Persuasion
A couple of weeks ago,
I hopped a ride to New York with Peter and Kim. Kim was having
her hair done at that place you remember, where all the lionesses
go for color? Even with leaving at 6 a.m., it was tight. Her appointment
was at 10. Since their wasn't much time to spend in town, I decided
to stay on only a few blocks on Madison Avenue. Peter dropped
us off and we were to meet, to go home in two hours The day was
a ten. Warm enough to shop with a suit on. I've been in NY many
times, some days were good, others I'd wished I was home for the
grayness would make me feel insecure and lonely. But that day
I felt seductive. The shops looked even more seductive. This shop
called Grange had the most wonderful things. There was this salmon
bedroom set I gave serious thought to. So serious was I, I was
waiting to ask the lady at the desk who was on the phone what
the price of the pieces were. Forgot my glasses, what a bummer.
She was giving me her attention with her eye contact till she
hung up the phone. Could you give me the price of the pieces please,
I forgot my glasses? Oh, I'm sorry, it's a floor model, and I
just was talking to the woman who bought all five peaces. Of course
now, I'm really going to buy the set. Would you give me the price
of the pieces anyway? "Yes, of course, she said coming from behind
the desk. I really didn't want the whole set, but the little nightstand
and the oval mirror with tassels hanging on both ends looked so
french mirrored my seductive mood. There was this men's magazine
hanging around L'Elizabeth called GQ. I picked it up out of boredom.
The clothes were, and so were the models, first class. I was impressed.
Well Let's see what the articles are like. Not bad. A lilttle
like Lear's for the Woman who wasn't born yesterday. One article
was on the mud bath and the wine country of Sonoma. But the article
that held my attention were these two guys having a conversation
about women's orgasms. One was saying that he thought woman were
spoiled by oral sex. He likes a woman in his arms when ejaculating.
The other felt he was bored stiff when a woman would perform oral
sex on him. In a strange way, these two guys were making sense
to me. One said, We're not talking rocket science here, we're
just talking about having an orgasm. I started to think that they
were right. With the proper foreplay, a little work, a woman could
overlook her hang-ups and enjoy an orgasm. Come to think of it,
since I read that article, I've been feeling quite seductive.
Anyhow, after that woman gave me the prices, which were very expensive,
even after being marked down, that I wasn't getting anyhow, my
eye caught this picture that was sitting on the floor. " Oh Miss,
how much is that.? She gave me the price. Expensive but not crazy.
It's called persuasion.......................''Can you see'' the
clerk said,'' He's trying to persuade her''. The woman in the
picture wore a salmon pink dress worn in the days of Josephine
and Nepolean. He is wearing a maroon jacked with a ruffle shirt.
He is leaning over a stone wall, holding his head in his hand
while his elbow rests on a stone wall. She is standing her back
is to him. ''See'', the clerk said again,''he is trying to persuade
her''. To do what, I thought. The shop next door was making me
feel like Alice in Wonderland. Great furniture for children with
all kinds of animals. But there was this great hand-painted armoire
with glass doors. This pale yellow one had me. Be perfect for
my room where there is little light. The yellow would look like
the sun coming in, I fantasized. And those painted flowers I could
look at while making my cakes. My cooking area is not my prison
by no means, it's just that there's only one window, and I miss
the windows in my old kitchen. This piece would do it. There was
Peter and Kim waiting for me outside with the car. Time to leave
this most wonderful oasis. The ride home was filled with good
food that Kim had bought at The Eat. Peter and I got started again
on counseling for couples, Tom and I have come a long way, but
I do understand Peter that that type of help is most beneficial.
I could not take my mind off Persuasion, somehow it and G.Q. had
a lot in common. Yeah....... all that time spent on foreplay,
and we ladies making sure we have been seduced. A script passed
down to us from God knows who. Still I found the picture excited
me when I thought about it, and that was just what I did all the
way home. As the days went by, I thought too about talking to
Tom about the article in G.Q. , and how it opened my eyes to the
strain my hang-ups had put on our sexuality. His persuasions of
having an intermittent evening with me, was shot down many times
with what I used to call hang-ups. G.Q. and looking at that picture
in N.Y. made me take an honest look at the situation. And the
truth as I see it today is that I'm a lazy lady in the bedroom
U.P.S.one day last week arrived with Persuasion as ordered by
this lazy lady, who hung it not over the bed as planned, but instead
on the wall at the foot of the bed. That same night the lady in
the picture had company, a loving couple in the bed who were too
involved in Rocket Science to know she had pushed the button.
Copyright; Ruth Mahoney
20-Oct-89
