Having finished her shopping Anita decided on a cup of coffee before she made for home. Struggling along the high street with her plastic bags of purchases she arrived at her favourite café and entered. After giving her order she looked around in the hope of seeing someone she knew, but there was no one.
The truth was, Anita was a lonely woman. At forty-nine, her two daughters lived far away, and her husband had died from a heart attack, so Anita was lonely. The friends that she and Sid had had seemed to have dropped away from her since Sid's death, as if being on her own, she no longer fitted into the couple's pattern of life.
Sid had left her well off, and she had no need to seek employment, so she tried to fill in her days with voluntary and church work. This helped fill the void, but what she really wanted was someone to be intimate with, someone to go to the theatre and concerts with. Someone who would…She set that thought aside as too painful to hope for.
Finishing her coffee Anita rose and picked up her bags. As she did this the contents of one of them fell out, spilling across the floor. As she bent to pick up her goods, a young man came across and asked, "Can I help?"
Anita looked up and saw a boy in his late teens, tall, and if not exceptionally good-looking, he had a pleasant, jovial face. She seemed to vaguely know him from somewhere, but couldn't remember where.
"Thank you," Anita responded, and together they gathered the scattered things and put them back in the bag.
The young man lifted the bag, testing its weight. "Hey." He said, "This stuff is heavy, would you like me to give you a hand?"
Trusting her instinct that he wouldn't try to mug her, Anita thanked him and pointed out that her car was parked up the top of the high street. Together they lugged her goods to the car.
Out of politeness, Anita asked if she could give the boy a lift to his car.
"I don't have a car," he replied, "I was just going to catch the bus home."
Anita asked where he lived, and it turned out his house was only two streets away from Anita's, so she offered him a lift home. He accepted gratefully, and then she remembered where she had seen him before. He had occasionally walked down her street, probably on his way to the bus stop.
The trip home took about fifteen minutes, and in that time she learnt that the boy's name was Douglas ("Just call me Doug"), he was studying Engineering at what the locals still referred to as "The Institute," although these days it has a much longer and grander name. She further learned that he had come in to town that day in a last effort to acquire a book. It was a novel by a nineteenth century author, and had been long out of print. The local library had been unable to get a copy for him, so he had decided to give up the effort.
Surprised that this youth had an interest in such a work, and recalling that she had a copy on her shelves inherited as part of her father's rather extensive collection of books, she cogitated whether or not to offer Doug a loan of the book.
As they approached Doug's house, she said, "Look, I've got a copy of the book you want. If you promise faithfully to return it, I let you borrow it."
"Doug's eyes lit up with pleasure. "I'll promise anything," he laughed.
So, they continued on past Doug's house to Anita's. She invited him in, and while she searched for the book, Doug scanned her collection rather enviously. "You've got a wonderful library," he commented.
"A lot of it is from my father, but my late husband was quite a reader, and I, of course."
She found the book and handing it to him, and not quite knowing why, asked, "Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?"
Doug hesitated for a moment, then said, "Yes thanks. Tea please."
Doug stayed for half and hour, then promising once again to return the book, he excused himself and departed. That seemed to conclude the brief encounter. Anita thought he would probably return the book, and that would be that.
Over the following few days Anita found her thoughts returning to her meeting with Doug. "A very pleasant boy," she decided. "It would have been nice to have had a son like him," she thought nostalgically. "But the rotten devil would probably have gone off like his sisters anyway."
On the fourth day after their meeting, Doug came to return the book. He waxed enthusiastic about it, and Anita, pleased to have given so much pleasure, said, "If you'd like to borrow anything else, you're very welcome."
Doug took this up, and after another cup of tea in Anita's kitchen, he went homewards carrying two of her books. This set a pattern going wherein Doug returned and then borrowed more books, and supped more tea at Anita's kitchen table.
One day he arrived when Anita had a recording on. He listened for a moment, then said, "Vaughan Williams, isn't it?"
"Yes," Anita replied, "his sixth symphony." Doug sat silent, listening, while Anita went into her tea making routine. Doug had once more surprised her by what she believed was a taste contrary to the musical preferences of youth. Conversations between them grew ever more expansive, each finding out what they liked, and in the process learning something of each other's lives.
Anita discovered that Doug was twenty years old, and came from a distant city. He had come to their town because "The Institute" had an excellent reputation as a centre of engineering studies. The course was for five years, and Doug was in his second year. An option for postgraduate work for the more successful students was available, and Doug was working his way towards this.
She further found out that Doug was what the family Doug lived with called, "A paying guest."
The more Anita saw of Doug, the more she wanted to see him. Thoughts like, "The son I've always wanted" kept occurring to her. She tried to suppress the thoughts that came to her in the night as she struggled to relieve her sexual tensions. "I've got a maternal interest in him, that's all," she thought.
