Alice and I had planned for years to move to Florida to escape the northern winters. Within three years of retirement, we had made several trips to visit various communities, seeing what we liked and what we could afford. Often the two were in conflict. Finally we had decided upon a housing plan outside of Tampa, a pleasant place with several amenities, but without the golf courses and high dollar luxuries we could not afford. We had done the paperwork and found that, by selling our big house up north, we could buy a nice three bedroom ranch house and have a little left over. We were like two kids waiting for the end of the school year.
But then the cancer came. Alice was never one to run to the doctor with every ache and pain, but she let this one go entirely too long. By the time the doctors found it, she had only months to live. Beyond the tears is the anger of the injustice. We had been together for forty-two years, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, etc. We had been a team, like two horses pulling a wagon, through jobs, children, mortgages, college tuition, and all the other challenges that a couple faces. Now that we were approaching the finish line and ready to start a new life of freedom, I was going to lose the woman who had completed me for all those years.
The last days were torturous, watching her lying there, a ghastly grey color, so heavily medicated that her eyes rarely opened. By the end, I found myself praying for her to slip away so that she would have the peace she deserved.
I worked two years past when we had planned to retire. It was more to keep myself occupied and to fend off the emptiness that had taken over my life. But the upside was that I was able to put away a sizeable nest egg. Both my son and my daughter had encouraged me to move to Florida just as we had planned. I got the expected, "you don't need this big house" speech, and the, "why are you still working" speech, even an unexpected, "come live with us" speech from my daughter. I did a lot of thinking one snowy bitter cold weekend and realized that the kids were right.
It was agony to go through forty years of accumulation, trying to decide what to throw out, what to give away, what to pass on to the kids, and what to keep. That took weeks, but finally the house was listed for sale.
Four weeks later I was officially retired. The same week I was on a plane to Tampa and back prowling the same neighborhood that Alice and I had visited and liked so much. One of the realities of searching neighborhoods populated by old people is that houses come available on a regular basis. They do not call Florida "God's waiting room" for nothing. So it was with me. I made an offer on a nice little three bedroom house on a quiet street where most people travelled by golf cart, and the seller's estate accepted. I was on my way to becoming a Floridian.
****
The neighbors began to appear and to greet me while the movers were still unloading my belongings. Frank and June were the first, he wearing a flowered shirt and Panama hat, while she breezed in wearing a sundress that displayed generous cleavage. She had eyes that sparkled and the smile of a hungry lioness who just found a lame antelope. It had been a long time since I had felt that tingle between my legs, but one look at June started a spark. We had an awkward moment when June asked when my wife would arrive but, other than that, we got along famously.
A parade of other neighbors stopped by but many, it seemed, were more interested in looking through the house than they were in becoming acquainted. Yet, by and large, they were a friendly group who graciously welcomed another 'grey hair' to their neighborhood. For my first several days it seemed that the doorbell was the busiest appliance in the house, and golf carts regularly lined my driveway.
Frank from next door was a genuinely friendly guy who would stop over at least once a day. He helped me with several small 'organization' projects and provided tools when I could not find mine. He offered advice on everything from auto mechanics to heart surgeons and provided answers to my many questions about local stores and services. After five days I was beginning to settle into my new world. I had spent a couple of late afternoons with Frank at a local watering hole where I met many of the regulars and was treated to all the gossip. Retired life was taking on a relaxed feel that I was greatly enjoying. I could not help but wish that Alice could be there to share it.
One morning I noticed that my grass was looking a bit shaggy. Among the things that the previous owner had left was an old lawn mower. It looked to be in running order, but it had no gasoline. I decided to see if Frank had any gasoline that I could borrow. Walking next door, I knocked on the front door but got no answer. His car was there and a radio played loudly, so I thought that he and June were home. I went around the side of the house and found that their entire rear yard was fenced in by a high wooden fence. I could hear the radio and conversation. I knocked at the gate and called out, "Hey Frank, it's Ken from next door".
"Yea bud, come on in."
Opening the latch, I let myself in. "Hey Frank do you have..." I froze in mid sentence. Frank stood naked skimming the pool and June lay naked on a lounge under a canopy. "Ah...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Frank laughed and walked to me. I had never shaken hands with a naked man before and it was disconcerting. I had trouble not staring at June.
"Ken, we're nudists. If it bothers you, we'll go put clothes on."
"No, it was just...unexpected."
Just then June stood up and walked toward us. "Hi darlin', see anything you like?"
I stammered and struggled for words. She had large, beautiful breasts that were under the influence of gravity but still looked great. Below her waist she was clean shaven. "Oh yes ma'am I surely do, but I would just as soon that Frank didn't whip my ass for looking."
"Hell man, you can look all you want. I'm very proud that this beauty still wants to be with an old fart like me."
June walked to me and crushed her breast into my arm. She had those eyes, those incredible eyes.
"You are very lovely June. You certainly catch a man's eye."
She kissed my cheek. "His eye is a good start, but down here is what I want." Her hand brushed against my cock causing me to jump. She smiled that sultry smile and walked back to her lounge.
"That's quite a woman your June." I was still struggling to regain my composure.
Frank laughed, "You don't know the half of it." There was an awkward silence. "So what brings you over here?"
I had actually forgotten. It took a moment for me to recall. "Gasoline, do you have any gasoline I can borrow for my mower."
"I have about half a gallon in the garage and you are welcome to it. But instead of working your ass off in this sun, come get naked with us and enjoy the pool."
"Thanks Frank, but I've never...uh...I don't know..."
"Trust me bud, it's not hard to be naked. Give it a couple of hours and you won't even think about it."
"Yes, but with June around...I might get...well, you know...it might be embarrassing."
"Hey, if your tool pops up, just show it to June. She knows exactly what to do."
"Are you serious?"
