"Is that you, Mr. B?"
She stood between me and the sun, the water from her bikini dripping on my blanket. I didn't recognize her right away. Her face was in shadow. "I'm sorry," I said.
"It's Sharon. I was in your trig class back, um, four years ago." She stooped down and I saw her clearly.
"Of course! Sharon! How are you?" She smiled. She'd been a good student and she helped organize her group of classmates who attended the memorial service for my wife after the accident. I quit teaching and, with the substantial insurance settlement, decided to live modestly and do only what I wanted to do. Swimming in the ocean every day kept me in decent shape. Finding purpose in my life wasn't as easy.
"You remember Sally? And Linda? And Cora? We all ended up going to State and we just graduated. Can you believe it? We're taking the summer off before joining the real world." She filled me in on their majors and their job plans. She told me they had rented a house nearby on the beach. She was a confident young woman, choosing the life that she wanted. After a few more minutes of conversation, she invited me to go to her place and see her roommates.
"I should be getting home," I said. She wouldn't take "no" for an answer. So, I picked up my sandy blanket and my tee shirt and walked down the beach with her to the modest one-story house.
"Let's shower off before going inside," she said, as she led me to the back.
"You go first," I said.
"No, let's do it together. You can wash my back and I'll do yours," she said. She grabbed my hand and moved to the faucet. The water was refreshingly cool in the lingering warmth of the afternoon. She turned me toward the wall and rubbed the soap on my wet back. Then, she used her hands to lather me up. It had been a long time since I had been touched by a woman. "Okay, Mr. B, you do me now." I took the soap and moved it up and down her tanned back and over her bikini strap. My little finger got stuck in it for a second. I apologized. She turned her head and smiled at me. Then, she reached back and undid the strap. "That's better," she said.
Before I could say anything, she lifted her bikini top over her head and draped it on a nearby rack. She turned to show me her tanned breasts. I looked down at them before averting my eyes. "I'm sorry for staring," I said. She smiled and said it was okay.
"I've got sand in my bottoms. Do you mind if I take them off?" I couldn't say anything. In a second, she reached down and slid the garment off. Indeed, there was sand on her pubic hair. She brushed it away with the flowing water. Again, she caught me staring. "How about you? Any sand in those trunks."
"A little, I think."
"I'll turn around while you take them off and rinse it away."
"That's okay," I said. "I can live with it." She insisted that I couldn't bring sand into her house. As I stared at her bare bottom, I took off my swimsuit, washed the sand away from it and my body and, then, slipped it back on. Sharon turned off the shower and handed me a towel. She took a second one, dried herself off, and wrapped it around her nudity.
"All clean," she said. "Let's go inside." The house was as tidy as a beach house with four young women living in it could be. Sally and Linda were sitting in the living room. Cora was taking a nap. We woke her up with our talking and laughing and she joined us. Sharon opened a bottle of good tequila and Linda lit a joint and passed it around. I like marijuana in moderation and that stuff was very nice. So were these former students. They were all full of life and joy. They made me feel good.