My wife and I live in a quiet subdivision. We are both in our early sixties. I am semi-retired while she is still working. Her job often requires her to travel so I am frequently alone, as was the case on a chilly Monday morning in January.
Over the weekend, two men had moved into the house next to ours. They were about my age. We had introduced ourselves to them on Sunday afternoon. One was named Jeffrey and the other Stephen. Both were in good shape. Jeffrey had retired last year while, like my wife, Stephen was still working. He also was like my wife in that he did a lot of traveling for his job. I had seen his car leave before six in morning that first morning.
I was surprised when the doorbell rang just after ten and it was Jeffrey.
"Hi Eric. I just brewed a pot of this really great Kona coffee and I wondered if you would like to come over and have a cup and tell me a few things about the neighborhood?"
He was an inch or two shorter than my six feet and was clean-shaven with closely cropped gray hair. Not surprisingly, given the weather, he was wearing a white woolen turtleneck under his black parka. He had on black woolen gloves, black sweat pants and, rather surprisingly, knee-high black leather boots of the kind one sees on dressage riders at a horse show. I know this because my wife is an avid horsewoman.
"Sure," I said. "Coffee sounds great."
We sat opposite each other on two long couches in their living room. Jeffrey was right, the coffee was great. He even had some wonderful peanut butter cookies to nibble on.
We chatted about grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants and the like for a few minutes and then he walked me around the house. They had a large-screen TV, a treadmill and an exercise bike and a home office for two. What was most interesting in the office was a torso mannequin with a beautiful white mohair turtleneck on it. I had never seen anything like it. It was fuzzy and beautiful. There was a camera on a tripod pointing at the sweater.
"Nice sweater," I said. "Why the camera?"
"Well," Jeffrey said, a strange smile gracing his lips. "I do some buying and selling of sweaters on the Internet. This one is a beauty, hand knit in Scotland. I took a picture of it earlier this morning and have posted it online."
"It is really is a beautiful sweater," I said, wondering to myself what the chances were that my new neighbor would be a fancier of mohair sweaters. I had been in love with them ever since I was in high school and they were a seemingly required part of all the girls' wardrobes.
"But it doesn't look like a women's sweater," I said.
"It's not," Jeffrey replied. "It's for a man, perhaps better said, it is for a special type of man."
The smile reappeared and he said, in a gentle soft voice, "Perhaps you would like to try it on?"
I was surprised but curious and managed a meek "Sure, that would be great."
Jeffrey's smile widened and he said, "Excellent, now take off that hoodie and that black T-shirt. A sweater like this should be experienced against bare skin."
I did as he said. By the time I had my T-shirt off, he had removed the sweater from the mannequin and handed it to me.
"Pull it over your head gently and carefully. Enjoy the moment."
Again, I did as he said.
When I had done so, he stepped very close to me. So close that I could smell his aftershave. His hands fussed with the turtleneck collar and then the cuffs. They smoothed the wool covering my shoulders with a gentle touch that was more of a caress.
"Wow," he said, "Does that look good on you. The fit is perfect. As much as I have wanted to, I haven't put it on. I know it will be too big for me.
"Now, whenever I have the chance to have someone put one of these special sweaters on, I insist that they savor the moment."
He took me by the elbow and led me back to one of the couches.
"Sit right here," he told me, his voice now carrying an insistency that had not been there before.
He then sat next to me and arranged my hands so that one was on tope of the other in my lap.
"Excellent, my new friend. Now, stay right there. We need some accessories. I'll be right back."