Linda Palmer was driving her white Oldsmobile luxury sedan back towards Towson. This afternoon’s listing appointment in one of the better executive neighborhoods to the north had gone well, and she had the signed contract tucked safely in her leather satchel on the front seat.
"The forecast for Baltimore and vicinity for the rest of the day and this evening: Continued sunny and pleasant but breezy into the late evening. Tonight: cooler, with a 20 percent chance of showers and a low of 60 in the city, 55 in the suburbs. Tomorrow will be continued sunny and pleasant with low humidity and a high again near 80. Our current temperature is 82 degrees with winds easterly at 15 miles per hour, and the humidity is a pleasant 60 percent. Now stay tuned for more favorites on ROCK 101."
She pulled into one of the spaces of the tree-lined parking lot of the real estate office and bounded out with her satchel. As she entered the lobby, she looked at the agent sign-in board. "Joan Ward". Good. They had planned to do a workout at the club together this afternoon.
Soon, Joan came out from the back with some papers that she had been copying.
"Are we on?"
"Sure. Just let me get these in the mail. How did the appointment go?"
"We got it!"
"Great," and Joan came over and gave her a hug. This listing was a big one.
The two ladies headed out into the afternoon sunshine. As Joan stopped by her car, she called out, "See you there." They would drive separately today, as both needed to get home right after the workout.
~ ~ ~
On their adjacent exercise bikes, the two friends kept up their nearly endless stream of chatter. Besides making the miles go faster, their times together at the club enabled them to let their hair down with each other. Joan was also married and had two teenagers living at home plus a daughter already in college. Always battling a weight problem, she made Linda feel good about her own appearance in spite of Linda's unhappiness with her own somewhat muscular physique. But Joan had a devoted husband who was in worse shape himself. And besides, Joan had become a good listener when Linda needed to talk about things on her mind.
In front of the exercise area, a large hardwood floor stretched to the mirrored wall on the other side of the aerobics area, stood a man, dressed in skin tight black Spandex shorts and a gray oversize sweatshirt with the sleeves cut-off.
"He must be a new instructor."
With the exception of one retired gentlemen trying to improve his rather scrawny body using hand weights, the rest of the clientele were women. Many were dressed in expensive outfits for their workouts, since this club catered to one of the best areas of Towson.
"I wonder what happened to Doris." Linda watched the rest of the class gather in front of them, each woman taking a place on one of the numbers that formed a grid on the floor. The instructor area was raised enough to give everyone a view of the leader.
"Don't know, but he looks interesting."
At three o’clock, the instructor addressed the group. "I'm Herb, and I'm going to be doing the class this afternoon. All ready for a level II workout?"
As the music started, Joan and Linda continued to cycle. As the tempo of the music increased, they could sometimes catch a glimpse of Herb between the moving figures of the group in front of them.
Herb was good. In fact, he was excellent. He had apparently brought his own music, and after the warm-up period, the sound of drums could be heard resonating around the bare walls. He soon had the class shifting their weight from foot to foot while bending over and swinging their arms in the opposite direction from their shift in body weight.
Linda and Joan were very amused, and finally, Linda rose up on her bike, still peddling to get a better look.
"Sit down, Girl, before you fall over!”
Linda paid no attention, and fell into a peddling rhythm that kept up with the beat.
~ ~ ~
Still dressed in her exercise outfit, Linda drove along the streets leading past the shops and restaurants of Mt. Washington and turned just over the bridge towards her street. Randy and Linda’s white two-story frame house sat well back from the street, and was reached by a winding driveway. She felt good about today's listing. Homes in the half million-dollar range had been hard to sell for the past couple of years, but this one offered a lot for the money, and the market was picking up. If it sold before the end of the year, she would earn more than Randy for the first time since they had been married. That would feel different.
Her kids were out in the neighborhood with their friends. They had gotten home all right as evidenced by the cookie crumbs and dirty milk glasses left on the table. Soon she had the shower running, and Linda prepared to relax from her day's work. On the top of the vanity shelf, a small boom box was tuned to a local contemporary/oldies station. The song, "Vogue", by Madonna filled the small room with its steady pulsating beat.
Putting on her shower cap, she slid aside the door and eased in. Warm steamy water sprayed out of the nozzle located high above her. A good long shower always felt good after a workout. After lathering the upper part of her body and her arms, she bent over to soap her lower legs and feet.
For a moment, Linda opened her eyes and began to rub the bar with both hands to create more lather. Now she put the bar slowly on the dish and moved away from the water, her back against the side wall.
Her eyes closed again, and each hand moved to cover one of her small firm breasts. Slowly she began moving her hands in circles and pushing against her nipples with her thumbs and forefingers. Visions of Herb in motion filled her mind as she flattens her hands slightly and rubs them with an up-and-down motion. Her breathing became a pant and she rubbed faster, in time with the music.
Now she moved her hands even faster at what seems to be a steadily increasing rate, carefully matched to her own excitement.
Faster---
Harder---
With the soapsuds now totally gone, the friction sent wild sensations throughout her breasts that seem to make them feel larger than their normal size.
Her whole body joined the motion, moving quickly up and down with heavier breathing until for a moment her hands stopped. She let out a soft whimper, and then slumped against the wall. While she remained motionless, the song ended and a pain-killer advertisement came on, breaking the trance.
She shut off the water, and as she reached out for a towel, she heard the kitchen screen door slam downstairs. The kids were back, and she needed to begin fixing dinner.
—§—
