Not even 30 years old yet and out of work? The economy was the problem, Denton's boss told him when he called him into the office.
It wasn't like Denton had no clue it was coming, with nearly a decade of seniority he had watched as one after another of his fellow workers fell by the wayside. 19 years old in the door, washed up and out at 29?
Now he looked around, his ten years seniority put him as the last man in the door. Union rules and all of that, he knew he was next. There wasn't much left of the company anyway. His boss even shook Denton's hand and wished him good luck, a sad expression on his face.
Denton was well aware that his boss knew he was probably next.
Let's face it, when your trade is selling performance engine parts and the price of fuel hits four bucks a gallon, people's play toys are the first to go.
At first he wasn't worried, after all, his sales had been the best of all the team, even though the totals were dropping like a rock the last year or so.
Somebody could use him, after all, he was talented! Good looking, gift of gab, Denton thought he could talk a hooker into giving him credit.
Yeah, sure.
A few hundred applications later, his phone stayed silent.
"Not at this time." He heard, over and over.
+++
Unemployment helped some, but the bank account he had so carefully saved up began to fade quickly. It wasn't a hell of a lot because Denton loved all the new high tech gadgets and had a bad habit of being one of the first in line to get anything new so his bank account wasn't exactly flush.
He did have a tad though because the company stashed away some each year into a retirement account which he had managed to match.
With the checking account looking sad, the gadgets went up on the auction sites. Denton even sold a half dozen or so of them for around 10 cents on the dollar, which would have helped a little but he only got paid for two of them.
Denton's girlfriend Cheryl Miller looked at him oddly the day he told her he wasn't going to be able to take her to the big concert. He liked Cheryl, and had even been thinking..maybe, just maybe?
Kids and a house and a lawn and shit like that?
After all, she had a fanny that made him drool when she wore those pajama type pants with the sash that tied at the waist, a pair of absolutely perfect breasts with inverted nipples that made a neat little "pop" sound he could actually feel with his mouth when he got her to giggling by sucking on them.
Denton spent a lot of his hard earned keeping her happy, Cheryl was fun to be with and he loved the jealous looks of the other guys when they were out.
When he offered her those overpriced trinkets he bought regularly, that was always good for a roll in the hay. He had sprung for a few neat dresses too. Those times were always a kick in the ass, she would model them for him, coming out of the dressing room turning this way and that.
Cheryl usually picked out the nastiest looking things they had in the store, more than once they found themselves with an audience pretending to be looking over the nearby racks.
There was one store she always preferred, they did have some amazing selections, with prices to match.
The manager himself trotted over to wait on her nearly every time, probably figuring Denton was good for around 400 to 500 bucks every trip. Plus he seemed to really like Cheryl, even thought the guy acted queer as a three dollar bill.
Since the guy was gay, Denton wasn't concerned too much about the guy measuring her in about every direction possible. He was always poking and tugging at the cloth, too. Several times he even went into the dressing room with her.
Once Cheryl came out wearing a beige one piece pullover type dress, the guy right behind her. She did a little spin and the hem came up, for a split second Denton got a glimpse of her bare bottom.
Not a stitch on underneath that!
She wore that home that day, so Denton investigated and confirmed his suspicions that she was naked as a Jaybird underneath that.
"That manager guy was in there when you changed into this?" He asked her.
"Sure, no big deal. He sure is cute, isn't he? Too bad he is Gay." She giggled, giving him a sidelong glance.
Denton wasn't too sure of that but what the hell. After all, what could possibly happen in a tiny little changing room?
Taking Cheryl out in her peek a boo outfits was fun, lots of guys gave her sidelong glances, but she was all Denton's.
That part he was sure of.
+++
But times were tough, with everything being outgo and no income at all, Denton was starting to watch his remaining funds carefully.
That night they stayed at his apartment instead of going to the concert, Denton made popcorn.
Hell, everybody likes popcorn.
Cheryl was kind of pissed off about that, her hair was all fixed up with curls and her titties hanging out the top of her outfit.
She liked to be right in the front row jumping up and down, half the time with the thing pulled up showing them off to the greasy looking long haired guy with the bare chest and tattoos, yelling into a microphone.
Probably just moving his mouth to a recording anyway, and Denton was sure the jerk had a pair of socks folded up in his pants.
But he got the rewards of Cheryl getting all fussed up so he didn't mind her acting all silly like that.
Sixty fucking bucks a ticket so she could wave her jugs? Screw that, he thought.
Times were tough.
But that night was also the first time he ever heard Cheryl complain of a headache.
She turned down his offer of some Aspirin, saying she would be all right. She did ask him about his car, too. The nearly new Camaro with all the toys and whistles, big rumbling V-8 engine had gone back to the bank.
The 15 year old Volvo Denton bought for $650.00 ran just fine after he had pulled the cylinder head and fixed the valves. Sure, it had a few dents but it got him where he wanted to go.
Cheryl said she still didn't feel well when he called the next day, same thing the day after that. Then the day after that she didn't answer the phone.
Worried, he drove over to her house that evening, it was about 7 PM. He got there just in time to see her walk out with some guy in a business suit and they climbed into a fancy Escalade. She had on a pretty dress he had never seen before, it didn't leave much room for imagination.
Hair all fixed up and curly, titties hanging out the top.
Denton sighed and went home, he got that.
It hit him that maybe he wasn't so sure of Cheryl after all.
He did manage to reach her on the phone, it was days later.
"I really do like you, but it's time for us to see other people." She told him sweetly.
+++
When he cashed out his only IRA certificate to make the rent that the landlord had just notified him was going up to cover the tax increases, that hurt.
The government happily took their 10% early withdrawal penalty, so he knew it was time to consider another profession.
The government was kind enough to loan him some capital so he could go back to school, by the time Denton was 33 he was a full fledged real estate appraiser.
