Chapter 1

Lynn Downing sat watching the rain cascading down the window pane. It was on days like this that she often indulged in private reverie. The thirty-nine year old was not prone to melancholia, but for the last couple of years she found herself questioning if the quiet sedate life of a housewife was to be her fate -- all that life would offer. Paul, her son, was grown and attending a nearby college. Her husband Gary was a loving man, a good father and provider. They had been childhood sweethearts. Neither had even so much as dated anyone else and that too, added to her sense of unrest. They, as well as every one else, had always assumed they would be married which they did as soon as they graduated high school and Gary found a job with the local plumbing supply company. She had become pregnant almost immediately and her life had been spelled out -- wife, mother, homemaker. She had never really questioned her role until their high school reunion two years ago when they had talked with a classmate and his wife who they had not seen in years.

The classmate traveled for an international conglomerate and his wife often accompanied him. They had related climbing the peaks of Nepal, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, shopping in Singapore and exploring the castles of Scotland. Lynn had marveled at the stories the couple related, wishing somehow she and Gary could afford to travel to some of those exotic locales. But it was the private conversation she had had with the wife, Trisha, which replayed itself in her mind as it had done many times since then.

"It all sounds so wonderful, Trisha. I hope someday Gary and I can do some traveling."

"Well, let us know and maybe we can make it a foursome."

"That would be wonderful," replied Lynn knowing deep within it would never happen.

"Besides, Carl and I are always looking for someone to make things more interesting, more exciting."

"I don't know how exciting Gary and I would be..."

"Don't underestimate yourself, Lynn. You're very attractive. Carl has already confided how great that lovely brown body would look in a bikini."

Only the chocolate brown color of her skin kept Lynn from reddening.

"As a matter of fact we both think you would make an interesting bed partner."

Lynn's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Are you suggesting... ?"

"Of course. You don't think we travel just to experience the sights, do you? We have both learned some things that you just wouldn't believe... until you try them."

Lynn was repulsed, yet fascinated.

"I had no idea..."

"We live life to the fullest, Lynn. We see what we want, we experience what we want."

"But I would never..."

"Don't be so quick to make that statement," smiled the blonde, "Carl has unusual tastes in women. He likes women of color like yourself and he's quite inventive in bed."

Lynn's mouth dropped open even further but she was speechless.

"As for me," said Trisha as she stood up to leave, her fair skin a contrast to Lynn's as the blonde let her fingers run flirtatiously through the housewife's hair, "I 'd love to have your tongue in me anytime... and don't forget, I give pleasure every bit as well as I take it. Let us know if you're interested."

Lynn's eyes widened as the White woman walked back into the reunion. No one had ever talked this way to her before. She was outraged at the directness, even crudity of the woman and yet it excited her to think that while she and Gary were spending another usual evening at home watching TV, Trisha and Carl were engaging in sexual activities, perhaps with complete strangers, which she could not even imagine. Trisha had frightened her, but kindled an excitement as well. Lynn knew she could never agree to what the blonde had suggested, it was simply too extreme, too risky, too... yet when she had returned to the reunion festivities, after dancing with Gary and agonizing as to what to do, she had looked for Carl, hoping he would ask her to dance. She had no intention of accepting whatever proposition he might make, but she was flattered and intrigued to see if Trisha had been truthful or whether it might have been some sort of White couple playing a joke on the Black couple.

She felt a decided sense of disappointment, however, when she saw Carl and Trisha leaving with another couple. As she turned to accept the coat around her shoulders, Trisha caught Lynn's eye for but a moment. She pursed her lips slightly and as if to say, too late, then smiled as Carl put his hand on the rear of the other woman and squeezed. The woman smiled, Trisha accepted the man's arm around her waist and they exited.