INTERVIEW WITH CLIFF DARBY PART 2

Blythe and I awakened with the after glow of a great loving episode which was over due.  I asked her if she remembered to take her birth control pill and she had.  We spent some time just talking in bed and we talked about having a baby.  "It would be such a good looking child....blonde with blue eyes" she said.  I said it was too late in our lives to start a family and how tied down we would be.  I also said that the times were too adverse for children and how you can get hurt either through disappointment as to how they turned out or the grief if there was sickness and even death.  She agreed to all of what I said. I changed the subject to our lives.  "It is so strange, here we are well off, not old yet, both successful in our careers and yet we seem so lost..not knowing how to spend our lives....I am tired of what I do and you surprised me by saying you were going to leave the Bee.   This stint of private investigation is stimulating, but I already know I would not want to do it forever...too dangerous and requires devious antics on our part...how do you feel about it?"   "Bob, I just don't know...I have a feeling it would grow old pretty quick  Let's just finish this one and then just coast awhile; I will wait on resigning...I think your saying that you were tired of psycho-analysis is very valid and understandible.....I know you are restless..just be patient.  We only have to live one day at a time."  She looked at the clock and said we had better get up and start for Davis as our meeting with Mr Darby was only hours away. We showered and dressed, had coffee and a roll and we were on our way to Davis.  Blythe started laughing and when asked why, she said she was thinking about my take off on Golfers....."You really don't hate golfers, do you."  " No, I don't hate golfers, I just get so irritated about the worshipful attitudes towards them and the course itself. There seems to be an adoration of Ray's Creek at Agusta.......I wonder if Ray was ever up shit creek...They name everything...Eisenhower tree, Amen corner....They should name the main restroom  The Golden Bear Dump..And how the players say they holed out on such and such hole...Didn't the ball go in?  Why did they hole out?...In interviews they say they did this and that on the golf course...I thought it was a landing field..... I even hate the sound of a ball dropping into a cup."   "Well, it was very entertaining to say the least."  she replied.  We arrived at the University on time and went to the administration office and explained who we were and why we were there.  We were given visitors badges and taken to Cliff Darby's lab where he was working.  He warmly greeted us and asked us to come with him to his office down the hall. He had alloted one hour for us.  As I had briefed the Dean of the school of engineering, there was no need to go over the same with Cliff, he had been briefed by the Dean. Blythe admitted to Cliff that her assignment was about a tempest in a pot of tea, but it would find its way into the paper and would, no doubt, draw alot of interest. Cliff said he understood and would tell all he knew about X.  "I met X a few years ago through a dating service.  Our first contact was when she called me.  I was coming off of a divorce and honestly, I think I was in a great turmoil....grabbing at straws, if you will. X and I agreed to meet at a certain restaurant at a certain time...she would be wearing a blue top and I would be wearing a short sleeve maroon sweater.  I went on inside and put our reservations in and sat in the room right inside the door.  When X came in, my very first impression was that this lady looked a little rough in the face..sort of hard...a few miles on her odometer....She was very easy to talk to..intelligent..a great figure..very small waist..We actually had a good time and agreed we would meet again...then, she said there was no need to part company and she invited me to her home.  It was a middle class home, very dark inside, though..even with the lights on.  We sat down in her living room and she asked if I would like a drink.  I accepted and we had a glass of white Zin.  The first impressions of both her home and her were  ....there was a dark and heavy spirit here..sort of a moaning..She poured us another glass and began to talk of her childhood.  She had three brothers and one sister and they lived in Missouri near Kansas City.  They lived on a lake.  Her Father was an alcoholic and used to beat the kids with a stick he kept in the house.  He also beat his wife.  I never could find a legitimate reason she divorced her husband.  The closest I could come was that he was insensitive to her preferences..she went on and on about he forgot to turn the porchlight on when she came home late from work...I went with her for about one year and we had sex together.  One time she wanted me to lie on my back and she sat on me..facing me.  We did it that way a number of times and every time, she went into a frenzy of movements and ended up by falling on me and weeping deeply.  I never could figure that one out."   I interrupted him and said that what he had told me so far explained the weeping and frantic gyrations...She was obviously trying to find the love she never had as a child...In a way, Cliff, you became vicariously her Father....Cliff pretty well covered the water front as far as X was concerned.    X had flash backs to horrible events in her childhood..she was sexually reckless...looking..looking all the time..never finding...obviously very mentally ill...Our hour was up, and we thanked Cliff for his generosity and left.   On the way home, Blythe said she was glad to be out of there and felt like she had taken a trip through hell.  I said that I had trouble remembering why we were doing all of this and she said..."Tragedy and darkness of soul sells".....We both came to agreement....never again.  (to be continued)