Frank Markser - Teaching swapping

"Well, I guess you could try," he finally conceded. "But I don't see how I could help you. Besides, you'll be wasting your time."

"Hell, maybe just making a good college try will get me excited enough that I can just run home and give Grace a good lay. She'd like that, all right. And so would I. You'll give me a hand then? It's the last favor I'll ever ask, Tommy. Come on."

Feeling a little as if he were promising candy to a starving child even when he knew there wouldn't be any to give, Tommy relented. "Okay, but don't blame me if it doesn't work out. I warned you."

"That's my old friend talking now," Fred exulted. "You don't have to do much. Just get us together alone. Let me think a minute. It's got to be a reason that will make sense to Linda; otherwise it won't work," he mused, getting up from the chair and pacing back and forth as he planned his strategy.

Fred Furness was secretly gloating to himself as he moved around in the tiny office. His plan was working out just the way he'd known it would. Once he was alone with Linda with Tommy's blessing, he could play the tape he had made the day before and she was bound to break down. He could even play the impotence ruse with her if necessary and prey on her sense of pity. He felt certain that that, coupled with her anger about Tommy and Grace, would make her an easy mark for his designs. He licked his lips greedily at the gorgeous feast she would make when he got her onto his bed. Abruptly he stopped in his tracks and turned to Tommy as if he had finally come up with a way of getting what he wanted.

"That it! Linda majored in psychology at college, didn't she?" he blurted out.

"That's right," Tommy answered. "But how…?"

"It's perfect. You tell her that Grace and I have been having marital problems, and persuade her to call me. Tell her we want to ask her advice, and then when she shows up at our apartment, Grace will be gone. From there on out, it's my ball game. And you know me. I'm a good sport. If I lose, that's the way it goes, and I'll forget all about it."

"Hell, everybody likes to give advice. It makes them feel superior," Furness came back at him. Suddenly his face turned angry and mistrustful. "Look, pal, if you don't want to do that much for me, just tell me, and we'll forget all about it," he growled. He made a move as though he were intending to leave the office, stopping by the door to hear Tommy's answer.

"Don't take it that way, Fred. I don't want you to be disappointed, that's all. She's not very experienced, and you might reach a dead end fast."

Furness relaxed and released his hold on the doorknob. "I'll take my chances. You do your part, and leave the rest to me. Okay?"

"Okay," Tommy sighed. "I'll tell her you and Grace need somebody you trust to talk to. But I make no promises that she'll even want to come."

"Fair enough. I'll expect to hear from Linda tomorrow or the next day. The sooner I make a last stab at working this thing out, the better I'll feel. Thanks, Tommy. You're a real friend. Mention my little difficulty with impotence. Maybe she'll look something up in a book and fix us up without any trouble. Stranger things have happened. See you later."

"So long, Fred," Tommy called after him as the door closed. He sat for a long time in the deserted gym building, wondering if he had done the right thing by agreeing to Fred's request. He couldn't come up with a satisfactory alternative considering the events of the past week, and finally he shrugged and shoved it into the back of his mind. He didn't think there was one chance in a hundred it would ever work out the way Fred was hoping, but it was the least he could have done to let him try. Meanwhile, he had another date to meet with Fred's wife Grace the following day, and the thought of that to look forward to picked up his spirits.

He left the gym in a happier mood, whistling as he drove out of the empty parking lot.

Linda Singleton was more confused and bewildered than ever. Tommy had come home the night before and told her he had been spending a lot of time with the Furnesses, trying to help them with a problem they were having; he had mentioned something about Fred being temporarily impotent. Linda had been so relieved to learn that Tommy had not been going out with other women after all that she had readily agreed when he had asked if she would attempt to bring the older couple back together before it was too late. She had called Fred Furness that very evening while Tommy listened and made an appointment to meet them on Sunday afternoon in their apartment. She didn't say anything about Fred's previous visit, when he had attached the tape recorder to the telephone. She was not quite sure how Tommy would take her participation in Fred's spying on his wife's activities.

Then, early Saturday morning, while Tommy was out of the house coaching the Little League baseball team from the neighborhood, Fred had called again. He sounded more depressed and desperate than ever, and begged Linda to come over as soon as possible that day. Since it was Saturday, Linda promised that just as soon as she could finish the housework and the little bit of shopping she had to do, she would pass by the apartment.

As she rang the doorbell and waited, she couldn't help recalling the obscene sounds she had heard the last time she had been there. She wondered vaguely what she or Tommy would be able to do for this couple, but, having promised, she couldn't back out now even if she wanted to.

Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching inside the door. It opened, and she stood face-to-face with Fred Furness. He looked even more concerned and worried than before, and she felt so sorry for him it was all she could do to keep from reaching out to him with her hand to comfort him.

"Thanks for coming, Linda," he said in a voice filled with despondency. "I don't know what I would do if there weren't someone I could talk to about this thing."

"I don't know if I'll be any help at all, Fred. But I'll try. That's what friends are for." Before now, she had never really considered the Furnesses to be friends of hers, but after going through all that unfounded worry about Tommy, she felt very sympathetic toward them. She even felt a little guilty in a way, because she found herself secretly thankful that it was the Furnesses and not herself and Tommy who were in this predicament. She was trying to decide whether she should tell Grace Furness in private that she had heard the other day outside the door, when she became aware of the fact that Fred must be alone in the apartment.

"Where's Grace?" the innocent young bride asked, slightly nervous at being alone with Fred. She wouldn't want Grace to think anything was going on without her knowledge.

Furness made an angry gesture with his hand. "Grace and I had another knock-down, drag-out argument earlier this morning before I called you, and she walked out. I had positive proof of my suspicions this time and she couldn't take it. The two-timing bitch!" he snarled.

"I'm so sorry," Linda consoled him. She had a fleeting image in her mind of Fred playing the tape he had made in her bedroom, and she was filled with a terrible sense of responsibility. Perhaps she should have refused to let him use her for that purpose, but she didn't know what she could have done. She sat down nervously on the edge of a chair and watched Fred pace back and forth, almost inaudible curses spewing from his lips.

Suddenly he stopped in front of her and looked down into her face. "I hate to bring you into this awful mess, Linda, but I see no other way," he said at length.

Linda was surprised at his expression. Now he seemed to be looking at her with compassion, almost as if it were she instead of he who was having the trouble.

"Tommy mentioned the problem I've been having with my wife, didn't he?" Furness asked.