Moonscapes

It wasn't until after her first child was born that Annie realized that her body was controlled by the ebb and flow of the ocean and the tides and the moon. It was a new form of birth control which called for a basal thermometer, a graph chart and a box of Kleenex. Every morning before rising, she slid the basal thermometer into her vagina for a minute or two, then sat up and marked the temperature on the graph with an ink dot. She slid her finger into her vagina and scooped out enough mucus to play with between finger and thumb then wrote the quality of the mucus with a single word on a line beside the day on the chart. Words like sticky, stringy, light, thick.

Paul was interested in moons and lunar cycles. He was intrigued with Annie's skill with determining when they needed to use a condom and spermicide and when it wasn't necessary. By the time she'd met Paul, Annie had her fertility awareness down to a science. They didn't discuss it, but Annie made the connection between her cycles and the moon's cycles merely because Paul's awareness of the phases of the moon was brought into the equation from the hours and hours of time spent together.

When Mario came along, Annie wasn't ovulating any longer, and her cycles were spotty. The moon no longer represented when sex was free of barriers. It had become the single thread, a common denominator in their respective skies.

"Do you look at the moon, mi amor?"

"Si, amor. Es bonita."

"Si. Eres bonita, mi hermosa bebe."

"Gracias, mi amor. Eres mi alma, mi amor. Eres muy especial."

"Eres una especial mujer. I love you."

"Te amo, tambien amor."

"Si? Seguro? Cuantas?"

"Mucho, mucho."

"Si, mi amor?"

"Si amor. Siempre. Forever."

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too. Te extrano mucho."

"Me too."

And so it went. Annie and Mario feeling stuck in a time warp, connected only by the moon and their endearments in a comforting blend of Spanish and English.

Paul had called his company and his website Orbitol. It sounded celestial to Annie. Paul was proud of the name, she could tell, but they didn't discuss how long it took him to come up with the name. It sounded a bit like a prescription drug to Annie. But she was happy for him. He was happy with it.