They were in the kitchen. Making coffee. Mickey said that she had heard from someone who knew someone else who knew someone who worked for one of the estate agents that one of the cottages was for sale. 'I assume it must be one of the ones in Culver Lane,' Mickey said.
'I haven't seen any signs,' Hal told her. 'You know. No For Sale signs. No estate agents'
boards
-- or whatever they call them.'
Unkton was only a tiny village. Well, strictly speaking it wasn't even a village. It was a hamlet. There was no church or other place of worship. 'We are godless,' Hal would proudly tell anyone who asked.
'I'll see what Mrs Google has to say,' Hal said. He took his coffee and wandered back through the house to the small downstairs bedroom that served as his workroom. There, he sat down at his desk, opened Google, and typed 'Unkton' into the search box. If one of the cottages was for sale, it should be pretty conspicuous. But no properties appeared on Hal's screen. In fact only a dozen or so search results came up, and most of them didn't really have anything to do with Unkton.
'Find a plumber in Unkton,' one suggested.
'Fat chance,' Hal told his monitor. 'There
are
no plumbers in Unkton. There are no butchers or bakers or candlestick makers either.' And then Hal spotted the Willing Wives listing. 'Meet Willing Wives in Unkton.' Apparently, there were 'willing wives' just waiting to hear from him. Well, well. Who would have guessed, eh?
Hal paused. But then his curiosity got the better of him. He clicked on the HERE of CLICK HERE and waited. For a moment or two, nothing happened. But then a splash screen appeared requesting that he confirm that he was over the age of 18.
'Eighteen? Eighteen and another eighteen. And then some on top of that,' Hal said to no one in particular. And he clicked on CONFIRM. Again there was a bit of a pause but, eventually, the doors to Willing Wives opened for him.
'Hello. Come on in,' the cheerful Comic Sans typeface said. 'Come and meet your friendly neighbours.'
A photograph of five women gradually appeared. Five naked women. With their backs to the camera, all looking back over their shoulders. The photograph -- probably taken in someone's back yard -- was of the 'happy snap' variety. It was definitely not a professionally-taken photograph. And beneath the photograph there were three small panels. One said: Meet your neighbour. A second said: Pick a name. And the third said: Come again. Hal clicked on Meet your neighbour.
If Willing Wives was to be believed, Hal's neighbour was Angela, a tidy enough looking woman of about forty-five or so. Angela was wearing a pink and white bra and matching knickers. But nothing else. Her breasts more than filled out her bra and she had a hint of a tummy peeping out over the top of her knickers. She was probably someone's neighbour. But she was definitely not Hal's neighbour. Hal's neighbour was Hanna, a sixty-something-year-old retired teacher from Lincolnshire. Hal tried to imagine Hanna dressed in just a bra and knickers; but no, it was not an image that his brain could conjure up.
'Well, no properties for sale,' Hal called out to Mickey. 'But it seems we do have a new neighbour.'
'Oh?'
'Come and have a look.'
'
She's
our neighbour?' Mickey said when she arrived.
'According to Willing Wives.,' Hal said. 'So, what do you think?'
Mickey laughed. 'What am I
supposed
to think?'
'It says that she is Angela. One of our neighbours. One of the willing wives of Unkton.'
'Well ... she certainly looks willing,' Mickey said. And she laughed again.
And then a dialog box appeared in the lower right had corner of Hal's monitor. 'Like what you see?' the dialog box said. 'Then let's chat.'
'Perhaps she knows which of the cottages is for sale,' Hal said. 'We should ask her.'
Mickey put on one of those 'now you're just being silly' expressions, but Hal was already on a mission.
'Hello,' he typed. 'I searched Unkton and your name came up. Perhaps you know which of the cottages might be up for sale.'
For a while, nothing happened. And then 'My name is Angela,' appeared.
'Near Lower Bendish,' Hal typed
'I don't understand,' Angela replied.
'It says that you are one of the willing wives.'
Again there was a long pause before Angela typed: 'I certainly
can
be willing. With the right person. Or people.'
Hal laughed. Not that Angela would have known that. 'Yes, that's what Mickey thought,' he typed
'Mickey? Are you having a boys' night?'
'Boys? No. Mickey is a she. She's my wife. It's a sort of a nickname.'
A smiley face appeared in Angela's dialogue box. 'Oh, your wife. Is she there with you? Now?'
'She is.'
'Nice. Are you two naked?'
'Umm ... no.'
'Are you going to get naked?'
'Are we?' Hal asked Mickey.
Mickey laughed.
'It wasn't in our immediate plans,' Hal typed. And then he added, just for the hell of it: 'Should it be?'
There was another long pause. 'Up to you,' Angela said, eventually. 'But some people like to get naked while we chat.'
'Do you like to get naked while you chat?'
'Have you opened an account?'
'Ha, ha,' Hal typed. 'So this is where it starts to cost money, is it? I did wonder.'
'Money? No. It's all free. Completely free. But for security ...'
'No. We don't have an account,' Hal typed.
'You should open one,' Angela said. 'I will still be here when you get back. Just type Angela into the Pick a name box.'
'What do you think?' Hal asked Mickey.
'I think you're mad. Absolutely bonkers.'
'It's just a bit of fun,' Hal said.
Mickey rolled her eyes. But then she said: 'OK. Go on then.'
'We shall return,' Hal typed.
Opening an account was hardly complicated. It was simply a matter of choosing a screen name and a password. There was also a box to indicate whether you were Male, Female, or Couple. Hal chose Couple.
'Couple?' Mickey said. 'Couple?'
'Yeah. We're a couple,' Hal told her.
'Couple implies that we are doing this together. You're the one with the mucky mind.'
'Oh? And yours isn't?'
Mickey laughed. 'Mine is certainly not as bad as yours.'
Hal logged in with their new screen name and password, and typed 'Angela' into the Pick a name box, and then he waited. But nothing happened. 'Damn! She's gone,' he said.
'Aww. You scared her off. Or perhaps she's gone off to look up Houses for sale,' Mickey said.
And then, suddenly, Angela was back. She was still wearing her pink and white bra and matching knickers. And then the dialog box opened again. 'Like what you see? Then let's chat.'
For a moment or so, Hal's heart sank. Double damn! It wasn't a flesh and blood woman. It was just a bloody computer program.
'It's us!' Hal both typed and shouted.
'Oh, hello again,' Angela said. 'You're back. Are you ready to get naked?'
'Are you?' Hal asked. 'That's the question.'
'We could exchange photographs,' Angela said.
'In your dreams,' Mickey muttered.