Tom stood there looking at the Poster on the wall of his small study. Marilee was standing there looking straight at him and he could feel the smile that poured out of her eyes as she laughed into his face.

What happened and why? He had repeated this to himself over and over again. He was in his final year and had so much to do before the end of the Semester. What happened to them and why were they separated. Neither of them had a real answer.

He was young and still at University doing his finals, and she was hovering between his career and his lust. One memorable night flashed through his mind, as he saw her walking across the campus carrying her funny little rug and a picnic basket which he knew contained some food and a bottle of red.

The Worlds were separating and the worlds were linking, and he was walking across green grass in a mist, and she was still trailing along, her eyes wide with love and wonder. Then they were on yellow sand and the waves were flowing over their bodies as they lay in the moonlight. They were walking hand in hand in the snow and the moonlight was playing tricks with his eyes and her hair.

It was all rolling across him like psychedelic images over a white balloon that had transfixed them at Libby's Opening....

His green eyes crinkled as he smiled and he scratched his head and gave a wry grin. He would always love this woman and God was his witness.

Again the memories rolled across.....

They were eighteen when they met. He was a holiday folk singer, and she was a waitress. They worked together in this seaside resort, and they were friends and lovers from the moment they met.

She was a shy little thing with and so dependent on him and from the first moment they met, she had loved him, and he had returned the love with a matching passion. They were both virgins, both naive, both highly intelligent and ambitious, and both so very full of the joys of being young.

"Tommy!!!!” she would cry, and his heart would melt. 'Tommy!!!"

"Do people who are eighteen know where life is about?” thundered the lecturer from his pedestal up on the stage, and Tom turned away from the poster and wondered how that big break came....

It was later that same year that Greatchen came into his life. Somehow he managed to keep Marilee happy, and keep his friendship with Greatchen.

She was the complete opposite of Marilee. She was dark; bubby and easy going, and he felt an instant comradeship with her amazing strength and vigour. From her University days, Greatchen was an athlete. She ski-ied with him whilst Marilee sketched in their apartment. She trudged behind him in the snow, whilst he carried Marilee's belongings.  Both were a part of his lfe and both were his happiness.

For one he felt the warm rush of affection that always caressed him each time she came to mind, and the other was a mate, dressed in the body of a female muscleman. Greatchen was always muscled and sharply cut, and always looking for a physical challenge. She could drink everyone she met under the table, and beat everyone at every sport she played, and she played everything, or appeared to. Tom found her strangely comforting and comfortable, like the solid horse hair armchair his grandmother had on her back porch, and unlike her armchair, Greatchen was gorgeous.

He could see her smilingly knowing she challenged him, and he smiled back.

Then his eyes liquefied into trailing ribbons of softness, as he smiled at the memory of Marilee's smile. His eyes slanted into green orbs of fire, and his very soul and body went into straight delight, as he remembered her hazel eyes, slanting, and laughing, as she teased him with her never ending delighted joy of being his love.

Whoever expected the talent scout to be at the cafe?

He was singing his last song with the band when he felt the probing eyes. Serena was tall, taller than he was and smart. She was wearing a white dress that did not leave anything to the imagination, and why would a man want to imagine, when reality was smiling at him across the room.

Of course Marilee would understand, but she didn't.

She took her pencils and vanished into the distance leaving him to be wooed and enticed by Serena into almost instant stardom, financed by Marilee, but he hadn't known that for most of the early years.

Overnight he became not only her ex-lover, but the dream fantasy of half the teenage teeny boppers in the world. That was when he was drafted, and two years Military service in the Australian Army with six months in Vietnam, and he graduated an officer and a gentleman.

His Valet was Norman, a digger with a fantastic range of musical talent and the worst personality problem Tom had ever seen anywhere, but despite all this, he did exactly what he was told and was one of the best valets Tom had ever had. One night Tom had introduced Norm to Serena and she took him to the screaming fans and also into her bed and overnight made him an even bigger star than she had made him, and he really didn't care. He was fond of Norman in the strange way males have of bonding, when they know they are on opposite sides, and yet not.

Tom was already there now, and on his own journey, made possible by the huge investment into his career when Marilee won all that money and was approached, nay conned, by Serena. She thought he did not know, but his pride would not let him say thank you, but inside he knew that it was Serena's investments into both him and Norm that created this huge industry they were both now a part of.

 Norman fascinated him in his greed for worship. For someone who came from the slums, and had had very little, Norman developed a voracious appetite for little girls and screams. He never seemed to get enough of their screaming frenzy when they came near, and he just shut off when he was alone. Tom had never seen anything like that ever before. He was neither a paedophile nor a child molester, but he took in ordinarily interest and strength from his hordes of screaming girl fans. They doted on him, and he fed on their obsession.

It was only a few years ago that Marilee had come back into his life. It was a torrid affair, spanning three years and two continents, but in the final analysis it had been that ever present, deeply ingrained lust, as well as an incredible love and lifelong affection, that had drawn the pair together, now that his first wife had gone into body guarding, and traipsing around the country dressed like a thug, when she wasn't flaunting her muscles and brawn.

It was money, and her morbid fascination for him, that kept them together. She had taken him when Marilee left, and had never let him forget that she had saved him from deject misery, or so she thought.

Norman on the other hand married first Marilee's friend Libby, and sired one son, and then Serena, the blonde. After a few years, their pairings in bed became fewer and fewer, as the months passed, while his escapades with young adoring groupies became infamous. He bedded a different girl in every town usually as a pair couple or group, often every night, sometimes more than once a night, but when he made love to them, it was never the face in front that he saw. Every morning, it was the face of an unhappy man that looked back at him out of the mirror. Yes, Norman had a secret longing that he had never fully faced or understood ever, and was never going to.

Finally even Serena had tired of the young rock star, and moved on to new interests. That had been her style since the beginning. Find a promising young entertainer and make him into a star, while enjoying a goodly amount of carnal pleasure in the bargain. She had found out early that her svelte body was her second best tool, right after her razor sharp mind. She could have been Norm’s permanent wife had she wanted that. She had him so wrapped around her finger that he would have done anything for her, but she grew bored with their games. It was she who brought the first groupies to his room one night, after giving the girls explicit instructions on how to please him.

Oh, she acted hurt and angry the next morning, when she conveniently found them in bed together, but as she turned her back on them and stormed out, she had a twisted grin on her face. She had already found her next target. Besides, Norm didn’t need her anymore. She had set a machine in motion that couldn’t be stopped.

Norm went to pieces after Serena left him and soon after Libby took Matt and went away too. He  was devastated at first, and his performance suffered when he looked into the wings and didn’t see her standing there encouraging him, but he was a professional, and he had a following, and he was soon back on top of his game. Within days, he had moved on, quickly realizing the truth about their relationship and going back to his smorgasbord of young flesh.

His life was a blur of girls, clubs, gigs and music, until the day he spotted Madeline, walking into an office building in Sydney. He had been in Australia for two weeks on a whirlwind tour, but after that night’s show he would board a plane for the U.S. Knowing he should see her again, Norm walked into the building and approached the security desk.

A sombre guard stared at him through weary eyes. It was clearly nearing the end of his shift. “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” said Norm “Does a Madeline . . . “he trailed off. He didn’t know what her last name was. Had she been married since they parted ways, thanks to the evil Serina? If so had she even taken her husband’s name?

“Are you looking for her?” the guard pointed at a beautiful woman exiting the elevator. “I don’t know her last name, but she comes in here every morning then leaves again.”

Norm didn’t hear the last of the statement. He had already taken off across the lobby at a dead run. His long rock-star-hair billowed behind him, as he ran. “Madeline,” he shouted, “Wait!”

She didn’t hear him. She continued out the doors and headed down the street, her long legs carrying her away from Norm once more, but he ran as hard as he could. He caught up with her outside the building.

“Madeline,” he gasped grabbing her arm, “Wait!”

At his touch she whirled to face him, a can of mace raised, pointed directly at his face, but before she didn’t spray. They stood there facing each other, the can of mace still raised between them.

“Don’t you recognize me,” Norm finally asked?

“That’s why I haven’t put this away” Madeline answered, indicating the small spray can in her hand. “I should . . .”

“But you won’t.”

She put the can back in her bag. “No I won’t. Actually it’s good to see you Norm.  I was not expecting to see you at all. What are you doing down under and why are you here?.”