The Judge

Christmas travel didn’t go quite as planned. I had a ticket to fly to Pittsburgh on December 22 but Mother Nature intervened.

On the morning of the 22nd I woke to find almost two feet of snow on the ground. News broadcasts showed snarled traffic

everywhere and the airport was closed, all flights cancelled. Also, phone service was intermittent; it took me more than two

hours to get through to Vivian.

The next day the roads had been cleared and the airport was open for business. The lines were so long, however, that I had

to wait until the last flight to Pittsburgh before I was called.

Instead of Vivian being there to pick me up, Jack was there. “I didn’t want Vivian to drive with the road conditions the way they

are,” was his explanation.

He was right; apparently the storm had done more damage in this area than it had in Connecticut. It took him, driving slowly

and carefully, more than an hour to reach the house. Here the snow had reached a depth of almost 3 feet. It was almost 10

o’clock when we entered the driveway.

The entire family was waiting when we arrived. Vivian was in my arms kissing me before I had a chance to say hello to

anyone else. When we finally broke the clinch I hugged Elizabeth and Kaitlin and was introduced to John, a younger version

of Jack.

“It’s great meeting you at last. You must be special to have swept Vivian off her feet the way you have.”

“I’m very lucky; she’s the special one.”

“She’s been bragging about you ever since I got home. I read your news-paper article; I’m not an expert but it looked well

written to me.”

We sat around the table for a while then Vivian led me to the music room and showed me a trundle bed that had been set up

in there for me. “We thought you would prefer sleeping here rather than sharing John’s bed; and I’m sure he prefers it this way

also. The bed can be folded up and trundled into a closet in the morning.”

She kissed me goodnight and left. I used the main bathroom to brush my teeth and went to bed; I lay there for an hour or so

before unwinding and going to sleep.

Some time later I heard the door open and Vivian crawled in next to me, naked. “What are you doing with your pajamas on?”

she whispered, then proceeded to remove them.

“Aren’t you concerned that someone will walk in on us?” I whispered back.

“No, especially if they know I’m in here.”

We cuddled together for most of the night, both of us aroused but content to just be together, our bodies almost melded to

each other. Vivian left just before dawn, donning the nightgown which she had discarded on her way to my bed.

Vivian came in to play the piano before I was out of bed. She was fully clothed, which I kidded her about. “How come you’re

not naked like you were a few hours ago?’

She gave me another, “Charleeee,” then went back to playing.

I got out of bed and with a great show of modesty, took my clothes to the bathroom to get dressed.

With the snow so deep we couldn’t go for a walk so John suggested a quarter limit game of poker. As this was a game I was

acquainted with I said yes. The women held their own, with the exception of Kaitlin, who quit after losing a couple of dollars.

The rest of us were competitive, with John raking in several good pots. Then I got hot for a while and forged ahead. We quit

at noon to have lunch with nobody more than $1 ahead.

In the afternoon we sat around the piano and sang Christmas songs then went to a church musicale at 4 o’clock.

Following dinner both Vivian and I opted out of another game; Vivian said she wanted to read and would find me a book also.

In the den was quite a collection of paperbacks, including a few of my favorite authors. After making our selections we

returned to the living and sat at opposite ends of the couch to read.

Soon, as we stretched out to read, both our feet were on the couch playing footsie with each other. One look in her eyes and I

could tell she was getting turned on, as I was.

We put our books away and cuddled together on the couch, again with no space between us, on the verge of falling off.

“I want you right now,” Vivian whispered. “I wish we had some place where we could have privacy.”

“Me too. Are you going to pay me a visit tonight?”

“Of course, after everyone else is in bed. We can, at least, rub against each other.”

“Maybe more, if you don’t groan.”

“Me groan? How about you? You sound like you’re in agony.”

“Exquisite agony; we’ll both have to be quiet.”

And we were. Vivian came to my bed about midnight to discover I was already naked and waiting for her. I was ready before

she even touched me and almost broke my vow of silence when she got on top of me and lay there quietly absorbing all the

joy of it before beginning a slow, rhythmic movement as I lay there not moving but more impassioned than I’d ever been.

We lay still afterwards, without speaking, both of us flushed with the ecstacy we had just experienced. After we cooled down

we repeated the love making in the same position. It was as good if not better.

As I held Vivian later she began to cry, with happiness she told me.

“Maybe we have found what gives both of us the most pleasure,” I said.

“Oh yes,” she murmured and kissed me long and tenderly before leaving to return to her bed.

In the morning everyone was up and around before I woke up. I got up and dressed, feeling like I could conquer the world.

One look at Vivian told me she felt the same. Elizabeth looked at each of us and, with a smile, let us know, without speaking,

that she knew where we were.

It was Christmas day and we had to gather around the tree while John played Santa. He was very deliberate as he handed

out the presents, not allowing more than two at a time to be unwrapping. I think he saved Vivian’s and mine for last. Vivian

received some nice gifts, mostly clothing. My gift to her was a cashmere sweater which I had to special order as none of the

New Haven stores, and I tried them all, kept them in stock.

“I love it,” she exclaimed and leaned over to kiss me. “I’m going to put it on, right now. She almost ran to her room and was

back in a few minutes.

Her gift to me was a CD she had made of her playing many of the love songs she had played for me here at her house. The

first number, which was her favorite, was ‘Till There Was You’ from ‘Music Man.’

Dinner was a repeat of Thanksgiving, with turkey and all the trimmings. Vivian and I again did the cleanup and dishes. Apple

pie a la mode was our dessert a little later on.

In the evening Elizabeth got out a game of ‘Balderdash.’ I had played the game before and, as I consider myself a wordsmith,

did well.

Vivian came to my bed again. This time we just cuddled, her bare fanny up against my bare front and one of my arms around

her fondling a breast. I know I slept most of the night but I woke up several times extremely hard. I almost lost it when Vivian

leaned over and kissed it before returning to her room.

That day we decided to brave the weather and see if we could find a hill where we could use a couple of old sleds that were

in the garage. Jack drove us around several back roads before we found one that looked suitable.

He left John, Vivian, and me there to stomp down the snow on the hill before attempting any sledding. The stomping got our

feet wet and then the sleds still did not work; the snow was too soft and too deep to maneuver the sleds on. After about an

hour we quit and called Jack to come get us.

I stayed at Vivian’s until January 2nd. We played games with the family, watched some TV and, after the roads were cleared

enough, went for several long walks. One day we walked past the pond where we had skinny-dipped and each of us asked,

at the same time, “Want to go skinny-dipping?” which gave us a good laugh.

New Year’s Eve we stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop at Times Square; every one kissed each other. We also

drank a toast to the New Year. My toast was addressed to Vivian, “May this be the first of many together.”

Vivian and I made love at least once every night in my narrow trundle bed and joked about what would happen if the bed

suddenly folded up on us trapping us inside. Vivian giggled and said, “I hope it won’t break you off inside me.”

Each morning Elizabeth looked at us with a happy smile and a knowing look. Vivian continued to glow.

Upon returning to the manor I had a long conversation with the judge, about my romance. He was becoming a father-figure to

me; I could tell him everything and feel comfortable doing it.

Both Andy and Fran had taken time off during the entire Christmas - New Years season. They were just getting back to work

when I checked in with them my first morning back. Andy had accumulated so many excerpts that she needed a place to file

them. I suggested she take the afternoon off and go to her favorite office supply and buy a file; I would reimburse her.

She returned in the morning with a three drawer file cabinet and several boxes of file folders which Tony and I unloaded from

her car and set up. The small office was getting crowded so we began thinking of finding a place to store a file cabinet that

Fran had almost finished.

Tony suggested an empty tack room in the barn. We discussed it with Judge Summers who gave us his okay. “When your

ladies have completed all their typing, we might be getting rid of them entirely. As you have said, we will have a computer file

and a back-up file; we won’t need the transcripts any more. I’ll ask the university if we should keep them, as that is the

ultimate destination of the files.”

Fran, as I’ve mentioned, was an excellent typist; not only that, she was very fast. But even at the rate she was typing, it would

still take over three years to finish. I discussed this with both Fran and Andy, wondering if they had any thoughts of being able

to hang in there for that time period.

Andy said she loved her job and had no thoughts of quitting. “The pay is good, the hours are good, and I have as much time

off as I need.”

Fran wasn’t sure. “I think someday soon I might want to do more than just type, but I have no immediate plans to leave. If

something comes up though, I want to be able to grab it.”

Then, on January 12th, disaster struck. Mrs. Campbell went to the judge’s suite to tell him breakfast was ready. When he

didn’t respond to her knock, she entered the room and found him on the floor, alive, but barely. Medical help arrived in less

than 30 minutes but in that short time he had died. Reason for death was given as a massive stroke.

This threw everything into a tailspin. All work was stopped until decisions were made about what direction we should take.

This couldn’t happen until after the funeral and the reading of the will.

Judge Summers’ attorney, Landon Wade, approached me at the funeral and advised me that I would need to be at the

reading of the will as Judge Summers had made several bequests pertaining to me.

The funeral was held on January 16; many friends and colleagues came to pay their respects. Mrs. Sharp provided a sit-

down lunch for all who came to the manor.

The reading of the will took place on January 18. The estate itself was willed to Yale University to either sell or use in some

other way, with this bequest to go into effect no sooner than 12 months after his death. Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Sharp, and Tony

Abruzzi, all of whom had been in his employ for many years, each received a bequest of $100,000 and a continuation of their

salary for life.

When it came to his bequest to me, I was stunned. His bequest read: For my very able assistant and aide, Charles Ashton,

who has become, to me, the son I never had, I leave a multiple bequest:

1. That he continue, with the office help he now has, to make a computer file of my court proceedings for the next six

months. At the end of that time the work, if not finished, is to be turned over to the Yale University Law School for their

clerical help to complete, with compensation to come from funds allocated for that in this will. One copy of the completed

file is to be given to Charles Ashton, for his use as a resource for his future writings. At the end of the six months the two

clerical workers assisting Charles are to be given a severance pay equivalent to six months of their salary.

2. To Charles Ashton I bequeath a sum in the amount of $100,000 to be used to give him a good start in his writing

career.

3. Also to Charles, at the end of the six months, his salary is to continue for the next twelve months. Whew! I thought,

what a kind old man he was.

* * *

Vivian was devastated when I called to tell her of Judge Summers’ death. “It must have been very sudden,” she said.

I replied, “I think it probably was.”

I called her again after the will was read to inform her of all the bequests the judge had provided for me. “I’ll be very busy for

the next few months trying to tie up loose ends. I’m also going to talk to his brother, who lives in Boston, and to his lawyer, to

see if I can get permission to write his biography. I would love to do that, and I’m sure he would approve.”

“Will you have time to do that and take care of everything else?”

“I think so; but I’m going to restrict myself to week days only. All my weekends are for you, if we can work it out.”

I began immediately by contacting his brother, who was delighted with the idea. He gave me a list of other contacts I could

make: people who knew the judge when he was young, in college, and early in his law career. I also had the names of the four

judges I had met in Atlantic City. And one, I remembered, had a son in the publishing business.

I made contact, by phone, with each person on the list, and set up a calendar of times I could meet with each one and have

them share their memories with me. The calendar extended well into March. It would be a busy schedule.

But first, Vivian and I needed a weekend or longer together as soon as possible, before I got fully involved in the project. The

earliest we could plan for was mid-February, when President’s day would give us a three day weekend. That was still four

weeks away.

“Ask your Mom if you can go off with me for that entire weekend,” I said. “We could fly to the Bahamas, or some other sunny

area.”

I began my research with a visit to Boston, planning to stay several days, meeting with the judge’s brother and several others

in the Boston area who had known Judge Summers since he was young, high school or earlier. The brother, Jerome.

Summers, was four years younger than the judge. When he invited me to stay with him for that part of my research I jumped at

the chance.

I drove to Boston rather than fly so I would have a car available to me. I spent four days at Jerome Summers’ house, talking

with him for hours and with other early friends that Jerome had come to his house. I used a tape recorder to record the

valuable information they provided and later entered it into my laptop.

The judge had had quite a youth. Always the biggest in his circle of friends, he dominated most sports he played in. He also

dominated in his school work. He graduated from high school with high marks. He had been captain of the football team,

president of the debating club, and attractive to all the girls. According to Jerome he always had two or three on his string.

From high school he went to Yale on a full academic scholarship, and also captained the football team there. I learned this

during the next week from some of his college friends; some of them living in the New Haven area, others as far away as

Minneapolis. Again, as in high school, which is what the judge had told me, he always had several hot romances going at the

same time. I was beginning to find out that he was quite the ladies’ man.

By the time I had gone that far in my research mid-February was approaching. It was time to arrange the three day weekend

with Vivian. I had talked to her often and she told me her mother had not objected to the idea. “She just reminded me to take

precautions and not let passion cause us to blunder,” is how Vivian expressed it to me.

I made reservations at a hotel on the beach in the Bahamas and bought two round trip tickets from New York beginning on

Friday evening of the weekend. The hotel was a busy one, but quiet, and was located directly across the street from a

beautiful strand of beach, which we knew we would enjoy.

We arrived at the hotel at 9:30 and went directly to bed where we wasted no time before we were making love. For the first

time in our relationship we spent almost the entire night either fondling each other or making love.

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