"We noticed it after the children left for college. For the first time since they were born, we were no longer frantically trying to hold things together and satisfy kids, spouses and bosses at the same time. We were looking forward to enjoying more time with our husbands.
"We were hoping our love lives would improve because we were now relaxed. We wouldn't have other things always on our minds. There was no more worry about getting pregnant. We could concentrate on pleasure for you and for us. We could have sex more often and not have to hurry.
"But not only did our love lives not improve, they got worse."
"You never told me you were dissatisfied," Max interjected. "I thought you always had at least two orgasms. Were you faking them?"
"No, no. Let me explain. You are as great as you ever were. When I'm pushy enough to get you into bed, I love making love with you. I wish you felt the same."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm talking about the quantity, not the quality. Tory said it's the same with Benjamin. Both of you don't desire us anymore.
"While you and Benjamin are cold, we are burning up with lust. The other day, Tory and I we were talking about before we got married. In those days, you and I went at each other every chance we got. Tory said it was the same with her and Benjamin. She and I agree that we want hot sex now as badly as we did then - maybe more.
"When we first began talking about this a few months after the kids left, Tory and I thought it was our fault. You and Benjamin play golf and tennis and work out. You always keep fit. We felt that we used the children as an excuse to let ourselves go a little. Our bodies no longer excited you."
"That's not true, I-"
"It is true, and I can prove it to you. Please let me finish, and then I'll listen to you. You remember that Tory and I got memberships to a health club and began working out together. We still do. We lost weight and firmed up. Everyone at work noticed and remarked on how great we were looking, but neither of you ever mentioned it.
"The first time someone at the hospital made a pass at me, Tory and I had a good laugh about it. A week later, someone at Tory's office came on to her. It happens regularly now to both of us.
"I enjoy the attention, but I never thought of cheating. Then Martin's practice affiliated with the hospital, and I began seeing him on our flour.
"He's young, single, handsome and fit, and he has a voice that sounds seductive even when he's ordering an IV drip. He's a nurse magnet, but so far none of the sexpots who parade themselves in front of him have interested him. After the second time I worked on one of his patients, he complimented me and told me how great I was. I figured that was a line he used to get better cooperation.
"Though he looks like a hunk, he's sort of quiet and nerdy, like you and Benjamin, and he doesn't speak to anyone unless there's a reason. But one day I ran into him in the basement cafeteria when I was on break. I didn't say much, but for some reason, he began to open up, and we talked so long that I got back late.
"It happened again a few weeks later, and that was the first time I felt an emotional connection. To be honest, I also felt a physical attraction. We have never made a date, and we avoid talking about anything more personal than movies, TV and music. But the rare times we are together, I can tell that he wants me as much as I want him.
"I wear my ring, and I see him looking at it. That's why he hasn't made a move and why I haven't. Sometimes the sexual tension is so strong that I feel like I'm about to explode. Tory told me it's the same with her and a young IT guy in her office.
"The other day, we talked about these guys, who are at least twenty years younger than we are. They are both modest, kind and funny as well as being masculine and sexy. We agreed that the reason we have feelings for them is they remind us of you and Benjamin back when we fell for you. The difference is they desire us, but you and Benjamin don't.
"Here's the proof I told you about. A year ago, Tory and I started keeping track of how often we had sex. It's gone steadily down. Now it's barely once a month for each of us. We've heard about how some husbands suffer because their wives are frigid. We've got frigid husbands.
"I was thinking about our fiery hot desire in contrast to your and Benjamin's icy cool indifference, and I remembered the tech at work and his canister of sub-zero spray that burned. That spun around in my brain, and this is the fantasy that came out.
"I make you an amazing dinner, because it's a special occasion. We enjoy it with a bottle of great wine and finish it off with expensive after-dinner drinks. It's a perfect evening, and you're enjoying every moment.
"We go to bed, and you fall asleep right away with a smile on your face. I know that an earthquake won't wake you. Tory says it's the same with Benjamin. I remember a few times when you fell asleep on the couch and rolled onto the floor, and even that didn't wake you. The only way I can get you up in the morning sometimes is by yelling into your ear.
"I let you sleep contentedly and get my materials. I use up nearly all of your ties to restrain you on the bed. It doesn't matter if you're lying on your stomach or your back. I take off your pajama bottoms and then tie you at the wrists, elbows, shoulders, chest, waist, thighs, knees and ankles. I test to make sure you can't move in any direction more than an inch.
"I cover you with heavy surgical draping from your waist down to your knees. I cut a small hole and pull your balls through. They are the only part of your midsection exposed to view.
"I stick a couple of ties into your mouth. When I begin spraying the freezing gas from the canister on your balls, you wake up and begin screaming, but the gag mutes most of the noise. All I hear is hissing as your balls are coated over and over.
"I've already done tests on some spongy rubber balls. It took less than half a can to turn them into solid pieces of ice. Your skin is more permeable, so it takes only a few minutes. As soon as they look done, I smack your balls a few times with the back of my hairbrush, and they shatter into tiny shards that I wipe up with a sponge.
"I take off the surgical drapes, disinfect you and bandage you. If there is any pain, I have something you can swallow to get rid of it.
"You're angry, but I explain why you won't tell anyone but your doctor, and for him we'll come up with some kind of explanation for the 'accident' that sounds plausible.
"It's because you're obsessively private. Benjamin's the same way. That's probably why he's such a close friend. You're both tops in your field, but like you, he never gets the credit he deserves because he'll do anything to stay out of the limelight. You're so self-conscious that you won't speak in public unless it's to a classroom of other introverts. You'd both die if your faces were ever on TV or your names in the papers.
"If you called the police, the story of what I did would be Page One. If there was a trial, I'd take the stand and tell the jury everything I did and why. Someone sneaky would make a video on a phone, and it would go viral. You would become as famous as John Wayne Bobbitt. No matter where you moved or worked, you would become the center of attention for the rest of your life as the guy whose wife was so mad he wouldn't fuck her that she froze his balls off.
"Then I explain why your life will be happier than it is now. No one will ever know what I did, except maybe Tory, and she keeps her mouth shut. You get to continue doing everything you love, and your family life is even better, because your wife is no longer frustrated. She doesn't expect you to satisfy her, and her tension and irritability melt away. She's totally happy with whatever time you choose to spend with her and devotes her life to pleasing you.
"Your physical alteration results in hormonal changes that make your body a bit softer and rounder and your breasts more prominent, but that happens to a lot of older men. Your voice gets a little higher, and you lose most of your body hair except from your head and pubes. You become less interested in sex, but what's the difference between one time a month and zero?
"Because you barely produce any testosterone, your personality softens, and you're more docile, agreeable and suggestible. You're nurturing and eager to please. You care more about what people think about you. Sounds like me, doesn't it?
"You dote on me and are grateful for all the attention I shower on you. Jealousy never comes into the picture.
"I am discreet and careful. I only have sex with Martin when I know you are busy at work or otherwise occupied. Martin and I never go out in public together. All I tell him is that we've decided to have an open marriage. If he runs into you, like at the hospital Christmas party or a restaurant, he shows you enormous respect, admiration and gratitude. He knows that if he doesn't, I will never see him again. But that threat is only mentioned once, because he's smart, thoughtful and understanding, just like you.
"If Martin eventually moves on to someone closer to his age, I screen possible replacements carefully to make sure they will be just as considerate and respectful to you. We live happily ever after."
Sylvia's eyes closed soon after she began relating her fantasy. She stopped, opened them and looked at Max. His eyes were popping out of his head, and his mouth was wide open.
"Would you like another glass of rum?" she asked.
Max's head turned toward the bottle and then he looked back at her quickly.
"No!"
"I can see my fantasy has upset you," she said.
"No kidding!"
"To tell you the truth, it was too brutal for me, and I've made some changes, but I thought you'd like to hear the raw version first so you would appreciate how much I've toned it down. Do you want to hear the way it goes now?"
"I don't know. I guess."
"It changed after Tory and I began reading more about men who lose their interest in sex. It's much more common than I thought. In most cases the man can't do anything about it. It's not his fault.
"That didn't stop my frustration, but it did get rid of my rage. I realized freezing your balls was really a kind of revenge because of the pain involved. I wanted to hurt you, but now that I'm no longer angry, I don't. So my new fantasy is humane."
"Humane?"
"Yes. Instead of tying you up when you are asleep, I simply inject you with a mild general anesthetic that has almost no after-effects when you wake.
"After you're under, I inject your groin area with a local anesthetic, so it's completely numb, and you don't feel a thing. Then I snap a small metal ring around your ball sack. I tie a string to the ring and wind the other end around a bedpost.