The Lonely Man

A mind is an ugly partner when you live alone.

I watched the flames in the fire as I slowly ate my supper. My name is George Peoples. I am a retired lawyer. My current home is a cave. What made me want to live in a cave? Well, to make it simple, my sexual dysfunction. I could not get an erection. I had this problem for a year. When it first occurred, I went to a specialist. After many tests and different medications, the doctor said that my problem could not be solved. I tried another specialist who had the same results.

My wife Mary had a long discussion. We decided that performing oral sex would alleviate her problem. That was our current concern. All went well for a few months. I thought about the future. Sooner or later, she would want more. This would lead to an affair. I tried to prepare for it.

Mary worked as a legal temp in the same office from which I retired. She expected to retire in two years. Her hours were from 9 am to 5 pm. She claimed to love her job and did not wish to retire now.

Each day, I would take care of the house and make supper. We had a great marriage before my sex problem. I grew a huge garden each year. We worked it together. When she felt horny, she would ask me to help her. I always did. It was normally two or three times a week.

Each evening, we would drink wine and talk to each other. That was the best part of the day. We often held hands and cuddled. We had been married 42 years, and I loved her more now than I did the day we married. I believed she felt the same about me. One day, Mary said I am sorry, George, but I have to work Thursday night. She had never worked overtime. I knew this was the start of an affair. She was aware that I would know. We called it overtime, but both knew the other was aware of what it was.

Thursday morning, she mentioned that she would be home before 10 pm. That night, I sat and cried. She arrived home at about 9:30. It was one of the worst nights of my life. We did not talk about it. She showered and went to bed.

That was the start of a string of Thursday night overtimes. I dreaded Thursdays. it was pure torture waiting for her. I would change into pajamas and go to bed before she arrived. I would then pretend to sleep. We both knew I wasn't asleep and would not be for most of the night. Mary now never asked me for sex on Thursday or Friday, and usually only once a week.

I knew I could not keep pretending it was overtime, and I also knew that it would probably escalate to more than Thursday. So, I made a plan to leave her.

We lived on a large plot of farmland that I inherited, bordered on one side by a federal park. The park was several miles long. I often walked in the park. When I was a teenager, I discovered a cave. It was covered and hard to find. I built an entrance out of dirt, logs and grass. The cave was only possible to find if you knew how to lift up the door I built. I never disclosed that I had found the cave or where it was.

The cave was about three miles from my house. Often, I would go there while Mary was at work. I decided to use it as my home. I slowly stored food, bed, and blankets and built a fireplace. At an appropriate place, I ran the chimney through the cave's roof. I would only burn the fire at night for cooking. The weather was usually pleasant, so I would not use the fireplace for heat. Smoke would only appear at night.

I had taken a survival course in the Air Force and read many books on how to survive. I was also a big fan of a TV show called "Alone." I could snare rabbits and other small games. I could also use a bow and arrow for bigger games and Grouse. Fishing was one of my better skills. There was a trout stream adjacent to the cave that had a lot of fish.

I would get all my own protein from the meat I had trapped and the fish I caught. I would also steal vegetables from my garden when Mary was at work or at night. Books I had read on edible plants would allow me to supplement the veggies.

I did not know or care about my lifespan. So, I stopped taking any medicine. My heart was in reasonably good shape but did require help. This I ignored.

The day that would change my life came. Mary said, "George, I have to tell you something. I will be going on an overtime trip for a week to New York next month from the 2nd to the 9th, Sunday to Saturday. I know this might upset you, so if you say don't go, I won't go."

"Mary, go and have a great time. I will spend the week in the park. When you return, we can spend many nights discussing New York City."

Mary replied, "What can you do all week in the park?"

"Well, I can fish in a stream I never tried. I can also explore the south end of the park. I have never been there. Go ahead. We are getting older, and you may not get another chance."

That ended the conversation. We only discussed it once she was about to leave. Mary got new clothes for the trip, and I prepared everything for my disappearance.

As the day for her to leave approached, Mary became very apprehensive. She asked me, "Did I change my mind? Was I sure it would not upset me? Would this cause a problem in our marriage?" I answered no to all her questions.

I also stated, "Mary, after all these years together, you have always been a great wife. You deserve to be happy. Go, enjoy yourself."

Inside, my stomach was churning. I could not sleep at all.

The day of leaving finally came. I kissed her goodbye. I did not expect to ever see her again.

Mary

The more I thought about this trip, the less I wanted to go. Harry was the man in my office who first persuaded me to meet him on Thursday nights. I made specific rules. I would always be home by ten. He was never to touch me unless I was with him at his house. He was never to call me or come near my house. I loved my husband and would not allow him any more pain than I had to.

When George's problem occurred, we did everything we could to solve it. George performed oral sex to keep me happy. Initially, I was satisfied, but it did not satisfy my needs as time went on.

Harry always showed an interest in me. He was a widower, so I was not screwing up his family. I thought that occasionally would not upset George that much. George knew what I was doing, and he never objected.

The sex with Harry was vanilla. It was not bad but never measured up to George before George's problem.

I knew George did not like it. Once, I fell asleep at Harry's, and Harry did not wake me. I woke up it was ten o'clock. I was angry. I got dressed and raced home to George. He was not home. He was dressed and walking into the park. I got him and talked him into coming home. He said, "When you did not show up, I thought something happened to you. I got dressed and was walking into town." I knew he wasn't walking into town because he was going in the wrong direction. I said nothing. This could never happen again. I did not go to Harry's for two weeks. I told him if it happened again, we would, though.

Harry brought up the idea of going to New York. I did not like it. He said, "I never spend any money. We can eat at the best restaurants and go to the best plays. We will love it. George won't mind, it's only for a week." It sounded good, but the part about George bothered me. I did not want to hurt him anymore. However, when I bought it up, he seemed to want me to do it. I told Harry I would go.

Harry made all the arrangements. As the date grew closer, I started to panic. George was as nice as ever, but I knew it was hurting him. I attempted to talk Harry out of going. He said, "I spent a fortune just for the reservations for the plays. I can't get my money back. So we are going."

When George kissed me goodbye, I felt it might be a goodbye forever. I almost canceled. The sex, plays and restaurants did not mean anything compared to not hurting George. However, I also had committed to going to Harry. I chickened out and said nothing.

When Harry and I reached New York, we registered at an expensive hotel. We had sex. To say I wasn't enthusiastic was an understatement. We ate at the hotel restaurant; it was expensive and delicious. Although George had told me he intended to go to the park tomorrow, he asked me not to call him tonight because he did not wish to become anxious about my trip.

I was nervous thinking about him, so I called. There was no answer, which disturbed me. I tried numerous times during the night and early the next morning. I was very upset. Harry calmed me down. I had a high level of anxiety all week. I suspected George would be home about Thursday, but no luck. I insisted we leave a day early. Harry did not want to, but he finally agreed.

When I got to my house, I found a note from George. It crushed me. The note said,

"Dear Mary,

I have been very unhappy with the situation on Thursday. Every Thursday, I suffer while you are gone. I cannot take it any longer. It is my fault. I place no blame on you. I planned on leaving before you told me about your trip. I sincerely wish you a great trip with great sex. However, the stress it causes me is unbearable. Please let me go, and do not try to find me. I love you and will always love you.

Love,

George

Mary

He was crazy if he thought I would not try to find him. I immediately called the park rangers. He left without taking any money or food. I did not know what the hell he thought he would survive on. The rangers were sympathetic. They did a fast search of the park. They then had a helicopter scan the entire park for any signs of a camp. They even used body heat scanners without success.

George

My first job was to get enough food to last until they stopped searching. I spent Monday to Wednesday fishing and setting up snares. I caught trout and snared some rabbits, enough to last until the end of next week. I had a stock of tomatoes, beans and peppers from the garden. Now, I had to wait until they stopped looking.

This was boring, but I also had many books to read.

Mary

The level of stress I was under was terrible. Harry wanted to come and stay with me. I said, "We are through. I want my husband back. Our affair was a huge mistake." I quit my job. I spent each day trying to find George. The Rangers were very good to me. They even tried dogs to find George. They discovered that George walked about five miles to a stream. The dogs lost him at the stream. The rangers took the dogs on both sides of the stream for five miles upstream and did not get his. George had walked 3 miles downstream to reach the cave.

My thoughts went to the vegetable garden. He has to get food. I checked it out. This was a huge garden, but it definitely had been picked. He loved tomatoes, and there were many gone. After I checked, I stayed up all night watching the tomatoes.

George

Staying in the cave got very dull. I would sneak out at sunset and fish for a while. Three weeks after I had disappeared, I waited to go get some more veggies. Late that night, I walked down to Mary's house. The lights were out, so I assumed she was either sleeping or at Harry's place.

I picked a variety of veggies and reached my favorites, the tomatoes. Just then, a light came on and up popped. She yells for me to stand with my hands in the air. I yelled it's me, George. She came toward me with a pretty nightgown on. Wonder of wonders, I got an erection. She recognized me and ran and gave me a big hug. She could not believe that something hard was poking her in the stomach.

Both of us started yelling at the same time. She dragged me into the house and started talking. She apologized for going to New York. Mary said, "The entire sex thing was a mistake. I should have stopped it after the first week and never agreed to go to New York. You are the only man I ever really wanted. I always would make myself imagine it was you or I couldn't have an orgasm."

I replied, Let me give you the real thing. We went inside and made love. My erection held, and the coupling was magical.

After about two weeks, the magic disappeared. My erection would not happen or just happen and then soften.

I went to the Urologist and explained what had happened. He questioned me closely about everything, but especially my meds. I told him I stopped taking them when I left Mary but was back on them.

He had me go home and stop my heart medicine. I was able to get an erection. He started it and stopped my blood pressure med. I got an erection. Then he stopped both. Wow, it worked. I got my erection. He checked with the companies that manufactured both meds, and they had no record of this problem. After he reported it, both companies found that a rare number of patients lost the ability to have an erection when both medicines were taken at the same time.

The doctor switched my blood pressure med, and I was fine.

Mary and I were back to normal. We spent much of our coffee time discussing how our lives had improved.

Harry, who wasn't a predator, just took what was offered. I never went to town, so I never saw him. Mary met him a few times. She always mentioned it and said exactly what was said during the conversation. He missed her and loved her. Eventually, he met a widow and married her.

Mary and I had the best life anyone could have. We are still happily married and very much in love.