It's amazing when you are retired how many people you "know". Not "know" in a conventional sense, but be aware of. Let me explain: when I was at work I interfaced with tens of people every day, face to face, phone, e-mail. As a Retiree I can now sit at home and not speak to a soul for days, and yet there is a whole host of people who have become familiar to me. They are the people who go past my house every day. Now don't get me wrong, I don't sit there all day, my nose glued to the window, but if someone walks past my house six times a day, and believe me one lady dog walker does, then you "get to know them".
One young woman used to walk her dog a couple of times a day and we'd nod, or smile if I was out and about. Then she disappeared for a while only to reappear with a clearly bald head under a hat. She had obviously been receiving Chemotherapy and was hopefully recovering. We didn't speak about it but you couldn't help wish her well.
Then there are the joggers, the walkers and the school Mums. This last group are the most recognisable because they go back and forth twice a day at exactly the same time every weekday. Once harried, rushing the kids, then leisurely back, chatting with friends, then rushing for pick up, then finally in big groups with kids milling about everywhere shouting noisily. And by and large they are the most attractive!
It works both ways too. Passers-by get to recognise (= know in my context) the householders. Seen in windows, driving cars, pottering in gardens. There is a whole, mostly undeclared community out there. On one occasion my late wife and I were in a shop looking at carpet, and being attended to by a very pleasant young woman. Half way through the conversation she said, "You live in Longmeadow, don't you." We answered in the affirmative and she told us she knew because she walked her dog there, and we would say hello to her. We couldn't place her then, but now I see her all the time.
Thus one morning I was in the front garden just after nine, when there was a muffled cry and I heard a clatter. Looking up I saw a young woman sprawled across the pavement, face down, her phone skittering down the path. I got up and ran over to her.
"Are you OK? That looks to be a rather nasty tumble you've taken." Her face was scratched and her hands, which had taken the brunt of the fall, had very nasty gravel rash.
Stunned she sat up, blinking in surprise and said, "I don't really know." She looked at her hands and blinking back a few tears, tried to get up. As soon as she put weight on her ankle she screamed in pain and fell back. "I seem to have hurt my ankle badly," she said.
"Here let me help you up." I pulled her gently to her feet, rather foot, and as soon as she tried to walk, her leg gave way and I had to support her.
"I'll be alright in a minute, please don't trouble yourself."
"Nonsense, the least I can do is clean you up a bit then give you a lift home, you're never going to walk to your house in that state."
"How do you know where I live?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well you walk past my house four times a day and then disappear down Birch Road, so you must live at least half a mile away."
"Oh I see, sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you were some sort of stalker."
"No offense taken young lady, now let's get your phone and get you sorted."
She put her arm round my shoulder and I encircled her waist with mine, and together we hobbled down my drive and into my front door. I have a large vestibule with a chaise longue in it, and I sat her down and went to get some antiseptic wipes so she could clean up her hands and face. I brought her out a mirror to tend to her face and could see that she felt a bit better.
"Right now let's see about that ankle". Now I've no medical training, but I could see that it wasn't obviously badly broken, but it was probably sprained. I knelt down in front of her and gently touched it, moving it slightly as she winced in pain. It was only really then that I realised that she wore a pair of fairly short, loose legged shorts, and I could see right up to her panties, white with little pink hearts on them. I'm not a perv, but there is only so much a man can take without getting an erection and mine was starting.
Quickly looking away and standing up, I said, "I'll go and get you something cold to put on that. Don't move."
"As if I could?" she laughed, her white teeth showing in her smile. I went to the freezer and rummaged around until I found the pack of frozen peas that I knew were there. Scrunching them up to break up the blocks, I went back to her and again knelt down. The view hadn't improved, or rather it had, and I could now see the gusset of her knickers. Focussing on the job in hand, I put the peas on her ankle and hit on the idea of using my belt to hold the bag in place. "That feels better already," she sighed with some relief.
"Look you're obviously shaken up and that needs some time for the swelling to go down, so why don't you come right in and I'll make us a cup of tea or coffee. How about that?"
"Ok, thanks, you're being so kind. I'm Megan by the way."
"Ben."
I helped her into the lounge and sat her down in an armchair and took the first really good look at her. She was probably in her thirties, with blonde hair currently tied back in a ponytail. She was slim and attractive with medium sized boobs, B or C cup, and a pert little bum. I made the coffee and brought it back with a biscuit. "Is your wife out?" she enquired.
Moisture came to my eyes as I told Megan that my wife had died a couple of years earlier. Megan was mortified and immediately apologised for upsetting me, and I recovered my composure and started telling her about my wife. Her love of gardening, the kids and Grandkids and all the friends she had. I realised that Megan was the first person I had ever opened up to about my wife's death.
She enquired how long I'd been retired and how I filled my day. "A couple of years, and I get by mostly pottering, trying to get to grips with the garden, reading and playing golf three times a week."
"Any good at it?"
"Gardening definitely not, golf, I can hold my own."
"What do you read?"
"Mostly free books from Kindle," I replied, "they fill the time nicely and if I don't like them, then I just delete them."
"I've always fancied writing a book," Megan began, "but I don't really know where I'd start, or how I'd express what I wanted to say properly."
I admitted to her that I had begun to dabble in writing, and had found myself getting so involved in it that I began to live the life of my characters, even to the extent that when I stepped away from the computer I felt a sense of real loss.
"What have you written," she enquired, "is it a novel? Perhaps I've read it?"
"I very much doubt that," I replied, "just some short stories that I've published on a website, free for anyone to read."
"What are they about?"