When I arrived at Ruth's, she opened the frontdoor in a bathrobe and with a broad smile; her husband, the professor, was in the kitchen preparing the meal as usual, and she led me into her room immediately. They have separate bedrooms, and Ruth's looks like a whole, pleasant and cosy living-room, in which she spends a lot of her time. Her husband has not slept in here for years, she once told me, and she not in his.
When she had closed the door behind her, she bade me sit down in a comfortable chair, then stood in front of me, and with a florish, opened her bathrobe wide.
Now before I'm going on, I have to tell that some time ago we were talking about undergarments and what I was wearing, and she even insisted on me showing her. She thought mine were very pretty and she was a little tired of her granny size white cotton cookables - and her lover had asked if she didn't own any lingerie. I told her why I am usually wearing the same brand of black cotton thongs and a lacy, slightly push-up bra, and where I buy them.
So she opened her bathrobe elegantly - and here she was: in exactly my underwear. And although I am used to seeing it daily, I must admit I was shocked, because I now saw my undies on her body - the body of a 75-year-old woman. Not that she is ugly, she has the most winning complexion and radiant, mischievous eyes, and she is not fat, either. She is just --- old. I do not have to describe in detail, you have seen it: the texture of old sagging skin, the folds and crevices, the stains. The almost empty, hanging breasts. The awkward proportions.
What shocked me so deeply was not my friend, who was smiling proudly and expectantly. No, it was the sudden recognition that my body, at this very moment, was on a slow journey to look like this one day, that is was utterly unavoidable that in some time my body would be like hers. Looking at her - I did not know if I could ever stand being like that.
I said to her that she was looking ever so sexy, and if I was a guy I am sure it would not hold me on my chair, here and now. She looked so happy. And their dinner was really fantastic - I had not expected anything else.
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