Our New Neighbor had No Blinds

"Speaking of older women, your mother is probably going to miss you when you take off," she mused aloud.

"Yeah, even though she moans a lot about me being underfoot, she admitted it's going to be lonely without me."

"Any chance your old man will return?"

"Ha!" I cackled. "I saw him on my 15th birthday, and I don't think Mom would welcome him f he did appear."

"Your mother - does she have any boyfriends?" Audrey asked.

"None I know of. She went out with the butcher a couple years ago but that didn't last. Probably because I'm around," I opined. "Maybe now she'll feel more like it."

"She should. After all, she's a nice looking woman," Audrey mentioned with an arched eyebrow. "What I would give to have breasts like hers."

"I don't know," I said as I played with what I was sucking on. "Yours are really neat. Besides, the way she complains about her back aching all the time..."

"What she needs is somebody to help - ahem - support her," Mrs. Goode suggested. "No boyfriends though? How about girlfriends?"

"She's friends with Mrs. Allen from the library," I offered.

"Maybe after you're gone I'll go over and say hello," Audrey replied. "We've met but mostly just waving across the yard."

"That would be cool. She's a nice lady,' I mentioned.

Because I was so dense I missed what might or might not have been more to the conversation. What I do know if that Audrey and my mother did become very good friends in my absence, and even took a trip down to Florida together a couple years later. By then my visits became more sporadic but never stopped until I ended up engaged right after college.

By then I became aware that there was a chance that my mother and Audrey were way more than friends, and although there were hints to support that theory my mother was too discrete to make it any more than just that, a theory.

One night during my senior year of college I did end up coming home a day early for the holidays, and when Mom wasn't home I looked out the window and saw fresh footprints in the dusting of new fallen snow leading to Audrey's back door, and there were no lights on inside either.

I was tempted to sneak over and take a peek, wondering whether I could get a glimpse of my favorite two women in the world together in a special way, but I decided against it and instead let my imagination work. Besides, by that time Mrs. Goode's bedroom had blinds.

***

Thanks for reading.