he became interested in college because of its academic advantages, and as a result of this change of values, he ignored the pro offers and went on to get a Master's Degree in education. After finishing his education he was immediately hired by one of the up and coming colleges in the Ivy League, and for the next ten years he was quite happy to teach and submerge himself in the academic environment.
During his second year at the college be met, courted, and wed a lovely girl who was a product of the academic world. Christine was knowledgeable, poised, and very prim and proper. His admiration for her good qualities didn't cloud his appreciation of her lovely figure and frothy beauty. Their lovemaking was practically null before the wedding, but afterward they shared each other's bodies with wild abandonment, and he delightfully discovered that beneath that poised facade there beat the heart of a true harlot. They were good for each other, and the results of their passion bore fruit three years later. It was unfortunate that at the news she was pregnant, Christine began to change in small ways. They were chalked up as eccentricities belonging only to those special women who carried new lives deep in their bellies.
When the baby was born, people naturally assumed that. Big Stephen Lark, All American, would produce a son, but alas the baby was a girl. Christine immediately sheltered the child from her robust father, and Sandra Christina was installed in the Lark household.
While it was true that Steve had entertained visions of teaching his son how to kick a football, or laying down a perfect bunt he quickly got over his disappointment when he looked at the beautiful little blonde, blue-eyed baby that lay in his strong arms. Sandra, or Sandy as he called her, was a captivating child, and from the day she was brought home, she tended to favor her father's attention instead of her mother's. This brought some pained remarks from her mother from time to time over the next few years.
By the time Sandy was walking, she was her daddy's shadow. He took her everywhere he went. As she grew, she preferred doing things with bin, rather than the more ladylike activities that her mother often forced on her. She wasn't a Tom Boy, but at the same time, she simply preferred to be with her father. He had completely forgotten about the possibilities of a son by now, as Christine had informed him that she didn't care to go through the agonies of all that bother again, simply to satisfy his ego. It didn't bother him greatly, and he settled down to simply loving his daughter with all the affection in his large body.
He and Christine stopped sharing many mutual interests as she submerged herself in the political life that abounded on the campus and in the homes of the other professors. They finally stopped sharing the same bed, too. It came a blow to Steve because he was hoping that Christine would rediscover the passion she once possessed, but for some unknown reason it was never to return.
He tried a few discreet affairs but found them not only uncomfortable, but undignified as well. Sneaking around on a small college campus was not the easiest thing in the world to try, so he quit them after a few months. He cast around for a way to satisfy the cravings in his heart and body, and after discarding liquor and drugs, he suddenly discovered an untapped talent he was unaware of. He began to write. As a young man he'd traveled during the summers, and he'd always enjoyed writing down what he'd seen and how he was effected by the people and places he'd stayed in. At the urging of an English Professor, he submitted one of his manuscripts and surprisingly it was encouragingly received. He again wrote from memory and again it was snapped up. By this time he had gained some small amount of fame at the college, and Christine was warming to him again while basking in this glory. During the summer following his second sale, he traveled with his family and by September he had enough material for two more books, which he wrote the following fall and winter, and which were again sold, this time at a substantial price.
Steve realized that he had at last found something to take up the slack that he found in his life. He didn't mind that Christine wasn't sleeping with him as he stayed up late most nights anyway. His need for sex, when the demand became too bothersome, was usually satisfied by a weekend away from home, gathering more information or visiting with his publisher. If Christine doubted his excuses for these weekends, she never made a point of it.
The following summer he was invited to go to Europe by a wealthy family whose child attended one of his courses. He decided to accept the invitation, and so in June, the whole family flew to France. Christine was in her glory, both before the trip and then during the whole summer in Europe. While Steve was busily obtaining material, he met some lovely people, and one of these individuals asked that he sail back to the States aboard his three-masted schooner. Steve snapped at the chance, but Christine had her doubts.
The lovely forty-eight footer left in mid August and finally sailed into Cape Cod in mid September. Steve had discovered a whole new world, but Christine had discovered another part of his life that she never intended to share with him again. Sandy had enjoyed the entire summer, regardless of what her parents did, just so long as she was within sight of her father. She had proven to be a much better sailor than her mother had, and she told her father that the wanted him to buy a boat for them so they could sail all the time.
The summer resulted in two more books and the result of the last book was a brand new fifty-foot, three- masted schooner that Steve bought. Christine flew into a rage and didn't cool down for a month. Finally, when Steve told her she could stay home if she liked, she took him up on it and did just that.
The next summer found Steve and Sandy aboard the Happy Gal, sailing this time for South America and around the tip and into the South Pacific. Sandy had been able to contribute to the boat's name, and she was fast becoming very possessive of her new toy. She seemed happy to be away from her mother and never mentioned her to Steve. Steve seldom thought of Christine, and in fact was hardly troubled when a letter reached him in Bali that had been waiting for him for a week. It was from Christine, and she was informing him that she and a minor diplomatic officer from a delegation they had visited the previous summer, had again found each other's company more pleasing than anything they had previously experienced. She very casually told Steve that her lawyer would be sending him the necessary papers, and that it was perfectly all right with her if Steve wanted full custody of Sandy. Christine also added that she considered all of the furnishings and what funds currently in the bank to be hers by right.
She closed by asking him to say hello to Sandy for her. Steve balled the scented note paper up and threw it forcefully into the nearest gutter he passed. His anger was not for the fact Christine had become involved with another man or that she was so casual about disposing of her marriage after ten years, but the off-handed manner with which she treated Sandy sent him into a rage.
Going back aboard the boat he found that Sandy and Jerry, the college boy he'd signed on as crew, were down on the beach. He quickly poured himself a large drink and sat down to consider his life. When Sandy and the college boy crewman returned, they found him asleep in the canvas chair, with an empty bottle lying at his feet.
That had been a major turning point in the lives of both Stephen and Sandy. The next morning Steve took Sandy aside and asked her if she'd like to live on the boat all the time. He explained that her mother had gone away to live somewhere else and that they wouldn't be seeing her again. Steve also told Sandy that, unless she really wanted to go back to her school, from now on he would teach her while they lived aboard the boat all the time.
Sandy's face was puzzled for a few minutes trying to comprehend her mother's strange conduct, but then she seemed to have arranged things to her satisfaction, and she smiled at her father.
'Daddy. I love you. Let's just stay on the boat and I'll be your wife. I can fix your food and wash clothes in a bucket and do everything.'
Steve smiled at the beautiful little eleven-year-old child and thought to himself, Well, you can't do everything, darling.
Thus started a new life for the both of them. In late August, Jerry took off for the States, and Steve cast around for a new crew member. He decided never to go back to the East, and to simply have some of his personal papers and items sent to general delivery in San Francisco. After that decision he felt free and clean inside at last. He wrote his publisher and informed him of his new marital status, and as soon as he received Christine's lawyer's letter, he signed the papers and in thirty days he was no longer married.
Steve made inquiries around the yacht club where he was moored about a possible hand to help him sail to California. He was introduced to several people who said they'd make the trip, but to his discerning eye they all showed faults that he didn't want to have to put up with for a month's sail. Finally, during the middle of September, Steve was seriously considering flying back to the States and leaving the boat until he could find someone who would be satisfactory. One night as he and Sandy were eating their dinner on the aft deck and enjoying the beautiful early evening sea breeze, a figure was seen walking down the long dock in their general
