When we finished our wine, Claire looked straight into my eyes. The time had come. She smiled and I suddenly felt 'invited'. We adjourned to our cozy ...oom and Claire already had her blouse unbuttoned when she turned to kiss me. It felt good to be in her arms, tilting my face up and being held the way a man would hold me. She always wore skirts or dresses and not-so-sensible shoes to work, something that her husband insisted on. So while I unzipped her skirt and let it fall, she removed her. Her scent and ghost remained in the house and so it was quickly sold, the proceeds halved, and I used my share to buy a quaint country cottage on the edge of town where I could hide away. Work was busy and kept me focused, but I did miss company around the house. I didn’t feel ready for a relationship, despite friends best efforts at matchmaking, so I placed an add in the local paper for a lodger or housemate. With a sharp rap at the door in the dusk of an October evening Gina entered my. Her free hand drummed a silent tattoo beside her left thigh. “What am I to do with you?” she pondered.My mind was screaming at me to say, ‘Let me go,’ but the other controlling organ in my body was doing its best to deprive it of oxygen.I remained silent and hard as steel.“Take your shoes off!” she demanded suddenly. I watched as she withdrew her finger from the trigger guard and instead tapped the side of it to a regular beat.I bit my lip beneath my mask as I reached back and slipped my right. That was a mistake. I was sitting on the swings going as highas I could when they appeared. The new "fantastic four" appeared withgloves and bats and balls and began playing ball. Thankfully, they hadn'tseen me. Wanting to get out of the area as quickly as possible I jumpedfrom the swing as it was arcing towards the top. I was flying and camedown in a heap about fifteen feet from my starting point. I didn't even think about moving, though I was pretty sure I was allright. I must have lost about.