A Swinging Odyssey

"You have?" she questioned.

"Of course, I have. It's almost impossible for a guy not to come across it at some point in their lives. You remember when I went to my cousin's stag party last year?"

"Yeah."

"His friends put on a hardcore porn movie."

"So did you enjoy watching it? she asked.

"Not really," he said, "it doesn't take long for it to get boring."

"You're joking. I though all guys get off on porn."

"Some do," he replied, "but doing it is a hell of a lot more fun than watching it on screen. When it comes to sex, I prefer to be a participant, not a spectator. I also think that what makes sex erotic is seduction and the anticipation of the pleasure to come, not the gross depiction of physical sexual acts you see in porn movies."

"So we've done it all." She was not sure if that was a statement of a question.

"No, hon, we haven't done it all. Rather, it's all we've done."

"You have a way with words, Gerald," Aiko replied laconically.

"We have had a really good sex life although we seem to be in the doldrums." To reassure his wife, he quickly added, "Let me clear. I'm not blaming you. You've done nothing wrong. I think we need to recharge, spice up our sex life."

"To be honest, Gerald, you have a point. I think I know what you mean. Maybe, we should find a way to get out of our rut."

"Well, Aiko, you're a librarian and librarians know how to look for information. Do you want to take on the task of finding out what's out there on the subject?"

Aiko blushed. "Me? But Gerald, you're a records manager. You know how to look for information too."

"It's not the same. We have similar skill sets, but use them for entirely different purposes," he replied. "You work in a science library. You've helped students do research projects on all kinds of subjects including sex. You told me so yourself. I'm asking you to use your search skills and knowledge to find information for us when you are at home."

"You have a point," Aiko said, "although I'm not sure I know what I should be looking for."

"You're very bright, my love. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

* * *

Two weeks later, Aiko announced that she had some results.

"I don't know if this is what we're really looking for," she said, "but this as good a place as any to start, I guess." Then she blushed. "I wasn't familiar with some of the terms so I looked them up. A lot of hits were porn sites, pretty graphic stuff."

"Not as good as the real thing, right?"

Aiko blushed again. "Right. Since we're looking for ways to spice up our love life, I compiled a list a variety of sexual preferences. I put them on a simple form in the form of questions requiring a grade from 1 to 5 for each preference: 1 means 'definitely no'; 2 means 'probably not'; 3 means 'unsure' or 'don't know'; 4 means 'probably interested'; 5 means 'very interested'."

"As you know, my little analytical sweetheart, he started to point out, "we have to avoid the temptation to rig the results for fear of the other's reaction. So let's establish some preconditions and rules."

"Sounds good to me," she concurred.

"Let's start with basic principles," he said. "We've always held to the belief that what happens between consenting adults is nobody else's business. The operative words are 'adults' and 'consenting'. So, anything involving children, violence or coercion is out even before we start."

"I'm ahead of you on that one," she interrupted. "I precluded them already."

"Otherwise," he continued, "most everything else should be listed."

Aiko nodded her agreement.

"Now, about the rules. Complete honesty should be our first rule.' He declared. There shouldn't be any anger, repercussions or resentments for any and all honest answers. That should be our second rule."

"Agreed. Honesty and no blowback," Aiko summarized. "This might get scary though."

"Yes, it might. We may be surprised or disappointed by each other's honest answers. The second rule enables the first rule. Right now, it's all just talk and fantasy, not reality."

"So far, we've just talked about spicing up our sex life," she observed. "Maybe one of us wants to turn fantasy into reality. We need a third rule: nothing happens unless we both agree. In other words, no means no for both of us."

"I agree, you sweet scrumptious little thing," he said smiling.

* * *

A few days later, Aiko's list of questions was ready. Each answered the questions separately on screen.

Gerald finished first. 'Well,' he thought, 'I see things here I'm sure Aiko finds disgusting. But I give her credit. She keeps an open mind. She left in whatever did not fall outside our 'consenting adults' principle.'

Aiko took a little longer than Gerald.

"I'm done," she finally announced. "It'll be easier to compare notes if we consolidate what we have on the screen into a two-column document."

When she finished combining their answers on the screen, they looked at the result.

"I see a few questions where we both gave the lowest possible score. It's a long list. They are irrelevant. So to save time, let's just delete them right now." Aiko said. "And we should probably also delete those where one of us gave a 1."

"Agreed in most cases," he said simply. He noted the Aiko was taking an interest in what they were doing.

"Is that a qualification dear?"

"Yes it is, but we'll get to it in a minute," he said.

The exclusions were interesting but not surprising given the couple's long-held attitudes. But he stopped her from deleting the question relating submission."

"But you put down a 1," she protested.

"Yes dear, because I take no interest in submission. But I like the idea of being a dominant. So our inclinations are complementary. They should stay on our list for now."

"It makes sense," she conceded.

"Let's get back to them on the weekend," he suddenly interrupted. "We have already learned a lot about ourselves. We should mull over them over for a while. A little more further thinking might prompt us to amend an answer."

* * *

When the weekend arrived, Gerald asked his wife if she was ready to talk some more.

"Sure," she said.

They looked at the grades they gave to each question. They made no further changes.

Gerald read the results again. "Right off the bat, hon, I see a certain agreement in our answers about swinging and interracial sex."

"We're an interracial couple already, Gerald."

"Oh yeah, good catch, good point," he chuckled. "But I think we both understand that we aren't talking about our relationship to each other."

"True," Aiko replied."

"At the top of what's left," she said, "is swinging, and, to a lesser extent, group sex."

"I'm a little confused by these other categories," Gerald said. "It could be argued that threesomes and group sex are variations of swinging. In the old days, swinging used to mean single people picking each other up at bars for casual sex."

"And you seem curious about cuckoldry," she pointed out.

"I don't get that one," he admitted, "a mild interest in cuckoldry seems incompatible with dominance."

"Your logic is unsound, Gerald."

"What do you mean?"

"Our preferences can change. We've changed. For example, twenty years ago, this conversation would never have taken place. Our preferences can also change depending on the situation."

"Very true," he agreed.

"Sex is not about logic but about procreation, sexual pleasure and even social cohesion. Each human being is unique although, of course, we can have many similarities and shared interests."

Aiko was now in lecture mode.

"People's personalities can be very complex and even contradictory. It all depends on the situation, the people we know and interact with, and the environment, physical, economic, etc. that we live in."

She stopped for a moment.

"While helping clients do research on human sexuality, I couldn't help but become familiar with the issues. Many specialists in human sexuality have difficulty explaining why human sexual behaviour constantly collides with the prevailing social mores."

Gerald knew he had a very intelligent wife but sometimes she really impressed him. This was one of those times.

Aiko was still lecturing. "As a species, we are innately social and sexual at the same time. It's written in our genes, Gerald. If you strip away the society's moralistic trappings, you have a creature that has a lot in common with bonobos."

"Bonobos?" Gerald questioned. "Is that some kind of Italian sausage?"

"No silly, they're apes. They look like chimpanzees except they're more gracile. Both species are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. The genetic difference between them and us is only 1.6%. Sexually, bonobos behave just like humans. They can, and do, have sex at any time. Sex isn't just about reproduction. Like us they fuck for fun."

A little embarrassed, Aiko giggled at her own choice of words.

"Humans and bonobos are the only two animals on the planet for whom sex is part of their social life. Hunter-gatherer societies, like those of our remote ancestors, were very similar. Food and sex were shared. It changed with the rise of farming and private property."

"I like bonobos, Gerald said.

"I bet you do!" Aiko squealed and squirmed, not because of what he said but because of what he did.

While Aiko was talking about the sex among the apes, Gerald had stepped behind her, slipped a hand inside her blouse and pushed off her bra to massage her breast. Meanwhile, the other hand had snaked its way into her panties where it massaged her other feminine assets. He pressed his growing hard-on against her behind for good measure. The talk about sex had made them both horny.

"Lets play bonobo," he panted into her ear."

"Okay," she said hoarsely.

They were in a mood for a quickie. She ran to the bedroom. He followed. Clothes flew. He pounced on her, slipping his stiff member easily into her hot humid canal. They humped against each other, he driving in as deeply as he could, she doing her best to allow him to penetrate deeply. They arrived at their blissful burst at the same time.

Now that they were sated, Gerald said out loud. "What the hell came over us? I don't recall ever becoming horny from talking about the sex life of animals."

"Maybe their sex life appeals to our inner being, to our genetically engrained human nature," she said softly.

"Umm," was all Gerald could say.

*

Coming soon, Chapter 2 Testing Water: Aiko and Gerald Explore the swingers' world.