Three Friends

I am telling this story pretty much as it was confided to me by my wife Allison. Ali had taken her time – about six months, and went through much soul searching before confiding in me her dark secret. We are in our late fifties as are her close friends Jessica and Robin. We all live in rural Hampshire about ten miles apart. I know Jess and Robin husbands from the local golf club. We have been to each other’s homes many times for dinners and outings over the twenty years we have been here. In fact I actually fondled Jess in their tack room one Christmas party a few years ago. Ali didn’t make a fuss when I told her – she put it down to too much booze.

My dalliance couldn’t have gone too much further with Jess because of my erectile dysfunction. I had my prostate removed six years ago – after it was discovered to have an aggressive cancer cell. The operation couldn’t save many nerves due to the aggressive nature of the cancer, so I was left unable to achieve an erection. It took several years to come to grips with my loss. In some ways you never can accept a loss like that. I just look on it that I’m glad to have survived cancer. What helped me get over the problem was discovering that Robin’s husband Leigh – my golf partner, was also left impotent by his colon operation. The two of us got a lot of stick about eating pussy for dinner from Jess’s husband Richard – until he was struck down with a mental health problem and lost his sex drive. We jokingly refer to ourselves – only after a few drinks at the club – as the Three Impotents.

The wives never complained – at least not to us. We men felt very lucky to have married such stalwart women who could look beyond the sexual thing and see the relationships for their greater worth. My wife Ali went into an early menopause and lost her sex drive in her late forties due to a bout of depression – so there was no problem for us coping sexually. Jess and Robin seemed to have come to grips with the situation and everything had settled down nicely – or so I thought.

All of us men had been successful in business and none of the wives had ever needed to work – although they would tell you they worked harder at their voluntary pursuits than we did in the city (London). All of the children – between the three couples – seven in total – are through university and on their own. Jess and Rich’s three girls are married and the two oldest have moved to America leaving the youngest just recently married living in neighbouring Surrey. We had a son – Joshua, who died in a car accident on a wet and icy twisting Hampshire road a few years ago – hence Ali’s depression. Robin and Leigh’s three sons are amazingly all in the military – officers in Her Majesty’s Navy. Undoubtedly influenced by their father’s early Naval career and exploits in the Falkland’s War.

Two weeks ago Ali and I had a late night meal at a local bistro and headed home. She said she wanted to have a talk when we got home. My curiosity was raised but nothing ominous. After we got home I made us a couple of drinks and we settled in the den.