Everyone has to have their thing, right? The thing they can do that no one else can do - the thing that makes them unique. So I've discovered mine. Or maybe I should say it discovered me. I know this will seem strange but my "thing" is that I can somehow see into mirrors - see the past like I'm watching a movie. It's not like I can control it either - it just happens to me.
I'm not sure if I should tell anyone - I'm afraid I'll be labeled a freak or something, but I see so many things... I need to talk about them, but I can't, so I guess this is the best I can do.
It started rather late in life for me, soon after after my 30th birthday. I was at my friend Joe's house for a barbeque. We'd both had a few too many beers. That and the combination of the strong summer sun out in his backyard made me rather tipsy - and I badly needed to use the facilities, so I went in to find the bathroom.
Joe's house - ok well his parent's house - was pretty nice. He'd grown up in that house and, now due to a bad break was living at home (temporarily he kept reminding me). As I came back from the bathroom, I passed each of the bedrooms down the old hallway. So many times I'd slept over in this house - I kinda felt like I'd grown up here myself. I was reminiscing about the trouble Joe and I used to get into when movement in one of the bedrooms caught my eye. I stopped, frozen in my tracks.
Through the slightly open door to Joe's parent's bedroom, I could see clearly through to the mirror over the dresser. There, in the mirror, I could see Joe's parents in the bed. Well, on the bed actually. I blinked trying to clear my eyes - and my head. The afternoon sunlight filtered through the curtains playing lazy shadows across the bed, glinting through the cigarette smoke that floated around the room. I blinked again - wait - Joe's father quit smoking years ago. I sniffed quietly - but as smokey as the room was, I couldn't smell the stale tobacco smell that I remember so well from years ago.
And yet, there it was - dancing around in the sunlight like the fog that seemed to be gripping my overheated brain.
I took a step closer and peered into the mirror - careful not to make a noise to give myself away. There was Joe's father, Joe Sr. - looking very young I have to say - kneeling on the bed in front of Joe's mother, Claire. His father had on dress pants and a starched white shirt with a tie. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I wondered why he'd be wearing a tie.
"I don't think I've seen him wear a tie in years," I thought to myself.
But wait, Joe's father looked so young and, well, fit. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric of the white shirt. Joe's father looked deeply into a much younger version of Joe's mother's eyes, kneeling there in front of him. She was a knockout - I had to acknowledge with more than a bit of embarrassment - I mean she was sort of like a second mother to me. She had on a beautiful, if dated, yellow sundress. Her curly dark hair fell down to her shoulders.
Joe Sr. was reaching around Claire's narrow waist, running his broad hands up between her shoulder blades. The passion in his eyes was evident - not that his passion wasn't obvious elsewhere, too. I did a double take as I saw the massive bulge reaching up toward his beltline in his slacks. He leaned down and kissed Claire passionately - letting his lips lock into hers gently but insistently. She ran her hands up his chest, caressing his neck as their kiss continued.
She moved back a few inches - never breaking eye contact and slowly, but deliberately lifted her dress over her head. There she was, wearing an absurdly matronly bra and panties that should have made me laugh. But I wasn't laughing - I was too struck by the absolute beauty and perfection of her body. Her skin was so incredibly white and absolutely flawless.
Joe Sr. sighed deeply as he too took in the beauty before him.
"Don't talk," she whispered.
She moved closer and, having taken off his tie, began to unbutton his shirt - one button at a time. He stayed perfectly still, his hands at his sides as she pulled the shirt out of his pants and slid it down off of those broad shoulders. Then she pulled the bright white t-shirt over his head to reveal his tanned and very well-built chest.