Sidney Sheldon - Nothing lasts forever

“Honey! What are you doing here?”

“I need your help,” Honey said. “My father will kill me if I fail your course. I brought some math problems, and I wonder if you would mind going over them with me.”

He hesitated a moment. “This is unusual, but … very well.”

Mr. Janson liked Honey. She was not like the other girls in his class. They were raucous and indifferent, while Honey was sensitive and caring, always eager to please. He wished that she had more of an aptitude for mathematics.

Mr. Janson sat next to Honey on the couch and began to explain the arcane intricacies of logarithms.

Honey was not interested in logarithms. As Mr. Janson talked, Honey moved closer and closer to him. She started breathing on his neck and into his ear, and before he knew what was happening, Mr. Janson found that his pants were unzipped.

He was looking at Honey in astonishment. “What are you doing?”

“I've wanted you since the first time I saw you,” Honey said. She opened her purse and took out a small can of whipped cream.

“What's that?”

“Let me show you …”

Honey received an A in math.

It was not only the accessories Honey used that made her so popular. It was the knowledge she had gleaned from all the ancient books on erotica she had read. She delighted her partners with techniques they had never even dreamed of, that were thousands of years old, and long forgotten. She brought a new meaning to the word “ecstasy.”

Honey's grades improved dramatically, and she was suddenly even more popular than her sisters had been in their high school days. Honey was dined at the Private Eye and the Bombay Bicycle Club, and taken to the Ice Capades at the Memphis Mall. The boys took her skiing at Cedar Cliff and sky diving at Landis Airport.

Honey's years at college were just as successful socially. At dinner one evening, her father said, “You'll be graduating soon. It's time to think about your future. Do you know what you want to do with your life?”

She answered immediately. “I want to be a nurse.”

Her father's face reddened. “You mean a doctor.”

“No, Father. I …”

“You're a Taft. If you want to go into medicine, you'll be a doctor. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Father.”

Honey had meant it when she told her father she wanted to be a nurse. She loved taking care of people, helping them and nurturing them. She was terrified by the idea of becoming a doctor, and being responsible for people's lives. But she knew that she must not disappoint her father. You're a Taft.

Honey's college grades were not good enough to get her into medical school, but her father's influence was. He was a heavy contributor to a medical school in Knoxville, Tennessee. He met with Dr. Jim Pearson, the dean.

“You're asking for a big favor,” Pearson said, “but I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll admit Honey on a probationary basis. If at the end of six months we feel she's not qualified to continue, we'll have to let her go.”

“Fair enough. She's going to surprise you.”

He was right.

Honey's father had made arrangements for her to stay in Knoxville with a cousin of his, the Reverend Douglas Lipton.

Douglas Lipton was the minister of the Baptist Church. He was in his sixties, married to a woman ten years older.

The minister was delighted to have Honey in the house.

“She's like a breath of fresh air,” he told his wife.

He had never seen anyone so eager to please.

Honey did fairly well in medical school, but she lacked dedication. She was there only to please her father.

Honey's teachers liked her. There was a genuine nice-ness about her that made her professors want her to succeed.

Ironically, she was particularly weak in anatomy. During the eighth week, her anatomy teacher sent for her. “I'm afraid I'm going to have to fail you,” he said unhappily.

“I can't fail”, Honey thought. “I can't let my father down. What would Boccaccio have advised?”

Honey moved closer to the professor. “I came to this school because of you. I had heard so much about you.” She moved closer to him. “I want to be like you.” And closer. “Being a doctor means everything to me.” And closer. “Please help me …”

One hour later, when Honey left his office, she had the answers to the next examination.

Before Honey was finished with medical school, she had seduced several of her professors. There was a helplessness about her that they were unable to resist. They were all under the impression that it was they who were seducing her, and they felt guilty about taking advantage of her innocence.

Dr. Jim Pearson was the last to succumb to Honey. He was intrigued by all the reports he had heard about her. There were rumors of her extraordinary sexual skills. He sent for Honey one day to discuss her grades. She brought a small box of powdered sugar with her, and before the afternoon was over, Dr. Pearson was as hooked as all the others. Honey made him feel young and insatiable. She made him feel that he was a king who had subjugated her and made her his slave.

He tried not to think of his wife and children.

Honey was genuinely fond of the Reverend Douglas Lipton, and it upset her that his wife was a cold, frigid woman who was always criticizing him. Honey felt sorry for the minister. He doesn't deserve that, Honey thought. He needs comforting.

In the middle of the night, when Mrs. Lipton was out of town visiting a sister, Honey walked into the minister's bedroom. She was naked. “Douglas …”

His eyes flew open. “Honey? Are you all right?”

“No,” she said. “Can I talk to you?”

“Of course.” He reached for the lamp.

“Don't turn on the light.” She crept into bed beside him.

“What's the matter? Aren't you feeling well?”

“I'm worried.”

“About what?”

“You. You deserve to be loved. I want to make love to you.”

He was wide awake. “My God!” he said. “You're just a child. You can't be serious.”

“I am. Your wife's not giving you any love. …”

“Honey, this is impossible! You'd better get back to your room now, and …”

He could feel her naked body pressing against his. “Honey, we can't do this. I'm …”

Her lips were on his, and her body was on top of him, and he was completely swept away. She spent the night in his bed.

At six o'clock in the morning, the door to the bed-room opened and Mrs. Lipton walked in. She stood there, staring at the two of them, then walked out without a word.

Two hours later, the Reverend Douglas Lipton committed suicide in his garage.

When Honey heard the news, she was devastated, unable to believe what had happened.

The sheriff arrived at the house and had a talk with Mrs. Lipton.

When he was through, he went to find Honey. “Out of respect for his family, we're going to list the death of the Reverend Douglas Lipton as a 'suicide for reasons unknown,' but I would suggest that you get the fuck out of this town fast, and stay out.”

Honey had gone to Embarcadero County Hospital in San Francisco.

With a glowing recommendation from Dr. Jim Pearson.

Time had lost all meaning for Paige. There was no beginning and no end, and the days and nights flowed into one another in a seamless rhythm. The hospital had become her whole life. The outside world was a foreign, faraway planet.

Christmas came and went, and a new year began. In the world outside, U.S. troops liberated Kuwait from Iraq.

There was no word from Alfred. He'll find out he made a mistake, Paige thought. He'll come back to me.

The early morning crank telephone calls had stopped as suddenly as they had started. Paige was relieved that no new mysterious or threatening incidents had befallen her. It was almost as if they had all been a bad dream … except, of course, they hadn't been.