Pakistani Couple In Chicago Part 1 (The Swing Club)

I was rather lucky to get admission at Chicago University for Ph.D. studies. I was relatively young 35 years and was not expecting to go to the USA for 4 to 5 years and do my Ph.D. My name is Sameer. I am a Pakistani married to my girlfriend and class fellow in Masters program Saima.

Saima belonged to a middle-class family and as you would know that in Pakistan having a love marriage is a sin. Therefore we faced problems from both the families. One of the reasons for me to apply for Ph.D. was to get away from Pakistan for a while. It was overall tough for both of us as we lived as an unacceptable lot from both my and Saima family.

There were tough 8 years that we had to bear, including the stigma that we were issueless. Doctors told us that Saima could not bear children due to a gynecological problem. I was in no mood to get married again because that will leave Saima in the lurch.

Saima has a fair complexion, 5 ft 8 inches height with silky hair and very slim body. She took good care of herself so that she looked sexy and attractive to me. She had her insecurities that I don’t get married to another woman. Ladies usually have these insecurities though I have told her several times that she does not have to worry about it.

When we both landed in Chicago, The University had provided us with a guide. His name was John Smith. He was an Assistant Professor in our Department. Interestingly, the building where I was given apartment was the same where John used to live. John was married to Jane and they were also issueless.

John came to the airport and took me and Saima to the building, showed us the apartment and then asked us to join him and his wife for dinner. We were pretty tired of the travel but considering all that John had done. We thought that it will be very inappropriate to excuse ourselves of his offer. So we went to John’s apartment.

Jane was a brunette. She had a nice body. She was also well maintained and we were told in our chit chat that Jane takes yoga classes. Jane immediately took charge of Saima and told us that she will show her around. We had a good meal, and after dinner excused ourselves to take some rest as jetlag was having its effect already.

We took a day or two to settle with the time-zone and were alright to go out with John and Jane. Nice of John and Jane that they had bought necessary grocery already which was good enough for a few days. John and Jane called us and we settled a time in the late afternoon to have a visit to the University and its surroundings.

Since the university was around the corner, John recommended that we take a walk. He also took us to the nearby furnishing store and grocery store so we could start off with our needs. John, being aware of the Halal food requirements also gave us the address of halal meat shops in Chicago. The weather was very pleasant and we were enjoying the city a lot.

While we were coming back from the grocery store, I and John were walking about 20 to 30 feet ahead of Jane and Saima. Jane was showing around and was trying to get to know Saima better. John was discussing with me and asking questions so he could understand our society somewhat better. He did ask about our marriage and married life.

I somehow gave him some idea about our marriage and how we were facing problems in Pakistan. John appreciated our issues. While we were on our way, I was looking around and John was telling me about various shops and utilities, banks etc. As we were walking. Suddenly, I got saw a building with a board saying ‘Swing’.

“What is this place?”  I asked John. John was like fumbled a little. He paused before answering. “Well, you know the society here is very open to several things. We have a trend developing open marriages.”

“Open marriage? What is that?” I asked John with curiosity. “Well open marriage is the understanding between husband and wife to share each other with other couples or individuals,” he explained. I could easily understand what he was saying but I showed myself a little naïve. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the husband and wife agree to share each other with other couples in all ways including sexually.”

“Oh, I see.this is strange. I think this is very weird.”

“Well, we have this trend and people in such relationships are very happy. Though it depends on couples and their level of jealousy to see the other partner with someone else. You know, people with a high level of jealousy are not recommended for such an act.”

“Ok. Interesting,” I commented coyly.

Later on, John started some discussion about our marriage and somewhat hinted towards our sex life. But we kept our comments and answers discreetly. When we reached back to the apartment we said our bye byes and got into the apartments.
“So how do you find your new friend/guide?” I remarked to Saima.

“Well, she is a nice lady and told me a lot about the neighborhood and society etc. It was interesting.”

“I see, looks very interesting. What did she say about society?”  I was a little curious.

“She told me about the relationships of girls and boys in the schools and university. I was wondering if we will face awkward situations by Pakistan standards. Jane said that this will happen but anyway we have to cope with it.”

“Hmmm.” I responded, “Sure we will have to adjust to these situations.”

“Oh yes and by the way. did you see that building with a big signboard, ‘Swing’?”

“Ah huh. Yes, I did see it. What was it?”

“Well, Jane told me that there are people who share their wives and husbands with other people and socialize like that. Swing is such a club.”

“Oh really, this is so strange. Why would anyone want to do it?”

“Exactly what I said to Jane. But she somehow defended this idea.”

Listening to Saima, I also realized that there is something fishy about it but I kept quiet for a while. I have a hunch that maybe Jane and John are involved in something like it. Saima was straight looking me in the eye.

“Hmmm. I don’t know. Maybe we will find out, anyway John is in my department, I will get to know if he is into such things by others.”

“Hmmm. Ok, let’s just arrange our stuff in the kitchen,” and the discussion was over for that time.

I took some time to adjust to university.  I did my paperwork and registered for courses. The course would start in a week’s time. So I and Saima got our chance to visit the city and see places and locate stores as per our needs. We bought the furnishing stuff and made our apartment more liveable.

But interestingly whenever we would go for groceries, we would come across the ‘Swing’ club. We would comment on it or discuss how do we get to know about John and Jena if they are actually involved in it.

We had decided to look into it later.