Paul Owen was staying
at the Clayton Manor Hotel and was not at all happy because he had reached a
certain age and had acquired an unfortunate body shape, and the consequence of
that was that gravity had become his enemy and a simple mirror was now his
nemesis.
In the privacy of his
own home, he was able to minimise his exposure to the spiteful honesty of the
looking glass and therefore perpetuate the falsehood that he was 20 years
younger and 4 stones lighter.
He had found to his
cost however that he could control his exposure to a much lesser degree in the
wider world.
For example, shops and
stores all possess a multitude of polished surfaces and shopping centres are
all bedecked with glass and mirrors, but by far the worst in his experience
were hotels, in particular the one he was staying in at that moment.
It was a nice hotel,
no question about that, in fact it was a rather grand and elegant place and the
venue for what he very much hoped would be a dirty weekend.
However the downside
to staying in an above average Hotel was the number and the positioning of
mirrors.
A whole wall in the
bathroom, a full length one in the hall and another monster above the writing
desk (come dressing table), but the worst by a country mile was the bathroom.
There is nothing that
dents the confidence more than seeing your naked form as others might see you
if you were fortunate enough to reach that level of intimacy with them.
It was when Paul was
in the shower, that he caught sight of himself, and the full horror of what he
saw was not even diminished when viewed through the steam in the shower, the
water droplets on the shower door and the condensation on the mirror.
In short, the image
did not leave him possessed of any self confidence in fulfilling his hopes of
soon reaching that afore mentioned level of intimacy with a not unattractive
widow of his acquaintance Ann Beacom, in the room across the hall.
Paul’s face had stood
the test of time well enough but his body had been badly abused
“I bet Ann looks
better in the bathroom mirror” he said out loud
He was quite
presentable for his age when dressed in his dinner suit and the accessories,
and without being conceited he was confident he could leave her satisfied, so
to speak, if he got that far but his great fear was that he would leave her
disappointed with his natural appearance.
Ann meanwhile was
having much the same internal discussion as she stood before her own mirror,
though even after 4 children and a hysterectomy her body had not reached the
level of decline that his had although everything generally was a little
further south than it used to be.
Finally, she deemed
herself satisfied with the final look, she just hoped it would suffice for him,
for she had expectations.
However, the final
presentation was only achieved with undergarments that pulled her in and held
her up and her fear was that the way she looked at that moment might well be
enough to get him into the bedroom but with everything removed she was worried
he wouldn’t go back for seconds.
After they ate dinner,
they sat at the table drinking and eventually they bade the long-suffering
waiter a good night, even though it was almost 3 am, and headed, somewhat
unsteadily towards their rooms.
Accompanied by raucous
laughter they stumbled into the lift and unable to press the button for the
floor that they actually wanted they decided to hit them all.
When they reached the
first floor Ann announced
“This is me, I’m home”
Paul was on the same
and said
“I will see you to
your door dear lady” and attempted a bow
“You are too kind Sir
Knight” she responded trying to curtsy.
He walked Ann rather
unsteadily to her door and once she had managed to finally use the swipe card
correctly and open the door she announced.
“Nightcap” and before
he had chance to decline Ann dragged him into the room where after some intense
negotiations it was decided that coffee was the order of the day.
“You can make the
coffee while I just make myself comfortable” she instructed
When she emerged, she
was wearing only a nightie which left little to the imagination
“Wow” he exclaimed and
five minutes later they were in bed together and Ann confessed
“It’s been a long time
since I had a man inside me”
“How long?” he asked
“Too long” she replied
and kissed him
The next morning at
the breakfast table they sat across from one another, Paul wore a smug look of
satisfaction while Ann wore one of tiredness.
The “exhaustion” however did not prevent her from taking him back to her bed before lunch.
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