I got a text from a friend on Thursday. He knew I was going to take my weekly Friday night walk the next day, and he had a suggestion. "Go to River Road -- it's a one-block-long street on the east side of town -- park there, walk to the end of the block, and take your walk along the riverbank." I looked up where River Road was, saw it was a seven-minute drive from my house, and decided, "why not?" So, after getting home from work on Friday, I showered, changed into shorts and a T-shirt (it advertised Big Johnson pool cues -- their slogan is "It's easy to sink your balls when you're shooting with a Big Johnson"), relaxed for a bit, then got in my car and drove to River Road. I parked, locked the car, and walked the block towards the riverbank.
As I was passing the last house on the right, the door opened and a very feminine voice called out, "Hello there, handsome."
I turned to look, and a woman was standing on the front step, right outside the open door. She gave me a smile. "Where are you going?"
"Out for a walk."
"Maybe you could get your exercise with me instead. In a way other than walking, if you know what I mean."
I was pretty sure I knew exactly what she meant. I approached her. She was a slim brunette, who (like me) was just past 30 years old, and she had wavy, shoulder-length hair. She was tall -- matching my five-foot-ten -- and had a small chest to match her trim frame. Like me, she was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. My short -- military-style buzzcut -- black hair went well with my permanently shaven face. I like to think of myself as "ruggedly handsome": I'm toned, but not a bodybuilder. As I got within a few steps, I saw that her T-shirt was backless and she appeared to have a set of thin, nearly transparent wings on her back, resembling those of an insect.
"I'm Jenny," she said, by way of introduction.
"Steve."
"Nice to meet you, Steve. Come on in and I'll show you around."
Jenny locked the front door behind us. The first room was the living room. It had her entertainment center and games/movies on one side (she had a PlayStation 5), and her computer on the other side.
"I work from home," she explained. "This way when I'm working, I'm facing away from the distractions."
Next was the kitchen/dining room. Jenny flapped her wings and fluttered up to the high ceiling.
"As you can see, they're real," she chuckled. "I'm a mosquito-woman. Our genes are different enough that we can't have children from sex with humans." She pointed to the large quantities of ripe fruit and jars of honey on the shelves and table. "Blood sustains me best, but I can survive indefinitely on these." She fluttered back down. The refrigerator was barren, but there were a couple of frozen meals in the freezer. "In case I get human guests who want something other than fruit and honey to eat."
After making quick pit stops, she took me into the bedroom. She quickly shucked her clothes, and I followed suit.