– Well, ladies, would you care to join me?
It all had been a little bit of a trek albeit a fun one at it, really, walking around the old neighborhood, and finding this empty house, one they had no need or intention of buying, or even renting it, but that seemed storied enough to elicit a casual stroll inside.
– I need to take a quick shower, before I go to work, he proclaimed, for heaven knows I won’t be retiring anytime soon. You’re under no pressure to join me, of course, but if you do, it’d make it all memorable and worthwhile, wouldn’t you think?
The last statement was carefully designed to trigger a certain titillating arousal among them, but it felt more like a déjà vu of all the boring come-ons and phony invitations they’d to endure on their way to where they stand right now.
So, they were ready to dismiss this yet another slightly creepy but harmless pontification of a man way passed his prime, when, to their astonished pairs of sore eyes, he then proceeded to shed his clothes and head to the bathroom. They’d both seen it all before, certainly, but still were not prepared to watch him act so preposterously fresh, despite their over century and an half combined age.
Standing still while the moment of startled silence settled in following his announcement, they turned to each other and exchanged a quick wink and a glimmer that surprised even them. After all, it’s not that those same tired eyes hadn’t met the glaze of happiness and glee on their way to the present day. But he was no longer there to witness it.
Already at the full steam of soap and remembrance (yes, the hot water worked), the old foggy had already almost forgotten the challenge he sowed behind, when the two formerly statuesque beauties showed up at the doorstep of the washroom. In the buff, as they used to say in some forbidden past.
– Welcome, girls, well done, he said, trying to put the perfect combination of spring and nonchalance on the tone of his voice. Now I think that all that came before is shaping up to gather it all together, he added without any irony or mischief in his voice. Just like the ingredients of a cake would.
As the two entered the warm jet, they all took a moment to enjoy and reconnect with that feeling, long ago stashed in the storage place of their souls, of letting the kissing water touch their soft bodies, and the proximity of each other’s pulsating, and equally soft, skins, bringing back emotions they didn’t believe were still there.
Not shame, at all, but a mix of discreet embarrassment for, and no one can help remembering it even for a second, the quiet desperation to realize that this moment would have evoked way more assailing emotions, had it occurred some two or three decades ago.
Part of the maturity they were supposed to have reached though, and despite the fact that deep within themselves, they all still felt unfulfilled and not quite as wise as they’d have expected to be at that quadrant, was the not too subtle understanding that this is no longer a life-altering event.
More like an extra glass of wine, shared at the end of the night, or a puff of pot, when the children, i.e., everyone else, are already tucked away sleeping, such moments, being so rare and far in between, no longer entitled preparations and feelings of anxiety for what they may have in store. Except when they do happen, of course.
Laughter and animated conversation erupted, as if there was still need to fill the space, while the old devil managed to squeeze in yet another alluring thought.
– I don’t remember the last time anyone soaped my back, by the way, so if you’re not too busy thinking about the same yourselves, please feel free to jump in and give me a good scratch.
Of course, they knew that was coming, way before the clever-in-his-own-mind thought it’d be a proper icebreaker. As if they hadn’t seen all these moves and innuendos coming their way by an assortment of fools or severely impaired romantics, some coming close enough to do damage to their heart strings.
That’s also because they both noticed yet another well-known sight of excitement from the man, if not the incarnation of excitement itself. But, even though he remained with eyes closed, pretending nothing unusual was happening, perhaps because nothing was, really, he still dislocated the center of their thoughts from an old cliché to the classier standpoint of levity and humor.
– Oh, and pay no attention to the old dog. He surely can hardly walk and haven’t seen any serious action since the late 1990s, but remains convinced the fool that by wagging his tale, he’d show he could still be the light of the party. It’s all for show; it wouldn’t last long enough to have anyone care to text message about it.
They were all still laughing hard, not a negligible part of it, out of a certain relief, for oh lord, we won’t have to go through that again, when he added what amount to a last-ditch effort to show that he was, however, still interested, mind you, and you’d better be careful or this formerly shiny sex machine will unleash its ‘wrath’ all over you, damsels.
Safe is a word yet to be incorporated in the nether realms of his body, or at least, he wished to believe it.
– You should consider, though, that if any thought of orgies and strenuous physical exercise has crossed anyone’s mind, as it’d would, and that that whole scene now belongs solely to our grandchildren’s playground fantasies, touch and kisses, though, are never to be discarded for as long as we’re still have trembling flesh to wrap and keep inside our shame and humanity.
Again, it came out not with the thunder such a suggestive sentence would’ve carried long ago, but it did cause a slight awkward moment, when they looked at each other and did measure the possibility.
Well, he was not about to give them a chance to collect their thoughts, and went ahead and hugged them both, embracing and yes, kissing them the best way he knew he could, without derailing the magic train into just a crass, spilled over obscenity.
Of course, they responded. Who would know that this would even happen if not as a newly acquired memory being minted as they went along?
Yes the old dog wagged its tale, as dogs do, and they all did feel a warm coming from below and inside, and not from the showerhead, and yes, the thought of orgies and lustful parties did cross their minds, unhinged and unfiltered, and as dirty as anything they’d thought in the past 35 years, and that’s saying not much.
As the three of them pressed against each other, this brand new memory was also incorporating all other passed memories they’ve shared with one of the others, or both.
It was a feeling as sweet as warm milk just before heartburn, and as reinvigorating as a morning stretch, before the cramps set in.
And for a moment, their hands did traveled downward and inside each other’s most secluded nests, not with the exploratory zeal of yore, or the voracious need to stake a delusional claim on that particular corner of their bodies, but just to certify how genuinely glad they all were for having each other at that instant.