Village Lesbians

The village of Marston-on-the-Green was one of those quintessential English villages, situated in the home counties about forty miles north of London, and about five miles from the nearest town. It had all the usual village essentials, notably its church which could trace its history back well over seven hundred years, a combined shop and Post Office which also had a solitary petrol pump outside and the public house, The Fox and Hounds, which could trace its history back even further than the church. Its main asset though was the huge village green from which the village took its name and on which in the summer months of years gone by, cricket matches would be played between various teams of landed gentry from the surrounding villages on Sunday afternoons.

It was also the sort of village where everybody knew everybody else, and lots of people knew everyone else's business...or thought they did! Most people had lived in the village all of their lives, or like me, had married someone from the village and moved in.

I was a relative newcomer according to some in the village and had lived there during most of the nineteen fifties, through the swinging sixties and into the seventies. I was forty-five years old; my husband was born and brought up in the village but had sadly passed away when my only daughter was three years old. She too had grown up in the village but had married and now lived in the nearby town and I was now a doting grandmother of a two-month-old granddaughter.

Newcomers were often a subject of conversation with the various village gossips trying to outdo each other to find out all they could about the new interloper. Jenny Carrington was the latest addition to the village and had recently moved to the village with her daughter Lisa. Tongues were wagging fast and furiously as she had moved into a small cottage round the corner from me opposite the pub and there was no man in her life, and more importantly, no ring on her finger either!

I can well remember the first day that I met Lisa and Jenny. It was just after twelve o'clock on a warm Sunday lunchtime back in June 1976. It was on the twentieth to be exact and just before the start of what was to be two months of continuous hot weather in the UK, which in turn led to a drought in August of that year.

I was returning home from my usual Sunday visit to Church. As I turned the corner back into the street where my cottage was, I could see the pair of them waiting at the bus stop which was almost opposite my gate.

At first sight, I presumed Lisa to be around fourteen or fifteen years of age. She was not very tall, around four feet ten inches in height and she was wearing a dark blue jacket, not unlike a school uniform blazer and which was fastened with two buttons, a blue and white check dress, nude hosiery and black Mary Jane shoes. She had blond collar length hair which had a slight curl at the ends, and she wore a large straw hat with a blue band around the rim. She also had brilliant blue eyes and wore a pair of gold rimmed spectacles. She was standing next to her mother and as I approached, she moved closer and stood behind her.

Jenny on the other hand was a smart slim attractive brunette in her late thirties. She was around five feet seven inches tall with naturally curly hair which was a similar length to Lisa's, and she was dressed in a smart summer dress and white high heeled shoes.

"Good Morning!" I said cheerily as I reached the bus stop. "It looks as though it's going to be another scorcher today!"

"Good morning, yes it does, doesn't it, and they say it will get hotter during the middle of the week," said Jenny.

"I know," I said. "Still I'd rather have this than rain!"

Little did I know then that a couple of months later we would be crying out for it!

Lisa was standing quietly clutching the strap of a small brown shoulder bag which was on her right shoulder. She was looking down at the ground but every now and then, I would catch sight of her looking towards me. If our gaze met, she would quickly look away and down again.

"Hello," I said to her. "Are you enjoying the nice weather too?"

Lisa said nothing and continued looking down at the pavement.

"Say hello to the nice lady, Lisa," said her mother.

Still there was no response.

"She can be like this sometimes," said Jenny. "There are times when she can talk for England and then when you want her to shut up, she doesn't, and yet another time when you want her to talk, she'll come across all shy."

"Children are like that sometimes," I said. "My Caroline was the same when she was your daughter's age. She could be very quiet, moody even, then when she turned sixteen, she became a different person. She's married now with a young baby so I suppose she will have the same issues with my granddaughter as I did with her."

"Lisa is older than that," said Jenny. "She will be twenty in September this year."

I was quite surprised to hear that, given her height, mode of dress, and the fact that she had nothing of any size visible in the breast department, hence my mistaking her for a younger schoolgirl.

Lisa has a height impediment," Jenny added in a low voice so that Lisa couldn't hear her. "She'll never grow any taller and it's so difficult to get adult clothes in her size that most of the time she wears young teenager's clothes. Lots of people think she's ten years younger!"

We stood chatting about nothing in particular for a few minutes until the bus came and they boarded, and I crossed the road to my cottage. The following week, Lisa and Jenny were there once more and over the next couple of weeks Jenny opened up a little more to me. She was thirty-nine years old and was a single mum. She had had one brief drunken encounter when she was eighteen with her boss after a Christmas party and Lisa had been the result. He was a married man who had two grown up children at the time. He had made sure that both Jenny and Lisa were both well provided for and they were always impeccably turned out in smart summer dresses whenever I saw them.

As a child, Lisa had also suffered from behaviour problems and had mild learning difficulties which resulted in her being taken into a children's home for much of her young life. She was now considered 'well enough' to be allowed to live at home with Jenny but would be collected by a special minibus to attend a Day Centre during the week to enable Jenny to go to work. Every Sunday they would catch the bus to visit her grandmother in the nearby town and have lunch with her.

When the bus arrived, we would say our goodbyes. Often Lisa would say nothing, although she did manage a little wave on one occasion as the bus set off and I waved back to her. I would often think about the pair of them. Life could not have been easy for Jenny especially having to cope with her daughter's issues and with her being taken into care at a young age.

About a month after we first met, the local council installed a seat at the bus stop in memory of a village resident who had passed away earlier in the year. I came past one Sunday lunchtime and Lisa was sitting on it, swinging her legs back and forth and with her hands either side of her on the front of the leading bar while Jenny stood at the bus stop looking out for the bus. I said my usual greeting to them both and stood talking to Jenny. Once or twice, Lisa would give me a glance and then look down again.

We had been talking for about five minutes when I noticed Lisa looking at me. A wry smile came over her lips and she grabbed the front of her dress with both hands and pulled it right back a few inches and then raised her arms almost to shoulder height, whilst still clutching the hem of her dress. Had she not been wearing her jacket, I was convinced that it may well have gone higher. It was the same dress I had first seen her in and the one which had made me think it was a school uniform at the time.

Jenny had her back to her and didn't see what happened but the sight of her doing this made me forget what I was talking about. I had barely a second or two to register the sight; I could see she had a white petticoat on as some of this was also caught up in the underside of her dress. She also had nude hold up stockings on and I just caught sight of a pair of white pants tucked snugly against her crotch before the petticoat slipped from her grasp and covered everything. She let the dress back down and smiled smugly at me. I quickly regained my composure.

"Is everything all right, Helen?" Jenny asked.

"Yes, I'm fine thanks," I said. "Nothing to worry about. Now, where was I?"

I didn't have time to think about what I had been talking about as the bus turned the corner at that moment. Lisa slid off the seat and brushed the front of her dress straight and joined her mum at the stop. I watched as they boarded and waved as the bus set off up the street. Lisa waved back frantically until it disappeared round the bend in the road.

I went back into my cottage, the sight that I had just seen etched on my mind. I put it down as part of Lisa's problems and wondered if I should tell Jenny the next time that I saw her. After all, I thought if she did it to me, she might do it to anyone. On the other hand, I didn't want to stir anything up. Jenny hadn't seen it; Lisa might deny it and that could be the end of our blossoming friendship. Nothing was said the next time we met, and Lisa just sat on the seat swinging her legs as normal.

The months rolled on and the heatwave eventually gave way to much needed rain and cooler weather. Whenever I saw Lisa she would now be in a long blue mackintosh, always fully buttoned from the collar to the knee, however she still wore the straw hat and carried the brown shoulder bag. Jenny's outfits too had become more Autumnal.

I came round the corner one Sunday in early October and there was no sign of either of them at the bus stop. I thought nothing about it at the time as Jenny had said that on the first Sunday of each month Lisa's father would collect her in his car and take her to his house for Sunday lunch instead before going to visit her mother for tea later on.

I went home and made some lunch and had just washed up afterwards when there was a knock on the door. I opened it and was surprised to find Jenny and Lisa standing on the doorstep. Jenny looked a little flustered whilst Lisa just stood staring at the ground as usual.

"Oh Helen, thank goodness you're in," said Jenny. "I wonder if you would mind keeping an eye on Lisa for a couple of hours, you see my mum had to go into hospital on Friday morning and I need to take a few things in ready for when she comes out," she added indicating to a small suitcase she was carrying, together with her handbag and another smaller red holdall.

"I can only visit between three and four o'clock and Lisa doesn't like hospitals as it reminds her of some of the visits we had when she was younger," Jenny continued, her voice in a low whisper. "She played up a bit when I said we were going."

"Yes of course I will," I said. "It will be a pleasure. What is wrong with your mum, is it anything serious?"

"No, just a minor operation, she'll be out tomorrow afternoon. I will tell you about it later only I need to get the bus at ten past two. Lisa's dad is away this weekend otherwise he would have had her. I have packed a bag with some things in, some drawing books, and a sketch pad and there are some pencils in there for her to use. Lisa loves things like that, she is very artistic. Oh, and I have packed a clean pair of pants as well, just in case she...well, you know! There's a small towel and some talcum powder too"

Jenny handed me the small red holdall and I had a quick look inside. I could see everything she had mentioned including a smaller white drawstring bag containing the pair of white pants and the other personal items she had mentioned.

"She might need a bit of help if she does have to change," Jenny added quietly. "She usually wears hold up stockings, but I've had to put her in tights today and she sometimes gets a bit flustered with them.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'll keep an eye on her. You'd better go and get your bus, it's nearly ten past two already. They usually run very well to time on Sundays, and you don't want to miss it as there isn't another one for an hour. Lisa will be fine with me, won't you Lisa?"

Lisa said nothing and continued to stare at the ground.

"Yes, I will," said Jenny.

She stepped forward and gave Lisa a kiss on the cheek.

"Now you be good for Helen, and I'll be back on the bus that gets here just before five o'clock," she said. She turned towards the gate and waved as she went. Lisa looked up and gave a small wave back.

"Right!" I said when she was out of sight. "Shall we go upstairs and wave to your mum? You can see the bus stop from the spare bedroom on the front."

Lisa gave a half shrug of her shoulders and followed me inside and I closed the door behind her. I put the holdall down at the bottom of the stairs.

"This way!" I said, heading up the stairs. "We can take your hat and coat off once your mum has gone and then we can decide what we are going to do. We can see if there is a good film on the television or you can do some drawing. Whatever you wish!"

We went into the spare bedroom and Lisa ran past me to the big bay window where she could now see her mum waiting at the bus stop opposite. She stood clutching the strap of her bag and every so often Jenny would turn round and look up at us. Lisa would give a little wave and Jenny would smile back at her. I stood behind her and it was not long until the bus drew up. We saw Jenny get on and she waved at us as the bus went by. Lisa and I waved also, almost in unison until it went along round the bend in the road and out of sight.

"What shall we do then?" I said once the bus had gone and Lisa had stopped waving.

Lisa turned and brushed past me and sat on the large double bed behind me swinging her legs back and forth for a few moments as she had done on the seat at the bus stop many times. I looked at her for a moment but before I could say anything, she flopped back with her legs dangling over the side, holding her bag close to her chest. Her hat fell back onto the bed behind her, and she looked up at me and grinned.

I stood and looked at her for a few moments, trying hard not to laugh. She sat up again and put the bag next to her on the bed. In a flash her hands went to the hem of her coat and she pulled it backwards and upwards together with everything else she had underneath it and flashed her knickers at me as she had done at the bus stop some weeks previously, the only difference this time was that they were covered by the nylon gusset of her tights. I could see that they were white but once again I had only had a few brief seconds to take in the scenario before they were covered up again. The image was now fixed in my mind; Lisa lay back, staring up at me, with the same smug grin on her face, as I looked at her in disbelief. Somehow, I managed to find some composure and sat down on the bed beside her with my hands on my lap.

"Lisa!" I said quite firmly. "That was not very ladylike, now was it? Young ladies shouldn't do that sort of thing, it's not right and proper to show your underwear like that!"

For a moment I forgot that I was talking to a twenty-year-old adult and was talking to her as though she were a five-year-old child. She turned slightly onto her right side with her elbow on the bed and propped her head against her right hand, pushing her glasses slightly upwards and to one side, still grinning at me. My resistance was starting to crumble, and I found it hard not to laugh.

"What would your mother say if she knew?" I said, "I don't think she would be very impressed, do you?"

"She would tell me off like you just did," said Lisa.

There was no way I was seriously going to do that or be angry with her, or even to tell Jenny what she had just done, and I just put it down to her behaviour issues.

"I should think so too!" I said. "Come on, enough of this. Let us get this coat off and go back downstairs and find something to do."

Lisa flopped back onto the bed and pushed her glasses straight and put her arms behind her head. She started swinging her legs again and it became clear to me that I was going to have to do all the work. I leaned across and started to unfasten the buttons on her coat and she watched as I did them. As I unfastened the third button, my hand accidentally brushed against her left breast and I heard her give out a little sigh.

"Sorry," I said blushing slightly.

Lisa said nothing and I continued with the rest of the buttons until I had unfastened them all and pulled the two parts of the coat apart. Underneath, she wore a dark green velveteen dress with a white lace Peter Pan collar. It was slightly rucked up round the hem from where she had pulled it back a few minutes before. I looked at it in awe.

"Gosh, I like this!" I said, running my hands over the smooth material. "This is lovely."

"Daddy brought it for my birthday a few weeks ago," she said.

"He has good taste!" I said.

I could not resist gently running my hands over the front of her dress. For the first time, I could see that she had two small, shallow breasts and each time I brushed against one of them, I heard her give a small sigh. My mind went back to a few minutes before when she had flashed me and given me a show of her knickers through her tights and I was tempted to pull the front of her dress back for a second look but decided against it. I did not want her going home and telling Jenny any tales and breaking her confidence in me.

"Come on, sit up!" I said, and for once Lisa obeyed me and shrugged her arms free from the coat sleeves.

I could now see the dress in its entirety. It was long sleeved and had lace around the end of each cuff which matched that of the collar. It certainly suited her and as her blond hair had grown a couple of inches over her collar since I had first met her, it made her look quite grown up, despite her size.

"Move your backside so that I can fold your coat up!" I said.

Lisa stood up for a moment while I folded her coat and put it behind me on the bed. I leaned across and picked up her hat and bag and laid them on top.

"We can leave those there out of the way until your mum comes," I added. "That really is a nice dress, Lisa. I can see how well it hangs now you are standing up!"

I pulled the hem straight and the dress dropped back into its normal position and was just long enough to cover her knees. I was about to stand up when Lisa came and sat down next to me on the bed again and threw her arms round my waist, resting her head against my left shoulder.

"What's all this?" I said, putting my left arm around her and giving her a squeeze.

"I like you; I think you're lovely!" said Lisa squeezing me in return.

"I like you too!" I said and tickled her under the chin with my other hand, just as I did with my baby granddaughter.

Lisa giggled, just as my granddaughter did. She seemed to be gaining more confidence in my presence and we were actually having a conversation of complete sentences instead of just a one-word answer. What she did next however took me completely by surprise. She let go of my waist and brought her left hand up to my right breast and gave it a firm squeeze, causing me to take a sharp inward breath.

"Oh!" she said. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, it's fine," I said. "You just took me a bit by surprise, that's all."

"I'll rub it better!" she said and started rubbing my breast through my jumper.

Her head was now resting against my other breast and I could feel the gentle movement, up and down or round and round. It was quite relaxing and soothing, and I was quite enjoying it so much that I did not have the heart to tell her she had caused me no discomfort at all!