(Chapter 15)
"He Looked Familiar" (circa-1982)
When Brenda Morton entered a room her tits came first and the rest followed.
"Come inside," she invited, her words breathed in a soft seductive whisper, her eyes taking a quick tour over the smart young man old enough to be her son.
"I was expecting someone older," she said. "Please take that age thing as a compliment," she smiled, flashing dark brown eyes, her fingers playing with a waterfall of auburn hair, a swoop of waves falling over her shoulders in that 1940's Lauren Bacall style.
"Everyone looks so young these days," she said, as she guided him into the living room, swaying her hips in a graceful walk, a waist squeezing belt showing shapely curves, black seamed stockings growing from black heels, her arse a little on the plump side, mountainous breasts and a dangerous cleavage spilling out of a white silk blouse.
"My mother-in-law, Grace," she offered, casually pointing a finger at the frail old woman sitting in a wheelchair in a spacious conservatory at the rear of the house, the back of her head just visible above the top of the chair.
"She's eighty-six next month," she sighed, a hint of insincerity in her voice as she opened a door into the conservatory, her heels clicking on the ceramic floor tiles, fussing over her mother-in-law, adjusting her pillow, pulling a woollen blanket over her blue-veined hands and wiping traces of saliva from the corners of her mouth.
No movement. No reaction. No signs that she even knew they were there.
It was difficult to tell whether Grace was sleeping or if her life had already ended.
"The dining-room will give us some privacy to discuss the building proposals," she said, opening a door from the living-room, settling into comfortable chairs at a polished table, the bottle of wine and two glasses a little unexpected.
"I want to give my mother-in-law the privacy and dignity she deserves," she said, forcing a smile and pouring wine into two glasses, ignoring his protest for half a glass, brushing a tear from her eye and sweeping a whispery mass of hair from her face.
"We require a ground-floor extension at the rear of the house with provision for a bedroom and an accessible bathroom for a wheelchair user," she said, shifting her weight in the chair and pulling a piece of paper from a drawer.
"This is what we would like," she said, showing him a rough sketch of the proposed extension. "My husband thought it might help," she smiled, lifting her glass to her mouth, her breasts rising and falling with each sip of wine, nodding her head and flashing her eyes as she listened to his briefing on the design and building proposals and the procedures with the local authority for obtaining Planning Permission and Building Approval.
"It's going to take me about an hour to survey the house," he said, quickly refocusing his eyes when he realised he was talking to her tits, glancing at his watch and picking up his tape measure and file notes from the table.
"If you have no objection...Mrs Morton...I'll get started on the survey."
Draining the wine from her glass and giving his hand a gentle squeeze she spoke with the confidence and refinement of a TV newsreader. "I can see I'm in good hands," she said, in a soft melodious voice, playing absently with a silver pendant nestling in her cleavage.
"Please call me Brenda. And you must let me know if I can hold something for you."
A door from the kitchen led into a delightful landscaped garden at the rear of the house.
"Cigarette," she offered, interrupting his inspection of the drainage system, the brief interlude for a smoke giving him time to admire the beautiful arrangement of shrubs bordering a manicured lawn and a cluster of mature trees at the bottom of the garden.
"I'm afraid some of the shrubs will have to go," he sighed, stretching a tape measure across the ground and pointing a finger at the proposed building line.
"That's ok," she said, casually lifting her shoulders, pulling on her cigarette and fiddling with the buttons on her blouse, an impossible cleavage bubbling between two mountainous breasts, her smile mischievous and her voice laden with flirtatious innuendo.
"There's a particular bush that needs some special care and attention," she smiled, dropping her cigarette into a drain and walking back into the house.
A clipboard and a pen in one hand and his tape measure in the other, Brenda following quickly on his heels like a bothersome fly, a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other, her life story unfolding in his wake.
Stepping from the living-room and into a brightly lit entrance hall, a framed photograph of a man and woman on a small table next to an imposing grandfather clock caught his eye. There was no mistaking Brenda in the photograph. He presumed the man must have been her husband.
'He looked familiar,' he thought, pausing to study the photograph, scanning his memory files for familiar faces, trying to remember where he had seen him.
"I've got all the information I need," he confirmed, glancing at his watch and picking up his jacket and survey notes from the table. "If there's nothing more I'll..."
"There is," she interrupted, a persuasive hand guiding him back into the living-room.
"I can't let you go without giving you something to eat," she smiled, pointing a finger at a plate of sandwiches and a bottle of Pinot Grigio waiting on a coffee table.
"Come and sit down," she invited, patting a hand on the sofa, smiling into his eyes and pouring wine into glasses.
"Cheers," she toasted, raising her glass and handing him a cigarette. "Let's not talk business," she smiled, lighting her cigarette and picking a photograph album from the floor, shuffling up close on the sofa and resting her hand on his thigh.
"Okay," he answered, biting into a sandwich, mindful that she had no intention of removing her hand from his thigh, the intimacy and familiarity a little unexpected, the persuasion of movement meaningful and deliberate, letting him feel the heat of her breasts pushing against his arm, her body language seductive, her behaviour laden with persuasive suggestion.
"I'll not bore you with the wedding photographs," she said, skipping randomly over a dozen pages, cursing at some old photographs and laughing at others, pausing and smiling at a holiday photograph of her posing by a swimming pool, the promiscuous outfit of tight fitting white shorts and knee-length leather boots getting his attention.
"You look fantastic in those white shorts," he offered, the compliment boosting her ego, an overexcited hand pouring wine into glasses, her smile widening, her confidence growing.
"That was taken on my thirtieth-birthday," she said, counting back the years in her head, "Almost twenty-two years ago," she lied into her glass, turning quickly on the sofa, catching a glimpse of the promising bulge inside his pants, hiding the glint in her eyes behind a flirtatious smile, a sudden flash of memory breaking the nostalgic interlude.
"Wait a second," she blurted, flashing her eyes and pointing a finger in the air in that universal sign for, 'I've-just-had-a-thought.' "I think I've still got those white shorts in my bedroom wardrobe," she said proudly, jumping up from the sofa, taking his wine glass from his hand and pulling him to his feet, a skip in her step as she led him up the stairs.
"Turn around and close your eyes," she smiled, opening the wardrobe door, searching impatiently inside a drawer, breathing a deep sigh of relief when she found the white shorts. Kicking her heels across the floor and shuffling her feet, clothes riding up, buttons and zips coming undone, wriggling her hips and sliding her skirt to her feet, deep intakes of breaths and frustrated sighs joining a breathless commentary of undignified curses, a motioning hand on his shoulder and a whispered voice announcing that he could turn around.
"What do you think?" she asked, humming a tune inside her head, performing a theatrical pirouette in the full length mirror, twisting and turning with both hands on her hips, sucking in air and craning her neck, admiring her bottom in the reflection.