A Love Story - Page 2

When Jon was young, his family would vacation along the lakeside in a rural community called Iona. All of Jon’s favourite memories grew from that place. As a boy, he would sit on the shore for hours, watching the birds as they trailed lobster boats. More than once, he stayed awake an entire night, just sitting propped against a large maple tree and appreciating the fireflies. It was the only place Jon ever felt free, until he met her.

Somehow, Iona had sensed what was happening to her that day at the shelter. Although Jon didn’t know how, he was certain that she intuitively understood that the man with the pole fastened around her neck was propelling her toward death. Iona’s otherworldly intuition was one of the things Jon loved most about her. It was as though she could sense what he was feeling. Somehow, Iona knew what Jon needed, often before Jon knew it himself.

In the months following her adoption, Jon had fallen madly in love with Iona. Not only because she was so faithful to him, and so adoring, ever since their first car ride together, but also because she introduced an ease to his life that he had never experienced. In the past, Jon’s family would enact schemes to try to get him out of the house. They would plan festive outings and weekend get-togethers to pull him from his isolation, but now with Iona in his life, he had a legitimate reason for not wanting to be away. Furthermore, Jon’s parents and sister unanimously agreed that he actually sounded happy, for the first time in his life. No one worried about Jon anymore.

Jon’s state of being improved so vastly that he no longer felt the need to attend virtual counselling; however, he was so remarkably grateful for his therapist’s advice that, despite concluding to himself that what he needed was not a dog, but Iona, in particular, he began to reframe his feelings about humanity. Finally, he had benefited in a life-altering way by being vulnerable with another being. Jon began to view life and humanity through a positive lens that was totally foreign to him. His life was almost perfect.

The one thing that Jon continued to struggle with was the sexual frustration he had harboured throughout the second half of his life. He no longer felt lonely, but the urge to engage in a physical relationship could not be soothed by Iona’s adoration—or so he believed.

One morning, Jon awoke to a profound sensation that he had never experienced. He heard the wet sounds in his sleep, and although he knew what was happening, he was unable to wake. Only as he engaged in a nocturnal emission, with his hips thrusting wildly in the air, and his entire body spasming as though surging with an electric current, did he open his eyes. When Iona gently finished lapping the semen from the hairs on his belly, she crawled across his bare chest, with such gentle steps so as not to scratch him, then she stared giddily into his eyes, with her telltale smile, ready to start another day.

As Jon looked at Iona, he knew he should feel repulsed; he should shove the dog away and wash himself promptly, but he did neither of those things. He found himself torn between the clarity of realizing that his perfect partner was right here, sleeping in bed beside him for months, and the familiar discontent of realizing that something about him was not acceptable. For some reason, no one would support this love.

Iona seemingly comprehended every thought that entered Jon’s mind, and each time he would feel confounded by imagining the disgust of his peers upon learning what had taken place, Iona would nuzzle her face into his, licking at his morning stubble. Jon returned her kisses passionately and determined that the will of those who have never understood would have no bearing on the love that they shared. Iona continued licking Jon enthusiastically, as he held her by the folds of her neck and heaved and sobbed in life-altering relief.