The deadline was next week. Alex needed a reasonably good first draft into the committee by then or his tenure would definitely be in jeopardy. His academic career depended upon pulling this off and he wasn't sure it was possible.
The scholarly work is solid. I'm sure of that, he thought. What is missing is proof that the ancient cults have relevance in today's psyche. Furthermore, I am the last person on earth capable of following through on the practical research. Why do I think I can find it here?
He looked at the small SoHo store front. It was not very imposing, two plate glass windows opening to a dark interior, a female mannequin in each window. The right one was posed dressed in a plum colored satin bra, panty and garter belt ensemble with the suspender straps clipped to white mesh stocking. The arms of the doll were set behind the head in a provocative porn star vogue gesture. This time the fishnets were black and thigh hi hold-ups. The face and hair were designed to appear somewhat Goth and the arms cradled a Fender Stratocaster Guitar. The costume had a rougher look, black lace boy shorts and a pink tank top with the store's name printed on the chest, MYTH. Visions of Pat Benetar went through his mind.
And date my thoughts. Pat Benetar? Well, I have to admit, I always got hard listening to her. Now if Peaches had only been around when I was in college... He had heard some of her blatantly sexual lyrics and been told of the eroticism of her shows by a few students. Still, he figured he would look foolish if he pursued any interest in this performer, especially if the faculty committee got wind of it. Damn, getting old was a bitch!
He blinked a few times after entering the store. The darkness of the windows was reinforced by a cubicle painted entirely in black. Only the subdued lighting of the display racks and cases illuminated the interior. It took his eyes a few minutes to adjust to the lack of light. This was the third time he had been in the store. He first discovered the boutique in San Francisco, quite by accident. That store was just a block off Market Square and he stumbled across it after wandering around the bustling commercial center of the foggy city. When he was told that they had stores in London and New York, he made it a point to visit the latter upon his return. Someday soon he hoped to see the flagship store in London. He wasn't sure why but a gut feeling told him that he may find some answers here.
Alex was seriously depressed. At fifty-five he had been on this quest for a long time. From the onset of puberty he had struggled, studied and devoted himself to a very specific obsession, the goddess Aphrodite. It was late in sixth grade while reading and discussing Greek Mythology for the first time that he encountered the famous goddess of love. The fact that his first glimpse of a color plate illustration of Bottecelli's, "Venus Rising from the Sea" coincided with his first wet dream led him to believe that this female would remain an important part of his life and development.
He began to read all he could of the mythology. Throughout his schooling she remained his chief interest. He even took Ancient Greek at the university so that he could read about her as close to the source as possible. All through this period he searched for a modern day link to his goddess. He was sure that she and her brother Eros still influenced amorous affairs and that it was only the advent of monotheism that suppressed the ecstasy that the modern world denied itself. It was an ecstasy that he longed for in his own life, one that eluded him despite his devotion to the deities.
He came of age in the early seventies and for a short time he thought that the sexual revolution of that decade was a re institution of an ecstasy cult. He reveled in the freewheeling mores of the time along with most of his generation and saw it all come crashing down around them with the advent of cocaine, crack and AIDS. Before he was mature and experienced enough to truly understand what it was he was searching for, the search became life threatening and even his most liberal minded lovers began to turn toward conservative values that left him cold.
Still, Alex was sure there was value in understanding and maybe even reviving the Aphrodite cult. He saw the goddess in icons of popular culture. Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Madonna all embodied some aspect of the goddess yet each came up short and instilled doubts that he would ever find the object of his worship and attain his own ecstatic desires. Time was running out. The Eros quality that youth had once granted him had faded long ago. So, it was at this point that he abandoned his practical search and chose to try and fulfill himself in scholarly circles. The paper he was now trying to write was necessary not only to his "publish or perish" career track but it somehow had to touch his deep personal belief in the goddess despite all the evidence to the contrary that the modern world heaped against him.
The air conditioning was blasting the space and the contrast with the severe New York summer heat felt good on his skin. He breathed in the pleasant cool air. The combination of cool air and darkness relaxed him quickly.
"Hello, may I help you?"
He was face to face a pair of very red lips framing an impossibly white smile. Looking up he found a pert nose and two very dark brown pools that took his breath for a second. The delightful face was surrounded by a head of silky brown hair that flowed and flowed. Its abundance forced his eyes to leave the delightful face and follow it down the length of a very provocative body. He coerced his eyes back to her smile and returned it in kind as best he could.
"Uh, not just yet. I'm just browsing." Oh, smooth, he thought. He consciously sucked in his middle age paunch. Christ, what am I doing? He exhaled very slowly and tried to look more relaxed. Don't be a jerk. Don't be a jerk!
"That's fine. If you need anything, just ask. My name is Jen." She pointed to the plastic name tag with Jennifer inscribed upon it. It was prominently pinned to her left breast and it drew his attention to the fact that her chest, encased in a very lacy black bra was quite visible between the open buttons of her white smock-dress uniform. The upper globes of her breasts though not large, were pushed together into a delightful brown package. Jennifer had a luscious tan.
She ambled over to a display table in the center of the store and proceeded to rummage through a large pile of nylon and lace. Alex smiled as he watched her select, fold and sort each frothy pair of panties, readying them for the storage drawers behind her.
Looking around he noticed the two other clerks. They both wore identical white smocks, obviously a mandated uniform of sorts for the chain. He remembered the same look in the San Francisco Store. The effect was in stark contrast to the black interior and hinted at a clinical pretense that further contrasted with the ultimate whimsy and fantasy of the garments being sold. Underlying corporate uniformity however lay a unique individuality that each clerk was allowed in accessorizing their ultimate look. Like Jennifer, the other two ladies had made use of the single row of buttons that ran down the front of the smock to reveal and/or conceal just so much skin and lingerie as they felt comfortable revealing. Very likely the lingerie was that of the company and purchased at discount.
A very smart marketing ploy, thought Alex.
Jennifer was now squatting as decorously as her outfit would allow, placing the folded panties into sets of drawers underneath one of the main display racks. Alex pretended to examine a bra and panty set on the rack while in reality he was enjoying the sight of a black suspender strap leading from the dark top of her hose and up underneath a shiny red satin slip. Furthermore, her bodice area was now opened wide and the cups of her black bra nearly fully visible.
"See something you're interested in?"
"Uh...," Alex blushed. Did I hear right? Did she really just give me an opening?
"You like that?" she asked.
He was unconsciously fingering some very expensive of wispy material. Her question broke his reverie.
"I, uh, yes, they are quite nice," he stammered.
"Do you know the size?" Jennifer stood up and in doing allowed the slip to shift and increase the space between her stocking top and bare thigh before falling into place and closing off the delightful view. There was a tightening in Alex's crotch.
"No, I'm afraid I really am just browsing. The truth is I don't have anyone to buy such nice things for. I wish I did. What am I saying? Y...you have such beautiful things here, quite lovely. I wish I had a reason to buy for...er...from you." He hung the bra and panty set back onto the display rack.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, that's a shame." She sounded sincere.
