My husband Ron is well-educated, articulate and a voracious reader. He has a wicked sense of humour and is as good as I am at finding typos in the local paper. But he is a man of few words, preferring to use gestures whenever he can.
If the TV remote is out of his reach, he'll use hand signals to prompt me to change the channel. If I put his mug down with the handle turned the wrong way, he'll indicate with his finger which way it should be turned. When I back out of the driveway, he watches from the window and waves his arms wildly, but I respond with a cheery wave to that! When he mows the grass and I have missed one of the doggie gifts on the lawn, he stops and raises one arm in the air. That's my cue to come and remove the obstacle, if I happen to be outside too. I usually manage to be somewhere else, though. A slap on my bottom means that bedtime will be earlier than usual.

That had been the signal on this particular occasion. Ron carefully examined the new aqua lace panties that I modeled for him, noticing that they scarcely covered my bottom. Once the panties were removed, along with other bits of clothing, we hopped into bed. Ron immediately reached for the Littledeer maple paddle. I was feeling a bit naughty so I opened my eyes wide in mock horror, with a little smile. I was trying to let him know I wanted more cuddling and a little warmup first.
Ron frowned, but I could see a smile lurking. He gave me a light tap on the shoulder with the paddle. I giggled. I knew that it meant "head down, bottom up!" so I quickly got into position over a pillow, still giggling.
The first whack of the paddle stopped my laughter, but I kept on smiling for a while longer. This was fun! I wiggled to try to evade the swats, but the paddle kept right on target. The fun continued for both of us until Ron put the paddle aside and used his hands first to tell me how much he loved me, and then to show me how I could please him.
After, I curled up in Ron's arms and thought of the needlepoint picture that hangs on a wall downstairs:
Give me a friend with whom I can be silent.
