Another completely true account from my long and very lucky life.
For many years I operated a small one man business providing on site tuition for technical matters. Most of my clients we retired folk, perhaps the kids had persuaded them to buy a Computer, when it arrived, sat them down, gave a short lesson and left them to it and the poor parents sat there, completely bewildered, wandering what the hell just happened. Enter my good self.
Mainly through word of mouth, they would tell one of their friends of their dilemma who would mention yet another friend who had similar problems and that she had heard about this lovely man who had come over and sorted things out for them.
To cut a very long story short, I had built a nice little business doing something I would have happily done for free, I got to meet some very nice people, see some lovely homes and, in many cases, build a friendship which has lasted to today.
One of my clients was a very nice lady in her mid-70's who was recently widowed. I will call her Elaine. Living in a very nice home in one of our better suburbs. One of her sons had persuaded her she needed a computer and the usual thing resulted. Someone suggested she contact me and I went to visit for the first time. The story was I would give a 2 hour lesson, we would stop for a coffee after one hour and then carry on. I am a good teacher, my client list showed this to be true and I kept my lessons to very simple basics. Often a period would be spent just using the mouse until they were comfortable with keeping it steady on the screen. Showing the secrets of right clicking an object and then advancing to Emails, Internet browsing, Search engines etc. It would depend on the client's ability but often it could take three or four lessons before they were comfortable about branching off on their own and, additionally, I gave free telephone support.
OK, back to Elaine. I arrived on time and was greeted by an attractive tall, slender lady probably in her mid 70's. I later discovered she was 16 years older than myself. She took me through to her very nice bookshelf lined study and we sat at a lovely old writing desk. Everything in her home was in incredibly good taste. Obviously the family were quite well off.
We got started on the first lesson and it was immediately apparent that we were starting at the very beginning so, loading the simple Microsoft Patience game. I got her started on using the mouse. She was a very keen Bridge player so a Solitaire game was child's play to her but, the important thing was, she was using the mouse with more and more confidence. The lesson progressed well from there and at the end she happily paid me for my time and we agreed on a time for next week.
OK, this was the beginning of a very long and quite complex relationship. Next week our time was well spend, she had rung once with a small problem which had been easily sorted. The third week, she asked if I would like to stay for lunch, I had a free afternoon and I happily agreed. She settled me in her comfortable dining room and shortly was presenting an excellent repast. With hindsight, she had prepared it in advance. We chatted, she told me about her late husband and their life together. International travel, they had owned a number of business and had also farmed.
She was a very interesting lady. When I was leaving I impulsively leant forward and kissed her on the cheek, no ulterior motive, she was a nice lady and I liked her. We settled into a routine of my arriving at 9-30 every Friday morning, a two hour lesson, she was really interested in so much, then we would enjoy lunch together and chat at length about the world and life in general. Now at this time my wife was on an overseas trip and I must have mentioned this to Elaine.
One Sunday the phone rang. Elaine! Would I care to come over for "drinkies" at 4-00? I don't drink alcohol, which she knew so I knew the drinks would be non-alcoholic. I happily assented and arrived at the appointed time. Now I have no idea what prompted me to get the suspicion that more than a social afternoon might be on the agenda but I slipped a Viagra tablet into my jacket pocket.
Well, cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon and pate on little biscuits and a nice cool Lemon, lime and bitters and lots of conversation. An hour elapsed and I felt I should perhaps be politely leaving when she looked me in the eye and said "I want to tell you something. My husband and I were never very close in our later years, I have a strong desire to experience a good man in my bed before I die. I feel so embarrassed to tell you this but, would you come to bed with me."