Pontius (Ch.15) : Part 4 Jocarna

Ch.15 : Pontius : Part 4 Jocarna

   Pontius swung his flycar northwards towards his country mansion, situated in what was left of the Martainian countryside. It would take him one and a half hours in the flycar, which could do speeds of 100 miles per hour. The flycar was much swifter than the Network trams which kept kept stopping at stations. In the country he would need to hire a flycar at the nearest station in order to complete the journey home if he did opt for the Network. There was virtually no flycar traffic in Marta City today, so there were none of the traffic restrictions and queues which had occurred in the old days.

     As he flew he began to think about his wife. She would probably be home when he returned, and would  want to talk to him about some home improvements which she had had in mind for some time. He had been avoiding her, pretending he was under great pressure at work. Today he found himself with some free time which he had not planned for. He asked himself why he was heading home to his wife. If he did return he would probably try to encourage her to be in a good mood. That would mean listening patiently to whatever woes were afflicting her, or another lecture about the need for more alterations. Then he would probably make sexual advances. She would pretend to be flattered, but would put him off with subtle excuses such as, “Its only the afternoon. We should wait until the evening.” Katella his youngest daughter would be back from school in the evening. His wife really meant it would have to wait until bedtime. By then she would normally be too tired for sexual activity. He could not understand why her desire for sex had reduced so much.

     When they had first met she was an employee of MIOST – a research scientist, but not a particularly noted one. He now realised that it had been a good career move for her to attach herself to a high flyer like himself. She loved him well enough to hook him into marriage. Then came the eldest child Justin, now at a residential college for the fast grade children of wealthy parents, and finally Katella. With the average perfect, normal wealthy family complete she had completed her modest goals in life. She never needed to go back to work. Pontius had not wanted her to go to work either. He wanted the perfect family too and he wanted a wife at home to support him.

     It had emerged that she was not willing to give him everything he deserved. He provided for her idyllic life. He had given her so much, but it seemed she wanted a wealthy man’s lifestyle, but not to serve him. Somehow she was the one person in his life whom he could not fully control. She had plenty of respect for him. He knew that but her hobbies were all female ones in his view. She wanted to continually adapt their homes, and she was obsessed by clothes and beauty. She loved to have money spent on her. Indeed she was a beautiful woman. Her freedom from work and responsibility gave her the freedom to be more beautiful. Other women were affected and cowed by work. She was like a protected flower, nurtured and kept from frosts and winds. As the wife of the Director of MIOST she was perfect in the face she showed to the public and the Company. She understood the business and the goals of MIOST, having been a part of it. She was happy to appear at her husband’s side at the many social occasions his Public Relations role required. She was a public figure herself, happy to be interviewed and make public speeches when required, never to say the wrong thing. The public liked her because she looked good.

     Privately Pontius respected her for her beauty, but he knew he did not possess her. Sexual comfort was increasingly denied to him, and she attempted to dominate him in household decisions. He dealt with her disinterest by ignoring it. He made the best of his partial relationship. She was an attractive adornment. He liked to have her nearby and to look at her. But she refused him the excitement he needed in their relationship.

      Like many men whose sexual and emotional needs were restricted by their wives he used his position to find satisfaction of those needs elsewhere. It suited him well and he enjoyed life as a result. He had no belief in sexual loyalty to his wife. She had lost any right to it by her behaviour. Life offered him far more in sexual terms than most men had. He counted himself lucky, but it was not really luck. He had recognised his own special potential while still young and had patiently worked towards its fruition over many year. Through hard work and self confidence he had achieved his position and he could expect certain rewards as a result. He liked to believe that many of the population could achieve satisfactory career progress in their lives and achieve certain benefits accordingly. It was a matter of psychology, motivation and self discipline. He viewed most of the masses as deficient in these areas, but for those who dared to compete and to attempt achievement, they could have a good life.

     Thoughts of his wife triggered other thoughts. He loved her as much as she would let him, but he could so rarely have her. He wanted to be so much closer to her, but he was unlikely to be granted the companionship he so much desired. His thoughts turned to his other girlfriends. They all used him in their own ways, but at least all of them allowed him the physical intimacy he desired.

     The early break from work was unscheduled. He would see whether it was convenient to call, with so little warning, on one of his other ladies. Usually they were all pleased to see him whenever possible. There was some competition between them. Any time any one of them spent with him was seen as a minor victory for the chosen mistress, and a setback for the others. If only his wife could play this game too. She competed for his time, it was true, but she seemed to have no sexual jealousy. Perhaps this was partly because she was unaware he had other mistresses. However Pontius was not entirely sure that she did not know. They had never spoke of the other mistresses, and revealing any truths would only have made their relationship more uncomfortable, and he did not want to go there.

     Pontius considered where he was, over North Marta City. Jocarna lived near here. The convenience of her residence was a factor in determining the number of times he had visited her over the last four or five years since he had come into contact with her. If she was not available he could easily try Nicola or Marcia, neither of whom lived far away. He brought up his current personal Vidnet address file onscreen, and soon brought up the data subfile which he kept on his girlfriends. Moving the cursor casually he clicked on Jocarna’s number. So instantly was she on screen that he quickly assumed she must have been on the Vidnet when he called. “Hello, Pontius,” she could see him too. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

     Pontius landed his flycar on the roof of a block of flats in a northern suburb of the great Marta City, called Morna, an area of residential tower blocks which reached many storeys up into the skies. Each block was attached to the others around it by walkways, and on some levels by the arteries of the tram network, which kept the citizens connected to their workplaces in the centre of the city, or in the many industrial and research centres around the great City.

    Most of these particular blocks had been built only a few decades ago and had been repaired and renovated more recently. Pontius was impressed by the style of them. They represented the modern standard and they were high quality dwellings. The average professional who had succeeded fairly well at his or her exams and was perhaps on the way up the promotion ladder could probably afford these flats. It would not, in many cases, be their final dwelling place. It would not, in many cases be their final dwelling place. They would all aspire to something better, but it was not bad. You could feel moderately successful if you could afford to mortgage one of these flats.

    Pontius was coming to visit his lady friend Jocarna, whom he had installed here a couple of years before. He had bought the place outright, as people of his wealth and calibre could afford to, and as he had done for a number of his lady companions.

     She was nothing really in status. An ordinary woman, flailing in the competitive world. She would have continued to make an adequate living as an office clerk for MIOST in the HQ. She had not worked for him directly, but for the salaries payroll division. She had floundered in exams and had been stuck on a particular level, which she had retaken a number of times and finally been barred. Pontius had liked the look of her and gone for her. She had been perfect material for his ‘stable’ of women; unsuccessful, not getting on in her career, but good looking with a pleasant personality. He had ‘saved’ her from the exam system, as she had described it. But he preferred to think of it as transferring her from a function she was very average at to one in which she could perform well, keeping rooms and a bed warm for him, when his busy schedule allowed it. She was pleasant company, and he could unwind in her arms away from his cold wife.