"Because you're a boy!"
"So? What's that got to do with anything? Why do girls automatically make good babysitters while boys are untrustworthy?"
"Well," She tried to come up with something and failed. "Just because. Boys aren't as responsible as girls are. "
"Oh we're not, are we? Why is that?"
"Because," She said, "If a boy was left alone in a house he'd do all kinds of things. "
I started laughing.
"What?" She asked.
"When you were babysitting her kids," I asked, "Did you ever drink her booze?"
"No. " Tracy said indignantly.
"Oh come on Tracy. " I chided.
"Well maybe once or twice. " She admitted.
"And did you ever have your boyfriend over to her house?"
"Well, yes. "
"And did you ever smoke weed over there and make out on the couch? Or maybe use her bedroom for a little… "
"All right!" She yelled, laughing. "You made your point. At least to me anyway. But Mom and Dad and Anita are never going to buy it. "
"I'm just offering. " I told her. "I'll float the idea by Anita while I'm over there. And Mom and Dad will go along if Anita does. Don't worry, I'm good at talking people into things. And if it doesn't work, you're no worse off are you?"
"I guess not. " She answered, her demeanor brightening. "Well thanks Bill. I hope you can talk her into it. " She chuckled. "It's kinda hard to picture you babysitting though. "
"Kids love me. " I assured her, "And I love them. I'll be fine. " I headed for the door and then paused, "By the way, what are her kids' names anyway?"
Anita Browling's house was a single story with a small lawn and small back yard. Like all the houses in the subdivision, it had been built about 1970 or so, during a major growth spurt for the Spokane area. Like many of the other houses on the block, the paint was peeling off due to the extremes of the weather. I knew that at some point in the near future I would be volunteered to paint the house for her. Was that this coming summer? I figured it would be. I knew, looking at the paint that it hadn't been done yet and I also knew that I'd done it before Tracy's death. It had\would take me nearly two weeks in the hot sun to complete.
Anita was home when I knocked. I remembered that she worked early in the morning, Tracy often had to get up at 5:00 AM to go baby-sit on vacation days, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was she did. She was wearing a pair of dark slacks that hid the form of her slightly large hips and a button-up blouse that showed off her large breasts nicely. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. She smiled warmly as she saw me standing there with my cleaning supplies in hand.
"Billy. " She greeted, throwing open the door and allowing me entry. "Did you come to do the windows today? You're such a sweetie. "
"No problem. " I said, smiling back. "I'll have 'em squeaky clean in no time. "
Her two children (Ryan and Jennifer, Ryan and Jennifer, my mind repeated to me), were coloring in books at her coffee table. They both looked up at me for a moment and then went back to what they were doing. The living room was a little cluttered with toys and so forth but remarkably neat for a woman with two children. The television was turned off and the stereo was turned on. Barbara Striesand was singing about love, how it was ageless and evergreen, whatever the hell that meant.
"I really appreciate you doing this for me Billy," Anita was saying. "They get so dirty during the winter and I have such a hard time climbing on the ladder you know. "
"I'm happy to do it. " I assured her, "Where should I start?"
I got the ladder out of her garage and began doing the outsides first, moving from one to the other, scraping and wiping off the accumulation of dirt, grime, road salt, and all of the other shit that floats around in our air or is blown forcefully through it during the winter. Anita stayed in the house for this portion although I caught glimpses of her through the windows when she happened to be in a room that I was cleaning. I watched her whenever I saw her, checking out her form and imagining the possibilities. Though she was slightly chunky, there was nothing in the world wrong with that. Her skin looked soft, her face pretty, and she had beautiful breasts that bounced nicely when she walked. Sure, a teenager wouldn't admit he desired her, such were the commandments of peer pressure, but an adult would have no problem with her whatsoever. And I was most definitely an adult.
She waved at me whenever she happened to catch me looking in at her, or smiled at the very least, but there was no overt flirtation. I began to wonder if my mind was remembering things correctly. Was I confusing my previous masturbation fantasies with reality?
When I went in the house to do the inside of the windows it was only a minute or two before I got my first clue. I was up on the stepladder doing the living room window and she came up to offer me a soda to drink. As she handed it to me I was looking down at her. She had undone the top button of her blouse, allowing me to look straight down the front of it. I could see the mass of her white breasts contained in a flimsy, lacy bra. I was certain that the top button had not been undone earlier and I was also certain, as a fifteen year old would NOT have been, that she was well aware of the view she was giving me. She was showing herself to me. But for what purpose?
"Thank you. " I smiled, taking the soda and swigging out of it. I then handed it back to her. "Could you set it over there for me?" I asked, pointing at a coffee table next to the ladder.
"Sure," She replied, taking it from my hand. When she bent over to set it down gravity pulled her breasts away from her body, as well as pulling the blouse away from her tits. This allowed me a fine view indeed. She caught me looking as she stood back up and I turned my head away, as a teenager would do. There was no sense tipping my hand, was there?
As I moved from window to window I grew more and more certain that she was deliberately showing herself to me. Why was she doing this? I wondered. Was she just teasing a teenager? Or did she desire something more? I didn't know. Though my memories of her little shows were correct I also remembered that she had never made any attempt to actually seduce me. What should I do next? How could I find out safely?
As I cleaned I also chatted and talked to her two kids, remembering my promise to Tracy. Jennifer was four and Ryan was six. I truly do love children and they were cute ones. I applied all of the skills I'd picked up in my thirty-two years charming them. The responded to me well, obviously impressing Anita with my rapport.
"Your kids are really cute. " I told her at one point, and she beamed at me.
But the kids also prevented me from seeing how far she was willing to go with her little game. She was an attentive and responsible mother. I knew instinctively that she would do nothing while they were awake. That thought led to a plan.
"What time do you and Jenny have to go to bed?" I asked Ryan playfully.
He pouted. "Eight o'clock on school nights. " He said. "And we're not even tired then!"
"That's a bummer. " I told him, marking the time in my head. "Your mommy's a real meanie, isn't she?"
"Yeah!" They agreed together, giggling and making their mommy giggle too.
While I cleaned her bedroom windows she was folding her laundry on the bed and chatting with me about this and that. She asked about school and I had to search my mind for answers since I'd only spent two days in the place. As far as I know I said nothing inappropriate. When I finished the window I stepped down from the ladder and spied the doorway that led to the master bathroom. That would be HER bathroom.
"Do you mind if I use your restroom?" I said, nodding towards the door.
"Sure. " She said, waving me in that direction.
I went inside and closed the door. After emptying my bladder into her toilet I buttoned up my pants prior to flushing. When my pants were secure I pushed the handle and used the noise of the toilet to cover the sound of me opening up her medicine cabinet. I took a look inside, quickly flitting my eyes over the shelves full of Tylenol, old antibiotics, old codeine, and various over the counter remedies. I spotted what I was looking for on the bottom shelf. A square plastic case with little white pills and occasional rows of pink ones, which were sugar pills I knew, imbedded in it. Each of the pills was in a spot marked with the day of the week. I picked it up for a second, seeing both that she was current and that she was not due for her period for more than a week. I smiled. I would have had to come up with another plan if she had not been on some sort of birth control. And being able to predict her period was a bonus I hadn't counted on.