Chapter 11: Do You Throw Out Your Gold Teeth?

A Friday night teenage date to eat together was easy. MacDonalds or KFC seemed to be popular with teenagers now, even though there was nothing available except fish and chips wrapped in newspaper when Pauline and I had really been teenagers. So we went to McDonalds in the nearest mall, and once again I insisted that we should travel in my SUV. I had another plan.

Pauline gave a few theatrical sniffs as she got into the vehicle, but she began to giggle as I hammed up Bachman Turner and to sing “You Ain’t Smelled Nothin’ Yet”. She picked up the cue.

“Does that mean I’m your BubBubBubBaby?”

I went with it. “Only if you give me your pants again!”

“Only if you promise not to turn me on and get me juicy.”

“Deal! Not while we are eating and talking, anyway.”

It took a moment or two in the confines of the front seat, but Pauline removed and handed over another scrap of silk. I put it in my jacket pocket and started the vehicle.

I soon regretted the decision to go “full teenage” and eat at MacDonalds. American fast food isn’t really my thing, but Pauline seemed quite happy with what was on offer. We were there to talk anyway.

Talk? Chatter away more like it. Pauline took the lead, and after nearly two hours we both knew lots about each other. But the paths and the emphases of our different individual tales reflected each other’s interest and questions. I seemed to be interested primarily in Pauline’s family and her history, other stuff arose tangentially.

Her surname was Goldman and yes her family was Jewish until her great-grandparents generation. They adopted Roman Catholicism in Poland, and it stuck pretty firmly until Pauline was 20. She had one much older sibling who caught meningitis and died before entering the seminary, so Pauline was effectively an only child from the time she started school. After the convent, she “lost her faith”, trained as a nurse and married in her late twenties. It had lasted nearly ten years but she had never managed to become pregnant. Since her separation and divorce, she had worked intermittently, nursed her mother through a terminal illness, and travelled. She had inherited a very nice house and a substantial amount of money. She liked men and liked sex, but was never really able to make it work the way she believed it could do. We discovered a mutual love of the music of the sixties and seventies.

Pauline’s agenda was quite different. She wasn’t particularly interested in my school or army experiences, and actively steered the conversation away from my history as a counsellor, but she wanted to know all about my lifelong fascination with the sea, She quizzed me about my maritime adventures in Sea Scouts, experiences as a Marine Biologist, and my current fishing, boating, and diving interests. That was mainly what she wanted to know about. She lit up like an Xmas tree when I mentioned that for most of the year I could catch a feed from my dinghy by rowing 300m off my beach.

“Would you take me fishing?”

“Sure! When are you free during the day?”

“Most days, but Leslie said you caught fish at dawn?”

“Sometimes. Its best on the change of light if we are fishing from the dinghy. That means dawn or dusk.”

“I’d love to come out to your place and go fishing. And do other things too!” She giggled and bounced up and down in our booth. “Leslie says she really enjoyed her visits.”

Pauline was certainly excited, but was it about more than the fishing and the prospect of sex? Did a visit and perhaps an overnight stay signify a change in the status of the relationship? That question brought us in a roundabout way to one of the topics we hadn’t canvassed. What were we doing? Was this a hook-up that was morphing? If so into what?

“Have you had a “Friends with Benefits” relationship before?” I thought it made sense to find out where we were starting from.

“Yes. I have been that way with quite a few men off and on. Still have a couple. Is that where we’re going?” She looked quite happy with the prospect.

“I’m open to that with you. I’m not willing to be exclusive at the moment.”

“No commitment suits me right now. See each other only when it suits?”

“Absolutely! The “Friends” part is important to me too. I can certainly use another boating mate”

“Wow! But I don’t know anything about boats”

“You will certainly learn, but you might not enjoy boating and fishing when you actually get to do it”

“True – I was fascinated by the prospect of doing anal for years, but when I tried it I didn’t like it at all!” Pauline was grinning, I was surprised.

“Fuck! – Where did that come from?”

“Dunno – just popped up. Probably some connection with the sea.” She looked thoughtful. “Rum, buggery and the lash!” She struck a pose “Pirates! Bring me another boy! This one’s split!”

We both cracked up. This was a side of Pauline I hadn’t suspected.

“No buggery or BDSM. But I’ve got some rum”

“Leslie says you are into white wine?”

“Yup. But that’s mainly because we tended to eat seafood.”

Pauline looked quite serious and seemed to gather herself together. “You had something really nice with Leslie. You never went anywhere except to each other’s places. You always ate together. You were an amazing lover who helped her deal with her grandfather. She really really likes you.” Her words tumbled out, then she paused and took a big breath. I waited.

“This started as a hook-up. I hoped I could deal with my hangups quickly and have some really good sex, but it seems it might take a while. But I’d really like to be your friend and share some benefits.”

“I’m fine about where we have got to and fine about the pace we are going.” It was true. Now that Pauline was “into” hand-jobs and what we used to refer to as “heavy petting”, I had gone home satisfied and looking forward to the next time.