Sweet Saturday Samples - Mar 24

In last week’s Sweet Saturday Sample, our friend June (from I.O.U. SEX) found out she was pregnant. What is she going to do now? She still loves Denny, but she hasn’t heard from him since he told her to go to hell, ended their relationship, and returned to Texas. What will he say if she calls him? Uncertain of the right decision, she decides to stay in her dorm at UC Berkeley and go to school as long as possible while considering the possibilities. But before she can come to any concrete decision …

Shortly after the spring semester started, June heard a shout from the dorm hallway. "June! Hey, June. Phone call." She struggled out from under her quilt and walked down the hall to the pay phone.

"Hello? Oh, hi, Kiki. What's up?" Kiki rarely called unless she had something important to say, like she'd decided to change her major again or she'd met a new guy. June wasn't in the mood for her drama.

Kiki's voice came through the receiver. “Uh, June, I heard something at a party, and I wanted to be the one to tell you. Um, well, you see ...."

June sighed. "Kiki, just spit it out." She pushed her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ears with her free hand. It wasn't like Kiki to be so hesitant. Usually she blurted out whatever she had to say and to hell with the consequences.

"It's Denny. He ... he got married."

June felt a lurch deep inside, as if the baby had reached up and twisted her heart. She sank to the floor, stretching the phone's metallic cord to its full length. "What? Denny's married?" Surely she'd misunderstood.

"Junie, I'm so sorry, but I thought you would want to know. That bastard married Nita Crawford. They ran away to another state, I'm not sure where. You remember Nita. Black hair? Bad reputation? She was a year behind us at Rayburn. I heard she might be knocked up."

June's lips were too numb to form words. She shook so badly she had to grasp the receiver with both hands to keep from dropping it.

"June? June? Are you there?" Kiki's worried voice shrieked in June's ear.

"I'll ... I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"But June ...."

June hung up the phone and stumbled to her room. Back in bed she pulled the quilt over her head, shaking, freezing even under the heavy covers. She felt a flutter in her womb, a reminder of Denny's child. Her heart ached for the unborn infant and for herself.

Looks like I can scratch one item off my list. Marrying Denny is now an impossibility.

The sudden elimination of any possibility of marriage forces June to make some even tougher decisions about her predicament. She must now consider the only choices left to her—an illegal abortion, single motherhood, or adoption—and all three ideas almost break her heart. Yet she must decide, and soon!

 

You'll find links to lots more Sweet Saturday Samples here: 

Sweet Saturday Samples

Thank you, J. Gunnar Grey, for hosting this weekly get-together.

Sweet Saturday Sample - Mar 17

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

Did you ever notice how some people are unlucky in love? We take you back to just such a time for our friends June and Denny from I.O.U. Sex. It’s the mid-sixties, when attitudes and choices were very different from what they are today. You may remember that Denny’s tirade against June ended with him leaving California and the love of his life behind forever. What you might not know is what happened next.

Two months later June sat in the college clinic, her bare legs dangling over the edge of a cold examination table.

"No. It's not possible." June's voice quavered. Her grip on the table tightened, turning her knuckles white. In all her nineteen years, she'd never been so terrified. "There was just that one weekend. We never even went all the way." Her face felt warm, and she knew she must be blushing from the humiliation. A phrase from a junior high health-science film popped into her mind—it only takes one sperm to fertilize an egg. But Denny's sperm couldn't have reached her egg—it was only on the outside of her.

The doctor sighed. "Your test is positive, Miss Landry. When you engage in certain foreplay, sometimes called outercourse or dry sex, ejaculate may be spilled on or near the vulva and pregnancy can occur. It's rare but definitely possible. Your last menstrual period was in late September?" The doctor looked at a gestation chart on the wall. "Then I'd say you are approximately eight weeks pregnant. Your due date is around the first of July."

Tears rolled down June's cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. "Oh, my God. What am I going to do?"

The doctor handed June a tissue. "I'll send in my nurse. She'll give you information about various options. I'll want to see you again in a month." He left the room.

June shivered as she removed the hospital gown and dressed to leave the clinic. Soon she would receive her next scholarship check. She had already signed up for the spring semester's courses—English Literature, Creative Writing, U. S. Government, Calculus, Geology. Even a psychology course. Now what would she do?

Then she thought about her mom and dad driving out to see her for Christmas, and their plans to stay with Aunt Betty during the holidays. How could she endure their visit? Should she tell them she was pregnant? She rejected that thought, knowing what their response would be—disgrace, banishment to some home for unwed mothers, and an abrupt end to her college days.

And what about Denny? She'd heard nothing from him since he'd stormed out of the motel room. There was no way she could expect his help.

June said nothing when the nurse gave her the brochures.

Oh, God. I can't believe I'm looking at homes for unwed mothers.

June basically had four choices when she found herself in a family way in 1965:

1)      She could marry the father and raise the child.

2)      She could get an illegal abortion.

3)      She could give birth, keep the baby, and raise it as a single mother.

4)      She could give birth and then give the baby up for adoption.

Given these alternatives, what do you think June chose to do?

Sweet Saturday Samples is hosted by J. Gunnar Grey. You'll find more posts here: Sweets

St. Patrick's Day illustration source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id-2149