The scenes that I had witnessed with Helen, Steve and Brian on our balcony must have impinged themselves into my unconscious. I can state that with some confidence because my dreams that night were filled with them. One particular image, or sequence, that seemed to have burned itself into my soul involved Helen’s slow masturbation. The vision of her pulling her hood back, exposing her lustrous, erect, clitoris to her admirers, and unwittingly to me, before allowing it to partially retreat again, repeatedly looped through my sleeping mind, filling me with lust. I dreamed that it wasn’t Steve and Brian, but rather me, that she took in her mouth; that her lips were sliding up and down as she sucked and teased the head of my penis; that it was her expert tonguing that was bringing me to the brink of orgasm. As I felt myself coming slowly towards the brink I partially wakened, and the realisation that I was not dreaming slowly impressed itself on my consciousness. I was lying on my back in our bed, and Helen was on her knees working on me with hands and mouth. It was obviously morning as daylight was lightening the room through the incompletely shut curtains, and as I slowly surfaced I reached out to touch her blond hair. At my touch she raised her head and moved up the bed to reach my lips with hers. She kissed me long and slow, her tongue intertwining with mine, before pulling away and then climbing onto me; not spanning my hips so that I could penetrate her, but so that she was straddling my upper chest facing me. She leaned back, supporting herself on her left arm, whilst her right hand went to her pubic area and her first finger began massaging her clitoral hood. I stopped her, and got her to lift one knee and then the other so that I could get my shoulders past them and slide down the bed a little. She was now straddling my face, and, with both hands, she spread her outer labia. I tongued her vagina gently, tasting her copious fluid, then ran my tongue up, over her inner labia, to lap at her clitoris. These were the last positive moves I was able to make for a while, as she moved herself out of tonguing range and took charge. She controlled the amount of contact by moving her hips backward and forward, allowing a brief touch before withdrawing again. She repeated this cycle maybe four times, before grinding herself onto my mouth and allowing my tongue to penetrate her slightly, then withdrawing and beginning again. As she moved herself over my mouth for what turned out to be the penultimate time, I changed my technique and drew her clitoral hood into my mouth. Though careful to not suck hard enough to hurt her, I kept the suction on when she began to withdraw so that her hood and inner lips were stretched before they were pulled clear with a popping sound. She gasped at this, and immediately offered herself for more, which I was only too happy to provide. Sucking a little harder than previously, I kept her most sensitive parts in my mouth as she moved her hips backwards, her clitoral hood and inner lips stretching between us. She stopped pulling away before the suction was overcome and moved back towards me, allowing her hood and inner labia further into my mouth. I moved my tongue over them as she once more drew back, and, again, she did not pull clear but allowed herself to be tugged forward by my insistent suction. This cycle was repeated six or seven times, each one faster and more insistent than the last, before I felt her climaxing. I slowly allowed her to slip out of my mouth and was able to watch as muscular spasms made her clitoris move under its thin covering, which, after my ministrations, was standing proud. As the contractions faded, she dismounted and moved to her side of the bed where she lay back. I turned onto my right side and reached for her breasts, playing with her already hardened nipples and kissing her neck and upper chest before moving to get between her legs, which I bent at the knees and began to push back, intending to penetrate her. She stopped me however, and, reaching over to her bedside cabinet, picked up her, or rather our, latest favourite vibrator. Fairly recently purchased, this was a variation on the ‘Rampant Rabbit’ theme, but larger and with more features. Without turning it on, she inserted it into her vagina and began slowly driving it in and out. The girth of the device, though nothing excessive, was greater I would have said than the average male member, and I could see it stretching her slightly as she pleasured herself to the accompaniment of a soft squelching sound. She looked me straight in the eye and said ‘I want you in me as well.’ This was a game we had played before, though not for a while as I recollected it, and meant that she wanted me to penetrate her anally whilst she used the vibrator. I looked around and, seeing what I wanted, grabbed a dispenser containing after-sun cream from her cabinet. I squirted this liberally onto my penis, ensuring the head was well lubricated, and then, she having raised her legs so that her anus was in sight, deployed an equally liberal amount in that area. Having ensured that she was well lubricated I moved again to effect a penetration, only for her to stop me again. ‘Get the mirror’ she gasped, indicating one of those white-plastic framed affairs that was hanging near the bedroom door. I left the bed and swiftly unhooked this, handing it to her as I resumed my position. She grasped it in her left hand and held it so that she could watch as she moved the vibrator. Seeing that I was ready to play my part, Helen withdrew the now glistening toy, allowing me unrestricted access, but kept the mirror at the correct angle and gazed intently into it. I gently placed the head of my penis against her puckered anus and pushed very slowly. I felt the resistance lessen as I slid in a little way, then withdrew slightly and applied more of the cream before pushing back in. Having repeated this sequence a few times my penis was now inserted more or less all the way into Helen. I looked down at her; she was very red in the face and breathing hard. Her eyes were fixed on the mirror as she watched me moving in and out of her, slowly at first then speeding up to a regular rhythm. Apparently transfixed by the sight, she gasped and groaned in time with my thrusts, before asking me to stop so that she could reinsert the vibrator. Because of the large battery pack and control box at the blunt end I had to change position. I withdrew and lay down across the bed, more or less at right angles to her, and she guided me back inside her. Helen inserted the vibrator and began working it in and out, her hips moving in time, and I took my cue from her in timing my thrusts. Her eyes were wide as she watched this double penetration in the mirror and her breath was coming in gasps, the latter increasing in intensity as she flicked on the vibrating ‘ears’ of the machine. I raised my head to attempt to see the scene of the action, and watched as she touched the ‘ears’ to her clitoris, the pallid tip of which had nudged out from under her hood. She allowed this stimulation every few strokes, gasping loudly upon each contact. The ante was decisively upped however when she engaged the rotation facility; I could clearly feel the balls that were packed around the shaft massaging my penis through the thin membranes separating her penetrated orifices. I was doing little more by now than holding myself still whilst she bucked and thrust against me, and was fast approaching culmination. She got there before me, and, forewarned by the increase in speed of her movements, I attempted to hold back as I felt her muscles clench around me. It was the sound she was making that drove me over the edge, a whimpering, sobbing, noise that told me she was in a complete frenzy, and I involuntarily ejaculated into her pulsing anus. My rapidly softening member was forced out of her by the contractions and flopped out to lie limply on the bed sheets. I was drained, having had about a months worth of orgasms in around twenty-four hours. Not so my darling, who, regretfully I thought, put the mirror down and switched off the vibrator. Rather than withdrawing it however she lay there for a while, very gently and slowly working it in and out, whilst I meanwhile pulled myself up and knelt there watching her. I have of course seen Helen in every state of sexual arousal that exists, or so I thought, but I really cannot say I have ever seen her as horny as she still was now – despite her having orgasmed several times in . . .what? about seven or eight hours! She continued to masturbate for what must have been ten or fifteen minutes, just gently and slowly with her eyes shut, before picking up the mirror again and watching as her engorged lips were swept back and forwards by the soft purple plastic. ‘I want you in me again’ she gasped, as the pace of her thrusting began to quicken. There wasn’t the slightest chance of me regaining any semblance of an erection, and I had to tell her so. ‘She moaned in exasperation and ordered me to ‘get something else.’ The only thing that was to hand, or nearly so, was a banana – one of a bunch that I knew was sitting in the kitchen. I removed myself from the bed and legged it down the stairs, swiftly returning with the fruit. Helen watched as I lubricated it with the after-sun cream before I climbed onto the bed, positioned myself between her drawn back legs, and gently worked it into her already slackened anus. This drove her into frenzy, and she began powering the purple vibrator in and out violently whilst I attempted to match her thrusts with the banana. She brought herself to orgasm within a few seconds, and this one seemed to be just as intense as her previous ones, with me having to exert a fair degree of pressure to keep the object from being expelled from her tight hole. This time she withdrew the device from her vagina, and I was amazed to see the amount of liquid that was coating it and dribbling out of her as she did so. I relaxed my hold and allowed the fruit to plop out onto the bed. ‘My God’ she exclaimed as she put her legs down and lay back, ‘I am so horny.’ She didn’t need to tell me that, and I was beginning to wonder if someone had slipped something into one of her drinks. Helen, like all women in my experience at least, exhibits physical signs when aroused; bullet nipples, engorged labia, swollen clitoris and hood, and a generally more or less gaping vulva together with obvious signs of wetness. These however usually disappear after she has climaxed, especially if more than once. Not so now, and as I knelt there looking down at her most intimate parts I knew that, had I been capable, she would have laid me down and ridden me for ages. Sadly I was not. I lay down beside her and must have drifted off into a half sleep, because I was only dimly aware of her getting up and heading off to the bathroom. The next time my consciousness was impinged upon was when I heard voices from the balcony, so quickly wakening myself I slipped out of bed and slunk to the window to peer furtively through the gap in the curtains. Helen, wrapped in a towel, was standing out there talking in a low voice to Brian, who was dressed only in a pair of shorts, across the wall. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Helen was giggling somewhat and Brian had a huge grin on most of the time so I knew it was about something naughty. I suspected, from his gestures, that he was attempting to persuade her to accompany him into the flat next door, whilst she kept looking up at the window and shaking her head, though making no attempt to return indoors. They were only about a foot apart, and she made no move to stop him when he reached across and took hold of the towel where it was knotted together above her breasts. He pulled her towards him, and, as she came into contact with the low wall, he continued to pull until the towel opened and dropped away. He reached across with one hand and grasped her, very erect, right nipple, occasioning a sharp intake of breath from her. He began kneading her left breast with his other hand, before lowering his head to that nipple. Helen grasped the back of his head with both hands and held him to her, as she threw back her head and groaned with pleasure. This went on for only a few minutes before he released her, sprang over the wall, spun her around and pushed her back until she was semi-sitting on the top of the wall upon which, perhaps fortunately for these things can get very hot in the Canarian sun, the towel had come to rest. He dropped his shorts, freeing a very erect penis, and moved in on my darling wife who was forced to open her legs as he went. She had little choice but to hang onto him or face a backward tumble onto the next-door balcony, and so she put her arms around his neck. He lifted up and spread her legs wide, and, as I watched with, incredibly, the beginnings of another erection, he penetrated her without further foreplay. She must have been still well lubricated as his penis slid in to the hilt without effort, occasioning a gasp from Helen, who had been feebly trying to stop him. Brian pounded into her, the slapping sound as he reached the end of his thrusts clearly audible to me, and all she could do was hang on to him to avoid falling, though he did bring his arms down to clasp around her buttocks so as to get greater purchase. As he rammed her hard she moved her legs around his waist and locked her ankles. I stroked my rapidly hardening shaft as I saw her pull herself forward and bury her head in the angle between his shoulder and neck, probably to stop herself making any noise, though all knowledge of my whereabouts seemed to have been completely forgotten! I was concentrating hard on this powerfully erotic sight when, as Brian began to gasp and groan, indicating there wasn’t much time left, a pair of arms came around Helen’s back and, at least on the side I could see, grasped hold of her breast. She gave a great jump, but otherwise made no objection as Steve joined in the action by pulling her backwards so that she disengaged from Brian and leant back onto his chest. Steve kneaded her breasts, rolling and pinching her nipples, as Brian continued to power in and out of her, until with a great flurry of shortened thrusts he ejaculated. He pulled out, sticky threads of semen temporarily connecting him with Helen whom he pulled back towards him. Relieved of the need to support her, Steve leapt the wall and, unlocking Helen’s ankles, elbowed Bran to one side whilst holding her arm so that she didn’t fall backwards. Without ceremony he took Brian’s place and began, despite her inadequate attempts to stop him, fucking her, though much more slowly than Brian had. Again, she was forced to pull herself towards him to prevent her upper body falling back, and likewise buried her face in his shoulder and neck. Brian stood watching, his shorts still around his ankles, as his friend slowly pushed in and out of Helen. My erection was at near full strength again as I also viewed this incredible scene, though of course, and most annoyingly, Brian’s view was much better than mine. I remembered how I had overcome the problem of detailed observation the previous evening, and quickly moved across to where I had left the camera. I turned it on and, viewing through the narrow gap in the curtains, focussed on the action. It was fortunate that they were in a position, with Helen’s legs raised and her bottom just on the edge of the wall, such that I was able to zoom in optically and watch in glorious close up as Steve’s penis drove in and out of her. As previously mentioned, though probably even more so now, her most private and intimate parts were engorged and enlarged, and what I suppose was a mixture of her juices and Brian’s ejaculation was dripping down onto the balcony between Steve’s feet. Brian meanwhile was stroking himself back to hardness, and, as he heard his friend speed up and begin to moan he moved closer, which blocked my view!! Steve gave one last groan and emptied himself into my wife, more or less helplessly perched on the edge of the wall as she was. He held onto her for a few moments before signalling Brian to climb back over the wall, which, having pulled up his shorts, he quickly did. Steve withdrew and, putting one arm under her knees and the other around her back, lifted Helen up bodily and handed her to him before climbing back over himself. As I watched, the three of them, Helen barely struggling in Brian’s arms, disappeared out of my sight through the patio doors of the flat next door. Cursing mightily, I searched for a pair of shorts, or indeed anything to cover my nakedness, and, having found what I was looking for, quickly, but quietly, stole down the stairs to the lounge and out onto the balcony. Helen’s towel was still draped on the top of the wall, and I could see where the action had taken place clearly, evidenced by way of the small puddle that she had inadvertently left. Indeed, a trail of semen drops, mixed no doubt with her juices, could be followed across the adjoining balcony and through the doors. These were open, which I noted before seeing them as I could hear Helen gasping and moaning, though the curtains were all but drawn. I hopped over the wall and, crouching down so that my shadow wouldn’t be easily seen against the drapes, I peeked through a gap where they didn’t quite meet. The sofa was only a little way in from the doors, and was up against the dividing wall on my right hand side. Brian had placed Helen on this, and was, as I watched, once again giving her a good pounding. Her legs were up over his shoulders and, to my delight, she had been laid down the right way for me to have a perfect view of her being penetrated. I had brought the camera with me and focussed in on the action; I could see in minute detail as her fourchette was stretched outwards when he moved back, only to be pushed in again as he thrust at her. I had a clear view of her anus as well, though this had yet to be penetrated by so much as a finger as far as I knew. Steve was at the other end of the sofa, more or less kneeling by Helen’s head and attempting to get his semi-erect penis into her mouth from an awkward angle. He succeeded eventually by straddling her chest and pushing himself between her lips, which of course silenced her but meant I couldn’t see anything. She must have sucked him back to hardness however, as he indicated to Brian that he wanted to swap places. Rather than simply do this however, Brian withdrew from Helen and, together they turned her over onto her hands and knees. Steve then moved to the end by the window where I was watching and entered her from there, whilst Brian positioned himself on the sofa and guided her mouth down onto his erection. Again, I couldn’t see much of what was going on orally, but had a magnificent view as she was penetrated doggy-style. Her clitoris was almost clear of her hood and her inflated inner labia were sticking to Steve’s penis as he pistoned in and out. They kept this up for what seemed like ages before tiring of the position and seeking new ways to pleasure themselves and, though this was probably incidental to them, Helen. This was achieved by way of them both withdrawing and pulling Helen up onto her knees and spreading her legs. Brian then lifted his legs on to the sofa and shuffled himself towards the patio-doors so that he was lying down with Helen straddling him. He pulled her forward to the required position, and, by reaching down, reinserted himself into her, whilst Steve climbed up behind her. I knew what I was about to witness, and almost spontaneously ejaculated as Steve put the tip of his erection against her small hole and slowly, and quite easily as he was dripping with a mixture of her lubrication and his and Brian’s ejaculate, pushed deep into her. Whilst her mouth had been full of penis, Helen had perforce to remain silent, but now she was gasping and moaning at full volume: ‘Oh fuck, fuck, fuck’ she seemed to be saying as, for the first time in her life, she was double-penetrated by material other than plastic (and me, of course). Again I had a phenomenal view as these two young men took her, and I could tell, from her vocalisation, that she was close to a climax as, in a sort of rough unison, they worked their rock-hard organs in and out of her orifices. I was able to see in some detail her orgasm; I have previously mentioned that sometimes, though not often, and particularly when she is on top and really turned on, she gushes when she climaxes. She gushed now, and, because it occurred at a moment when she wasn’t pressed tight against him, I was able to clearly see several spurts of clear-looking fluid strike Brian at the base of his penis and trickle down onto the sofa. She also howled, which again isn’t something she always does. Watching this was better than Viagra, and I was straining against my shorts as I watched, though knowing that one touch would make me climax immediately, I forced myself to leave it alone. How I managed this I don’t know, as I watched Steve, perhaps feeling her anal contractions as she came, increase the pace of his thrusting, and with a breathless wheeze announce he was ‘going to cum.’ He didn’t withdraw, and ejaculated deep inside her – the second such addition she had experienced there in the last hour or so. He withdrew, her anus clenching tight as he pulled out, and stood up. Helen was now free to ride Brian to orgasm, but seemed exhausted and disoriented so he pushed her over sideways towards the sofa back and extricated himself from under her. Putting cushions from the sofa on the floor - what a considerate person – he pulled her up and then forced her to her knees, manoeuvring her so that she was kneeling on the cushions with her head, which she cradled in her arms, on the sofa seat, and re-entered her, vaginally, from behind. He swiftly tired of this and, after fingering her there for a few moments, pushed himself into her anus, and began slowly driving in and out. Steve sat himself on the sofa next to Helen’s head and, turning it towards him, attempted to get her to take his flaccid member in her mouth. Because, no doubt, of where it had been shortly before, she was having none of it, however he overcame this by taking her arms and, putting them behind her back, signalled Brian to take hold of her wrists. Still buried in her anus, Brian pulled her more or less upright, while Steve slid along; when Brian lowered her again her head dropped straight into Steve’s crotch. Holding a handful of her hair, he held her head up a little as he masturbated himself and, becoming semi-hard, he lowered her head and steered her mouth down over his shaft. This time she complied and Steve put his hands on either side of her head and guided her movements as her lips slowly worked up and down his partially erect member. Brian meanwhile had been speeding up his actions, and soon the slapping of flesh on flesh became loud as he approached climax, and, with a yell, he too fired his semen into her abused orifice. He withdrew and, releasing her arms, stood up whilst Steve continued to guide Helen’s head up and down his developing erection. Helen moved her, no doubt, aching arms to a more comfortable and supporting position each side of Steve’s thighs on the sofa, whilst Brian, and I, watched raptly this slow fellatio. It might have been because his hands were over, or obscuring, her ears, that Helen was the only one who didn’t hear the doorbell. Steve and Brian glanced at each other, and Steve inclined his head and pulled an expression to indicate he wasn’t going to stop to answer the door. Brian accordingly pulled on his shorts and disappeared, whilst Steve continued, to all intents and purposes, to masturbate himself with Helen’s mouth. What happened next made me goggle; Brian came back into the room and put his finger to his lips indicating for Steve to be quiet. Steve looked quizzical at this, and Brian began pointing towards the door into the lounge. Helen appeared oblivious, and in any event I couldn’t see her face properly as most of the time it was buried in Steve’s lap as she took his full length into her mouth. I looked over to where Brian was pointing and was amazed to see the door open and a large fat man sidle into the room. He was, I estimated, in his late fifties with a shaven head, and dressed in shorts and a football top. He too put his finger to his lips and indicated to Steve that he should be quiet, whilst he tiptoed across the floor towards Helen. Brian and Steve both broke into broad grins, and I wondered, predicting what was going to happen next, if I should do something. I didn’t, and watched as the fat man slipped down his shorts and, exposing a penis that, whilst on the largish size was not exactly out of the ordinary, knelt down behind Helen. He forced her legs further apart whilst making her raise her rear by pressing the small of her back, and, having got her in position he guided himself into her. She had started at his touch, and attempted to turn, but couldn’t move her head to see what was happening because of Steve’s grasp. With his hands gripping her hips the fat man began pumping her with some force, and he too, I saw, partook of both her orifices, alternating between them and sliding easily into both. He also made her orgasm, and, again, I saw spurts of clear liquid, which, this time, spattered down onto the tiled floor. He was clearly enjoying himself and ploughed into her two holes for ten minutes or more, before, having chosen the tightest one, brought himself to a climax. With a loud grunt, and for the fourth time that morning, and from the fourth different man if she only knew it, my darling Helen had a load of semen left in her back passage. Helen’s head was still fixed firmly in Steve’s lap as the fat man withdrew, pulled up his clothes and, as silently as he had entered, he left the room. Both the young men were trying not to laugh as he accomplished this, but Steve’s attention was drawn back to the proceedings in hand, or at least in mouth, when Helen reached up, and, knocking his hands away, from her head, began to really fellate him. When she wants to be, as all concerned knew, she is phenomenal, and pretty soon Steve’s eyes began to roll and within a minute or two she had him spurting. She had directed this onto her breasts the previous night, but now, because he grabbed her head again as she withdrew him from her mouth at the last second, it went all over her face. Brian pulled Helen to her feet and turned her around. I thought they must have finished with her by now but I was wrong. He sat her down on the edge of the sofa and offered his almost flaccid member to her mouth. She took it without demur and began masturbating and sucking him as Steve’s semen dried on her face and in her hair. It didn’t take her long to bring him back to hardness, but rather than allow her to make him orgasm he pulled out if her mouth, pushed her back onto the sofa and brought himself off onto her face and chest, before almost collapsing onto the sofa alongside Steve and Helen. The three of them looked exhausted, as well they should have been, and Helen, who was in the middle, was the first to speak. ‘I’m disappointed in you two’ she said quietly, ‘I told you last night that you had to make me orgasm before I’d let you make love to me, and neither of you used condoms.’ Brian laughed; ‘we didn’t make love to you, we fucked you’ he retorted. ‘I know you did, and I’m not sure I should be alone with you two ever again’ replied my wife. ‘Look’ Steve interjected, ‘I’m really sorry, but we couldn’t resist it, and if we get the chance I don’t think we would be able to resist again. We thought you were up for it.’ Helen grimaced; ‘that’s the problem’ she murmured, ‘I don’t think I could resist it either.’ I must have gaped in amazement as I heard this. There was my respectable teacher wife sprawling dishevelled, semen stained and totally naked on a sofa with two equally naked young men, and telling them that being used and abused at their whim was something she wouldn’t be able to resist again. My erection reached bursting point! ‘Well, if you can’t resist it . . . then don’t’ Brian cut in, and moved his hand to fondle her left breast, the nipple of which was still hard. Helen groaned; ‘no’ she said, ‘I have to get back or my husband will wonder where I am.’ She didn’t stop him though, and Steve began massaging her other breast from his side despite her protests. They took a leg apiece and spread her wide, Brian reaching down and fingering her. Unsurprisingly, her vagina was like a swamp, a fact I ascertained simply by listening to the squelching sounds as he pushed what must have been several fingers in and out. ‘You’re not leaving until you’ve made yourself cum while we watch’ Brian told her, removing his glistening fingers. ‘No, no, please don’t make me do that’ I heard my beloved wife plead, as she folded her legs back exposing herself even more completely. The two men exchanged glances, and Steve told her in a serious voice that she had to do it and they were going to make her. ‘Please no, let me go’ moaned Helen as she began rubbing her clitoris, ‘please don’t make me do this.’ ‘Just do it’ ordered Steve, as he squeezed her breast with one hand and took a handful of hair with the other. He moved her head forward and instructed her to watch herself as she masturbated. ‘No let me stop, I don’t want to do this’ whined Helen, her increasingly rapid rubbing contradicting her words. Again Steve and his friend exchanged glances. It was Brian who spoke next. ‘You’ll do what we tell you, and you’ll cum when we tell you, you fucking slut’ he spat. His voice got even harsher as he commanded her to ‘Fucking cum now, you dirty fucking bitch.’ Helen screamed as her orgasm shook every part of her body. ‘Yes, oh fuck yes, oh fucking hell yes,’ I heard her yell. I’d have yelled as well, but somehow contained myself as the last of my seriously depleted reserves spilled, unbidden, into my shorts. When my head cleared I looked in again, to see the three of them still half lying there. Helen was breathing hard and had her eyes shut. The other two were looking at each other in what appeared to be a state of shock; a state I could empathise with. Helen opened her eyes and sat up. ‘Right, now I really do have to go’ she exclaimed, and, turning to Steve, told him to go and get her towel. He got up and began looking for his shorts, whilst I, heart pounding, climbed back over the wall and swiftly regained the bedroom. Stripping off my single item of now soiled clothing, I went to the window and waited for Helen to appear. When she did, some quarter of an hour later, she was wrapped in her towel and was freshly showered. Steve and Brian helped her over the wall, both kissing her passionately as she gained our side, and as she made her way into our flat I leapt into bed and feigned sleep. She brought me a coffee up about ten minutes later, and told me it was time to get up. Yawning and stretching, I sat up and asked her what the time was. ‘Nearly lunch time,’ she replied, ‘and we will have wasted half the day unless you get up now.’ She left me, and as I sat there sipping my coffee, I thought that whatever else the first half of the day had been, it certainly hadn’t been wasted.