An excerpt from chapter 8 of my latest novel:
“Harry enjoyed being on the third floor of the Whitney. He wanted an old house like it one day, but knew that he might have to move somewhere on the eastern seaboard to find one. His daydreaming was disrupted by the smell of Janet’s perfume. “Hello Janet,” Harry said, without turning away from the window.
“Good evening Harry Goodman.” Janet moved toward Harry, pressing herself against him. She kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Have you been having a good day Harry?”
“I’ve been having a superlative day. Let’s go to the bar and get a drink.”
They sat at the end of the bar. They were immediately approached by a petite young Asia woman with spiked golden blonde hair and a nose ring adorning her left nostril. “Hi, my name is Bridgette. Welcome to the Ghost Bar. What may I get for you? Would you like to see some menus?”
Janet looked at Harry. “Are you hungry Janet?”
“Yes, Harry I am. Let’s look at some menus.”
Harry ordered a Stoli martini. Janet had a Cosmopolitan. Bridgette handed them menus from the counter below the mirrored wall and began working on their drink orders.
“So what kind of work do you do? Wait, lemme guess.” Janet took a sip from her drink and studied Harry’s face. “You’re a psychologist.”
Harry tried not to react. He wanted to believe that she had made a lucky guess. He gave her a demure smile. “You’re right Janet. I’m a psychologist. More to the point, I’m a psychotherapist. I also do psychometric testing, because I realized I had a knack for it, when I was working on my masters.”
Janet had a huge grin on her face. “Wow, I’m in the first year of my doctoral program in psychology at Wayne State. That’s amazing Harry! I’ve almost accumulated enough credits to have earned a Masters. Oh my God! I’ve been searching high and low for somewhere to do my practicum.”
Janet stood up and moved between Harry’s legs. She put her hand on Harry’s left thigh and rubbed it slowly. “Harry, hook a sistah up. I’ll make it worth your while,” she stated in her little girl voice. Janet put her hand on the bulge growing in Harry’s pants. He was glad that he had put on boxers that morning, as his engorged member began pushing against the soft material of his underpants.”
And here’s a little more from chapter 14:
When they emerged from the shower, Harry suggested that they go and get some breakfast. They drove to the Farmer’s Restaurant in the Eastern Market. They sat in the booth in the front window.
“You ever been here before, Janet?”
“No Harry. I’m sure I haven’t. If I come down here, I usually go across the street to Zeff’s. I didn’t know this place existed. I don’t do Eastern Market that often.”
“Well the pancakes are great, and the eggs are the freshest you’ll find anywhere.”
“That sounds good to me. Order me some turkey sausage too Boo.”
“No porko for you, eh?”
“Uh no, darling. I’m not Muslim, but I was married to a devout one. Pork has been off the menu for many, many years.”
When the waitress arrived, Harry ordered pancakes and eggs, but there was no turkey sausage to be had at Farmer’s Restaurant. Harry decided not to make her watch him eat their delicious pork sausages.
“Do you realize that this is the first time you’ve taken me out to eat? You know what they say: when a man feeds you, he wants something from you.”
“That’s pretty profound. And you’re right. I do need something from you. I have to go to the school later to interview four of the students that I plan to evaluate Saturday. You interested in doing some of the interviews?”
Janet had a distinct look of surprise on her face. “You’d trust me to conduct the interviews?” Janet was beaming with excitement.
“Yeah, I would Janet. You’re doing a fine job for me. I’d like to expand your role. I think another perspective might be in order. It may also help speed up the process. The sooner this project is over, the better.”
“Oh, okay, that’s why you called me last night. You wanted to talk to me about this, didn’t you?”
“Not entirely Boo. I wanted to see you. I did have a meeting with the chancellor of the Academy last evening. She’s compiling a report to the feds that has to be sent to them by November 30. With your assistance, I might be able to get most of the testing done by November 26. I had originally planned to work through the end of January on the evaluations, but now she’s squeezin me to get them all done before the academy’s winter break.”
The real mystery and suspense in The Trouble With Harry Goodman, is what is motivating his misogynistic, pornographic fantasies about almost every woman he sees, after the collapse of his 17 year marriage. One gets the impression that he is exploding with years of suppressed sexual animosity, reducing all the women he meets to nothing more than mindless sex objects, lining up to fulfill his depraved sexual desires. This gives you some clue as to why his marriage may have disintegrated; his inability to nurture a mutually healthy and loving relationship with women. While depicting Harry as somewhat mild mannered and charismatic, his actual behavior towards women is more emotionally aloof and exploitive. In Harry’s fantasy world, all the women he desires, want him too, and serves themselves up to him without reservation because he is so desirable. Yet, it is unclear as to why he is so desirable, and why they are all so quick to abandon social decorum to have him. However, it is a book about male fantasy. Although I personally found it a bit incredible and demeaning to women, The Trouble with Harry… gives you a unique peek into the male psyche, as it pertains to fantasies about women.
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