Peter Jenkins - The reluctant neighbor

Marily practiced until time for picking Fred up at the airport. She was so nervous that she could hardly drive, fearful that something would go wrong, knowing that if it did it would be her downfall, her disgrace. She parked the car in the lot at the airport, then sat for a couple of minutes and breathed deeply. It all started now for her. She walked in measured steps to the gate and stood, mute, and stared straight ahead and waited for Fred.

He came through the gate smiling, and went directly to her. He kissed her on the lips without touching any part of her body, not putting an arm around her, not drawing her to him, just a kiss. Her nerve faltered, almost fled completely, then he began talking and she regained some of her self assurance.

"Everything went ideally, Marily. I'm on my way up, I can feel it now, I know it now. I didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell you about my doubts. No, but I had them. Meeting the head of one of the world's largest corporations was just about too much, but I carried it off beautifully. Not a hitch." He helped her into the car, then went to the driver's side and slid in, started the motor and they were headed in the direction of their home before he spoke again. "And how was your weekend, Marily? Did you enjoy the party? Tell me what all you've been doing while I was away."

Marily felt an impulse to jump out of the car, to dash herself along the highway and thereby end it all, but she couldn't of course. Then she thought about just blurting it all out, telling him how she had for the first time enjoyed and appreciated the fact that she was a woman. But, she couldn't do that either. That left her with only one choice, to set the plan in motion. She took a deep breath, turned on the seat to face him, and talked.

"Darling, the party was delightful. Vivian is very busy and she invited me for dinner Friday night and I went and she had cooked all frozen food, but she had been out all day, so I suppose that it doesn't matter that much because it was good anyway. Then, the other guests started arriving and they have such lovely friends, all of whom I want you to meet, and we talked and got acquainted and… well, it was delightful." She stopped and took a deep breath, studying his profile to see how he was taking the whole thing and thinking of herself that she sounded like Vivian.

"Good," Fred told her, "We need to get to know some people. After all, we've been there for two months and it's time we got out a little, got to know some of our neighbors well. I like us to get involved." He smiled at her.

Marily had to admit to herself that she was already 'involved'. She plunged ahead, "Fred, I accepted an invitation to a meeting tonight, a discussion, from Peter. I mean that he's in charge of it – it's about civil rights that he's very interested in – and Vivian has so many clubs and tonight she stays home and I knew that you wouldn't want to go out just getting back and all and she says that you should come over and visit with her… well, I took it upon myself to make all the arrangements for both our evenings."

"Fine, Marily. But, I don't want you getting involved too much in any civil rights movements. That would look bad for me at the company. You do understand that?" He looked at her to see if she understood it.

"Oh, yes, Fred, I understand your position. I thought about it when it was brought up and at first I hesitated, declined, really, but I think that they understand. It's only one time anyway and if I think… well, I can evaluate the whole thing and be careful not to get us out on a limb. You'll see."

"Good, Marily, just don't get upset and say something that you might later regret, or that will get back to the company. It'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Fred… I told Vivian that you could get acquainted, too. I mean she wants to know you and so I thought it would be a good idea for you to go over and talk to her. She's having a friend in, a beautiful and intelligent woman, Anna Shiller, who's married to a man, Hans, who is German, and he's in business here and… well, I thought it would be a good idea so I promised you for the evening." She had spilled the whole thing, not gradually as she had planned, but it was out, it was there, she had said it all. She waited for his reply.

"Good, Marily, I think you've done very well. Sounds great." He swung the car into the driveway, then into the garage and got his luggage out of the trunk, carried it into the house. Marily couldn't quite believe that everything had gone as smoothly as it had. Now she told herself, all she had to do was hang on through the evening and trust the others to do their part.

Marily was extremely nervous that night approaching Peter's house. She glanced sideways at Fred as he rang the bell, her mind a complete blank about introductions, the proper thing to say when she introduced her husband to Peter whom she knew so well.

Peter answered the door, took the whole thing out of her hands. He grabbed Fred's hand and pumped it as though he were a long lost friend, pulled him into the house and made all the introductions and said that he was late, and that he and Marily would run right along, that he was sure Fred would be happy with Vivian and Anna. Marily felt he would be also. She was amazed at the way Fred's eyes took in the whole of the beautiful Anna, as though he were hypnotized by her. She left with Peter, looked back at Fred who was still watching Anna and wished that she could somehow manage to see the whole thing happening. Surprisingly, she felt no jealously whatever.

"How nice your wife is we enjoyed knowing her so much while you were away on that horrible business trip leaving her all alone and it was nice to have her here and get to know at least the feminine half of you and…" she babbled, putting a drink in his hand that he didn't even realize was a drink and he watched Anna and thought that he had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. She had an animal magnetism that seemed to overpower every thing else in the room, that seemed to make even the nonsense of Vivian acceptable. Anna smiled at him, her lips glistening, her green eyes sparkling, and seemed to agree with him his thoughts which weren't even complete thoughts in his own mind. "… and I have to put little Suzie down she's upstairs in her room waiting for me to say good-night so I'll just run right up and you two get to know each other," Vivian's voice floated down at them from the top of the stairs.

"She'll be up there some time Fred," Anna spoke softly, "Let's go out to the patio?"

Fred stood, as she did, and she took his hand and led him into the patio. He swore at himself for being such a lunk head, for not having anything to say to her, for not being able to do anything but go along with what she suggested; he suddenly wanted to assert his manhood, to take her to the patio rather than be led like a child. But, they were there and he could smell her perfume and he had to keep himself from reaching out and touching her, from grabbing onto her and pulling her to him.

Anna turned and deliberately touched him, felt the electric spark that shot from him, and smiled to herself. She had never had such an easy time of seducing a man, she thought, and said, to put him at ease somewhat, "It is a beautiful night, isn't it? So romantic, so… peaceful. Do you feel romantic, Fred?" She murmured, moving so that his arm touched her hip, "I do."

Fred was fighting a losing battle with his conscience, his mind and all his morals. He had never before felt such earth shaking desire of anyone as the beautiful woman who had just issued an invitation to him. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't restrain himself, either. He grabbed for her, tried to find her lips with his, managed to kiss her chin, then did find her mouth and the sensation of her mouth against his made him weak, in the legs, and his breath almost left his body.