The Handyman

Through the fog of sleep, Kate could hear the faint sound of water splashing. As she became more awake she remembered hearing a similar sound after coming home late last night. She'd checked around but had found nothing. Of course she was more than a little tipsy at the time, having been partying with her best friend Angie all weekend. Angie had been there for her after she'd kicked Chuck out of the house. They'd rented a cottage on Squam Lake and spent the entire time talking and laughing and generally behaving like a pair of college coeds on spring break.

She'd met Angie while a graduate student at U Dub who had then transferred to Evergreen State and was now on staff. They'd become close friends, both strong recreational swimmers with similar academic interests. Angie had invited both of them for a visit but Chuck refused to go. He felt intimidated by intelligent women but covered for it by being belligerent towards them. In fact he firmly believed that any single woman with a college degree was to some extent a lesbian and Angie with her doctorate was high on the suspect list.

Chuck, the no-good bastard had been having an affair. With his secretary no less! She was a divorcee with two kids and at least fifteen years older. Probably fishing for a boy toy and using her big tits as bait. While Kate had been very angry when she found out, she wasn't really surprised. She'd frequently caught Chuck sizing up any woman passing by that had a bigger than average chest.

Why had she always fallen for the jocks? She'd been dating John, a really nice guy, during her senior year in high school. Their relationship was mostly platonic and it was understood they might drift apart the next year when going off to different colleges. However, they were very happy together and it was assumed they would be a couple for the senior prom. Then out of nowhere Tom, one of the stars of the football team, started flirting with her. No one had ever really come on to her before and she was quite flattered. He invited her out for a milkshake and that weekend asked her to go to a drive-in with him. She knew her parents would object, but told them she was going to be studying with John, who'd been to the house many times.

Tom was gallant and attentive and Kate felt more feminine than she had ever felt in her life. Their date was like stories she'd read in magazines. He held the car door open for her. He asked her about herself, her likes and dislikes and what her plans for the future were. She'd had similar conversations with John, but this seemed different. Half way through the movie, she was cuddled up to Tom and intoxicated by his warm masculine presence. It seemed quite natural when one of his hands drifted off her shoulder and brushed her chest. She didn't pull away and presently the hand was back, gently cupping her small breast. She remembered feeling her nipples starting to harden and feeling embarrassed that he might notice. They stayed in that position for the rest of the movie, with Kate leaning more into Tom's body trying to become one with him. After the movie, Tom drove her home, letting her out a short way down the street lest her parents hear the car. The next week, Tom asked her to the Senior Prom and she accepted. She made excuses to avoid John and when he asked her almost a week later she lied to him, telling me she'd assumed he wasn't interested.

Being at the prom with Tom meant that she was mingling with kids she had never really been friendly with. Members of the school sports teams tended to hang out separate from the academic crowd Kate was closer too. Her sport was swimming, hosted by the local Boy's and Girl's Club so it wasn't considered a school sport. While the prom was closely supervised, the after-prom parties were not. Tom took her to a gathering at the home of a football team member whose parents were away for the weekend. Kate was offered a glass of wine, which she intended to sip slowly. It was only the second time she'd drunk alcohol and she felt both frightened and sophisticated at the same time.

Having consumed half the glass and not feeling any effects, she didn't refuse when Tom topped her glass up. In fact she lost track of how often the glass was actually topped up she was so caught up in the dancing and general merriment. Tom was very attentive and she was impressed with how he treated her. Quite unlike the sister-brother relationship she'd had with John. They'd regarded each other as equals while Tom seemed to have her on a pedestal. He ushered her from one group of friends to another in various rooms of the house, making her feel part of the crowd. In so doing, she barely noticed that he had led her to an empty room with some beanbag chairs and an air mattress. She hadn't notice that he'd locked the door.

They'd slumped into one of the chairs and she let him kiss her gently on the lips. He started to caress her arms and back and it seemed quite natural that they take off their shoes and snuggle lower into the chair. It seemed to be getting rather warm in the room so when Tom unbuttoned his shirt she helped him, marveling at the course hair on his chest. She didn't mind his hand on her breast, now softly squeezing it although it was well buried in the heavy fabric of her evening gown. When she felt him unzipping her dress she should have been alarmed but he was so gentle and it all seemed rather misty. They continued to embrace but kept getting tangled up in her dress and his half-off shirt. When Tom expressed concern that her dress was getting all wrinkled, it seemed perfectly ok to take it off. After all, she'd worn a bikini at the beach and it covered less than her bra and panties.

After standing up and pulling the dress over her head, she saw Tom standing there in his boxers. He looked funny because he still had his formal black socks on and she'd giggled until he sat down and took them off. She sat down with him and they stretched out, locked in a firm embrace. He started kissing her ears and neck and worked down until he was kissing the tops of her breasts, running his tongue over the flesh and under the fabric of her bra.

She couldn't remember if he'd unhooked the bra himself or whether she'd help him but it felt so wonderful when he gently licked each nipple, causing them to harden and become bright red. They'd now slid off the beanbag chair and onto the air mattress and his hand felt powerful as it massaged her inner thigh. As his hand started to press on her mound, she could feel his thick finger through the thin fabric starting to part the lips. The room seemed to spin and she could feel her heart pounding. It all felt like a dream. Then the dream became a nightmare as she began to panic. She started shaking and felt tears coming to her eyes. Tom put his arms around her and gently rubbed her back until she became calm again.

"It's ok" he'd said, "We don't have to go any further. I love you and wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

"I love you too," Kate had said, "I just got a little frightened. I guess I've had too much to drink. I love you holding and kissing me. Just go slow. I've never been close to a man before. It's all so new and wonderful."

"I've had too much to drink too," Tom had replied. "I never planned to go this far. Let's just lie together."

They'd stretched out on the mattress, Tom on his back and Kate on her side looking lovingly over at him. He was so handsome. He had a broad hairy chest and heavy shoulders. He looked so powerful and yet so gentle.

"Are you ok," Kate remembered saying. "I'm sorry for being so frightened. What can I do for you?"

"That's all right, sweetie," he'd replied. "I was taking things too fast. You're not like the other girls in this crowd and I love you for that. Would you mind holding me? It's ok to say no."

It had seemed like such an innocent request. She'd read a few steamy romance novels where the heroine had held her hero and they'd continued a loving relationship, so why not." She leaned closer, her breast being rubbed by the coarse hair of his chest as she slowly worked her hands over his firm belly and towards the button that held his briefs together. It seemed so long ago when she'd finally gotten the button undone and flipped his briefs open. She'd seen nude sculptures but this was so different from the marble whiteness of the statues. His penis was rather dark and slightly wrinkled, exposed in the opening of his briefs. She remembered being intrigued by its size. She only had a partial view, as it seemed to bulge out of the opening. He'd raised his hips slightly suggesting that he wanted her to remove the garment, which she did.

She was now kneeling beside him gazing down on his nakedness. His penis had grown stiffer as the wrinkles disappeared. It seemed to glow, especially the head that was now almost the same color as her hardened nipples. He'd reached over, took her hand and placed it on his member. She remembered the power she felt radiating from the hot shaft and the rough texture of his scrotum. Had she leaned over to kiss him or had he pulled her down on him? She couldn't remember. It was so long ago and yet still so vivid in her memory. When had she taken off her panties? She remembered lying directly on top of him, sliding her moist labia over that large hard shaft, feeling the head pushing on her clit as she slid down. Then sliding forward again, afraid of the feeling of plunging into an abyss.

They'd continued this gentle rubbing for some time and then he'd placed his hands on her buttocks and started directing her movements. When exactly he'd come inside her she couldn't remember. She'd felt her lips closing around the head of his penis and the suspension of time as she'd savored the sensation of fullness it gave her. Had she started moving or had he directed her as the fullness increased when he slowly thrust deeper into her? She did remember the sharp pain as he'd broken her maidenhead and the panic she'd felt. All movement had stopped until the feeling of panic subsided and she again had savored the sensation of fullness that seemed to fill her entire body.

Tom had gently rolled her onto her back, locked his arms around her and then started thrusting almost uncontrollably. Kate couldn't remember how long this violent coupling lasted but it finally stopped after several frantic lunges by Tom who then collapsed beside her. While she still wanted to cling in his arms, she felt he was no longer with her. He'd pulled out of her and was lying on his back, his penis rapidly becoming a dark withered mass, glistening with a moist sticky film. She'd found some tissues in her handbag, cleaned herself off as best she could and gotten dressed. Tom had followed suit, barely exchanging any words with her and they'd rejoined the party. Kate had felt all eyes on her and she remembered Tom's rather smug look and the knowing exchanges he'd had with his football buddies.

This was not the first time the memory of that night had come over her and she wasn't sure why it had happened now. Probably the lack of sleep from her weekend with Angie.

"Where the hell was that splashing coming from?" Kate wondered as her mind returned to the present.

She was now fully awake and started walking around the house trying to locate the source of the sound. She tried all the sinks and showers in the two bathrooms and then the kitchen. The sound seemed loudest in the hall leading to the back door and when she went that way, she realized the sound was coming from below her. It was in the basement. Opening the basement door and turning on the light, she could see water completely covering the landing on the stairs. It was actually almost one step above the landing. Her basement was flooded!

"Oh shit," Kate thought. "This is all I need right now. A disaster on my hands and all alone to deal with it."

Not that Chuck would be of any use in such a situation. He may have been the big man on campus, but except in the bedroom he was useless around the house. His way of dealing with things that needed fixing was to curse and kick, usually causing even more damage. Kate remembered last summer, just after they'd moved in, when the lawnmower caught some wire lying on the ground. Chuck had yelled and kicked the mower, breaking the fitting that attached the bag to the body. It was Dan next door who had come over and untangled the wire and fixed the bag. Far from being grateful, Chuck had come into the house and disparaged Dan, referring to him as a nerd and probably a fag.

Dan was certainly the nerdy type thought Kate. He worked out of his house as a software engineer or something like that. He was a sharp dresser, lean but not really skinny and always had a smile on his face. She'd talked with him over the fence a few days later and she caught him stealing several glances at her chest prominently displayed by the skimpy halter-top she was wearing. He was single and it wasn't clear if there was anyone in his life now or in the past.

"What was his last name?" wondered Kate.

She hadn't dared write his name in her telephone directory or in her cell phone. Chuck was constantly monitoring them and questioned every new listing. Interesting how cheating spouses constantly assume their partner is doing the same. While he thought nothing of ogling other women when she was around, he was extremely jealous when she even glanced at another man. It usually ended in her apologizing followed by intense sex. When they were first together, she really enjoyed their, "makeup sex," but it soon became so intense that it seemed closer to rape. Chuck had an overpowering need to be in control and it was clearer and clearer to Kate that he'd married her because of her petite size. All the better to overpower her physically as compensation for the fact that mentally she was in a class above him.

"Here it is," said Kate. "Dan Brown, 555-1234."

She picked up her cell phone and quickly dialed.

"Hello," was the answer she received on the third ring. "This is Dan Brown, may I help you."

"This is Kate Mellon from next door. I've got a flood in my basement. Can you help me?"

"I'll be right over," replied Dan and the phone went silent.

Kate realized she was still in her baby doll nightie and hurried to the bedroom and put on an old T-shirt and pair of jogging briefs. She saw Dan coming through the woods that separated their houses and opened the back door for him. He was wearing a fashionable sports shirt, trim slacks and suede loafers.

"Lucky you caught me," he said. I was just about to go run some errands. What's the problem?"

"I've been away all weekend and when I woke up this morning I heard water dripping," replied Kate. She didn't tell him she was a bit drunk when she arrived home late last night.

After looking through the basement door, Dan asked if there were any electrical outlets in the cellar. Kate thought there probably were some as her father had built a workbench and some shelves soon after they'd moved in.

"OK," said Dan. "We're going to have to shut off the power before doing anything else. Don't want to get electrocuted."

He looked outside to see where the power wires came to the house from the street and found the breaker box in the front hall closet.

"I'm going to pull the main breaker," he said. "Nothing's labeled and we don't have time to trace every circuit, the water's getting deeper."

He was about to descend the cellar steps when Kate said, "You'll ruin your clothes. Why don't you take your shoes and slacks off? I won't look."

Dan quickly removed his shoes, socks, shirt and slacks and headed down the stairs. Kate caught a glimpse of his slim figure, clad only in boxer shorts as he entered the water.

"It's dark down here," Dan called out. "Can you pass me a flashlight?"

Kate couldn't find a flashlight, but instead came down the stairs with a camp lantern that lit up the room.

"Follow this heavy pipe," Dan said. "That's the main line and should lead to the shut-off valve. Probably somewhere on the front wall."

Kate was numbed by the cold water that was almost up to the top of her shorts. She followed Dan towards the front wall, following the copper pipe. About 5 feet from the wall she could see a steady stream of water spraying from a joint in the large pipe where a small pipe headed off at right angles.

"There's the problem," said Dan. "Anyone's guess why it decided to give way now. At least it's out in the open so should be easy to fix."

They had to walk through the spray and finally reached the front wall. They could see where the pipe descended below the water level. Dan reached down and found the shut-off valve but was unable to turn it.

"The valve's frozen," said Dan. I don't suppose you have a wrench do you?"

"The only tools we have are on the wall over there," said Kate. "My dad bought some for us when we moved in."

Dan took the lantern and looked at the tools, all neatly arranged on some pegboard with outlines so every tool had its place.

"Nothing big enough here," said Dan, "And I don't own a pipe wrench. We'll have to improvise."

He found a short heavy board floating near the bench and used a hammer to pound two large nails through it.

"The nails will fit around the valve handle and we should be able to free it," said Dan. "Let's give it a try. You'll need to hold the board against the valve while I pull."

Dan had placed the lantern on a ledge and positioned the board where he wanted it. Kate came closer to Dan, nearly touching him as she held the board in the position he had indicated. In the bright beam of the lantern she realized that her now soaked T-shirt was clinging to her, clearly displaying her firm conical breasts. She also saw that Dan's boxers clung to him in the same way, revealing his butt crack just above the water line. Dan pulled on the board and the valve moved almost half a turn before the board was under the water. Dan then tried turning the valve by hand and shut the water off. The spray that had been showering them trickled to a halt.

"We need to get rid of this water," said Dan. "Your basement door is at ground level so if we open it the water will just run out. We need to be careful not to open it too wide. All this water could wash away your lawn if it comes out too fast."

They made their way to the basement door and Dan directed Kate to slide the board they'd used on the valve into the opening when he pulled on the door. He tried pulling, but the force of the water was too much. Kate then got in front of him and they both pulled. She had her hands on his around the door handle and his arms were around her. While it was freezing cold, Kate was amazed at how good it felt. Not only his warm body surrounding her but the feeling that they were working together. So unlike anything she'd ever experienced with Chuck. They were able to crack the door far enough to get the board in the opening. The water was gushing out and Dan positioned the board so it only let out water over the top. This reduced the force of the water and it slowly ran away towards the back woods.

"It's going to take longer this way," said Dan. "But it won't do any damage."

As the water level lowered, more and more of Dan's backside was visible through the thin fabric of his boxers. He was busy inspecting the basement, looking for items that could be damaged by the water and seemed oblivious to the display being put on, especially when bending over to look under the workbench.

On walking towards the door, Kate realized that he was putting on just as intriguing a display in front. The water level was now several inches lower and she could see a clear outline of Dan's shrunken genitals. Such a contrast to the other men she'd been intimate with, especially Chuck. She recalled the times she'd visited a clothing-optional beach near Evergreen State College in Washington with Angie. They'd amused themselves checking out the men, finding out who had the biggest and the smallest on any given day. Angie had insisted that smaller men could be good in bed. Kate countered that she needed the fullness of a thick penis, although she acknowledged that she'd only experienced larger than average partners.