They slept until ten. Actually they were both up much earlier and both closed their eyes and went back to sleep. By ten Bill would normally already be at work and his wife would normally have already been working for two hours. So their bodies dictated their waking times more than any clock or alarm.
They slept very close together. They always slept naked except sometimes in the winter when it was really cold. They almost always slept close together, but this night they slept closer than usual. She was happy, he was happy.
When they woke, after they brushed their teeth he had coffee she had tea. In effect, if one were looking from outside at the marriage and at them as a couple that should have said everything. Still, after their morning beverage, they got back into bed.
There was something to be said for youth. There was something to be said for him being at the peak of his sexual prowess and she not even having come close to hers yet. There was something to be said for being familiar with each other, for being in love, for being in lust, for being uninhibited and unrestrained. They smoked a joint. Bill took a Quaalude. They made love. They took their time, they did whatever they felt like doing, they made long, serious, unadulterated love. In the same moment they had sex and made love.
When they were done Bill stayed in bed and rested. His wife got up and went about the chores that she had to do for this Sunday morning. It wasn’t much. It was only gathering the laundry that needed to be taken to her parents to be done there, straightening the apartment, which was the top floor of a duplex, doing the dishes and putzing around. It didn’t take her long.
Soon as she was done she joined him in the bed. He was watching TV. There wasn’t much on. They smoked another joint and after they’d finished the joint Bill went into the kitchen and brought them each a glass of wine. This early in the day his wife didn’t want any wine so Bill happily drank both glasses. Then, because they were with each other, because they were happily high, because there was nothing else to do and nothing they really had to do, they went at it again. This time, with clear understanding on each of their parts, it was you please me and I’ll please you.
It left them both sated, tired and happy. So they went out for breakfast, or brunch as it were since it was already almost midday.
Bill generally did not like to eat out. In his short time in kitchens he’d already seen enough to not want to eat from what other cooks prepared. Working in kitchens for many years, as it would happen for Bill, would leave him with a distinct dislike for eating out. Working in kitchens for many years, as it would happen for Bill, would leave him preparing his own food almost all the time and mostly eating fresh salads with meats, cheese and other assorted items inside the salad.
Today, this time, he ate a cheeseburger, a big, goopy cheeseburger very rare, with onions, tomatoes, pickles, lots of pickles, mayonnaise and ketchup. His wife ate the same thing, only she took hers cooked medium-well. They shared a large vanilla milkshake, two straws inside one big glass. They sat opposite each other looking at each other, taking each other in.
After the meal at the diner they went off to her parents house. The drive was about forty minutes although they could have done it more quickly if they’d gone a different way. They took a leisurely drive together, talked about the rest of the day and the upcoming week. It was clear they weren’t going to be seeing each other much because Bill was not having any more days off at least for several weeks. It was clear they wanted to take each other in in the moment.
