The Separation

by Thomas Duffy

  “Let me prepare for next weekend if you choose to go that route.”

  “Yeah, let's try those condoms, though. I am not going to do the pill quite yet.”

  “You do realize the repercussions of sex, do you not?”

  “I do. I think the time when me and the other girls in school started bleeding, before we were true teenagers, sufficiently told me there was more than meets the eye regarding life though the other girls believed the teachers that the bleeding was our once a month stress relief.”

  “Let's go see a movie tonight, Angela.”

  “Of course, Finn. Let's see something with no sex, though.”

  “How about a cartoon?”

  “Sounds like a plan. Let's go.”

  After the cartoon movie that was geared for adults (which was innocently inspired by a William Shakespeare play) ended, Finn and Angela were walking side by side discussing the notion of meeting Finn's parents on the next date.

  “So let me get this straight, Finn, before we have sex, you want me to meet your parents so I can see what we'll become if we have sex and get married. Absolutely not, Finn. I am not ready to meet your parents. Talk about unnecessary pressure.”

  “They're ready to meet you, though.”

  “It's just the timing of it. Let's not do it on the first night we are having sex, OK?”

  “I completely understand, Angela.”

  “There are things we need to learn about each other before we can face the awkwardness of meeting one another's parents.”

  “True. Like what, for example?”

  “If we're truly compatible.”

  “We get together every week, a few times a week. Of course we are.”

  “I meant physically speaking.”

  “Understood.”

  Finn looked at Angela with a feeling of closeness and felt certain she was the one person he found the most fascinating of all the people he had met of the opposite sex. She was never afraid to speak her mind and always kept the conversations between them interesting even if most of the things she said were more than somewhat debatable.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Although there was a lot of built up anxiety regarding having sex, Finn and Angela both decided to postpone plans to act on having actual sexual intercourse. Angela's parents didn't feel an urge to meet Finn and saw pictures of him that Angela provided. Her parents believed pictures were sufficient at the present time until it became certain Angela and Finn would marry.

  Finn and Angela constantly found themselves tempted to have sex but remained controlled and disciplined. Finn, in particular, would think back to his early school days realizing that math was the only thing he had that was a constant. There weren't any lies about math told in school or not as far as he knew at least. Finn wondered if the world had more in store for him in terms of revelations but hoped that it didn't. There was some level of peace for him now. He took comfort in his job and his relationship with Angela. Finn visited his parents from time to time. Life was decent for him but he knew that because of the separation laws, he wanted to get started on marriage and creating a child since he knew it would be twenty plus years before he would actually meet that child.

  Angela, on the other hand, was in no rush to carry a child as she knew the difficulties of bearing a baby while working. She liked the security of marriage, though, and hoped Finn would propose to her. She wanted to be in a secure relationship with someone. She wanted Finn in her life. She wanted to know him better. When Angela was going to go to Australia for a business trip, she declined going as a company representative at the last minute sending someone else in her place. She wanted to spend more time with Finn instead.

  One day, Finn approached Angela after seeing a Broadway show and got down on one knee to propose marriage.

  “Angela, you are, quite simply, a woman who has won me over in every possible way. My heart can't beat without the thought of you passing my mind at least 10 times per heartbeat.”

  “What are you talking about Finn? Get up.”

  “I'm serious. I don't know the specifics about the science behind how my body feels when I'm around you but I want to be around you a little more. A lot more,” he said as he took a small jewelry box out from his jacket pocket.

  “What are you taking out of your pocket, Finn?”

  “Angela, my angel, will you consider spending the rest of your life getting to know me?”

  “I will consider it, yes.”

  “Can you answer this question then: Will you marry me?”

  “That's a crazy question, Finn.”

  “Then answer it with a crazy answer.”

  “Yes. But that's only because that ring looks like it cost you your whole paycheck.”

  “Is that the only reason you're saying 'yes'?”

  “Of course not, Finn. I love you too.”

  Angela wasn't sure how well she knew him but she followed her heart and agreed to marry him. Their parents met on a beach that summer getting to know one another and learning about their grown children's passions. Both sets of parents were agreeable in regards to the joining of Finn and Angela as well as compatible as friends who were soon to become family.

  On their wedding night, before leaving for a trip to Pennsylvania for their honeymoon, Finn and Angela made love for the first time. After their wedding, Angela took off her wedding gown in their hotel room. Finn walked towards her with nothing but respect for the woman he was about to show his love towards sexually. He kissed her softly on her lips as she sat herself down on the bed. He found himself on top of her gently sucking on both her breast nipples one after the other before he penetrated her. With a gasp of satisfaction, Angela's virginity was no more. Finn felt as though the thought of Heaven, as he originally conceived it in his mind, was becoming an actuality. Their first session of sex that night lasted forty-five minutes before either one of them climaxed. It was everything they had hoped sex would be and more.

  In Pennsylvania at a hideaway home that they had rented, they found themselves making love on their honeymoon above all else. They would take drives into town to eat at quaint restaurants and simply enjoyed being together. It was a great feeling to be married. They knew soon they would have to return to their jobs but Finn was hoping Angela would get pregnant soon and take a couple of months off to give birth. Although Finn knew he would miss the child he hoped would soon be born, he was determined to see the love that he and Angela had for one another create another life. The twenty-plus year separation period was something he felt he could handle as his parents did. Finn hoped his child had been conceived on the honeymoon. Angela felt comfort in knowing she was with a man as smart and successful as Finn and knew she would be quite happy to have his child.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It took less than two months for Angela to discover she had become pregnant with Finn's child. It was the hardest thing for Finn to know they would have to give the child up to be raised and educated by the “powers that be” professionals which separated the sexes at birth.

  Finn and Angela had conceived a boy. Angela was happy to get her maternity leave to carry her child for nine months. She wanted to give birth and move forward with work as painlessly as possible. She felt a bond with the unborn child but was not as emotionally attached as Finn was.

  “I want to feel him,” Finn said to Angela as he put his hand on her six months pregnant stomach.

  “He's in there, Finn. I feel him.”

  “What's it like to carry a child, Angela?”

  “It's like you're carrying your family's future in your belly. I want to cherish the baby's potential and hope he's raised the right way.”

  “He will be.”

  “We can fund the best for him when he gets to college if we keep earning money the way we've been.”

  “I feel the pictures they send us will be priceless.”

  “We only get to see the baby at birth before they take him to the boy state they will choose for him to be raised.” />
  “It's important for him to interact with other babies and I think he'll be very special.”

  “With your looks and our brains, I sure hope so, Finn.”

  “I read stories of parents who didn't want to give their babies up the other day.”

  “They served time in prison, didn't they?”

  “The ones who tried to fight did.”

  “Fighting the authorities is not normal. This is the way things are for a reason. The world we lived in was chaotic before the separation began.”

  “There's the morality of everything but I suppose it's for the best.”

  “It most definitely is.”

  While Angela was home as Finn worked, she started to feel quite bored watching television and found her time devoted mostly to knitting. She knitted a sweater for Finn to wear in the colder weather and also used her free time to keep up with her co-workers as they kept her abreast about what was happening at her job.

  In marriage, Angela felt security that was necessary to sustain a peaceful and happy life. She awaited the day she would meet her soon-to-be-born baby boy. She knew it would be a long twenty-plus year wait but she was willing to be patient. There was no choice.

  Finn kept taking pictures of them together as she came closer to giving birth so they could show the baby when it grew up how excited they were to have conceived him. They decided to name the boy Leonardo. Finn felt it was a strong name filled with elegance and sophistication.

  Finn and Angela had created a photo album of pictures from her discovery of the pregnancy all the way to the day the baby was born in the hospital where Finn's parents had worked. That day of Leonardo's birth was the happiest occasion of Finn's life as he saw Leonardo come from Angela. This life they created made him feel going to work was worth every struggle as he would one day see his son come back from college as a smart, educated young man.

  When the baby was delivered to its selected boy state, Finn and Angela cried. Angela was soon getting ready to return to work while Finn had been considering a promotion at his job. However, Angela's return to work did not come without difficulties. A few new hires had come in to her company and were doing some of the jobs Angela had been doing. Angela was called in to her office by her boss in the middle of her first day back at work.

  “Angela, take a seat, please.”

  “When you left to give birth to your boy, we've made some decisions that have affected your pay scale.”

  “That's not legal, is it?”

  “You will be taking some more advanced tasks on and your pay grade will be increased. It's the only way you can keep your position as the job description for it has changed.”

  “Well, I'm definitely up to the challenge.”

  “We're glad. We like having you on board and, once again, congratulations on your new addition to the world. What was the baby's given name again?”

  “Leonardo.”

  “I'm sure he'll be something great.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Sure. Your new assignments will be discussed with you shortly. We'll come see you at your office to discuss them.”

  “Great. Thank you, again.”

  Finn was consumed by the thought of his baby boy. One of his co-workers thought his preoccupation with Leonardo was not normal and suggested therapy to deal with the separation. Finn was so distraught by the fact that he was greatly missing the baby he held briefly at birth. He needed to take a step up at his job so he could do more challenging work to get his mind off his son. He soon decided to take on the more advanced managerial opportunities that were offered to him for higher pay.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After two years had passed, the relationship between Finn and Angela had changed significantly. There were still some strong feelings of love between them but their positive emotions were fleeting and not acted upon like those years before Leonardo was born. Sex was not something that was discussed or acted on as was sometimes the case for couples who had already had a child. Sexual desire suppression medication was something that both of them were taking regularly. They took comfort in the joys of life such as seeing live shows, going to work parties and seeing pictures of their child, Leonardo who was being raised by some of the finest male instructors available. Leonardo was making excellent progress and was more advanced than his two years would typically imply.

  One day, Finn came home and wanted to read a book that Angela had told him was very good. However, he was so exhausted that he fell asleep after reading but a few pages. Finn, when he was a young man, used to believe that work would never become boring, yet he felt lately that the routine he was constantly fulfilling had become repetitive and lacking in excitement.

  At work, he came dangerously close to making careless mistakes as thoughts of Leonardo remained strong in his mind. Recently, he often felt that Angela was not the life partner he once believed he needed so much in his life. He would have asked her for a divorce if it weren't for the fact that he wanted the best for his son and wanted to set an example for his child by remaining in a strong marriage with his mother. He wanted his grown son to see his parents still together. But, the thought of being with Angela for another twenty years scared Finn immensely.

  Angela asked Finn if he was happy before bed one night. Finn was surprised to hear such a question and pondered a response in his mind before speaking aloud.

  “Am I happy, Angela?”

  “Yeah. I mean, do I still make you happy?”

  “Of course. Why would you think otherwise?”

  “Work stresses me out and I know it stresses you out too. But, why are we both taking these sexual suppression pills if we love each other as fiercely as we did when we first met?”

  “I think having a child changes everything.”

  “But it shouldn't. I don't think about Leonardo half as much as you do because I know such thoughts are not mentally, what's the word, appropriate?”

  “Mentally appropriate? What the hell does that mean?”

  “Kids are what they are. You don't see them in the flesh for twenty something years. If you're thinking about Leonardo, I recommend you see someone. Someone professional.”

  “I don't need a shrink. I think you need a shrink. All you do is knit. It's very disconcerting”

  “I do more than knit and you know that. I believe you're stuck in a rut bigger than you know. You need to finish your education.”

  “What the hell do you know about my education or what I need to do to be happy? You're not in my head.”

  “You're right, Finn. I'm not. Your head is a fucked up place to be and I certainly don't want any part of it these days.”

  “And, sometimes, I'm sorry I ever met you, Angela.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “If I never met you, I'd have my whole life ahead of me. Every day, I'd be looking forward to feeling the feelings I felt about life before I met you.”

  “Your sentence structure sucks, Finn. You're a numbers man. Words are not your strong point so don't try to put your feelings into them. I'd rather see your feelings in numbers.”

  “My feelings in numbers are zero, zilch. I don't have any more feelings. They're gone. If I ever gave a shit, I stopped giving one a long time ago.”

  “I think maybe that I want a separation then.”

  “I don't want a separation. I want a divorce.”

  “Then, let's get a lawyer. Let's not prolong the inevitable.”

  “I want a divorce but I know when my son is grown, he's going to wonder why his parents are no longer married.”

  “You never gave a shit before about your parents. So why do you think Leonardo is going to be giving a shit about us when he's older?”

  “You don't understand. You couldn't understand. You're so removed from reality, all you can do is knit and complain about why women were slighted more than men in their childhood separation.”

  “Women were slighted more. They were taught more bullshit than you men were. Most of the
world leaders are still men so you got more of the truth than us women did through your education. I wouldn't call what we got a fair education. Not in the least.”

  “The fact that you think that proves my point and then some.”

  “This isn't working. You're right.”

  “I'll call a lawyer in the morning. Good night.”

  As they both tried to sleep that night, thoughts of the marriage they had entered had become so ugly that neither of them could sleep solidly that night. When Finn awoke, he called the lawyer like he promised. Although they occasionally felt like giving their relationship another chance, it simply couldn’t happen. In a matter of months, they were officially divorced.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Finn lived on his own now. He didn't miss Angela too much after two or three months of divorce. Finn often questioned why he got married in the first place. Having a child with her was the hardest part for him. Pictures were sent to both of them separately regarding Leonardo's progress. Finn and Angela never called each other to talk about the progress reports which were usually quite good.

  Finn was considering other career goals even if they were to earn him less income. The career-driven, money hungry person he once was had started to evaporate. All Finn wanted now was to be alone and dwell in his own unhappiness. He started to believe the separation of the sexes was a great idea and that it would have been an even better idea to have kept them separated permanently. He realized there would be no more human creation if that was the case. He was surprised he, himself, had actually created a life. He always took great pride, however, in the pictures and progress reports of his son, Leonardo.

  Teaching became a career Finn started to seriously consider. He didn't want to train people at his job. He wanted to teach young men at the high school level the subjects of mathematics and economics. To become a teacher required serious training that would last two years. There was one aspect of being a teacher that concerned him most and that was the fact that he would have to withhold the secret of the fact that a female sex existed from students who were putting their faith in him. He would have to sign a written contract that no information could be revealed regarding the opposite sex to his students. Finn was, perhaps, the most established and youngest person who considered the teaching profession.