Isn't it amazing how people grow up around you? One day you think of them as a kid and the next they're an adult, and you're wondering when did that change.
Mike is a work colleague. He's OK, I guess, but he's never going to be my best mate. I'd share a beer with him if we met in the pub but that's as far as it goes. He's married with one kid, a girl, while I'm still single. There again, he's got a good ten years on me.
As a carpenter I own quite an assortment of tools but the company I work for also supply us with the more expensive items when we need to use them. Now I'd been using the company's power router out on a job and at the end of the day I just naturally took it home with me. I saw no advantage in driving ten miles out of my way to drop the router at Head Office when no-one would require it until Monday anyway. So naturally I got a call from Mike that evening about the router.
To cut a long story short he was going to need the router first thing Monday morning and he didn't want to have to drive out of his way to get the router from Head Office when the job lay in the opposite direction. Did I mind if he swung past the next day to pick it up?
The answer to that was yes and no. I was heading out on personal business and didn't want to wait around for Mike to drop past. As my personal business lay out his way how about I just dropped the router off at his place? Fine by him as long as he got the damn thing. I checked to make sure someone would be home and he assured me that Karen would be.
"Who's Karen?" I asked, knowing that his wife's name was Shirley.
"You know Karen. My daughter. You've met her before."
"Oh, right, that Karen. No problems. Let her know I'll be there around two. That way she doesn't have to waste the day waiting for me."
Of course, Karen, the kid. I'd met her several times when we had company social events. A nice kid and I'd got on well with her. I always did get on well with kids, from babies to teenagers. I don't really know why. Perhaps it's got something to do with my voice. I've been told I have a very warm and comforting tone when I talk to children.
I fronted up at Mike's place around two and kicked on the door to let Karen know I was there. She opened the door and I damn near dropped the router, which wouldn't have done my foot much good.
"Karen?" I asked, not really believing it.
"That's me," she said cheerfully. "Can you bring that piece of junk through to the back room? There's no way I'm going to try to carry the grotty thing."
It wasn't really grotty, but it did have a certain amount of oil and sawdust on it, so I could see her point. It was also probably a little heavy for her.
"So tell me, when did you grow up and how old are you now?"
The reason I asked was because when she'd opened the door I'd beheld a vision of loveliness. She has a sweet, heart-shaped face, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a sparkling smile that showed gleaming white teeth. The rest of her seemed to be legs that stretched for ever, slender, graceful arms, and a most amazing bosom. Her legs and arms were bare but, most unfortunately in my opinion, her bosom wasn't.
Brief shorts revealed as much of her legs as could be decently permitted and a cut-off top did the same for her arms and tummy. It just wasn't cut off at quite the right length as I couldn't even catch a glimpse of under-boob. Probably a good thing for my sanity.
"I've been steadily growing older for years now," she explained. "Very nearly nineteen of them. All those years have tended to age me and I'm afraid it shows." She gave a dramatic sigh at having to bear the weight of all those years.
I set the router down where she indicated and prepared to take my leave.
Before I left I took one more look, shrugged, and gave into temptation. I had what might be called an irresistible impulse. I reached over and lifted the front of her cut off top to see what was under there. Then I gave a sigh and let it drop back into place.
"Why do you have to be wearing a bra?" I grumbled, and she giggled.
"Um, because these puppies tend to sag slightly if I don't have proper support," she explained. "I don't want to reach thirty with boobs that dangle down to here." She indicated a line level with her navel.
"I don't suppose you do," I admitted, and if it sounded like I was grumbling still it was because I was.
"Would you really like to see them au natural?" she said, a teasing smile on her face.
I gave her a look, deciding to call her bluff and up the stakes.
"Only if your bra is the last item of clothing that you take off," I told her, deliberately running my eyes over her.
"So you're saying I should strip off and be naked?" she challenged.