The summer of 1970 was the time, and the place was Holland Patent in rural central New York State.
Arthur Connors was a recently retired man of 65 with a lot of time on his hands, and after his wife of 36 years had passed away a couple of years ago, that time seemed to pass more slowly.
Deciding to take up gardening, Art cleared out the area near the fence out back that divided his property from the Miller's spread next door, and began planting tomatoes.
"Who knows?" Art said sarcastically to no one as he looked at the long strip of soil that he was going to use. "Maybe come August I'll be out front with a table full of them, selling the finished product to all the swarms of people traveling on this dusty road. Make me a fortune."
****
Chapter One: A new friend.
Art hadn't seen the girl approach, so intent was he with his tomato plants, so when the young lady said hello, Art jumped in surprise.
"Hi, Mr. Connors," the neighbor girl had said and then apologised for scaring him.
"No, that's okay," Art said, shielding his eyes from the sun so he could look at the girl. "I was deep in thought about how long it was going to take me to kill these things off. Karen, right?"
"Yeah," the girl said as she leaned her elbows on the old fence.
"Haven't seen much of you lately," Art said. "We used to get a kick out of you and that Anderson boy running around playing soldiers. Where's he at these days?"
"He's in the Air Force," Karen said.
"Air Force?" Art said, trying to figure out why they would take a kid in the service, and then as he looked over at the chubby girl on the other side of the fence, he realized that he must be slipping, because this young lady was no kid anymore.
"Bet you're glad that school's out. What grade are you going into next year?" Art asked, trying not to stare at Karen's body.
"I'm done with school, Mr. Connors," Karen explained. "Graduated last month."
"Oh gee," Art said, taking off his cap and wiping his brow. "Where did the years go? Congratulations. You going to college?"
"Community college," Karen said. "That's all we can afford."
"It'll do for a start."
"Anything is better than hanging around here," Karen said as she looked out over the field at the railroad tracks in the distance. "Nobody is ever around and there's nothing to do."
"That's Holland Patent for you," Art said. "Not exactly a hot bed of activity. Probably why most young folks take off first chance they get. That's why I decided to try and grow tomatoes - just to help pass the time."
"If I'm bothering you or anything, just tell me, okay Mr. Connors?" Karen said.
"No no no!" Art said, a tad too eagerly, but his young neighbor didn't seem to notice, or if she did she didn't care. "Bothering me? Just the opposite. The only thing is, you can't be calling me Mr. Connors any more. After all, you're a woman now. Call me Art, or Arthur."
"Okay - Arthur," Karen said. "I like Arthur better. Sounds very dignified."
"With me knee deep in fertilizer and dirt, that's not easy to pull off, but I'll try," Art said, and as he fiddled with the garden he got to know his neighbor.
Karen was eighteen - just turned, she informed Arthur, and when he asked her if she had a party or anything for her birthday Karen laughed.
"I went down to the store and bought some quarts of Utica Club, and me and Nancy Stoddard went down to the creek and got drunk," Karen explained with a laugh. "She got sick."
Eighteen, Art thought as he stole glimpses at the chubby girl by the fence. If I was 18 I'd be all over that sweet thing before she knew what hit her.
Karen wasn't an stunning beauty by any means, but she had a nice smile and a pleasant face. She was plump, but that wasn't something that had ever bothered him. Alice had been chubby most of her life, and she was a real cutie.
Karen was thick around the middle, but she had a lot in the other places as well. She was a busty young thing, Art observed as he took peeks at the breasts that seemed to be straining the fabric of the checkered blouse Karen wore, and her denim shorts were tight enough to reveal a lush bottom.
Karen's calves were plump as well, but not flabby, and the same could be said for the girl's arms, which were bare up to nearly the shoulder, where the sleeves had been torn off.
Art turned away when Karen's eyes came back in his direction, and he felt like a dirty old man when he realized that he had been mentally undressing the poor girl while she stood there the picture of innocence.
Just before Karen declared that she was going to go up to her house to do some laundry, Art saw something that made him smile. He had been peeking up Karen's ragged sleeve, trying to figure out if she was wearing a bra or not (she was), and as he leered Karen leaned back a little bit while hanging onto the fence.
In doing so, Art was not only given the answer to his wondering about the undergarment situation, but got a brief glimpse at a most luxuriant tuft of hair that filled Karen's armpit.
Not five o'clock shadow or just stubble that would have been the product of not shaving for a few days either, but a thick dense spray of dark brown fur that stood out starkly against the pale white expanse of her underarm. Although the peek was far too brief for his taste it was enough to bring back memories of Alice, and when Art wiped his eyes again it wasn't because of the sweat.
"See ya!" Art had replied when Karen finally turned and walked through her yard towards her house, and as his eyes took in the full buttocks as they swayed with her walk, Art noticed something else that he hadn't experienced in a while.
"Good grief," Arthur mumbled as he reached down to adjust himself in his boxers. "Damn old pervert getting all excited over some hippie girl."
***
Chapter Two: Daily ritual.
What followed after that first meeting was a daily ritual. Without fail, Karen would come out and join him, chatting over the fence for anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour.
The length of the conversation depended on the weather in part, but it was never long enough to suit Art, who found the young girl's intelligence and frankness a breath of fresh air, and usually managed to stretch out the conversation when Karen was dressed provocatively.
Provocatively might not be the right word, because Karen always dressed modestly and entirely appropriately, but when she wore blouses like that one with the cutoff sleeves, or another one just like it in faded blue denim, Art found a way to keep Karen a bit longer than she might have wanted.
The brief glimpses of the fabric of her bra under the blouse, and those constant peeks at the hair under Karen's arms, never failed to get Art's attention.