On the surface, Martin was your typical once married, once divorced, middle aged loner.

But the kinds of things most people never mention aloud, except in rumor circles, are curiosities about people, Martin in particular, and things that he did (or does) that make them uncomfortable.

Martin was an ogler.

He didn't leer or be suggestive, or even make kissing sounds, or whistling noises. He just happened to be a sexual "Walter Mitty", imagining himself with female after female in a variety of scenarios.

Obviously, he was a James Bond fan, often taking (mental) turns with the pulchritudinous females that dotted the landscape of those movies.

But, in and of itself, being like Walter Mitty doesn't make you unstable. ACTING on those urges would do so.

Unfortunately for Martin, perhaps because his tastes knew no boundary, he would be caught by his (now) ex-wife, staring furtively at females of EVERY age, nieces on both sides of the family included!

It was probably one of the nails in his marriage's coffin.

Whenever the chance presented itself however, Martin's conscious barriers prevented his imagination from taking control of his actions. He not only baby sat often, but was the favorite uncle of the seven kids on his blood side, and for quite the right reasons: He played their board games. He helped with their homework, and he answered questions they would never ask their parents.

Ofcourse, subjects like sex came up (no pun intended). Martin answered as many questions as he felt the kids were ready to learn about, and he tempered those answers with rationales for each point of view with respect to the experimentation kids were likely to perform.

Despite the most well meaning thoughts, and his accurate information that might have prevented his nieces and nephews from being easily seduced by the lure of early sex, all this talk about so salacious a subject triggered Martin's imagination, so that before they were even in high school, Martin had taken the maidenheads of every single one of his nieces... not literally, just in his masturbation fantasies.

The youngest (and the most troubled) was his favorite niece (Misty). She had a father who was drunk way too often. The result was verbal abuse of everyone in the household and a daughter that eventually made some bad decisions, just to spite him!

For instance (and unknown to Martin), she had discarded the birth control pills that her mom had gotten for her. Her mom knew how she (herself) grew up with the pressure to experiment, so she made sure her daughter would not get derailed by a high school pregnancy.

Unfortunately, Misty saw that as the perfect way to spite her father while getting away from him; except that she forgot her uncle Martin's lesson about not trusting young boys who would have their own gratification in mind, and not the consequences.

Fortunately, fate reprieved Misty in that she just didn't get pregnant, but it was because she chose immature young boys whose techniques (and certainly virility) weren't up to par.

Unfortunately, by the time she went to college, because of her father and the lousy boys she had been intimate with, Misty grew to distrust, even dislike all men in general.

But she had needs, and the predatory females that always seemed to surface at these vulnerable times put moves on Misty that left her disoriented, in the sexual regard.

They weren't so tender or sweet talking that she turned gay, but they were a lot less intimidating and self absorbed than boys.

Uncle Martin was one of the guests at their latest Thanksgiving dinner, and he noticed the unmistakable rancor between father and daughter, and dad wasn't even drunk on this occasion.

Originally, he chalked it off to "that time of the month", especially when Christmas dinner, just about a month later, proved to be more of the same.

He mentioned it to his sister-in-law, Misty's mom (Sherrie), who spoke in such a way that Martin sensed that she feared her daughter was already a confirmed man hater, and that meant she was inches away from (if not already) becoming a lesbian.

Sherrie gave Martin her daughter's phone number at school and her ".com" and pleaded, "You are Misty's favorite uncle. She'll TALK to you. Please call her. Anything you can do for her would be greatly appreciated."

Well, Misty was in the next state, so the ".com" was way less expensive, but it was also less personal.

The first E-mail was ignored, then the second, third, fourth, and fifth!

Finally, Martin E-mailed his niece that there must be something wrong if she couldn't even respond with something so succint as "fuck off," so he would be arriving on campus next Friday unless he heard back from her.

That Friday, remembering that he never bluffed with the kids - if he told them to go to bed, "or else", they KNEW that there really was an "OR ELSE" - Martin arrived on campus and was steered to his niece's dorm.

That they shared the same last name made it easier to convince the hall monitor who he was, and Misty was summoned to the main desk.

Misty was rather perfunctory in her greeting, but dutifully led Martin to her room.

"First things first," Martin said, "Is your roommate..."

"Gay?" Misty finished. "Not at all, and she's away for three more days, if you mean to have a scream out with me."

Misty had it all wrong, and had lumped Martin in with her father, since they were brothers.

"I came all the way down here because you're hurting, and I'd like to know why." Martin began. "I mean, if you need me to put a hurt on someone, I can do that, but it won't erase your pain. I don't see you as the revenge type."

Misty got, well... misty, as her flood gates opened. She was dying to tell someone, and uncle Martin was as close a male relative as she had to confide.

Over the course of the next hour, Misty opened her heart to Martin, telling him of her failed dates, the pawing, the blow jobs, the premature ejaculations, the gay encounters, and then finally, even her desperate attempt to seduce her older brother, who totally rejected her!

"You can't blame Mickey," Martin said, referring to Misty's brother. "He's the one boy you CAN'T blame, since incest is still so 'verboten'."

"Why not?" Countered Misty, "He's done cousin Cyndi!"

The shock of that revelation on Martin took a few minutes to fully sink in, and recalling how incredibly hot Cyndi is, Martin's imagination caused his penis to swell as he imagined Mickey banging away at her.

Misty noticed this immediately and called him on it, "See? I mention Cyndi and you get an erection!" Her hurt was evident.

"I was actually picturing Mickey doing you, honey!" Martin lied, knowing it would be good for Misty's psyche.

Misty just didn't have those "come hither" looks. She wasn't ugly by any stretch, but she wasn't a ten, and her hips were already starting to widen like her mother's. Yet, she kept trying to date boys who usually dated better looking girls; hence they treated her as a sex object, which wouldn't be so bad if they made sure she got her 'nut' too, and those bad choices haunted her.

Knowing Misty was on the pill, Martin didn't try to scare her with pregnancy warnings about incest with Mickey, and he found himself taking Mickey's place (mentally) inside his niece's honey pot

and his throbbing tool strained at his trousers as he eyed Misty up and down.

Misty noticed this and drew a quite logical conclusion. She perked up at the notion that uncle Martin got a hard on over her.

"Uncle Martin," she began...

"Baby, it's just 'Marty', okay? Don't make me feel so geezer-like!" He cut his niece off.