It was the time of year Mother Nature breaks out her pallet of colors and repaints the Ohio landscape in brilliant Technicolor. A time of year that brings out the crispness of a fading year—summer is gone—winter's just around the corner.
She wrapped her hand around his arm, and he pulled her closer as they walked down a quiet gravel road. A slow meandering river bubbled and gurgled as they walked by. Its water muddy from the slit it carried.
"It's nice out today isn't?" he asked.
"Yes, reminds me of years gone by."
Do you remember?
"Our first date?" she asked.
"Oh hell yes. I sure do. Damn that was something. I recall it was about this time of year, too. It was our homecoming football game. Yeah, that's right. And of course we lost as usual.
"Todd Candle and I picked you up. I was just sixteen and couldn't drive yet. It was our first date all right. I got in the front seat with Todd and left you sitting in the backseat by yourself. Todd looked at me as though I was from another planet. He had to remind me to go sit back there with you. Oh God. That was a night," he said.
"I don't know how you managed to talk Miss Bailey into giving me the largest flower for my corsage. I remember you were afraid to pin it on me," she said. "You were afraid to touch me. I also recall your leaving me sit up there in the stands by myself while you took photos of the football game for the yearbook."
"Yeah, that's true. But, you know at the time photography was my main interest. I thought I'd make a good living shooting film. I always wanted to be a
National Geographic
photographer. Travel around the world, visiting dangerous places, taking risks to get the perfect shot."
He shook his head slightly in disgust with his lack of ambition. Photography was something he always wanted to do.
"Oh well, guess that dream didn't come true did it?" he said.
"No, but you got me instead," she said.
"Not a bad trade I suppose."
They stopped in the middle of the road and looked each other in the eyes. "You know you're just as beautiful now as you were in 1975," he said.
Do you remember?
"Our first kiss?" he asked.
"Sure. We were at Molly's party. Your dad picked me up, this time you got into the back seat with me. I recall you tried and tried to kiss me at the party, and I wouldn't let you. I'd never kissed a boy before, let alone in front of a group of my friends. I wasn't sure I'd like it. Heck I wasn't even sure how you did it."
"If nothing else, you can't say I wasn't persistent."
"I'll give you that," she said.
"I gave up at the party. But then, when my dad dropped you off at your place and I walked you to your door, there in the shadows under the grape arbor you kissed me," he said.
"I did, didn't I?"
"It was something like this?"
He placed his hands around her face and ever so gently placed a warm kiss on her lips.
"I don't remember it being quite like that. It was much quicker, and a little bit sloppy."
"I got better though."
"You sure did. Henry, you were a good kisser. Your kisses got me in a lot of trouble."
"Like when, Helen?"
Do you remember?
"That old car of yours?" Helen asked.
"Oh God yes, a 1964 American Rambler, but what's that got to do with kissing you?"
"That old Rambler you drove took us to so many places. It seemed you always managed to relive me of most of my clothes. I sat many a night in the drive-in undressed in the dark. We used to neck in your parents' driveway at night, and before too long my shirt and bra would be on the back seat. Good thing you lived in the country. Many a night the only thing that kept me from being totally naked in your car was a pair of very wet panties and my pantyhose."
"I remember you were the first girl that allowed me to take her shirt off. Those bra clasps are nearly impossible to undo when you're never done it before. I damn near died when I lowered your bra from your breasts for the first time. But oh, your breasts were so soft, so warm, and so tender. I can still remember how they just felt so perfect in my hand. I'd never touched a breast before yet alone kissed one. Ah, Jesus your nipples grew hard and red in my fingers. I thought I would explode in my pants—"
"You did. All over the front of my skirt."
"No I didn't."
"You sure did. I had to walk into my house with my sweater wrapped around my waist to hide the stain. I had to wash my skirt in the bathroom sink so mom didn't see it.
"You were the first boy, and I might add the only boy since, whose cock I've ever touched. It was something we girls would giggle about in gym class. I'd hear the bad girls, you know the loose ones, talk about it, but never thought I'd touch one. Holding that hard cock in my hand, I just couldn't imagine how that was going to fit inside me.
"I guess the best part of it was knowing I was the one that made that pecker of yours rock hard. I could do it to you just by raising my skirt up. I'd let you slide you hand up under my skirt when we'd go out to dinner. A few minutes later you were shifting about in your chair. I knew I had that cock of yours hard. Those days were fun. Oh that old Rambler..." Helen said.
Henry dropped his hand down onto Helen's butt and gave it a slight pinch.
"I always wondered why you never put up much of a fight when we went to the drive in. I always thought you enjoyed yourself as much as I did, maybe even more so. Damn, we surely did steam up the windows in that old car didn't we?
"Ah yeah, the Rambler. My dad painted it big bad green in my grandfather's chicken coop. He never painted a car in his life. Hell he even painted the wheels and the tires that damn green color. Took me a week to get the paint off the tires. The damn thing looked like a ripening lemon when it went down the street. As a matter of fact, your sister called it the ripening Rambler. May it rest in peace.
They walked a bit more in silence. The only noise was the loose gravel under their shoes. Henry held her hand tighter.
"We're getting old you know?" he said.
"Yeah, I guess so. A lot more aches and pains now. But, it wasn't that long ago," Helen said, "I use to be a 34B and now I'm a 36 long. I've added a few more pounds here and there, too"
"Never heard any complaints from me have you?"
"Nary a one."
Do you remember?
"Going to the Brown Derby and watching the guys trying to dance like John Travolta?" Helen asked.
"The Brown Derby inside the Marriot was the better of the two," Henry said, "The dance floor had the lights under your feet. Besides, I thought the food was better there, too."
"You always remember the food don't you?"
"I remember that super-short-green-silky-knit outfit I got for you at the time. God, seeing you in that made my dick harder than a bag full of jawbreakers. I'm surprised your dad let you out of the house with that on."
"Jesus that was short wasn't it? Heck, it was barely long enough to cover my butt—"
"Oh yeah that was great. I didn't have to worry about pushing that skirt up your thighs, it was already there when you sat down," Henry added.
"And then you brought me the green pantyhose to match it. I don't know what you were thinking at the time, but I ended up looking like an intergalactic cheer leader."
