The Freshman
Copyright 2005 by EC

Chapter 8 - A high stakes wager

The following Monday morning Cecilia breathed a huge sigh of 
relief, when she woke up and realized her period had started. Her 
menstruation normally was a source of irritation that intruded on 
her routine once a month, but for once she was very happy to see 
the familiar spot of blood. She changed her panties and stuffed a 
pad in the crotch of the clean pair, relieved that her moment of 
carelessness with Jason the previous Friday night would not 
disrupt her life.

She spent a normal Monday morning, going to her early class, then 
drawing her boyfriend during the 11:00 Life Drawing class, then 
spending "quality time" with her strange economics professor 
during the hour leading up to the 1:30 economic theory class. 

Burnside already was thinking about the class midterm. She had 
decided to split the midterm into two parts, one to be given at 
the beginning of October and the other at the beginning of 
November. Although Cecilia really had nothing to do with writing 
the test or grading it, Burnside confided some of the exam plans 
to her scholarship student. 

The professor also confided another piece of exciting news, that 
it was quite likely the Prime Minister of Upper Danubia would 
visit Chicago and the university sometime late in the semester. 
The student's reaction surprised and impressed her.

"You mean Vladim Dukov is gonna be here?!"

"You actually know who he is?"

"Yeah, Dr. Burnside, he was Kimberly Lee's defense attorney when 
she got arrested...you know Kimberly Lee of 'Socrates' 
Mistresses'. I'm a big fan of that group and I know all about 
him, 'cause of what he did for Kim. So he's actually coming? Do 
you think I could meet him? Please...I'd really like to meet 
him!"

Burnside thought for a minute, trying to see how Cecilia could be 
brought into the planned visit of the foreign dignitary. The 
Prime Minister would attend an international economic seminar in 
downtown Chicago and speak about his plans for his country's 
economic development. He was scheduled to visit several political 
think-tanks and then give two speeches at the university about 
his views and goals for the future of his country. His final stop 
before flying on to Canada and Europe would be a day in 
Washington DC to speak at the National Press Club. 

Vladim Dukov had been Prime Minister of Upper Danubia for less 
than a year, but was well-liked within his own country. He was 
not a popular figure in the US, because of his nationalistic 
ideology and rejection of globalization. He was not friendly to 
international business concerns and perfectly willing to walk 
away from negotiations if he felt the interests of his country 
were not being served. He recently had caused a sensation in 
Europe by withdrawing Upper Danubia's application to join the EU 
because he felt the previous government had made too many 
concessions in its effort to join. Dukov had his own philosophy 
about economic development, based on the needs of a rather 
isolated and backwards society instead of popular economic 
models. The Prime Minister's goal in coming to the US was to 
speak directly to the public and intellectuals about what he 
wanted for Upper Danubia and ultimately where he hoped to lead 
his country.

The political issues where of only passing interest to Cecilia. 
Her desire to meet Dukov was much more personal. The Danubian 
leader was a direct link to her favorite singer and the music 
that had transformed her outlook on life. 

To Burnside the issue was a practical one, finding a student for 
the university delegation who actually knew where Upper Danubia 
was located and enough about the country to not look like the 
typically ignorant American. It was obvious Cecilia was a bit 
star-struck at the thought of meeting her favorite singer's 
former guardian, but if she could tone that down a bit, she would 
make a good addition to the student representatives.

"I don't see why you couldn't be part of the student delegation. 
Most of the group will be graduate students, but I think you'd do 
a good job representing our department. I'll add you, under a 
condition. I want you to pick a Danubian topic for your term 
paper for the Theory of International Development course. Do some 
research, get yourself ready to meet Prime Minister Dukov, and 
you'll make a real contribution."

----------

After her daily workout with Lisa, Cecilia sat with the other 
RA's for their nightly dinner. The dorm director surprised his 
staff when he announced he wanted to have a formal meeting with 
the RA's following the meal. 

The staff met in one of the dorm's small conference rooms. There 
was a series of issues to discuss, including a new duty roster, a 
review of the previous weekend's fire in the adjacent building 
and Huntington Hall's own evacuation procedures were a similar 
emergency to take place, and an announcement there would be a 
fire drill later in the week. 

Following the serious topics, the dorm director gave the group a 
sarcastic smile and passed out flyers for a 10 kilometer run that 
would be held Saturday of the following week. It was sponsored by 
the Tri-Alpha fraternity and was a yearly tradition at the 
university, the final task of the fraternity's initiation for new 
pledges. What set the Tri-Alpha run apart from any other 
university-sponsored 10-K run was that all runners had to be 
completely nude throughout the entire race and the ceremony 
preceding the event. The only permitted items of clothing for 
anyone participating were running shoes and socks.

The run had been a yearly tradition since the early 1960's, when 
the Tri-Alphas began incorporating nudity as part of their 
initiations. During the first two decades of its existence the 
10-K route had gone through not only the university, but also 
through Fraternity Row and a couple of nearby commercial streets. 
In 1985 the race was scaled back. The Tri-Alpha fraternity and 
the university agreed to shorten the run to just 2 miles and have 
it contained completely within the campus area. A few years later 
there was talk of banning the nude 10-K race altogether, given 
that most of the universities around the US that had nude student 
runs were stopping them. 

Talk of banning the Tri-Alpha nude run came to an abrupt end when 
a fraternity alumnus and multi-millionaire died and left a huge 
grant to the university. The benefactor left his money in a trust 
fund, stipulating that $ 10 million would be paid out each year 
until the account was exhausted. The grant had two conditions. 
The first condition was the entire amount had to be used to pay 
the salaries of non-tenured professors and Teaching Assistants. 
The second condition was that the Tri-Alpha nude run had to be 
held each year, restored to its original 10-kilometer length and 
held in the middle of the day on the last Saturday each 
September.

Whatever moral objections there might have been to the spectacle 
of naked runners streaking through the university each year, no 
one in the Board of Regents was going to argue against $ 10 
million in guaranteed salary money for instructors. Money talks, 
and bullshit walks. So, the Board of Regents negotiated the 
details of the revised race with the directors of the Tri-Alpha 
fraternity. The race would remain within the confines of the 
university, but would be a full 10-K run. The starting line was 
at the Memorial Stadium. The runners would do two laps around the 
football field, then leave the stadium to follow a route around 
the university, pass through the old part of campus, then circle 
back to the Stadium and do a final lap around the track to the 
finish line. The event drew a large crowd that filled the stadium 
and lined the race route around the university. Attendance was 
restricted to students, active alumni, faculty members, and 
reporters. The campus was sealed off to outsiders during the 
race, but even with the restriction, typically between 50,000 and 
60,000 spectators attended the event each year.

Participating in the race and running the full 10 kilometers non-
stop was a requirement for all Tri-Alpha pledges. The fraternity 
encouraged other students to participate by offering a trophy and 
$ 1,000 in prize money to any non-Tri-Alpha member who managed to 
win the men's race. A second prize of $ 1,000 was offered to the 
winner of the women's division, as an incentive to encourage 
female students to run. During any given year there were a few 
participants from other fraternities and sororities, a few from 
the dorms, and always students representing the Art Department, 
the Theater Department, the Athletic Department, and the School 
of Music. However, the male 10-K winner usually was a Tri-Alpha 
pledge, because the fraternity forced its prospective members to 
train for the race. 

The RA's smiled and laughed at the idea of getting someone from 
Huntington Hall to run in the nude for an hour, but the director 
had an offer that made his staff take the whole affair somewhat 
more seriously.

"I've got a $50 gift card to any store in the mall for anyone who 
can get me a runner to represent Huntington Hall in the 10-K. If 
you get me a winning runner, I'll give you a $ 500 gift card. I 
think it'd be good for morale if we could have someone to cheer 
for in this race, one of our own. Anyhow, you all have floor 
meetings scheduled this Sunday and I'd appreciate you bringing it 
up to your residents."

Most of the RA's figured they had their work cut out for them, 
getting any of their floor residents to participate. The race was 
not an experience for anyone with any modesty, because the time 
the runners spent in the nude extended way beyond the hour of 
running. There was a pre-race ceremony and a march around the 
stadium prior to the run itself, and then post-race events and a 
coronation ceremony for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in 
separate divisions for male and female runners. The six winning 
runners could expect to be nude in public for at least six hours 
and pose for hundreds of pictures. Yes, $ 1,000 was a nice amount 
of money for a student, but actually winning the prize was a 
tough challenge, given the competition from the well-prepared 
Tri-Alpha pledges. 

Cecilia was the only RA who was confident that she could supply 
at least two runners, and possibly four. She was sure that with a 
little coaxing she could get Jason and Ken to run, but she wanted 
to get Mike and Lisa to participate as well. That would mean four 
gift certificates and $ 200 to spend on new clothing. If either 
Jason or Ken won the race, she would get the $ 500 gift 
certificate and finally supplement her meager wardrobe in a 
meaningful way.

As Cecilia pondered getting her runners for Huntington Hall, the 
director set down a stack of flyers and registration packets for 
the race. Most of the other RA's took just one packet, but 
Cecilia confidently took four.

----------

The evening returned to normal, as Cecilia went to Jason's room, 
where he was waiting for her to review Burnside's materials. As 
instructed, he was naked and stood obediently as she questioned 
him about his studies. Eventually she planned to train him to 
always greet her by getting on his knees and kissing her hands, 
but that would come later. 

She confidently sat at his chair and snapped at him to get the 
right answers to questions about the assigned readings. Once she 
was sure he knew the Monday material, she released him to tutor 
his three friends while she went back to her room. The RA spent 
an hour studying for one of her classes, then returned to Jason's 
room to escort him to her room for a massage. 

Once Jason was undressed and ready to massage her, Cecilia 
ordered him to strip her to her panties. She was wearing a 
regular pair of women's briefs instead of her usual thong because 
of her period. Obviously for the next several nights Jason would 
be restricted to massaging her back, arms, feet, and legs. 
Cecilia sat in her armchair as Jason knelt to begin massaging her 
feet. As usual he moved up her calves, then massaged her hands, 
arms, shoulders, and neck. Once the chair portion of the massage 
was complete, Cecilia would lie on her bed to have her legs and 
back massaged.

Cecilia fell asleep and Jason covered her up. He quietly got 
dressed, gave her a very gentle kiss on the cheek, turned out the 
light, and slipped back to the commons area.

----------

Lisa owed Cecilia a Poker game. Cecilia's original idea was to 
play one-on-one, with high stakes between the two women. Cecilia 
was not planning to wager money, however. The stakes instead 
would be favors and a period of servitude. 

Cecilia changed her plans for her Poker wager upon returning to 
her room with the four Tri-Alpha race registration packets. She 
would make it a five-person wager, with participating in the race 
a penalty for the losers of planned game. The three males would 
end up in the race for sure, and if Cecilia's plans worked out 
and she won against Lisa, she would pass out registration packets 
to four losing freshmen. There was no question they would 
participate, because she still had the pictures from that wild 
Sunday night two weeks before and would use them as leverage, if 
necessary, to pressure everyone to play.

Cecilia was aware that Lisa really might be a good player, and 
there was a risk that it might be Cecilia, not Lisa, who would be 
take the fourth packet and run the race with the three guys. Yes, 
it was a risk, but if she lost, the RA was fully prepared to 
honor the bet and run the 10-K. Cecilia was not much of a risk-
taker in her daily life, but for once she was willing to face the 
prospect of losing to Lisa and running 10 kilometers in the nude. 
The uncertainty would make the evening's card game an interesting 
experience and a challenging one for the RA.

During her workout with Lisa on Tuesday, Cecilia brought up the 
idea of a Poker game Friday night. 

"We'll have the guys play with us, so we'll start with five 
players. We'll play strip Poker. First we strip the guys, then 
you and me go head-to-head."

"Are we playing for penalties?"

"Yeah, but just one each. We'll be playing for elimination. 
Whenever someone loses all their clothes, they're out of the 
game. There will be a single penalty for each loser."

"What is it?"

"I've got four envelopes. Each loser takes an envelope. It's a 
surprise, but it'll be the same for each loser."

"You too? If you lose, you'll do the penalty?"

"Of course. If I lose, I'll do the penalty."

"And what makes you so sure you can beat me?"

"Lisa, I'm not sure about that at all. I don't know how good you 
play, and you don't know how good I am. That's what'll make 
Friday night so interesting."

----------

Friday night Lisa and Cecilia made the final arrangements for the 
card game. They counted pieces of clothing to make sure each was 
starting with the same number of item. Cecilia ordered Jason and 
Mike to bring a small round table into Lisa's room from the 
commons area and to borrow five folding chairs from the dorm's 
conference room. The players would sit in a circle, each the same 
distance from the others. Lisa pulled out her digital camera and 
Cecilia borrowed Jason's 35-mm camera, for full body portraits to 
be taken of each loser as soon as he or she was eliminated from 
the game. Cecilia sealed the four registration packets and laid 
them on Lisa's desk.

Jason, Ken, and Mike looked at each other nervously. There was a 
grim determination about the two women that unsettled them. The 
knowledge that each of them was sure to lose and take a penalty 
also concerned them. The game really was between Cecilia and 
Lisa, and the guys figured once they were eliminated, they would 
be standing at attention in the nude for a very long time while 
the two women battled to see which of them would end up with the 
fourth envelope.

The guys did not bother to count how many articles of clothing 
they were wearing, since they were destined to lose anyway. Jason 
was wearing only four items; a pair of loose-fitting shorts, a 
shirt, and a pair of casual deck shoes. Ken had six items of 
clothing; the same outfit as Jason, but also a pair of socks. 
Like Jason, Ken normally did not wear underwear. Mike had on five 
items of clothing; shorts and underwear, shoes, and a shirt.

Cecilia let Lisa deal first. She passed the freshman an unopened 
deck of cards, which Lisa quickly unwrapped. Cecilia carefully 
watched as Lisa expertly shuffled, with the calm expression of a 
person familiar with gaming. Poker face. OK. She looks calm, but 
we'll see what's she's hiding later on, thought Cecilia to 
herself.

The two women played very carefully, eager to keep as many 
articles of clothing possible during the first phase of their 
game in which they eliminated the guys. Jason was the first to be 
eliminated. At the end of the seventh round, Ken had lost two 
shoes and Mike one shoe, but Jason already had lost all four 
articles of his clothing. He pulled down his shorts and handed 
them to Cecilia. Lisa then ordered him to stand against the wall 
to pose for several pictures with both the 35mm and the digital 
camera. Cecilia then ordered her boyfriend to put his hands 
behind his head and remain standing while the game continued.

Ken was eliminated next. In quick succession he lost his socks, 
shirt, and shorts, while Mike lost a second shoe. Once again, the 
two cameras clicked as the loser submitted to having multiple 
full-body shots taken to record his loss. Once his body was 
documented on film, Lisa ordered him to put his hands behind his 
head and take his place next to Jason.

Jason felt a rush of erotic excitement as he stood, completely 
uncovered in front of two women, his hands behind his head and 
his entire body on full display in the well-lit room. There was 
the thrill of being exposed, but also the thrill of submitting to 
his role as a loser of the game and the ominous envelope that was 
waiting for him on Lisa's desk. He knew that whatever was in that 
envelope, it would be a huge erotic challenge and an opportunity 
to prove his willingness to do whatever Cecilia wanted him to do. 
He glanced over at Ken, whose penis was stiffening and who was 
clearly enjoying himself.

Mike put up a much better fight then Jason and Ken. In the round 
following Ken's elimination he managed to take Cecilia's first 
article of clothing, a shoe. He won the next two rounds against 
Lisa, and got her two shoes off. Then he lost a round, giving up 
his shorts. That loss left him wearing a shirt and underwear. 
During the following round he took a second shoe from Cecilia, 
and a sock from Lisa after that. Mike lost his shirt, but then 
won two more times against Cecilia, getting the belt off her 
skirt and then her blouse. Cecilia became very nervous, realizing 
she was down to three articles of clothing and still had not 
eliminated Mike from the game. Mike got a second sock from Lisa 
before finally losing his final article of clothing, his 
underwear. Lisa stood up and pulled his underwear to his ankles. 
Then Mike dutifully stood against the wall for pictures. 
Following the shots of Mike, Lisa ordered all three guys to stand 
together for a couple of group shots.

Lisa and Cecilia were left evenly matched. Lisa was wearing a 
pair of jeans, underwear, and a t-shirt, while Cecilia was 
wearing a skirt, a thong, and a bra. Lisa won Cecilia's skirt in 
the next round. She now was confident of winning the game. She 
decided to embarrass Cecilia by briefly ordering her to stand in 
front of the three naked guys so they could see their RA in her 
underwear.

Cecilia sat down, only two articles of clothing away from losing 
the game and having to take a registration packet for the race. 
However, without realizing it, Lisa now was in serious trouble. 
She had assumed that forcing Cecilia to stand in front of the 
three males in her underwear would make her too nervous to think 
straight upon returning to the table, but quite the opposite 
happened. Cecilia's mind was sharply focused, while Lisa was 
completely distracted at the thought she was so close to winning. 
Cecilia could read her opponent's expression with each hand and 
knew exactly how to counter. Lisa quickly was stripped to her 
panties and her mood went from elation to panic. Sure enough, she 
lost the final round. With her eyes wide from the shock of 
actually having lost after being ahead, she stood up, folding her 
arms across her breasts. Cecilia, still wearing nothing but her 
thong and bra, stood behind Lisa and slowly pulled her panties to 
her ankles, relishing the hard-earned victory and her opponent's 
complete embarrassment. 

"Lisa, please hand me the cameras and stand next to the wall, 
facing me, with your hands at your sides."

Lisa, her face still reflecting the amazement she actually had 
lost, quietly obeyed, as the three guys watched her. Jason and 
Ken were fascinated with Lisa's tall attractive body, but both of 
them had to be careful about looking at her too hard. Ken would 
have to contend with Mike's jealousy if caught eying Lisa. Jason 
would have a much worse problem to contend with if Cecilia caught 
him looking with too much interest at another woman. 

The cameras went off, then the RA ordered her rival to turn 
around so she could take several pictures of Lisa's bare 
backside. Finally Cecilia ordered Lisa to step outside into the 
hallway, and took several pictures of her as she walked to the 
end of the women's wing and then back to her room. She sadly re-
entered, wondering what Cecilia's "high stakes bet" would entail 
for the game's four losers.

Cecilia ordered Lisa and Ken to fold and stack the chairs and 
push the table to one side of the dorm room. She then told the 
four naked freshmen to line up and handed each of them an 
envelope.

"I know all of you've been jogging, so you ought to be ready for 
this." She passed out four pens and continued. "Once you have 
these filled out, pass them back to me, and I'll run 'em down to 
the dorm director's office first thing tomorrow. He'll be real 
happy to know you're gonna represent Huntington Hall in the 
race."

The freshmen opened their envelopes with very mixed reactions. 
Jason was elated, not having known the university sponsored a 
nude run every year. Cool! His heart jumped in anticipation, 
especially once he saw that the route would have him running 
naked past all the areas of campus he already was familiar with. 
This was his lifelong fantasy, a serious nude run, a real race in 
which he could enjoy the freedom of having his entire body 
exposed to the cool fall breezes of a late September afternoon. 
He was thrilled at the thought of being completely naked in front 
of 50,000 strangers. Also, the old competitive spirit from his 
high school track team experiences resurfaced, making him wonder 
if he had a realistic chance of actually winning the race.

Ken was somewhat more dubious about the whole adventure, but 
realized it would be possible to have some fun with it. His mind 
wandered to the thought of running naked among all those other 
guys, and suddenly he found the whole thing very erotic. He then 
checked himself, wondering about fantasizing about being in the 
middle of a bunch of other naked men and then felt guilty about 
his fantasy. His mind wandered back and forth, but finally 
decided he was looking forward to the run.

Mike was not thrilled at all. The thought of running nude in 
front of 50,000 people made him cringe. He was not a particularly 
modest person, but he certainly was not an exhibitionist like 
Jason. He looked at the run as an ordeal he simply wanted to get 
out of the way and was mad at having allowed himself to get 
dragged into doing it.

Lisa still was in shock. She couldn't believe she had let Cecilia 
win three rounds of cards in a row. Now here she was, stuck with 
this awful commitment that not only entailed placing herself on 
very public display, but also the grueling physical challenge of 
running a full hour without stopping. Oh how she'd like to see 
Cecilia having to do this! Yeah right! The RA probably couldn't 
even run one mile, let alone six. Yes, that would have been fun, 
seeing that Ghetto bitch naked, sweaty, gasping for breath, and 
holding her hands at her side from runner's cramp while 
struggling to keep up at the tail end of the race. And it could 
have happened that way, if she had just paid closer attention to 
the cards during that last couple of rounds! This was 
ridiculous...she was a good card player, actually slightly better 
than Cecilia, but still she had lost, because she wasn't paying 
attention and her rival was!

The four freshmen spent the next few minutes filling out their 
registration forms, which asked basic questions to ensure the 
runners were over 18, currently enrolled in classes, and in good 
health. There was a map of the route with a signature line to 
assure the runner understood the route and agreed not to leave it 
during the race. There was another signature line to make sure 
each applicant was aware that all clothing, with the exception of 
running shoes and athletic socks, was strictly prohibited and 
that wearing anything above the knees would disqualify a person 
from the race. Finally there was a question asking what 
university entity the runner was representing. Jason, Ken, and 
Lisa put down Huntington Hall. Mike decided to declare he was 
representing the political science department.

----------

Following the card game, Mike, Lisa, and Ken decided to go out, 
while Cecilia asked Jason to follow her back to her room. Once in 
the room Jason undressed, folded his clothing, and then undressed 
Cecilia and folded her clothes. As she sat down in her armchair 
he knelt and followed the usual routine of massaging her feet, 
her calves, her hands, arms shoulders and neck. She then lay on 
her bed on her back, with her leg spread slightly and the exposed 
intimate area between her legs beckoning her boyfriend's anxious 
gaze.

Jason massaged Cecilia's thighs, all the while looking longingly 
at her relaxed vagina her partially shaved pubic hair. Cecilia 
left only a very small strip of pubic hair when she shaved, 
because she liked having a clean bikini line for her favorite 
thong underwear. As Jason's hands massaged her upper thighs and 
closed in on her most intimate areas, Cecilia spread her legs and 
clasped his head with her hands. She directed him to begin 
kissing the insides of her thighs. As Jason began his task of 
satisfying her desires, Cecilia directed him by guiding his head 
with her hands. Eventually he began kissing the soft shaved area 
between her legs, gently biting and licking her labia and 
inserting his tongue into her vagina. 

He would have liked to insert another part of his body into that 
secret opening, but unfortunately for Jason, tonight that was not 
to be. He already understood his place in the relationship. He 
could enter her only when she was in the mood and gave him 
permission. She would tell him when that would be; it was not his 
place in the relationship to bring it up.

Finally Cecilia directed Jason to kiss and lick the area around 
her clitoris. For a very long time she gasped and shuttered as he 
performed his duty in satisfying her need that night to have a 
nice orgasm.

Cecilia smiled, squeezed his hand, and flipped over on her 
stomach for the second part of her massage. Jason, his face tired 
and sticky from servicing Cecilia's sexual needs, continued his 
task of relaxing her. Beginning with the soles of her feet, he 
worked his way up her legs, kneading and massaging her muscles. 
He was rewarded by getting to his favorite part, her lovely dark 
bottom. He spent a very long time exploring those lovely mounds 
of tantalizing flesh, massaging and caressing that intimate part 
of her body. To have those lovely buttocks in his hands and under 
his care was his reward for his efforts to make her happy. After 
he massaged her bottom, he spent a long time kissing it, even 
venturing between her bottom cheeks. He was rewarded by a happy 
sigh and a supportive comment from his love:

"Hmm...that feels good. I like it when you do that to me."

He finished massaging her upper back and, as usual, covered her 
up before leaving her room.

----------

Cecilia insisted that Jason spend most of the following Saturday 
studying, given that he was not likely to have much time to study 
the following weekend. She ran into Ken in the hallway and 
"strongly recommended" that he join Jason as he reviewed for the 
first midterm in Burnside's class, as well as midterms in a 
couple of other classes. 

Cecilia, meanwhile, went to the gym with Lisa. Fortunately her 
companion had recovered from the shock of the previous night's 
Poker game and was resigned to running the following weekend. To 
prepare for the run she changed her workout, explaining to 
Cecilia why the altered workout was better for a person preparing 
for a 10-K run. Cecilia followed Lisa's lead and decided to add 
jogging to her exercise routine.

There was the usual theater and dinner date Saturday night, with 
Jason appropriately dressed in a new suit, new shoes, and 
conservative tie. Cecilia, as always on such outings, wore her 
Danubian dress, which was the only article of decent clothing she 
owned. 

That night Cecilia led Jason even further into the world of high 
culture, by asking him to take her to a production of the famous 
opera "Madame Butterfly". The production was located in downtown 
Chicago, which involved a 40-minute drive into the center of the 
downtown area. Jason had to spend most of Saturday morning 
scrambling to make arrangements for getting himself and Cecilia 
from the university to downtown and back again. Cecilia wanted to 
see "Madame Butterfly" and she expected to be taken to see 
"Madame Butterfly". The details were Jason's problem, and he was 
expected to make whatever arrangements necessary to comply with 
her desire. It was that simple. In the end Mike came to Jason's 
rescue by lending his car and showing his friend the best way to 
get to the downtown theater. He also knew of an expensive 
downtown restaurant close to the theater, which solved Jason's 
other problem, where would they eat.

Once downtown, Jason took Cecilia to what turned out to be a very 
elegant restaurant before taking her to the opera. He treated her 
in a proper and respectful manner, seating her, opening doors for 
her, and doing everything else he could think of to make her 
experience more pleasant. After dinner they walked arm-in-arm to 
a theater production that had been written a century before by 
someone her had never heard of, in a style of music he never 
listened to. As always, what Jason might have wanted didn't 
matter. The night belonged to Cecilia.

Cecilia's reaction to the opera surprised Jason. While he tried 
to hide his boredom as best he could, she really got into the 
production. As the final act ran its course, Jason glanced over 
at his girlfriend to notice tears running down her cheeks. She 
truly was moved by the desolation of the main character's 
downfall from happiness to despair, fully understanding the very 
thin thread that kept her own life from returning to the dark 
world of despair from which she had emerged. How difficult it is 
to escape; how easy it is to fall back in! She rested her head on 
his shoulder, thinking about the bleakness of not only the 
opera's depressing ending, but also of her own life and the 
dysfunctional society that had produced and then exiled her.

As they left the theater to return to Mike's car, Cecilia showed 
her gratitude to her boyfriend with smiles, by holding his hand, 
and cuddling up to him. He was the one man in her life who seemed 
to understand what she needed, and more importantly, was willing 
to give it to her. She was genuinely grateful for the attention 
he was giving her, fully realizing that what she wanted from him 
was completely unreasonable. In her own way, after only a month 
of being with him, she was falling in love.