Augustine and Felicity Ch. 01

Augustine and Felicity CH. 01

The Ballad of Felicity and Augustine

I first met Augustine and Felicity in the early 1970's. I was in my final year at law school and at the time I was propping up the bar in a local student watering hole, the Regent. My flat mate Patrick wandered in with two youngish looking girls. Patrick was a young High School teacher and the two girls were final year students he had just run into outside. These girls often hovered around these pubs. The drinking age at the time was 20 and these two would be 18 so Patrick was taking a risk on two counts, one fraternizing with the schoolgirls and the other taking them into a bar underage.

Patrick introduced us. I was his flat mate Theo, then he introduced the girls, the dark haired Augustine Martin(Nicknamed Augie) and the blond Felicity. The two were dressed down which was common for girls who socialized around this pub. Both were wearing black parkas and jeans. Felicity was an absolute stunner, way out of my league. Patrick made it obvious that he didn't think he was out of her league and was immediately giving all his attention to her, leaving Augie and I to chat politely. After a few beers the girls were starting to show the effects when the police turned up in a raid for underage drinkers. Their modus operandi was to barge in one door while a couple at the back door caught drinkers as they fled to escape.

I motioned to the girls to go into the women's toilets then got Patrick to move over and casually continue our drinking at a bench just outside the door. A couple of cops came over but as they were guys, they were reluctant to go into the women's toilet so they asked us if they had seen any one go in. "Oh we have been here a good half hour," says Patrick, "and there has been nobody," he lied. It seemed reasonable because at that time there were virtually no other women there.

The "fuzz," as we called them in those days, seemed to trust us and moved on to another pub. I banged on the door, stuck my head in and indicated all clear.

There was a hop on at the varsity that night so we invited the two to go with us and they were pretty keen about that. We had a way to go up a steep hill so we took it slowly. Patrick and Felicity got very close with one another and took the opportunity for a little sporadic snogging along the way.

Augie and I just talked and boy could she talk. In the space of three quarters of an hour I got her life history. But that's OK because I am a good listener.

It seems she was currently in foster care. Her father had been a lawyer like mine but had abandoned the home. Her mother was an alcoholic. Augustine hated her mother with a vengeance. She thought her mother had driven her father off. She had been an only child, so ending up in foster care was a massive fall from grace from living in a posh suburb to sharing a house with other teens that hated her. She had responded by devoting herself to her schoolwork and was determined to lift herself up by herself.

I felt an immediate affinity to her story. I too was an only child. In my case my Mother had affairs and finally my Dad catching her en flagrante delicto with a paramour had 'kicked her touch,' as he liked to put it. He just wiped the floor with her. I have no idea to this day where she went. I have always assumed she left the country in disgrace. My father was terribly embittered as a result and seldom had a good word about any women.

This was traumatizing to me as, despite her dalliances, she was always extremely affectionate to me and a loving doting Mum. Suddenly she was gone. Dad always thought he had my best interest in heart but was a hard man and austere. He was often away as he ran a busy commercial law practice with offices in several locations. I found myself often alone looking after myself. I too took solace in my school work and at weekends devoted myself to sporting interests, cricket and basketball.

By time we got to the hop we had bared our souls and our affinity had turned into connection.

Later I walked her down to the train station as she had some kind of curfew to keep. Our kiss good bye at the platform was chaste. I intuitively felt I was dealing with someone who was damaged and underneath the talk, was quite shy. I also felt I had found someone who could understand me and I felt so terribly sympathetic for her. I did not want to spoil anything.

We made arrangements for her to visit my flat the following weekend and Felicity and Augie did just that. We had a meal, listened to music, had a beer or two and smoked some weed. We ended up in bed. I was extremely careful as I was not prepared with condoms. Augie understood and appreciated my care. We did not do a lot. I went down on her. Nobody had ever done that for her before and she was impressed. It was not a very erotic adventure but it was loving and affectionate and, at that time, was what we both needed from each other.

In looks Augie was not as spectacular as Felicity but she was very attractive in a serious way. She had a blazing smile but used it sparingly and you felt incredibly rewarded when she directed it at you. She was tall and slender. She had just enough bust and hip to make her shapely. She was very serious and earnest about a wide range of subjects which appealed to my sense of intelligence. Even though she dressed down she was a little vain and was always made up. She liked to keep her long hair piled up on her head which made her quite distinctive in the fashion of the time.

I was older than her and when she started varsity I was finishing but our affinity transcended that. I had never gone out with a girl of that age difference before and from time to time there seemed to be a curious touch of a father daughter relationship.

Our relationship cemented and toward the final year of her bachelors she fell pregnant. It was not planned. About then I had passed my law exams and been admitted to the bar and was establishing myself in my father's law firm after having worked in a smaller firm for some time. So we were well set up. We agreed that in the circumstances we should start an early family then Augie could continue her education at a later date. Augie had majored in psychology but she was pondering a career change into psychiatry.

We had a smallish wedding. Neither of us seemed to have much family to share it with but we did have a bloody good party. Patrick actually turned up with Felicity. They had been on and off for years and I was surprised to see them together. Felicity remained close to Augustine. She disturbed me a little because she was inclined to flirt with me and even hit on me from time to time especially if Augie was not there. I tried to indicate to her that it was not appropriate and even asked Augustine to tell her to back off. Augie did not have many close friends so cherished the ones she had. She was a little perturbed about my attitude as she hadn't seen a problem. She told me she trusted me and I don't think she ever said anything to Felicity as the flirting never really stopped.

Shortly after Felicity married Patrick but it lasted only about one year. No surprises there I thought.

Despite my father's attitude about women he did warm to Augustine and was very supportive contributing to the wedding and helping us into our first home. He did insist we had a pre-nup which was not altogether common at the time. Augustine was really quite naïve about such things and just went with the flow.

Although Augie did not want her mother at the wedding, I insisted that we seek her out. I personally made it a mission to perform some sort of reconciliation between the two and I thought with my resources I could help in her recovery from Alcoholism. Augie struggled a bit with the first baby and I thought she was missing a bit of mother's help.

We managed to put her Mother into rehab with some initial success and eventually Augie came to tolerate her mother enough to have her around regularly. It was not a warm 'Mum' relationship but I compromised in calling her by her name, Jane. Our first baby we called Emma. Two years later came Samantha.

When Samantha was about two years old Jane had a relapse after breaking off with a man she had been seeing. This put Augie in a spin and she would not have her around the house. This culminated in Jane having a serious accident in her car. She was left in a coma.

Augie totally withdrew from her Mother but I took charge and would regularly visit her. There was little I could do and it began to go on for months and it was assumed that we would have to pull the plug and let her die.

AS for our sex life, Augie and I did not begin with a spectacular sex life before we were married but it was pretty normal for the time. To tell the truth, as I was experienced I was quite frustrated with it, but it did not seem to bother Augie who was fairly happy with mechanical sex. I was never sure when she orgasmed or when she was faking it.

Despite promising beginnings on that first night, she decided she did not like me going down on her a rule. It seemed she regarded anything beyond missionary as dirty. She was affectionate which compensated to a degree.

Our sexual life did evolve, especially after we became engaged. I was tutored with my father's collection of porn and his rather misogynistic attitude to how sex should be conducted with women. That is not to say I was not polite or considerate but I did take things a bit further than the average couple at the time.

When we got engaged Augie seemed to become more relaxed about sex. I took things slowly, step by step. There was no grand night of seduction. Augie had complete trust and confidence in me and allowed me to experiment as long as it did not hurt too much and I was very clean about it. Much of our sex life was carried on in the shower. Eventually she discovered the joys of fringe lovemaking and even begged, to go down on her again from time to time.

I guess that confidence was a little misplaced resulting in her pregnancy. Augie was afraid of the pill and we were reliant on condoms which were not always reliable as it turned out.

Once married, we retracted a bit into the mechanical sex we had begun with. That great contraceptive, babies made sex only an occasional opportunistic activity except when we were trying for Samantha. Our sex then was weird and not really enjoyable. For Samantha our sex was timetabled. Augie seemed like she was desperate to get pregnant so she could stop having sex again.

That was until, for no particular reason, Augie wanted to spice things up in a romantic sort of way. I didn't see it as a problem; I thought things were looking up at last.

After we were married for some time Augie did suffer a bit by being trapped with children. Most of her other friends were not married and having a good time as singles. I was very conscious of this so we made a point of going out together often to a pub or dancing, shows, that sort of thing. We also liked to have plenty of music at home and invited people around for dinners. We did not tend to have big parties.

At this stage Felicity had divorced from Patrick and was living in a flat. She would invite us round for dinners or card evenings but I was never comfortable there. She was often trying to get Augie out on her own but I became a little wary of that and apart from shopping trips, I inserted myself into any nighttime plans. Augie did not seem to object.

I was always very attentive to Augie, I never missed anniversaries, birthdays or other events. I liked to surprise her with flowers and did my hardest in pulling my weight with the kids and helping around the house. None the less there began a period that Augie appeared very depressed. It was around the time that Emma had started school.

Then there was the year I had returned to varsity and embarked on an MBA course. My commitment to this had caused some strain on family life. Even though we had talked about it in advance, Augie was a little resentful because she had not completed her own studies. My reasons were attached to my future career in the practice.

Augie felt a little suffocated with the constraints of family and my own business and academic activity. She brought up this thing about how she had never really had a single life. Unlike everyone we seemed to know, we had never lived overseas for overseas experience.

After about a couple of months of her being depressed about all this I suggested we plan for an extended trip overseas. I would take a sabbatical from work and we could take up a temporary position for a while in someplace like London. I thought it would be a great reward for her sacrifice over this period; so we began planning what we might do.

Felicity had spent some time overseas but I noticed one night when she was visiting that she seemed to be jealous of Augie who was excitedly chatting about what we might do. She became sullen and changed the subject.

Curiously it was about then that our sex life picked up. I naturally thought the trip overseas was the tonic as the activity in the sack was always punctuated with chatter about what we might do while away. Unfortunately, I naively did not understand what was really happening.

Courtesy of the financial help from my father, our house at this time was situated in an exclusive subdivision. The house was a seventy year old English cottage style house but had been extensively renovated. It was a two storied brick and dark stained weather board house with a steep soaring terracotta roof. It had a secluded back lawn that was only overlooked by one house behind. The lawn was perfect with the kids to play on and we had a spa we used from time to time there.

The couple who lived next door, Ben and Shirley, were elderly and I used to often help them out with this and that. We became quite friendly and occasionally had them for dinner. One day they called me over. It was coming up for their 50^th wedding anniversary and they were going to tour the South Island to celebrate. They would be away about 4 weeks and asked me to look after the house. I was surprised that they were having a 50^th. I had no idea that they were that old although I knew they had married quite young." So you have been married so long and are still in love," I suggested.

"Yes still as devoted as we have always been."

"And, neither of you has ever thought of straying, "I quipped.

They seemed to get serious at that point with Ben saying, "We would never tolerate anything like that."

I really don't know why I said it. Something must have been preying on my mind but I responded with, "No, I certainly would not tolerate it. My parents were divorced. If anything like that occurred I would have to know about it and nip it in the bud."

They both looked at me with concerned frowns which I found a little creepy.

Well, Ben and Shirley left on holiday but it was only 2 weeks later that I got a call from Shirley.

"I thought you would still be on Holiday."

Shirley replied that Ben had taken a turn and they had decided to come back early.

"I hope Ben's OK," I said.

"Oh, he's Ok now, he is just resting up. But I am sorry; in the light of what you were telling us before we left I think I might have some very bad news for you. It might not be my place but I am sure you would want to know."

"What!" I felt my heart beating. What could this be?

"I don't think Augie would have been expecting us back and we saw her cavorting in the spa with some young man."

"Oh, my gosh," I said, "did she see you."

"No, not apparently; she still would not have known that we were back. In fact they are both still here. Will you be coming home?"

"No, leave it to me I will have a think and decide what to do."

"That would be wise. He has been there before, but this is the first time we have actually seen him."

"How do you know he's been there?"

"He drives a blue Mini, he is there regularly on Tuesday afternoons between Noon and three."

"Perhaps we should have said something earlier but we just did not know what it was all about and we just hoped for the best."

"Of course, I understand."

She rung off after giving further commiserations.

I tried to think back if there was anything else to indicate that she was having some kind of affair. I thought about her becoming more adventurous sexually. Ironically I had taken this the opposite way. I thought it a good sign, that we were again becoming less inhibited together and closer; apart from that....Nothing. She hid it well. Although we had talked about revitalizing our sex life previously, Augie had unilaterally decided to significantly up the tempo for no discernable reason.

I sat and thought about our future. As it happens I had only just picked up our tickets and bookings for our overseas adventure. Augie did not know I was finally doing it so it was going to be a big surprise. At the time planning for trips took a while and we would have been leaving in about 6 months.

Two options formed in my mind. One was divorce. I know what my father would say. 'Kick her to touch, boy. Don't prolong the agony. 'My other thought was that if it was less serious then may be the trip away will cure everything. Well, I may have been fooling myself so I thought I better be prepared.

In those days divorce was rough. Fault had to be found. There would be a court case and with the pre-nup, for adultery, she would lose the kids and be left with nothing.

The way it would work would be to get the evidence; I would hire a private investigator and they would burst in taking photographs when they were doing the act.

I decided that I would proceed with the private investigator. It would happen on the next Tuesday. In the meantime I would go home with the tickets. I thought she might be overjoyed and get rid of this guy.

It was hard but taking the tickets home lightened the mood. Augie was over the moon and the kids were dancing about. Augie did notice I was looking a little less overjoyed but I just feigned tiredness.

When Tuesday came around, the cat would really be among the pigeons. My plan was that since we were going overseas she would have called the affair off. If she had not then I would proceed with the divorce. I dropped by to see my Father. His first reaction was "Fuck!" it was the first time I had ever heard my father swear. His next words were entirely predictable, "Kick to touch, boy, there is no future there. " His lack of sympathy did not help and actually made me feel nauseous.

This was a woman I was deeply in love and for the first time since my mother left I was beginning to feel grief taking hold and all its manifestations. I was swinging between hate and self-doubt, shame and blame.

Preparations were made. Emma and Sam would be at after school care. I arranged that they be picked up. They knew my father's PA very well so she would do that. I didn't like it but I was sure that Felicity would take Augie, knowing she had a spare room in her flat.

I had no idea who the guy was but I would leave it to the PI to find out. In fact they did before the Tuesday. He was a teacher from the school by the name of Gary Knowles. I know that Augie had joined the PTA and had been helping out on a few things, obviously a few extra-curricular things as well. The house visits seemed to be taking place in school time, somehow. I wondered how they got away with that. The final interesting fact was that he was married.

The thing that stung me about all of this was why Augie would do such a thing knowing both our histories.

Well, Tuesday came and bang on 2pm all hell broke loose as predicted

I was sitting at work waiting for the phone to go. When I answered all I could here was some angry incoherent screaming.