This story follows the sexual activities of Michael, a young university student in Melbourne, Australia. It stands alone but is enhanced if the reader starts with Part 1 which deals with the valuable educational intervention provided by his girlfriend's mother, while the second covers the consequential erotic couplings. The third reports the provocative behavior of Michael's younger sister.
Links are in my profile.
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"You remember, Bridie - the olive-skinned lady whose husband is in Afghanistan with Allie's father?" asked Michael's mother as she was preparing the evening meal. Thinking briefly, Michael recalled meeting her at the local supermarket on a couple of occasions when he was fulfilling his duty as his mother's bag carrier. An attractive, solidly built lady, she was probably around 30, at least 15 years younger than his mother. He seemed to remember that she had a couple of children at primary school, and worked part-time.
"What about her?'
"I met her this morning at the supermarket. She was complaining about the difficulty of getting a plumber to fix a leaking tap. I told her that it was the sort of handyman job you were good at. I think she's a bit lost with her husband away for such long periods, so I said I'd see if you can help. She lives a couple of blocks away in Station Street."
"OK, I can go round tomorrow morning before my midday class. Why don't you tell her I'll be there about 10."
No.36 Station Street proved to be a single fronted terrace house with a small garden area at the front given privacy by head-high brick walls on the three sides adjoining the front verandah. Michael unlatched the solid wooden front gate and walked towards the front door where the bell was prominently marked. Suddenly he felt himself tripping on a brick which was forced up and out of alignment by a tree root. Staggering forward he made an embarrassingly inelegant arrival at the front door, just saving himself from falling headlong. Simultaneously, Bridie, hearing his arrival, opened the door. He just saved himself from falling into her arms. Both were disconcerted, but Bridie recovered first.
"I'm so sorry about the path. I know it's a bit of a hazard, but we're so used to it, it doesn't bother us."
"No, it was my fault, I should have watched my feet."
Apologies concluded, she surprised Michael by leaning forward and kissed him on the cheek. Her thick dark hair had a pleasant smell which reminded him of cinnamon. Taking his arm she led him down the passage to the bathroom where a sink tap was dribbling, leaving a rust coloured stain. She was wearing a polo shirt and shorts, making her look like one of the short and solid international tennis players. Not really the type he preferred, thought Michael, but still pretty easy on the eye.
"I'll need to turn the water off, so where's the main?' She led him back to a corner of the front garden where the meter and main valve were installed. As he leaned down to turn off the tap he felt her pressing lightly against his side. It made him wonder if she was missing the companionship of another adult. Her manner was slightly flirtatious, more like a fellow student than one of his mother's friends. The master valve closed, they returned to the bathroom where she sat on the end of the bath while he replaced the tap washer. Michael felt vaguely uncomfortable as she seemed on the verge of invading his personal space.
She was obviously keen to talk and was interested to learn of his impression of university, explaining that as a girl from the country she never had seriously considered attending a university, in part because the nuns at her Catholic secondary school had made it plain that in their view the proper role for women was to work for a while until a suitable marriageable man came along. Raising children was the woman's prescribed role. They had imparted a strict moral code, which stressed the importance of keeping oneself nice. In their view boys were only interested in one thing - to get into girls' panties - so it was the responsibility of all properly brought up girls to keep control - kissing was acceptable, if you really liked the boy, but anything more risked the slippery slope to sin. Of course, some of the older girls said that you could let boys touch you as long as you kept all your clothes on, but they were generally considered a bit 'fast'.
When her husband, Russell, made it plain he was interested in her, she was flattered by his attention. Not only was he good looking, but he came from a well-off farming family. As the relationship became more passionate she found it increasingly hard to resist their mutual sexual urges.
"It wasn't a grand passion for me, but I was struggling to control my hormones. I couldn't help feeling that my body was desperate to have sex. As a Catholic, I knew sex outside marriage was a sin and anyway, if I gave in, everyone would know I'd become a cheap slut, so I agreed to marry him. In fact, it hasn't been too bad, the sex was pretty good, at least at first,and we have two great kids. He's a good father, but it is hard with him away on his overseas posting."
By this time Michael was wondering if he was listening to a replay of a 1990s daytime tell-all TV show excerpt, as Bridie's marital issues were not really his business. Fortunately Bridie, noticing he was finishing the job and packing up his tools, offered him a cup of tea. Sitting at the lounge room table, Michael could see a school photographs of her two children on the side desk beside the Dell computer. From their uniforms it was obvious that they were students at the same local primary school as he had attended many years earlier.
"How do your kids find North Fitzroy Primary?" Michael asked."I went there with my sister about 10 years ago." He explained that he had really enjoyed his time at the school. From Bridie's comments he was interested to learn that two of the teachers, whose efforts in retrospect he had really appreciated, were still teaching there.
When he had finished his tea Bridie invited him to see the rest of the house. In the main bedroom he was struck by the two Vladimir Tretchikoff prints which he recognised from a number of 1960s interior design books. One showed an inscrutable Chinese girl in a gold blouse, who had an indefinable air of eroticism, while the other was a dark haired woman with naked shoulders, and a come-hither look. He could see that both pictures were reflected in the mirrored doors of the built in wardrobe opposite. He imagined that for those in the double bed, the two ladies would appear looking down from both sides as interested observers of any romantic activities.
Seeing Michael studying the pictures Bridie explained, "Those are Michael's fantasy ladies. I think he would have preferred someone more exotic than me, but you have to take what you can get in a country town. I suspect the sight of them turns him on when he's feeling in the mood for sex." Michael sensed a feeling of disappointment, but didn't feel confident enough to make any comment.
Suddenly she took a deep breath as though she had made a serious decision. "Look," she blurted, " I need some advice!" Opening out the bottom drawer of the small chest of drawers on the left side of the double bed, she pulled out a tattered folder. " I found this when I was cleaning up some of Russell's old boxes. What should I do with it? It makes me sick to look at the pictures. Do you think Russell needs some psychological treatment?"
Taken aback by her vehemence, Michael opened the folder and leafed through it. To his surprise, it was full of erotic pictures, which ranged from from old sex magazine beaver shots, to couples or threesomes copulating, and with a few examples of tit-fucking and oral sex. There were also some entertaining cartoons, probably very risque at the time.
"These are pretty tame by today's standards," Michael said. "There's vastly more explicit stuff on the internet. Maybe 15 or 20 years' ago Russell and his mates used this to turn them on."
