Disclaimer: Taken and its characters belong to Steven Spielberg, Leslie Bohem, SciFi Channel, etc. Please do not sue.

My Secret Life of Spontaneity

Mary wonders what people would think if they knew what she fantasized during the brief moments her mind went idle.

No, that’s not quite true.

She wonders what too people would think. Two men; the most important men in her life. Though she often believes she would gladly disown one of them.

Imagine the scandal though - if they only knew the personal movies playing out in her head whenever her thoughts reached a temporary standstill.

Mary smiles to herself; repressing the girlish giggle that almost bubbles out. She can’t help it; now she’s wondering what they would think if she ever went through the urges that she normally just fantasized about. She can almost imagine her father’s shocked face.

Now the giggles are really threatening to come out. The image of her father, huffing and puffing and trying to force his simple mind to form coherent sentences - something Mary thinks can take effort for him to do half the time - is nearly enough for her to break her usual calm, cool demeanor.

Oh, the look in Chet’s eyes when they would widen as she planted the most over the top kiss on his lips. His eyelids might flutter or even close for the briefest moment; shock giving way to instinct while he briefly forgets who’s watching.

Mary bites her lip. Her cheeks are flushing pink now; she’s sure of it. Perhaps she should excuse herself to the bathroom. Then she could finally let out the hysterical laughter that she can barely keep down.

It’s unusual for her to act like this - even if it’s only in her head. She only indulges in her fantasies of showing her father just how much of a big girl she is now; never like this though. She lets herself get lost in thoughts of just going over to Chet and feeling his warmth; getting a taste of his affection to give her heart and body a treat for putting up with all the work her brain’s doing.

She doesn’t ever think about the reality of the situation. She doesn’t think about what it would be like if she really did go through with it.

But there are occasional times; very rare times when something her father says or does strikes too deep. Then she can’t help it; her mind starts imaging all the ways she could shock her father with the truth of her relationship with his colleague. She’s back at the level of a vindictive schoolgirl; the rebellious teenager who would love nothing more than to get back at her father by dating the bad boy or the older man.

May never fell for the bad boys though; too much show and no smarts to back up their immature claims of “badassary.” No, she was quite happy with her older man.

He had the enthusiasm of a science nerd and the passion of any virile, sappy romance novel hero - though more in the areas of the mind than body.

Unable to contain her laughter any longer, Mary stands and heads for the restroom - mercifully empty. She has to bite her thumb on the way; the indents from her teeth are deep and will probably last for a while. But she can’t help it; a loud, hysterical laugh finally makes it out of her. She covers her mouth with both hands as her eyes squint and tears threaten to spill.

Just the thought of telling her father she knew from personal experience that his longtime colleague had as much virility in the bedroom as he did when it came to chasing aliens and searching for answers to the mysteries of the universe is enough to bring her to her knees with laughter in a restroom stall.

Oh, how Mary does love it when she lets her mind wander.

Five minutes later she emerges; not a trace of her hysterics from moments ago. She passes by her father without a word. She almost winks at Chet.

She knows there won’t be much conversation and discussion going on tonight when she visits Chet. And Mary wonders what he would think if he knew where her mind went today. But she’ll never tell; it’s more fun this way.