Was I First?

Was I First?

By

LittleOneWon

CH 01

Roland Wilson, who's known as Rollie, and his wife, Ann, have a son named Randy. Charlie and Mandy Nestle have a daughter named Marie. The parents became related by law when Randy and Marie were joined in marriage. As of now, there are no grandchildren.

Both parental couples were in their upper thirties when they were blessed with their child and as of today, both couples are newly retired.

Ann and Rollie had never met Charlie and Mandy before their children started dating. After their kids tied the knot, the parents became good friends. Out of necessity, they attended lots of family functions together; but they also began voluntarily socializing as couples.

They found themselves spending many hours together. They dined together at numerous restaurants. They attended plays and musicals, cheered at sporting events, and watched movies in theaters and on TV.

Everything was going fine until Mandy's behavior began to change. She became forgetful and argumentative, especially with Charlie. As she continued to deteriorate, Charlie finally convinced her to get medical attention. She was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, better known as FTD.

Their time together began to dwindle. Mandy gradually lost her ability to socialize. She became both vocally and physically abusive to Charlie. Needless to say, Ann and Rollie tried to maintain their relationship with Charlie and Mandy, but Mandy continued to go downhill, and eventually, she was confined to a nursing home. She continued to deteriorate there even though she was getting the best medical attention available. Before two years had passed, she didn't recognize Rollie and Ann when they came to visit her. Shortly thereafter, Charlie tearfully admitted that she no longer recognized him.

Charlie was beside himself in agony. He was losing the love of his life to something he couldn't understand. He was reluctant to accept that she didn't know who he was. They were both in hell, but at least she didn't know it. He could feel a destructive fire lapping at his soul. When he thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. His daughter left too.

She left kicking and screaming, but she had to go. She cried uncontrollably when she had to leave her mom and dad sitting together in that depressing room in that dark place.

It was one of those good-but-ill-timed events that often occur in life. Randy had been promoted and transferred by the company he worked for. The couple would be leaving the Midwest and relocating to New York. It was a big promotion that would mean fewer financial concerns for them, but the family separation would be hard to take.

Marie knew that it would be difficult to get back for visits with her folks. She knew it might not happen until her mom died. There were tears in many eyes as the kids left to embrace their relocated life together. Everyone joined Marie in suspecting that when they returned, it would be to attend Mandy's funeral.

It was two weeks before Christmas when Marie and Randy returned. It was, indeed, to say their final goodbyes to Mandy. After the funeral, the kids tried to get Charlie to join them in New York. He insisted that he couldn't take another change in his life just then. He promised to consider it later.

Rollie and Ann had been inviting Charlie over for meals as well as for some limited socializing ever since Mandy entered the nursing home. Now those invitations increased as they began to encourage Charlie to reclaim his interest in life.

Charlie followed their advice and began a reevaluation of his present circumstances. He realized that he needed to move on. He remembered spending quite a bit of time singing before he married Mandy. Back then, he had an exceptional voice. He sang in the church choir and performed solos for weddings and funerals. He even spent some time singing with a local band. He gave that all up after he shouldered the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood. He still had a good voice. He still loved to sing.

He located a voice coach and began taking lessons. As he progressed, his coach began booking him for parties and various other functions. Charlie's voice was still very melodious and he became somewhat popular locally.

Rollie and Ann attended most of Charlie's performances. He was good but he was upset that he couldn't find a band to sing with. He had to use karaoke background music during his appearances. Sometimes it was hard to find karaoke music for the songs he wanted to sing. Some of the ones that he did find were not to his liking. Most importantly, he considered singing along with recorded background music to be unseemly and unprofessional.

Charlie knew that Ann had played piano when she was younger. She had kept her piano and played for her own amusement throughout her adult life. Charlie had heard her play and knew that she was a better-than-average pianist.

He began bringing sheet music with him when he visited the Wilsons. He and Ann always managed to perform a few songs together. One evening he brought a spanking new Korg keyboard with him. Ann was super impressed with it. He told her it was hers if she would agree to begin appearing with him as his accompanist. She agreed to that on the spot.

After Charlie left, Ann realized that she had made her decision without consulting her husband. Perhaps that's why he went to bed without a word to her right after Charlie left.

At breakfast, she apologized for not including Rollie in her decision. She pointed out that they already attended most of Charlie's appearance, so she didn't see any conflict. The only difference would be her presence on stage instead of in the audience. There was a side benefit too. She would be making some extra money which would come in handy.

Charlie was a different person on stage after Ann joined him. She replaced his stilted karaoke background recordings with piano music designed to complement his voice. No longer did he have to search for songs with a karaoke version. Now Ann designed her accompaniment around his voice. The difference was immense. They began spending many hours together practicing and performing.

Before long, Charlie started taking bookings that took them to other towns and even other states. Rollie enjoyed hearing them and he continued to attend all of their performances. He watched as they steadily improved and became more and more popular. Charlie was finally living again and Ann appeared to be rejuvenated too.

As Charlie and Ann found a new purpose in life, Rollie began to feel left out. After pondering his feelings, he decided to revive an interest that had served him well back in the day. He would renew his passion for magic. He would, once again, become an amateur magician.

He was thinking that perhaps he could become part of the show. Maybe he could do his magic when Charlie and Ann took their breaks. He knew, however, that there were lots of new tricks and illusions that he needed to master. Also, better equipment was available along with updated presentation techniques. For those reasons, he found a recently retired magician and signed up for some tutoring.

All three of them were overjoyed on the night that they appeared together for the first time. It was at a party with lots of young kids present. Rollie was a very good magician and he made a big hit. You might even say that he stole the show. He was a natural and he loved doing magic. Very soon he joined his wife and Charlie as he turned the corner from amateur to professional status. He got paid, just like they did! He was so happy and enthused that he failed to see the displeasure that began appearing on Charlie's face.

CH 02

As time passed, appearing together didn't happen very often for the three of them. Rollie was being booked for school events, birthday parties, and other such functions. Rollie's bookings soon exceeded those of Charlie and Ann. Still, Rollie attended as many of Ann's appearances as he could. In turn, she saw most of his magic shows.

As both acts became more popular and their bookings increased, their performances began showing time conflicts. For the first time, performances by Charlie and Ann often didn't find Rollie in the audience. Likewise, his performances were not attended by his wife and Charlie as much either. Before they knew it, they seldom saw each other perform. The main exception was at venues where both acts were featured.

One such venue was a private party. Charlie and Ann went on first. The party host introduced them by saying, "Tonight, we have Ann and Charlie Nestle to bring us some good music, followed by their good friend, Rollie Wilson, who will baffle us with his magic." Upon hearing that introduction, Rollie glanced at Ann. She gave him a halting smile while shrugging her shoulders. She, like Charlie, made no effort to correct the host. It hit Rollie like a ton of bricks.

After that, Rollie began to notice some other things that had escaped his attention previously. Little things, like some unusual touching between his wife and his friend during their practice sessions and some laughing at things that they failed to share with him. Also, at the end of their performances, Charlie would motion for Ann to stand up. After she was standing, she would walk toward him and he would put an arm around her waist and give her a quick kiss. Rollie had always dismissed it as a part of their act, but now he was not so sure. No wonder that party host assumed that Charlie and Ann were husband and wife!

Through all of this, however, the sex life that he shared with Ann didn't suffer in any way. When they were home together, she was as attentive as ever in every way. If anything, she became even more adventurous.

He remembered one night when she was riding him cowgirl. It was something they did often. He liked seeing her tits bounce. Unlike ever before, she suddenly turned around and continued riding him but facing away. When he questioned her about it afterward, she said it was called "reverse cowgirl" and she just wanted to try it.

Another time, she asked him if he had ever thought about anal sex. He told her that he didn't see what she would get out of it. It had to be a painful experience for the woman. That hole was not designed for two-way traffic. She surprised him by revealing that she had bought some lubricant to make it less painful. She told him that the pleasure should outweigh the pain.

Both of those things became a regular part of their sexual activities, but not before he asked her where those ideas came from. She told him that sometimes Charlie reminisced about making love to Mandy. "He mentioned doing those things and how much they enjoyed them. He made them sound so good that I thought we should give them a try."

Rollie said, "I can't believe that you and Charlie spend your time talking about sex! Do you tell him about what we do together?"

She answered, "We've only discussed sex a very few times. He's the one that starts the conversation. I don't object since I think that he needs to embrace those memories of Mandy. He gets into more detail than I like, and I'll admit that some of his stories make me uncomfortable, but I never tell him about us. I think that he would consider what we do to be drab and unimaginative. Anyway, I ignore most of what he says but a few things catch my attention. The anal thing and the reverse cowgirl position are a couple of cases in point."

"Ann, I don't think you should encourage him when he starts talking about sex. It's a step too far for a happily-married woman to allow." She said that she never encouraged him to talk about sex and that she would never let it lead to anything other than talk. She told him to quit worrying about it.

CH 03

Then came the time when Rollie suddenly began having nosebleeds. He went to a specialist who cauterized several places in his nose and prescribed a spray to use for any unexpected bleeding. Rollie kept the spray with him at all times.

It had been months since the three of them were booked at the same venue until both acts were featured at the state fair. They reserved rooms at a hotel near the fairgrounds.

On the evening that they arrived, they ate together at a restaurant called "Harps," which was located adjacent to their hotel, The food was good, so they decided to skip the hotel-provided breakfast and eat at Harps again the next morning.

When morning came, Rollie got another one of his nosebleeds. He used the spray but he was still experiencing some intermittent trickles of blood. He told Ann that he didn't want to risk going to Harps. He said it would be better to just get the hotel-furnished breakfast and bring it back to the room.

Ann said, "But we promised Charlie to have breakfast with him at Harps."

Hearing her say that, Rollie bristled. He couldn't believe that she was ignoring his bleeding! Instead of commiserating with him, she was worrying about a previous arrangement with Charlie. Expressing his anger, his voice rose as he said, "You can go with him if that's your choice, but I'm going to try bringing some coffee and a roll back to the room where I can keep an ice bag on my nose. I need to get this stopped before my performances."

"Ok, Rollie. That sounds like a good plan."

Saying that, she walked out the door. Rollie was flabbergasted! What was happening to their marriage?

Right after she left the room, Rollie heard a loud squeaky noise. He knew what it was. He had heard that noise coming from Charlie's door when they were bringing in his luggage. Charlie's room was right across from theirs. That noise told him that his wife had just entered Charlie's room.

Fifteen minutes later, he heard the squeak again. Then he heard his wife and Charlie laughing in the hallway as they left to have breakfast together.

As Rollie continued to ice his nose, he began remembering something else that had bothered him.

The three of them drove Charlie's car to this first stop on their respective tours. After this fair appearance, Charlie and Ann would continue driving it and Rollie would get a rental for the rest of his appearances. Anyway, while they were together, Rollie was sharing the driving chores with Charlie.

It turned out that when Charlie was driving, Ann sat in the front passenger seat and "navigated" for him. When it was time to change drivers, she vacated the passenger seat and sat in the back with Charlie. Rollie had to do his own navigating. He tried adjusting the rearview mirror to see what was going on in the backseat, but he made no discoveries.

Later, when he complained to Ann about her one-sided navigating, she said that she was helping Charlie make some changes to a few song lists that needed to be updated. The only time they could do that was when Charlie wasn't driving.

Rollie's thoughts were interrupted when heard that squeaking noise again. They had been gone for over an hour. Then, twenty minutes went by before he heard that noise once more followed immediately by Ann entering the room and asking about his nose. He was furious, but he didn't say a word to her.

She handed him a foam box containing some eggs, bacon, and grits. He sampled the food. Then he got up and threw the box into the waste basket.

She was taken aback. "Why did you do that?" she screamed.

"Because the food was as cold as ice," he countered.

"I'm sorry, Rollie," she muttered. "We stopped to make some last-minute changes to today's performance schedule. I should have microwaved the food for you. I got you grits because they have such good ones and I know how much you love them. My bad. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean by 'you stopped?' Where did you stop long enough to let food in an insulated container get cold?" he yelled.

She admitted that they had stopped in Charlie's room. She explained that the changes took longer than she had anticipated.

At that point, he told her that he didn't have a fair show to do until late afternoon so he was going to stay in the room and keep icing his nose until then. He would take the hotel shuttle when he was ready since it stopped at the fairgrounds.

She told him she was sorry that he couldn't go with them. As she walked out the door, she insisted that he give her a call when he was ready to leave so she could drive back to get him. He didn't get a chance to tell her that there wasn't a chance in hell for that.

After she left, he found her luggage and for the first time in their married life, he searched it for signs of infidelity. He gave special attention to the sack of soiled underwear. He finished his search with only one discovery, he found a key card!

He wondered why she would keep a key card in her luggage. On a whim, he walked across the hall to Charlie's room and gave the card a try. It opened the door!

Eureka! He entered the room and searched through every drawer and piece of luggage. Not a single nook or a cranny escaped his search. He came up empty. There was no incriminating evidence in Charlie's room.

Back in his room, he called his son. They talked for nearly a half hour. After that, he called the State Fair office and informed them that he was forced to cancel all of his shows due to persistent nosebleeds.

The bleeding was getting worse so he called the front desk and told them he needed to get medical attention. He immediately found himself in a wheelchair heading to a private shuttle that took him to the ER. They packed his nose and gave him some pills to reduce his high blood pressure and settle his nerves.

He asked them if he would be able to make the drive back home. They told him he would be alright as long as he left the packing in place and took his medication. They advised him to see an ear nose and throat specialist as soon as he got home.

He made the drive home without any problems. There were several incoming calls from Ann, but he ignored them. He wasn't ready to deal with her yet.

CH 04

Ann found herself disinterested in performing that day at the fairgrounds. She was experiencing a lot of guilt for not helping her husband deal with his nosebleed. She realized that he was very upset with her. That caused her to have some fear about the future of her marriage.

She replayed in her mind the conversation about her one-sided "navigating" during their trip. She felt that Rollie didn't accept her explanation. She also regretted having that breakfast at Harps while Rollie remained in their room literally shedding his blood.

She could see that quite a few of her recent actions with Charlie could be misinterpreted by lots of people, including her husband.

It all began when Mandy got sick. Ann couldn't help but feel sorry for Charlie. He was lost. Mandy was his life and his life was slipping away.

Ann began trying to include Charlie in things that she and Rollie used to do as a couple. She invited Charlie over for holidays, sporting events, and other happenings that she knew he used to enjoy with Mandy. One thing led to another until there was seldom any function that she shared with only her husband. It culminated with her deciding to play piano for Charlie when he began his late-in-life singing career.

Looking back now, she began to see things through Rollie's eyes. She had made it her mission in life to ease Charlie's suffering. In doing that, had she just transferred the hurt from Charlie to the only man she'd ever loved with her whole heart and soul? Had she taken her Florence Nightingale behavior too far?

What was so spectacularly peculiar was that she hadn't ever liked Charlie all that much. She had always considered him to be a selfish braggart that was way too full of himself. She often wondered what Mandy saw in him.

Why did she make it her mission to soothe his hurt? Now, she wondered if his hurt was just an act. Was she too late to the realization of reality?