Note:
This story is inspired by true events back in the late 1970s. I first wrote it entirely from Kevin's perspective, and after rereading and revising it several times decided that it would be interesting to also tell the same story separately from Lois's point of view. So I did, and I hope you find that interesting as well.
Kevin
I'll never forget that steamy Friday in July when an ordinary day at work developed into a milestone event for me.
When I got back to the drug store after some mid-afternoon deliveries, Mr. Conrad called me over to the pharmacy area. "I've got one more delivery for you today, Kevin, but it could take you a while to get it done, so why don't you just head straight home afterward." It was about 4:30 and the store didn't close until 6.
Mr. Conrad went on: "I got a call from Lois Green, who's a good, long-time customer. She took a fall a week ago at work and sprained her ankle. She's at home today and needs a few things from us. Since she's not able to get out, I also told her that you'd run over to the grocery store and pick up a few things for her there too. That OK with you?" "Sure," I told him. I didn't really mind, and in fact I often did little extra tasks for customers during my regular deliveries. It also meant I could knock off a little early and head home.
Mr. Conrad handed me a shopping list for the groceries and told to circle back for the things Ms. Green wanted from our drug store. It turned out that the grocery list was pretty substantial, and when I eventually loaded everything up to head off to Ms. Green's the four large and heavy bags completely filled up the basket on my delivery bike.
It was a late July day, very hot and humid and I worked up a bit of a sweat on the pedal over to Ms. Green's apartment. I hadn't ever been there before since Ms. Green usually did her shopping in person, and I was unpleasantly surprised to learn from her doorbell that she lived on the third floor. Since I didn't want to run the risk of leaving any of the bags out on the sidewalk, and also didn't really want to make two trips up to the third floor, I grabbed ahold of all four bags as best I could and huffed and puffed my way up the steep, hot and stuffy stairwell.
Seventy-two stairs in all -- yeah, I counted. By the time I got up to the top, sweat was dripping from my face and my t-shirt was nearly drenched. I put the bags down and knocked on the door of 3S. "It's open," came a voice from inside. I nudged the door aside with my shoulder and poked my head through.
"Hi Ms. Green, it's Kevin from Conrad's Drugs. I've got your delivery and your groceries too. Where would you like me to put them all?"
Ms. Green was sitting on the sofa in the front room reading a book, with her foot propped up on a pillow-topped ottoman. "Would you mind terribly putting them on the kitchen table," she replied. "It's all the way down the hall at the back. If you would be kind enough to put the milk and butter in the refrigerator, I'll put the rest away later."
"Sure thing," I said, and hauled the load of stuff to the back of her large apartment, dripping sweat all the way. After dropping the bags on the table with a sigh of relief and stowing the cold stuff in the fridge, I walked back toward the front room. It was cooler in Ms. Green's tidy apartment, as she had a window AC unit blowing up where she sat.
Ms. Green looked up from her book when I returned and shot me a look of mom-quality concern. "Oh you poor dear," she said, shaking her head, "you're dripping wet! I didn't mean to work you that hard."
"No big deal," I shrugged, "just summer in the city. It's pretty hot out there today."
Ms. Green looked me up and down, smiled somewhat awkwardly and said: "You're a pretty husky guy to have carted all of that up here in one trip." I'm sure she meant it as a compliment, although nobody had ever previously referred to me as "husky." I'd just turned 18 a couple of weeks before, and I was not a big guy by any means: just a shade over six-feet tall, with only about 160 pounds on my skinny frame.
"But you look so uncomfortable," she tutted. "Why don't you pop into the bathroom back there and run a cool cloth over your face."
"That actually sounds pretty nice," I admitted, "as long as you don't mind me getting sweat all over one of your washcloths."
"Don't be silly," she chided, grab a fresh one from the shelf in there and run it under the cold water. I don't want you passing out from heat stroke on my account."
"Thanks Ms. Green," I said as I backtracked to the bathroom and ducked inside. It was a big room with the towels arranged on shelves just inside the door as I entered. I grabbed a fluffy washcloth, ran it under the tap and then enjoyed the feeling of the cool wet cloth on my hot, grimy face. I glanced in the mirror above the sink and noticed for the first time the bathtub behind me at the opposite side of the room. But it wasn't actually the bathtub itself that caught my attention. Rather it was the contents of the drying rack sitting in the tub: the rack was covered with Ms. Green's underwear!
I'm not talking about anything particularly sexy or risquΓ©. Although truth be told, when you're an 18-year-old guy who had just graduated from an all-boys Catholic high school and had exactly ZERO experience with sex, just about anything would pass for sexy.
Ms. Green's underthings were pretty basic: white bras and white cotton panties. Three or four of each on the rack. I slowly turned around for a better view and -- to my great regret and discomfort -- felt an erection start to fill up my pants.
About those pants. They were khaki shorts, about three summers' old. While I was a skinny guy, I had gone through a growth spurt or two over that time and these shorts were on the hairy edge of being too small for me. They were more than tight enough to wear without a belt and -- when I turned back to the mirror -- clearly displayed every embarrassing inch of my raging boner.
"Everything OK in there," Ms. Green called from the front room?
"Uh, yeah... this, um, feels great," I stammered, figuratively kicking myself.