The story went very well, although..., while he was writing "Charlotte's Web," I doubted E.B.White could have ever envisioned anyone retelling his story starring, "Batman & Alexis!"
I charmed the socks off Elle and her class.
And even before I started, I had the chance to add to Elle's misery, because as I walked into her classroom, Mrs. Harrington, from the adjoining classroom was standing in the shared doorway next to Elle. "This must be your storyteller," she remarked smiling at me. Introductions were made and she wished me luck, as the children, who'd fallen silent when I entered the room, were now talking and moving around, my presence the main topic.
As she started to close the door, Harrington turned and said, "And I must say that you seemed to have had a positive influence on Mrs. Adams. I don't ever remember her dressing this stylishly and I can only assume it is because of your being here today."
"Joan..., thanks a lot!" as Elle moved to give her a push.
Mrs. Harrington was laughing as she shut the door.
But she was right!
Instead of the usual, Elle was wearing a stylish and tight skirt that stopped just above her knees, along with a nice button front blouse that clung slightly to her. Professional, yet on her, sexy at the same time. I was impressed, but didn't admit it..., until later.
The explanation of why I was there, the story itself and the follow up of questions about the story, which consisted mostly of; "How does Lexi know Batman?" lasted just over a half hour. Once I'd finished, I was given an ovation by the class and then a question, posed by their teacher..., "And who would like him to return and tell another story?"
Twenty four kids jumped up and down yelling, "Me..., Me!"
Since I'd typed the story out, I walked to Elle's desk as the children returned to their seats, and handed her the document. "Just in case they'd like to hear it again."
"They'd throw stuff at me if I tried," she replied, "because I'm not you."
Then she added, "That was really good."
"Thank you," I said, offer her my hand.
She took it and we shook as I asked, "Know what the next book will be?"
"Not yet," adding a smile, "come in next week and we can discuss it."
I gave her a sideways look, then leaned close and whispered what I'd been thinking since I got there, "Only if you promise to wear that skirt..., nice ass!"
With that, I walked to the door, turned and thanked the children for being so, "attentive and polite," as I told the story and then looked at Elle to say good bye.
Her mouth was still hanging open!
"That was dumb," I said to myself as I walked out of the school.
The following Monday she sent a note home with Lexi. "I have the book. Tomorrow afternoon, 4:00 PM?"
Having already read the note, "I meant to ask..., how did your story go last week in Mrs. Adams class?" my wife's question.
Lexi, who was sitting in her father's lap at the table, piped up, "All the kids loved it! They were asking me at recess how I knew Batman and how lucky I am to have a grandfather who tells me stories."
"Well, that's a good question young lady..., how do you know Batman?" I asked.
"Cause he knows my daddy," she explained, "and he told you about him and then you told him about me."
"That's right, Little Pumpkin," her dad said, "your Grampy knows Mr. Batman very well."
And that was the strange part. At home and throughout the day, my family was the most important thing in the world to me. While I never consciously thought about it, it was true. But..., and it was a BIG but..., I was also thinking A LOT about Elle. Worse yet, I was having those thoughts as I lay in bed, my wife at my side.
I could give you all the clichés about our sex life. How we'd, "..., fallen into a rut," or, "..., she just not into it anymore," but none of that was true. What was true...? She'd suffered with back pain since our younger son was born, most likely the outward manifestation from a car accident when she was sixteen. In spite of years of tests, no physician that we'd consulted had ever found the source of the pain. Secondly, she'd had an early hysterectomy, her uterus removed, which led to her bladder dropping, an operation needed to repair that. During the follow up, her gynecologist warned that, "Intercourse WILL be very painful for a while. Your vagina walls contain an unusually large number of nerves, most of which are at or near the surface. This procedure disturbed quite a number of those nerves and it is going to take some time for everything to heal. I'd encourage finding other ways to satisfy each other until that healing takes place."
We did try other ways and we had been successful in satisfying each other. But her vagina never healed well enough for us to have intercourse..., so...
I'm sure there are plenty of guys who'd use these as a reason to cheat on their wives, but I would NEVER do that! Other reasons...? But never her physical problems as an excuse to cheat! It sucked, but it wasn't a decision that she'd made, an accident and a, "bad roll of the dice," had done that for her.
