Anyone viewing Judith Pritchard's life from the outside might have been forgiven for thinking she had nothing to complain about: a fine elegantly furnished house in a leafy suburb, with the almost obligatory swimming pool and three-car garage -- with cars of course. A husband, Magnus, who in his late forties was still a handsome man and obviously successful in business, although no one seemed to quite know what business, but it was usually reported to be "Something in the city."
Then there was their son Payton, a fine looking boy somewhat after the manner of his father. By the age of eighteen he had not once been brought home by the police because of some misdemeanour, and his parents had never been called to the police station because Payton was there for some more serious offence.
Payton had the added virtues of academic and sporting success at the expensive school his parents had sent him to.
Every Sunday morning Judith, Magnus and Payton could be seen driving away at ten thirty for the eleven o'clock church service and at two o'clock in the afternoon Judith would drive herself to the church again to take a Sunday school class.
Due to the success of Magnus' "something in the city" business, Judith had no need to work. In her early twenties she had graduated with distinction from the College of the Arts. The skills she had acquired at the college she now used to alleviate the ever looming boredom that threatened the leafy suburb women, who, like Judith, had husbands who brought home what once long ago would have been the bounty of the hunt. In short, Judith ran a few art classes for the local women. In addition she sometimes sold her own work, although the money was of no great matter.
As well as the art classes Judith was heavily engaged in worthy charitable work, being chairperson of this, president of that, and secretary of the other.
At the very personal level Judith had also been fortunate. Approaching her forties she was still a strikingly attractive woman. An oval face with a complexion that might be taken as a sun tan, but was in fact her natural colour; this suggested that somewhere in her past there was an ancestor with a dark complexion who came from warmer climes.
Who that ancestor might be nobody seemed to know, but whoever it was they had served Judith well. Her features were perfectly regular, her upper lip short, her lower lip full. Her eyes large, dark, with a slightly solemn look, with thick eyelashes; and her abundant hair hung like two black curtains from a centre parting.
Her figure was slender, and when seen in a bikini, long well-proportioned legs were on display, and as if in defiance of her slenderness her bikini top enclosed large beautifully formed breasts that in fact did not need the support of the top.
It might be asked, how such a woman could find any cause for discontent in such circumstances, and certainly Judith, Magnus and Payton gave the impression of being a women's magazine ideal family leading a comfortable life. That indeed was how those who knew them or lived close by saw them to be.
* * * * * * * *
It has been said that if, like some divinity, we could lift the roof off houses and peer in, we would find that the idyllic image that is on public display might not hold up under such scrutinizing godly inspection.
One is reminded of the serpent of temptation in the innocence of the Garden of Eden; the serpent that searched for the weakness in Eve; that weakness being the target for the serpent's enticement.
Such notional serpents can be found in every human environment and circumstance awaiting their chance to strike, even in the seemingly paradisaical conditions of the Pritchard family; and let us be frank, that serpent of temptation does not in fact exist outside us, but is within us. The temptations arise out of our needs and desires and are fulfilled, if at all, when the situation seems most favourable.
And so it was that Judith Pritchard was not the contented woman she presented to the outside world; but why was this so?
The reasons might be traced to a number of factors. The first of these related to a problem many women face as they approach middle life. Stated simply, her marriage of some twenty years had become a habit, and in many respects a boring habit. Put bluntly Magnus has lost interest in the more intimate side of their marriage.
Why Magnus no longer seemed interested in his attractive wife might have been because he sought his sexual gratification elsewhere; there are many men who seem to need this. He was after all good looking and financially well off, and this is frequently an attraction for young or even older women and a temptation for the man who is in that position. This however is purely conjectural, and his disinterest in Judith might have been some unacknowledged medical problem, or simply boredom with the same woman.
Stated another way, Judith was a woman with considerable sexual needs, which needs her husband no longer fulfilled. The original passion that among other things had produced Payton, had from Magnus' point of view, died. Sadly this is a situation that many women experience, and the question is, what to do about it?
One option is to seek a lover. This option often leads to complications and getting found out: the lover is seen arriving and leaving at regular intervals; the lover's car is seen parked where it is not expected to be; the neighbour who whispers in the husband's ear; the lover who wants more than an affair and eventually exposes his desire too openly, and even meeting a lover in a hotel or motel room does not guarantee that the couple will not be seen by someone who knows them.
Given her otherwise comfortable circumstances, getting found out was not a desirable outcome as far as Judith was concerned, since it might mean an end to her life-style.
Another option is masturbation, an option frequently adopted by sexually deprived women. This was the alternative Judith embraced. It did to some extent relieve her sexual frustration, but with its limitations it was for her not the "real thing" when compared to warm flesh and blood contact.
To continue my serpent imagery, it was at this point the serpent of temptation saw the weakness, but it also saw another weakness and opportunity, but at first it moved cautiously.
* * * * * * * *
This temptation was centred upon Judith and her son Payton. Always the fond -- some might say overly fond -- mother, as her husband's sexual interest in Judith faded she felt no longer loved by Magnus.
As an alternative Judith turned to the other object of her love, Payton. This alternative was well targeted. It was true that in his early teen years Payton had been rather embarrassed when his mother wanted to continue the hugs and kisses of his childhood days; but as the end of his teen years drew near and maturity took over, Payton not only came to accept his mother's desire for physical contact, but often actively sought it.
If it is thought that Payton's desire for physical contact with his mother derived from an absence of sexual activity in his life, then this must be immediately contradicted. Payton had gone through that fumbling adolescent time of sexual experimentation with girls, and had also been fortunate enough to have had a delightful affair with an older woman whose husband was an international representative for a large company, and as a consequence was often away from home.
The affair came to an end when the husband was promoted and was no longer travelling the world. The liaison had, however, been a learning experience for Payton during which he was taught how to satisfy a woman sexually.
It was an experience that he could not have gained if his sexual partners had been limited to girls of his own age. This of course raises the question whether all young men should be introduced into their sex lives by older women, but this issue must be left aside as we pursue the events that took place in the lives of Judith, Payton and Magnus, and of course our imagined serpent.
To be clear then; that Payton did not accept his mother's affectionate advances, nor did he seek that physical contact because he was sexually starved, it can therefore be said that he had a genuine love for his mother, and this found its outlet in their physical closeness.
As Judith increasingly experienced sexual deprivation, and the more she felt unloved by Magnus, the more she turned to Payton for the affection she needed. What the initial sexual content of this was is difficult to say, but in almost every male/female relationship there is a sexual content, either by attraction, aversion, or perhaps eventually a neutral stance. It should be added that in gay relationships similar constraints apply.
What Judith came to see was that Payton was attracted to her, but she was sophisticated enough to know that this attraction often exists in a mother and son relationships, and is usually a passing phase in the development of the son.
Taking into account that Judith was approaching the dreaded forties, a time when women question their looks and their ability to attract a male, then to have a man almost half her age attracted to her gave her a much needed ego boost, even if it was her son.
As Judith would now be the first to admit, she played on Payton's attraction to her, but at the time there seemed to be no harm in this. After all why shouldn't a son find his mother attractive, and for that matter why shouldn't a mother find her son appealing? It was with this realisation that Judith felt free to seek even more frequent physical contact with her son. This, perhaps, was the thin end of the serpent wedge.
When she hugged Payton she could often feel his hard manhood pressed against her, and her vagina became uncomfortably wet as it prepared for penetration; kisses lingered longer, and sometimes she briefly agitated her pubis over Payton's hard and seemingly substantial manhood.
Judith in her need both enjoyed and was frustrated by these contacts with Payton, but went out of her way to try and extend them, but in ways that she hoped seemed risk-free.
For example, from his childhood mother and son had often swum together in the pool, and afterwards lain side by side on air mattresses, with Judith clad only in a bikini and Payton in rather brief swimming shorts. Nothing was different now, except that she noticed Payton paying increasing attention to her, her breasts in particular. For her part Judith could not but help see Payton's substantial erections that seemed to be inspired by her.
Still nothing might have come of this because as part of her psyche Judith had a fixed idea about incest and its powerful taboo, and she could never imagine a situation in which she might conquer this taboo, unless of course Payton tried to rape her, in which case she might...but no, that was not to be contemplated.
