Just what exactly makes any certain man consider, as necessary, traits in the woman that he's interested in? Good question, and one, I guess, that seeks its answer in all sorts of associations and locations.

There is the case, for example, of Paul LaRue. Paul was, at the time of this or these incidents, 32 years old and a bachelor.

His background and upbringing are interesting, if we're considering his tastes in women.

His Mom died in childbirth with Paul, who was a rather large baby. He was taken in and brought up by his Grandma Wilhelmina, Willie, and his Grandpa Grant.

His grandma made sure that they had a number of talks about what Paul's Momma was like. She had a picture for him that he had in his room always, and developed an unseen love for the woman who bore him and whom he never knew, apart from the loving words of his Grandma Wilhelmina.

It was simply true that his later in life decision and desires only slowly were formed and grew from the association with his Grandma, alias Momma, Willie.

It was always, for Paul, a matter the thought of sinking into the lap and the love of that woman, Grandma Willie. The remembrances were always the same. Grandma Willie was soft, she was loving. She was a person to climb onto and sink into. She was a person who surrounded Paul always with love.

He remembered the softness of her, the sweet smell and the loving temperament. Those were always the same. They were the images and thoughts that he grew up with. Grandma Willie was Paul's champion, his greatest cheerleader and the one who guided him in all the ways of growing up.

One part of those loving messages, as he was growing, was the message about his Momma. Paul learned that she was a kind of an outgoing, rocket kind of woman. She would 'go off', as Grandma Willie put it, frequently. She was happy, and loving but, in her own way, frail.

She got pregnant as she finished high school and the pregnancy didn't go well. There was no thought or mention, ever, of the father of the child, and, as Paul was born, a large baby, Mickie, his Mom, didn't survive the birth.

Willie and Grant always took Paul as a living symbol of the love of their daughter. They raised him as parents and made sure that his life was one that was infested with and surrounded by love. They were Paul's blessing, constantly Paul's blessing.

Paul, it turned out, was big like his Grandpa Grant. He stood a good 6'4" and carried 225 pounds very well. He was an athlete in both high school and college. His relationship with his Grandpa Grant aided him with that. They were pals and usually engaged in their own kind of practice for whichever sport was seasonal. Paul played football, basketball and baseball at school, both in High School and then in College.

Then he settled down and took the attitude that he wanted to do well in law school, in order to make his Momma Willie and his Poppa Grant proud of him. In that he certainly succeeded.

All of this is to give us a kind of insight into Paul's taste in women. His entire life experience helped to make up his thoughts and desires for what he looked for in a woman.

He was also very patient about it. He wasn't in a hurry at all. He and Momma Willie had talked about that any number of times. He saw the wisdom of that kind of point of view.

Those talks always ended the same way: with the simple declaration "I love you, Momma." It's how it always went between them.

Paul was super pleased to have arrived at a time in his life when he was able to take care of Momma Willie and Poppa Grant. As they aged, he became their stay and their financial support. He was simply giving back the kind of love that he'd always received from him, and for him that was a blessing.

So, there was, in Paul's mind, a kind of a longing for finding the same kind of sweet softness in a woman that he remembered was always there with his Momma/Grandma. Even if it were unconscious, it was part of his outlook. It wasn't really ever put into so many words by him but it was a part of his makeup.

There were so many things going on in his life at the time, with finishing his schooling, the bar exam and taking care of Grandma Willie and Grandpa Grant that there was precious little time for 'romance'.

It needs to be said, of course, that there were women interested in Paul and he did date. There were constantly, it seemed, friends who had sisters or cousins. He went through a time period, when that kind of thing took up a good deal of his time.

It never seemed to work for Paul. His mind had always, from way back, from the earliest time associated love and contentment with the softness of those hugs from Grandma Willie. It was a thing, a pattern that was emblazoned his mind and in his senses.

It left him, and he was honest enough to admit this, kind of prejudiced against women who were, in his words, all angels and sharp corners. Just that thought made him smile. THere was a softness that was always there with his Grandma that was a basic thing for his outlook with women.

He also had talked with his Grandma Willie about that, remarking to her: "Grandma, no one suits me the way that you do. No one feels that soft and smells so nice. It's just the way it is, and has always been for me."

"Come here, you lovely boy," she said, surrounding him with her always protective and accepting arms.

"Boy?" he said grinning at her.

"Yes, always that, eternally that," she answered. "Certainly my lovely Mickie's son but you're my boy, and will always be that."

It gave Paul a feeling of contentment that always abided. He was sure, in a part of, a recess of his mind that one day he'd find someone like his Grandma Willie. It left him both patient and content.

(It is certainly not necessary to read anything untoward or unnatural in this reaction to his Grandma Willie. It was, between them, simply a thing about love and the way that people who love take care of each other. Paul and Willie understood that. It formed a large part of Paul's outlook and expectations for dating.)

It left him very picky. He realized that, and was good with it. Giving himself to someone the way that he gave himself to Willie was not going to be an easy thing. He had high standards for that process and lived with the standards and was content.

It also happened that the house and property next door to where Paul had lived with Willie and Grant, a large and lovely victorian, came on the market. After having some long talks with the folks, Paul decided to purchase the house as his own. It being next door to Willie and Grant's house was a huge plus.

Willie encouraged him, saying that it was time for him to be out and forming his own life patterns. It seemed to be working out well for all three of them.

AN INITIAL EVENT:

Paul worked out. It was part of the way he looked at life. His physical activities had always been important to him. There was a gym that he used for his workouts and he was fairly 'religious' about his devotion to doing the workouts. His own pattern was to do his workouts first thing in the morning. He worked with the philosophy that it was better to start the day that way, rather than spending any part of his day wondering if he was going to feel like doing the workout or not. He often enough said that he'd get the workouts, both weight training and cardio exercises, done while he was still almost asleep.

It was at the gym on an early Wednesday morning. Paul had a laid back day, without too much on his agenda at work, where he was one of the corporate law lawyers.

He was in the back of the gym area having a drink of water. The gym had an area of weight machines all along one side of the big room, and on the other side a large number of various cardio machines. Paul did his half hour on each side of the room, and now, sweaty, had a towel around his neck and was cooling down. After his drink, he'd take a long walk around the track that edged the large room. He'd make probably 5 or 6 circuits of the room's track, before leaving to go home and shower and get ready for the office.

It was then that two women came out of the ladies' locker room. They were both nurses. The ladies, Ginger Ramer and her pal Wanda Fortnum were just coming out to do their morning workout. They would sit on the stationary bikes and talk to one another, while doing their exercises.

They were both in their late twenties or early thirties. They were both not married. It is possible, though maybe not fair, to say that a physical description of the two of them might explain their single status.

Wanda was fairly plump. She was the shorter of the two of them. She was moderate in the bust line, and had a large kind of roll around her middle. She was squat and from the waist down was kind of blockish.

(I realize that this description is strange but I refuse to go into the 'she's fat' kind of rhetoric. That kind of description is not helpful or polite.)

Ginger was different. She too was a bit plump but she was large in the breast, and didn't have the same kind of stomach roll that Wanda showed. He butt was rounded and a bit large. She fit her size 8 panties extremely well. At 5'3" she lacked only about an inch and a half of further growth to fit into the category of 'built like a brick outhouse'.

(An old phrase known to those of us who remember brick outhouses.)

This was a part of their pledge to each other. The pledge was for 'thinner thighs and waist and butts'. They had even giggled about having that legend emblazoned on tee shirts for themselves. They both knew, however, that some people only looked for ways to act in a shitty fashion to others and they didn't want to give such people extra ammunition with the tee shirt legends. They kept the vow to themselves.

They came out of the women's locker room and ran into Paul LaRue, who was drinking water, after his workout.

He smiled at them and, having seen them before there, said: "There are the girls." He was really pleased to see them, especially Ginger, whose name he didn't yet know. He found himself, not for the first time, wondering about her and things about her. It made him smile at them, as he'd said his 'There are the girls."

Both Wanda and Ginger giggled at this.

"Good morning, ladies," he said to them, and got a giggling 'Good morning' back from them.

The encounter was casual. Paul had indeed seen them before but this was the first time that he'd had a close kind of encounter with the two of them.

He noticed too that having seen them and spoke to them this morning kind of put him in a good mood for the day. He found himself thinking again about the one, Ginger. He smiled, as he got ready to leave, and vowed to think about that at another time. He knew that he'd certainly had a reaction to Ginger Ramer, and thought he like the reaction but needed further thought.

A PROBLEM:

During the workout Paul noticed a pain that he had in the edge of his foot. He swore to himself silently. It was a kind of spur that was developing. He'd had them before and had to have them taken care of before. He also ignored them as long as he could, which was as long as the pain that they were causing was not too severe.

He made a mental not to himself to call the same surgeon that he'd used before to handle such bone spurs. It would be a repeat for him, with him shuffling around and all but he'd done it before and would be fine to do it again.

He mentioned it that evening at dinner, which he had with Willie and Grant, and told them that he'd probably have to have surgery for it again.

He made the call and had an appointment for the following Wednesday.

He also had a pair of workout shoes that he'd used before that had room for the bone spur. He toned down his workout just a bit but still went ahead with the weight training and the cardio, simply using a stationary bike instead of the treadmill or running.

He was there at Dr Farmer's office that following Wednesday about fifteen minutes before his appointed time. The secretary logged him in and told him that they'd be right with him.

A door was then opened and a nurse was calling his name.

Paul was thunder struck. It was one of the ladies from the gym. The thought raced across his mind: "It's the pretty one."

She got a huge grin on her face, and said: "Mr LaRue, so nice to see you."

"Yes, once when I'm not sweaty," he said, grinning.

"Oh," she said, softly, "Sweaty can be so sexy." She giggled then and he joined her in a chuckle.

"Sorry," she said immediately.

"No," he said, "No 'sorries'; I'm going to take that home to think about it."

She looked over his material and said: "This lists next of kin to notify in case of emergency as Wilhelmina LaRue. Is that your wife?"

"No," he said, "That's Momma, actually my Grandmother. She raised me."

"I see," the nurse, whose name plate indicated that she was Ginger Ramer, said. It made her smile.

His own covert looking around showed him that Ginger wore no wedding ring. That pleased him.

He gave her a grin and followed his instinct to tease this lovely woman: "Do I need to take off my clothes now?"

She giggled and said: "Mr LaRue, it's only foot surgery, and it's outpatient. But if you'd feel better with your clothes off..."

She didn't finish the sentence; she went into a giggle and put her hand up over her mouth to hide her grin.

"You're so bad," she said to him.

"Yes, but don't tell any one, Ginger Ramer," he said. "I promise to be bad only with you."

This made her giggle again.

Paul was certainly enjoying himself.

"Okay," she said, "In here and let's get your shoe and sock off."

"Aha," he said, "A start."

"Mr LaRue," she said, giggling again.

"I know, I have to start to behave now," he said, and pretended to pout.

"The doctor's coming in here soon," she said.

"Then we'd better be quick," he said, and then held up his hands, while she giggled.

"Okay, it's my turn to say 'sorry' now, and I promise that I'll behave," he said.

"Not sure that I'm asking that," she said, grinning, "But need to get you ready for the doctor."

"Oh," he said, forgetting his recent promise, "Thought you were getting me ready for you."

It made her giggle again.

Then the doctor entered. He was an older man, with white hair.

"Yes,?" the doctor said.

"Patient's being wicked, Doctor," Ginger said.

"Squealer!" Paul said immediately.

Then the doctor was extending a hand and said: "Paul, how have you been?"

"Good, Dr. Farmer; thank you for asking," Paul said.

"Spur again?" the doctor asked.

"Yes," Ginger said, showing the doctor the x-ray that had been taken of the foot.

The procedure didn't take very long. After they were finished removing the spur, they let Paul rest in an adjoining room for about 25 minutes or so.

Then Ginger came in to get him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

He grinned and she held up her hand. "Mr LaRue," she said, laughing again, "Just give me a plain answer."

"You're so quick," he said.

"I am that," 'she assured him.

"I'm feeling fine," he said.

"Your prescription will be at the desk, and the doctor wants to see you back again in ten days. Please contact us, if you have any adverse reactions," she explained.

"Call you?" he said, regaining his form.

She giggled.

"You bad man," she said.

"But you don't know that yet," he said.

"No, I don't," she admitted.

"Yes, I understand your instructions. I will contact you," he said, his grin returning.

"I'm not going to win with you," she said.

"Maybe you will," he assured her and then promised to behave himself again.

Before they left the room, with him using crutches, with a kind of bold move, Paul obeyed his instincts and reached down and kissed her on the cheek.

Right then, at that moment, he smelled her smell and was almost overwhelmed. It smelled so much like his Momma/Grandma Willie that it was fairly intoxicating.

"My, you smell nice," he said.

"Thank you," she said, going with him out to the desk.

"Thank you, Ms Ramer," he said. "I'll see you at least, when I come back to see Dr Farmer."

"Yes," she said, turning a reddish color, when he'd said that.

The quick cheek kiss left the two of them with lingering thoughts.

Ginger took a few moments to simply think about it, about him. She liked him, the look of him. She liked his attitude and how big and sturdy he was.

Her pleasant thoughts were punctuated, however, with one negative interjection that she aimed at herself, and that was the question: 'What would a gorgeous man like this Paul want with a fat girl like me?'

Right then it didn't matter at all that her assessment of herself was not all that accurate. It was there. She found that she loved his attitude and the fact that he kissed her cheek, but the 'fat girl' melody kept playing in her head and wouldn't let her rest.

For his part, Paul was as enthusiastic about Ginger Ramer as possible. He liked everything about her, including, and especially the fact that she was, how did we term it?, plump. He liked that. He liked the plumpness of her and the suspected softness of the way she'd feel, if he got close enough to her. He liked the smell of her skin, from when he'd leaned down to kiss her cheek.

These were the thoughts that went swirling though his head.

His immediate need was to talk to his Momma Willie about this. He knew himself well enough for that. He also knew that his Momma Willie had the calmest head around and would certainly steer him right.

"So, you liked her?" Willie asked, with a grin.

"Yes, Momma," he said. "She is pretty, she's smelled nice, when I kissed her cheek. I like her attitude. I like everything about her."

Willie was still smiling.

"What do I do?" he asked.

"I think," Willie answered, "That the next time you see her, you'd better make sure that she knows you're interested. Up to this point you've seen her at your gym and at the doctor's office and have been both polite and also a little flirty. But you'd better make sure that you give her more to go on. She'll let you know quickly enough, if she's not particularly interested."

He smiled, "Thank you," he said, "As usual, you're the best of the best."

Ginger turned to her pal Wanda. They'd had lunch together one day at the hospital and Ginger told Wanda that she needed to talk to her about something.

They decided on dinner for themselves that night. It was over dinner that Ginger talked to Wanda about Paul LaRue.

"The one from the gym," Wanda said with pleasure.

"Yes," Ginger admitted.

"He's big and gorgeous," Wanda said, "Tell me, tell me about this."

Ginger went into details then about meeting Paul at Dr Farmer's and how that little interlude went, including the kiss on the cheek.

"Ohhh," Wanda said, "Sounds like he likes you."

"Don't know," Ginger said. "Likes a fat girl like me?"

"Hey," Wanda said, "If I didn't know that you were only into men, I'd make a pass at you myself." She grinned at her pal, once she'd said this and Ginger softly slapped Wanda's arm but joined in the merriment of what Wanda had said.

"What do I do?" Ginger asked.

"I bet that he's going to do something the next time he gets a chance, maybe when he comes in for his checkup."

"Ohhh," Ginger sighed. "That makes me nervous."

"Good nervous? Bad nervous?" Wanda asked.

"You know, I think it's good nervous," Ginger said. There was still that little cloud over her head and her attitude; the little cloud called 'fat', and that didn't seem to want to go away easily from Ginger's thoughts.

They ended with a hug, after their dinner and conversation were both finished.

PROGRESS:

Paul saw the two of them at the gym that week. He had an extra large running shoe on, with a cut out side to accommodate the bone spur surgery spot. He did still want to at least do his weight training.

When he was finished, and was about to leave, Ginger and Wanda came in.

"There they are," Paul said with enthusiasm. "The lovelies."

It made both of them giggle.

"How are you, Paul," Ginger asked, "And how's the foot?"

"Seems to be fine," he said, "And so am I, especially when I get a chance to see you lovely ladies."

They both giggled, when he said that.

Ginger didn't know what to do then. But Paul wasn't at a loss at all. He'd thought and thought about this eventuality. He put a hand on each of their shoulders and kissed Ginger on the cheek and then Wanda also. Then he breezed out of the building.

"Oh," Ginger said. "That was nice."

"Yes," Wanda said, "I got a kiss just because I was with you."

It left them giggling as they got ready to do their workout.

Paul was scheduled two days later to have his follow-up with Dr Farmer. He'd also had time to think about what his next move might be with Ginger Ramer. He was looking forward to it.

"Mr LaRue," she said that morning, as she welcomed him into the doctor's suite of rooms.

"Ms Ramer," he said, kissing her cheek.

But he had plans for them today. She led him into the examination room, and once they were inside, he simply turned to her and put his arms around her, initiating a hug.

"Ohhhhh," she sighed, as she went into his arms.

"There it is again," the thought raced through Paul's mind, telling him that the wonderful smell of this woman was back, and now it was accompanied by a kind of softness that he had known from Grandma Willie.

For Paul it was fairly the last little bit of evidence to fall into place about this woman.

"Do I have to let go?" he asked into her ear.

"No," she said followed by an instant 'yes'.

She stayed there for a few more seconds in his arms and said: "This is so nice."

"Is," was his only word. "You smell and feel so nice."

She grinned at him and said: "Now I need you to take your clothes off."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she began to giggle.

"You bad girl!" he said, echoing her words from the previous meeting between them.

She grinned at him.

"You look so fetching in your white uniform," he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

"Almost like candy for eating," he said and held up a hand. "I know, get ready now for the doctor, and all that I'm gonna take off is my shoe."

"I'm gonna pout now!" she said, echoing his mood. He grinned at her.

"Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Coffee? Snacks? for the two of us soon?" he asked.

"Yes, definitely," she said, a bit shocked at how quickly she had responded.

"Which?" he asked.

"Think about it and we'll make arrangements at the gym this week," she responded. "Think about what you want."

"I know what I want," he said with a grin.

"Tell me tomorrow at the gym," she said.

"Great," was his answer to that.

"Now you can take your clothes off," she said, giggling again.

"Tough to keep ahead of you," he said.

It was then that Dr Farmer came in and greeted him.

"Hey, Paul," he said, "Giving my help a hard time?"

"No," he said, "Being a gentleman, as usual."

Ginger snorted and they all laughed.

"Tomorrow," she said.

What he'd said to her reverberated in Ginger's mind. She kept it all there and smiled every time she thought of his words. She worked at pushing the small voice that told her, incessantly, that she was fat and he was only fooling with her to the back, far back of her mind.

She recounted to Wanda that evening on the phone what he'd said.

"He's after you," Wanda said.

"Oh, I wish I could believe that," Ginger responded. "Maybe he's just kidding me all along."

"Don't think so," Wanda said, and they left it at that.

They were, the two of them, on time for their workout the next morning. Paul had been in and did his weight training; he was still nursing the foot and hadn't begun to work full out on it yet.

He was grinning, as they came into gym. He went to them. They were smiling, as they saw him coming over toward them.

"Hey, Paul," Wanda said.

"Girls," he said. He gave Wanda a quick cheek kiss and then grabbed Ginger into a hug.

Wanda had already gone on to begin her workout.

"You feel all good and soft and all," he said to her. "And you smell wonderful."

"People are going to wonder," she said.

"What will they wonder?" Paul asked.

That particular morning Ginger began to talk to herself about how much she was hoping that Paul's attentions were real. It left her in a vulnerable frame of mind, fighting the contrary things the small voice said time and again.

It was that mind frame that was speaking, when she answered him.

"They's wonder what you're doing with this fat girl," she said.

He held up a hand and said a loud "Woah, Woah! What was that?"

"They'll just wonder," she said, almost immediately sorry that she'd given into the impulse to say that.

He'd propelled her into one of the waiting areas, that was deserted.

"First of all, and foremost," he said to her, noticing that her eyes were shining a bit with tears that seemed to be coming. "First and foremost there is no one here that's 'fat'. So, don't let me hear that kind of talk again."

"Yes," she said quietly.

She looked at him and made another stab at getting this straight.

"What am I then?" she asked, in a soft, soft voice.

"You are soft," he said, "Wondrously soft. Beautifully soft. Gorgeously soft, and you smell fantastic. That's what you are. There's nothing fat about you."

She just stared at him then and he gave her an almost leering smile. It was bringing her out of her trepidations.

"What, you bad man?" she asked, smiling back at him.

"You have a spectacular rounded ass; big boobs -- tits and the face of an angel from heaven. You smell so nice that it makes me shiver to be near you and you are the soft one. That's who you are."

She cried then. It was so overwhelming that she cried. People, men never talked to her or about her this way. That as simply her truth but here he was and he was doing it, and she told him so.

But in the midst of her crying, he sealed what he'd been saying to her by kissing her.

She put her arms around him and lost herself in the kiss.

"Perfection," he said, holding her, after the kiss.

It was then that she saw Wanda looking for her. Paul saw Wanda too.

"I'm almost finished ravishing her," Paul said to Wanda, who laughed and went back to the exercise machines.

"I think it's going to be dinner out first," he said. "I want to introduce you to my Grandma Willie and Grandpa Grant but let's just get together first for us."

"Yes," she said. "Families soon, my Momma soon, and your grandma and grandpa soon but us first."

"That'll give me a chance to continue to ravish you," he said, and she giggled. "Or I might ravish you."

"Sorry for being weepy," she said next, "But no one has talked to me that way; not ever..."

He put a finger to her lips then and silenced her apology. She was grinning as she joined Wanda to do her exercises.

DINNER AND INFORMATION:

He picked her up from her apartment building, and they went out to a small Italian place that he liked. In fact they shared an entree and each had a glass of wine.

"Don't drink much," she said.

"Good," he responded, putting his hand over hers, "Get you all funny."

She giggled; then she went earnest: "Still can't believe that you're bothering with me. You're so handsome, so lovely." She hesitated and said: "Oops, I guess you don't tell a guy that he's lovely."

"Sure you do," he said, grinning."And of course I'm bothering with you; you're soft and lovely and I'm determined."

"Yes," she responded, "Determined?"

He held his head closer and said softly, so that only the two of them could hear: "Determined to see what you look like wearing only a pair of panties."

She put her hand over her mouth and kind of hooted into her hand.

"Mr Badness!" she said back to him, and got a quick kiss in return.

She talked then, telling him about the early death of her Dad and after that how it was only her and her Momma, Adrian.

"It has always been the weight thing," she explained, "For both of us."

He was paying rapt attention.

"No one wants to date the fat girl," she said, summing up her experience.

He held a hand up then and said: "No, no; no using that forbidden word which does not describe you at all, not a bit."

She nodded and agreed with what he was saying, pushing her negative feelings back and away, for the time being.

"You're so nice to me," she said. "Getting closer to seeing me in a pair of panties." When she'd said it, she put her hand over her mouth and giggled into her hand, surprised that she'd had the courage to even say it.