I would like to
say before I begin this narrative, that this is not intended to be a boastful
tale of sexual conquest and I am not writing this because I’m proud to have
done what I did.
The eventual
outcome was not even the intended one, in fact in that four year period of my
life that the story covers, the thought never once crossed my mind that it
might happen and nor was it even desired, but it happened regardless and this
is a faithful account of how it came about.
It was 1974 when
it all began, and I was just 18 years old when I met Andrea Palfrey for the
first time, on a cold grey Monday morning, so grey and dismal it was clear rain
wasn’t far away.
I was
starting a new job that morning and I had just stepped off the bus when the
girl in front of me dropped her umbrella, I bent down and picked it up and when
I stood up again she had turned around and I was staring into the eyes of an
angel whose brunette hair framed the classical beauty of her face.
“Thank you”
She said and smiled and I was instantly smitten.
But as taken
with her as I was, I was completely struck dumb and all I could do was return
her smile and hand her the umbrella, and that would probably have been that, had
it not been for the fact that she already worked for Barrett Brothers which was
the company where I was due to start my new job.
Andrea hadn’t
worked there long herself, in fact she was only planning on working there for a
year after she left college, to earn some money, before she started University.
Over the
next few months we became very close friends but sadly no more than that, it
turned out that we had several mutual friends and we kind of fell into a
sociable group of a dozen or more friends who would go out either in one big
group, smaller ones and sometimes even pairs.
We would go bowling,
to the pictures, barn dancing, camping, restaurants, to the seaside at Great
Yarmouth or any number of things, but more often than not we just went to the
pub, and all of these many and varied social activities we participated in, but
try as I may I never made any inroads into her heart or indeed anything else.
Another
bi-product of our general socialising was my introduction to the Palfrey
family.
Andrea’s father,
Ronald had a dry wit and if you were in the right frame of mind he could be hysterically
funny, if on the other hand you were not in the mood for it then he was just bloody
annoying.
He was an
accountant by profession which is a humourless occupation at the best of times
which is why I think he over compensated.
Marjorie,
her mother was a real battle-axe who had a face that could warp wood or stop
traffic, she was a Sister at the local hospital, I don’t recall what she did
there but it was probably something unpleasant.
Her eldest
sibling was Ken, a twenty one year old cook, also at the local hospital, he
inherited his father’s liking for being a wit but sadly he didn’t possess any.
After Ken,
came the three sisters and considering the fact they were sisters they couldn’t
have been more different from each other, they all had something around the
eyes that bound them as kin, provided they were all together in a small room
and you could compare them.
However in a
crowd you would never have picked them out as siblings, and they had absolutely
nothing in common other than the same parentage and their shared beauty and of
course an unbreakable love for each other.
Andrea was
the oldest of the Palfrey girls at 18, the same age as me, and the tallest by
several inches and she was blessed with stunning legs, in fact legs so stunning
that they have never been surpassed in my eyes, but then I am biased, and she
had long brunette hair that fell over her slender shoulders.
Andie was very
slim, a size 12 in old money, I’m not sure what the modern equivalent is, but
in the 1970’s she was a size 12, though not overly endowed in the bust department
she was perfectly proportioned, keenly intelligent and delightfully funny.
But despite
all of that she didn’t have a clue how gorgeous she was, which made her even
more attractive to me, but as a result of her innocence she had a succession of
failed relationships with unsuitable men who used her, abused her and then dumped
her, and managed to leave her thinking she deserved it.
I would
never have treated her that way because I loved her and I would have cherished
her, if I’d had the opportunity.
One of our wider
social group, was Andrea’s sister Megan, she was the middle one of the three siblings
and was a few months short of 17.
She was a brunette
as well, curvier and bustier, but she didn’t suffer from Andrea’s lack of self-confidence
in fact her problem was that she thought she was very attractive, in effect
Megan actually thought she was more attractive than she really was.
Megan used
to borrow Andrea’s clothes even though they didn’t fit her, she thought that if
she squeezed her size 14 arse into her sister’s size 12 knickers that she
actually had a size 12 arse.
I don’t know
why she did it, because as I said she was very attractive in her own right, I
think perhaps she envied Andrea’s slim figure and so tried to be her, but she
was very definitely not her.
The youngest
of the Palfrey girls was 15 year old Kelly and she was Blonde and full of
self-confidence but she could afford to as she had everything, a delicious
figure, a bubbly personality and an infectious sense of fun.
Oh yes Kelly
was funny and sexy and furthermore she had a crush on me, I was as flattered as
hell and had I been 3 years younger and not in love with Andrea I would have
nailed her in a heartbeat and she’d have let me.
As the
months went by and Andrea went from one disastrous, ill-considered boyfriend to
the next, I sat on the side-lines watching and wishing until one day when she
had just picked herself up from yet another car crash of a relationship I
decided I should just ask her out and be done with it, what a mistake that was,
I wasn’t her type apparently.
“No I guess
I’m not” I said bitterly “that’s because I’m not an asshole that treats you
like shit”
After that we
didn’t talk for three months.
When Andrea
and I began talking again I found that nothing had changed
I was still
in love with her but she still just wanted us to be friends and that was the
moment I realised that it was never going to happen for us, and I should have just
walked away there and then, but I didn’t.
Instead I
asked out her sister Megan, who was then almost 18, I suppose initially I went
out with Megan because it was a way for me to be close to Andrea but still have
a life.
It was perhaps
a dishonest beginning, and was a dangerous enterprise to undertake on several
levels but perhaps the most hazardous was the fact that with Megan’s facial
features she had the most chance of ending up looking like her hatchet faced mother,
which was a scary thought.
However
whether dishonest or dangerous, that summer Megan gave me her virginity in a
tent in Perthshire, not perhaps the most romantic of ways but it seemed as good
a place as any at the time, two months later we were engaged and Andrea left
for University.
After that everything
seemed to be working out for the best, I had grown to love Meg, even if that
love was a pale shadow of what I felt for Andrea, but we were planning our
future together while Andrea was getting on with her life and working hard
towards her degree while still dating the wrong men.
But every
time Andie came home from University the wound would open up again and she
filled my every waking thought.
One
Christmas when she was home I was making love to Meg in her room I actually
imagined it was Andrea, so I broke up with her on New Year’s Eve.
The New Year
began with Megan in tears in one room and Andrea demanding to know from me what
the hell was going on in another.
“Why are you
breaking up with her?” she demanded for the third time.
“Because I’m
in love with someone else” I finally replied
“Who?” she
asked
“You really
have to ask?” I retorted
She looked
blankly for a moment and then it dawned on her
“You can’t
still be in love with me”
“Well I am”
I corrected her and she sat down and lit a cigarette
“I thought
you’d gotten over me” she said
“Oh yes you
would think so wouldn’t you” I snapped
“Well you
should have” she barked “I’ve given you no encouragement”
“Yes I
should have” I said “then I wouldn’t see your face when I’m making love to
Megan”
I got up and
went home before she could respond.
Two days
later I received a letter, hand written envelope, in a familiar hand smelling
of her perfume, Andrea had written me a letter, my heart soared, and it took me
half an hour to work up the courage to open it and another thirty seconds to
throw it in the bin.
Three hand
written pages in her elegant hand, extolling the virtues of her younger sister
and begging me to change my mind, three full pages and not one word of love for
me.
I resolved
then and there to break the chain that bound me to her and run for the hills.
After a week
I had almost gone a whole day without having a drink but my determination was
strong.
Until one
cold wet night when there was a knock on the door and Megan stood there soaked
to the skin and crying and I was trapped again.
For the next
year or so everything seemed to have settled down, mainly because Andrea and I
largely avoided each other.
I was
working a lot of extra hours trying to stash some money in the savings for our
impending nuptials and Andrea was busy working on her dissertation, and I
thought perhaps I had finally turned a corner.
Which is why
I lowered my guard, and from Easter of that year onwards Andrea and I were back
on speaking terms again and as there had been no repeat of picturing of her face
while making love to Megan so I was in a positive frame of mind.
Megan had
been working for a big Armaments Company for over a year, they probably
employed a third of the town’s available workforce and she earned good money, but
better than that they had a huge sports and social club, and better still it
was heavily subsidised.
That summer
there was a big fancy dress party, a kind of Summer Ball affair, and Megan got
us tickets and she had a spare one which without asking me first, she gave to
Andie who was back from University, having graduated with a first.
I was cross
at first when I found out, but Meg was so proud of her sister for graduating also
Meg said she needed cheering up because she had just broken up with her
boyfriend, the latest pig, in a long line of pigs, so no surprise there.
On the night
of the party it was a warm dry night and as it was only about a mile from where
the girls lived we decided to walk, in costume.
I walked to
the Palfrey’s in my street clothes and changed in Megan’s room.
Megan was
dressed as a flapper in a dress she’d made herself and she looked really hot, I
went as a Roman, wearing sandals and a toga.
Andrea though
was dressed as a toddler, in a smock top and a nappie, which showed off her
gorgeous long legs to great effect, and her brunette hair was tied up in little
bunches and she had a dummy on a ribbon around her neck, for the walk to the
club she wore a long wrap around skirt to protect her modesty.
When we got
there we found the fancy dress party was already in full swing and was very
well attended and the hall was packed.
I noted I
was not the only Roman at the forum by long way and Megan was not the only
Flapper, Andrea however was as unique as always, and with the heavily
subsidised bar the drink was flowing freely and the crowd were exuberant in the
extreme.
As the
evening wore on much alcohol was consumed and it was a very enjoyable night out
indeed and I felt at last I was able to enjoy being in Andrea’s company without
the old feelings coming to the fore.
Megan was
close to having had one Bacardi and coke too many but insisted she was fine
“Have a
dance with Andie” she said and tottered off to the ladies.
“Great idea”
Andrea said and grabbed my hand and dragged me off to the middle of the dance
floor just as Fleetwood Mac’s, Albatross began.
She stopped
and turned around to face me and wrapped her skinny arms around my neck and
then inexplicably she kissed me.
When Andrea
kissed me out of the blue it was not a sisterly smack on the lips or a friendly
peck on the cheek, this was an open mouthed penetrating tongue kind of kiss
which took me by surprise and took my breath away.
It took me a
moment to realise what exactly was happening and that I needed to be joining in,
but once I had cottoned on I went about it with relish and my hands, which had
been resting in the small of her back quickly encroached inside her smock top
and were caressing the naked skin of her back.
As the music
went from Fleetwood Mac to 10cc to Harry Nilsson, still we kissed, it was only
when the dulcet tones of Jeff Beck’s Hi Ho Silver Lining broke the spell that
we suddenly realised we were not alone and Andrea giggled, and as she giggled I
realised I was fully aroused beneath my toga which made it difficult to walk in
any way other than gingerly.
Andrea
looked at me curiously before looking down at the protrusion in my Toga and
giggling again.
We walked
back sheepishly to our table just a Megan came stumbling back towards us and she
was laughing like a drain as she tottered along and when she reached us she
slurred
“I fell
over” and roared with laughter again
“I think
we’d better get you home” Andie said
Megan was still
laughing as we gathered our stuff together and steered her drunk and giggling
towards the door.
Once outside
Andrea said
“Hold on”
And began
rummaging inside her bag and eventually fished out her skirt.
I watched
her intently as she wrapped the skirt around her slender pins and when she
caught me watching her she blushed and then gave me the loveliest smile.
We set off
down the road with Megan, sandwiched between the two of us, and I fully
expected us to continue the whole way home like that but after about half a
mile Meg seemed to suddenly sober up and got it into her head that we weren’t
walking fast enough and yomped off ahead of us at an athletic pace.
We set off hot
on her heels after her but she built up a good head of steam, then Andrea took hold
of my hand
“Let her go”
she said “she’ll be alright” and pulled me towards a convenient bus shelter and
dragged me inside.
“She’s
almost home anyway” she said and kissed me, her hot darting tongue exploring my
mouth while her hands tried to get inside my toga and my arousal tried to get
out.
When it
suddenly occurred to me that my drunken fiancé was somewhere ahead of us in the
dark and I was in a bus shelter snogging her sister so I stopped things
before we went too far and said
“We need to
find Megan, come on let’s get you home”
She was
reluctant to leave but she nodded her ascent and followed me and we walked the
rest of the way holding hands.
We got to
the house and she unlocked the door and said
“Come in for
coffee” my head was swimming with the evenings events and I needed to think so
I shook my head.
“Please” she
begged “just coffee”
Finally I
agreed and Andrea took my hand and took me inside.
Thinking
about it now I had no choice but to go in as my clothes were in a bag in Meg’s room.
At the
bottom of the stairs she whispered
“Put the
kettle on and I’ll go and check on Meg”
I nodded and
went through to the kitchen, filled the kettle and flicked the switch, before
walking back to the lounge just as Andrea walked lightly down the stairs, she
was barefoot and wearing a full length white cotton Kaftan.
“Meg is
spark out” she said as she closed the distance between us and I got a sudden
whiff of freshly applied perfume and I was intoxicated by it.
I was also
aroused as I believed that was the only other thing she was wearing apart from
the kaftan.
She smiled
and in an instant her mouth was over mine
They were hot
and urgent kisses, more eager than on the dance floor, and more intense than in
the bus shelter.
I broke away
and asked
“What about
your parents”
“Dads in
Southampton, Mum and Ken are both on nights and Kelly sleeps like the dead” she
replied
“What about
Meg”
She
responded to my question by pressing her mouth against mine again and tried to
get inside my toga and unlike in the bus shelter this time she succeeded and we
made love on the sofa as my fiancé slept above us and it was the perfect
culmination of my years of longing.
Afterwards we
lay panting on the sofa loosely covered by her Kaftan before she took me to her
room and we made love again.
It was
almost dawn when Andrea woke me with a kiss.
“It’s time
to go sweetheart”
And I
returned her kiss with interest.
Andrea was
already out of bed and had slipped her Kaftan back on and retrieved my bag from
Megan’s room and I quietly got dressed as she watched.
We tiptoed
down the stairs and stood on the doorstep and kissed then she said
“I love you”
and my heart soared and we kissed again, I quite reasonably believed it
was a new beginning, what I was not thinking was that it was the end.
“I never did
get a coffee” I said and she giggled, I gave her one final kiss and left.
I turned
around and waved to her from across the road and she blew me a kiss.
The dawn had
fully broken as I turned and waved again and the birds sung their morning song
that echoed my joy.
As I left
Andrea on that glorious morning I thought that the bright dawn heralded a
bright new beginning, a new dawn for a new start.
How wrong I
was.
When I went
to the house the next day Andrea was conspicuous by her absence and my new
beginning turned out to be the same old same old.
She had suddenly
decided to go to Manchester to stay with friends and I was left in limbo.
I didn’t
know how to behave around Meg, I didn’t know if it over between us or not,
were Andrea and I now a couple or not?
All I did
know was that if Megan ever knew about what happened between Andrea and me that
night she never mentioned it and her behaviour towards me was unaltered.
It was a
full month after the fancy dress party when Andrea reappeared, but it was
another week after that before I got her on her own, because she was avoiding
me.
I took a day
off work and phoned in sick, and waited in the ally across from the house until
everyone had left for the day.
The weather
had been very hot the past few weeks and that day was no different even that
early in the day the heat was building.
I gave it
another half an hour just to make sure no one returned and then I crossed the
road and let myself in the side gate and crossed the patio to the open French
windows and I looked in could see her at the kitchen sink.
As she
stopped what she was doing she dried her hands and turned around just as I
reached the kitchen door.
Andrea
gasped when she saw me then she dissolved into tears and ran in to my arms.
After some considerable
consoling I asked her
“Why have
you been avoiding me?”
“Because I
love you” she replied and sobbed again
“But I also
love Megan”
“Didn’t that
night mean anything to you?” I asked coldly and pushed her away
“It meant
everything to me” she screamed “that’s why I feel so guilty, so wretched”
She turned
away from me but I took hold of her arm and pulled her back into my arms.
After I
calmed her down and dried her tears we talked calmly and then she took me to
her parent’s bed and we stayed there all day.
When I
kissed her goodbye that day, it was the last time and furthermore it was the
last time I ever saw her.
Andrea
couldn’t live with the guilt of what she had done and even though she loved me desperately
we could never be together.
So after our
brief affair Andrea went back to Manchester to do her masters.
Megan and I
split up soon afterwards, I told everyone it was because I wanted a family and
she didn’t, but the truth was my heart wasn’t in it anymore, if indeed it ever
had been.
In truth
after sleeping with Andrea making love to Megan felt like second best, I knew
it would break her heart her when I broke off the engagement but Megan was a
lovely girl and she deserved better than me.
After
parting with Andrea and breaking up with Megan I quit my job and moved to
another town about 15 miles away and started a new life with a new job and I
washed my hands of the Palfrey’s once and for all, or so I thought.
A new friend
of mine had a mobile disco, he had transport, he had all the gear, all the gigs
and all the gab but he didn’t have a driving licence.
So Dave
persuaded me to be his roadie, I would drive him to the gigs and help him set
up, then at the end of the night, pack away and drive him home, simple.
One night, a
little under a year after I broke Megan’s heart, we were doing a gig at the
local college.
In between
set up and break down my time was my own, sometimes I would stay in the venue
for the evening, other times I might have a kip in the van or as I did on this
occasion I went down the road for a pint.
When I
returned I discarded my cigarette end as I walked up the steps to the front
door and I noticed a blonde girl to one side of the door obviously crying.
“Are you alright?”
I asked
As she
turned around she was wiping her eyes
“Yes thank
you” she replied and then she smiled at me in recognition.
It was Kelly
Palfrey and when she saw it was me she burst into tears again, and ran towards
me.
“Here we go
again” I thought another crying Palfrey girl
But I was
not the same sympathetic man I was when I held a sobbing Andrea in my arms in
the Palfrey’s kitchen.
Nor was I
the same person Kelly had a crush on when she was 15, that man was gone forever,
my heart had hardened since then and I am ashamed to say I took full advantage
of her vulnerability and made love to her in the back of the van.
Well more
precisely we had sex, there was no love involved at least not on my side, we
met up a few more times after that, purely for the sex, then I dumped her and
there were more tears.
The
significance of that meeting with a crying Kelly didn’t strike me at the time,
but it facilitated my having slept with all three of Ronald Palfrey’s daughters,
but I felt no pride in that dubious accomplishment.
It however
amused me to wonder if Ronald would have seen any wit in the fact that I had
bedded all three of his daughters.
The last I
heard of the Palfrey’s was that Andrea had a Professorship in Manchester she
had never married and consoled herself in the halls of academe.
The year
after we split up Megan gained four stones and married a ginger haired
accountant, she never had any children.
Kelly on the
other hand married three times and had a child from each, all of them girls.
As for me I
have a wife and four children and I even found love of a sort I suppose though even
now after all these years only Andrea truly occupies my heart.
