Willy and the Couple

 

William James Durbin of Greensboro, North Carolina, picked the phone up for the second time and began to dial the number Robert had sent him via email. Before he keyed in the final digit, Willy hesitated for a moment, and then quickly hung up the phone again. He had an erection that was so intense; he felt the need to masturbate.

Bad idea, Willy thought. Never go to the grocery store when you are hungry. One of Willy's cardinal rules of life... if you must go shopping, stop and grab a hamburger somewhere on the way. That fast-food detour would usually cut about fifty dollars off the total at the checkout line.

Willy was not shopping at the grocery store today. Willy was about to make first contact with a couple whom he had exchanged emails with on a swingers site.

Willy's mind kept taunting him with the words "A white couple... a couple with a white woman... a woman whom Willy might be able to fuck!"

Willy was not a swinger; at least he did not consider himself one, he was not entirely sure he understood what a swinger really was. Back in the day, they called it wife swapping, but Willy did not have a wife to swap. When he did, he certainly would not have allowed her to be with another man. The whole idea of open marriage was alien to him.

Two years before, Cecilia, his wife of over thirty years had suddenly become ill. Within six weeks of discovering her disease, she was gone. Willy had been heartbroken and had nearly lost his job because of the depression that overcame him after losing her.

"It is time I start making some changes in my life," Willy had stated to his brother Max two months before. "If I don't get out of the house and start meeting people, I am going to be in that grave spot right there next to Cecilia in no time, no time at all."

Max could only suggest that brother William should start attending First Baptist with Max and his wife Florence. Willy had never really felt church was where he could find happiness or joy. He had tried of course; Cecilia had made certain of that. She had insisted that they make Sunday morning services a regular part of their weekly schedule. Those Sunday visits stopped two weeks after she learned of her cancer.

At the funeral, the chapel had been filled with the couple's friends, family, and fellow worshipers. Being around the people that had known 'Willy and Cecilia' made Willy very uncomfortable. He simply did not feel whole without Cecilia. The funeral had been the last time Willy had ever set foot in Bethel Baptist.

The preacher tried his best to get Willy to come home as Reverend Harrison called it, but without his beloved Cecilia, the church had become a symbol of what life used to be. A life Willy no longer felt existed; a past life happiness that each day, seemed more and more remote and distant.

Calls from Reverend Harrison had slowed down to less than once a month and then, there was one last phone call about six months ago. That final phone call from the preacher made Willy realize that finally, he was beginning to break away from where he had been. His life had begun to take on a new shape. New priorities and routines began to dominate his daily activities. A newly discovered feeling of self-confidence was forming within him, that to an extent, Willy felt he had lost during all the years he had been married.

Simple duties, such as keeping his house picked up, dealing with his own laundry, feeding himself; all the activities and task that Cecilia had performed for him were his responsibility now. Their marriage had made them a part of each other and dependent upon the other to exist.

Willy looked back at his computer screen, trying to force himself to dial the number that Robert had sent him. He felt the blood flowing into his penis again and logged off the SwingPartners site.

Willy pulled at his shirt and tossed it onto the living room couch as he headed for the shower. Masturbation now, get that primal need at least partially satisfied and then he would call Robert and his wife Charlene afterwards. Eat before buying groceries, Willy chucked to himself silently.