A Fan

At home later that night, after the festive and joyous wedding party, Ann knew she would have to say goodbye to Gene, at least for a little while, until she could join him in Los Angeles in August. She needed to stay in New York City because she was bringing her first play to London. Very loosely, the play was about sexuality and feminism on the internet in the late nineties. Ann needed the time in New York City to rehearse with her actors. It had all been set in motion before Gene had even applied to his new job.

He was so happy to have gotten it. “I’m middle class!” He had exclaimed. Ann was so proud of him.

Gene sat on the bed.

“I’m going to miss you baby.”

Ann climbed onto his lap. “I’m going to miss you so much,” she said, whining and cooing at the same time.

She was upset they couldn’t fornicate and felt like a fool for forgetting her meds and like such a pathetic person for getting so many darned infections.

A few nights before they left for the weekend they’d had sex but didn’t make a big deal out of it. If only they had known that would be the last time for three whole months! Perhaps they would’ve put some effort into things... but it had been a very standard affair.

Ann longed to have sex and she knew Gene did as well. She imagined his body forcing her down onto the bed and pushing himself inside her from behind. He would growl and call her dirty names. This rough fantasy quickly dissipated into nothing as her mind quickly flashed into the pragmatics of the aftermath of that potential situation. Her urogynecologist had said sometimes during sex, unwanted bacteria can get pushed into the urethra, causing an infection in the urinary tract. It had been happening to Ann so frequently now that she needed to take a low dose antibiotic pill to stave off infection from sex. If she did not take her pill, the evil bacteria would surely gather inside her poor bladder and cause her a tremendous amount of pain.

“There must be another way…” Ann thought to herself. “Yes. Yes... there is...but will it work?”