I Never Heard the Comma

Author's Notes: The inspiration for this story came from reading comments posted to one MSTarot's stories, lamenting its poor grammar, while itself being even less grammatically correct! It is dedicated to all those authors who have given me such enjoyment with their offerings -- MSTarot, DQS, Rehnquist (where are you?), SS06 and others.

Like the stories I enjoy, this is quite long. The story revolves around sex, but there is minimal sex action, so if that is what you are looking for, or prefer short stories, please skip this one.

Finally, I am English and so this story is written in English, not American English. Thus 'humour' is spelt with a 'u' and 'recognise' with an 's'; an 'ass' is a donkey (sorry, mule), and 'pass' is what you hope happens when you (or your kids) sit an exam -- it is not a euphemism for dying! Lower and Upper 6

th

forms correspond to the Junior and Senior years at an American High School. We have more liberal laws relating to alcohol: our kids are allowed to drink at 18. The Age of Consent is 16 -- although where it becomes relevant in this story, everyone involved is over 18.

With that said, over to you. Please do comment at the end: it's the best way I can learn about writing.

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"Why don't you retire?" Phil asked. "I mean, you've been teaching for 30 years or so, you've been the Head of Department for the last 10, and HeadMistress for the last 2 -- what more do you want to achieve? There's no mortgage left on the house, we're not extravagant, and between your pension and mine, we will be comfortably off at the very least."

He paused. "And I could get very, very used to waking up every morning like this -- and something tells me that you could too!"

He was right. The morning had become my favourite time for love making. Not that I object to Phil's advances at any other time of the day or night, but taking his morning woody in either my mouth or pussy (and preferably both) as the morning light starts to brighten the bedroom really brings out the amorous slut in me. Of course, during term, things got a bit rushed and so our morning activity was more of a mental connection that a physical release. However, now that school had broken up for the summer holidays, we could take our time: luxuriating in the sensations of our bodies moving in tune with each other and then cuddling up together talking about this, that and the other before starting all over again.

On this particular Wednesday morning, the talking about this, that and the other had roamed from a discussion about possibly going somewhere hot, sunny and secluded at Christmas through a couple of other topics before ending up with Phil's question of my retirement.

"You old horn-dog," I laughed. "You know damn well that I could." I crawled up from my under his arm and kissed him softly on his lips. "I love you so much, and you always make me feel so loved. I could happily stay here all day, but somehow, I don't think we could do it day after day in retirement: we'ld soon get bed sores and one of us would have to do the laundry before we ran out of sheets.

"And I am thinking of retiring," I acknowledged slowly, "it's just ...."

"Just what?"

I rested my head back on his chest, and looked away from him as my eyes began to brim with tears. "After everything that happened with Allan, I'm scared that you will fall out of love with me and then I'll be left on my own, and not know what to do. It sounds silly, but the job is my safety net and I'm frightened of letting it go."

Phil gently lifted my head until he was looking directly into my eyes. He wiped away the tear that had gotten loose, and was rolling down my cheek. His voice carried all of the authority of his days managing projects in the Far East, but, at the same time, was infinitely gentle. "I love you, Julie, and I am not letting you go again. I wouldn't know what to do without you. To bastardise the RSPCA's slogan 'This Phil is for life, not just for Christmas'," he added with a smile.

"But there's something you're hiding here. I've never asked what really happened between you and Allan -- it wasn't my place to do so and I really don't want to know. But this is affecting you, and I think you need to get it out in the open. You can tell me, or you can talk it through with one of your friends, Dani perhaps, or go to a counsellor -- I am sure you know of one through the school system. All I can promise you is that it makes no difference to me -- I love you for what you are now: what happened happened, but it shaped you into the fun-loving person that I see with me now in bed, and who I love holding and making love to. I just want to see you happy and worry free, and I think that letting it all go will help."

With that, he gave me a long kiss and stroked my hair as he kept looking into my eyes -- searching from one to the other. All I saw was love coloured by concern. I kissed him back and I needed to hold him. I reared back, put both hands round the back of his head, and nearly broke his neck as I pulled him towards me with a vicious tug, pressing his head hard into my breasts. My tears let loose this time, and dropped down into his hair.

Just before he turned blue, I let him go. This time, I started the kiss and lapped at his lips and tongue with all of the thanks that I could muster. "You lovely man. You're right of course, I do need to get rid of the demons, and if I can't tell you, then it doesn't say much for our future, does it?"

"Let me go for a pee, and then I'll come back, snuggle down with you, and tell you everything. At least you'll understand me a bit better, and maybe it'll do what you hope." Trying to portray more confidence than I felt, and biting back a comment that I just hoped it wouldn't make things worse, I went to the bathroom to gather my thoughts.

Before I go any further, I should introduce myself. My name is Julie Patterson and I am in my late 50's. Phil is my second husband -- we got married last year, a couple of years after I had divorced my my first husband, the aforementioned Allan. Depending on how I have my hair, I'm around 5ft 8 and weigh in at, well let's just say that I have a pretty good figure for my age, with the right curves in the right places. I'm not a sporty person, but I love walking for relaxation -- and being Head of a large secondary school keeps me on my toes both physically and mentally. I ran the English Department before I was promoted to the Headship, and I still teach the 6

th

form -- a class which now shows such promise.

I climbed back into bed, and nestled under the Phil's protective arm.

"I suppose it all really began when my parents moved down from Huddersfield when I was 16. Dad was moved by his business, but he managed to put it off until I had completed my O-Levels. We moved into town here, and I had a lonely summer away from my friends. Starting at a new school wasn't as bad as I feared - mainly because I would have to have changed schools at home anyway. Within two weeks, Dani entered into my life.

"She was in my History class, and I hadn't spoken more than two words to her when she came and sat down next to me at lunch. 'Ay-oop, lass, yoo alreet?' she said in a dreadful parody of my Yorkshire accent. I was a bit sensitive about that as everyone else in the school seem to speak in that posh Home Counties accent and I felt my face tighten. 'Don't fret, Julie, I'm not teasing you -- I just thought it would be a good ice-breaker,' she added. I turned to look at her and she was smiling -- I didn't even think she knew my name.

"'I'm Dani. It must be hard leaving your roots, and having to start all over again. And girls can be a moody bunch of bitches at the best of times, but I don't like seeing people on their own when they've done nothing to cause it. Oh, don't worry -- I can be the moodiest of bitches when I get pissed off, but we'll cross that bridge when and if we ever get there.'

"Jeez," I chuckled. "She really hasn't changed! The whirlwind that blew into my life that lunch time is still the same whirlwind we both know now -- although she just seems to have defied Physics and gained energy with age!

"I've always been a bit shy -- it comes from being the only child of northern and slightly old-fashioned parents -- but Dani introduced me to her friends, and I became the 'quiet' one of the group: the one the teachers all turned to when things were getting out of hand. I seemed to be able to calm things down without upsetting any of them, and I think that's when the idea of becoming a teacher first took hold.

"Over the next two years, our friendship grew: my parents never took to her. I think they had just never come across anyone so forthright and open before and didn't know how to handle it -- especially if the subject of boys ever came up. Sex, to my parents, was something that rabbits did. My mother couldn't say anything and the only words my father ever uttered to me on the subject were provoked by my mother ranting on about the activities of some sleazy TV reporter.

"'Pre-marital sex!?' he exclaimed, 'Good God, your mother doesn't even believe in post-marital sex.'

"And that, in a nutshell, was the total parental input to my sex education!"

Phil snickered and stroked my hair.

"Well," he said, "thank God someone taught you something! Don't tell me: it was Dani, wasn't it?"

"The theory, yes," I agreed. "Her parents were totally the opposite to mine. They were just total open about everything. Well, you know them -- they were the most loving and friendly couple you could ever meet: it was easy to see where Dani got her personality from.

"The first time I ever saw an adult in underwear was when I stayed over at her house: her mother used to make us breakfast in a negligee and knickers, while her father used to wander around in just a pair of old and very tattered boxers. I later found out that they only wore something because I was coming round -- usually they just went to bed naked, and stayed that way in the morning.

"If we were going out partying, I would always go over to her place and we would get ready together -- you know how girls are. As we would be about to leave, her Dad would just look at her, quipping:

"'Remember, if you're not in bed by midnight, come home.'"

"The first time I heard him say it, Dani was looking at me and just burst out laughing. 'You should see your face, Julie! You look as though someone just stuck a cucumber up your arse!' which just started her and this time her father off on another peal of laughter.

"We took our A-levels, and I was just coming out of my shell. Dani organised that party and made sure to invite you. Do you remember? She kept pushing you and I together and it was a disaster! I didn't want to be pushed, and you didn't even want to be there and kept trying to get away from me."

"God that night was awful," Phil laughed. "Dani had quite a reputation even at that stage, and I wanted nothing to do with her, or her friends. As far as I was concerned, you were all guilty by association. I was already at uni, and considered myself above all of that teen sex scene. I cringe when I look back and remember how I treated you. You must have thought I was an absolute shit!"

"Don't fret about it", I replied. "I was just pissed off with Dani for trying to organise my life -- she didn't want to go to Uni as a virgin, and didn't think I should either. Anyway, look on the positive side. If we had have gotten together then, we would have probably ended up hating each other, and never spoken to each other again. And now I am right where I want to be, and I've got you right where I want you," I said, moving my hand down a bit and cupping his balls.

I lifted my head and looked at him, and stretched up to give him a kiss. I ran my tongue along his lips, and felt his balls begin to tighten, and his cock begin to swell. As I ran my finger tips along it, I loved that delicious silky feeling that our dried juices from our earlier session had given it. "Mmmmm, later", I murmured. "If I stop now, it'll never be said, and we'll be back where we started.

"So anyway, we all went off to university -- me to Oxford, Dani to Brighton, and our lives developed. I lost my virginity during one of the Summer Balls to someone with whom I had been going out for a few terms -- I guess some of Dani's influence really had rubbed off on me, because I certainly wasn't looking at him as my future husband. He was fun and a rower: the kids these days would call him ripped -- we just called him hunky. It was enjoyable, but not something that made me feel I had wasted the last three years of my life. I guess we just fucked each other -- it wasn't making love as we do.

"Dani and I would meet during the vacations and catch up with what we had each been up to. She was now fully into her Sports Management and had set her sights on becoming an agent for some famous sports personality. I was reading English, and planned on doing my B.Ed as a postgraduate. We talked about our school friends, and what they were, or might be, up to. You always came up in conversation, and Dani would tell me what you were up to. When you got that Civil Engineering job in the Far East directly after graduating, she looked at me, and it was the first time I had really ever seen a sorrowful expression on her face.

"'I really fucked that up, didn't I, Julie?'"

"'What are you talking about?' I asked."

"'Trying to push Phil down your throat at that party when we finished school.'"

"'Oh bollocks,' I replied. 'I was a shy little mouse, and he had his nose in the air as though all of us had used shit for perfume! The only thing we had in common was that we were both really pissed off with you!'"

"She just looked at me, and gave me a wry smile as she shook her head. 'We'll see,' she added."

"Ha! I had her down for a number of things," commented Phil, "but prescience wasn't one of them!"

"Quite!" I agreed, still lightly caressing Phil's cock, which was now back in resting mode.

"After university, we started on our careers. Dani had joined a big sporting agency in West London; I got my first teaching job -- back up in Huddersfield. Mum and Dad had moved back there when he retired, and I thought that I would feel more comfortable in my first job teaching kids from a background that I was at least familiar with. That was a mistake! I forgot just how much things can change in 10 years or so, particularly with the economy tanking as it had. But I just got in with it -- it wasn't great, but it wasn't a disaster either. It's difficult to feel totally down when the Moors and Pennines are almost on your doorstep, and most week-ends I would take myself off there to relax."

"Mum, Dad and I hadn't regained the closeness we had before we moved south: I wasn't prepared to be the 'daughter for life' that they thought I should be. I'm sure they blamed Dani, but in reality it was a mixture of everything. Mum died not long after I moved up there, and Dad only lasted a couple of years before he, too, died. He had missed Mum terribly and I think he just gave up on life.

"I stayed for another couple of years at the school, and then decided that, as there was nothing to keep me there, I would look for a job down south."

"One came up in south west London: I applied for it and got it. I sold the house that I had inherited from my parents, and it gave me enough that I was able to buy a small flat near the school with only a small mortgage, thank goodness, as the rates were around 15%. I doubt I'ld have been able to do anything than rent a pretty poky little place otherwise."

Phil was still gently stroking my hair as I let my fingers do their own thing, fondling and caressing him.

"Was that when you hooked up with Dani again?" he asked.

"Yes. When she eventually got back from one of her trips where she had been baby-sitting her latest sporting prodigy, we got together. She didn't live too far away, and so we used to meet up for lunch at the week-end. One day during the holidays, I got a ticket for a really good production of 'Abigail's Party'. I suggested that, before I went into the West End, we meet for an early supper near her work. She had got into her healthy food kick, and so we went to one of those salad bar type places: they weren't nearly as popular then as they are now but she insisted she needed to detox after all her hotel living.

"She told me that she had seen you when she had been in Singapore; that you were doing well; looked great; how I would really have enjoyed the life style; that there was a real need for teachers, yada-yada-yada.

"As far as I was concerned, that fairy tale had died its death the evening of the party, so I just rolled my eyes, and let them roam around the room. They settled on a good looking, dark-haired guy a couple of tables away. He was smartly dressed, and had obviously just come from work: he exuded confidence and success and was with some woman. He was eating a salad of some kind -- probably the house special: a mixture of different salad leaves, pepper, fruit and beansprouts .

"The woman he was with was certainly no prettier that I am, and I know I had bigger boobs. I was instantly jealous of her. He didn't seem all that committed to her, either, as his eyes were roaming round the room. Our eyes met, and I knew then and there that I wanted to go out with him, and probably get married to him. At least I determined that I was going to break the habit of a life-time and be aggressive.

"Dani noticed that I wasn't paying her any attention and followed my eyes.

"'For God's sake, Julie,' she said, "he's one of the contract lawyers in my company and he's a complete pillock. His name is Allan. I've had to deal with him on occasion, and now I always try and get someone else to do my legal work -- he tries it on with every female he comes into contact with.'

"'Look at him: just typical. She'll soon find out there's no substance under that smarmy exterior. He just eats shoots and leaves.'

"'You catty bitch,' I said, 'he obviously pissed you off, didn't he? Well, tough, I want to meet him, and I'll find out what he likes and doesn't like for myself, thank you.'

"As luck (fates?) would have it, his dinner partner had gone to the ladies, and he came over to say Hi to Dani -- well, it was a convenient excuse. Whereas he had been just polite to Dani, he turned his charm on full blast when he turned to me. Dani grudgingly introduced me, and tried to cut the matter short by looking at me, and telling me I had to leave NOW or I would miss my play.

"It was bullshit, of course. I had plenty of time and she knew it. Allan just ignored her, and asked what I was going to see. When I told him, he said that he was going to see it next week -- we should get together after and compare notes.

"I pretended not to see the daggers in Dani's eyes, as I gave him my phone number and told him I would look forward to it. His dinner companion reappeared and they left, leaving me with a rosy glow and slightly damp knickers.

"'Idiot,' spat Dani. 'I told you he was a pi...'"

"'For fuck's sake, Dani, just shut up,' I spat back. 'Ever since Upper 6th, all you have done has been to ram your friends, and particularly Phil, down my throat. Now when I decide I want to make my own choice, you make bitchy comments and rant on about his eating habits. And yes, it is time that I left for the theatre.' I threw a £20 pound note on the table and stormed off."

The memory made me clench my fists back into my chest in a futile attempt to protect myself against the flood of emotions that hit me. My breath caught in my throat, and came out as a series of strangled sobs. A couple of tears rolled from my eyes down onto his chest. Hardly breathing, I whispered, "I should have listened to her, shouldn't I?"