This story was told to me by a friend. He claimed it was a true story that happened several years in the past when he was in the Air Force and stationed near London, England. I thought it was worth putting down in writing. I'm going to use the personal pronoun of "I" for writing this story.
I worked in an Air Force Headquarters where there were many majors and colonels. I had the rank of Sergeant at that time. The colonel I worked directly for was a very nice and pleasant person. My job was to help him, "shuffle papers", and assist him in anyway I could. Sometimes I did personal errands for him when he was too busy to do them himself. I answered the phone most of the time and often heard his conversations. His wife called occasionally and I could easily recognize her voice. However, there was another female voice asking for him on rare occasions. When that happened, he turned his swivel chair around away from me and talked softly. From what little I heard, I knew he was having an illicit affair. Once he told me to be discreet and not mention anything about the calls.
One day the colonel had just finished talking to his wife and turned to me to say, "Sergeant, would you do an errand for me?"
I responded, "Yes sir, what can I do?"
"My wife needs someone to drive her to the beauty salon. I would appreciate it if you would take my car and drive her there. She isn't used to driving on the left side of the road in England. She can drive where there isn't much traffic, but this salon is in a very busy part of town."
The colonel gave me the address and car keys. It was about a five mile drive and when I arrived, I saw a very large old elegant looking English home. I pulled up in the driveway and his wife came out the door to meet me. I had never seen her before, but I was impressed with her beauty. It was easy to hold a conversation with her as I drove to the beauty salon. About forty five minutes later, I drove her back home. She invited me in for a cup of tea and she wanted to show me the house. I accepted. I enjoyed the tea and talking to her. I think she was a little lonely by herself during the day since her children were in school and her husband at work. When we had finished our tea, she gave me a tour of the downstairs part of the house. She seemed reluctant to see me leave, but I had to get back to the office. By the time I arrived at the office, she had already called the colonel. The colonel thanked me and said that his wife thought I was very nice and was very much a gentleman.
The next week on the same day, the colonel again asked if I would drive his wife to the beauty salon. Of course, I said I would. I went though the same procedure and she invited me in for a cup of tea. She told me the upstairs had a lot of ornate woodwork and wanted to give me a tour.
We went up the stairs to see an unusually large bedroom. Not only was there a large bed, but there were several pieces of living room furniture.
I commented, "Looks as if you can just live up here it looks so comfy."
"Yes, we spend our leisure time up here. Our children's bedrooms are just down the hall."
She gave me a tour of the other rooms, then we came back to the bedroom. She said, "I want to show you the dress I'm going to wear to the formal dance at the officer's club this Saturday."
She walked into the large closet, found the dress and held it up in front of her.
I wanted to complement her, "That is a very pretty dress and you look so pretty in it."
"Do you really think so?"
Now that I had complemented her, I had to continue saying something nice.
