Before Marrying Eithnia

…Pahn has come into a house  He is talking to Aiks or a woman resembling her

He goes out the front door     looking back at the house 

which is old white     with red trim  

The sun is low in the south      shining

 hard against the slats

 

Pahn goes next door    to the garage

which has stood unused

for many months            thinking

that the space

might be good for something             but when

he opens the door

it is half filled with dry        tan dirt           and

 is broken open

             to the ally behind

 

Pahn wonders if kids

have been coming in

         and breaking things

…

Pahn is lying in bed

comfortable      his legs

           beneath ample covers

and his head

                                     against a woman’s breast  

He tilts his head slightly

                   putting his lips against her nipple

and pulling it into his mouth    with

                                              a long damp kiss  

As he drags his lips

around her areola      the friction

makes a squeak         and she

almost in gentle accusation   asks

“What was that sound”

Pahn pulls doubtfully away

     considering a response            but decides

that none is needed

and returns to her breast

           slowly pushing her over

so that she is down against the pillow

and he can bring

                         his body on top of her  

In a moment they are reversed

 with his hands

sliding up and down her naked sides           and onto

the small of her back              and she says to him

as encouragement

 “You like to kiss and caress

but you don’t like to make love” 

He smiles up at her      seeing that she has become

Eithnia              

        and assures her

“I like to make love”

He is surprised at her hurry

…

Pahn is sitting in a theater

  

         In the row ahead       Eithnia

                                          is sitting with a friend

                               talking about

                       the accoutrements of 

 marriage                       

  

Eithnia is confident

                                 as a woman who has found

her mate 

Pahn is running through his mind

                           the certainties of their engagement 

              wondering

if he has forgotten something important 

It occurs to him

that he knows

                                nothing of the way she manages

 money

and he leans forward to ask her

mischievously of her nature

in finance

 

She appears

                                    to feel insulted

and he tries to return the mood

to the joviality of before

                                by lifting her hair      and 

whispering

            apologetically

                                 in her ear

but she waves away his concern       saying

“It’s OK

now I know I don’t have to worry” 

and when he asks what she means      she explains

“When I was a kid

I used to worry what would happen

if I ever lost my house

because

hotels were so expensive

            but now I know                                                           

that hotels aren’t really that expensive” 

Pahn doesn’t understand

The show ends

and they all get up

and go outside

                                              where he loses them in a

 crowd

He looks over to where their car is

searching for her dark hair …