The best game

The Best Game in the World

The clock on the wall showed 3:02. The office had quieted down a bit; one colleague had gone to a meeting, the other two were behind their monitors. Jessica took off her headphones, half-closed her laptop, and took a deep breath. Then, slowly, she bent down under the desk and reached for her high heel. With a click, the left shoe came off. The black sheer pantyhose was still on her legs, slightly damp from the day's warmth, slightly glistening with delicate sweat.

She placed her foot gently on her other leg and began to sway it.

Jason, who until that moment had only been drawing meaningless lines on the paper, looked up. His eyes fell upon Jessica’s foot; the long toes, the bright white nail polish that shone even through the sheer pantyhose. He smiled involuntarily. The pencil dropped from his hand. His small hands moved towards the foot, as if magnetized.

First, he touched the surface of the stocking with his fingertip; thin, warm, slightly damp. Then he interlaced his fingers between Jessica's toes, like a child playing with his mother’s feet. Jessica slightly bent her foot, raised her big toe, Jason grasped it, rotated it, and laughed; softly, silently.

Jessica gently swayed her foot, Jason followed. She rubbed the sole of her foot against his cheek; Jason leaned in, pressing his forehead against the sole. The subtle smell of sweat, the smell of perfume, the smell of Jessica. He took her toes, one by one, as if they were little dolls. The white polish, the soft skin under the sheer fabric, the delicate lines of the toes.

The moments stretched out.

Jason had sunk into a deep calm; no thought of the workplace, no thought of his wife’s cousin, no thought of the colleagues’ heavy gazes. There was only one thing: the best game in the world.

Jessica's foot.

Her toes.

Its warmth.

Its softness.

Her white polish that shone like a star.

Jessica occasionally wiggled her foot, Jason followed. Sometimes she put a toe in Jason's hand, Jason squeezed it, laughed. Sometimes she placed the sole of her foot on Jason’s chest, Jason took a deep breath, and calmed down.

And behind the desk, in the shadow of the workstation,

amidst the sound of the keyboard and the ringing of the telephone,

an inner child had awakened in Jason;

and a kind auntie in Jessica.