Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.
A tale of lust for Halloween.
There was a chill wind whistling around the leafy suburbs and the children had long since ceased their seasonal, costumed revelry.
Halloween is an odd day for a birthday but so it is that many such odd birthdays are celebrated without any supernatural disruption caused where the world of the spirits and the world of the living meet.
There are, however, exceptions and as the evening drew on and swirling clouds raced past a bright moon, the silhouettes of wind blown leaves could easily be mistaken for unearthly things in flight.
Seated at his desk, tired and feeling sorry for himself, the figure of Doctor Caldiero betrayed his mood, his mind wandered. A rare glass of wine with his supper was perhaps the catalyst but by no means the only cause of these mental meanderings.
At 64, a year away from his official retirement, Tino's mind and body were pretty sharp, even after a splendid celebration of his birthday in a swanky restaurant, downtown.
He took pleasure in challenges of an intellectual nature and was working out as hard these days as he ever had, although he was conscious of needing more recovery time.
During the 1980's his PHD research into nutrition in support of muscle growth for sports training had led to the establishment of a course specifically for students of physical education and sports majors, eventually expanding into a faculty, which he headed, providing education in all aspects of what had become known, collectively, as sport sciences within one of our most renowned universities. He'd done everything there was to do in his field and he was treading water.
One would be hard pressed to find many men as fit or as strong as the doctor at this age for he had always had a passion for training, which originally led to his chosen path in research and then his broader career. Since turning 60, thinking about his body image and hating the process of accepting the inevitable decline in his physique had become a major preoccupation.
As a rational scientist, with access to frontier research data in physiology, neurology, nutrition and bio-chemistry, he realised that, with the passing years, no increase in effort, no dietary supplement, no miracle drug, no surgery was going to prevent the entropy that is inevitable, not just in ourselves but in everything around us; our homes, the cities we live in, the trees and even the mountains decline and fall. Understanding this fundamental truth was not the same as accepting the mood of gloom it brought.
Most of the time the uncomfortable facts of ageing led the good doctor to get on with all aspects of his busy life without obsessing and grief but here he was, contemplating the gathering of his colleagues next year for his last day in office and saying goodbye to everything his academic work had built. What then?
He'd been single for almost four years. The occasional 'visitor', nights out and sometimes nights in with friends (Friends with benefits? Fuck buddies? What did all that mean anyway), were his outlets for social and sexual pleasure. He still needed that, needed it bad sometimes too.
Taking care of yourself has its benefits in that way and can lead you to unexpected pleasures with much younger companions, those who could ignore the numbers, those who didn't continue "You're in amazing shape," with "For a man of your age!"
What of trying to settle down again though? He missed not having a significant other. He was out of place in a world much younger than himself, out of touch with the music and culture of those for whom he felt sexual attraction. He couldn't stand the shallow coldness of social media "Friends", men of his own age had mostly gone stale both in body and mind and even colleagues, twenty years or more his junior, those just beginning to understand what it's like to deal with the changes that advancing years will always bring, seemed somehow at a tangent to his way of life.
With a startling clarity, Caldiero had realised the true tragedy of ageing for all of those high profile, beautiful people in the media, who cannot grow young in mind any more than they can prevent the decay in their bodies. He realised what a curse it would be to remain forever young as the world around you is growing old and, in desperation, trading tips with their contemporaries on the next program of fashionable regenerative treatment.
Arriving at this sombre but oddly invigorating conclusion, he stayed sane with his pragmatic approach, which refreshed his eagerness to make the most of every day and work with what he had. Thoughtfully, he glanced down at the papery skin of an old man on the back of his right hand and how his corded right forearm, liberally forested in short, dark hair distracted the eye from it. The broad metal bracelet of his chronometer glinted in the spotlight of his desk lamp as he turned his thick wrist to read the time, it was approaching midnight,
It occurred to him that it was high-time he turned in, when he was snapped out of his lethargy by a sudden knock at the door.
Surely an emergency of some sort. A neighbour in need of help perhaps. Certainly not a night for casual callers and way too late for anyone canvassing or selling. Who on earth could it be. There was no illuminated bell push to display "Dr.Faustino Caldiero".
His bare feet conveyed him noiselessly to the spy hole at his front door and looking out into the fish-eye world of his front porch, Tino saw a stocky figure, dressed in black with his back turned to the door. A sports bag squatted alongside the visitor, who turned back into view under the porch light. Beneath a wide hood, as the head tilted upwards, could be seen wide, strong cheekbones, a broad nose, subtly crooked, like his own and a short, dense beard of black, through which the faintest warmth of lips might just be glimpsed. The head inclined to indicate the visitor was listening. Tino held his breath.
A hand reached up and pulled back the hood and Tino recoiled. The face revealed was uncannily like his own. The shock made him step back and as he did so, the door somehow unlatched and opened.