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CHAPTER III - SHE'S GOT A TICKET TO RIDE

They would be due back in eight days. The trip to
Paris was to last six days, five nights; and on the return
leg they had an option of going to some up-scale health spa
in North Carolina or staying in New York and find'
themselves at some seminar - retreat kind of thing. A rather
open, loose itinerary to say the least. I'd be supportive

as I could. There'd be an option to add extra days, of
course.
The one positive I'd find usually buoyant in Desire
would be her feeling on alcohol and drugs; she was a devout
homeopath, using many herbal extracts on a daily basis. But
many times she'd appear high to people who wouldn't actually
know her well.
When I felt somewhat uneasy with her would be in her
risk taking when she really didn't have to in the least;
yes, here I had a hard time with her judgment: to the edge
of the envelope she'd often plunge. It'd be the way she
was - what drove her husband away. So, here, Janine became
her guardian angel: to pull this off, one cannot let the
person whom you're protecting know.
So begins our education of others. And ourselves.
Each would be inordinately invested in the other. As
they found their seats on the 747, Janine would be subdued,
while Desire sensed some grand design of things, inhaling
the smells and sights of Paris, maybe gleaned from forgotten
images of some paintings of Renoir and Toulose-Lautrec.
Janine made some guilt-ridden remark about not
upgrading to first class or something like that.
Desire leapt nearly out of her seat. "...No, really,
Second class's just fine. Let's not be so American."
"I miss my guys some. Already. Shane thinks I'm way
over-packed. I hope-"
"Hey you can buy," Desire laughed, "Whatever, you know?"
"I've got four packs of Juicy Fruit. Lots of extra
Kleenex - they use that grocery bag stuff-two Clancy books
and a bank draft of one-hundred-eighty-six thousand."
Desire pulled up her carry on bag. "I've got a dozen
'Suzy Q's', a guide to the underground haunts of Paris."
She then reached out a troop-size pack of condoms. "And my
Safety kit. For you, too."
"Des, I thought you were trying to-"
"It's cool: only the most dire emergencies. And this
stuff, strawberry flavor - I think they prefer natural
flavor - and a partially opened panty liner."
Their plane flew off into the setting night, each bound
for the same destination, yet with far different designs on
what to do, just how to spend their time.
As the sixties song told so well: "Freedom's just
another

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