{Just in case a certain detective is still alive, and still interested, this is a complete work of FICTION!
Yet this story is completely true, even the fantasy part. Does that make any sense at all?
Some of you will get it, some of you will not. Unconditional love, it's wonderful thing. It can also be a terrible thing when it is just one way.}
+++
I didn't mean for things to happen the way they did. But I guess I am getting ahead of myself.
I remember the first time I saw her. They say there is such a thing as love at first sight, if there is then that is what it was.
Red flowing hair, every color possible in it, round wire framed glasses. She wasn't dressed in a manner that was designed to be sexy but there was simply no way that she had to avoid it.
All she did was serve me some eggs, nice crispy hash browned potatoes and some whole wheat toast with butter.
That is all she did, except she looked directly at me with her large green eyes and smiled.
My breath caught in my throat, I could not even speak.
I was lost.
I told my brother who was my partner in our Texaco gas station franchise that I was going to marry her as we drove back to the station.
"Who?" Martin asked.
"That redhead." I told him.
"You are out of your mind, that's a skank." He told me.
"I have never seen a woman that looked like that." I responded.
"She isn't even pretty, and she flirts with every guy that goes in there." He snorted.
I didn't listen, Martin never liked any of my girl friends and he was always coming up with someone for me to meet.
I was coming up on 30 years old, just a guy. I was even married once for a short period. That was one of those things I got sort of pushed into, yea, Martin again. No point in going into it, that gal tried to run my life, tell me what to do and when to do it. I tried that for awhile, I really did.
There were lots of fights, upsets. One day it hit me that I didn't want to go home to all of that, so I didn't.
Martin's taste in females for me ran to the studious types, if I hooked up with someone who could do the books and accounts he would think that was perfect.
Very likely he had one of those ulterior motives about that.
His own tastes ran more to what I called "big'uns", by that I mean not just up top but everywhere. Thinking back, I don't remember him ever having a girl friend under 160 pounds.
Nothing wrong with that of course, the one he finally married was a sweetheart.
But for me, I liked slender and sleek, showoff type women.
Which brings me back to that redhead. What was it about her?
I have to say it beats the hell out of me, one look and I wanted her, not just in bed but for keeps.
My own gift of gab got hung up on my tongue, not normal for me at all.
+++
The next day Martin was busy pulling the cylinder heads off an older Ford Fairlane, it had driven in running on seven cylinders. It had the little 289" V-8, probably one of the easiest jobs on the planets at the time.
Like always, he bid the job a couple of hundred bucks too high and got it anyway, but it was a rush job so he skipped lunch. Martin did have that gift of gab also, he could talk an oriental hooker into giving him credit, or at least taking a bad check.
I went to lunch that day by myself.
She was there, I still didn't know her name. I sat and watched, she was extremely efficient, every movement got something accomplished.
Once again she set down my plate, those green eyes studied me again.
"You were in yesterday, weren't you?" She asked.
Voice like music.
"Yea." I managed to get that out.
That was it, our first conversation other than me giving her my order.
Then she went down the counter and served a tall good looking blond guy, they talked quietly. I saw her nod her head and smile, then she went back to work.
"The heads are in the tank." Martin told me as soon as I got back. I was a bit late, Martin didn't like that.
I nodded, it would be 3-4 hours before they were clean enough to work on.
"I need them by six, OK?" He pressed me a bit.
I nodded again, knowing my own part of the job.
"Want to come over tonight? I have someone I want you to meet." He told me.
Martin's house was just over the hill on the little 10 acre farm we owned. His wife was a sweet and on the chubby side woman named Brenda.
I liked her, and one thing that woman could do was cook. If possible, I never missed a chance at having some of her food.
Otherwise I probably would have begged off, like I said, Martin's taste in females was contrary to my own.
I think her name was Marilee, the female Martin had me set up with. I am not sure since it's been a long time.
We all sat around on the floor and played Monopoly, like usual, I ended up pretty much in control. Easy stuff, I formed a partnership with Marilee, got control of that and then the game was over.
Later Marilee and I walked down the hill in the dark to my house. I sat in my bean bag chair and played my guitar for her, I was a long ways from being good at it but the songs I did know I could play pretty well.
Marilee and I didn't really talk about her staying the night, by around midnight we both sort of assumed.
I set my guitar aside, she was sitting cross legged on the floor in front of me.
"Want to stay?" I asked. She just smiled.
Sex with someone a person barely knows is different than sex with someone you know very well. The movements, the touch is all an experiment, a discovery.
I was fumbling in the drawer by my bed for a condom, she whispered in my ear that she was on the pill and hated those things.
In today's world that is a crazy risk, but this was 1973.
She also wanted the lights out, my house was extremely dark with the lights out since it was 25 miles out in the country.
I did notice her tummy felt flat but on the soft side, her breasts were smallish but firm. Funny that I remember all of that part but I am not sure of her name.
I also remember thinking of that Redhead as I climaxed.
The next day I dropped Marilee off at her house, it was only a couple of miles past our station.
We kissed, there were no promises to call or anything like that.
I did see Marilee a few times after that when she stopped in for fuel. She smiled and I could tell she was...hoping might be the word?
Finally though, she gave up.
Martin was unhappy with me, but even though Marilee was on the pretty side and very eager in bed, I did see her body in the light the next morning.
The strange softness I had felt the evening before was stretch marks, she obviously had a child. She had never mentioned that and I didn't ask.
The marks were not a turnoff for me, I just was not ready to add that to my life as yet.
And I had that redhead on my mind.
And kids? Those are neat things, nice to have around for a few hours, then when it's time for company to head home, take them with you.
Why didn't I just ask Patty out? I guess the answer is that I don't know. Instead, every day, I ate and I watched her.
There was several weeks of that. My brother had that chatty manner about him, took after Mom in that respect. I took after Dad, taller and on the quiet side, maybe even shy. Sure, get me relaxed and I could hold my own, but something was different about this.
I was in love, or at least some crazy infatuation, and I had no idea at all of what to do about it.
+++
One morning I went to the cafe where the redhead worked, it was early and slow. She served me my usual meal, then she asked me why I never ate anything different?
"I am just trying to make your job easier." I told her with a smile.
Again those large green eyes, it was like she was looking deep inside of me.
"I'm Patty." She stuck out her hand.
"Ted." I answered, I took her hand, delighting in the touch. Her palm was warm and felt slightly moist.
"You are cute, you need to ask me out sometime." She told me with a happy laugh, then went back into the kitchen.
"How about tonight?" I asked her when she came back out.
"I have a date, that new movie called 'Sometimes A Great Notion' is playing and I want to see that."
"Oh." I took a bite of my food.
"Saturday?" She asked.
"OK. Sure!" Patty wrote her address on a napkin, handed it to me.
Hell, today was Friday and tomorrow night she would be with me!
I was on cloud nine.
+++
I scrubbed myself until I was pink, put on my best slacks and sports shirt. I saw her looking out the window when I pulled up in front of what was a rather run down duplex.
I was 15 minutes early.
"Come on in, I still need to get dressed." Her hair was wet, and she had on a robe. I apologized, told her I could come back later.
"Sit!" She grinned, pointing at a pretty beaten up couch with one of those hand knitted things draped over it.
I sat down on her couch, she went into another room and I heard a hair dryer running.
"Where are we going?" She called out atfer she shut off the dryer.
"To a concert down at the park, then maybe to dinner if you are hungry." I replied.
"Neat!" She said, then she walked into the room and over to a sliding wooden door.
All she had on was a pair of lime green bottoms. Not panties, but bottoms. Perfect and freckle covered breasts bare!
Now that was a surprise. I did my level best to not react, since she acted like it was nothing.
"There isn't much closet space here, so I keep some of my clothes in this closet." Unabashed at her nudity, she selected a short outfit that matched the bottoms she had on, slipped it over her head. It tied with a soft strap at the side, draped across the front.
They called those "sizzler" outfits in those days, I had seen young women wearing those many times.
"OK. I am ready, let's go." She flashed that now familar smile at me, like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
The concert was nice, a local band trying to make a name for themselves. later we went to a steak house, it was on the expensive side and Patty got a lot of looks in the outfit she had on.
As I drove down the freeway, I turned on my signal to make the exit to her place.
"My room mate is there, can we go to your house instead?" She asked. She was already sitting as close to me as she could get.
That night my fantasies came true, we made love for a very long time. Patty most certainly was not concerned about nudity, in fact, she delighted in it.
It was well after 3 in the morning when we finally slept. I woke up at seven like I always did, got up and made some coffee.
She was awake when I came back into the bedroom.
"You are very good." She smiled at me. She stretched her arms over her head, which displayed her magnificent upper body nicely.
