MY WIFE PHYLLIS AND I first meet back when we're in high school. Our meeting isn't because of some romantic thing. Phyllis is a student in the same grade that I'm in and she's given an assignment to keep me eligible for the football team. Keeping me eligible for the football team means seeing that I pass English class. I can't pass English due to some unknown problem I have with ol' Hatchet Face who teaches my English class. Phyllis, on the other hand, is ol' Hatchet Face's pet.
Coach figures that Phyllis will do better than I can.
Hell, I figure that almost anyone can do better than I'm doing. So Phyllis and I wind up spending quite a bit of time together.
Phyllis 'gives me help' with my English class work. The help Phyllis gives me consists of her writing my themes for me. In order to write my English themes for me and get them past ol' Hatchet Face, Phyllis has to learn quite a bit about me. Apparently her character study pays off, because I start to get passing grades for 'my' English themes. There'll be another major impact on my life due to the time I spend with Phyllis, but I don't realize it at the time.
When we first meet, I see that Phyllis has a pretty face. However, she also has a sort of stick figure girl shape and I'm heavy into tits at that time. Since Phyllis doesn't have it up front then, I'm not really interested in her as a girl.
What I don't see, or at least don't realize at the time, is the Phyllis beyond the pretty but painfully thin girl.
Phyllis and I each come from poor families.
My family is just plain white trash on the way to hell. Not knowing any better, I would have gone happily down the same path except I'm a big sports star and I can use my on field glory to get things off the sports field as well. I begin to get summer jobs with alumni early on. Even though I'm a big high school football star, I still have to actually work for the money I get. I do manage to get a stream of mechanic jobs with alumni owned companies. The jobs develop skills that serve me well later on.
Phyllis comes from a 'clean poor' family. Her father is a hard worker who doesn't really have any job skills. Her mother is a hard working, church going lady who probably instilled into Phyllis the idea of hard work as a path to a good future. Phyllis may not have had money or shape early on, but she was always scrubbed clean and wore freshly pressed, if not very stylish, clothes. Phyllis is smart, organized and always on top of things. She's a hard working girl who's loyal if she's treated right.
Since I'm the big high school football star, I have a lot of experience with the girls who only want to date 'Tall Paul,' the football star. It's fun for me to play the little high school social games with the top chicks in the school. However, I gradually come to the decision that I'm going to need something more than a pretty face for a wife, if I'm to make anything of myself.
Being just white trash, I have a lot to learn before I can see past a pretty face, big tits and flashy clothes. However, some of the adult women I have to deal with in my summer jobs gradually show or lead me to the idea of what I might really want in a wife. Actually a lot of what I learn from the women is more in the line of what I don't want in a wife, but the paths eventually lead me to Phyllis.
I'm sailing along through my high school football star career when I tear my knee up in the last game of my senior season. I'll recover full usage of my knee over time. However, my value as a college football player suddenly drops to zero.
Suddenly, the coaches from the colleges with scholarships to offer can no longer remember my phone number or how to get to my house. The social girls suddenly get very busy and I should maybe call back later; perhaps ten years later would be about right.
Basically, my knee and I take a quick, painful trip from the penthouse to the outhouse.
When I find myself standing alone with, "Don't call us, we'll call you" ringing in my ears, there's only one person who still sees me as something other than damaged goods.
Thus, Phyllis and I only really start to date late in our senior year. By that time, Phyllis is starting to fill out from stick figure girl to a nicely curved woman. The change is a complete one and Phyllis would have been one of the best looking girls in school if her development had happened earlier. However, by the time she looks like the Homecoming Queen, it's too late. I suspect that what Phyllis missed, or at least what she thought she missed, is maybe partly responsible for what happens later on.
Phyllis and I graduate from high school. We walk across the stage to the flash of cameras and even dance at the senior prom under the same conditions. My knee has, by now, recovered pretty well and I'm able to dance with the prettiest girl at the prom.
After we're no longer blinded by flashbulbs and the crap they told us back in high school, Phyllis and I slowly begin to see the cold, hard future.
Phyllis won a college scholarship during high school, as a result of hard work and talent. The scholarship would have paid for books and some of her tuition. Unfortunately, her family can't pay the rest of the tuition and Phyllis has to content herself with secretarial school instead of college. As she has done all her life, Phyllis doesn't give up, but instead throws herself into what is a very big let down from her dream of college and she gets top grades at her secretarial school.
I don't win a college scholarship. The coaches are interested again, after they see that my knee has indeed healed. However, they want me to walk on. A walk on attends school for a year and works out with the team while his family pays the freight. Yeah, right. Maybe I can walk on in my dreams.
I start to work right after my graduation from high school, as I have no money for college. Since I have quite a bit of job experience and skills thanks to my football glory days, I get a decent job as a mechanic down at a big factory quite a ways out of town.
Phyllis gets a job as a secretary for a real estate guy. She doesn't make a lot of money, but it's steady work and perhaps she can plan some sort of a future.
I get my first pay check from down at the factory and also get a date with Phyllis the same Friday. I show her my pay check and tell her, "Although I can't afford to go to college, I now make enough money to afford what I really want."
Phyllis asks me, "Are you talking about a new car?"
I tell Phyllis, "I'm actually thinking more along the lines of a wife."
I have this here real fancy speech all prepared and I'm gonna dazzle Phyllis with my words and all. I never really get to give the speech because Phyllis just keeps saying, 'Yes!' I come to realize that Phyllis has learned a lot more about me than I had realized back when the alumni paid her peanuts to write my high school English themes for me.
Unfortunately, no one else sees what Phyllis sees.
Phyllis' family wants no part of just plain white trash like me.
My family, as usual, is too drunk or too in jail to worry about the kid.
Phyllis and I get married in a civil ceremony that is long on quick and cheap and very short on ceremony.
With both Phyllis and me working, we get a place of our own and set up housekeeping. Fortunately the guy Phyllis is working for is located not too far from the factory where I'm working. Unfortunately, we're quite a ways from the friends we had made back during high school.
We're so busy at first that we really don't notice that it's now just the two of us. One of the things that kind of blinds us to the fact that we're alone is the fact that we never had sex during high school. Phyllis had never really dated before she started dating me. As we start dating, I'm a semi-cripple and can't play the kind of games I want to. By the time I'm in condition to start to make moves, Phyllis has established a pattern and can comfortably deny me sex.
Once Phyllis and I get married, we make up for lost time.
Phyllis has been taught that a girl has to let her husband have sex with her. Apparently she has also been taught that sex is a dirty, nasty game that women play only because they have to play the game to get and keep a husband.
I quickly teach Phyllis that she isn't going to just let me have sex with her; she's going to participate in the sex.
Since Phyllis has been taught that a girl has to let her husband have sex with her, it's an easy step to convince her that she's going to be a participant, not a victim. Once she learns that she can increase the pleasure for both of us by moving her hips a bit during sex, gradually she becomes a real tigress in bed!
I talk to Phyllis a lot during the early stages of our marriage.
She has been fed a lot of crap about what a 'good girl' does and doesn't do.
I point out to her that she isn't a 'bad girl' or a 'good girl,' she's my girl. The only people she has to worry about is Phyllis and me.
Phyllis thinks about the matter and says, "Okay, I'll take care of you."
I point out, "The person that you need to take care of is Phyllis, not me. If you can thoroughly enjoy the girl part of sex, I can take care of the boy part of sex."
Phyllis has a lot of problems with the concept of her actually enjoying sex. She finally tells me what I suspected all along. Phyllis tells me, "I was taught that sex is a sort of nasty thing that girls have to do to attract a boy and that a good girl won't enjoy sex." As she tries to explain things to me, Phyllis gradually realizes just how wrong the ideas she has been taught are.
The next problem we have is that Phyllis is afraid that she will completely lose control during sex and that I can make her do anything I want.
I carefully point out to Phyllis, "Both of us will completely lose control during sex and that's the point of sex." I also point out to her, "I'm much bigger than you are and also much stronger and I can make you do anything I want, but only once. I want a lifetime with you, not just once." I then carefully continue, "If I force you to do something you really don't want to do, I'll alienate you and then I'll lose what I had hoped to gain and more."
It takes Phyllis days and days to work out the very simple idea that she's my sexual partner and not my victim. She often talks to me about the problems she has with sex. The problems are all based on the crap she has been taught as a young girl.
We slowly work through the problems and Phyllis begins to enjoy sex. The more Phyllis enjoys sex, the more I enjoy sex.
Along with the sex problems we have another, related problem. At first, Phyllis thinks that what she should wear to bed is 'jammies.' We have a long discussion about that and she then begins to wear nighties. Although it later seems ludicrous, she starts with nighties that are heavy on coverage and light on view. I continue to lobby for more view. Phyllis slowly comes around to my way of thinking, but it takes time and the process of convincing Phyllis that she can show herself off in a nightie may have contributed to our later adventures.
Phyllis and I also make some new friends, or at least we think they're our friends.
My supervisor at the factory invites us over to their place for an evening. The evening starts off pretty well and we play some stupid board games. However, it slowly becomes obvious that the game my supervisor and his live-in girlfriend really want to play is partner swap. Neither Phyllis nor I are interested. However, the effort does let Phyllis know that she's evolved from a stick figure girl to a hot looking babe.
Phyllis is outraged at the suggestions made by my supervisor but, at the same time, I can see that she's excited that she's drawn that sort of sexual attention.
I can see that Phyllis has no interest in my supervisor. However, I can also see that she's very excited that she looks hot enough that the guy wants her instead of his really quite hot looking girl friend. Once we get back home, I have to screw Phyllis twice that night to calm her back down!
I suspect that the failed attempt by my supervisor helped lead to some of our later troubles, but I can't prove anything.
Phyllis then takes a step that's an innocent one, but unfortunately really gets our adventures started. Phyllis learns of a group called the Downtown Business Association. It isn't a business, but a group of businesses that band together to promote, you guessed it, downtown businesses.
There's a contest to select 'Miss Downtown Business Association.' It's, as you might suspect, a strictly local contest with no great prize or even publicity. Phyllis sews her own dress for the contest and wins the title of Miss Downtown Business Association. She later tells me it's the first thing she's ever won and that she's really excited.
Her new title lets Phyllis attend certain local functions and deal with people.
I like that because Phyllis gets more social time with other people and this is an area where we're a little light, mainly due to us not having much money.
Phyllis is visible as Miss Downtown Business Association, but not too exposed as most of her appearances are in go to work type clothes. Okay, Phyllis does appear at a few business openings in a bikini, but nothing too radical. However, Phyllis looks really good and she does begin to attract attention. Unfortunately, most of the attention isn't what Phyllis or I want.
With both Phyllis and I working, we aren't getting rich, but we're doing okay. We began to acquire the essentials, although we can never seem to save anything. At that we're better off than many of our former schoolmates who are deeply in debt.
We spend a couple of more evenings with people from the Downtown Business Association. Unfortunately, most of the evenings end with the male of the couple wanting to either partner swap for Phyllis or have her come to him in return for some vague possibility that my work will get better.
Neither Phyllis nor I are interested in the things that are suggested. However, we both began to worry that we might be getting into danger.
We quickly find that we aren't just getting into danger; we're already in deep trouble. One day I get called in and I get laid off from my factory job. The layoff makes no real sense. Times are bad, but my job is vital and I have enough skills to do several tasks. There are several guys who would, in a sane world, be laid off before me.
My supervisor kind of hints that the reason I'm going is because Phyllis and I won't play his little partner swap game. Of course, he can't actually say it, but I manage to get the message.
With me laid off, Phyllis tries to talk to some of the Downtown Business Association guys about work for me. However, no one seems interested in even talking to me about a job. Since I can do a lot of things and do them well, it would seem that the failure of Phyllis and me to peddle her ass to the big boys isn't too well received.
I get the feeling that the Downtown Business Association guys feel that if Phyllis and I won't listen to reason and peddle her ass to them, they'll just try to starve us out.
Phyllis and I have a long talk. We both agree that we aren't going to sell Phyllis' ass to maintain a job for me.
I can tell that Phyllis is pleased that I value her too highly to peddle her ass for a job.
I suspect that the Downtown Business Association guys value her so highly that they won't hire me as revenge for their failure to get at Phyllis.
If I can't get a regular job, I'll just sign up for temp work. Since I can do so many things, there should be enough temp work to keep us afloat until I can find someone who wants a worker and not a pimp.
I do get some temp work and I also do whatever odd jobs I can find. However, I make nothing like a regular wage and we're shortly in financial trouble.
Phyllis and I talk about my problems in finding work and we try to think of something, anything that'll get me steady work or at least more work. However there's nothing we can come up with that
I'm not already trying.
Phyllis keeps her job a bit longer, but then the real estate guy lets her go. Again, the real estate guy has to have a girl working for him. He very quickly hires a replacement for Phyllis. Phyllis and I both suspect that her lay off is yet another penalty for her failure to agree to sell herself to the Downtown Business Association guys.
Phyllis hunts for work and hunts hard. She does get a few interviews, but it's clear that she won't get a job with Downtown Business Association guys unless she has sex with them. This last despite the fact that she's Miss Downtown Business Association and that she's a spokesperson for the organization.
Phyllis and I talk over the situation. We're obviously being squeezed by some of the big guys. However, neither of us is yet willing to peddle her ass in order to get a job.
The next several weeks are a kind of false hope thing. I get lots of assignments for temp work and several more assignments on my own. For a while, I'm even making more than back when I was steadily employed.
In the meantime, Phyllis has signed up for temp secretarial work. However, she's getting very few assignments. This last tells us for certain that we're being squeezed as there are always temp secretarial jobs available.
After several weeks of actually more than full employment, my assignments suddenly fall drastically. The installation work I was doing is specialty stuff where they have to have my skills. As soon as I'm no longer indispensable, I no longer get any more work. Well, I do get some one day assignments where they have problems with something I installed, but once I have the system tuned back up, I'm out on the street again.
Unlike many people who can't get work by sitting in a bar and drinking, Phyllis and I hit every temp agency where we have gotten work in the past and we hit them every day. We also try to get little jobs on our own. The little jobs thing is the only way we're able to survive. If either of us can get hired on skills, we have a job. However, the little jobs we do get are always one shot things with no future. We kept getting closer and closer to total financial meltdown.
Phyllis and I again have several very serious talks. For the first time, Phyllis is willing to consider the idea of selling herself in order to let us survive financially.
I talk to Phyllis, telling her, "I really don't want you to do that and maybe we should relocate somewhere else instead." I also point out, "Even if you do what the Downtown Business Association guys want, they aren't at all likely to let us have real jobs afterward. If they keep us as employees after you're forced to have sex with them, they're courting a big time sexual harassment lawsuit. Thus, they would just take what they want and then throw us into the street afterward."
It begins to look like Phyllis and I are in big trouble no matter what we do.
