"Have you screwed my Mum yet?"
"WHAT"
That "What" could have been followed by a row of asterisks, exclamation marks and various other punctuation marks, not to mention a selection of emojis, but the reader with normal sensitivities won't need them to imagine what the reaction would be from a man, laying beside his lover in post-coital bliss, if she posed that question. So how had Frank got to his current situation?
Frank Shipley was in his early twenties, an electronics engineer who had completed his first degree with first class honours and was now involved in a research project as he studied for a masters degree. When he had arrived at his new university he had been searching for accommodation and the lady who helped in the process had made a couple of phone calls and had made appointments for him to visit potential lodgings. The first that he had visited had been far from what he was searching, comprising a slightly grubby bedsit, one of several in an old house, run by a gentleman whose attitude made it clear that he could not expect anything other than the most basic of amenities.
The next was a very different proposition. He was viewing a pleasant detached house in a quiet part of the city, which had the advantage of being only a short walk from the university campus. When he rang the bell it was answered by a pleasant looking, middle aged woman, who looked at him enquiringly.
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
"Oh, I've been sent by the university about the room you have for let."
"Hang on, you're a man!"
"Well, yes, last time I checked I seemed to have predominantly male componentry."
"Sorry, I was expecting a young woman named Frances."
"Slight error, I'm Francis, generally known as Frank. Never mind, I'm not planning a sex change in the next few minutes, so I'll leave you in peace."
"No, sorry, I've been very rude. Come on in and have a cup of something while I phone the university and sort this out."
He followed her into the house where she offered him the choice of tea, coffee, beer or wine. He settled for tea, guessing correctly that choosing an alcoholic drink that early in the day would not win him any brownie points. She made the tea, then phoned the university which confirmed the misunderstanding and confirmed that Frank was a bona fide student searching lodgings and that they did not have any girls currently on their list.
"Look Francis generally known as Frank, I've not been taking in lodgers for long and, up to now, I've not been impressed with the two girls who have stayed here, so perhaps a man might not be such a bad idea. Are you reasonably house trained? Both girls seemed to live in a permanent pigsty, both in their own room and in my kitchen, which was not very pleasing."
"My mum cured me of being untidy. She came into my room while I was at school one day and every item of clothing that was on the floor she nailed down. I wasn't best pleased, but ever since then I've been meticulous about putting things away."
"I wish I'd thought of that with my daughter Louise. Anyway, come and have a look at what's on offer and we can both decide if it's right for us both. By the way, you know my name is Wright but I answer to Jane."
She showed him upstairs to the bedroom, which was big and had a TV and HiFi plus plenty of space for studying. It had attached a shower room and a small room with basic cooking facilities, a microwave and a hotplate. She explained that it had been intended to be used as a granny flat by her husband's mother, but she had died before she moved in.
"It's fabulous, but can I afford it?"
"Look, I'm only doing this because I'm lonely since my husband died, and I like to have someone else around the place. Not only that, but I love cooking and it's no fun without someone to cook for as well as myself."
She quoted him a ridiculously low price including meals and laundry, and he took about five seconds to decide to accept, and next day he moved in.
Over the next few months Frank realised how well he had fallen on his feet. Jane was the ideal landlady, more like a mother to him. Her cooking was to die for, and, as he was quite a competent cook himself, they spent quite a lot of time together in the kitchen. She liked throwing dinner parties for her friends and he would help her prepare the food and act as waiter for her. Although he had every facility he needed in his room, he spent most evenings downstairs in her company as, happily, they shared similar tastes in music and entertainment.
Then suddenly everything changed. He had been away for a few days on a visit to another research centre and, when he let himself into the house his usual cry of "I'm home, Jane" was answered by the appearance of a young woman. Not just any young woman, this one was a bit special.
"It can't be you, can it? Not that Louise? You can't be Jane's daughter?"
"And you can't really be Frank, can you? But I am that Louise and I guess you must really be the Frank I knew all those years ago. Talk about small world. I think I need a drink, how about you? Where does mum hide it these days? I need a G & T."
"Mine's a Scotch, and I'll get them as I do know where everything is kept."
So how did these two know each other? Several years before, Frank had gone to a youth camp in France, which comprised a collection of chalets in a wooded area where groups of young people spent a short holiday participating in various activities of a communal nature, nature walks, lake swimming, impromptu theatrical productions, folk dancing and so on. The groups attending were from schools all over Europe, mostly in their mid teens, and accompanied by masters or mistresses as appropriate supported by one or more senior pupils who, as 18 year olds, were old enough to assist in the supervision of the younger cohorts.
After a couple of days the group from Frank's boys school made friends with a group from another English school, this time all girls. The senior girl in this group was called Louise, and Frank was instantly attracted to her. She was a tall, attractive girl, not a raving beauty but very pleasant to look at and with a smile that lit her face up - and this smile was quickly turned on for Frank's benefit. She, too, had an instant attraction to this good looking and well built young man, and it really was a case of love at first sight.
Both of this couple had been educated in single sex schools and in well disciplined households, both were bright students and had been too preoccupied with the academic and sporting activities of their schools to bother too much with the opposite sex. Thus, this sudden awakening of both mental and physical attraction for each other was a bit overwhelming, and they struggled to cope with it. Their first kiss happened soon after they had met, when they had taken a walk together in the woods and, having stopped to listen to the birdsong, they turned and fell into each others' arms. It was a clumsy affair of clashing noses and banging of teeth, but instinct swiftly improved matters and they had soon got the hang of it. From that point on they couldn't bear to be apart, and they took every chance to be together so that they could thrill to the feel of bodies closely held together, and Louise became aware of Frank's arousal as she pulled him close to her.
Despite the physical attraction neither made any attempt to touch the other intimately. The nearest they came was when they were swimming together and they managed to find a secluded spot on the lakeside and they clung together, their wet bodies intertwining and Frank's hands roamed across her back and down to hold her firm buttocks. Before anything more enterprising took place they heard the sound of a boat approaching and they hurriedly broke apart, but the proximity of the two half naked bodies together had accentuated the unspoken need that they felt to go further.
All too soon the day came for the holiday to end. A farewell celebration had been arranged with a barbecue and music and dancing. No alcohol was allowed on the camp, but the staff had brought some in to celebrate the end of the visit, and the staff and senior pupils, who were at least 18 and legally old enough to drink, were able to imbibe a choice of wines and beer, plus some local eau de vie, distilled fruit liqueurs, which had a fairly dramatic kick. Neither Frank nor Louise had ever drunk more than a tiny amount of alcohol, and a couple of drinks had a dramatic effect on loosening their inhibitions. They slipped away while the party was in full swing and made their way into Louise's bedroom.
What followed was little short of a disaster. Together, in a clumsy, fumbling, incoherent way, they lost their virginity. For him it was a totally unsatisfying disappointment, nothing like the passionate, exciting happening he had fantasised about. For her it had been a painful, clumsy violation of her body, the combination of a dry vagina with a hymen that had taken considerable force to rupture had left her near to tears and regretting the whole business. They had only just separated when they heard the sound of the girls returning to the chalet, and Frank had had to quickly dress and leave by the window to avoid their being found together.
During the night there was a violent storm and the boys' chalet was flooded. By the time that everything had been tidied up and Frank could get away to go and say his farewells to Louise, the bus had arrived to take the girls to the airport and she was gone. A miserable ending to a love affair that had promised so much, and they hadn't even swapped addresses, in fact they didn't even know each others' surnames. Their schools were over a hundred miles apart, and neither felt like trying to make contact, so that was the end - till now.
Once they were settled with their drinks she explained that she was Jane's daughter, back for a few weeks from the university in France where she was studying. It transpired that Jane's elderly mother was ill and that she had gone to look after her, leaving Louise in charge of the house, and with instructions to look after Frank.
