It was Patty's exhibitionism the proved to be the catalyst for change in the neighborhood. Previous to that Wednesday in May, when Emily discovered her hobby, the people on the cul-de-sac were quiet, but friendly, tidy, upright, and boring. The Burtons and Petersons were in their fifties, with their children married and gone. The Adams and the Carter families were young families newly arrived with toddlers, and each of them pregnant with a baby on the way. The Mosswells had lived on the street for a little over three years, and, as the only African American family, they had really only just seemed to feel comfortable here. The Porters had lived there for over ten years and were an established presence seen as a sober, intelligent family that could be counted on to keep a low profile and never rock the boat. When the Trents moved in five years earlier they had seemed to be the same.
But then Patty Trent began appearing in her front window in her birthday suit. People began to take notice. They started imagining possibilities. And, after Jenny Peterson saw Emily Porter join Patty Trent in sexual congress right in her front room, she decided it was time to get things rolling.
Jennifer was a robust woman of 52 years with pendulous breasts, an ample but not unbecoming backside, and, what she derisively called "thunder thighs." Back in the day, she and her husband, Daryl, had presided over a rather raucous neighborhood. Four of the families on the street regularly held strip pinochle parties, traded spouses for the night, played "Truth or Dare" and never turned down a dare.
The street was rocking in the 80's, but time moved on, and new neighbors moved in, and Jenny didn't think she'd ever have such dirty good times again. But Patty brought the good times back to mind and got her juices flowing.
And so it was that Jenny Peterson knocked on the Trent's door on Sunday afternoon, with a smile on her face and lust in her heart.
"Come on in, Jenny," Patty said, ushering the older woman into her home. "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm just fine. In wonderful spirits," Jenny said, and she grasped Patty by the shoulders and kissed her on her cheek. "I came with an invitation of sorts, but I'm afraid it needs a bit of explaining."
"Sit down. Coffee?"
"Yes, please," Jenny said, taking a seat at the kitchen table. When Patty brought the coffee and sat in her own chair, Jenny asked, "Is your husband around? I didn't see the kids, either."
"They went to a movie," Patty explained. "He's the movie lover in the house. I'm more of a pay-per-view lady."
"Well, it's just as well that they aren't here, dear. Then we can talk freely."
"That sounds kind of ominous," Patty said.
"Oh, no, not at all. But it is a private conversation, dear. Not something for the kids." Jenny sipped her coffee and smiled at Patty before speaking again. "Daryl and I have really enjoyed your housecleaning the past couple years," she said. "It's almost sweet, you see, how innocent you seem doing it."
"Oh, gee," Patty said, blushing. She wasn't worried, however. Jenny had said they enjoyed it, so she wasn't here to complain. "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"Very much. The whole idea of cleaning house naked is like a throw back to the old Playboy era, when there was some style involved. Nowadays, if a woman wants to display her body, she spreads her legs and sees how many strange things she can shove into herself." Jenny laughed, shaking her head.
"It's very weird to hear you talking like this, Jenny. I guess I've always thought of you as a, well, a . . ."
"An old fart living down the road," Jenny finished. "A grandma, maybe."
"Not an old fart, but, sure, a grandma maybe."
"Years ago, when the first owners lived here, a few of the couples used to get together for mutual satisfaction," Jenny said. "You know, good clean dirty fun."
"What?" Was this really Jenny Peterson talking to her? Patty wasn't sure what she was hearing.
"I guess it was as many as four couples in the group. We played strip poker and traded spouses for whole nights. Sometimes we just piled on and tried to fuck everyone."
"Why are you telling me?"
"Now that you've taken up with Emily Porter, I was thinking that maybe you'd like to join in if we started up again. Swinging, I guess you'd call it, though it sounds silly."
"You saw us?"
"Well, when you draw attention, people will pay attention, and I've got a very good pair of binoculars," Jenny said. She thought of telling her about Danny Porter but decided not to mix into that subject. "And you guys weren't being shy."
"Emily will be so embarrassed," Patty sighed.
"She needn't be," Jenny assured her. "You both have lovely bodies, and I've been working up the courage to stop over and talk to you for a couple months now. You see, I really miss the old days."
Patty sipped her coffee and regarded the other woman with new eyes. Sure, she was a lovely woman, with good skin and no gray in her hair at all. And her breasts? Well, she could well imagine her being very popular in such an arrangement.
Jenny put her cup down and reached to touch Patty's hand on the table. When Patty didn't move her hand, she gripped it more firmly. "I was thinking of having a little party on Tuesday night," she said. "Play pinochle, drink wine. Get naked if it seems like a good idea. Would your husband be interested?"
"Charles? No, I doubt it," Patty said. "Not right now, anyway, but you never know about the future."
"I'll be just ladies, then. A wives' club. That's why I came over, to invite you and your girlfriend."
"Just women?"
"Sure, if your husband wouldn't be interested, that is. Besides, then we can chat a bit," Jenny explained. "You know, enjoy the party before the action. Men just want to put their dick in somebody right away, but women take it easy. And I don't believe that Robert Porter is part of your activities. I expected that Charles must know about you, of course, because he backs the car in so you can run out there some days when the urge gets to be too much, but it I can't imagine Robert as part of it. Besides, Terry Carter can't bring her husband because he's got to stay with the kids, and it wouldn't be fair for him to miss out."
"Terry Carter?" That chipper young pregnant thing at the end of the block?
"Oh, yes, we had a lovely party last Thursday. Just the four of us played strip and dare." Jenny's gaze settled somewhere off in the distance then, looking at the past. "Watching you got us thinking, but before I could broach the subject with you, the Carters popped up like magic. Daryl has always had a thing for pregnant women."
"Wow," was all Patty could think to say.
"I thought maybe I'd grow old and die without playing these little games again," Patty continued. "But my neighbors have turned out to be a whole lot more interesting than I had thought."
Oh, yes, a whole lot more interesting, Patty thought after Jenny had gone home. It might be fun to play cards with the other ladies. Maybe, if they played those cards right, they could get their husbands to come along.
But she needed Emily to come with her. It took four people to play pinochle.