed the coin and looked up.
The rope was extended, a ring near each of the women, but the center was a single unbroken line.
“Trey!” Sue called out, her eyes searching the table surface.
“Never fear, my love. I may have looked the other away, but I never, ever lost track.” I reached for the engagement ring, and with a rub of my finger I released the false knot, and the ring dropped into my hand. I showed it around, and passed it to my wife. I took her hand and slipped the ring back onto her finger. “My promise is intact.”
I put my hand over the ring in front of her, and released it as well. I displayed the anniversary ring, and put it on Sue’s finger. “Our future. I’ll always trust you to guard it.”
I gave them time to take in the rope. Two empty knots. When the tension was perfect, I took it from them. I looked around the table. “Damn it. Past and future taken care of, what the hell happened to the now, the commitment?” I tried to make it funny, and I did get a hint of a chuckle out of them.
I looked down the table. “Guys? One of you want to do me a favor, and give me my marriage back?”
They looked shocked, nervous, glancing at each other and my wife. I pointed to the napkin on the table between them. Mark lifted it, and they all saw the wedding band sitting there.
Annie and Marie were laughing, clapping. It took a few second before the guys recovered, and Dale blustered his way through, sliding the ring down the table toward me. “I think you lost this,” he laughed.
I picked it up and inspected it. “Perfect, unbroken.” I winked at Dale. “Never lost it. Trust me.” I handed it to Sue, and she almost couldn’t put it on her finger, it was trembling so much.
I held her hand. “It was only a trick, beautiful. A little joke. We both know nothing could ever interfere with our commitment. Nothing.”
She nodded slowly. “I… I have to pee,” she said, and got up, almost jogging into the house.
Marie was inspecting the rope. “Jesus, Mystery! Where do you come up with all this shit? That was amazing!”
I laughed. I’d learned that the little air of mystery I had surrounding my past was the most interesting thing about me. “Y’all aren’t the only ones with secrets,” I teased, giving her a wink.
“Refill, guys?” I asked the husbands sitting at the far end of the table, huddled together whispering.
* * * Then * * *
I never dated in high-school, and didn’t have any more luck on station. I was no longer a virgin, after hooking up with a girl working on one of the tankers during her 72 hours leave. I had an interesting education through two overnight stays. She was stocky, brusque, and coarse, and for 48 of those hours, I thought I was in love.
During my final winter, I ended up in a decidedly bizarre relationship. One of the scientists, an older attractive married woman approached me out of the blue.
“May I buy you a drink?” she asked.
“I don’t drink much, but I wouldn’t mind having one. I insist on paying.” Kind of silly, I guess. She must have earned three times what I did.
That won me a grin. I ended up buying her two long-island iced teas, before she got up the courage to move forward with whatever she intended.
“Trey, can you be discrete?” she asked me.
“Always, Dr. Ross.” She wasn’t completely unknown to me, an associate of Master Keno, but we were hardly friends.
“How long have you been here?” she asked. “I know you were a fixture when I arrived two years ago. Keno says you’ve been here longer than him.”
“This will be my fifth winter.”
“Five? How do you stand it? The winters I mean. Summer’s not so bad.”
“I like it. I have my hobbies. I’m happy with myself I guess, don’t need a lot of entertainment.”
She was playing with her hair, almost like a nervous teen. She scooted her chair around closer to me. “Last winter I almost went crazy. The lab was like one big ridiculous orgy. I… I can’t do that. I’m married. Happily married, I like to think.”
“Married? I’ve never seen your husband.”
“He has a teaching position. The opportunity here was too good for me to pass up.”
“Lonely?”
“Desperately. Could you do something for me? I know it’s going to sound weird…”
It was. Katy Ross became my Pillow Princess. Forty seven years old, and so far above my station it was ridiculous. Elegant, attractive and brilliant, she fascinated me. She invited me to spend my nights with her. I serviced her orally, every night. She never reciprocated. The best she’d allow was for me to play with myself while touching her. Five long months, I pleasured her. In exchange she mentored me, got me the choicest lab assignments, and made me part of the ‘in’ group.