Yo-yo Chronicles Ch. 05: Adam and Eve

He didn't want to lose her and the children, but he would understand if she found a good Christian man -- there were many at the church who admired her -- and left him. He hoped she would let him see the children, but if she wouldn't, he would not fight her in court.

"He hoped she would go with him when he confessed everything to the pastor. Maybe he could help them find a way through this. He had prayed last night and early this morning, and he would continue praying for her forgiveness the rest of his life.

He stopped when he couldn't think of anything more. There was a long silence.

She stood up and said, "I'm tired."

"Do you want me to -- " he started.

"No, come to bed, my husband," she said.

When they were in bed, she kissed him lightly on the lips. A dutiful kiss, he thought. After the kiss, she turned her back to him and was quiet. It took him a long time to fall asleep.

The next week was spent mostly in silence. Each night, she kissed him and then turned her back to him. Her expressions went through many changes, and often her words didn't match what her look was telling him. It was as if her face was divorced from her mind, he thought, as he looked at her.

The office was his only escape from the torture of looking at her, and he plunged into his work with joyless abandon. He noticed Mrs. Cottonmouth observing him at times, but she never spoke to him about what had happened.

On Friday, she called him into her office and told him to close the door and sit down before she spoke.

"Adam, your work is as outstanding as it's always been, but everyone can see you're in pain. I'm sure there is trouble at home, and you are struggling with your guilt.

"I know it was only a stroke of luck that enabled me to bag my trophy and not anything I had planned. It wasn't what I had hoped for, but anything more would be an anticlimax. You are no longer in my sights.

"You may think what I'm about to suggest is connected to my personal desires, but it's also a business proposition. I want to keep my best employee from going to the competition.

"Here's how I think I can help you. As I told you before, I am a master of demeaning men. I know how to do things that reduce them to tiny, shrunken creatures. When I finish with them, their minds have been twisted into painful recognition of what pitiful insects they are.

"I'm sure you are desperate to atone for what you did, and I'm willing to humiliate and mortify you until you feel you've been punished enough that you get closure.

"Let me put it in a way that may be more understandable to you. Think of it as going through the fires of hell to burn your sins away so you have a chance at heaven again."

She paused and looked at him. He was staring at her wide-eyed, and his mouth was slack.

"I won't bring this up again. Think about it and let me know if this is what you want."

He got up and left her office without saying anything.

************

When he told Eve about the meeting with Mrs. Cottonmouth, she became animated for the first time since his confession. She made him repeat every word he could remember spoken by Mrs. Cottonmouth.

She continued to turn her back to him at night, but otherwise, she became more attentive to him. Even when he had his back to her, he felt her eyes on him. In contrast to him, she seemed more at peace with herself. She even would smile at him occasionally.

That Sunday, they brought the children to his parents after church. When they got home, Eve made some coffee and asked him to come to the kitchen.

When they were seated, she said, "Thanks to Mrs. Cottonmouth, I may have a solution. It's not pretty, and I'm not even sure it will work. But if you want me to, I'll tell you."

"Of course, I want you to tell me. You know I'll do anything to make us whole again."

"Thank you for allowing me to speak, my husband. I think we both realize that everything has changed and there's no way to go back to what we had before.

"I thought about going to the pastor with you for counseling. He'd ask me to forgive you, and I would, but that may not be enough. If he saw that his counseling wasn't bringing us together, he'd finally suggest that we try to find happiness with someone else. He's done that with other broken marriages.

"Mrs. Cottonmouth is smart. She knows you are hungry for punishment to atone for what you did. She wants to do to you what she does to her husband and other men. That made me think of Kathy's video.

"In my video classes, I've learned about lighting and camera angles and equipment and close-ups and editing styles and slow-motion and software. All these things were spinning around my brain for the past few days until they finally took form in a plan and a decision.

"My decision comes from the devil, not God. I have no illusions about that. I've been praying already."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been praying to be forgiven for two things: first for telling you this today and second for going through with it if you agree.

"For your punishment, I want to do a video. I was going to ask you what sexual acts were most repugnant to you, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to you. So I'm the one accountable for picking the things that I think will repel you the most."

Adam's face went white. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. He stared at his wife. She had been speaking in a calm, measured voice and watching his reaction. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Finally, he struggled and got some words out.

"That would only make things worse."

"I know it's scary for you Adam, and I expect you to try to talk me out --."

"Yes, I'm scared," he interrupted, "but I'm more scared of what it will do to you. Don't you see that by doing that to me, you will demean yourself more than me? I know you. It will eat you up afterward."

"I've thought of that. You might be right. I know it's evil, but I also know that it will burn the images of you and Mrs. Cottonmouth from my mind. I'm telling you honestly that I've thought of nearly every objection, and Rick came up with some that I didn't even consider. Despite everything, I still want this.

"Who's Rick?"

"He's a student in my video class. He'll help us make the video. It'll be just the three of us in our bedroom. Rick is totally trustworthy. The video is never going to leave this house. I have the hardware and software to do my own editing. Once it's finished, you will watch it with me at least one time, and then your punishment will be over.

"Afterward, I'm hoping we can move on, and I can put the devil behind me and find my way out of the darkness."

"You want my answer right now?"

"No. I can see you're in shock, and I don't blame you. Take your time and think about it. It's your decision. You can agree to the video shoot, or we can try counseling. Or we can talk to lawyers about a separation?"

"How long will the video shoot be?"

"Between one and two hours."

"Will you show the video to your friends, like Kathy did?"

"Never. They won't even know there is a video. As I said, the video will never leave this house, and only the two of us and Rick will ever know of its existence."

"What if I decide to do it and then at the last minute I just can't?"

"I don't know. I never thought of that. Give me some time, and I'll give you an answer. Do you have any other questions?"

"Not now."

That night when she turned her back to him, he couldn't fall asleep. He was more frightened than he could ever remember, but he couldn't tell if it was the video or the end of his marriage that he feared the most.

Eve didn't bring up the proposal again, and he managed to put it out of his mind during the day. But each night after she kissed him and turned her back to him, he had trouble falling asleep.

He noticed that the goodnight kisses had changed. Now they were no longer perfunctory, but getting more passionate. He began getting aroused by them and feeling frustrated when she turned away.

In the mornings, she would sometimes briefly caress and touch him like she used to do. Because he wasn't getting any relief, even the slightest touch got him excited and frustrated.

Eve's modesty outside the house had never carried through to their private lives, but now he noticed that he saw her naked body more than ever before. It seemed as if she was always stepping out of the shower or changing clothes when he was in the bedroom.

At first, he thought he was imagining it, but he could swear that at such times, she was moving her body in ways he had never seen, almost doing an erotic dance, with her breasts and buttocks moving in enticing rhythms. Sometimes it got him so excited that he locked himself in the bathroom to get relief.

He finally understood that even though she wasn't pressuring him to decide, she was lobbying. The nudity, the erotic movements and the caressing continued to escalate.

He also noticed she seemed to be getting impatient, although she never came out and said so. What could he say? He couldn't go through with the video, but he didn't want to lose her either.

It was on a Monday morning, about four weeks after she had first asked him, that he finally gave his answer.

As he was walking out of the house, she said to him, "Adam, please pick up the kids from my parents on your way home. They're watching them while I meet with the family law attorney."

He stopped cold in his tracks and looked at her.

"Don't worry," she said, "I didn't tell them why I wanted them to babysit. And the appointment is just a preliminary consultation. It doesn't cost us anything. All I want is some idea of what we'd need to do if counseling doesn't work."

He called her from his office an hour later, told her to cancel her appointment and gave her his decision.

The next day, he had to call in sick, because he hadn't slept all night. They had made love until they heard the children's voices the next morning. She was still full of energy as she got up to make them breakfast, but he was exhausted. As he drifted into a deep sleep, he thought to himself that she certainly didn't leave any doubt that he had made the decision she had wanted him to.

*************

Adam looked around the bedroom. It was Saturday morning, but the children had been at Eve's parents' since yesterday, and they weren't coming back until Sunday. She had sent him off to the coffee house right after he woke up with instructions not to come back until ten.

He saw that she and Rick had been busy for the last two hours. He could barely walk into the room without tripping over cords attached to power boxes that were full of plugs. Though the air conditioning was on, the room was warm and humid from the powerful lights arrayed around the bed. Some of them were on high stands and aimed down at the bed. Others were at every level down to the actual bed level.

Cameras on tripods were also at various levels around the bed, pointing at the brightly lit sheets from every angle. Eve showed him the master switch that would start all the cameras at the same time.

"Adam, this is Rick, my friend from the video classes," Eve said. Rick looked down at him as his huge hand almost enveloped Adam's when they shook.

Adam was not a small man, but Rick towered over him. He had a massive chest and huge arm muscles. Eve saw Adam sizing him up.

"Rick says they're the real thing, no steroids, He told me he was a starting lineman in college, but he couldn't make the pros because he wasn't able to put on enough body mass. He sure looks massive to me. He can bench press four hundred pounds. That's more than double what you weigh.

"Rick does some acting in porno films, and at our first class he came over and sat next to me. During the break, he tried to recruit me to work with him. I turned red as a beet and almost died when everybody looked at me as they came back to the room.

"I overheard some of the girls in our class talking about how huge he was down there, but by that time, we had gotten to know each other, and he knew never to bring up that part of his life. Despite his career, he is a wonderful person, gentle, caring and honest. He kept asking me until I finally shared some of our beliefs with him.

"From his questions, he seemed like he was interested in finding out more. Or maybe he was only pretending because he was interested in me.

"I told him one night that I could never respect a man who wasn't totally honest, and that's when he told me he had feelings for me and that if you ever let me down, he would be there for me. I told him that I had already found the one person meant for me for all eternity, but if I hadn't, I would definitely have considered him.

"The day after you told me what happened with Mrs. Cottonmouth, Rick noticed how distraught I was during class and wouldn't leave me alone afterward until I broke down and told him. He wanted to come home with me to get the kids so we could move in with him that night. I told him he had a lot to learn if he ever wanted to be born again.

"When the idea of the video came to me, I thought of him immediately because he was one of the best students in the class."

As she spoke, Eve and Rick were in constant motion around the room, making an adjustment here, moving something there, fiddling with knobs, flipping switches.

"What's that?" Adam asked Eve, pointing to a small machine on a rolling stand.

"It's a breast pump," she said. "When I rented it, the lady at the store complimented me on how I was in such good shape after having a baby. If she only knew what I'm going to do with it today."

She smiled a naughty smile at Adam, but her attempt at humor made him shiver.

"And what's that," he said, pointing to a rolling apparatus she must have also rented at the medical supply store. "Are you going to drug me, too?"

"Don't be silly," she said with a laugh. "The only artificial thing we'll be using today is the breast pump. No Viagra, no drugs, no condoms, no vibrators, nothing but us. That large pouch hanging from the rolling stand is full of lubricant.

"And that reminds me, I'm sorry to tell you that you have to get uncomfortable right now. Please go to the bathroom, and you'll see what you need on the counter."

In the bathroom, he saw the prep solution and a note that said, "Please take it and when you are done, take a shower."

When he had dried himself after the shower and walked out of the bathroom wearing a towel around his waist, he felt so empty inside that it seemed like he was hollow. He saw they were finished setting up and were talking.

"Come over here, Adam," said Eve. "I was starting to explain to Rick how this string works, but I can tell both of you at the same time. When you told me you were worried about losing your nerve, I thought of this. This is how it goes on."

She bent down in front of Adam and reached under his towel. He felt her fingers moving his testicles around. Then she was standing up again and showing him a piece of string.

"What I did was put a slip knot around your testicles, sort of like you use for a Yo-Yo," she said. "It's attached to this string. Look down now while I slowly pull the string."

He looked down and saw that his testicles were being pulled out of the towel until they were rising up in front of him. He felt the pulling, and it didn't hurt, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"The string is thin but strong," she said. "You won't be able to see it in the video, so it will be like an invisible reminder of your commitment. If you don't follow my instructions, you'll get a little tug. If that isn't strong enough, the string will be pulled very gently until you respond.

"It will cause a lot of pain once your balls are stretched out far enough, and eventually it could even rip them from your body, but that's not going to happen. Rick swore to me that just the thought that it could happen will be enough to motivate you."

When Adam spoke, his voice startled him. It was high and shrill.

"I don't know about that string, Eve," he said, trying not to look at Rick. "I'm just worried that there could be an accident because of something nobody anticipated."

"Don't worry about accidents," Eve said. "I'm going to make sure there won't be any. As long as things are moving along, the string will be so loose you won't even feel it. I'm planning to remove it as soon as I think I can.

"If you really want me to, I will take it off right now. But then if you get skittish, we have no fail-safe mechanism. Rick has plans for the afternoon, so we can't sit here while you change your mind back and forth. If there's no string, and you stop even once, it will be over, and we'll pack up the equipment.

"Then we'll go to Plan B, which is the counseling, and if that doesn't work, the lawyers. That's why the string makes sense to me. You have some idea of what is going to happen this morning, Adam, and even though you are doing this totally of your own free will, I wouldn't blame you one bit for some occasional reluctance and hesitation. With the string, that won't be a problem. We'll be able to press on and finish and give ourselves the best chance at making a great video. Think about it a little, and I'm sure you'll agree."

He looked at the floor and thought about how she didn't connect making her great video with saving their marriage. Was she turning into Salome Cottonmouth? She seemed to take delight in Rick's physique. After she destroyed him this morning, was she leaving him for Rick?

"Adam, what is your answer?" Eve asked.

He barely nodded to her without looking up.

"Just a few more things before we get started. You don't have to say anything during the video if you don't want to, and Rick won't be speaking. But I will.

"I created a plot for the video and a script that I'll be reading. Don't get freaked out and take it seriously. It's bizarre, but it means absolutely nothing. I just thought of some things to make the action more dramatic.

"The only things you and Rick need to listen for are cues. I've woven them into the script. It has symbolic instructions hidden in the words. When you hear them, you'll understand what to do.

"Rick and I will take turns wearing the body camera for close-up action while the mounted cameras get the medium and long shots. If you want to see what we're shooting, just look at the monitors we've put on stands a little bit back from the bed. It's hard to see them now because of all the lights. Once you're down on the bed, you'll be able to look in every direction and see exactly what's happening.

"Rick and I took showers while you were gone this morning. No, not together. So we're ready. Whoever is holding the camera will also be holding the string. Please lie down in the middle of the bed now, on your back. But take off the towel first. Rick, aim your camera at me to start."

Adam noticed she had put on an Arabian Nights costume, with colorful veils draped over her body. She twirled around a few times as he moved to the bed, and the sheer pieces flew out to give tantalizing glimpses of her naked body beneath.

As she twirled, she began speaking.

"Our Lord and master has commanded us to his presence so that he might teach us the wisdom of the ages. First, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' Exodus twenty fourteen, and 'Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge,' Hebrews thirteen fourteen. Also, 'The man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death,' Leviticus twenty ten.

"Today, my lord and master and his obedient servants will film an instructional drama of the ancient wisdom."

She began removing her veils as she said, "'The Song of Songs,' seven one, 'The joints of thy thighs are like jewels.'"