I've always been hung up on the female posterior. As a young man I'd delight in those moments in department stores, subway stations, or anywhere that had an attractive woman ascending a staircase or escalator, when I could get a nice view of a good pair of buttocks encased in slacks, jeans, or better yet: a skirt.
I wasn't rude about it, mind you. Admiring is more the term I'd use, not drooling. Still, as I moved past the loss of my virginity and on toward acquiring girlfriends and then a wife, my biggest turn-on remained viewing the well-formed backsides of women. There's just something that takes my breath away when a lover turns to reveal her skirt or panties or slacks slipping down over her smooth, rounded cheeks. To me it's the perfect combination of artistic beauty and raw, steamy sex.
An Italian-American woman who lived across the hall from me when I had my first apartment comes to mind, for the great favors she did. Aside from taking pity on my poor dietary habits and inviting me over for a home cooked meal several times, this 30-something divorcee loved to have long conversations about cinema with me, once she learned that I was majoring in the subject at college.
I loved her smile and her friendly manners, her food and her classy chassis. Oh, and her earthy smell. She was more like a sexy aunt than a next-door neighbor.
How it came about that she became an unforgettable person to me is the night we were watching her little black-and-white Sony TV on the kitchen table. It was late on a weeknight, she was in her bathrobe, I had just gulped down about a quart of capellini with clam sauce and two or three glasses of chianti. We were discussing the movie that was being shown on the PBS station, the Italian film "Bitter Rice". Mostly, we were complaining about the poor dubbing.
Now, if you've ever seen this socio-political classic with a love story plot, you'll know that Silvana Mangano is a major reason for any ass man to take notice. She had maybe the best caboose ever seen in a 1950's movie house.
I made an allusion to that very fact while we watched, a remark that amused my neighbor (whom I'll call Sophia, for the purpose of this story) immensely.
"So, exactly how many women's rear ends have you admired, Stephen?", she grinned. "Being all of, what, 20 years old?"
"Seems like thousands", I boldly fired back, feeling the wine kicking in. We'd never talked about man-woman stuff, but I'd had so many talks with this worldly woman that by now I never worried that I might say something wrong. We were, as I say, on friendly terms.
"Thousands, you say. Marone, is sex all you boys ever think about?" The twinkle in her eye and mischievous smile made me blush and laugh sheepishly at the same time. I almost told her about sneaking peeks at her own frame more than a few times as she walked up the two flights of stairs in our building, but thought better of it.
"Everyone needs a hobby", I said.
We fell quiet for a few minutes and watched the movie. Sophia opened a second bottle of wine and gave us both some. Maybe I was imagining things, but it seemed like she stood more closely to me as she poured than she had earlier. I remember her neck looked a bit flushed as she bent.
At a particular point in the film Mangano's derriere was framed a little obviously by the cinematographer. The movie always has had its detractors for its exploitation element, but to me that's a plus. I gave out with a low whistle, which broke us both up, and from that point on we pretty much lost interest in trying to follow the flick, falling instead naturally into conversation while we finished up the salad.
The subject got around to our experience with lovers, Sophia describing how she was popular as a teenager and then her two marriages. Never one to be morose, she dismissed the divorces as inevitable, chalking them up to her own stubbornness in what she wanted from men.
"A man's gotta have a career, a feeling for some work that he wants to do for his life, don't you think?", she asked. "That was the problem with both of them -- they didn't know what they wanted. Restless men. We grew apart because I lost respect for their drifting. Ah, what am I complaining for, there'll be somebody for me yet. You think I have a chance?"
"Why not?", I replied truthfully. "You're a great talker and a great looker."
"Thanks", she said with a charming look of appreciation. "How about you? Marriage? Adventure? What kind of woman for you? I mean, when you graduate."
I filled Sophia in briefly about my short but somewhat satisfactory love life and my hopes, ending with my belief that I'd find the right girl and have a couple of kids and a house. "Nothing radical for me, I guess. Just a nice woman who can put up with me."
"But", she said slyly, "she's must have a shapely ass, right?"
"That, too", I agreed with a smile. "I guess it's just my weakness."