Copyright Oggbashan October 2002
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.
Version 001 27 October 2002
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I saw her black hair glistening down her back across the crowded room. It swung in a gleaming mass over the bare skin of her shoulders and back. From where I was I couldn't see any part of her dress. She seemed to be naked except for that glorious curtain of hair hiding and then revealing her shoulders.
I'd always been attracted to glossy black hair and she had the hair of my dreams. Whoever she was I had to meet her. I wanted to run my hands through her hair and feel it spread over my skin as well as hers.
Then I realised that she was talking to my ex-wife Joanne. Joanne and I had been divorced for a couple of years now and we could meet socially and behave like civilised people again. During the divorce we had behaved badly to each other. Now we could at least talk to each other.
I made my way through the crush of people until I was just behind that beautiful hair. Joanne saw me approaching. She smiled at me.
"Hello Sam. I wasn't expecting you to be here. Have you met Della?"
The head of hair swung alluringly and I saw Della's face for the first time. She had a black satin Alice band keeping her hair away from her face. She was older than I'd expected from the hair, probably about my age. There were the beginnings of lines in her forehead and her neck showed that she was a mature woman not a young girl. One black eyebrow lifted at me.
"No, I'm sure that we've never met. Will you introduce me, please, Joanne?"
"With pleasure. Della, this is Sam. He is my ex-husband but I think he's all right now. We treated each other cruelly once but now as you can see we are on speaking terms again. Apart from being my ex-husband he is reasonable company. He earns enough to keep both of us in comfort." Della nodded briefly to me. Joanne paused.
"Sam, this is Della. She's a mystery woman. She's recently moved to this town to start a business but she hasn't told anyone much about herself. I've been vainly trying to get her to open up but she's been elusive. Perhaps your charm might succeed where my light conversation hasn't. I'll leave Della to you while I freshen up."
I recognised that Joanne was being sarcastic. "My charm" had been part of the reason for the divorce. She had thought that I spent too much time with other women. I enjoyed women's company but I had been faithful to Joanne even if I neglected her at events like this party. I always wanted to meet new women, especially women with masses of hair. At any social occasion I'd abandon Joanne as soon as I saw big hair on an attractive woman.
Joanne wasn't bald. Her hair was pleasant but cut close to her head. She had had long fine blonde hair but now she preferred to keep it short and well-cut. When we met her hair had been waist length. I loved it but Joanne had cut it about two years after our marriage when she started work in a new laboratory environment. Her hair wouldn't fit under the protective caps that she had to wear. She went to a hairdresser in her lunch break to have it cut short. She hadn't even told me. One evening I came home to a short-haired wife. My fetish was hair and Joanne had cut hers shorter than mine. That evening we had the first row of the series that led to our divorce.
I came to with a start. Della had spoken to me almost as if she'd read my thoughts.
"Joanne tells me that you love women's hair. Is that true?"
I nodded.
"What do you think of mine?" she asked, shaking her hair as she tossed it back.
"I think that it is wonderful. I don't think that I've ever seen such a beautiful display of glossy black hair."
"Joanne also said that if you were here, you would come to me as soon as you saw me. Was she right, Sam?"
"Yes. I saw your hair from the other side of the room and came to see who had such ravishing tresses."
"They are nice, aren't they? Would you like to get close to my hair, Sam?"
Hold it! I thought. Della is going far too fast. I usually make the running. While I was married to Joanne I never went further than just talking to a woman with attractive hair. Since our divorce I had gone further with one or two but I was basically shy. I became mesmerised when I got too close and actually had a relationship. I had been disappointed most times because the women wouldn't let me do much with their hair. It took so much effort to maintain their hair that they wouldn't use it in sexual foreplay. The worst had been one woman who kept her hair in a shower cap the whole evening in case I messed it up. That had been a disastrous one night stand. But I couldn't resist Della's hair.
"I'd love that, Della. Hair excites me, and your hair is the most exciting that I've ever seen."
"We can't have you excited without something to look forward to, can we, Sam?"
I nodded again, smiling inanely. Where was this conversation going? I struggled to speak.
"What do you mean, Della? I asked. Did she mean what I hoped?
"Joanne actually managed to make me feel attracted to you, Sam. I'd like to get to know more about you, but not this evening. I only dropped in on this party because Joanne said that you would be here. I have another appointment tonight."
My disappointment must have been obvious.
"Don't worry, Sam. I think I can arrange to see you again. Then you might get close to my hair, if ..." Della stopped, waiting for me to ask.
"If what, Della?"
"If you promise to do whatever I ask, then I'll let you get very close to my hair."
"Close to?"
"OK. You could touch it and feel it ..." Della's voice dropped to a whisper "all over your naked body. Would you like that?"
I nearly had an orgasm on the spot. Della was offering me the stuff of my fantasies within a few minutes of meeting me for the first time.
"I'd love it." I said from my strangled throat.
"Then I'll see what can be arranged. Would you be disappointed if not everything that touched you was hair? Say five per cent wasn't, like my hair band?"
"Even if ten per cent wasn't, the ninety per cent would put me in paradise."
"I'll take that as a contract. Ninety per cent of what touches your skin will be my hair, if you agree to do what I want without question. Will you agree?"
"Yes, Della, I agree."
"Good. We have a deal."
Della reached into her purse and produced a card.
"This is my address in town. Be there at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, showered and wearing clean clothes. What clothes doesn't matter. Jeans and a T-shirt would do. Don't make any appointments for the rest of the day. This is your last chance to back out. If you come then our contract is in force."
"I'll come." I said. I still couldn't believe my luck.
"Then I'll see you tomorrow morning. Now I really must go. I waited too long for you to arrive tonight. I won't wait for you again. You must be there at exactly nine o'clock."
"Yes, Della. I'll be there."
"Good." She leant forward, kissed me lightly on the cheek. Her hair brushed across my face as she swung away. I stood there dazed as she left the room.
Joanne spoke to me. She was standing in front of me with a mischievous smile.
"Did you find anything out from Della?" she asked.
I came back down to earth with a bump.
"No."
"I thought you wouldn't. You were entangled in her hair, weren't you?"
"Yes, Joanne. You know what beautiful hair does to me."
Joanne's smile faded to be replaced by a sad wistful look.
"I'm sorry that I cut my hair. I didn't know how much it meant to you at the time."
That was the closest Joanne had ever come to an apology about it. Suddenly I felt the memory of what we had meant to each other and regretted its passing. I took her hand.