Karma - A Love Story

I came up out of the water, sputtering and struggling against the waves that were pushing me around. "Damn," I thought. "That was a rough ride." There had been a stiff breeze the last few days, and the waves were bigger than usual, so I was out body surfing. It was one of my favorite things to do since childhood. It never got old. My wife and I lived on the beach, and I had grown up here, on the Gulf of Mexico, so I felt safe even in the rough water. But that last wave had beat me up.

I wasn't sure how I had got to shore, because the last thing I remembered was being tugged on by the undertow and struggling to get back in a little closer to the beach. I must have got picked up by a wave and pushed to shore. One moment I was trying to catch a wave, and the next moment I was being washed up on the sand; and I couldn't remember anything in between.

As I came up to my feet, shaking the sand and water out of my hair and straightening my swim trunks, I became a little embarrassed This stretch of beach was my back yard. My friends and neighbors were here. I glanced around sheepishly to see who was watching me take that tumble. At first I was happy to see that no one was paying any attention to me at all. But that was because everyone was running toward something that was happening just down the beach. It was obvious that someone had been pulled from the water. I started running towards the scene, thinking maybe I could administer CPR. But as I got closer I could see one of our neighbors was already doing it.

There was a large crowd, and I was trying to get close enough to see who it was. But before I got there, I saw my wife, Karen, leaning over the body, sobbing hysterically. Our friends were trying, unsuccessfully, to pull her off.

Now, Karen is a very emotional person. She tends to suffer with everyone she cares about; and she cares about everyone. But still, I was curious who she had this depth of feeling for. She was really beside herself. I had never seen her like this. I tried to work my way through the crowd to get to her, so I could comfort her. But before I got there I caught a glimpse of the poor soul washed up on the beach; and my blood froze. It was me, and I was beyond help.

Time stood still for a moment as I stared at my lifeless body lying there in the sand. I tried to process what I was seeing, but I just couldn't. If that was me, who was I? I looked down at myself for the first time and was astonished at what I saw. My body was at least twenty years younger, and much fitter than the overweight, out of shape middle aged guy lying on the beach. "Jesus," I thought. "I had no business being out in that water."

I just stood there for a moment: deaf, dumb and stupid. I couldn't wrap my brain around it. Karen believed in reincarnation, but I rejected the notion out of hand. I was an engineer and really only believed in things I could see or come to by logic. Reincarnation was neither. But here I was. I would have to re-think my spiritual beliefs altogether.

But who was I? I needed a mirror. I looked down at my arms and legs and -- oh, my god -- my belly was flat. I had six pack abs. My arms and legs were muscular. I was in better shape than when I was at my youthful, gym-rat best. I discretely flexed my muscles just to see how it felt. It felt awesome. But I didn't recognize the body. I didn't have long to think about it. The lifeguards showed up, breaking me out of my stupor, with the sheriff's deputies right behind. The crowd began to disperse, to make way for the EMT's.

I panicked a little. I didn't understand what was happening. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know where I belonged. One thing I did know, though, was that I couldn't go to Karen. Every fiber of my being wanted to hold her and tell her everything was OK. But I couldn't. How could I explain what I didn't understand? And even if I did, how would she feel about some young man approaching her just after her husband died? A little smile came over me. I was a young man. I flexed a little again. And as I did, I felt a little tug on my arm.

"Are you OK Tom?" It was one of Karen's friends, Judy. I knew her, but not well.

"Huh?" I responded stupidly. And then thought "Tom? Who's Tom?"

"Are you OK?" she asked again. "You seem a little shaken."

"Yeah," I said as I struggled to pull my thoughts together. "That last wave rolled me pretty hard."

"Well, come over and sit with us for a while," she said, pointing to where she and her husband were camped out under a giant umbrella.

"Umm, thanks Judy, but I don't feel well. I think I'll just head back up to the apartment for a while." Karen and I lived in a nice apartment complex on the beach. Judy lived in the same complex. And since she knew me -- or Tom, rather -- I figured Tom lived here, too. And I was betting that Judy knew which apartment.

"I do feel pretty shaken. Would you mind walking me up?" I patted myself on the back a little for my cleverness. A small, sly smile formed on her lips. I thought I saw her eyes widening under her sunglasses. "Sure," she said. "Maybe I should hold your arm to keep you steady." And with that, she practically wrapped herself around my arm, called to her husband that she'd be right back, and led the way. We ended up in a third floor apartment with a view of the ocean. "Sweet," I thought. This apartment was nicer than mine.

"Would you like me to stay a while? Make sure you're OK? Would you like a drink?" she asked as she headed for the kitchen. It didn't escape me that she knew where everything was. And before I had a chance to answer she was back in the living room with two martinis, kicking off her shoes and plopping on the couch right next to me.

"Are you OK, baby?" she asked. "You don't seem like yourself."

Baby? I wondered. Were we lovers? I didn't want to be having an affair with Judy. I liked her husband and suddenly felt awful for him.

"Thanks, but I think I need to rest now," I said, as I gently lifted her from the couch and steered her toward the door.

"Ok," she said. "Call me."

"OK," I said in my best sing-song voice, as I eased the door closed behind her. Of course I would never call her. I didn't even know her number, but it was a pretty safe bet that Tom did.

I wondered, for a moment, which other wives in the neighborhood Tom was screwing around with. But I didn't dwell on it. It never occurred to me in that moment to even wonder If my wife was one of them.

As soon as the door was shut I raced to the bathroom, so I could look in the mirror. Nothing. I didn't recognize the face I was looking at. It was a nice face. Strong features, clean shaven. Nice. I looked like a nice guy. But one that I didn't know. Yet there was something slightly familiar about that face. I felt that maybe I had seen it, but I couldn't think where. I guessed he was new to the complex and I had just seen him at the mailbox or something. Or maybe at the beach.

Didn't matter. I started snooping around the apartment to find out who Tom was. Who I am now. It didn't take long. Since he had been at the beach, his wallet, phone, keys, everything were still in his apartment. The car key was for a Jeep. Was that the new yellow Wrangler that was parked on this side of the complex? I rummaged through his closet and drawers. He had good taste. His furniture was nice, too. It seemed like Tom had a pretty nice life. Well, until he died, anyway. I thought I might not mind being him for a while. Except, as him, I couldn't be with Karen.

I wanted desperately to be with Karen, but I couldn't figure out how. What would it look like if a young, single man on the other side of the complex came calling just hours after her husband died? What would I say if I did go to her?

My head hurt, and I laid on the couch to take a nap.

I jolted awake when the sliding glass door in the apartment below me slammed shut. Sitting up groggily rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I was trying to focus a thought that was forming in the back of my mind. I noticed Tom's phone on the coffee table in front of me. That's it! I could get into his phone. I have his face and fingerprints. No sooner had the thought formed than I snatched his phone off the coffee table and unlocked it. God bless face recognition software.

There were several unread text messages, so I went there first. I felt kind of creepy about doing it. I was very keen on privacy. I had never been through Karen's phone. Or her drawers, for that much. If she had secrets, I had no idea what they were. Nor did I want to know. But this was a different story. This was necessary. I took a deep breath and clicked on the text messages.

Most of the unread messages were from someone named KK. "That's funny, I thought. Those are Karen's initials." What a coincidence. The texts were flirtatious, but I couldn't tell if they were having an affair or just teasing. One thing I did notice was there were no texts to Judy, so that little seduction routine of hers was just wishful thinking.

I dug a little deeper in the texts, and a clearer picture emerged. Tom had a bad crush on KK, whoever she was. But KK was obviously married and not willing to cheat. It seemed like she probably lived in the complex with us. Maybe there would be a picture of her. I clicked on the photos app, and for the second time today the earth stopped spinning. The photos that jumped onto the screen were obviously KK. My KK. Karen. My heart sank into my stomach. Karen and I were so happy. I couldn't believe she was having an affair.

I looked through more pictures. Tom had several of her on the beach. She was wearing different bikinis, so it wasn't just one afternoon. But I noticed there were no selfies. Karen takes a lot of selfies, and the fact there were none on his phone was all the proof I needed that she wasn't having an affair with him. I looked back at the texts. There was definitely a lot of flirtation, but it was mostly on his part. He was obviously crazy about her, but she was only guilty of accepting his attention and not pushing back.

I sank into the couch, wondering where I had gone wrong. What had I missed? I loved Karen, and I knew she loved me, Why was she carrying on with this young man -- our new neighbor? Was it a harmless dalliance, or something more? I needed to know, and now that I knew Karen and I -- well, Karen and Tom -- were friends, I decided to walk Tom over there and pay her a visit. I was in luck. She was outside, puttering absently in her herb garden.

"Tom. What are you doing here?" she asked, a little defensively I thought.

"I just wanted to see that you were OK," I said.

"Of course I'm not," she answered, as the tears started to run down her face. "What the fuck are you talking about? Rick's dead. It'll never be OK again."

Now she was sobbing loudly, and I did what I instinctively do. I took her in my arms, hugged her close and told her everything would be OK. She seemed a little surprised by the gesture, but she let me comfort her. I didn't want to let her go, but when I did she looked into my eyes, and I could see a question there. I didn't give her time to think about it much. There was nothing else I could do, so I said all the polite words and then headed back across the courtyard to Tom's apartment, where I spent the next couple of days wallowing in self pity. And maybe some self loathing, too. I didn't know what had gone wrong, but I blamed myself for it.

But then there was my funeral; and it pulled me out of my funk. You wouldn't think it, but it's actually quite fun attending your own funeral. Karen had me cremated and sent me off in fine style. She threw a swell party, and gave a beautiful eulogy. My ashes were launched in a hundred balloons that drifted over the ocean, and almost everyone had nice things to say about me. I myself made a toast and told everyone what a hell of a swell fellow I was.

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Anyway, time went by, as it always does. And I had nothing but time on my hands. Not knowing where Tom worked, or what he did, I didn't fill in for him. So Tom got fired. I was informed by his employer in a letter. Didn't matter. In addition to Tom's other gifts, it turned out he was really good with money. He -- I mean I -- was set for life.

It wasn't bad being Tom. I spent most of my days hanging out at the beach. And it took no time at all to figure out why Tom was so popular with the women in the complex. He was hung.

"Fuck!" I shouted the first time I saw it. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner, but the first time I had to take a leak, I pulled down my shorts and gasped at what I saw between my legs. Even soft, it hung halfway down my thigh. When I hung out on the beach in Tom's spandex swim sorts, his package got me a lot of attention from the wives in the complex and from the tourists walking by. Sluts, all.

It was tempting to have a little fun with Tom's penis. I really wanted to take it out for a test drive. But I was still married to Karen, sort of, and I really just wanted to be with her again. So I hung out, keeping an eye on Karen as much as I could without being a stalker.

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"Why are you stalking me?" Karen was standing over me, hands on her hips, clearly wanting an explanation. She had the sun behind her, so I had to blink and shade my eyes to see her. She was so beautiful, and I missed her so much, I threw caution to the wind.

"I just care about you," I answered. "I just want to know you're OK. I want things to be the same between us as they were before. I want to be with you again." I was really going out on a limb here, but it had been months since I had been with Karen, and I needed to make something happen. Anything.

She was staring at me in astonishment. Really. Her mouth was gaping open, and she looked dumbstruck. "What?" she exclaimed, a little louder than necessary. "What are you talking about? There is no 'us.' There is no 'way it was before'. Listen, you seem like a nice enough guy. But what we were doing before was just for Rick's pleasure. He always wanted to see me with another man, and I was going to give him that on his birthday. You were going to be that other man. But he didn't make it to his birthday, so there's really no need for us to keep doing what we were doing."

"What were we doing?" I asked.

"Look. You're a sweet guy," she said. "But I'm not looking for anything right now -- or ever, probably. I know we got carried away a couple of times, but what we did was really just for Rick's amusement. He's gone. The show we rehearsed for is cancelled."

"Really? I got quite fond of you. I was thinking it was something more."

"I admit the sex was fun," she said, actually breaking into a smile for maybe the first time since I had died.

Fuck. Question answered.

"But it was just sex. You don't want to be the guy that comes after Rick. Trust me."

I looked deeply into her eyes for a moment, then answered, "I think I might be just the right guy to follow Rick."

She looked at me quizzically, staring hard into my eyes. The smile vanished. Then she whispered, "Wait a few minutes, then come up."

OK. I went back to my chair and stared at the water while she collected her things and headed up to our apartment. After a while, I collected my things, too, and headed up as well. What a nice feeling. I hadn't been home in months.

As soon as I entered the back door, Karen wrapped her body around me and planted her lips on mine. "It's just sex," she growled into my ear as she ground her delicious body against me.

That was OK with me. I started tearing at her clothes, and she tore at mine, while stumbling backwards down the short hallway to our bedroom. By the time we got there, all the clothes were gone. Tom's huge, magnificent cock was standing straight out in front of me. It was hard as steel and actually a little scary to look at. I wondered if Karen would be able to take it. But then I remembered -- hey, she already had. The pang of jealously just made it harder. I could feel my cock throbbing in anticipation.

I threw Karen back onto the bed and climbed on top of her. I was hungry to fuck her again, and that was just how Karen liked it. I knew it would be a while before I -- well, Tom -- would be able to make love with her. That was OK. We'd get there. Right now I just wanted to fuck her. And she wanted to fuck Tom. We were both about to get what we wanted.

I lowered myself onto her and looked into her eyes. Did she see me? Did she know me? I didn't know. I gently eased my cock into her, and she came instantly. Her eyes closed. Her back arched. And a long slow groan oozed out of her throat. I felt my cock being bathed in warm liquid. I looked down and saw a large puddle of her juices on the mattress. I hadn't taken a single stroke yet.

But now I did. I started stroking her long and hard. I was on top of her, hovering over her, taking long deliberate strokes with Tom's magnificent cock, using Tom's young, hard body. He had really taken care of himself. My arms felt like steel bands, and my legs like granite pillars. My rock hard body was rising and falling as I rhythmically stroked that young, huge, stiff cock in and out of my beautiful wife. It felt amazing. I was strong and virile, like I had been decades ago -- only better. I could feel every inch of my oversized cock moving in and out of Karen's tight cunt. Watching her squirming and writhing below me, thrashing her head back and forth, coming over and over, was more than I could have hoped for. It was, without question, the best sex of my life, and I was trying to make it last as long as as I could.

It didn't last, of course. Way sooner than I wanted, I could feel the tightening start in my calves, and begin it's inevitable climb upward. When I came, it was nothing like anything I had ever experienced. My already huge cock swelled to enormous size. Karen gasped below me and dug her nails into my shoulders.

"Uungh," I roared, as cum began spurting from Tom's amazing cock. My back arched, and I drove as far into Karen as I could. The orgasm seemed to go on forever. I couldn't believe how much cum there was. I could feel every blast traveling though my cock and spraying inside Karen. It was the most incredible feeling I had ever experienced. By the time my orgasm subsided Karen had passed out. I collapsed on top of her momentarily, then rolled onto my back, my softening cock pulling out of her with a noisy 'plop'.

I wondered whether it was just sex. Or if she was falling in love with Tom. That round of sex didn't feel like just sex. Was she thinking about me while she had sex with Tom? Or was she making love with Tom? I had no answers, and knew I never would. But I pulled Karen into my shoulder, sleeping and gently snoring in that oh, so familiar way. And I realized I didn't care. I was with Karen again, and all was right with the world.

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It took about two years of determined courtship, but I finally convinced Karen to marry me. Tom. Whatever. I don't know if I would have been successful, were it not for Tom's amazing cock. She had a hard time letting go of Rick, of course, but, as it turned out, an even harder time letting go of that magnificent cock. Karen had always been sexually voracious, and when we were younger our sex life was off the charts. But age had taken its toll. Our love hadn't diminished at all, but I had not for a while been able to care for her sexual needs the way that I should -- the way that I wanted to. The spirit was more than willing, but the flesh had become a bit weak.

But now I had this amazing second chance. I had this awesome body with this incredible cock, and I didn't waste a minute with it. Once Karen accepted me as a lover I was on top of and inside her at every opportunity. And if I wasn't quick enough, she would take charge. She really just couldn't get enough of Tom's cock. At every possible opportunity she had it in her hands, her mouth or her pussy. I never knew she was such a cock whore. I might have been jealous, except that it was now my cock that she was worshipping. And I delighted in every minute of it.