"During the winder they live in an apartment above Phil's office, and in the summer they live over there," Tom explained.
Ann went to the window and looked, out. She knew that that house was someone's summer home, but she had never known to whom it belonged. It was strange to see the windows lit and smoke rising from the chimney.
As she looked at the lit windows, she began to feel her voyeuristic lust rising in her. She found that she was wondering what it would be like to walk across the fields that separated the two houses. Then she forced the thought out of her mind. The idea of sneaking up to the Apples' house to peek in the windows was ridiculous. If she tried it, she would probably be attracted by a dog or something.
The Apples' house became an obsession to Ann. She would look across the dark fields at it, and when she was outside, she would plot a course to it in her mind. She hadn't had a chance to wander around their place much; she and Tom had only been there since the fall, and everything had always been covered with snow. But now she could see that all she would have to do would be to go down the bill behind her house, across the field and the small creek, and she would be there.
But it was still out of the question, she told herself. Whenever she caught herself planning a night raid on the Apples' windows, she would force the thought from her mind. She wouldn't even let herself think about the possibilities that were available to her perverted needs a mere quarter mile away.
Then, a few days before the shop was to open, the Apples came over for a visit. It was just after dinner, and they only stayed a little while. They proved to be very nice people, and even though Tom and Ann hardly knew them, they were soon laughing and talking as though they'd been friends for years.
Before they left, the Apples invited Tom and Ann to their place the next evening for cocktails. They said there would be a few other people there too. Ann immediately took the invitation as a chance to look their place over for voyeuristic opportunities, but she drove that thought out of her mind like all the other thoughts on the topic.
Nevertheless, the next day as they drove up the Apples' drive, Ann was looking at the land that led over to her place. She could see her own house across the field, and there didn't seem to be any obstacles to prevent her from strolling over one night. There was no sign of a dog either.
The Taylors were there, along with some people Ann and Tom hadn't met. It was a subdued party compared to the one the Taylor had given, and there was no sneaking off to the bathroom with other people's spouses. The liquor was flowing freely though, and Ann was softly floating.
She began casing the joint like a bank robber even though she still refused to let herself think of coming there to peep. She saw that the Apples' bedroom window was on the same side of the house as the bathroom window. The windows were all equipped with shades and drapes, but out here in the country not many people were conscientious about pulling down their shades, Ann knew.
Then she pulled herself together. She had let her voyeurism run away with her again. She made an attempt to get into the conversations going on around her, and she didn't drink any more.
When they left, Ann refused to even look at the grounds to see what would be the best place to approach from in the dark. For the rest of the evening she kept her mind off the Apples. She didn't even go to the window to look at their windows lighted in the distance.
It was Friday evening, and the shop was going to open the next day. Ann and Tom were very excited, and although Ann didn't realize it, that excitement helped her keep her mind off her perversion.
The opening went well. All their friends came to the shop, and, even a few customers showed up. They sold enough to give them confidence that they might make a living from the shop, and become successful.
By the end of the weekend they were both exhausted, but their bodies reacted differently to it. Tom was falling asleep at the kitchen table, but Ann was too excited to sleep. As Tom passcd out on the couch after dinner, she was pacing the room, thinking about the shop and hoping they would make it.
The antique business had blocked almost everything else from her mind including her voyeurism. But then, as she went to the window, the lights from the Apples' struck her like a beacon to a lost sailor. She couldn't take her eyes off those windows, but her brain rebelled. She had told herself she wouldn't go over there to peck, and she wouldn't.
She didn't question her motives for waking Tom and making him go up to bed. She told him he would catch a cold lying on the couch, and she let herself believe it too. But once he was out of the way, she went back to the window and looked at the brightly lit windows across the fields.
Without thinking, Ann went outside. It was a warm evening, and after a long winter it was wonderful to be outside at night without shivering with cold. The stars were out, too, and Ann looked up at them for a long time. She was almost afraid to stop looking at them.
But she finally lowered her head, and when she did the lights from the Apples' windows caught her attention again.
Suddenly, she couldn't remember why she had forbade herself to make a little foray over to their windows. After all, it was a harmless perversion, and there was a lot of pleasure waiting for her there. Tom was asleep, it was a nice night for a walk anyhow and, most important of all, her cunt was itching and she was dying for another peek at some good action.
As she began to consider a peeking expedition, she got more and more excited until her whole body was humming with lust. By then there was no way she could have prevented herself from making that trip.
There was no danger, she thought. If the Apples' happened to find her out there, she could just make something up to explain what she was doing. Of course, she didn't consider the fact that Phil Apple had almost caught her peeking and must have been suspicious.
Ann ran into the house for a sweater. She chose a black one so she could blend in with the dark. When she went out again, she started immediately across the field.
First, she had to get down the hill, and she found it very muddy. She should have known it would be, after all that melted snow, but being a city girl she didn't think of those things. Her shoes were covered with the thick mud, and she had to descend by going from tree to tree, holding on to each one to keep from tumbling down the slippery slope.
It was rough going. Bushes and branches reached out to trip and scrape her. At one point, she tripped on a rock and hurt her ankle, but not badly enough to stop her. By the time she got to level ground she was a muddy mess and was breathing heavily from the exertion. The rewards of getting to the Apples' windows were great enough to keep her going though.
The field was used to grow hay in the summer, and it was still ridged and lumpy from plowing, and not at all easy to walk on. With every step, her feet sunk into the soft ground and her ankles twisted. She kept walking, but the Apples' house didn't seem to be getting any closer.
Finally, she was able to see the windows more clearly, and she noticed someone walking around inside. That gave her a new surge of enthusiasm and she quickened her clumsy steps through the mud. When she got to the stream she noticed it was running with more water than it had the only other time she'd seen it, but then she realized that that was due to the melted snow too.
The stream was full of big rocks sticking out of the water, and it seemed like a simple matter to step from one to the other. In the dim moonlight, she found a good spot to cross. Carefully, she put a foot on a rock, got her balance, then stepped to another rock. Before long, she was halfway across and was realizing that the racks were becoming farther apart. She was standing with her legs spread on the rocks, and the next step would have to be a big one. One of the rocks she was standing on was just barely out of the water and her shoe was getting wet.