Queens

"My pleasure," said Jessie.

"Mine too," said Sue.

A month later, the men drove their wives to the restaurant and drove home with the other wife. The plan was to spend the weekend with each other's spouse, meet for brunch on Sunday morning and drive home with their own wife.

All four of them agreed later that it was a magical weekend.

Monday morning, Sue was at Jessie's for coffee when someone rang the doorbell. Jessie answered the door. It was the neighbor from across the street.

"Hi,," said Jessie. "Can I help you?"

"Do you have time to talk?" said the neighbor.

"We haven't met," said Jessie. She held out her hand. "Jessie," she said.

"Hi, I'm Anna," said the woman. "Glad to meet you."

"Come in," said Jessie. "Sue, my next door neighbor is here for coffee. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure," said Anna. "I can speak with both of you."

Jessie led Anna into the kitchen and introduced Sue. While she poured Anna another cup of coffee, Sue and Anna exchanged greetings.

Jessie gave Anna her coffee and sat down while Anna added milk and sugar to her mug.

Anna took a sip of coffee. "This is good. You have to tell me the brand," she said.

After a short pause, Anna continued. "I don't mean to barge into your personal lives but I feel that I must share a few things with you."

"We're all ears," said Sue.

"It's a strange story," started Anna. "You see, your previous neighbors across the street were close friends of Steve, my husband, and mine. A month and a half ago, they decided to sell the house to move closer to their daughter and her children."

"I saw the for sale sign," said Jessie. "But I didn't know the reason."

"Well," continued Anna. "Steve and I really liked the house and the neighborhood so we bid on it and they offered it to us. Last month they invited us over to familiarize us with the house and to take whatever measurements we needed before the closing. One thing led to another and Steve and I spent the night in their guest room.

"I'm an early riser and, that Saturday morning, I was up very early and looking out the upstairs bedroom window before sunrise. I saw something interesting that I probably wasn't supposed to see. I saw two people scampering across the lawn between this house and the house next door. The light wasn't very good but I think one of the people was you, Sue and the other one was probably your husband."

Sue looked at me. I knew exactly what she was thinking. "Shit."

"The interesting thing was, neither of you appeared to be wearing clothing," Anna concluded.

"Fuck," both of us thought.

"Anyway," continued Anna. "It was curious but it didn't mean much to me so I forgot about it and didn't mention it to anyone. That is, until this weekend. Steve and I closed on the house on Friday morning. We moved a few essentials into the house immediately, like a bed, some clothing and some kitchen supplies. I spent the day cleaning the place for the rest of the furniture which was scheduled for last Saturday.

"Late Friday afternoon, I noticed you, Jessie and your husband leave in your car, probably to go out to dinner. A few minutes later, Sue and her husband left their home. 'A coincidence?' I wondered remembering the dawn event of a month ago. Anyway, I went about my business and about two hours later both of you returned home, only neither of you was with your own husband."

Anna paused, waiting for some response. When none came, she continued. "That was strange and I wondered if I was witnessing some deeply personal relationship. We moved in Saturday and the rest of the day was pretty hectic getting everything in its place.

"As I said, I'm an early riser and I had been up for hours when I again saw each of you couples leave your houses for what I assumed was Sunday breakfast. Each of you was still with the other one's husband and the picture cleared considerably when you returned hours later in the same cars as your husbands."

Anna paused again. Jessie and Sue knew they were deep in, over their heads and neither had the least idea on how to handle it.

"Anna," said Jessie. "You're a remarkably observant woman."

"You're not going to deny what I think I saw?" asked Anna.

"Would it do any good?" Jessie responded.

"Actually," said Anna. "Your secret is safe with me. I've not told anyone what I saw or what I suspect. No one, and I don't intend to. However, I do have a question?"

Sue and Jessie tensed not knowing what Anna was going to ask.

"Would you like to meet my husband?"