"Goodbye Justin, have fun with Grandma and Grandpa and behave for Daddy," Sarah Clemens said into the phone before hanging up.
Copeland, her husband of seven years, and their three-year-old son Justin were away for a long weekend visiting his parents. Sarah was supposed to have gone too, but she had been away on business and a canceled flight home had upset their plans. Since it was a five-hour drive to Copeland's parent's house, it was decided they would go on without her leaving her alone for the weekend at their home in the city.
Talking to her husband and son had made her feel a bit lonely. She had taken Friday as a vacation day and had nothing planned for the weekend since she was supposed to be away, so she resigned herself to reading and watching TV.
Sarah grabbed the book that had been sitting on her nightstand for months. She had been meaning to get to it and now seemed like a good time, so she poured a glass of wine and curled into a large leather chair with some soft jazz playing in the background. An hour later she had only made it to page fifteen, and deciding that trying to force her way through the book would be more work than relaxation, she dropped it and picked up a recent issue of Vogue. Unfortunately, the magazine offered no more escape than the book, and she soon tossed it aside in frustration.
It was mid-September and the evenings were quite pleasant, so Sarah had several windows open and the curtains, drifting slowly with the soft breeze, had the effect of adding to her restlessness. She rose from the chair and began to putter around the house trying to think of something to do before finally deciding she needed to get out. Perhaps, a trip to the grocery store or maybe an indulgent trip to the ice cream shop would help.
She changed into a pair of jeans, a sleeveless blouse, and a light jacket then stood in front of the mirror to check her appearance before departing.
"Not bad for a mommy," she said to herself.
In truth, Sarah looked very good. She was a slender 5'7" tall weighing 126 pounds with raven hair, full soft lips, and nice C cup breasts. After having Justin, she was worried it would be a lot of work to get her body back into shape, but it had been quite easy and she was down to her pre-pregnancy weight in four months. If anything, the baby had added to her femininity by making her look less girlish. Sarah had long, shapely legs that ended at a nice butt that stayed firm due to a thrice-weekly workout regime, but despite her looks, she always dressed conservatively due to her upbringing and her husband's tastes.
Thinking that she would only be gone for a short time, she left the windows open and headed out in her 325i. In seconds, she was out of the driveway and headed down the street towards the nearby shopping district. Sarah and Copeland had foregone the large suburban spread for a modest bungalow closer to the city center where they enjoy better dining and cultural events, rather than settling for strip malls and the fast-food joints that were endemic to the "burbs".
As she drove, Sarah's mind wandered, thinking about college and the fun she had in her sorority. In retrospect, if she could have changed one thing, it would have been the long-term relationship with David. Unlike some of her sisters that had played the field, Sarah had started dating him her sophomore year and their relationship had lasted almost to graduation. They had split in the spring of her senior year, which had devastated her at the time, but now seemed like a blessing. She had given him her virginity, but the sex had been unfulfilling, and it wasn't until she made love with Copeland that she realized he had been a selfish lover.
Sarah met Copeland at a charity event almost a year to the day after the split from David. In that intervening time, she had moved to the city, landed a job in marketing, and developed a network of friends. They began dating, hitting it off from the start, and a year later got married despite some minor concerns she had about things moving too fast. They enjoyed four great years of friends, fun, and travel, as a young married couple, before they decided it was time to start a family. Sarah got pregnant with Justin almost immediately, a standard trait amongst the women in her family she was told.
Justin brought a new dimension to their lives, and the world became almost exclusively about him. Being the first grandbaby on both sides, meant that family was always close by, too close sometimes, which had taken some balancing at first. Also, like many couples in their situation, there was the occasional flare-up about the lack of intimacy, but usually, it just took one giggle from Justin to make them realize how petty they were acting.
Sarah pulled into an empty parking spot at the grocery store and went inside, half-hoping she would see one of her friends, but after wandering the aisles for twenty minutes and getting a bag of carrot sticks and a bottle of nail polish remover, she was back in her car without seeing a single familiar face.
"Maybe I should just get drunk," she thought, frustrated but unsure exactly why.
When she got to the edge of the parking lot, instead of turning right back towards her house, she turned left. The restlessness she had been feeling all evening would just not go away and for some reason sitting at home, even with some good wine, was not appealing. She began aimlessly driving the streets telling herself she was being productive by exploring and finding new places for her and Copeland to check out, and she had to admit that it was actually a bit of fun to turn down a random street and see what she might find. It was certainly better than sitting at home in her current frame of mind.
However, as she drove the bright lights and fancy signs of the fashionable boutiques gave way to trade shops and warehouses. Likewise, the nice homes with well-manicured lawns transitioned to unkempt ones, many with barred windows and broken-down cars in front. Streetlamps seemed to be spaced further apart and the overall feel was darker and more dangerous.
"Better find my way back," she thought while surveying the changed landscape.
She used a parking lot to make a U-turn and headed back the way she had come, her vehicle providing a feeling of security. She knew vaguely where she was and knew that a nice well-lit street was three blocks to her left, and this knowledge empowered her to stay on the street she was on and continue to explore. Passing where she had originally turned, she decided to go another couple blocks then take the left.
Ahead Sarah could see neon lights illuminating the otherwise dark street. They were coming from the right and as she drew closer, she slowed to see what business was being highlighted and laughed when she saw the lights were coming from the Westside Adult Emporium, which had three older cars parked in the small lot on the side of the building.
"Well, I guess that's my thrill for the night," she laughed to herself.
Sarah had never been to an adult anything. She recalled some of the girls from work talking about their visits to the Megaplexx, which evidently had the best selection of toys. It wasn't like she was a prude about that sort of thing, but the idea of some device being rammed inside her just wasn't appealing. In her case, she had learned from a friend how to use a dripping water faucet in the bathtub or a Jacuzzi jet for self-stimulation when she was a teenager and had stuck with it.
However, as she continued down the street, she questioned why she hadn't at least gone inside such a place. Plenty of girls went, she knew that, and she had never heard of one being threatened. Sarah was three blocks past the Emporium when she slowed then turned the car around, telling herself she wasn't going to go in but wanted to take another look.
This time she passed more slowly. The building was long and low appearing to be made from cinder blocks and was painted a dark gray color. Besides the main sign, there was an illuminated "OPEN" sign in a window next to the door and several pole lights in the parking lot allowed her to make out the words MOVIES, VIDEOS, MAGAZINES, TOYS and EROTIC ITEMS written in white on the side of the building.
When Sarah was several blocks past, she once more turned and headed back, this time telling herself that she was just returning to her route home. The traffic on the road was very light so when she got close, she was able to creep past slowly.
"Well hell," she said out loud and jerked the steering wheel turning the car into the lot.
