The events and conversations in this story are true. It happened in the mid 1960s. The names have been changed.
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It was a Monday morning and I was sitting in the company cafeteria with a group of engineers drinking coffee before starting our day.
Looking across the room I noticed a mature, sophisticated, well dressed woman. She looked to be in her late forties. She was about five foot two with blond hair. From what I could see in her expensive business suit with the long skirt, she had an hour glass figure. She looked out of place among all the young, blue collar girls in their mini skirts.
One of the girls offered her a seat and she sat down facing me. She sat there just watching all that was going on and then she caught me looking at her. When our eyes met we both turned away. Then we made eye contact again. This time I smiled and tipped my coffee cup to her as a jester of saying, "Hi." She returned the jester with a smile and I think I made her feel welcomed.
After the beginning of work, I had to go to the inspections lab to check on one of my projects. It was a new technology called Micro-electronics and it required many girls looking into microscopes. There were about twenty girls in their early twenties, working two shifts. Their supervisor was a woman in her late forties named Alice.
When I entered the lab, Alice grabbed me saying, "Oh Jack, I want to introduce you to our newest employee." She led me into a private work station area where there was a person sitting and looking into a microscope. The person was in a white lab coat with white gloves and a white bonnet covering her hair.
"Maggie," said Alice, "I want you to meet one of our engineers. This is Jack." When she looked up, we both started to laugh. She was the sophisticated lady I saw earlier. I looked into her blue eyes and I instantly felt a connection to her.
Each morning I found myself going into the inspections lab just to say hello to her. If I saw her in the cafeteria sitting by herself, I would take the opportunity to sit with her. I found her to be so easy and interesting to talk with. Over time, Maggie and I became close friends.
One morning a girl brought Maggie a cup of coffee and she asked Maggie if she wanted sugar. Maggie looked at me and said, "No. I have my sugar right here." From that time on she always called me Sugar and I called her Mag.
The girls saw us together so often and because of our age difference,(I was twenty five and Maggie was forty eight) they called her Mrs. Robinson.
In our many talks, Maggie confided in me that she and Alice were best friends from high school. Maggie married an accountant and Alice married an M.D. intern. After Alice had her baby, her husband filed for a divorce so he could marry his nurse. As a working, single mother, Alice ended up here in our company as a supervisor.
Maggie had four children, one after another. Her doctor told her that she was a breeder and so after her fourth child she had her tubes tied.
Her husband became a CFO of a large company and he traveled a lot. He was in his early fifties and he had a secretary named Barbra. Barbra was a divorced woman in her mid thirties and Maggie suspected that her husband was having an affair with her.
One day Maggie's husband was in Chicago for a week and Maggie needed to get in touch with him. She called his office to ask Barbra what his itinerary was, but when she called, another woman answered. Thinking she had the wrong number, Maggie asked, "Hello, Barbra?" The woman's voice at the other end of the line answered, "No. I'm sorry. Barbra is in Chicago. She won't be back till Friday."
Maggie hung up the phone and thought to herself, "What am I to do? My last child is away at college. My children no longer need me and my husband prefers a younger woman. If I confront him, then it could become a nasty argument and end in divorce. I'm not ready to give up the big house, cars and this life style. He is the only man I have ever known and I've been faithful to him for all of these years. This is my reward. My life is in a funk."
Maggie called her friend Alice and asked her to lunch as they often did. After hearing Maggie's story, Alice talked Maggie into coming to work with her. She felt that by working with the young girls it would give Maggie a new perspective on life and help get her out of the depression she was in.
Over time, I confided in Maggie that my wife was having an affair with her boss. I would have gotten a divorce if I had the money and a place to go. Maggie said to me, "In human relationships we only get eighteen months of intense love and passion. That's all we get. After that, the boy starts looking at other girls and the girl starts looking at other boys."
She continued, "You know you're better off with the devil you know. You get divorced thinking you'll find someone better and you could pretty much end up with the same thing. Maybe worse."
To illustrate her point, she confided in me that Alice was in a long term relationship with a married man. He was an M.D. same as her ex.
She went on, "I know my husband will tire of his secretary or she will tire of him. Besides, he's too old for her. Remember, we only get eighteen months then the passion is gone."
Maggie asked me if my wife was a good house keeper? I answered, "Yes. She's very neat. She does my cooking, house cleaning, pays the bills, she does it all."
"If your wife was a slob," Maggie replied, "Then I'd tell you to get rid of her, but if she can keep your home clean and peaceful, then I say keep her. It's all we can hope for."
I was too ashamed to tell Maggie that at home I was a wimp. That my wife would not have sex with me. That most nights I masturbated in order to fall asleep.