Friday, July 21, 2006

South of the Boarder, part 2

South of the Boarder -- Part 2

I had spent the afternoon in a dirty, nasty jail cell waiting and worrying about what Tom was going to do when he finally got there. To say that I was surprised at his actions is an understatement.

I think the word that best describes Tom would be dignified. He has no trouble showing affection in public. We always hold hands, he’ll kiss me and I’ve had friends tell us we are hot when we dance. But at the same time he is always reserved and does not show emotions in public.

As I came into the jail lobby, however, this wasn’t the case. He literally pushed past the other husband and grabbed me up in a hug that lifted me off the floor. I was expecting anything from an immediate spanking to an icy stare that was the equivalent of “wait until I get you home”. In a further shock to my system, when he sat me down I saw that he was crying. I had never seen that before (and only twice since). I could have understood anger but this reaction blew me away. I wasn’t until we had taken care of the paper work and were on the way back in the resorts van that I found out the reason for Tom’s unusual reaction.

It seems that the boy who had been sent from the resort to find our golfers had gotten the story a bit garbled. All the guys knew was that their wives had gone to Mexico, there had been some type of robbery or car jacking and they needed to get to the police station. So basically the guys had spent over 3 hours not knowing if we were dead or alive. From the time Tom and I got together I always knew how important he was in my life. That day was the first time I realized that I was just as important to him. Tom was quiet all the way back to the resort. He just held me close and didn’t say a word.

Finally after the longest day of my life we got back to the room. Tom still seemed so strange he just sat in the chair and closed his eyes. I sat on the floor in front of him. When he opened his eyes I told him how sorry I was for the whole horrible day. He just nodded his head. I took a deep breath and asked him in a small voice if he was going to spank me. He gave me a small smile and said “Oh yes, but not tonight.” We went to the bedroom and he undressed me and tucked me in bed. He came to bed and we just held each other. We were far to exhausted to do anything else.

I woke about 7 o’clock the next morning. Tom was up and dressed and sitting in a chair watching me. He did not look happy. The closest I can come to understanding what seemed to be happening was when a friend lost her child for about a half hour before the child was found hiding. I was getting this whole “Thank God you’re alive, now I’m going to kill you!” feeling. I got up and went to the bathroom. When I got back I reached for my robe but Tom said “Don’t bother”.

Now he seemed to be able to do the talking he couldn’t do yesterday. He said he couldn’t believe what we had done. Sneaking off to Mexico when I knew good and well he would have forbidden it if he had known. Drinking and picking up men in a bar. Getting in a car and going off with strangers – GOING OFF WITH STRANGERS! Something he average 3 year old knows not to do. He said it was a miracle that we hadn’t been beaten, raped or killed. I couldn’t think of a thing to say in our defense. If I can interject a piece of advice here; if you have a husband that spanks, and if he really loves you, don’t ever give him an excuse like this. When he had me lay across the bed and picked up his belt he was still mad and he was still scared and both of these facts came through to me clearly! As he often threatens he just wore me out! No warm up, no breaks, just the fire and deep pain that can only be produced by a husband who had spent the previous afternoon fearing that the love of his life was dead.

It was eventually over. He crawled up on the bed and held me while I cried. I really did feel awful about what I had put him through. However, my guilt over this dissipated rapidly as he explained what I considered to be the rest of my punishment.

He said that since he didn’t feel he could trust me on my own that I wasn’t going to be out of his sight for the rest of the trip. I had to go to the stupid meetings with him. They were totally boring and to my horror I realized that we would be sitting on folding metal chairs!!! I nearly burst into tears again. Those awful chairs would hurt the vanilla bottom and mine had just had nearly 30 licks from a belt delivered by an angry husband. I sat for nearly 90 minutes before the first break at which time he took pity on me and let me stand by the wall near him (what a prince!).

We spent the afternoon on the golf course. All five of us girl had to go watch them play golf; but only two of us had to go to the stupid meeting. One of the guys commented that it was like taking a flock of hens golfing. I wanted to give him the finger but the way my luck was running I knew Tom would see and pissing Tom off any further was not on my list of things to do for the rest of the day. I love spending time with Tom but by the end of this trip I realized that 24/7 is not all its cracked up to be.

As for the prostitution license, I knew he had bought one to get me out of jail. But I never brought it up and I never even saw it until several years late when I found it during a move. It now hangs in a place of honor on our bedroom wall. Except on rare occasions when I find it on the bed along with a sum of money – but that another story.

So to all you younger women reading my stories: Remember I am a licensed professional, don't try this at home!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

South of the Boarder

This is another story from way back when I was even crazier that I am today. Once again we were with the group from the cruise (See Cassie’s Most Memorable if you don’t know about the cruise). We were in southern Arizona at a seminar that the guy wanted to attend (mostly they wanted to golf). We girls mostly sat around the pool to drink and gossip or we went shopping.

One morning one of the girls suggested that we drive into Mexico and check out some of the boarder towns and do some shopping. I knew for a fact that Tom would not approve, but the boys had already gone to their meeting so I couldn’t ask. We decided to try it for the day. We borrowed a car from the resort and drove there in about an hour. I wasn’t too impressed, mostly cheap tourist junk but we found a nice place for lunch. The little restaurant wasn’t too crowded and we began talking and laughing with the waiter, the bartender and two young men sitting the bar. We were probably drinking a bit too much and these boys were all flirting with us even though we were old enough to be the mothers of any of them.

The boys at the bar came to sit with us and told us that this town was just a tourist trap but that another town about 20 minutes away had some beautiful pieces, carvings, weaving, etc. They offered to drive us over and like the idiots I now know we were, we accepted. We seemed to be traveling through some rough back road and arrived at a town that looked worse than the first one. They stopped on a narrow, seeding looking little street and announced that this was the place.

We stepped out of the car with more that a bit of apprehension. As we turned back to the boys to question if this was the right place, one of them pulled out a knife and demanded our purses. We stood in shock as they grabbed our bags, leaped back into our car and disappeared! It had happened so fast it didn’t seem real. We just stood staring at one another until the realization sunk in: we were in a foreign country, we had no car, we had no money, we had no ID, and our husbands had no idea where we were. Foolishly, I thought it couldn’t get any worse.

As we stood trying to gather out wits about us, a man in uniform came up to us. He seemed to be a policeman. We tried to explain what had happened but none of us spoke Spanish. He seemed to want see our license. We kept trying to explain we did not have then, we had been robbed. He motioned for us to follow and we soon arrived at a shabby little jail. We were led into the small holding cell. I assumed we were just going to wait there when the door was locked behind us! What in the hell was going on??!

Shortly another officer came in. He spoke English! We explained to him what had happened. He listened respectfully then he explained to us that we were under arrest for, are you ready – prostitution without a license! As he explained we began to realize we had fallen into a scam much like the speed traps you used to come across in small southern towns. We were told that women found in that part of town, without a male family member, were considered prostitutes and were required to have a license. He went on to explain that we had two options. One, we could fight the charges. This would require a trial during which we would remain in jail. We would have to pay court cost; we would probably lose and end up paying a $1,000 fine and possible 6 months in jail! OR two, we could buy a $10 prostitution license. I am not making this up! I just sat on the bench and put my head in my hands and tried to come up with the Spanish words for “Just shoot me now”. It had started off such a pleasant morning. How on earth did I end up here?

We were allowed to call the hotel. They promise to send someone to the golf course to find the guys and let them know what had happened and to come get us. So we sat and waited. I couldn’t even begin to imagine Tom’s reaction to this information. I was so torn, all I wanted was to see Tom walk through that door and at the same time the thought terrified me. The girls were talking and telling stupid jokes to relieve their tension. But they were driving me crazy. One looked over at me and said “Lighten up Cassie, they’ll be pissed but what can they do to us?” I just gave them a ‘go to hell stare’ until one finally remembered the cruise said “Oh, OH!... Oh, Tom won’t be that mad about this.”

That did it; my last nerve shredded and I went into attack mode. I lit into her with “The only thing Tom asks of me is to act like I have good sense and to behave like a lady. I think that slipping off to another country, drinking enough to pick up two strange men, going off with these men, being arrested for prostitution and then being told he is going to have buy his wife a prostitution license! YES! I THINK HE IS GOING BE PLENTY MAD!” I could have throttled her. I would have kept on yelling but an officer came in and told us to settle down.

We waited forever. I was exhausted, stressed, and worried sick over what Tom’s reaction was going to be over this escapade. I was worried that he would be mad enough to walk into the station and spank me in front of everyone. I worried that if he didn’t, then what would happen when we got back to the resort was going to be more than I could handle. There wasn’t much I wasn’t worried about at the moment. Finally the English speaking officer came back and unlocked the door saying, “Your husbands are here.”

I was surprised that my legs would hold me, but I walked to the tiny lobby. I thought in all those hours of waiting I had gone over every possible scenario, but I hadn’t. I was stunned by what Tom did when I walked through the door.


To be continued…