All characters are consenting adults, and over the age of eighteen.
Matt was rummaging in the garage, searching for his football boots when heard a shout from somewhere close by. He paused. Was it coming from the house? It couldn't be. His mother, Francine, off for a conference wouldn't be back until late in the evening. A dog barked somewhere in the distance and the faint wailing of a siren faded off. It was quiet. Matt shrugged and continued his search. Dust wafted in the air like mist and his nose itched and tickled with the promise of a loud sneeze.
The garage was big enough to contain two cars, but only his mother's Mercedes was parked in it, leaving ample space for boxes containing stuff Matt and his mother had stopped using but couldn't find time to throw or give away. Francine had, on many occasions, asked Matt to clean the garage: cobwebs had given the place a spooky, abandoned feel and much of the floor was covered with twigs blown in by breeze, and greasy tire marks.
Matt had always promised he would find time to do it. Looking at the mess now, he reckoned he wouldn't be so troubled looking for his boots which he had dumped in here days ago if only he had cleaned the place up. Maybe he'd get a hosepipe and his friend Jamie to help with the task.
"Fuck." The sound startled him, and he walked out of the garage. He was sure the voice was from next door--their neighbor Patricia. Only a thin wire fence separated Matt's house from Patricia's.
Matt walked down the length of the fence. The sounds coming from Patricia's house were strange. There was huffing, and the sharp grunting, the kind tennis players made when serving. Was someone hurt? Matt wondered.
ππΆπ€π¬. He could still hear the word in his head. Matt disliked profanity which was why he didn't hang out a lot with the boys in his class whose mouths were as dirty as a sailor's (as his mother once said). But this particular word and the way it was said--drawn out and tinged with something akin to hunger and desperation--set off bells ringing in his head.
"I could have had my fucking nails done."
Matt stopped in his tracks. That was Patricia's voice, no doubt. He pressed his face against the fence and angled his head. The sun reflected sharply against Patricia's window, but squinting, Matt saw shapes in the bedroom. What he saw shocked and astounded him at the same time, so much so that he stifled a gasp, crouched and replayed the images he had seen in his head.
What he saw was this: Patricia, his middle-aged neighbor, on her knees on a high bed, naked, except for black stockings which traveled the length of her thick thighs and behind her was a small bald man, driving himself futilely behind her.
Matt considered walking away. It was obvious they were having sex and he had no right to spy on them even though they had left the window open.
But curiosity took hold of him and he stood up and stared open-mouthed at the proceedings. The man was Patricia's husband--a quiet, reclusive man who was much, much older than his wife.
Matt rarely saw him, in fact he had only seen him once when Patricia had first moved here and they both came over to introduce themselves. The husband had nodded and smiled sheepishly through his glass of wine, never saying more than a few words, while Patricia sighed and gushed at everything--Francine's choice of furniture, her manicure, her car, the quiet neighborhood.
Matt never imagined he would ever see them naked, or even having sex. Matt regarded sex as something much older adults did, a personal, intimate encounter between lovebirds. He had watched porn a few times, but there was something garish about it.