Gail and Lucinda

-- This is a story of Gail and Lucinda --

Gail, a recent widow, is a mature woman of seventy plus years; she has recently retired from her job at the college's library. Lucinda was Gail's student assistant when she attended college and is still working as the acquisitions librarian for the same college. They have remained in touch since Gail's retirement and have grown closer since Gail's husband's death.

Initially, it was straightforward, as Lucinda would do a weekly check in with Gail, to see how she was doing. She asked about Gail's children: Kurt, the dancer, was in his late thirties; daughter Erica, was married with a new baby and lived about a hundred miles away.

-- Gail --

Gail was spending considerable time with her daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law. All of this activity made it easier to deal with her loss. Also, her son was home from his dancing job aboard a cruise ship; but living with Mom was difficult for him as his lifelong partner, Jake was still in Syracuse.

Although he loved his mother very much, Kurt was spending more time Skyping with his partner. Gail has been at her daughter's for over two weeks, and although Erica was happy to see her, after a while her mother's presence had become a strain on her marriage. Erica's husband, John, had a falling out with Gail. The more time he spent with her, the more uncomfortable he became. Gail was able to sense that something was off, and excused herself and headed home.

She had not informed Kurt that she was on her way. It was dark by the time she pulled into her driveway in Northampton. She left her car in the driveway as Kurt's VW was in the garage. As it was late, and she did not want to disturb Kurt. She knew of his habit of late night Zoom or Skype meetings with his friends; and for the most part she respected his privacy.

Her bedroom was in a separate part of the house, so she was able to undress and get into her nightgown without disturbing her son. However, she did want to alert him that she was home so he wouldn't be startled in the morning. Barefoot, she walked down the hall to her son's room. She could hear Kurt's voice, but not any responses. She assumed he had his headphones on.

There was a sliver of light emanating from his room, that is to say that he didn't expect the need for complete privacy, so his door was not shut completely. Feeling somewhat the spy, Gail peeked into his room as she did when he was a little child. Reminding herself that he was, in fact, a young man and she didn't have to worry about him dying in his sleep.

She could see the back of his head and the screen he was looking at. He was laughing at something, but she could not hear. A young man she recognized as his partner, Jake, was dancing on the screen. He was completely naked and totally aroused.

Gail backed away from the door quietly, embarrassed of what she had seen. She was not unaware of her son's sexuality, but she had never seen such a blatant display of homo-erotic behavior. Somewhat shocked, but more tired than anything, Gail had forgotten her reason for going to Kurt's room. Exhausted, she returned to her bedroom and promptly fell asleep.

After a very deep sleep, she awoke to the sound of Kurt's voice singing in the kitchen and the smells of the breakfast he was cooking. Getting out of bed barely awake, she stumbled off to the bathroom. After finishing up in the bathroom, she threw a white robe over her nightgown, stuck her feet into her warm slippers, and shuffled off towards the kitchen.

Kirk didn't seem particularly surprised to see her. He ran up to her and took an unaffected pleasure in saying, "How are you, Mom? I didn't know you were coming home last night. It's good to see you. How's Erika? Oh, and the baby and John?" added in an embarrassed afterthought.

Gail welcomed his affectionate, enthusiastic embrace; despite, or maybe, because he was still sweaty from his early morning exercise. Kurt was wearing the same non-descriptive grey gym shorts and ragged T-shirt he always wore at home for workouts. He would go through another series later in the day so, typically, did not shower until supper time.

This was a routine his mother was familiar with, from years of watching him progress as a dancer. He insisted on creating a baseline of general fitness before he practiced dance specific moves. As a result, his body was tightly muscled and lean; yet, without any hint of scrawniness, he exuded vigor and cheerfulness. Gail loved everything about him; in her eyes he had no flaws. No vice, no physical or moral imperfections. She wished the same thing were true of herself.

-- Lucinda --

Darryl had already left the bed by the time Lucinda had been awakened by the morning light pouring through the farmhouse window; she shivered under the covers all alone. The morning wind rattled the old windows of the three hundred year old building.

The condition of the old farmhouse contrasted the automation of the milking barn. Daryl's and Lucinda's cows lived in a much more modern structure than their owners did. The automation was supposed to be labor saving and it was, but the labor saved was that of hired hands they no longer needed.

Daryl still had to work a very long day; and although he looked great, a handsome man in his mid-50s, the life of hard physical labor had taken its toll. He still stood straight and walked briskly on his artificial knees; his back was showing signs of osteoporosis, basically all his joints were worn out; in addition, he had digestive issues.

Lucinda also had health challenges. Weird headaches misdiagnosed for years until finally a brain tumor was discovered. After a delicate operation and much worry, it was discovered that the tumor was not cancerous.

Lucinda sat up in bed and surveyed the window, planning what she was going to wear to do her chores, the two hours of chores on the farm before she headed off to work at the college. She decided on an old pair of jeans and flannel shirt which she donned after she removed her flannel nightgown. No bra or panties now; she put those on when she got dressed for work. Lucinda pulled on a pair of rough, old woolen socks that overlap her jeans over, then pulled on her muck boots and was ready for her chores.

Still comparatively vigorous in her late 50s, she walked with kind of a purposeful swagger in her farm boots. Breakfast would be a large bowl oatmeal with some fruit slices. No coffee, her only beverage would be a glass of water about an hour after breakfast.

Usually, the farm contained members of her extended family. At least one daughter and her husband would be around along with their young children, but Maisie and her husband were on vacation; so, Daryl and Lucinda had the farmhouse to themselves. Their other daughter, Justina, had recently gotten a nursing job in a hospital too far away from the farm to commute. Justina now had an apartment near Boston

Lucinda missed having the extended family around, but as she told co-workers at the library, now Darryl can walk around his boxer shorts. They are both, each other's best friend, an easy familiarity borne of a long relationship.

-- Lucinda calls Gail --

Lucinda had finished her farm chores. She hosed off her boots on the concrete pad by back stairs to the farmhouse. As she entered the kitchen, she kicked them off and padded up the worn wooden stairs to the bedroom. Once inside, she left the door open. Even with family in the house, she was not overly modest. Although definitely not an exhibitionist, she regarded the human body matter of factly.

Lucinda sat on the bed to remove her wool socks. Then she stretched to peel off the flannel shirt which she tossed toward the corner of the bedroom; her dirty jeans quickly followed.

Just for an instant, she studied her nude form in the full length mirror that hung on the closet door. She thought her ass had gotten thicker, now that she spent more time sitting at her college job; but overall, she was fairly fit because of the routine work she did every day on the farm. Buckets to be carried and emptied; stalls to be mucked out. Even in the 21st century, there was a significant amount of physical labor on a modern dairy farm.

Her farm clothes were afforded no special care, but her work clothes were kept neat and clean. For the first time today, she would don underwear. Unlike her careless choices for chore clothing, for work, she dressed carefully from the skin out.

She had no use for scents or body creams, but loved the feel of high quality undergarments next to her skin. Her panties were bikini style with lace edges and a purple floral pattern. Her still firm and larger than average breasts, she supported with a custom brassiere from a specialty shop in Northampton. To keep warm in her drafty office, she next donned patterned leggings, then a plain purple silk blouse. She covered the leggings with a below the knee denim skirt. Over her blouse, a brown wool vest. Finally, a pair of blood red cowboy boots.

She grabbed a set of car keys from the key rack by the back door. The extended family shared all the rides on the farm yard. Today, she was driving the 2011 Nissan Sentra.

Extremely social, Lucinda was on numerous committees and other groups. A good deal of her day was occupied with meetings; keeping track of THE family business and other family business and her numerous social entanglements.

Today, she gave priority to calling Gail, as it had been over a week since they had talked. Normally, they would at least touch base twice a week; but Lucinda knew Gail would be at her daughter's place and be plenty busy with her new grandchild.

Today, it just seemed that it was time. They always had a fairly close, but not really intimate, relationship. With the passing of Wolfie, Gail's nickname for her recently deceased husband, there was an empty spot in Gail's soul that Lucinda, not the most empathetic of people, could easily discern.

Since Lucinda assumed Gail was still at her daughter's, she texted her rather than calling her home phone. She was surprised to get a prompt reply informing her that Gail was no longer at her daughter's.

She would love to hear from Lucinda... but could we PLEASE TALK?

So Lucinda agreed to call during her lunch break. Now Lucinda normally did not take a classic lunch break. Often, she ate at her desk and continued to answer the phone and field questions from colleagues. When she needed some measure of privacy, she would repair to a stairwell in the library and conduct family or personal business on her cell phone.

She took an old scarf with her, so she could sit on the stairs to talk to Gail. The stairs were pretty private; almost everyone in the library, except the stacks supervisor, used the elevator.

"Hey Gail, how is it going?"

"I'm okay, Lucinda... what's up?"

"Oh, nothing much; I just realized we hadn't talked in a while."

"Well you know... I have been at Erica's."

"Well, I knew that, and that's why I haven't called. I thought you'd have your time full with your granddaughter, Erica, and John."

"Well, Erica and Clarissa were great. I don't think John was happy with my staying as long as I did."

Lucinda replied surprised, "Oh?!!"

"Yeah, after three days he was pretty grumpy; he never said anything and was always polite; but you could tell he was uncomfortable with his mother-in-law under foot."

"Aaaah, that really is too bad; you probably would have preferred to stay there longer."

"Well, what's done is done. I'd really rather talk about something else," sighed Gail. "How is Darryl doing?"

Lucinda answered, "he was asleep when I went to bed last night, and was up before I was this morning. I see him a little bit in the mornings when I'm doing my chores; but he's busy with his, so we don't talk too much, except in passing. Then I leave for work and I'm busy there through to supper. We talk a little bit at supper time, I think his back is really killing him; but it's hard to say, he doesn't complain."

Gail added, "Well at least you have a man to sleep with at night."

Lucinda declared, "Gail! We are too tired at the end of the day to do anything!"

Gail retreated, "That is not what I meant. I just can't get used to sleeping alone after going to bed with Wolf for many years."

"I guess I can relate to that a little; it always feels weird sleeping alone when I have to go on a trip for the Dairy Association, and Darryl has to stay home with the cows."

Gail exclaimed, "Lucinda! I think I just realized why John, Erica's husband, was so uncomfortable with me around."

Lucinda asked, "Yes?"

"He thinks I was flirting with him!"

"Gail... no!" a shocked Lucinda replied.

Gail hesitated, "I did not intend to... but, maybe I did... or at least, he thought I did."

"I'm confused. Did you flirt with your son-in-law?"

"He was so nice to me those first few days that I stayed with them. He did all the work of settling me into my room; going out and getting the necessary items that I had forgotten to pack. Even going out of his way to buy the tea that he had found out I preferred," explained Gail.

She continued, "So on the third or fourth day after my arrival and many little kindnesses, I was alone with him while Erica was putting the baby down for her nap. I took his hand in mine, looked into his eyes, and thanked him for his kindness. And said if there was anything I could do for him, he just had to ask... anything... I MAY have winked or fluttered my eyelashes when I said 'anything'."

Even over the phone, Gail blushed slightly as she said 'anything' to her close friend.

The conversation was ended by Lucinda soon after Gail's embarrassing revelation. They promised each other the next time they meet it would be over lunch.

-- Gail --

Gail was still blushing when she put down the phone after her talk with Lucinda. Why did she blurt out that she flirted with Johnny? And had she really? Or, is she just going with her son-in-law's interpretation? "Fuck," she thought to herself, "not the first time your mouth out paced your brain and got you into trouble.

"One thing about reaching seventy, you have few illusions about your personality and behavior. You are you, let the world deal with it; but, perhaps, best to conceal some things from some people."

-- Lucinda --

Lucinda lived a blessedly compartmentalized life. Since her duty call to Gail, she uninterruptedly focused on work. She now supervised three full time employees and several student assistants. The book budget had shrunk dramatically over the last few years, but the money spent on electronic resources was astronomical.

The positive side was that almost all of her work could be done remotely; Lucinda showed up at her office every other day, but a few hours assigning work to the students sufficed. Once her regular staff had more experience, even that could be eliminated, as they could handle the supervision of the students.

So most days found Lucinda, after her early morning farm chores, ensconced in her home office on her college supplied laptop conducting library business. From the home office window she could see the goats cavorting and could react to reports of errant livestock simply by putting on her muck boots, having ditched her cowboy boots. Even though she largely worked from home nowadays, Lucinda still 'dressed for work'.

-- Gail --

Gail did not have to worry about dressing for work, but it was afternoon and she was still in her nightgown and robe. Her late breakfast with Kurt was filling, but as a creature of habit, she preferred three meals at the traditional times. She still had not decided if she needed a shower before lunch. To settle her mind after her self-revelation to Lucinda, she did decide that reading another chapter of her current novel was the prelude to making that decision. After dozing off twice on one short chapter, the shower was the winner of the competition.

Kurt was off on a run so she was naked as she walked to the only shower in the house. Master suites with adjoining baths were a rare luxury when she and Wolf built the house in the mid-1970s. Wolf thought the idea a silly extravagance. Gail did not follow Wolf's lead in all things, but she respected his financial expertise; after all, he was a banker.

Gail, naturally, had a no nonsense attitude towards many aspects of her life. Showers were simply a practical way of getting clean. She did not waste a second on the shower, and was soon on her way back to their, no sadly, to her bedroom. Still nude, she finished drying her body in her bedroom with the door closed, a holdover when the children were in the house.

With only Kurt at home, she was tempted to discard that habit. Curiously, she was more modest around her daughter, Erica, than her son. Gail had never analyzed that before... it just was fact.

-- Gail and Lucinda --

Their long acquaintanceship evolved slowly over the next few weeks. Lucinda would always be the one to initiate the call. They would share news of their families, their activities, and their hobbies.

As the weather improved, Gail was spending a lot of her time outdoors gardening. As the season progressed, she took on an outdoor task that had been Wolf's domain...mowing the lawn. Their property was large enough that Wolf had bought a riding lawn mower. Although it was at least a decade old, it still ran well, and Gail quickly learned how to use it. All the gardening work she did in the morning, showering before noon, and after lunch was often spent reading.

Unlike Gail, Lucinda loved the indulgence of a long soak in her old claw foot tub. She would stay in there until the water became too cool for comfort. Her meals were more practical; and while she loved cooking, her dishes were traditional American fare; meat and potatoes, although with a greater variety of vegetables.

She had lied to Gail about her sex life to protect Gail's feelings. She and Darryl had sex far more than she admitted. Not the nightly couplings of their younger newlywed days, but still something she definitely needed regularly. Lucinda's and Daryl's sex life was evolving; Lucinda was, now, almost always the initiator. It was the female equivalent of slam, bam, thank you ma'am. She would efficiently arouse Daryl manually, then quickly mount him as she was always wet and ready. She could come spectacularly after riding him for a few minutes. Once she was done, she lost all interest, so Daryl was left left to finish himself off.

-- Kurt --

Kurt enjoyed having meals with his mother. He had left his partner in Syracuse so that Mom would not be alone in the house after his father's death. Truth be told, he rather enjoyed her company. Her wit tended to sarcasm; but he rather enjoyed her acerbic sense of humor. They could joke about all aspects of life, and neither would take offense.

And one side of him just enjoyed her as female company... a glimpse of the other. He loved his partner; but exposure to only male attitudes, however varied, felt sterile. His mother could be earthy, but rarely crude or profane. Males can deliver overdoses of crudeness, profanity, and down right lewdness; not that he had any problem with being lewd... but moderation in all things.

Nevertheless, he was missing the closeness with his partner. Also obviously, Jake, although he wished Kurt well with his mother, really missed his love. Their daily video calls helped; but it was not physical closeness. Kurt knows his mother respects his choices. She always was the strongest supporter of his love of dance and she cajoled his father into supporting him, also. They had a very open relationship and it was his mother to whom he confided his first inclinations to same sex attraction.

Kurt inhaled deeply instantly wrinkling his nose, thinking, "Boy, am I ripe... overdue for a shower. Mom was in her room reading or maybe dozing off."