Too Many Mirrors

When you reach a certain age and have acquired an unfortunate body shape, gravity becomes your enemy and a simple mirror becomes your nemesis.
In the privacy of your own home you can minimise your exposure to their spiteful honesty and therefore perpetuate the falsehood that you are 20 years younger and 4 stones lighter.
You can control this to a much lesser degree in the wider world.
For example shops and stores all possess a multitude of polished surfaces and shopping centres are all bedecked with glass and mirrors, but by far the worst are hotels, in particular the one where Jim Blackwood recently stayed.
It was a rather grand and elegant place and the venue for one of their over 50s club weekends.
However the downside to staying in an above average Hotel are the number and the positioning of mirrors.
A whole wall in the bathroom, a full length one in the hall and another monster above the writing desk come dressing table.
But the worst by a country mile was the bathroom.
There is nothing that dents your confidence more than seeing your naked form as others might see you if you were fortunate enough to reach that level of intimacy with them.
It was when Jim was in the shower that he caught sight of himself, and the full horror of what he saw was not even diminished when viewed through the steam in the shower, the water droplets on the shower door and the condensation on the mirror.
In short the image did not leave him possessed of any self confidence in fulfilling his hopes of soon reaching that afore mentioned level of intimacy with a not unattractive widow in his group called Faye Harvey.
His face had stood the test of time well enough but his body had been badly abused
“I bet Faye looks better in the bathroom mirror” he said out loud
He was quite presentable for his age when dressed in his dinner suit and the accessories, and without being conceited he was confident he could leave her satisfied, so to speak, if he got that far but his great fear was that he would leave her disappointed with his natural appearance.

Faye meanwhile was having much the same internal discussion as she stood before her own mirror, though even after 4 children and a hysterectomy her body had not reached the level of decline that his had.
Finally she deemed herself satisfied with the final look, she just hoped it would suffice for him.
However this final presentation was only achieved with undergarments that pulled her in and held her up and her fear was that the way she looked at that moment might well be enough to get Jim into the bedroom but with everything removed she was worried he wouldn’t go back for seconds.

The next morning at the breakfast table they sat across from one another, Jim wore a smug look of satisfaction while Faye wore one of tiredness.
This “exhaustion” however did not prevent her from taking him back to her bed before lunch.