Harvey Smith, handsome young English teacher, is beginning the 1972-73 school year at Glenby High School. Glenby, a small SE Texas town, is noted for its Pentecostal and Southern Baptist churches and its high school football team. Harvey is concerned when he discovers that Maybelle Lowther, a 15-year-old borderline mentally retarded girl, has been placed in his regular sophomore English class. George Tilson, high school counselor, informs him that Maybelle’s dad, Dwight Lowther, has insisted that his daughter be scheduled into all regular classes. He doesn’t want her stigmatized by being put into Special Ed or remedial courses. Dwight is a wealthy businessman, deacon in the First Baptist Church, and a member of the school board. What he wants, he usually gets. Harvey is to modify Maybelle’s assignments and allow her to sit in his class and color in her coloring books, something she loves to do. Maybelle has a guardian angel, who protects her throughout the school day, should anyone be foolish enough to ridicule her. Sooby Eason is a strong country gal from Loganville, a small backwoods community north of Glenby. Sooby has adopted Maybelle as a little sister, and she will fight at the drop of a hat should anyone make fun of Maybelle. For two years, Harvey has lived a celibate life after suffering a broken heart when his true love cheated on him. He is tired of living like a monk and wants to rejoin the sex chase. He meets Iris, an older woman, who turns out to be an insatiable nymphomaniac, and they begin a torrid affair. Harvey notices that on Mondays, Maybelle comes to class unresponsive, semi-catatonic. He realizes something is seriously wrong with the girl. The mom died when Maybelle was very young, and she now lives with her father in a palatial mansion on the outskirts of town. Harvey determines to find out what is happening to Maybelle on weekends. Harvey grows uncomfortable with Iris. She is becoming too possessive. She is sending embarrassing love letters to the high school, and he is taking heat from students and teachers alike. He asks girls’ PE teacher Darla out, but she refuses. She tells him that she is currently seeing someone. George Tilson informs him that Darla is lesbian, and that her significant other is Grace Fuqua, biology teacher. Part One ends with Harvey deciding to break it off with Iris. He arrives at the pharmacy, where Iris works, only to find her sick with flu and strep throat. He decides not to break her heart right then, but to wait till she regains her health.
You will laugh at Harvey and his romantic misadventures, but the horrible secret that 15-year-old Maybelle Lowther carries will shock you to the core. This is a story you can never forget.
Libido unfolds in three parts, three separate books. The long-running story is continuous and seamless. Part 2 is entitled “Rise of the Ox.” Part 3 is “The Shattering.”
