Chapter 8

Saturday was Anna and Martin's day together after Martin had taken the extra job. They often went shopping, not for food and necessities, but pleasure shopping, especially for clothes. Martin was sure there was a special gravitational force that drew women to clothes shops. All the girls and women he had known loved to look at clothes. Martin was only marginally interested. If it was up to him he would have a number of identical shirts and jeans. That way he could put on whatever he picked from the closet in the morning without thinking about how the colour or pattern matched. According to all women, from his mother and onwards, such an idea was not an option.

One possible reason for Martin's lack of interest in his own clothes was that after his mother stopped buying his clothes, Sis had taken over telling him what to wear. The only woman who had left it up to him, was Susan. Anna loved to buy clothes for him, but lately another gravitational force had grabbed her: shops selling baby clothes.

"Wouldn't this look just lovely?" Anna asked, holding up a ridiculously small pink dress.

"It's neat, but isn't it a bit premature to start buying dresses? What if it's a boy?"

"I'm just looking, but we will have to buy some clothes before the baby is born."

"I know. We can buy something neutral until we have definite proof."

They strolled through the shop looking at more clothes and Martin had to admit the tiny dresses, jeans and shirts were kind of cute; copies of 'real' clothes, only in small sizes and yet wide enough to accommodate not just a tiny baby, but also a diaper. It was probably what made it look so funny and cute. On the way out, Anna picked up a flyer from the stack on the counter.

Saturday had also become the day they made love, not so much because Anna fell asleep on the couch after dinner - they had often been too tired in the evening to make love - but they often did it in the morning. It had started when they began to shower together to save time in the morning when going to work. Soon they had to get up half an hour to an hour earlier because they inevitably ended up making love in the shower or after showering. It was a great time to make love, they were both rested and fresh after the shower, but lately Anna's morning sickness had put an end to it. Anna felt bad about it, even though Martin understood. She hoped it would pass after the first trimester as the books said it would.

After they had made love that afternoon, Anna looked at the flyer she had picked up. It was an invitation for a seminar from expecting mothers.

"I bet it's the kind of seminar where they teach you how to pregnant the 'right' way. Either you'll come home feeling guilty or you will want to change everything because they told you so," Martin giggled.

"No. It says that it's an informal seminar where pregnant women can meet others in the same situation and share their problems and joys. It sounds really good and it's cheap."

"I was only joking, love. I think you should go. When is it?"

"Two weeks from now, but it's from Saturday to Sunday. We see so little of each other. Are you sure you don't mind."

"Absolutely. I only have a little over a month left with two jobs and then we will be back to normal again. I think we can survive, don't you?"

"All right. I'll call them in the morning and sign up."

Sandra had been quiet since her visit to the pool. Martin had managed to push her proposition out of his head. His extra job still spawned a couple of erotic fantasies in his mind when he saw a particularly sexy women in a swimsuit, but it was only natural, considering that the level of sexual activity in his life had decreased significantly over the last month. He had almost forgot how to masturbate after he had met Anna, and now when the sexual tension built up, he sometimes forgot to release it.

Tuesday evening was quiet. The usually group of middle-aged men were trying to get rid of the pub-belly through swimming, which probably was a better idea than jogging, if you considered how much strain it would put on their legs and knees. The women swam with greater elegance than the men, but overall they were also in better physical shape. Martin reminded himself never to become fat. It was too much work getting rid of a big belly, once you had it.

While he was consumed by his thoughts of overweight and the problems it caused, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Seen from a distance, the swimsuit looked ordinary but the shiny bright red colour alone was designed to attract attention. Martin had seen it up close the other day and it showed off the woman wearing it in the best way possible. The top of the swimsuit was a string around Sandra's neck unfolding into a wider patch just big enough to cover her front. Her back was bare all the way down to her buttocks and the openings for her legs were cut high, making them look incredibly long.

Sandra strutted heedlessly towards his side of the pool. The swimsuit was glued to her body but at the same time it allowed her breasts to quiver as she walked. Half way, she gave up her pretence of not having seen him and walked smiling towards him.

"Hi, Martin. It wasn't very convincing, was it?"

"Convincing, yes, but improbable, considering that you knew I'd be here."

"You see right through me. How are you?"

"I'm fine, enjoying the pleasures of working two jobs, but with the added benefit of being treated to a swimsuit parade by the most beautiful women in this part of town."

"I thought you were strictly on the straight and narrow?"

"I am, but looking never hurt anyone."

Sandra just happened to flex her leg and turn slightly, making a sexy pose.

"That's more like the old Martin. At least it's a start."

"Forget it, Sandra. I'm not going to risk it all for a bit of fun."

Sandra sat down next to him. "Nobody will ever know."

"No? Your record at keeping affairs secret is not the best."

Martin didn't plan to sound resentful but it came out harsh.

"It was only because I was a bloody idiot. First, I thought I could be something I'm not. Then I thought I could change Sis. It was a big mistake and I regret it. We would probably have gone out separate ways eventually, but I hurt Sis and..."

Sandra was suddenly sad, looking down on her feet. Martin had never heard her side of the events leading up to the break.

"Sis was the first woman?" Martin asked.

"No. Well, in a way she was. I'd been... no, better start from the beginning. I grew up in a poor neighbourhood and when we reached the age were we wanted to go out, there was nowhere to go except this one bar. Maybe they thought we were old enough or they just didn't care, I don't know. We rarely had anything but diet coke anyway. Real drinks were too expensive. I was there one night with one of the girls I was hanging out with and this middle-aged guy came over to talk. We talked and suddenly he asked us if we wanted to earn little money. He offered us ten bucks to french kiss each other."

Martin was glad it was a quiet evening with few people in the pool. It was easy for him to keep an eye on the pool and still listen to Sandra. Sometimes it was difficult to hear what Sandra said. She kept her voice down and the acoustics in the hall were awful because of the many hard surfaces. The advantage was that nobody could hear a word they said.

"After a lot of giggling and blushing, we said yes. We went out into the alley next to the bar. The guy asked if we could feel each other up while we kiss and I said we could for five bucks extra each. It was so strange, kissing another girl and feeling her tits. We were timid and clumsy, but he didn't care and after ten minutes or so he paid and left.

"A week later, we met him in the bar and he wanted to watch us again. This time, he offered to pay us ten bucks more if we pulled up our blouses while we kissed and groped. We did, but every time we heard a sound we pulled back our blouses because we were afraid to be seen. Despite all the interruptions, he paid, but the following week he suggested we'd all go to his place. We were reluctant but then again, there were two of us and he was a small, thin man."