The Story of Harold Morton Part Four

Temptation #2

For a refresher on prior parts, link to the full story here

The only words between Harold and Lonnie now involved their travel plans and how they would get from point A to point B today.  Davenport, Iowa would be the next stop on his book tour.  They flew into Chicago connecting on a regional flight to nearby Moline.  

As their flight approached the small regional airport, Harold observed the abrupt change in the landscape below from vast farm fields to a space of suddenly densely populated houses.  Harold and Lonnie would be in Davenport for six days including the weekend.  

He wondered how they could ever spend so much time in this small area.  How many bookstores could there be here?  They drove their small rental car to a motel situated on the Mississippi River.  By now, a hotel was a motel was a hotel to Harold – just another place with a pillow and a bed to rest at night.  The only variations were the noise level at night, the cleanliness of the rooms, cable or local channels and whether the hotel offered a continental breakfast in the morning.  The view of the river here was quite nice though.

In the morning, Harold and Lonnie met over breakfast to discuss their agendas for local bookstore visits.  Everything was pretty much a routine with one difference.  Today they would visit the St. Ambrose University bookstore on the campus of a private Catholic college.  Given the subject matter of his book, Harold knew that he would have both fans and haters at the university.

He was amused that a book he mostly wrote while melancholy high could stir such a passion in others.  He viewed the controversy as a mark of personal success though Harold himself could not fully reconcile his feelings of guilt for writing such a book.  

He no longer attended Mass regularly and, without routine confession, he pondered his fate: would he be damned to hell or would he be pardoned at his next most likely meeting with a priest as he lay on his deathbed.     

Protestors were in front of the bookstore as Harold and Lonnie arrived on campus.  Harold smirked as he read a sign targeted toward him reading “Satan’s Author;” the students repeatedly chanting “You burn Him, Baby; You won’t win; Burn baby, burn.” 

They were greeted by a university representative and two security guards to escort them into the bookstore.  The usual book signing was followed by several break-out sessions wherein Harold discussed his work with college students enrolled in various courses.  Harold had never led any break-out sessions and this task would prove to be a challenge.  Many of the students had strong opinions on the book given their own catholic upbringing.  Many of their questions were rooted in the teachings of Catholicism, something Harold knew might happen, but was not entirely prepared to address.  This discomfort caused Harold to stumble on his words at times and overall the day was not going well.    

Harold’s head was still spinning from overzealous college students as Harold exited the university bookstore.  As he recapped the day, Harold was most impressed that a Modern Literature professor dedicated a whole week of class time to discussing his book.  He was scheduled to meet alone with the professor for dinner later that evening.  Part of the publisher’s marketing plan was to meet with university professors in hopes professors would influence their university bookstores to order more copies of his book and other authors at the publisher. 

Lonnie would not be able to attend the meeting tonight because she would be visiting nearby relations.  Harold did not want to carry the weight of the evening’s conversation on his own.  After the day’s event, Harold was not looking forward to meeting anyone let alone an egg-headed prof who might grill him into the ground with questions. 

As Harold arrived early at the restaurant, he had one thing on his mind: a drink.  He provided the hostess with the professor’s name and instructed her to fetch him from the bar upon arrival.  He ordered a shot of Jack Daniels straight up to ease his nerves.  He would settle for a Jack and Coke when the professor arrived.  He had never met the professor before and did not want to give him the wrong impression by drinking his liquor at full strength. 

Harold ordered one more shot of JD before the hostess called his name.  He put a word in with the bartender to pour his subsequent orders of Jack & Coke extra strong.  Harold then turned toward the front of the restaurant scanning for the professor.  He caught sight of a tall young lady with knock out legs.  Her green eyes glowed against her mulatto skin as Harold’s thoughts turned exotic.  The hostess escorted Harold and introduced him to this beautiful green eyed lady; the professor, Dr. Isabelle Robinson. 

Harold’s nerves were further on edge now as he fought his attraction to Dr. Robinson.  He tried to think of Evelyn.  There were millions of other attractive women just like the professor he told himself.  He always wanted to remain true to Evelyn.

Dr. Robinson proved to be quite engaging in conversation.  She was 31 years old; relatively young compared to her peers.  Light rock music playing in the background, she shared with Harold her disdain for it, how she had recently attended a hip hop concert and not remembering her drunken experience afterward.  Dr. Robinson did not match Harold’s preconceived notion of a professor and he could not take his eyes away from her.  The professor’s easy going disposition should have eased Harold’s nerves, but instead he became tongue tied; struggling to remember the publisher’s canned sales spiel.  

When their waitress arrived, Harold abandoned his original plan and ordered another shot of Jack Daniels.  He desperately needed to take the edge off his nerves so he could refocus the conversation on selling books.  This plan backfired as one drink led to another and the professor offered Harold a ride to the hotel because he was in no condition to drive himself. 

The world spun as Harold rose from his chair to his feet.  He could barely support himself and Dr. Robinson (now affectionately known to him as Izzy) lent her arm to steady him.  She drove him back to the hotel feeling it necessary to personally escort Harold to his room; a destination he would not find on his own given his drunken stupor.  Harold said “Good Night” walking into the room; unbeknownst to him being followed by the professor.  

He only wanted to crawl into bed now and sleep off his liquor.  Izzy had other intentions as she pushed him down on to the bed, straddling on top of him.  Every sense in his body awakened, except the one that mattered and Izzy turned on the television to some less than appropriate adult content in hopes of stimulating him.

He awoke in a fog the next morning.  The last thing he remembered was burying his head in Izzy’s cleavage as she straddled him.   Temptation #2 was a mystery.  As he covered his face with his hands, massaging his aching head, he did not know if the deed was done last night.    He only knew that he loved Evelyn and he needed to see her now more than ever before.