For J.S. You were a great landlady, and much more.
I didn't recognize the email address, but the "re" line caught my eye.
"Your name came up when my mother and I were talking last night."
I was pretty sure, before even opening it, that I knew who wrote it.
It started on a snowy Saturday morning in mid-October, my third year in college. My dormitory roommates the first couple of years were a bad match, and so by my third year I moved off campus, renting a bedroom in a small, tidy, suburban house a few blocks away from the College.
The snow that fell that Saturday morning had been predicted for days, the first for the season. Saturday was the one morning each week when I wasn't working or in class, and I was looking forward to sleeping in as the snow fell.
I awoke that morning under a thick comforter, and as I lay in bed wondered if I might be able to hear the snow falling. As I tried to focus my hearing there was a soft knock on my bedroom door, startling me - it had been so quiet. I had thought the house was empty.
I sat up against the headboard. "Come in."
The door cracked open. It was the landlady.
She was a divorced high school teacher, active in the local theatre, and who had a bit of a drinking problem, something I'd notice when I saw her add a shot or two of vodka to her morning orange juice. She rented out the two extra bedrooms in her house to supplement her modest teacher's salary and the alimony, which was often late.
"Sorry to wake you. I was wondering - instead of the yard this winter, would you want to shovel the snow - for the same discount?"
When I took the room she had knocked $15 a month off the rent if I agreed to cut the grass and rake the leaves one a week. That arrangement helped a lot since I was close to broke all the time.
"Ummm, yeah, sure." I was still a bit groggy from waking up. "But what if it doesn't snow?"
"Well, it's snowing now, that's for sure, and if it doesn't snow - or snows five times - it will be the same, if that's OK with you. No reason for us to make this an accounting project." She smiled. I had once mentioned to her that I absolutely hated my accounting classes.
I thought about it a minute, but the decision was easy. $15 bucks was $15 bucks.
"It is really coming down, you should wait to shovel" she said as she looked out the window, through the partially closed curtains. She came into the room and pushed the curtains back.
She was right, there was about an inch and a half on the pine tree outside the window.
She turned to me casually. "How's school going? Mind if I ask? You seem to be busy, and I hope all that work is paying off."
"Yeah, there is a lot to do, and with my job I don't have time for much else, but I really appreciate being able to live here. You know, the house and room, it is really nice - quiet, and all, and I really appreciate having kitchen privileges - helps with my expenses being able to cook and stuff. Do I clean up OK after I cook?"
She took a step closer. "That's fine, but now that you are asking, there is one thing I wanted to speak to you about." I felt my stomach flop, thinking that I might have broken some house rule.
"Mind if I sit?" she asked, and gestured to the bed.
"No, of course." I scooted over a bit towards the wall to make room for her.
"Are you getting along with our other tenant, Simon?"
Simon was a "townie." His parents had thrown him out when he told them he was gay, and he met the landlady through the local theatre group. He was the assistant manager of a restaurant in town and worked long, long hours.
"Yeah, no problem. We don't see each other much - our schedules and all. I'm really sorry, did he say there as a problem between us?"
"No, no, no, not at all. I just want to make sure everyone is getting along. And Diane?"
Diane was the landlady's daughter, who had the other bedroom. She was 19, attending the Community College in town, and working at the mall.
"Yeah, we get along fine. I mean, I don't see too much of her either, you know, being so busy myself."
"She's a pretty girl, don't you think?"
"Oh yes. Very. Your daughter is very pretty."
"Good, glad to see everyone is getting along. I think I told you, I teach high school. You know that, right?" I nodded, and she casually put her hand on my thigh.
"And I know about boys your age."
I wasn't sure where this was going, but all of sudden I became very aware of how close she was to me. I could smell her perfume, or shampoo, or something, like maybe she had just come from the shower, or bathroom, even though she was in a nightgown, with some kind of robe or something over it.
"You know what we say in the teacher's lounge? When we are on break and trying to find the patience we need to keep teaching?"
I shook my head no.
"We say you all have dick brain. That from about the age of oh, 14 until, well, forever, but certainly for the next 15 years, all you boys have 'dick brain'."
Her hand was still on my thigh, and she was now tracing little circles on top of the comforter on my thigh.
"The thing is," she said, "I have big plans for Diane. She's at Community College to get started, but she's going to marry a doctor, or a lawyer, and get out of this dying steel town - and I'll go with her. And your major is what again, remind me? Pre-med? Pre-law?"
"Ummm, no, English with a minor in Business." She started to stroke my thigh over the comforter, slowly, but firmly. I couldn't help myself - I looked down at her breasts, and noticed that I could see her cleavage and half of one of her breasts, looking plump and soft.
"See, that's what I mean. Dick brain. You were just looking at my boobs, weren't you."
"Well, I'm sorry, no, I mean yes - I didn't mean anything by it."
"I know. You can't help yourself, like all men. So here's the thing we need to talk about."
She leaned towards me, and her nightgown shifted to reveal more of her breasts. I was wondering if I could see her nipples, though I didn't dare look down. But it was about all I could think of, other than that she was stroking my thigh a bit harder, and between her warmth, her fragrance, her breasts, and my normal tendency towards casual morning erections, I felt my cock growing.
"An 'English-Business' major or whatever. If you're lucky you're going to end up at a newspaper with ink stains on your shirts, or teaching Shakespeare to 10