The Restorative Man

"Yes you brilliant young man. Yes indeed."

The restructuring plan was adopted with few modifications. The insurance company fronted up with its increase in capital and Shane's bank completed its appraisal and provided the money he needed. Two months of preparations began and then, overnight, the business of Duncan Regional Freight Trucking Services was rebranded as Duncan Daily Trucking with adverts appearing and major users attending the official launching at a big cocktail party and dinner.

During the Shane's speech he introduced Todd to the gathering, describing Todd as "the driving force behind this major revamp and backed by the administrative and marketing skills of my very talented wife Maxine Duncan."

As Todd was leaving, saying goodnight to Shane and Maxine, Shane handed him an envelope

"It's a little something to reward you for performing above the bar young man. Maxine tells me we couldn't have aimed to complete this major reconstruction in one bite without your meticulous attention to detail in planning."

In his car Todd pulled out a tax-free bonus of $10,000, drawn on Shane's personal account. He sighed thinking he was about done with this company, believing he faced no further business challenge. Of course Shane could be after his head if it went all downhill thereon.

Two months later Maxine presented her financial reports to the management meeting and glowing in pleasure said the upturn in bottom-line profitability of 7.3% recorded in the previous month had been followed in the month just finished by a 9.1% lift in profitability on the previous month and a full 15% increase on the comparative month on the previous year.

"Yes guys," Shane grinned. "We have our heads well above water again. Last month our gross earnings were up 23% on the comparative month last year and the exiting thing is we have carved into the business of our competitors two months in a row because we are now perceived as the most modern logistics company in our region. Congratulations everyone."

Yes perceptions and how long did they last? Competitors would start looking for answers and counter-attack and then Shane would be faced with having to press for greater efficiency, beginning with tightening the business and cutting some jobs. Todd's study of the industry indicated the smaller operators were feeling the biggest squeeze and the trend was national rather than just regional. Time to leave. That afternoon he registered with an executive job search company and began studying vacancies advertised on-line.

The next day Maxine invited him to a restaurant for lunch on Sunday and said Shane would be away on a weekend hunting trip.

Oh hello, Todd thought. Madam has decided to reward him with sex although she'd told him some weeks ago she was no longer active as an adulteress. He had a problem with that: Maxine appeared to have lost her sexiness. However he decided to get a couple away with her because she would be unhappy if he turned down her 'sacrifice'.

Todd arrived at the house with a bottle of fine wine, flowers and carried three condoms in his top pocket thinking three would be ample for an ageing woman.

Maxine dressed neatly in white met him at the door. They kissed and he dragged a hand over her breast, only to have here whisper, "Christ Todd, don't." He pulled the offending hand away as if it were burnt.

Turning, Maxine looked across into the sunroom and said, "Todd Hamilton please meet my stepdaughter Stephanie Duncan. She prefers being called Steph."

A young woman who'd been reading a magazine and said hi listlessly.

At that moment Todd knew whom he was supposed to fuck. The stepdaughter looked an emotional mess...wan, shoulders slumped, hair only just brushed and wearing a defeated expression. He'd seen it so many times and the stepmom was aware of that and of his claim he'd brought women out of that type of depression.

"Hi Steph. You appear to have been hit by severe jet lag."

"Yes perhaps so."

"Have you flown in from Europe or perhaps Australia?"

"No my flight distance was 400 miles from where I had been living until..."

Her eyes filled with tears.

Todd turned to tell Maxine to attend to her distressed daughter but Maxine was nowhere to be seen.

Oh shit.

He crouched on his haunches beside Steph and palmed her fringe from her eyes.

"It's tough when this happens isn't it?"

She nodded and sniffed and said her mom had promised she wouldn't tell anyone.

"Your mother told me nothing but I recognize the symptoms. Your confidence has plummeted, you feel like shit and you are suffering from a pussy-related depression thinking the busted relationship probably means you'll never fuck again."

"Is that what is worrying me rather that my partner of two years John going for that whore who used to be my best friend?"

"You know it is?"

"Do I and ought you be talking on this level of intimacy with you when we've only just met?"

"Yes, your stepmom is aware of my growing reputation as The Rejuvenation Man. Are you aware sex can really turn on emotions?"

"God yes, I can sometimes be made to feel I'm crawling across the ceiling."

"Don't you think the opposite can apply?"

"What?"

"And that's what has happened to you. Think about it. In the meantime flip out a tit. You appear to have little beauties."

"Get away from me you animal. If you don't I'll scream for my stepmom."

"Ah excellent, your face is showing a bit of color and quite a bit of passion. In working together I think we have engineered a little switch on."

"My breasts are also tightening. Omigod, you are a doctor of something?"

"Nah, just your average guy who can't stop thinking about fucking babes and turning them on."

"Omigod."

"Yeah go to any guy and ask to be fucked and your lights will switch on again."

"Tom I mean Todd wait. I'll pull out a breast."

"Nah don't bother. I really can't be bothered with small tits until the woman has a big cunt."

"Todd I believe I have a big...er..."

"Say it!"

"I believe I have a big pussy."

"Oh really? Show it to me."

Todd had his head between Steph's thighs, licking her pussy, and she had both hands full of his hair and appeared to be attempting to pull his head into her when Maxine walked into the room saying it was very quiet.

"Omigod," she cried, taking in what was happening. She dropped the plate of cookies, the plate smashing, but managed to hold on to the jug of homemade lemonade.

"Oh hi," Steph called. "The Restorative Man is at work and he's very good. Have you tried him?"

"Stephanie, don't be so disgusting."

"Oh come on mom, um you don't mind if I call you mom do you? Stepmom is more of a mouthful than what Todd is getting right now."

But Todd was already pulling away, blushing and wiping his face on his sleeve.

"Maxine, I'm ever so sorry. Steph and I got talking and I just got carried away."

"Stop apologizing. Steph take him to your bedroom and finish off, take as long as you like. It's so wonderful that you're smiling again."

Lunch was finally served at 4:00. Steph was bubbling, Maxine kept staring at Todd shaking her head in awe and as for Todd, and he concentrated in fighting off sleep. Thirty-year old Steph had been his best fuck ever.

Seven weeks later, Shane and Maxine threw a farewell party for Todd. The restored Steph had returned home two weeks earlier after her former partner dropped Steph's best girlfriend and pleaded for Steph to return to him on her terms.

In small private conversations at the party Maxine had been surprised to find half of the women present admitted to her they'd been fucked by Todd. They all referred to him as The Restorative Man. Maxine lied yes he'd shafted her more times than she could remember and was pleased to receive so many jealous looks. But when Todd said no he couldn't stay for just one more day because he was to begin a tight schedule, Maxine began feeling depressed, knowing she'd let what must surely be one of the best fucks around slip through her fingers. She couldn't believe she could have been so stupid.

* * *

Todd arrived in England to take up a position at a smallish university in Southern England lecturing on American business systems. He'd been a regular guest lecturer on finance at a business school near where he'd been living in Pennsylvania but was required to attend a four-week assimilation course in London for foreign lecturers prior to the start of the new academic year.

He breezed through that spending some of his time as The Restorative Man with a lesbian suffering an unhappy relationship. Although she refused to have sex she responded to him and she introduced him to English social customs and social life so that when he went south to his semi-rural university had was very confident he'd cope.

On the second day in service, Todd spotted the face of a suffering young lecturer in the same department although he's discovered she worked in international business law.

"Coffee?"

"No thank you."

"So a guy dumped you and you feel so sorry for yourself wondering what is the matter with you?"

She flared. "Who told you that?"

"No one. You show the signs that's all. It's not rocket science."

"So you recall the face of the women you dumped in American."

"How did you guess I was American?"

"Well if you don't know..."

She caught his mocking grin. "Well I suppose coffee would be nice but don't think one coffee gets a pat of my butt."

"What would I have to do to earn that honor?"

She looked at him rather bemused. "For a guy you appear to have some substance."

"Oh come on misery face. You don't need to grovel."

She laughed and appeared quite surprised she'd accomplished that.

"Hold my hand," he said, as they walked to the café.

"Why?"

"Because a bit of male contact won't go amiss. Take my hand and one day you'll probably have sex again despite your feeling of current hopelessness."

"You are unbelievable."

"Well at least you've got that right."

When they were sipping coffee he said, "Trisha would you believe in my last city of residence I became know as The Restorative Man."

"I find that unbelievable."

"Answer this: how was I able to get you in here bringing coffee with me when your entire initial reaction was against it?"

"Well because... because..."

Todd could almost see her mind whirring.

"This is crazy; it's unbelievable."

"Hello Trisha. Am I beginning to see a little light switch on as your awareness about yourself begins to take a new direction?"

She trembled and Todd knew if he could hold her attention for the next fifteen minutes he would have hooked her.

Two days later it was Todd's turn to give his inaugural lecturer as a new lecturer on staff. For inaugurals, lecturers could speak about anything they wished and one of the most memorably ones delivered in the 127-year history of the teaching facility had been entitled, "Why Shouldn't You Say to the Waiter There's a Fly in My Soup?"

Usually a minimum of twenty students would turn up with about fifty being the maximum and not all stayed till the finish. The choice of topic appeared to be significant in attracting attendance.

Todd chose as his topic, "What's So Bad About Being Dumped? You Might Be Forever Grateful!"

Ten minutes before Todd was due to start speaking all the seats had been taken, with students and some staff standing around the sides so everyone was moved to a main lecture auditorium. News about that spread and students came running from common rooms, the library, the café and even the sports center.

Todd arrived and was horrified at finding no one in the lecture room. A harassed administrator arrived and said, "Mr Hamilton, I'm to introduce you. We have moved to a larger venue and it's packed."

Todd was every so pleased. He was unlikely to ever again attract such attention no matter how long he stayed at this university. This could establish his pecking order among similar grade colleagues.

He began, "Would any of you who have not had sex please leave because you are attending the wrong lecture."

There was an outburst of laughter and then amid the following embarrassing lull six guys got up and began leaving.

"Come on guys, back to your seats and stop bullshitting in the hope of winning greater recognition from females present."

The guys returned to their seats looking unabashed and the lecture was underway.

"The glues that holds longer-term sexual relationships together is mutual respect," Todd began. "If that emotional link is shaky or is damaged by words or actions that alarms the other partner, be aware that you have triggered your relationship into a downward spiral that might well prove impossible to avoid the disintegration of the relationship."

Most of his audiences leaned forward, gripped by what they were hearing.

"Today we live in a very sex-oriented society and swimming downstream like a disoriented sperm, parents tell young guys today to keep their zip done up and their daughters to never open their legs,"

"Period."

That produced some nervous laughter.

"Well bash your head against a concrete wall. Aren't those parental directives as valid as proclamations that the Earth is flat? Christ even a nymphomaniac must be left wondering what century she's in hearing her parents going on like that?"

"Let me tell you about this thirty-year-old I met in America. Her hair hadn't been combed for days, her mouth drooped, and her breasts drooped, her spirit lay somewhere between her knees and ankles. I didn't check but her ass cheeks may have been drooping even lower. This woman who had been dumped by her partners for her best friend had what I inexpertly call pussy depression. Her pussy is crying to her brain, "I will never be penetrated by a hot dick again. Never."

The audience was hushed and Todd has most of them, especially the females, hanging on to every word. Apparently they were not used to hearing anyone talking to them like this publicly. He went on to talk about how he set about rekindling the spirit of that woman who went on to resume exploiting her physical attributes again, that combining to restore her self-worth and desire to make things happen in her life.

Most of the audience stayed for the end of the lecture, timed by the convener to end at the traditional set time of thirty-three minutes. A number of people stayed behind to talk to him as a group and that ended with Todd aware that his immersion into campus life in this temple of learning had been achieved impressively.

Trisha complimented Todd on his achievement and two nights later slept with him for the first and only time. They remained friends however and he was pleased that a guy near her age found her and appeared to be keeping her happy.

A few weeks on a 'mid-term break' loomed and Trisha asked Todd what he had planned. She was heading north with her boyfriend to meet his parents.

"Would you like me to arrange something for you?"

Huh? He had no idea but Trisha persisted and set it up.

Towards the end of the final day of lectures before the break the town was already draining of students. Todd met Trisha as arranged. She introduced him to a woman in her mid-forties.

"Todd may I introduce you to Anthea Kingsland, my mother."

* * *

As they drove through woods called a forest on the British side of the highway called a road, Anthea said, "You may find me a little strange and that accounts for Trisha being a little strange."

"I find her a pleasure to associate with and your daughter has a mass of hidden charm Mrs Kingsland."

"Thank you Todd. I was told to expect an answer something like that. Since you will be seducing me, hopefully multiple times over coming days, don't you think it appropriate to call me Anthea?"

Even the possibility of a single seduction would have been a surprise to Todd. As they drove along in the noisy car of the 1960s that appeared to be Italian, Todd said, "Anthea."

"Good boy Todd."

Todd looked at her slim arms hanging relaxed from the steering wheel as she drove extremely competently and attempted to gain clarification. "Er your husband?"

"He is fifteen years my senior and is in Florence visiting his ailing mother for two weeks."

Well that took care of the husband. But what was her problem: she didn't appear to be drooping in lost self-esteem?

"We don't have all that far to go. I live in Yeovil in Somerset that is part of the South-western Country and is about 130 miles from London. Yeovil is called a market town although it has more than 40,000 residents. You may find it quaint and not a place that is humming. But this is England. If you wish we could visit the historic city of Bath which is only 24 miles from Yeovil and two other places of possible interest to you are Plymouth and my favorite place apart from the moors is Ilfracombe in Devon."

"I'm in your hands."

"Oooh don't over-excite me when I'm driving Todd."

They arrived at a delightful cottage with a wonderful flower garden, a setting fit to grace a postcard. "My husband who is an aviation computer expert and I choose to live modestly here and we also have modest homes in France and another on one of the Greek Islands."

"It looks beautiful. What is your occupancy?"

"I paint, mainly flowers and female nudes and sell most of my work. My daughter has the idea you might pose for me."

"Pose?"

"Don't worry. It was only a notion."

Inside the cottage there were examples of Anthea's paintings on the walls and he concluded without difficulty her type was semi-abstract with emphasis on form utilizing muted colors.

"I admire your expertise. Do you have a fairly recent self-portrait?"

"Why?"

"To see how you depict yourself."

"It's a conventional portrait."

"Oh in that case it could be too personal. It doesn't matter."

"Go upstairs to the loft which is my studio. Few people are invited up there. Oh put your bag in my bedroom if you wish to sleep with me otherwise chose Trisha's bedroom or the guestroom."

Undecided, Todd left his bag in the hallway.

The house was fairly tidy and he expecting to find the studio, out of sight, to be untidy but it was immaculate. There was a painting in process on the easel under a wrap. A number of paintings were stored on a rack but most of the slots were empty. There were only two illustrations on the walls: One that he recognized, a print of Renoir's 'A Girl With a Watering Can' and the other was Anthea's self-portrait, technically excellent as far as he could tell not being steeped in art. What he liked about it was she was standing straight on with her arms folded under her breasts and she was nude apart from a headscarf with the loose ends from the knot ending just above her left shoulder.

Todd liked the work immensely. It was titled incongruously, 'Lady in Waiting'.

Waiting for what? A husband to come home? God? A lover?

He liked the title.

The breasts were fairly small, the belly was rounded, there was no hair in sight below her shoulders and the thighs were still slender enough to leave a cute gap just below the pussy that was common among slender and usually younger women.

Anthea's eyes were hazel and Todd thought she'd painted them perfectly and he liked the fact that her slips were slightly open, showing just a flash of white from her teeth. He looked particularly at the hands and feet, knowing from school art all those years ago they were so difficult to get anywhere looking right but the hands and feet here just seemed to blend in well, indicating Anthea must have worked patiently on that aspect. She was depicted standing just beyond the front door of the cottage and had rendered that background sufficiently so that it didn't detract from his figure.

A great body for an old woman he thought and negotiating the steep stairs moved his bag into her bedroom before going out and exclaiming, "You self-portrait is brilliant to my uneducated eye. Just brilliant."