I was thrilled at the prospect of being hired as an assistant professor of English at the small New England college where I had first gone on a scholarship as a freshman. I had been drafted into the peacetime army right after college and had traveled around the world some before enrolling in graduate school at Columbia University in New York City. I finally came out of it with a master's in literature and composition.
All of my graduate work had been good, and the dean of the New England college seemed to be delighted to have me back.
But as an assistant professor, the pay was not that great, so I had to look around for a relatively cheap place to live—and a place that was close to the campus, since I did not have a car.
Luckily, the college maintained a housing bulletin board for both students and teachers, and that's where I saw the typed card:
Single room available for teacher or professor. Near campus. Charming older home. Use of all home facilities, including kitchen. $400 a month.
The phone number was included of course, and the place seemed ideal, so I gave the number a call.
It turned out the house belonged to a Ms. Jane Witherspoon, who told me that her husband had died of colon cancer the year before, so this was the first time she was renting out a room. The only other two occupants of the house were herself and her 18-year-old daughter Tiffany, who was a senior in high school. It all sounded good, so I made an appointment to look at it.
Ms. Witherspoon was about 45, red-haired and looked like she had once been quite attractive but now was a little on the plump side. She said she now had to work during the day as a checker at the local supermarket. The house was on a nice tree-lined street near the campus.
She showed me the bedroom, which was upstairs. It was large and beautifully furnished, with three windows and a lovely leather easy chair. "I moved my bedroom downstairs after my husband's death because my knees are not so good," she said "So you room would be directly across from my daughter Tiffany's room, and there's a lovely bathroom at the end of the hall. You'll have to share the bathroom with Tiff, I'm afraid, but not at the same time of course," she added with a laugh. Little was she—or I—to know.
"This is ideal," I said. "I'll take it."
"Fine. Oh, here's Tiffany." She turned as she heard her daughter coming up the steps, apparently just home from school.
"Tiff, this is Mr. Baxter, an assistant professor at the college. He thinks he may take the room."
Tiffany smiled and held out her hand. "Hi!" I took it. My God, I thought, what a knockout. She was an extremely attractive young lady, about five-foot-four 105 pounds, with reddish-blonde hair—what they used to call a "strawberry blonde." She also had a very pretty face and sparking green eyes.
"It will be lovely to have a professor from the college living here," Ms. Witherspoon said. "I'm sure Tiff will pester you with questions about her homework, but you can ignore her."
"Okay." I smiled at Tiff, and she smiled back.
I soon found out that I could not ignore Tiffany, and what developed between us happened so quickly and with such daily regularity that after the first day, I began to keep a log of it. Here is the log:
First day after moving in: Like most people in the academic field, I enjoyed a lot of reading. So when I came back to the room after work, I poured myself a drink of bourbon and water, sat in the easy chair in my room with a good book and read for a couple of hours. But since I didn't like the feeling of being confined, I usually left the door open. Tiffany, when she came home from school, apparently took this as an invitation for conversation, especially since her mother did not come home from work until after five.
"Hi!" she said as she passed by my door and entered her room.
"Hi." Her mother had told me that Tiffany was a member of the high school cheerleading team, and she had come home in her uniform of blue and gold.
She walked back into my room. "As you've already discovered, we don't have air conditioning in this house, so around this time of year, the upstairs gets a little stuffy in the afternoon. It's a good idea to have your window and your door open, and that's why I leave my door open. I'll try not to disturb you."
"Fine by me," I said. Little did I know just how disturbing I was going to find her.
She smiled and went back into her room. Her closet was on one side of the room, and her dresser was on the other side. So I couldn't help but notice when she crossed back and forth: the first time minus the blue and gold sweater but wearing a white bra and of course the skirt; the second time, minus the blue and gold pleated skirt but wearing the bra and skimpy white bikini panties; the third time minus the bra and panties.
Did she think I was not looking or something? Was she really that naïve? I got my answer when her little hand stuck out from the edge of the door and waved.
Second day:
Ms. Witherspoon had to be to work at eight, so she had already left that morning. Tiffany was supposed to be at school by eight, but apparently had slept late. I did not have to be in until nine or later, so I was taking a shower when there was a knock on the frosted glass door. I turned. It was Tiffany, in a white terrycloth bathrobe. Concealing myself as best as I could, I opened the door a little.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I got up late, and I'm going to be late for school. I have to take a shower."
"Can't it wait?"
"No, let me in with you. It won't take a minute."
Apparently, I didn't have a choice. She untied the robe and let it drop, then she opened in the door and stepped in. I caught just a glimpse of her little reddish muff before she turned her back to me.
"Can you wash my back?" she asked, handing me the bar of soap, "I can't reach it."
Still dumbfounded, I did what she asked.
"And my bottom," she said.
So I did that as well—lingering with it as much as I dared.
Finally she turned. "Thanks," she said with a mischievous smile. Then she got out of the shower, picked up her robe and trotted off to her room.
Well, this was a fine way to start the day, I thought looking down. I'll be lucky to get my pants on at all.
Third day:
Perhaps now you're beginning to get an idea of the déjà vu book I had mentioned at the beginning. The only blessing about this was that little Tiff was of legal age. She might have been eighteen, but she didn't really look more than fifteen.
"Don't you ever get bored with reading?" she asked that day as she sauntered into my room.
I looked up. "No, not if it's a good book."
"What are you drinking?" She brazenly picked up my glass of bourbon and took a sip. "Whiskey."
Apparently she was no stranger to liquor, since she did not make a face at it. "Bourbon," I said, "and I think you're below the legal drinking age."
"I'm at home, so it doesn't matter."
"You look bored," I said.
"I am bored. There's nothing to do, except talk to you."
"Gee, I'm sorry for that. Do you play chess?"
"No."
"If you would like to learn, I could teach you. I think I would enjoy playing chess with you."
"Is it like strip poker? I've played that."
"No, it is NOT like strip poker." I could tell she was playing with me.
"It sounds like too much trouble. When I get really bored, I just masturbate."
Now that got my attention. "You just masturbate."
"Yes, I'm very good at it. I can have an orgasm in ten minutes or less."