I stopped at the entrance to the driveway, jumped out, and opened the mailbox. Once again, I shook my head at the realization that paper mail, like the house phone, is pretty much a relic of the 20th Century.
I glanced at the short pile of paper as I entered my home office. I could tell that we were approaching another election, of some sort, by the multiple pamphlets telling me to "Vote for Bill NoGoodNik for City Council" or "Jim Dewey, previously of the famous law firm of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe" who was running for district attorney. The political advertising I dropped into the trash can but kept the Costco membership renewal notice and a reminder that my property taxes were due in two months -- and a hand-addressed light purple envelope. An unusual 3 x 5 size, I flipped it over to glance at the backside. I would have expected perhaps it would contain a Christmas card except that it wasn't the Christmas season. It was hand addressed to just Joe and Angie, with no last name, with our address, but had no return address or name or other markings. The postmark was local, so I kept the enigmatic envelope with the taxes and insurance envelopes and just dropped them all on the desk for the moment.
It was later that evening when I returned to the office, now with a few minutes to spare, and opened the mail. I was still looking at the unfolded, handwritten, letter that I found inside, along with two small business-size cards which, other than being blue, were blank and otherwise totally unremarkable, when Angie walked in. She asked what was with the purple letter and I just handed it to her.
Dear Joe and Angie,
Sorry about the enigmatic touch to this letter -- for reasons which will soon become clear, we wish at this time to remain anonymous. You may suspect exactly who we are, however, unless you agree on how to proceed, as we will soon explain, we will never admit who we are to you.
We are part of the same group that you are, the Dinky Daters, which narrows this down to 20 couples. You have found out, exactly as we did when we first joined that group, that allowing yourselves to date others has been good for your marriage.
We were in a rut, beginning to take our spouse for granted. Sometimes we found ourselves wishing we could do things occasionally without our spouse, just as we had before we were committed to each other, particularly if we'd argued - and arguments that were driving us apart seemed to be coming more often. Nearly every one of the 10 couples that started in Dinky Daters, now expanded to 20, were all at about that same point in our marriages. All of us had been married for 5 to 10 years, mostly happily, but many of us were experiencing the proverbial "seven-year itch." Not wanting to cheat on our spouse, but remembering old boyfriends and girlfriends and how much -- fun -- we'd had with others.
Dinky Dating has returned that first married spark to most of our marriages. I know that we both look forward to our monthly get-together and an evening of some hot sex with each other when we get home. You two were actually as conservative as the rest of us, to begin with (most of us have been in this a lot longer,) but after you realized it was fun to get aroused and go home to your spouse and find him or her as hot to trot as you were, you opened up a bit more with your dates, just as we did. Before we were married, or committed exclusively to each other, when we were dating, a 'first date' often included kissing, petting, and fondling. We know personally from both of us having dated both of you, that you often now include light petting and kissing in virtually every date also.
I say virtually, as we also know there are at least 6 of the 20 couples that have not participated this way and never will. They're always the first to go home after we recongregate after our dates, the couples themselves remain hands off, and even a thank you kiss is perfunctory. When the impromptu swimming party occurred, all but one of those couples had already left, and although that remaining couple went skinny dipping in the dark along with everyone else, they were still not as playful with others as the rest of us had been.
While we've never had sex with another couple, in our lovemaking after our dates, we've often fantasized about what it would be like to carry our petting further, even to the point of having sex with others, such as yourselves. Yes, we fantasized about making love with the two of you, and that made it just that much hotter. And, the more we discussed it, the more we realized we were willing and downright eager, to do this.
We've never stepped out of our marriage before, but have agreed that if we both do, with each other's blessing, it is a mutually agreed upon step. But, also in never having done this before and proposing such a thing to you, we know we are taking the risk that we could be offending you, by proposing something that you are not at all interested in. We do not in the least want to drive you away, we're perfectly happy to keep you as friends as you are, thus the need for initial secrecy.
In this day and age of electronic tracing, if you're ever online it's easy for those in the know to figure out who you are, (and we do know that some of our group are true computer whizzes) and because of this -- you're getting this old-fashioned, handwritten, anonymous, letter with a simple signaling device.
If you are offended by this, please understand that you will never be approached again. You will never hear from us in this manner and, hopefully, you will never find out who precisely we are so that you don't need to act differently around us. We will not act differently around you, and if you ever mention it to anyone, we will deny having any knowledge that this happened or what you are asking about.
Know that you must agree to this as a mutual decision. Although we expect that you will talk this over and decide that you want to do this, it's possible that one or the other of you might not be comfortable admitting or denying it, to your spouse. Consequently, we have provided two blue, otherwise non-descript 3 x 5 cards which allow you to both signal to us separately whether you are willing to take this step.
If this is something you're not interested in, throw these into the trash, destroy the letter, and you'll never hear from us again.
If this is something that you are interested in, believe me when we both say we're really excited about this. There is one card for each of you, and you must
both
respond, or you'll never hear from us. You've got one week to respond, if we don't see your cards where described before next Friday, you'll never hear from us again.
Joe - put your card in the left corner of the dash in your car. Leave it there for one week and we'll get the signal when you're unaware. Angie, when you put your "out to lunch" sign on your desk every day, slip the card underneath and visible to anyone walking by, and we'll get the message when you least expect it.
We're so hoping you agree to join us. If you do, we'll get back to you in a few days.
I waited while Angie read it. I watched her reaction as she turned it over to read the back side as being handwritten, it was quite lengthy. Turning it back, she started again and then when she finished a second time, she looked at me. "Do you think this is real?"
For some reason, I did. Sure, it could have been an elaborate joke, someone trying to pull our proverbial leg, but with no explainable reason for my feeling, I was sure that it was real.
~~
There was room just across the street from the provided address. I easily parallel parked, shutting off the engine and glancing over to Angie. "Ready?"
"Do you think we'll know anyone?" she asked, reaching for the handle but not yet opening the door.
"I would think so, but it's hard to say," I answered, flipping my latch which prompted her to open her door and step out at the same time.
I waited as she walked around the car toward me and then reached out a hand to my wife of six years, holding her hand as we walked across the street.
I had always thought that Angie was a real catch. Although shorter than anyone else in my family at exactly 4 feet, 11 inches tall, she had a fireball personality, and