The Uniform Ch. 03

Chapter 3: A Presentation

Naomi's uniform had long since been hung up in the back of her closet when the leaves of autumn started to appear.

"It's beginning to feel like fall," Naomi said to her husband one Friday morning in late October. They had both decided to take the day off from work, and were out for a walk to the neighborhood grocery store.

"What do you mean? Still feels warm to me," Luke replied.

"I think it's a little cooler."

Luke grunted a noncommittal reply, then noticed that some leaves had already dropped from a tree along the sidewalk. He hadn't noticed if their own yard had such natural "décor." Autumn was Luke's favorite season -- it always started warm and ended cool, but never extremely so in either case. There were also the pretty colors in the trees and sky, and the approaching holidays meant time off from work.

Yet autumn's one drawback was the yardwork requirement. Fall colors meant leaf blowing was coming soon -- and Luke and Naomi's property had its share of trees.

"Are the leaves falling at our house?" he asked Naomi. She tended to notice such things sooner than he.

"I think there are a few on the ground, but not a lot. I don't think you need to fire up the leaf blower just yet," came her reply.

"Okay."

They reached the store, gathered up a few provisions to cover their next few meals, and walked back home. Luke paused to survey their yard as they approached the front door.

"There's quite a few leaves down around that tree," Luke pointed out, gesturing at a maple near the end of the driveway. The gray concrete of the sidewalk was competing with the fallen yellow foliage for which color showed more at that particular patch.

"Yeah, but just that one. Nothing else has started dropping yet." Naomi said.

"Do you think I should do something about them?" Luke didn't want to bear the wrath of the neighborhood busy-bodies, as each homeowner was expected to keep their portion of the sidewalk clear.

"I think it's okay, Luke." Naomi was in favor of waiting until most, if not all, of the leaves on their property had dropped before going on a yard cleanup extravaganza.

"I don't know. I can rake this up real quick." Luke handed a bag of groceries to Naomi, expecting her to take it and go inside -- which is precisely what she did. As Luke rounded the corner outside the house and walked down the driveway to the garage, he imagined her stepping inside and digging right in to the food they had just bought. He was hungry too, but he didn't want to have to bother with this chore again for at least another week, and this would only take a few minutes.

He reached the garage, grabbed a rake from the corner and purposefully strode back to the end of the driveway. In very little time, a clear path began to emerge on the sidewalk.

As he often did during mundane tasks such as raking leaves, Luke allowed his mind to wander to many loosely-connected thoughts. It was therapeutic, he believed, to enjoy some solitary thinking every so often. And today, he found himself pondering his sex life.

It was fantastic, of course. He and his wife enjoyed the physical aspect of their relationship often. Rarely did a week go by without at least one horizontal encounter -- and those encounters also often featured vertical actions. Luke smiled at this thought. Sex while standing up was one of their favorite positions. He loved how his wife could just climb onto him and go to town, so to speak, while he felt her breasts slide up and down his chest as he grabbed and squeezed her supple backside.

And then there was the uniform. It had only been put to use once, and Luke had begun wondering when it would make an appearance again. After all, it had been two months since Naomi wore it. Indeed, that night had been incredible, and, as is the nature of most men, Luke was eager to play with it again. Since that night, he had spent considerable time thinking about things he would like to try during future role-playing encounters with his wife, and now, as he raked leaves, he felt he had a pretty good idea for a role if Naomi were to let him be in charge during a future act.

Yet Luke was not one to ask Naomi to put it on. No, this was Naomi's idea, so to her he yielded all control of it. Luke knew from his experience in the Army that getting into those uniforms was no small task. To do it as accurately as Naomi had done that night last summer took some preparation, and he assumed that when she was ready to step into that role again, she would do so fully -- that is, all the details would be accounted for, and any deviations from the standard would be Naomi's intentional spin to make her appearance even more appealing. Yes, he would continue to quietly pine for another round of role-playing, but patience would have to persevere.

Luke stood up from the half-stooped position he had been in while raking. He rested his palms on the end of the rake handle and focused his vision on nothing in particular down the road. He remained like this for a minute or two, ostensibly to take a break but really just lost in the naughty thoughts of a man who enjoys a healthy sex life with his spouse.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and instinctively turned to look. There, in the dining room window, was his wife in a sports bra and undies, climbing up on the dining room table and reaching toward the light fixture. Luke remembered that one of the bulbs had burned out a few days ago, and he was supposed to replace it. He surmised that Naomi was 1) tired of having a dimly lit dining room, and 2) mildly guilty that she was inside while he labored outside, so she was finding things to do to feel better about herself. However, why she was doing this in her underwear -- in the dining room window -- baffled him.

Luke's head cocked to the side. He was enjoying the show, but he definitely didn't want anyone else to feel likewise. He glanced around the neighborhood to check for prying eyes, but seeing no one, quickly returned his eyes back to the dining room window. She would probably be done in just a few seconds, step down, and disappear from sight. But wow, she looked fabulous. Luke thought to himself how she can look great in anything: apparel specifically designed for sex appeal, like the uniform; work clothes; weekend sweats; or, in this case, simple white matching undergarments. He had a great view of her from his spot outside the house: her hair was down, ends just touching around the base of her neck. Her back was mostly turned toward him, showing her defined, broad shoulders tapering down into her trim midsection. A tight little bulge for her hips and posterior transformed seamlessly into her svelte thighs, and then, lower, her taut calf muscles suspended perfectly above her thin ankles. She was barefoot, and seemingly quite comfortable inside, oblivious to the potentially compromising position she had created for herself.

She probably didn't even know how hot she looked doing that, Luke thought as he watched her climb down off the table. He still couldn't fathom how she went from fully clothed a few minutes ago when she was outside, to barely dressed and changing a lightbulb, but he wouldn't complain. He quickly looked around the neighborhood again for nosy neighbors, and, still seeing none, started wrapping up his leaf cleanup. He would have to ask his about the interesting light-bulb-changing-attire later.

___________

Inside, Naomi walked into the living room with a mug of hot cocoa for the second time since she and Luke returned from the grocery store.

Moments ago, she had all the intentions of curling up on the couch underneath a blanket, and had gotten as far as shedding the majority of her clothing when a brief moment of guilt captured her. There she was, getting ready to loaf on the couch while her husband toiled outside. So she resisted the comfortable, beckoning couch and sought something productive to do.

Ah, she thought to herself, I can change the dining room lightbulb. It was a task fairly low on the list of priorities, but it needed to be done nonetheless and its simplicity made it all the more desirable in this moment.

As she sought the correct replacement bulb, Naomi wondered if she needed to put some clothes back on. The light fixture suspended from the ceiling; she would have to climb up on something to get to it. And the room had a large picture window that faced the street.

Now standing in the doorway, Naomi assessed the situation. She could see Luke outside raking leaves, but otherwise, it seemed no one was out. True, somebody looking out of a window in their own house and into this one would see her, but she thought that risk was remote. What were the chances someone in this neighborhood would be home on this weekday, and looking out their windows directly into this one at this precise moment? Besides, what she was considering doing was nowhere near as naughty as the romp through the garage she and her husband had staged a few months back -- with the roll-up door open.

She climbed up onto the table and changed the lightbulb. As she stepped down, she wondered if Luke had seen her. His raking had gone mysteriously quiet just as she had stepped up into view, but when she glanced out the window, he was not looking in her direction. Naomi padded back to the living room. Some guilt still lingered, but the hot cocoa called to her. It would now be at the perfect temperature for sipping.

Naomi got blissfully lost in her thoughts. First she pondered the hot cocoa, wondering if an extra marshmallow might help it next time. Then, more thoughts of food -- her next meal, more specifically -- entered her mind. Next, she found herself considering various projects for home improvement, which led her to think of a house she had seen on TV, which led her to think of TV shows in general, and how much time one could waste watching stuff of incredibly little importance. No, she much preferred an occasional, well-chosen movie from time to time. That was one of her favorite things to do with Luke. So relaxing to watch a movie after a long week of work. Well, that and having sex with him.

This led her to think about their sex life. It was good, but she wondered if Luke felt the same way. Their near-decade of married life had certainly been active, but Luke could still be occasionally tough to read for her. She didn't think he was unsatisfied with the frequency and quality of their congress, but she didn't feel sure that he considered it good. Frankly, she wanted him to think it was great. She knew Luke thought about sex often, as most men do -- his frequent humorous comments rife with innuendo made that much clear. But what did he really think about this aspect of their relationship? She had never asked him.

Was she over-thinking this? After all, she was half of this relationship, so her opinion was just as important, and he had never asked her what she thought of it...though she was quite happy. Spontaneous passion was not a problem for them -- with just a few exceptions, they had done it all over this house. And the uniform had been her idea, which had been an all-night home run that didn't land until late the following morning. No, their sex life was good, if not great. There was no way Luke would not agree.

Yet, in this moment, burrowed under a comforter on the living room couch, she contemplated ways to keep it good. She had a few ideas, but none of them felt as complete as the role-playing escapades that the uniform presented. It had been a few months since the one time she had put it on. This was by design: Naomi was sensitive to the idea that, if she were to wear it too often, its appeal was likely to dissipate. Despite how she had tailored the jacket and skirt, it was a military uniform at its core, and such apparel was not designed with sex in mind. There was no doubt in her mind that Luke loved it on her (or only partially on her, more likely), but she wanted to make sure it stayed that way. But on the other hand, she never intended for it to be a one-shot deal, and she didn't want Luke to think that was the case. Or worse, she didn't want him to forget about it through lack of its use.

These facts considered, she decided that it was time for the uniform to deploy again sometime soon.

She didn't know exactly when she would put it on, as that would be dictated best by the feel of the moment. Perhaps it would be later that night, or perhaps it would be another week or more. What she did know, however, was that this time, she was going to be of lower rank than Luke, and thus Luke would get to run the mission. She smiled at this thought, wondering if this would make him uncomfortable. Naomi knew that Luke liked it when she told him what to do in the bedroom -- or wherever -- but she wasn't as sure he'd be at ease barking out the orders. Well, she would soon find out. Her man being in charge, whether he liked it or not, had an appeal to it that she wanted to explore.

She finished the last sips of her cocoa, set the mug down on the coffee table and rose from the couch. Now removed from the warmth of her comforter, she caught a chill as she walked to the bedroom. Her bathrobe was on the bed, so she tied it on as she stepped into the closet and pulled aside all the other clothing that blocked her access to the Army jacket, shirt, and skirt hanging in the back corner. Naomi pulled the items down, holding them straight out in front of her.

She was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the uniform. Considering it hadn't been pressed since she last wore it, the ensemble looked mostly unscathed. All she needed to lower her rank, so to speak, was add some Army branch insignia to the jacket lapel, and swap out the rank on the shoulders of the jacket and on the epaulets of the button-down shirt. In fact, once she made the proper adjustments, this uniform would become more accurate than what she had worn when playing the General: the black bands around the cuffs of the jacket, normally wider for General Officers, were the correct width for an officer of lower rank.

It was funny to her, how quickly she had figured out this uniform stuff. When she first found the old Army regulations governing the proper wear of this now out-of-date uniform, she had been overwhelmed at all the requirements. Now, however, it all seemed pretty straightforward. Trade out some pins here and there, and all of a sudden, "General Naomi" became "Captain Naomi, U.S. Army Cavalry." Naomi liked the sound of that as she began making the changes. An accomplished competitor on the horse riding three-day eventing circuit, Naomi smiled at the irony: here she was playing a cavalry officer, while her husband had actually been a cavalry officer who never came near a horse for any of his work in the modern-day Army.

The back door opened just as Naomi made her final adjustments. She quickly re-hung everything back where it had been, stashed the now-removed general's stars in a box that had previously contained the rank and branch insignia now pinned to the uniform, stepped out of the closet and quickly exited the bedroom. She rounded the corner into the kitchen, where she, still in her robe, met her husband. "How'd it go out there?" she asked him.

___________

Luke stepped inside and immediately noticed the difference in temperature. Indeed, it was beginning to feel like fall, if not winter. He glanced at his wife as he strode to the kitchen sink to wash his hands, mumbling something about the leaves being picked up as he passed by. As he started the faucet, he wondered if he had been too gruff with his response. Sometimes he didn't have much to say, and his dialogue reflected as much. The problem, of course, was nearly universal in relationships: the partner construes a terse response as an indication that something is wrong. In actuality, as was the case here, nothing was amiss. Luke simply wanted to wash his hands and continue on with the day.

So he looked up as he washed his hands and elaborated with the first thing that came to mind. "It's definitely getting cooler out there. I bet the rest of the leaves will drop soon, and I'll be out there again doing the same exact thing in a few days."

"Thanks for cleaning them up," Naomi replied, then asked, "So what do you wanna do now?"

"I don't know. Lunch? I have a bunch of paperwork I need to sort through." Naomi and Luke had identified this date on the calendar a few weeks ago as a day they would stay home from work to catch up on household matters.

"Lunch sounds good," said Naomi, and they ran through a number of choices before finally finding something that they both wanted -- again, another nearly universal yet easily-overcome problem in relationships.

Luke retreated to the home office after they were done eating, busying himself in a sea of documents that had piled up over the months since they had moved to their house. He settled into a productive groove, forgetting about the interesting view of his wife he had observed while outside. He trusted that Naomi was busy herself, though he had little idea with what, and opted to leave her alone. Plenty of time for relaxation and conversation later, once their respective tasks for the day were complete.

___________

Naomi spent the majority of her afternoon in the bedroom, working on her laptop. It was amazing, the amount of work she could get done when not at work, with no one stepping into her office to tell her the latest irrelevant stories. She enjoyed most of the people she worked with, but she also truly valued her ability to work from anywhere, as that was sometimes the only way she could get stuff done. This afternoon, she reviewed three documents proposing new technologies for the company to invest in, created a presentation to brief investors on the company's latest accomplishments, and sent a flurry of emails to respond to, and calm, a number of senior managers and junior staff members, most of whom were having overly dramatic reactions to minor topics. In her position, the skill to manage up was just as important as managing down.

Naomi sometimes wondered if there might be better organizations out there for her employment. Well, she didn't wonder -- she knew there were more effective and efficient organizations, but the company she was with had cool products and a good focus on work-life balance, which was something she highly valued for her career. She knew herself well enough to know that she was a much more effective leader and worker when she had a sense of balance to her life.

Yet, just like anyone else who works, there were aspects of the job that drove her crazy. Like Yo, for example. Overall, Yo was one of the better workers on Naomi's team, but there had been more than a handful of times when her misinterpretations of other people's words had required Naomi's intervention. This was certainly nothing about which Naomi would complain, but it was tiring to deal with nonetheless.

She set the laptop down next to her on the bed and rubbed her eyes. Having completed all the tasks she had set for herself for the day, she had reached her stopping point. She turned her head and, feeling a tightness in her neck, quietly chastised herself for not getting up and moving around a bit more while working.

As she stretched out the kink, her gaze fell to the closet. She could see the sleeve of the uniform jacket poking out, barely visible in the back corner where she had quickly stashed it earlier in the day. Her mind returned to a more pleasant thought: should today be the uniform's second ride?

It was Friday, after all. If Luke and Naomi ended up staying awake late tonight -- or even into the early hours of the morning -- oh well. She wondered if Luke was feeling amorous. He didn't seem like it earlier today, but time and again had proven that he would fire up just about any time she initiated something, as long as it wasn't when he was about to fall asleep. Naomi could hear him shuffling paper in the home office, as he had been all afternoon. Usually, when he was diligently working on something like that, he wasn't easily distracted until he considered his work complete. Can I change that paradigm, in this instance? she wondered.