My usual admonitions: everybody is over eighteen, any names similar or the same of people alive or dead is purely coincidental, not a BTB story and no explicit sex in this one.
*
It was a pleasant fall day and since my wife, April, had gone out shopping with her sister, I decided to take on the onerous task of rearranging my garage. I had been putting it off for a month and my wife had been nagging me to get it done so that she could have a space for her new Honda.
We actually have an oversized, two car garage but since I keep a lot of expensive tools in my van I needed to keep it inside, for security reasons. The other half of the garage is occupied by a ride on lawn mower, which I no longer use since we now have a lawn maintenance service. There is a snow-blower that I have used only three times in the two years since acquiring it. The rest is filled with assorted stuff, like camping equipment, boxes of Christmas decorations, numerous metal shelves with outdated and never to be used again paints and chemicals.
It's not that I'm lazy but owning my own glazing company, I put in some hours hours, which is compounded by my daily commute from Suffolk County, Long Island to Long Island City, which is just on the east side of the East River, across from Manhattan.
My father owned the business and the building which houses it for many years and after two years of business courses at community college, I joined the business, full time. Of course, I had worked for him part time throughout high school and college, so I was quite familiar with the day to day operations. We could produce everything glass; mirrors, beveling, etching and we had a sub-contractor that could supply us with specifically designed stained glass. Most of our work was commercial, the concentration of which was in Queens County and Manhattan. When Mom and Dad retired, we worked out a financial arrangement and I took over the business.
Anyhow, I had purchased one of those large cedar sheds that looks like a mountain cabin and could house a family of three and it had been sitting in the back yard, empty, for over three weeks.
I had already moved the mower and snow blower into the shed and was about to relocate the camping equipment, which we hadn't used since Timmy, our youngest, had left for college.
The double, overhead, garage door was open and as I was about to hoist the four-man tent onto my shoulder when a red GMC, Yukon pulled into my driveway. I recognized the car to be the one owned by my friend and "around the block" neighbor, George Ponoulos. What I didn't recognize, as George exited the vehicle, was the attractive red-head, sitting in the passenger seat. She was wearing sun glasses and looking straight ahead but made no attempt to get out of the car.
George came into the garage inquiring what I was up to and after explaining my project, my curiosity got the best of me, and I asked, kiddingly:
"Who is the hot looking babe......., and better still, does Maryann know your tooling around town with her"?
He laughed, and with a wink said, "that's why I'm here, Buddy. That is Gloria .........., my 'special' friend". He added with a little satisfied smirk, if you know what I mean".
I glanced at the car again but the woman hadn't moved, she was apparently just looking at us. I didn't reply because, frankly I was shocked.
George and his wife are a few years older than us and we've known them for about seven years. They seemed like a solid, normal, everyday couple. Actually, I was a little pissed that George would flaunt his extra-marital relationship and bring his girlfriend to my house.
Speaking in a not too friendly tone, I asked, "you're only around the block from your house, what would you do if Maryann saw you"?
"Oh, he said, casually, Maryann has known from the beginning, she's fine with it".
I still couldn't believe what this man, who I thought I knew was telling me. "How could I have been so blind as to never have even suspected".
"So, you mean that you have an open marriage". I exclaimed in disbelief.
No....no ....no, George answered adamantly, there is only Gloria and me ....and Maryann, of course".
"Anyhow, he continued before I could reply, the reason I stopped by is to tell you that I sold my business. I've been in negotiations with a buyer for several months and we finally reached an agreement. I will be closing next week".
"As you know, we have a condo in Myrtle Beach and since Maryann retired last year, we're going to be spending a lot more time there. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to take Gloria with us and I thought you might be the perfect guy to hook her up with".
I was astounded and dumbfounded but finally found my voice and said, emphatically, "George, I have never cheated on April and I'm certainly not going to start now. What the hell got into you, I thought you knew me better than that".
I detected a slight smirk on his face as he put his arm around my shoulder and started to guide me out of the garage.
George is a big guy, about 6'3", 250 pounds. He is a retired Marine, Lt. Colonel who owns a high-end security company in Manhattan. He supplies personal security people for the rich and famous, along with meeting their needs for electronic surveillance.
"At least come over to the car and let me introduce you. I'd feel like a jerk if you didn't at least say, "Hi". Please, John, do it for me and if you aren't interested, fine".
He was forcefully guiding me over to his car. The window was open but the woman didn't even turn her head, as George, in his baritone voice, bellowed:
Gloria, Honey, I'd like you to meet my good friend, John Adams. John, say hello to Gloria".
"Nice to meet ........., I started, but stopped and turning to George, laughed, "you asshole".
My friend was laughing so hard that tears were leaking from his eyes and he had to lean on the car for support.
I started laughing, as well, and said, "you got me good, you son of a bitch'.
The beautiful red-head was a mannequin, but you would have to be up very close to notice it, especially with the sun glasses on.
Gorge brought me out of my stupor when he said, "how about a beer to celebrate your friend's good fortune.
After we clinked bottles, I asked, "Where the hell did you get her, and, better still, why"?
George laughed again and said, "Maryann and I picked her up at an estate sale, three years ago. She is one of those life-like mannequins that they used back in the day. Now they use those ubiquitous body, featureless molds, colored to represent every, politically correct skin color on earth. I'm surprised they haven't incorporated green, in case the old Martian legend is true". Gloria, on the other hand, has all working parts, bends at the knees, waist, elbows, head, the only thing she can't do is blink, ergo, the sunglasses".
"As soon as I saw her, I had an idea and they only wanted fifty bucks so I bought her. Maryann and I put her in the back seat and took her home. She didn't have any clothes on and in the fifteen minutes it took to get to our house we got a lot of shocked looks, especially at the traffic lights. I'm surprised someone didn't call it in but we didn't get stopped by the cops".
"Maryann dolled her up with a new wig, makeup, ear rings and ......, clothes of course. She even put authentic looking eyelashes on her. By the time Maryann was done you would have to be pretty damn close to see that she was a mannequin. We even put it to the test once when Maryann's cousin, Father Ed, came by the house to drop off some memorabilia, after her aunt, Elaine died. She sent him in to the den to say hello and I was sitting in the recliner with Gloria sitting on my lap, her head on my shoulder and my hand up her blouse. I didn't know if his eyes would pop out of his head first or his Roman collar would bust open. He just stared at me like I had gone mad and whispered, "what the hell, George". After a few seconds, I picked her up off my lap and placed her on the chair and when none of her body parts moved, he actually crept a little closer and bent down to look at her. Fortunately, Ed is a good guy and we both got a good laugh".