Circus Town

I remember it was an late Thursday afternoon when I was pulling in my driveway: "I was actually able get out of the office on time for once." I thought to myself, because every other day I manage to get tie up at work and I generally don't make it home until well after dark.

Since most, if not all of my bills are paid on line, I normally only check my mailbox for the Engineering Journal, my Men's Health Magazine and other junk mail and such. However this time in among the Pizza and Burger coupon adds was a sheet from a yellow legal pad with a hand written note from my next door neighbor that read:

Peter,

Dina and I had to leave town to attend a family medical emergency. Please keep an eye on our house, it was sudden. My son will be coming by to check on our mail and pick up the news paper while we're away.

I hope you don't mind, under these circumstances we told him that he could rely on you if he needed anything."

Thank You,

Doc

"Hope everything is alright." I thought, but I was glad he didn't ask me to take care of 'Jasper' while they were gone: "You and that dog never got along." I remembered thinking, but I hoped everything would work out for the two of them, whatever it was.

Doctor Sparveri, besides being my friend and Personal Care Physician, has been my next door neighbor for many years. In fact, he was the one who told me when the house I winter in was about to come on the market allowing me to trump any other offer. His wife Dina is a pretty thing, but she seems always a bit too quiet and reserved around me. I always felt that somehow she must think I'm a bad influence on the Doc, if you can imagine that.

I threw the mail in the passenger seat, hit the overhead console button to open my iron gate and after pulling around back, I watched in the mirror as it closed behind me.

Within seconds I was on my patio, then in my outdoor kitchen and I couldn't wait to get a cold glass out of the little fridge to pull myself an IPA and start my grill before going in to shed my dress clothes.

After quick shower and a shave, I was in baggy trunks and my favorite Marina Jack T-shirt, trimming out an aged bone-in rib eye and while letting it come up to room temp for grilling, I sipped my beer, par-nuked a baking potato and I went out to sit pool side thinking: "No work tomorrow, I'm taking an extended weekend for once and I just got a jump start on it in record time."

The next morning I was up by four thirty sharp. After pounding the weights in my lanai workout room and frothing myself a double shot espresso cappuccino, I plopped down still wet and sweaty poolside and looked at my watch: "An hour till sunrise, Peter you've wasted no time today old man!" I applauded myself and decided to just sit for a while, look out past my pool over the dark bay to watch the sunrise.

"There is nothing like The Bay Area in Southern Florida." I thought: "Mid December and seventy two, with just the hint of a warm ocean breeze."

At the exact time the high pressure steam frothing of my second Cappuccino had ended, I heard her sweet voice: "Mr. Swiftt, is that you sir?" Surprised that anyone else in my neighborhood could actually be up at that early morning hour, I sat my mug down on the granite and answered back:

"Excuse me?"

"Jasper needs to go out and I'm not sure how to turn on the invisible fence thing that runs across the back. It would be my luck for him to jump in the bay and get eaten by something."

"Then by all means, let him out!" I wanted to say, but: "Give me a minute." Was my spoken answer as I headed in the dim predawn light toward my side gate.

Now the properties in Oyster Bay have nice sized lots, none under one point five acres. Each of the eight homes are protected by an iron gated seven foot whitewashed block privacy wall all around. Those that back up to the bay, like mine and the Doc's, run down to water's edge and remain open across the back offering the owners what Realtor's would call 'a vista view of the water.'

When she opened the Doc's gate, I walked in on past a young lady while saying: "Let me see here, if I remember correctly it's on the side of his pool house." And when I saw the glow from the tiny green light on the panel, I said: "It's on, Jasper is good to go ... If you know what I mean."

Before I could ask: "Hi, I'm Doc Sparveri and Aunt Dina's niece." I heard her say.

When I turned around and came face to face with her, I couldn't help but stare: "My God!" I thought: "Damn!"

There She stood in that soft morning glow. Beautiful face, jet black hair with a killer body filling out the tightest leotard, workout onesie looking thing that I had ever seen. It was stretched so super tight with high cut leg openings that actually exposed her hip bones as they swept well above her waist and it accentuated every vein, crease and ripple. From the cool morning air, her raised areolas and firm nipples proudly presented themselves through that thin shiny fabric and below them I could actually see the little dent from her belly button. Everything south of that telegraphed through it, down to the slightest detail making it hard to look away ... But somehow I managed to look back into her eyes.

Trying to cover for the rudeness of me staring at her that way: "I'm sorry." I heard myself say: "I am not normally forward like this ... But you are gorgeous! What contest did Doc Sparveri win to get you for a niece?" And right after I said it, even in that low light, I watched her blush and I couldn't take it back or my eyes off of her for that matter.

I love Doctor 'S' but I'm actually Dina's niece and she always said that I get my looks from her." She replied: "My Mom is her older sister. I'm Sorry that I'm dressed this way, but Jasper was chomping at the bit to go out this morning and I should have thrown on a robe. I was just about to grab a work out when he started in and ..."

"Don't mention it!" I said: "I have always loved old Jasper." I lied. "Gymnast?" I inquired.

"In high school through college." She answered: "This being a huge circus town, I hoped to get with Ringling as a trapeze artist, acrobat or something similar before I got too old ... Who would have ever thought that Circus would close down?" She rhetorically asked.

"Look, I'd better let you go." I said, plotting my retreat after embarrassing myself by being so forward and reactionary ... Then: "Listen ... Their pool isn't heated, if you would like to come over later for a swim or a hot tub after your workout, or ...

"I would Love to Mr. Swiftt, but I am busy this morning." She instantly shot back

"Denied! Peter! You Idiot!" I thought to myself: "Just walk away!"And I told her: "Well, if you need anything else, I'm right next door and it's Peter ... Please call me Peter!" And as she giggled at that I returned home to finish my coffee.

While driving to town, I decided on Millie's for breakfast over Yoder's. Both are great and I highly recommend either of them, but I hadn't been to Millie's for a good while and I was in the mood for her crepe's with the warm orange lacquer sauce that she serves on the side and I felt that I needed that place to just kick back and enjoy my morning off in.

Prior to heading home, I drove down to First Street to stop at Whole Foods to pick up some pink Himalayan Sea Salt that I use for dry curing my Kobe: "Whole fennel seed. Don't forget to pick up some whole Fennel seed." I thought, remembering that I had used the last of mine when I made my late mother's red sauce.

After looking over all the herbs and spices they keep on display, I picked up the salt, the fennel seed and a head of garlic and as I walked to the register for check out, I couldn't help but look on and admire the fit slender form of the young lady in the line directly in front of me.

As she turned to her left to place the little hand basket on the checkout belt my eyes darted to her hand.

"No wedding band or engagement ring!" I thought: "But Peter you pervert, she has to be WAY too young for you. Eye on the ball old man. Enjoy your time off and don't complicate things!"

Now here I just have to stop writing and say, whoever it was that came up with the idea of super skin tight yoga pants should have been sent to the head of their class. I mean, what a pleasure to look at and they had to have been what paved the way for the 'thong,' the bare midriff look' and a myriad of other sexy fashion statements! O K, back to the story.

As I was admiring the way the slender slope at the small of her back swept down to turn into one beautiful side view of an ass, I couldn't help but notice how it cut back up and into the top of her firm and well toned thighs. Then to my surprise, her head turned, she looked directly over at me, smiled and said: "Hey Peter!"

It was my next door Gymnast!

Dumbfounded and embarrassed from not immediately recognizing her, compounded with the fact that she caught me openly ogling the beautiful shape of her firm backside, I looked down: "Easy Peter!" I told myself: "No admission is require here. Don't make it look like you just got caught!" And I instantly looked up in her dark eyes and that beautiful smile, trying to think of something clever to say. But all that I managed to blurt out was: "Howyadoen?"

"If I had known you were coming here, I would have picked those items up for you." She said, more in a way to break my awkward silence and ease my embarrassment than an actual offer.

"You vegan?" I heard myself ask.

"Good Heavens no." She answered giggling: "I could smell your steaks grilling last night while sharing my PBJ with jasper. You made me hungry for real food, it's probably the reason I'm here buying groceries now." She responded in a hinting sort of way.

And before I could stop myself, I bit on that: "I know you had mentioned that you are tied up today, but I have a whole prime rib and a couple of New York Strips hanging in my dry aging chamber." Came out of my mouth, and my regular checkout lady looked up past her, rolled her eyes and grinned.

Then she responded: "I'm free this evening anytime after four." And I felt my jaw drop.

"Say four, four-thirty then?" And I couldn't believe that I actually offered that.

I also couldn't believe it when she actually accepted by asking: "Can I bring anything?"

In a pleasant daze of both disbelief and pride I responded: "No, I think I have everything covered."

Then like an over anxious school boy I added:" Maybe your swimsuit and a change of clothes." Rolled off of my tongue as easy as if I had asked that of young ladies all the time.

As she walked away shaking her head and grinning, to make it even worse I added: "I always keep fresh towels in the pool house."

The minute she was out the door: "Peter!" Sue Lee exclaimed as she rang up my three items: "I've been checking you out since our other store and you have never asked me out." She chuckled.

"Sue Lee!" I jokingly responded smiling down at that plump older Asian woman: "You'd better not let Mr. Lee hear that you have been checking me out for all these years." And at that, we both burst into laughter.

I quickly grabbed my purchase and headed for the parking lot and she was nowhere to be seen. When I looked toward the intersection light at the entrance to First Street, I realized that I didn't know what kind of car she would be driving: "Hell Peter." I scolded myself: " You don't even know her name!"

I ran a few errands, purchased gas and stopped in at the Bay Bridge Baber Shop and had Paula cut my hair. During my drive home I started wondering if she was really going to come over for dinner and a swim: "Hell Peter." I reasoned: "If she has a change of heart, you still have a this extended weekend to relax and enjoy."

The second I got home, I started planning out dinner: "I'll do the New York Strips with baked potatoes. They've cured out nicely " I planned: "And a salad, got to have a salad." I thought as I laid out the bottles and jars to make my homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette.

By three forty five I was shaved showered and shampooed.

While patting on my aftershave and trying to decide what to wear: "The new off white tailored golf shorts will work with my new crisp clean Untuckit shirt." Came to mind: "Yeah." I Thought: "The bright blue one the sales lady told me made my eyes pop! Yeah, that one!" I decided and in minutes I was dressed and turning the grill to the self cleaning setting.

Knowing that I was over anxious: "A cold glass of Voodoo Ranger IPA would help." I thought: "But what about my breath?" I reasoned.

"Damn Peter!" It's only dinner and a swim." I thought, but with my luck, that afternoon turned out to be overcast and the temperature had dipped into the mid fifties.

"Thought my pool is comfortably heated, most women won't get in if there's a chill in the air like there was that afternoon. But there's always the spa! My spa is a sure thing, a fresh water system on an independent filtration pump with no chemical smell like the chlorine in the pool." I confidently reasoned and then I heard the metallic rattle of the gate latch.

"Hey Peter! I know you are in there, are you going to let me in?" her beautiful voice rang out and from the tone in it, I knew that she was smiling.

When I unlatched and swung it open, there she stood, radiant! She was wearing a white soft cotton looking beach dress cover-up type of thing and I could tell by the hint of light pink showing through it, that she must have a bikini on underneath.

"I Know you said not to bring anything, but I never listen." She giggled: "I brought us this bottle of wine." And she sat down her beach bag and handed me a fine Italian red: "Italian I think is your preference, right?" She surprisingly asked for me to confirm.

When I just stood and stared at her wondering how she would know that and moreover where this was all headed, she offered: "You don't remember me do you?"

As my mind literally reeled to remember anything that I should know about her, all I knew at that moment was the first time I had laid eyes on her was in the pre-dawn hour that very morning.

Before I could fumble out some form of a comeback, she let me off the hook: "Nineteen years ago I came to visit Aunt Dina and Uncle Toney. They had a trapeze set up for me and when I swung up on it, I peeked over the wall and saw you. Later you had the three of us over for dinner and I had the biggest crush on you." And she laughed her beautiful laugh.

"Miranda?" I offered unsure. I was fishing, but around nineteen years ago was right when I moved in and I had the Doc, Dina their young house guest over as a thank you for him letting me know that the house was due to hit the market: "Why you couldn't have been more than twelve?"

"No Peter." Miranda replied: "I had just turned nine. I was skinny and starting to get pimples already. I would spend every spring break and Christmas vacation next door working on the balance beam and trapeze that Aunt Dina and Uncle Tony would rent for me. When I first saw you, I thought you were something else!"

Then she added: "Wow! I love what you have done with this back area! And this patio kitchen back here, it's nothing like I remember it ... What a paradise!"

And I just looked at her, closed the gate and to my total surprise, I offered: "Come on in, I'll show you the rest of the place."

She owed and she awed and she literally fell in love with the Floridian theme throughout the house and when we got back to the indoor kitchen, I prepared the baking potatoes for the grill and she took over and started making the salad.

I really think that after it was all said and done, she admired my inner kitchen as much as she did my outdoor one.

"Peter! This is a set up for a chef!" She exclaimed: "And this Sub Zero fridge, It's huge! Did you have it custom made?"

"No." I answered: "It's a commercial unit that I built into the wall, but I did special order the stainless steel door front so it would appear more residential and kind of blend in better with the downdraft range tops, double ovens and the two dishwashers."

She giggled and we laughed and we visited as we ate poolside, and then we shared her wine.

Though I never considered myself as getting old, Miranda made me feel younger somehow, more energetic and as we cleared the table and carried things inside to keep the pesky gulls away, she looked at me suggesting: "Now about the hot tub you promised me."

"By all means." I told her, and I anxiously watched as she proudly pulled her little cotton beach dress over her head to reveal the light pink string bikini that had been peeking at me through that soft cotton gauze all evening.

As she took off her sandals and tested the water with her toe, I turned on the jets. After I pulled off my shirt and stepped out of my shorts, I stood back to watch her put her palms on the deck and arch her back to slide into the bubbling hot water. As she eased herself in, her cute little pooch of a mound bulged tight against the front of her bikini bottom and the sight of it caused that too familiar twinge to from down deep in my loins.

"Steady Peter!" I told myself: "Keep it friendly. Don't embarrass yourself." And I folded my close over the chair by my favorite Marina Jack t-shirt that I'd forgot about leaving there last evening.

"Nice trunks peter." She giggled and pointed and when I looked down I saw they had ballooned out the second I stepped off into the turbulent bubbling water. Knowing that she was now amused by my trunks, I quickly took a seat to the left of her, trying to hide the heaviness of my growing arousal.

To get in a little closer, I casually placed my right arm up over and behind her head laying it on the deck and leaned back. Since it had started to get dark, I remotely dimmed the overhead lights and she scooted over and up against me. Within less than a minute, she laid her head on my chest and sighed a breathy: "This is sure nice." And the scent of her hair was almost intoxicating.

Not being exactly sure on what to do next, I gently hugged that arm around her placing my right palm on her upper right shoulder and I awaited her next reaction: "If there is to be one." I contemplated: "I want it to be her who makes the first move."

When I felt her submerged left hand gently contact the inside of my right knee, I intentionally showed no reaction, but when she slowly traced her finger tips up my inner thigh, I softy but directly spoke: "Miranda?"

Oh, I wanted it, the male ego portion of my brain was in overdrive since running into her at Whole Foods and sure I wanted it. I wanted to see where it was going, I wanted it to play out, but I guess with everything going on in the News at that time, I wanted to be more than sure that whatever was about to happen would be undeniably consensual: "But this is Florida." I reasoned to myself: "Not some third world country like California." And I tried to put that stupid Hollywood mentality aside.

When she continued without reaction to my response, I touched her wrist adding: "You are a very beautiful and extremely desirable young woman, but Sweetheart, I'm fifty eight years old. You might want to consider that your desires might be better ... Well ... I guess ... Served by a man more your own age?"

She stopped, turned to her left at the waste, leaned in and passionately kissed me directly on my open mouth.

"Now listen." I reacted as I ever so slowly pulled away from that wet kiss: "Tony and Dina Sparveri are not only my dear friends." I tried to reason (more for myself than her) "But they live right next door! What will they think of me ... If we ...?"

"I'm certainly not going to tell them." She responded as the palm of her right hand boldly groped my growing and thickening manhood through the fabric of my trunks: "After all Mr. Swiftt." She grinned: "You have been the subject of my dreams and fantasies for a very long time."