Mother of the Earth

On Terry's eighteenth birthday (the summer of 1966, the same year you graduated from high school, and the year I broke up with Sharon) I took Terry out to Fox River on my dad's ski boat, and opened up my robe and showed her all there was to show of myself, begging her to make love to me, saying I would perform one-armed handsprings if necessary to prove my love. And that was the day she agreed to take me home to bed with her. It had taken me an entire year to get her to that point. She'd been determined to hold out until the day she turned eighteen, and that was what she did. But then she gave in to the demands of her body and her life, and took me home to her apartment down in Chicago, near the Lake and Lincoln Park.

             That summer we went on a trip up to Wisconsin. We drove all over that state in my Chevy. It was sort of like our honeymoon, though we weren't exactly married. Our camping gear was stuffed in the trunk and in the back seat. We drove all over the place, seeing the sights and camping out, and we had sex on nearly every square inch of Wisconsin. Terry had a map of the state from my dad's gas station, and marked a red "X" on every spot where we did it. There were X's all over that map when we got back. I remember especially one night when we were parked in a state park, trying the sitting position in the front seat. It got exceptionally steamy in there, so we got out of the car stark naked.

            I backed her up, standing against a huge tree in the dark, and then slipped up inside her. I had Terry put her feet up on the roots, which were sticking up out of the ground, so that her legs were spread. Her bare back was hitting up against the bark — and I doubt if any man ever went further into any woman than I did that night. It was animalistic. I felt this incredible lust doing it that way.

            Then half way into it, it felt like I was having sex with the tree behind her — as if the actual tree itself were sensing this experience — me sliding all the way in through her, and blending with the life and the energy of this tall tree in the dark. Like it was shimmering, or quivering, or it gave a shudder. It was just tremendous. They talk about getting together with nature, but I never dreamt this was how it was going to be. It felt like she was the mother of the whole earth.