Categories > Cartoons > Daria > 1960's Daria
1960s—Chapter 13
By Dr T
The outfalls of Daria and Helen’s confrontation, Holidays 1958
A ‘Daria’ fanfic, so no claim to original characters, etc. claimed, just my plot twists. Based on an image from the last ‘Daria’ episode/movie, ‘Is It College Yet?’
Later, the night before Thanksgiving:
“But Jake….”
“No, Helen,” he stated firmly. “I’m as unhappy about the possibilities as you are. Yes, there’s a good chance it’s from that professor. We already more than suspected that she was more than living in his spare apartment, so there was no more reason to accuse her of being his mistress tonight than before.” Helen drew a breath, but Jake broke in, “No, I don’t approve, but you talked me into ignoring it – you’re hoping she marries him as soon as possible, once you decided he would be socially acceptable. Now we won’t find out if that jewelry was from him or someone else. You know we would have found out if you hadn’t exploded.”
Helen sighed, knowing she had over-reacted to at least some degree. Rather than admit error, she said nothing and went to change for bed.
-60s-
“This is the first time I haven’t had turkey for Thanksgiving,” Daria commented late the next morning. She had slept in and was eating a light late breakfast of a fried egg, toast, and tea, while Marcus started pre-preparing their dinner.
“We’ll make do,” Marcus told her as he took out the bottle of meat tenderizer. After all, he hadn’t planned on having company for the holiday.
“What are we having?”
Marcus shrugged. “I didn’t want to mess about with poultry of any kind. I have a nice roast; I figured I’d eat off it for the next few days so there’s plenty for both of us today and for lunch tomorrow. Baked potatoes and I’ll open up a can of green beans or corn, whichever you prefer. If you don’t mind, I was also going to have baked beans, and I’ll make a batch of Bisquick biscuits. I was going to open a bottle of Tawny Port and have some cheeses instead of dessert. Sound okay?”
“Alright, but considering some of your past results, I’ll help you make the gravy.”
“Fair enough,” Marcus had to acknowledge, since the few times he had tried it had stayed very watery. “I was planning on a basic California Cab. How about if I go for one of the ’47 Bordeaux instead?”
Daria’s eyebrows went up. Marcus had a modest wine cellar, and this would be one of his top wines. “Really?”
“We’re celebrating a major holiday together,” he pointed out. “Of course it’s a celebration.”
“Then what shall we drink at Christmas?”
“My…no, our last bottle of the ’45 Haut Brion, and for New Year’s, the best Champagne we can find,” Marcus responded.
Daria glanced at the clock. “Put the roast in at a low temperature so we can have dinner early, and then take me to bed, my love.”
“As you wish, so shall I perform,” Marcus teased back.
Two hours later, Daria was very thankful. Whereas her family had a very quiet Thanksgiving, Marcus and Daria fully enjoyed theirs. The next day, as Helen and Quinn went through the motions of facing the crowds of shoppers looking to start the holiday buying season and Jake went in to make certain all was going well at the station, Daria wrote to her Aunt Amy, explaining what had happened.
Amy would decide that there was blame to be put on both sides, although she wouldn’t directly criticize her niece when she wrote back. After all, in a sense, Daria had baited her parents, even if Helen had gone over the top, especially considering that they were in public. However, since Helen did not mention the incident to any of her family, Amy really couldn’t really let her older sister know her opinions.
-60s-
With Thanksgiving so late that year (the 28th), there was only a little over a week of classes left in the semester, followed by a ‘reading day’ and then a week of final exams, ending on Friday, December 20th. Daria was not surprised by the fact that she did not receive any direct or indirect communication from her mother at any point that month. She did receive a letter of moderate support from her Aunt Amy early in the month. She also received three other letters around the same time.
One was a brief note from Quinn, which mostly just filled Daria in on her sister’s social plans between the then and New Year’s. It was actually a fairly full social calendar, including a Christmas Eve gala in Savannah and New Year’s in New Orleans, both hosted by Quinn’s various friends at MMJC. However, the way Quinn phrased it, it was clear that their mother was letting Quinn have a wider range of activities in order to excuse both Quinn and Daria from attending Christmas at the plantation, even if Helen and Jake would be there.
Daria let her sister know that she hoped Quinn would have a grand time at both sets of events.
The second note was from her grandmother. Obviously, Grandmother Tess was not taken in by Helen’s maneuvers. After Daria reread the note, she was finally able to decipher the message her Grandmother was sending: Daria was misbehaving, and could cause scandal if found out. Strangely, however, the rest of the hidden message was, if you’re going to misbehave like this 1) don’t get caught; and 2) make certain the fun was worth the risk.
Daria thought about that, and took a great deal of time and effort in composing her response. It actually took her multiple drafts to say what she wanted to say in the same encoded ways her Grandmother had written in the first place. Tess was impressed by the effort, which she correctly deciphered into Daria’s basically replying, 1) yes, it was worth the risk; 2) they were careful not to cause scandal; and most importantly, 3) she and her unnamed loved did consider themselves pre-engaged at the least.
Tess was content with that answer. She also decided not to clue in Helen.
The third and most important letter was from her father. The content was even more important to Daria than the check that was included, which paid for her spring tuition. Together, these let Daria know that while her father was not happy with their situation or with the fact that Daria was almost certainly in a physical relationship, he still loved and supported her.
Daria wrote back in the same vein, and also gave her father assurances that she was happy in the lifestyle(s) she had chosen, and was prepared to take any consequences. She also made sure he knew how much she loved him and appreciated his (slightly limited) support. The fact that again she alluded to having an ‘understanding’ that their relationship was heading towards marriage with her paramour reassured her father.
As Christmas approached, Helen would not be pleased, when visiting her husband’s office just before leaving for the plantation, that she spotted a Christmas card from Daria with a very affectionate note written inside. She was even less pleased two days later when she saw a card from Daria at her mother’s, especially as it had been given a very prominent placement, so that Helen could not miss seeing it.
Helen, of course, had not sent Daria a card, nor had she received one.
-60s-
Jane managed to get through the semester despite the personal upheavals of the previous summer. She had mostly recovered before the end of the semester. Daria did notice that while Jane was as affectionate as always when the two slept together, she had become less interested in intimacy. Confronted by Daria the weekend before finals, Jane confessed that although she loved Daria as much as ever, she was really hoping for someone she could have a more exclusive physical relationship with. At the moment, however, she was unsure if that would be with a male or female. Until then, she was not interested in going looking and was happy with extending other, somewhat closeted, lesbian and bisexual women in her feminist group..
Daria understood; she felt towards Jane something very similar. The two were close, intimate friends, even excluding their physical relationship. They loved each other and were devoted to each other, and were of course also attracted to each other. However, they were not in love. Daria was in love with Marcus.
Jane hoped to find the same.
Daria also made it through the semester, in the end scoring all A’s, although a few were nearly in the A- range, mostly because her French hadn’t been nearly as fluent at the start of the semester as she had thought it was – it had reached that point by the end of the term, however. Marcus ended up having had a good semester, and had finished the draft of his latest monograph. He would be pleased to learn the next May that it would be accepted for publication. Between his other publications, class and peer evaluations, and the continued growth of the college, he would have little difficulty in obtaining tenure and promotion to Associate Professor when it was time for him to apply.
One thing Daria and Marcus had had to discuss right after Thanksgiving dinner was the upcoming winter holidays. Neither had expected to be spending the holidays together. Marcus was already committed to attending the American Historical Society meeting in New York City, December 28-30, and he would be reading a paper on a panel the morning of the 29th. He knew that he was the only member of the college’s history program that was going this year, and so easily convinced Daria to come along. He hadn’t made airline reservations yet, and so merely made them for two, and informed the Statler Hilton that his room would be for two. He and Daria would spend some time reading ‘The New Yorker’ and the Entertainment section of ‘The New York Times’ to see if they could find some show to go to. Unfortunately, Amy had also not planned on her niece coming to New York over the holiday season. She had already been invited, and accepted, a holiday vacation with her current lover and would not be in town.
All this holiday planning would still leave them to also plan the time leading up to Christmas together, Christmas itself, and New Year’s Eve and after. A quick enquiry confirmed that the Statler was already booked solid for the time after the convention. Still, that had been a very long shot considering its location in Manhattan. In any case, neither were sure if they would have wanted to brave the crowds in Times Square.
While Marcus wanted to provide Daria with as interesting a holiday as possible, in part to distract her from the split with her family, she convinced him to provide a more conventional Christmas. New Years’ she left up to him, but she wanted to start whatever Christmas traditions they could devise. Marcus understood that this was her way of signaling that she was at least considering a quicker marriage than post mid-1970.
Therefore, the three Saturdays plus one day the week before Christmas when neither of them had to deal with finals, they went off together to shop for Christmas decorations. Marcus did have two boxes of family Christmas ornaments packed away in his attic, and those formed the basis of their décor. He wouldn’t have bothered with any decorations showing outside, but Daria purchased a wreath for the front door and electric faux candles to place in the front windows. They purchased the tree the evening they went shopping during the week before Christmas – in addition to the family ornaments, they had purchased the lights, tinsel, and some additional ornaments on their weekend shopping trips. They put the tree up that night, and Jane helped them decorate it.
As Daria’s family usually spent Christmas at her maternal Grandmother’s, she had only rarely had the chance to even see a tree being decorated – on those rare Christmases spent at home, Helen had decorated and had at most allowed to let the children watch, silently and at a distance so as not to interfere with Helen’s ‘vision.’ Jane was the youngest child in her family, and they had stopped decorating a tree once she had stopped believing in Santa, although her older two siblings decorated their homes for their children. Jane and Daria therefore really enjoyed deciding on how to place each light, ornament, and even strand of tinsel.
Marcus drove Jane home the Saturday morning before Christmas. When he returned home, he found that Daria had made a nest of cushions, blankets, and pillows pulled from various places around the house (plus a few additional large pillows she had purchased and hidden until now) in front of the fireplace and near the Christmas tree. She was also waiting for him nested nude, partially under a blanket and kept warm by the fire.
Marcus was very happy to join her. It was just comfortable enough, and was certainly snuggly enough, that they slept there every night through the morning of the 27th, and made love there at least twice a day through then as well.
Daria really didn’t want any actual presents, but Marcus insisted. She then demanded to know how many presents Marcus was getting her. In the end, Marcus gave in and told her. He found out why Christmas morning – Daria had not given him any physical presents. Instead, she had purchased a box of small cardboard cards. She gave him four of those cards for each of the presents he had told her he would give her – each one promising to be redeemable for one of four types of sexual favors: one each oral and ‘conventional’ (Marcus’ choice of position), one his choice of either of the previous two choices, and the fourth mentioning something more individual – anal, light bondage, using the dildos on one or the other of them, ‘Marcus’ free choice,’ etc.
Daria did like the gifts she did receive, although she was happiest sharing Christmas with her lover. Still, she liked the various books and clothes. When Marcus opened his envelope, he teased Daria that if he had known this would be his present, he would have given her much more.
In addition to the books and clothes, there was one other present, once which had shocked Daria, although in retrospect she knew she should have suspected something similar at the least. She of course had the ring she could wear as if it were an engagement ring, but they would be sharing a hotel room, and convention demanded that those who did so (especially at a place like the Statler), either be married and either at least pose as married or else have adjoining rooms.
When Daria opened her last present (which was just after Marcus had opened his), she was shocked to see two white gold wedding bands. “I’m not just asking for you to pose as my wife in New York,” Marcus told her. “I love you. Will you please marry me?”
Daria was speechless for several moments. She managed to refrain from asked, “Really?” “Why?” or anything along those lines. Instead, she finally asked, “When?”
Marcus took her hand. “I know you wouldn’t want to before you graduate, so likely, May or June, 1970.” Female undergraduates could not be married – men could, but mostly as a leftover provision from the GI Bill. Non-veterans needed special permission. “Still, most places, maybe all, allow married graduate students, if you want to go on. So, if you say yes, you pick the date. If you want to take the risk, we can get married as soon as possible and just not tell the college. If you want to wait until after you graduate, or even earn an MA or more, as long as we’re together during that time, I’m happy to wait to make it official.”
Marcus did not have to redeem any of his gift sex cards, and dinner was a bit later than they had planned. Daria told him, during their after-play, that they could discuss a wedding date, most likely some time in 1970, over the next few weeks.
Marcus was happy to agree.
As to Christmas dinner itself, since the pair would be leaving for the airport for their flight to NYC in the early afternoon of December 27th, they really didn’t want to bother cooking a big bird for Christmas dinner – otherwise they would have had either a turkey or a goose. Instead, they cooked a duck for dinner and a roast at the same time that they could eat off of the following two days.
-60s-
December 27
The pair left the house for the airport after a late brunch. Considering the afternoon Manhattan traffic, it felt to Marcus like it took nearly as long for their cab to go from the airport to the Statler as it had taken them to fly into New York.
Daria would not have really agreed – all the legs of the trip had taken almost no time at all to her. She was dressed in what she called her ‘straight’ persona, dressed in a way her grandmother would have approved and which her mother would have expected of a young lady (although Daria wore flats, not heels). Not only was she stylish, for the first time she and Marcus were wearing their wedding rings. Daria had not really gotten tottaly used to what she had until Christmas called her pre-engagement diamond and emerald ring. Now it was her engagement ring, and she was wearing a wedding band as well – she might act like part of the counter-culture much of the time on campus, but she had a square, traditional side as well. She had spent the entire trip, from the time she had put on the wedding ring just before leaving her home through realizing she was in the hotel elevator, in a sort of daze.
All that of course still made Daria wonder as the elevator ascended, which was the true Daria? Literary, Bohemian Daria, a free bisexual who would have been at home in the Berlin or Paris of the 1920s? Hippie guitar-playing Daria, barefoot with face-paint, love-beads, and toe-rings, having a variety of sex with her lovers? The conventional faculty wife she was playing on this trip? Daria suspected that while all three were aspects of her, the hippie free-love chick might have the shortest existence. As her time away from the Haight-Ashbury experience widened, she wondered if that life-style, that way of looking things, could really endure?
She hoped so, and she hoped she could fully embrace it in some way at least once more, before that final aspect of her life became more dominant. Well, more likely she would become a somewhat unconventional, somewhat Bohemian and literary spouse of an academic.
-60s-
The Statler Hilton was a huge hotel, with 17 floors of guest rooms starting many floors above street level, and large enough for the entire convention to take place in its various meeting rooms. Marcus and Daria’s room was a fairly standard one – one room with a large bed rather than a suite, plus bath of course. The Statler also had a fairly unique feature, called a ‘Servidor’ – a double-doored compartment where room service and such could be left rather than leaving items in the hallways or disturbing the guests.
“Are you doing alright?” Marcus asked, seeing Daria was still looking a bit lost.
“Just pondering my different lifestyles, and where this fits in,” Daria admitted.
“Life these days can be a bit schizophrenic,” Marcus agreed.
“Especially for me,” Daria pointed out.
Glancing out the window and then around the nice hotel room, Marcus commented, “Yes, it’s pretty square here, especially compared to your campus life.”
“Exactly. I do love you, and want to marry you,” Daria pointed out. “Still….”
Marcus snorted. “My love, I know you are not going to become your mother: housewife and leader of social clubs.”
“That’s for damn sure.”
“However, the life I lead, even with all the troubles on campuses, which will likely manifest at least a bit more even at colleges like our, isn’t without its positive values, for those of us on the faculty as well as to society, especially a society like ours, that values free enquiry. You know, even better than I do, that there are narrative styles and positions existing in our society that are antithetical to all that, and that your style isn’t one of those. I don’t know if you’ll become a full-time writer or if you’ll go on and get a degree and teach writing as well as write. You enjoy both the Bohemian and the hippie elements of your life, and you aren’t one to toe the mainstream line by nature, but if you ever think you need to pick and choose between any of those, just remember, it won’t be me making you decide. I love you; I love all the aspects of you.”
“I know,” Daria acknowledged. “You’re very patient with me.”
“That’s because I love you, and you can be pretty patient with me, too.”
Daria gave her lover/fiancé/temporary husband a hug. “Okay. Let’s get things set up here, and then go down to look at the book exhibits.”
-60s-
On the whole, Daria was surprised at how much she enjoyed the convention as well as her time in Manhattan. Granted, some of the panels she sat in on were at best rather dull. A few were interesting, and she was pleased that Marcus’ paper was well-received. Both she and Marcus enjoyed browsing the publishers’ offerings of monographs more than either were with most of the papers they heard. Considering the weight limits on their luggage, each knew they had to limit themselves to at most nine purchases – both ended up buying nine and ordering several others.
The Statler had several places to eat, with the most famous being its Café Rouge. Marcus had made certain they had reservations each evening. They had breakfast in their hotel room each morning except Sunday, which Daria felt was particularly decadent. Sunday, Marcus took Daria to a small bagel shop – she had never had a bagel before, and found she really enjoyed the treat. Lunches were at least more informal than dinners, and Daria enjoyed her first true New York pizza. They took time off from the convention. In addition to the three lunches and one breakfast, they also left the Statler both that Friday and Saturday for some planned activities, while Sunday they wanted to just walk around the area during the afternoon. It would be chilly, but bearable.
Friday, they spent the afternoon going through the Museum of Modern Art, something they both enjoyed. Both also knew that Jane would have had an even more enjoyable experience at MOMA than either of them.
Saturday afternoon, they had managed to score tickets to see the Broadway musical ‘Hair.’ Granted, they had not been able to obtain very good seats, but on the whole, they weren’t terrible seats either. Marcus, more conventional in his musical tastes than his fiancée, still enjoyed the experience. Daria, however, loved it – many of the songs transported her back to her early experiences in San Franscisco, before the experience started to be tarnished towards the end.
Sunday afternoon, Daria surprised herself as well as Marcus. They had made their way to Rockefeller Center, mostly to take a photo of the giant Christmas tree. Marcus was not the world’s most graceful person, but neither was he clumsy. Daria had decided once she saw the skating rink that she wanted to give it a try – she had not ice skated since she was eleven years old or roller skated since that following summer. Marcus had not ice skated since he was ten, and had never roller skated. Still, he was willing to risk making a fool of himself to please his fiancée.
Neither was particularly graceful on the ice, especially not Marcus. Still, neither fell or otherwise made fools of themselves, as they placidly skated around the rink for about twenty minutes, arm in arm. There was even a photographer, and they had their photo taken after about ten minutes of skating – full length (so as to show off the skates), and still arm in arm. After skating, as they waited for their photo, they enjoyed sharing some hot chocolate, and Marcus also bought them some hot chestnuts, which Daria had never had. She enjoyed the taste but wasn’t overly fond of the texture.
The pair flew out of New York on an early morning flight New Year’s Eve. Both felt rather reluctant to remove their wedding rings, and in the end they would only so once they returned home – which would not be until the evening of the First. They had flown out of a DC airport, and Marcus had found a nice hotel which had a traditional ballroom dancing-style New Year’s Eve party, which still had a few rooms available. The pair took a nap that afternoon, and enjoyed welcoming in the New Year that evening with a nice dinner and ballroom dancing.
Daria had to admit to herself that her foray into total convention that New Year’s season had been enjoyable. On the other hand, she was glad to be dressed in some tie-dyed clothes she had purchased for herself with some of the money Aunt Amy had sent her for Christmas, as she practiced the guitar. She would be adding some songs from ‘Hair’ to her weekly performances in the dorms.
She was NOT ready to totally embrace a conventional life, just some of the aspects of it.
By Dr T
The outfalls of Daria and Helen’s confrontation, Holidays 1958
A ‘Daria’ fanfic, so no claim to original characters, etc. claimed, just my plot twists. Based on an image from the last ‘Daria’ episode/movie, ‘Is It College Yet?’
Later, the night before Thanksgiving:
“But Jake….”
“No, Helen,” he stated firmly. “I’m as unhappy about the possibilities as you are. Yes, there’s a good chance it’s from that professor. We already more than suspected that she was more than living in his spare apartment, so there was no more reason to accuse her of being his mistress tonight than before.” Helen drew a breath, but Jake broke in, “No, I don’t approve, but you talked me into ignoring it – you’re hoping she marries him as soon as possible, once you decided he would be socially acceptable. Now we won’t find out if that jewelry was from him or someone else. You know we would have found out if you hadn’t exploded.”
Helen sighed, knowing she had over-reacted to at least some degree. Rather than admit error, she said nothing and went to change for bed.
-60s-
“This is the first time I haven’t had turkey for Thanksgiving,” Daria commented late the next morning. She had slept in and was eating a light late breakfast of a fried egg, toast, and tea, while Marcus started pre-preparing their dinner.
“We’ll make do,” Marcus told her as he took out the bottle of meat tenderizer. After all, he hadn’t planned on having company for the holiday.
“What are we having?”
Marcus shrugged. “I didn’t want to mess about with poultry of any kind. I have a nice roast; I figured I’d eat off it for the next few days so there’s plenty for both of us today and for lunch tomorrow. Baked potatoes and I’ll open up a can of green beans or corn, whichever you prefer. If you don’t mind, I was also going to have baked beans, and I’ll make a batch of Bisquick biscuits. I was going to open a bottle of Tawny Port and have some cheeses instead of dessert. Sound okay?”
“Alright, but considering some of your past results, I’ll help you make the gravy.”
“Fair enough,” Marcus had to acknowledge, since the few times he had tried it had stayed very watery. “I was planning on a basic California Cab. How about if I go for one of the ’47 Bordeaux instead?”
Daria’s eyebrows went up. Marcus had a modest wine cellar, and this would be one of his top wines. “Really?”
“We’re celebrating a major holiday together,” he pointed out. “Of course it’s a celebration.”
“Then what shall we drink at Christmas?”
“My…no, our last bottle of the ’45 Haut Brion, and for New Year’s, the best Champagne we can find,” Marcus responded.
Daria glanced at the clock. “Put the roast in at a low temperature so we can have dinner early, and then take me to bed, my love.”
“As you wish, so shall I perform,” Marcus teased back.
Two hours later, Daria was very thankful. Whereas her family had a very quiet Thanksgiving, Marcus and Daria fully enjoyed theirs. The next day, as Helen and Quinn went through the motions of facing the crowds of shoppers looking to start the holiday buying season and Jake went in to make certain all was going well at the station, Daria wrote to her Aunt Amy, explaining what had happened.
Amy would decide that there was blame to be put on both sides, although she wouldn’t directly criticize her niece when she wrote back. After all, in a sense, Daria had baited her parents, even if Helen had gone over the top, especially considering that they were in public. However, since Helen did not mention the incident to any of her family, Amy really couldn’t really let her older sister know her opinions.
-60s-
With Thanksgiving so late that year (the 28th), there was only a little over a week of classes left in the semester, followed by a ‘reading day’ and then a week of final exams, ending on Friday, December 20th. Daria was not surprised by the fact that she did not receive any direct or indirect communication from her mother at any point that month. She did receive a letter of moderate support from her Aunt Amy early in the month. She also received three other letters around the same time.
One was a brief note from Quinn, which mostly just filled Daria in on her sister’s social plans between the then and New Year’s. It was actually a fairly full social calendar, including a Christmas Eve gala in Savannah and New Year’s in New Orleans, both hosted by Quinn’s various friends at MMJC. However, the way Quinn phrased it, it was clear that their mother was letting Quinn have a wider range of activities in order to excuse both Quinn and Daria from attending Christmas at the plantation, even if Helen and Jake would be there.
Daria let her sister know that she hoped Quinn would have a grand time at both sets of events.
The second note was from her grandmother. Obviously, Grandmother Tess was not taken in by Helen’s maneuvers. After Daria reread the note, she was finally able to decipher the message her Grandmother was sending: Daria was misbehaving, and could cause scandal if found out. Strangely, however, the rest of the hidden message was, if you’re going to misbehave like this 1) don’t get caught; and 2) make certain the fun was worth the risk.
Daria thought about that, and took a great deal of time and effort in composing her response. It actually took her multiple drafts to say what she wanted to say in the same encoded ways her Grandmother had written in the first place. Tess was impressed by the effort, which she correctly deciphered into Daria’s basically replying, 1) yes, it was worth the risk; 2) they were careful not to cause scandal; and most importantly, 3) she and her unnamed loved did consider themselves pre-engaged at the least.
Tess was content with that answer. She also decided not to clue in Helen.
The third and most important letter was from her father. The content was even more important to Daria than the check that was included, which paid for her spring tuition. Together, these let Daria know that while her father was not happy with their situation or with the fact that Daria was almost certainly in a physical relationship, he still loved and supported her.
Daria wrote back in the same vein, and also gave her father assurances that she was happy in the lifestyle(s) she had chosen, and was prepared to take any consequences. She also made sure he knew how much she loved him and appreciated his (slightly limited) support. The fact that again she alluded to having an ‘understanding’ that their relationship was heading towards marriage with her paramour reassured her father.
As Christmas approached, Helen would not be pleased, when visiting her husband’s office just before leaving for the plantation, that she spotted a Christmas card from Daria with a very affectionate note written inside. She was even less pleased two days later when she saw a card from Daria at her mother’s, especially as it had been given a very prominent placement, so that Helen could not miss seeing it.
Helen, of course, had not sent Daria a card, nor had she received one.
-60s-
Jane managed to get through the semester despite the personal upheavals of the previous summer. She had mostly recovered before the end of the semester. Daria did notice that while Jane was as affectionate as always when the two slept together, she had become less interested in intimacy. Confronted by Daria the weekend before finals, Jane confessed that although she loved Daria as much as ever, she was really hoping for someone she could have a more exclusive physical relationship with. At the moment, however, she was unsure if that would be with a male or female. Until then, she was not interested in going looking and was happy with extending other, somewhat closeted, lesbian and bisexual women in her feminist group..
Daria understood; she felt towards Jane something very similar. The two were close, intimate friends, even excluding their physical relationship. They loved each other and were devoted to each other, and were of course also attracted to each other. However, they were not in love. Daria was in love with Marcus.
Jane hoped to find the same.
Daria also made it through the semester, in the end scoring all A’s, although a few were nearly in the A- range, mostly because her French hadn’t been nearly as fluent at the start of the semester as she had thought it was – it had reached that point by the end of the term, however. Marcus ended up having had a good semester, and had finished the draft of his latest monograph. He would be pleased to learn the next May that it would be accepted for publication. Between his other publications, class and peer evaluations, and the continued growth of the college, he would have little difficulty in obtaining tenure and promotion to Associate Professor when it was time for him to apply.
One thing Daria and Marcus had had to discuss right after Thanksgiving dinner was the upcoming winter holidays. Neither had expected to be spending the holidays together. Marcus was already committed to attending the American Historical Society meeting in New York City, December 28-30, and he would be reading a paper on a panel the morning of the 29th. He knew that he was the only member of the college’s history program that was going this year, and so easily convinced Daria to come along. He hadn’t made airline reservations yet, and so merely made them for two, and informed the Statler Hilton that his room would be for two. He and Daria would spend some time reading ‘The New Yorker’ and the Entertainment section of ‘The New York Times’ to see if they could find some show to go to. Unfortunately, Amy had also not planned on her niece coming to New York over the holiday season. She had already been invited, and accepted, a holiday vacation with her current lover and would not be in town.
All this holiday planning would still leave them to also plan the time leading up to Christmas together, Christmas itself, and New Year’s Eve and after. A quick enquiry confirmed that the Statler was already booked solid for the time after the convention. Still, that had been a very long shot considering its location in Manhattan. In any case, neither were sure if they would have wanted to brave the crowds in Times Square.
While Marcus wanted to provide Daria with as interesting a holiday as possible, in part to distract her from the split with her family, she convinced him to provide a more conventional Christmas. New Years’ she left up to him, but she wanted to start whatever Christmas traditions they could devise. Marcus understood that this was her way of signaling that she was at least considering a quicker marriage than post mid-1970.
Therefore, the three Saturdays plus one day the week before Christmas when neither of them had to deal with finals, they went off together to shop for Christmas decorations. Marcus did have two boxes of family Christmas ornaments packed away in his attic, and those formed the basis of their décor. He wouldn’t have bothered with any decorations showing outside, but Daria purchased a wreath for the front door and electric faux candles to place in the front windows. They purchased the tree the evening they went shopping during the week before Christmas – in addition to the family ornaments, they had purchased the lights, tinsel, and some additional ornaments on their weekend shopping trips. They put the tree up that night, and Jane helped them decorate it.
As Daria’s family usually spent Christmas at her maternal Grandmother’s, she had only rarely had the chance to even see a tree being decorated – on those rare Christmases spent at home, Helen had decorated and had at most allowed to let the children watch, silently and at a distance so as not to interfere with Helen’s ‘vision.’ Jane was the youngest child in her family, and they had stopped decorating a tree once she had stopped believing in Santa, although her older two siblings decorated their homes for their children. Jane and Daria therefore really enjoyed deciding on how to place each light, ornament, and even strand of tinsel.
Marcus drove Jane home the Saturday morning before Christmas. When he returned home, he found that Daria had made a nest of cushions, blankets, and pillows pulled from various places around the house (plus a few additional large pillows she had purchased and hidden until now) in front of the fireplace and near the Christmas tree. She was also waiting for him nested nude, partially under a blanket and kept warm by the fire.
Marcus was very happy to join her. It was just comfortable enough, and was certainly snuggly enough, that they slept there every night through the morning of the 27th, and made love there at least twice a day through then as well.
Daria really didn’t want any actual presents, but Marcus insisted. She then demanded to know how many presents Marcus was getting her. In the end, Marcus gave in and told her. He found out why Christmas morning – Daria had not given him any physical presents. Instead, she had purchased a box of small cardboard cards. She gave him four of those cards for each of the presents he had told her he would give her – each one promising to be redeemable for one of four types of sexual favors: one each oral and ‘conventional’ (Marcus’ choice of position), one his choice of either of the previous two choices, and the fourth mentioning something more individual – anal, light bondage, using the dildos on one or the other of them, ‘Marcus’ free choice,’ etc.
Daria did like the gifts she did receive, although she was happiest sharing Christmas with her lover. Still, she liked the various books and clothes. When Marcus opened his envelope, he teased Daria that if he had known this would be his present, he would have given her much more.
In addition to the books and clothes, there was one other present, once which had shocked Daria, although in retrospect she knew she should have suspected something similar at the least. She of course had the ring she could wear as if it were an engagement ring, but they would be sharing a hotel room, and convention demanded that those who did so (especially at a place like the Statler), either be married and either at least pose as married or else have adjoining rooms.
When Daria opened her last present (which was just after Marcus had opened his), she was shocked to see two white gold wedding bands. “I’m not just asking for you to pose as my wife in New York,” Marcus told her. “I love you. Will you please marry me?”
Daria was speechless for several moments. She managed to refrain from asked, “Really?” “Why?” or anything along those lines. Instead, she finally asked, “When?”
Marcus took her hand. “I know you wouldn’t want to before you graduate, so likely, May or June, 1970.” Female undergraduates could not be married – men could, but mostly as a leftover provision from the GI Bill. Non-veterans needed special permission. “Still, most places, maybe all, allow married graduate students, if you want to go on. So, if you say yes, you pick the date. If you want to take the risk, we can get married as soon as possible and just not tell the college. If you want to wait until after you graduate, or even earn an MA or more, as long as we’re together during that time, I’m happy to wait to make it official.”
Marcus did not have to redeem any of his gift sex cards, and dinner was a bit later than they had planned. Daria told him, during their after-play, that they could discuss a wedding date, most likely some time in 1970, over the next few weeks.
Marcus was happy to agree.
As to Christmas dinner itself, since the pair would be leaving for the airport for their flight to NYC in the early afternoon of December 27th, they really didn’t want to bother cooking a big bird for Christmas dinner – otherwise they would have had either a turkey or a goose. Instead, they cooked a duck for dinner and a roast at the same time that they could eat off of the following two days.
-60s-
December 27
The pair left the house for the airport after a late brunch. Considering the afternoon Manhattan traffic, it felt to Marcus like it took nearly as long for their cab to go from the airport to the Statler as it had taken them to fly into New York.
Daria would not have really agreed – all the legs of the trip had taken almost no time at all to her. She was dressed in what she called her ‘straight’ persona, dressed in a way her grandmother would have approved and which her mother would have expected of a young lady (although Daria wore flats, not heels). Not only was she stylish, for the first time she and Marcus were wearing their wedding rings. Daria had not really gotten tottaly used to what she had until Christmas called her pre-engagement diamond and emerald ring. Now it was her engagement ring, and she was wearing a wedding band as well – she might act like part of the counter-culture much of the time on campus, but she had a square, traditional side as well. She had spent the entire trip, from the time she had put on the wedding ring just before leaving her home through realizing she was in the hotel elevator, in a sort of daze.
All that of course still made Daria wonder as the elevator ascended, which was the true Daria? Literary, Bohemian Daria, a free bisexual who would have been at home in the Berlin or Paris of the 1920s? Hippie guitar-playing Daria, barefoot with face-paint, love-beads, and toe-rings, having a variety of sex with her lovers? The conventional faculty wife she was playing on this trip? Daria suspected that while all three were aspects of her, the hippie free-love chick might have the shortest existence. As her time away from the Haight-Ashbury experience widened, she wondered if that life-style, that way of looking things, could really endure?
She hoped so, and she hoped she could fully embrace it in some way at least once more, before that final aspect of her life became more dominant. Well, more likely she would become a somewhat unconventional, somewhat Bohemian and literary spouse of an academic.
-60s-
The Statler Hilton was a huge hotel, with 17 floors of guest rooms starting many floors above street level, and large enough for the entire convention to take place in its various meeting rooms. Marcus and Daria’s room was a fairly standard one – one room with a large bed rather than a suite, plus bath of course. The Statler also had a fairly unique feature, called a ‘Servidor’ – a double-doored compartment where room service and such could be left rather than leaving items in the hallways or disturbing the guests.
“Are you doing alright?” Marcus asked, seeing Daria was still looking a bit lost.
“Just pondering my different lifestyles, and where this fits in,” Daria admitted.
“Life these days can be a bit schizophrenic,” Marcus agreed.
“Especially for me,” Daria pointed out.
Glancing out the window and then around the nice hotel room, Marcus commented, “Yes, it’s pretty square here, especially compared to your campus life.”
“Exactly. I do love you, and want to marry you,” Daria pointed out. “Still….”
Marcus snorted. “My love, I know you are not going to become your mother: housewife and leader of social clubs.”
“That’s for damn sure.”
“However, the life I lead, even with all the troubles on campuses, which will likely manifest at least a bit more even at colleges like our, isn’t without its positive values, for those of us on the faculty as well as to society, especially a society like ours, that values free enquiry. You know, even better than I do, that there are narrative styles and positions existing in our society that are antithetical to all that, and that your style isn’t one of those. I don’t know if you’ll become a full-time writer or if you’ll go on and get a degree and teach writing as well as write. You enjoy both the Bohemian and the hippie elements of your life, and you aren’t one to toe the mainstream line by nature, but if you ever think you need to pick and choose between any of those, just remember, it won’t be me making you decide. I love you; I love all the aspects of you.”
“I know,” Daria acknowledged. “You’re very patient with me.”
“That’s because I love you, and you can be pretty patient with me, too.”
Daria gave her lover/fiancé/temporary husband a hug. “Okay. Let’s get things set up here, and then go down to look at the book exhibits.”
-60s-
On the whole, Daria was surprised at how much she enjoyed the convention as well as her time in Manhattan. Granted, some of the panels she sat in on were at best rather dull. A few were interesting, and she was pleased that Marcus’ paper was well-received. Both she and Marcus enjoyed browsing the publishers’ offerings of monographs more than either were with most of the papers they heard. Considering the weight limits on their luggage, each knew they had to limit themselves to at most nine purchases – both ended up buying nine and ordering several others.
The Statler had several places to eat, with the most famous being its Café Rouge. Marcus had made certain they had reservations each evening. They had breakfast in their hotel room each morning except Sunday, which Daria felt was particularly decadent. Sunday, Marcus took Daria to a small bagel shop – she had never had a bagel before, and found she really enjoyed the treat. Lunches were at least more informal than dinners, and Daria enjoyed her first true New York pizza. They took time off from the convention. In addition to the three lunches and one breakfast, they also left the Statler both that Friday and Saturday for some planned activities, while Sunday they wanted to just walk around the area during the afternoon. It would be chilly, but bearable.
Friday, they spent the afternoon going through the Museum of Modern Art, something they both enjoyed. Both also knew that Jane would have had an even more enjoyable experience at MOMA than either of them.
Saturday afternoon, they had managed to score tickets to see the Broadway musical ‘Hair.’ Granted, they had not been able to obtain very good seats, but on the whole, they weren’t terrible seats either. Marcus, more conventional in his musical tastes than his fiancée, still enjoyed the experience. Daria, however, loved it – many of the songs transported her back to her early experiences in San Franscisco, before the experience started to be tarnished towards the end.
Sunday afternoon, Daria surprised herself as well as Marcus. They had made their way to Rockefeller Center, mostly to take a photo of the giant Christmas tree. Marcus was not the world’s most graceful person, but neither was he clumsy. Daria had decided once she saw the skating rink that she wanted to give it a try – she had not ice skated since she was eleven years old or roller skated since that following summer. Marcus had not ice skated since he was ten, and had never roller skated. Still, he was willing to risk making a fool of himself to please his fiancée.
Neither was particularly graceful on the ice, especially not Marcus. Still, neither fell or otherwise made fools of themselves, as they placidly skated around the rink for about twenty minutes, arm in arm. There was even a photographer, and they had their photo taken after about ten minutes of skating – full length (so as to show off the skates), and still arm in arm. After skating, as they waited for their photo, they enjoyed sharing some hot chocolate, and Marcus also bought them some hot chestnuts, which Daria had never had. She enjoyed the taste but wasn’t overly fond of the texture.
The pair flew out of New York on an early morning flight New Year’s Eve. Both felt rather reluctant to remove their wedding rings, and in the end they would only so once they returned home – which would not be until the evening of the First. They had flown out of a DC airport, and Marcus had found a nice hotel which had a traditional ballroom dancing-style New Year’s Eve party, which still had a few rooms available. The pair took a nap that afternoon, and enjoyed welcoming in the New Year that evening with a nice dinner and ballroom dancing.
Daria had to admit to herself that her foray into total convention that New Year’s season had been enjoyable. On the other hand, she was glad to be dressed in some tie-dyed clothes she had purchased for herself with some of the money Aunt Amy had sent her for Christmas, as she practiced the guitar. She would be adding some songs from ‘Hair’ to her weekly performances in the dorms.
She was NOT ready to totally embrace a conventional life, just some of the aspects of it.
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