A Neighborly Affair - 001

A Neighborly Affair

1

We thought we had the world by the tail. I am Jack. I'm 58 years old, and, officially, I am retired. Unofficially, I run a small contracting business to keep myself busy and bring in a little extra spending money. Not that we need it, you understand. We planned well, worked hard, saved smartly, and now enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.

"You see, I worked as a professional firefighter for a large metropolitan fire department for 30 years. I did well, progressed up the ranks, and retired as a battalion chief. It's a good gig for a kid with two years of college. My brother, also a firefighter in the same department, ran construction crews, mostly doing house framing for a local builder. It was a good gig. We worked different shifts, so there was always one of us on the job site to manage things."

My wife is an accountant. I met her in college just before the university asked me to leave because I didn't "have the necessary focus and self-control" to make a good student. They meant I partied all night, slept through class, and generally was a piece of shit. Anyway, we met at a frat party, and six months later, we were married, and she was pregnant. I went to work at the fire department, and she finished her degree despite my bad influences and having a kid. She landed a job with a large accounting firm and eventually got a partnership.

We had two more kids over the years. My wife's accounting skills and my knack for being in the right place at the right time allowed us to have a comfortable life while growing a considerable nest egg over the years. When I retired a couple of years ago, that nest egg was well over seven figures.

With my fire department pension, her partnership in the accounting firm, and our savings and investments, we were set for life. Or so we thought.

One of our investments was this house. I got the lot from the home builder I worked for who built this development. He gave it to me for less than half of what it was worth as a bonus for completing a few projects on time and under budget. I used my contacts to piece together the construction of the house on a budget. We didn't have the money to buy into this exclusive development otherwise. But we managed it, and now the house is paid off. Conservatively, it is worth 1.3 million on the market.

The house is #4 Peyton Place. No Shit. We live in Peyton Place. I didn't think much of it when we were building the house. We were the first to move in and watched the neighborhood develop as the builder finished the project. Let me explain. THe development is huge, with several hundred houses. Each set of houses clusters around a small semi-circular bump out from the main road. Seven houses per bump out. The entire neighborhood sits around a vast, curving road that runs through the project. The bump-outs scatter along this road, with wild, undeveloped areas separating the bump-outs. It's like living in a very upscale neighborhood with a rural flavor. There is a clubhouse with a pool, spa, tennis courts, and a private club for the residents. Scattered around are parks, bike trails, and hiking trails. I think you get the picture. We were living the high life. Then, our new neighbors started moving in.

The first couple to move in were Matt and Kitty. They bought #8. Like us, they were retired and seemed like a nice pair when we first met them. We had them over for dinner a couple of times. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Ted and Alice were the subsequent new additions to the neighborhood. Their house was #2 Peyton Place. Ted and Alice were almost 15 years younger than us. He had made a quick killing in the digital currency markets.

The third house to see new occupants was #5, next to us. Fred and Wilma moved in from out of state. Fred worked for a large banking conglomerate and was transferred here as the local bank's president. Wilma didn't work, so she was home most of the time. Fred was about my age, Wilma was probably 20 years younger, and what I took to be a trophy wife. Fred was a short, fat, balding guy. My experience told me that it wasn't his looks that attracted the tall, redheaded beauty but his wallet.

It was almost a year before the next house sold. We were soon to meet Bob and Carol. I was beginning to see a rather coincidental trend here. Have you seen it yet? The characters from those old TV shows, like the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and so on, were moving into the neighborhood. Anyway, Bob was a physician. He didn't spend much time in an office or a clinic as a radiologist. He mainly worked at home. Carol kept busy as a visiting nurse.

#3 and # 7 sold a few months later at almost the same time. Our new neighbors came from different states, both coming to take new jobs. In #3, we met Barney and Betty. Yeah. I'm not making this shit up. Barney owned a paving company and was expanding his operation into this area. I should have known something was up when Kent and Lois showed up moving into #7. I never suspected I could be living in the Twilight Zone, but there were some hints. Kent was a bit of a mystery. He never really talked about what he did, but he would be gone for up to 2 weeks. Lois got very active very quickly with some local charity projects.

It wasn't long until we were a pretty tight-knit little community. We all seemed to get along. We were a diverse group with a wide range of experiences and knowledge. I was to find out later that we had some really different interests. We had no trouble in paradise, but things got a little weird before long.

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Six months after the Hagermans moved into #7, the neighbors were all getting well acquainted. There had been several BBQs, a couple of pool parties (Did I mention that all the houses had in-ground pools. Several were enclosed as well), and at least one semi-formal dinner party. We were all quite comfortable with each other. The females had bonded and often made day trips on Saturdays to shop together.

Several men were golfers and spent their Saturdays on the golf course before coming home in the evening to one of the pools. For those who didn't play golf, a Saturday or Sunday at someone's house watching whatever sport was in season was usually the choice. There was some good-natured rivalry over team choices and occasionally a friendly bet or two on the game's outcome. We seemed to be a pretty typical upscale suburban set of neighbors.

That is until we scheduled the final pool party for a late weekend in August. Around here, the fall weather sets in pretty early, and most of us with outdoor pools are already planning to shut them down for the winter. Ted and Alice were no exception and volunteered to hold one more party for the neighborhood before they closed their pool.

As usual, people filtered in. Rose and I were the first ones to arrive. We entered through the gate at the side of the house. Ted sat in his swimsuit and a light nylon jacket at the pool's edge. The afternoon was sunny but it was already getting a bit chilly. He smiled and motioned in a general direction.

"Y'all get comfortable and make yer'selves at home."

Ted was from Alabama, and you could tell it from his southern drawl. Hearing Ted, Alice came out of the kitchen. She was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and a pair of black shorts over her swimsuit. Ted was lounging by the pool wearing swim trunks and nothing else. Jack presumed that Ted had a head start on the party with the drinks because he was already slurring his words just a bit.

I caught a whiff of something that instantaneously registered with me. I did not doubt that Ted and Alice had been toking a little weed before we arrived. Now, don't misunderstand me. I don't have a problem with anyone who smokes a little grass. I won't say I haven't ever given it a try. I always thought a legal high on alcohol made more sense. To my knowledge, Rose had never even puffed a cigarette, much less a joint.

Before we go any further, I should toss this in here. I was wearing a pair of khaki tactical shorts and a blue fishing shirt. That is my standard summer attire. I didn't have on a swimsuit as I rarely get in anything deeper than a bathtub anymore. Rose wore a simple one-piece suit with gold highlights and a matching coverup. At 56, Rose was still quite a looker. She was a regular at the fitness center at the pavilion and swam laps almost every day. After three kids, Rose had a nice mature belly with no folds or sags, and her breasts were still firm and had lots of bounce. She got her share of looks from the other residents of the neighborhood.

Alice was 30, maybe 35. It was hard to tell because she was one of those women who could look like she was 35 one minute and was just turning 18 the next. Alice was petite, no more than 5' 2" tall. She was vivacious and was often the life of the party, especially among a crowd that was average in their late 50s for the most part. Jack often wondered if Alice had been a cheerleader at some point in her life. She had that kind of effervescent, bubbly personality.

Bob and Carol Pinkman were next, with Barney and Betty Vincent not far behind. Bob, a practicing radiologist, had an office in his home where most of his work occurred. He was often around and visible in the neighborhood. Bob stood over 6 feet tall and was a former college football star. He had kept himself in good shape. He was one of the group that regularly played golf and all the others knew him to be a scratch golfer. Carol ran a visiting nurse company and was busy most days and sometimes into the evening. She was 5'9", tall and svelte, with long legs and long dark hair. Bob was wearing trunks and an open shirt. Carol had on a relatively conservative two-piece suit that showed off her 38C breasts.

I waved at Barney and Betty Vincent as they came through the gate. Of all the neighbors, Barney and I were the closest. I met Barney as soon as they moved in. We found we had a lot in common. Barney and I spent a lot of time together since then. Neither of us golfed, played tennis, or liked to work out. We did, however, love professional sports of all kinds. When Barney put in an 80-inch flat screen in his media room, it became the place to be on almost any night, and there was a game to watch.

Barney was 5'10' or so, a little portly, and had a crewcut haircut. He had worked in heavy construction all his life and had the features that went with the outdoor life and working with big tools and heavy loads. Betty was just what you would expect. She was 5'6 or so, a little on the round side with large breasts and a bigger behind. She was attractive in a motherly kind of way. Barney and Betty had six kids spread all around the country.

Barney made a beeline to where I sat and plopped down in the patio chair. He was slightly out of breath from the walk from their house. Barney reached the cooler behind the chair and retrieved a cold beer.

Fred and Wilma Bates were just a little behind Barney and Betty. Fred was a local bank president. Of all of the neighbors, Fred was the one I liked least. I thought he was arrogant and aloof. Tonight, Fred showed up in starched and pressed khaki pants and a button-down shirt. He looked like he was attending a board meeting instead of a BBQ and pool party. Unfortunately, Fred wasn't the most imposing figure. He was short, maybe 5'6" tall, and, Jack thought, almost that big in diameter. He was balding but insisted on a comb-over of wispy hair that spent more time blowing around in the slightest breeze and not covering the bald spot.

Wilma, on the other hand, was a tall redhead and much younger than Fred. She wore a stunning dark green tanksuit that complimented her red hair and fair complexion tonight. Wilma also wore matching heels. When I met them for the first time, my first thought was that Wilma was much more attracted to Fred's wallet than she was to him personally. Nothing much had happened to change my opinion.

Matt and Kitty Hagerman entered the pool area. I saw Matt carrying a rather large cooler. It seemed he intended to have a grand time that night. Matt was retired from broadcasting. He had been an announcer with one of the sports channels. I learned later that Matt had been an NFL player early in his career but had to retire due to an injury. I guessed that from his imposing 6'5" frame, he was a lineman.

Kitty was another redhead, but Jack suspected that most of the red came from a bottle. She was almost 5'9 inches tall,l but Kitty seemed almost petite beside Matt. Kitty weighed about 160 pounds, and that wasn't much fat. She had been a downhill skier but had never enjoyed the spotlight. Jack thought that Kitty had the best set of tits of any of them.

The last to arrive was Lois Davis. As usual, she was alone. Kent, her husband, traveled a lot. No one seemed to know what kind of business took him away from home so much. The few times he was around for one of their social events, Kent remained evasive. Even when I asked what kind of business he was in, the answers were always generic and unspecific. I judged Kent to be in his late 40s. He was athletic, but there was always a sense of some kind of tension about him. THe few times they had been around each other, Jack was always a little uncomfortable.

Lois, on the other hand, was pleasant and easy to talk to. She seemed to have a knack for making people comfortable. Lois was, in my opinion, average. She was about 5'7" and had an average build, average looks, and average intelligence. Don't misunderstand me. She was attractive but not in the standout and get-noticed way that some other women were. No one knew if they had kids or anything about their background. They were, in my book, the mystery couple.

Don't get me wrong. These seemed to be decently good people. We were living in an upscale development, and it was not cheap. Until this evening, our weekend get-togethers had seemed like the script for the all-American suburban neighborhood. We played games, socialized, drank a little, ate a lot, and enjoyed each other's company. The first hint that something else was happening with this group occurred later that evening around the pool.

As the sun went down, the temperatures dropped just a bit. It was starting to get cooler. No one had been in the pool yet since the air temperatures had gotten cooler than most expected. I was surprised when Carol stepped to the side of the pool and dipped her foot in. She raised her head and looked at Ted with a grin.

"How high did you turn up the thermostat on the pool heater."

He was sprawled in a lounge chair near the pool's edge, talking to Fred, Wilma, and Lois. They all had a mixed drink in their hand. Jack knew that Ted tended to drink heavily at these parties, but there didn't seem to be a problem since it was his house. Ted looked around at Alice with a big grin.

"I set it to 90. Is that not warm enough?"

"That's perfect. It feels yummy."

With that, she pulled off the T-shirt and shorts, revealing what I thought was the skimpiest bikini I had ever seen. When she faced the pool to dive in, I could see a thin string around her back and the same thing around her waist. Whatever was between her legs disappeared completely between her buns.

Alice didn't waste time, diving into the pool and surfacing near the middle, flinging water wildly as she tossed her hair.

"We should keep the pool like this all winter."

Ted laughed.

"It would cost more than the house cost. Imagine trying to keep it this warm when there are 8 inches of snow on the ground, and the temps are down near 10 degrees at night."

She pouted her lips and looked at him with that little girl look.

"Then we should cover it like Fred and WIlma's pool."

"Maybe next year."

She grinned again, executed a diving turn, and swam the rest of the length of the pool. Most of the men were watching what looked like her naked bottom above the surface of the water as she swam. I heard Barney's comment.

"Nice view."

Jack chuckled.

"Just remember. WIndow shopping is perfectly acceptable. Just don't touch the merchandise."

Barney nodded knowingly.

Betty and Rose came back to the table. Rose and Betty were taking off their swimsuit coverups.

"Jack. I'm going to take a swim. If that water is that warm, it will be almost like a hot tub. Are you sure you don't want to change and get in too?"

I shook my head.

"Not me. I'm perfectly content to watch. Enjoy yourself."

Barney and I watched as our wives crossed the pool deck and stepped carefully into the water, walking down the steps into the pool until they were neck-deep. It wasn't long until several others were also making their way to the pool. Ted leaped up from the chaise lounge and, with a whoop, dove in and swam underwater to Alice. No one was sure what he did, but she jumped, turned, and yelped. When he surfaced, she slapped a handful of water toward him.

"Dammit, Ted."

Ted was grinning from ear to ear. He stepped back to avoid the water spray from her hand, laughing. He looked at the others.

"You are all a bunch of wall flowers. Come on in. THe water is warm and wonderful."

That seemed to spur some of the others into joining. Lois was soon in the pool, as were Bob and Carol. Even Matt and Kitty decided to join the group in the water. Wilma was the last to join, leaving Barney, Fred, and me sitting on the pool deck watching. Fred came over to join Barney and me.

For almost an hour, it remained pretty much the same. Occasionally, one of the three men on the pool deck would get up to get another drink or beer. I rarely drank. However, I had enjoyed two beers so far, and he was feeling them. In the pool, the larger groups mostly stood in the neck-deep water, talking quietly with the occasional burst of laughter.

Things started to get interesting when Ted stealthily swam up behind Alice, untied the knot on the string around her neck, and pulled down on the string at her back. The skimpy bikini top she wore disappeared like a magician's handkerchief and revealed her bare breasts.

Alice screamed and tried to cover herself with her hands. She ducked into the water and frantically tried to recover the bikini top and get it back into position. Ted continued to mess with her. I wasn't exactly sure what Ted was doing under the water, but Alice started to jerk and squirm. She was cursing at him through it all. When Ted stood up, he triumphantly held the bikini top straight over his head. He was laughing and waving it like a captured flag.

Alice, now free of his harassing hands, crouched in the water and glared at Ted.

"Ted, you ass, give me back my swimsuit?"

He laughed at her, still waving the scrap of cloth over his head.

"Come and get it."

She looked at him in exasperation. The exchange lasted for several minutes while she begged and castigated him. He kept dancing around the pool with the bikini top held over his head. I was watching Alice with some level of amusement. When I saw the look on ALice's face, I knew that something was about to pop.

Suddenly, Alice stood up, dropped her hands to her sides, and started walking toward Ted. Everyone watched her closely. The look on her face told the story, and even Ted saw the change. He tossed the bikini top back to her with a sheepish grin. She caught that top in mid-air and jerked it back. The motion caused her not overly large but well-shaped breasts to dance and bobble, causing small drips of water to fly from her nipples. The entire pool was deathly quiet. Alice looked around as she started to put the bikini top back on and noticed that everyone was watching her intently. She stopped, wadded the bikini top into a small ball, and tossed it to the side of the pool.

"What the hell. No sense trying to cover it up now."

She turned and swam to the pool's side, climbing out, then sauntering toward the kitchen door and disappearing. Ted hurried after almost immediately and disappeared into the kitchen as well. It was that incident that I would always consider the tipping point that led to all the changes that soon began to happen in their happy little world.