Gregory and Michelle

A Story by david shevick

Short Love Story

Gregory and Michele

Gregory and Michelle met at the University of Michigan. Gregory was a promising, up-and-coming modernist literature professor with a specialty in the id and super-ego in D.H. Lawrence’s early work. Michelle was matriculated in the clinical psychology PhD program. They me,t and a romance blossomed. Dopamine and post-coital glow sailed them through their days with a light-hearted delight. They soon moved in together which made them feel even more secure with simple pleasures like cooking mushroom, goat cheese, spinach and pine nut omelets.

But, then, Michelle hit a bit of a rough spot in her academic life. Her PhD adviser openly criticized her thesis topic as unimaginative and mundane. Michelle also complained to Gregory of sexual innuendo she sensed. Gregory knew it was marital political suicide express his experience (having been an adviser himself and sat on many doctoral committees) that the best and brightest students never experienced this sort of pedagogical flak. Soon, this was all Michelle could think or talk about. Gregory patiently listened, telling himself being a supportive partner was like saving money in the bank. Then Michelle could not sleep. A love-making advance by Gregory was out of the question.

Finally, things came to a head. Michelle was walking into the Psych building and she broke down crying. She knew she had to quit. She headed straight for the under-graduate counselor’s office (even though she was a grad student, she knew she would get more support there) and got an immediate drop-in appointment. She left, uplifted. She would transfer all her units to get a master’s in social work, which she could easily complete. Besides, she really didn’t want to sit in an office listening to professional people’s problems all day or do ‘research’ with questionnaires. This would enable her to get involved in the lives of people�"ordinary people. She came home and gave Gregory a big hug and, to Gregory’s relief, made passionate love.

Part of Michelle’s new program was to do community service. Somehow she was inclined to sign up for work in the local prison tutoring reading. The first day was a bit terrifying as she walked past the inmates. Once could sense the anger and power radiating from every cell, but she grew to really like the work. One-on-one, the inmates, even the murderers and rapists, were sensitive human beings, victims of neglect and violence from their youth. She liked the intuitive, fire and power in these men lacking in the academic men she knew. Teaching them how to read was like holding a beautiful toddler as he took his first steps, complete with a smile by both afterwards.

One of her clients was named Jesse, a two-time sexual assault offended who would have been in for life had the regular DA not been on vacation and substituted by a liberal do-gooder. Jesse made good progress and in his inmate life. In two months he was paroled to a half-way house. Michelle tried to continue the lessons there, but it was not permitted. So the only way was for Jesse to take the bus to Michelle’s house once a week. The sessions continued well, with Jesse able to complete a job application flawlessly by himself. Then, during the third visit, Michelle caught herself looking at Jesse’s tattooed arm, and suddenly bad boy pheromones deeply penetrated her reptilian brain, filling her with a desire she had never experienced. She took a deep breath and continued tutoring.

The next week, somehow she found herself and Jesse naked standing apart from each other, his eyes beaming at her like a powerful hungry iguana’s. But then she thought of Gregory. She panicked. He grabbed he. She yelled. Even though backing out of poorly-thought-of situations themed her life, this was a record. She desperately pulled the white card, telling Jesse she did not want to see him put back in prison. Never before had the desire of a sentient being been put back into a cage with such furious rage as when Jesse redressed. Michelle breathed a sigh of relief as Jesse slammed the front door to within a fraction of the ultimate tensional strength of the steel hinges.

Michelle felt terrible. She confessed to Gregory, who just collapsed and acted morose. Things were in a slump for a good while. Michelle stressed to him that nothing physical happened, while, knowing of its marital political suicide, did not tell home about Jesse’s physical and instinctual power which could have pretty much brushed Gregory aside with the flick of a wrist.

Their partnership started to recover slowly. Good indie films, day trips to the country and heart-to-heart conversations rebuilt trust.

Then, Gregory’s fate changed. Though no deficit of his academic prowess, Gregory did not get tenure at U of M. Instead, he took a job at Kalamazoo college, with a full professorship, vice-chair and great benefits package at this less-challenging, more lively institution. Gregory told himself that Einstein had to take a job at the patent office because of his poor performance on the graduate entrance exams, yet published himself to world fame from obscurity. Gregory spent most of his time on research. Teaching undergraduate literature classes, filled to the brim at this party school with beautiful, inept young maidens, was after-thought.

Then Olivia showed up at his office hours. Gregory, who had become pretty much inured to the ubiquitous youthful beauty was non-the-less enamored of this specimen. Her nose mouth and breasts (65% of which he had to extrapolate to grasp the beautiful shape) must have been carved by Michelangelo. The visits became more and more frequent, with Gregory needing to extrapolate the exquisite shape of the breasts less and less due to more and more modern attire. Gregory began to crave the office visits. The only bad thing was when Olivia, who fancied herself a potential academic, would open her mouth and perform intellectual butchery on his profession of literature. In spite of his literary and even Joycian depth, Gregory was oblivious to his gravitations to women well below is intellectual par. Perhaps his strict mother hitting him with a stick forcing him to read created a need for a submissive, unchallenging partner……