The soft trill of the bedside telephone startles me awake. I roll over and blearily un-dim the time display on the clock radio. Jesus! 12.10am! Who on earth�
The âphone is still ringing. I pick up the handset.
âHelloâŠ?â I say warily. I never give my name. A woman living by herself is always vulnerable.
There is no response from the other end, just the light sound of someone breathing.
A cold chill invades my stomach. âHello⊠Is anybody there?â I say more stridently, hoping that the rising tide of panic does not show up in my voice.
This could be one of those dorks in my class at College fooling around. I am beginning to get angry now. âLook, Iâm going to put the âphone down! And if you call back again, you will have to deal with my husband!â
The male voice on the other end of the line is pitched very low. âFleur, itâs meâŠâ
âDaddyâŠ?â
âYesâŠsorry if I scared you honey. I couldnât sleep and rang you on an impulse. Then, when I heard you answer, I felt kind of stupidâŠâ
âAre you okay? Is everything all right?â
âYes, Iâm fineâŠâ
âIs it Mum? Is there something wrong with her?â
âNo, donât worry, she is fine as wellâŠfast asleep in factâŠâ
âSnoring?â
âIâm afraid soâŠâ
My motherâs menopause arrived unusually early and with it a glandular disorder that saw her shoot from a petite size ten to a bloated caricature who is hardly able to walk; all in the space of about six months. Poor Mum can only sleep on her back, which causes her to snore loud enough to wake the dead. Dad has taken to sleeping in the lounge of our two-bedroom house as a result.
âAre you downstairs?â
âUmmm, noâŠI hope you donât mind⊠Iâm in your room⊠Thatâs why I neededâŠit smells so much of youâŠyour perfume that isâŠwhatâs it called again?â
A small shiver of pleasure ripples through me that you are calling me from my room at home.
âCome on, Daddy! You know full well what perfume it is! You buy it for me after all!â
It is a little joke you and I endlessly tease each other with; one of many that makes Mum complain, âYou two have a little secret society going!â
âOh, okay thenâŠâ
I can hear the pleased laughter in your voice. The perfume is Revlonâs âCharlieâ. Significant, because your first name is Charlie â to me alone. To everybody else in the world you are âCharlesâ. If anyone dares to transgress, the icy stare from your bright blue eyes will freeze their bones to the marrow. You once frightened Mumâs brother Clem with it so much one day when he and Auntie Jane came over for a barbecue, he fled to the bathroom and threw up.
âSo, what are you doing in my room?â
âJust visitingâŠâ
âJust standing thereâŠor sitting down?â
âA little bit more than sittingâŠâ
Another small thrill of excitement surges through me at the thought that you may be stretched out on my bed. I know that you sleep in a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else.
âLying down then?â
âYesâŠI guess you could say that⊠And howâs my little girl getting on at The Big University? Is she looking after herself properly?â
âOf course Iâm looking after myself, Daddy! And my studies are going well.â
âThatâs good. Quite the social life I suppose, with lots of boyfriends?â
âNot really, Daddy, and no, not lots of boyfriendsâŠâ
My socialising with the other students is just about zilch. I am so glad I donât have to stay in the Halls of Residence! I find most of the other girls in my freshman year to be a bunch of silly ninnies. And the guys are all beer swilling morons with whatever brains they may have, dangling between their legs. You and Mum scrimped and saved for many years to get me here so I can study for my Earth Sciences degree, and you are covering the rent for the tiny two-room apartment I am in now as well. So what if the others think I am stuck-up? I am here to work hard and repay you both for the sacrifices you have made to get me a good education.
I finish, ââŠnot even one boyfriend.â
âNot even one! I find that very hard to believeâŠa lovely girl like youâŠâ
âWould you like me to be going out with lots of guys then?â
You are silent for what seems like a long time. At last you mutter, âNoâŠnot at all.â
Warmth stirs in my belly.
I am curious about your situation there. I ask you: âSo you are laid out on my bedâŠis the light on?â
âJust the little lamp by the side of the bedâŠwhen did you put the pink bulb in it? And, ahem, I am not exactly âlaid outâ on your bedâŠâ
I donât have to guess. You are under the covers; inside the snug cocoon where I spent so many nights as a young girl and teenager, with my fingers exploring the slippery wetness while I imaginedâŠdaydreamedâŠ
âAndâŠ?â
You chuckle softly; âYour entire collection of teddy bears is looking at me accusingly for being hereâŠâ
The warm glow in my belly bursts into a hot flame. You have always had that effect on me, for as long as I can remember.
I take a deep breath. My heart beats rapidly in my chest. My nipples tingle.
âAndâŠ?â
âItâs a very warm nightâŠâ
I can hardly say the words. My voice comes out as a high-pitched squeak, âNothing at all?â
âAbsolutely nothingâŠâ
You are lying naked in my bed. You simply have to have an erection! I must share this with you! I drop the handset onto the counterpane beside me whilst I struggle frantically out of my PJs and then my panties. Nude at last, I kick the covers to the foot of the bed, tipping the handset onto the floor in the process. I scrabble around in the dim light and eventually find it hiding right underneath the bed. My breathing comes in ragged gasps as I bring it back to my lips.
âAre you still there?â
âOf course! What was all that about?â
âI am the same as youâŠâ
âOh gosh! I wish I could see youâŠâ
âYou will have to imagineâŠwhat I am doing nowâŠâ My thighs fall apart of their own accord. Their soft inner flesh gleams palely in the faint glow from the clock radio.
âTell me you are opening your legsâŠâ
âMy legs are openâŠâ
âI have always wanted to see you like that, you must be so beautifulâŠâ
I feel moisture leak from my sex and slide slowly down between my buttocks.
âYou remember what my figure looks like that well?â
âYou have only been away a couple of months. Besides, I am cheatingâŠI have the photographs from the boat here with meâŠof you in your swimming costumes and bikinisâŠall of them, right from whenâŠâ
You inherited the old clinker-built, yawl-rigged, two-berth sailing yacht from Granddad when he died. Mum hates the water, but you and I love it. We spent hours alone together, sailing and fishingâŠwell, you would fish while I sunbathed.
My fingers trail down over my trembling belly and find the springy curls of my bush. The trickle between my thighs is now a small flood. I twirl my hairs in my fingertips.
âDaddyâŠhave you always wanted to look at me with no clothes on?â
âAlwaysâŠâ