Philip Johnson
Prologue
They considered themselves a very typical middle classed couple, both working and enjoying life. Ross and Lois were both in their thirties so they were still young and full of life. It was just coming into the dead of winter so they had a long cold season ahead of them and they both hated the thought. The winter seemed to bother Lois a lot more than it did Ross. She didn't exactly fit the mold of seasonal affective disorder, but she had to work at keeping her spirits up, and it wasn't just the absence of sunshine. It was the snow and slush and the discomfort of being cold so often, and feeling fearful every time she had to drive in snow, sleet, or any form of precipitation for that matter. She felt somewhat confined, because she would often decline an invitation for cards or dinner because couldn't bring herself to deal with the realities of winter. Then she met a couple of women and they invited her to join their little volunteer club. What made it easy for Lois was, she never had to drive. One of the club members lived a few blocks away and was quite happy and eager to provide the transportation. Lois seemed happier and that made Ross happier as a result.
Chapter One
Ross was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner when Alma arrived early to pick up Lois for their club meeting. Lois invited her in and Ross said, "Hi Alma, coffee?"
"Thank you Ross, I'd like that. I don't know how I managed to read the clock wrong and arrive this early."
"Glad to see you, how are the roads?"
"Oh, they're fine as long as nobody tries to go too fast."
"I sure appreciate you always picking up Lois. That way I don't have to worry about her."
"Oh, think nothing of it, I'm glad to do it. That gives Lois and me a chance to gab before the meeting or whatever."
Lois heard the last part of the conversation as she entered the kitchen and said, "The only bad part of all of this is Ross ends up doing the housework and I hate that."
Alma laughed and said, "I'd love it if Ben would do the housework. Instead I have to hire a housekeeper."
Ross hung up the towel and joining them at the table said, "I'll bet it's no picnic trying to find somebody trustworthy and reliable though."
"You're right there. I went through three of them before I got lucky. I only need her once a week and so far it's wonderful. I don't have to listen to Ben whine, and I don't have to do a thing around the house unless I want to. Plus, if I work an hour or two overtime, that covers her salary. I just wish I would have done that a long time ago."
Lois said, "Ross never complains. He encourages me to get out as often as I want to, so I don't do as much as I should. He loves to write and be on his computer, and he works so many hours that housework really gets in the way of what free time he could have."
"Sounds to me like you two need a housekeeper too."
Ross was quick to say, "No thanks, I don't want to go through hiring and firing a half a dozen times just to find one halfway responsible adult to clean our house."
With that said, Alma and Lois left and Ross did the last of his chores and went to his office. He sat there and surveyed his little domain. He did like his office. He loved to write short stories, and he would write everything from some small historical piece to erotica, porn, romance, and an occasional mystery. He just loved to create. To him, it was a lot like working in clay. He liked to see what he could do, and if he didn't like it he just hit the delete key and moved on. In clay, if you don't like what you're doing you squash it and start over with the same ball of clay. Right then he had a mystery started that he was struggling with, and one erotic story that wasn't going much better for him. He liked both plots however, so he wasn't giving up on either of them. He continued to sit there and look around his room.
Along the far wall were shelves that were what he called his library. On those shelves were books that he had read and especially liked, both paperback and hardbound. Then there was his collection of things he had written that he wanted to save. They represented about ten years of writing and saving, and he would always print them and keep them straight with report binders and plastic covers. He could pick up any one of his stories and read a few pages and be able to remember the rest of the story. To him, they were nearly priceless. Lois would usually read what he wrote and he had a few friends that seemed to appreciate his efforts in that area.
When Lois got home that evening she said, "Ross, I talked to Alma some more about a housekeeper. Why don't we try that for awhile?"
"No thank you. I know you're thinking of me, but it just isn't worth the grief, let alone the expense." She let it drop but she didn't forget about it.
When she got home from work the next day she told Ross, "I met the nicest young woman today. She works in our records section and she's so pleasant to talk to. I said young, but I'd guess in her mid to late twenties or so." There wasn't much Ross could say to that so he just looked at her and listened. "She didn't tell me, but I learned that she went through a pretty painful divorce not long ago and she ended up almost broke. One day she had a husband and their two incomes weren't bad at all, and then she learned that he had skipped town with most of their money. No warning at all."
"I'll never understand how anybody could do that to another person."
"I wish we could do something to help her, but our little volunteer club just doesn't have what she needs right now and that's money."
"You're not hinting that we give her money are you?"
"No of course not, I was just telling you about her."
"I do feel sorry for her assuming her problems weren't of her own making." Lois didn't know anything more about the woman so that subject died.
Chapter Two
Ross was finally breaking out of his writing slump and had added a couple of chapters to his mystery, and by making some changes to his erotic story he was able to get that moving again. But then house chores interfered, so he had to see to those before he could immerse himself in his little world once again. At least with Lois volunteering and going to the club meetings with Alma, he didn't worry that he was neglecting her.
He thought the issue housekeeper issue was dead, but then Lois came home from work and said, "I had lunch with that young woman I was telling you about."
"You refer to her as a young woman, but she's probably not much more that five years younger than we are."
"Well, I know but... anyway her name is Patty Emerson and we had the nicest chat."
"What about?"
"Oh a little bit of everything. She's very personable and quite smart. She loves to read and watch old movies on television. I told her you enjoy writing and she wanted to know all about you."
"I hope you didn't make a big deal of my writing honey, because that's just for my own pleasure."
"Oh, I know that, and that's what I told her. She still wanted to know what you write and so forth."
"Did you tell her I write porn?"
"Well no, I told her you write erotica and mysteries."
"Well, that's true as far as it goes."
"I want to hire her as our housekeeper." Well, there it was.
"Honey, we talked about that. She'll last about a month, and then she'll never return, or will show up whenever she feels like it."
"I think she'll be great. We could pay her cash so we don't have to worry about keeping financial records for her."
"And you trust her to keep her mouth shut about that cash income that should be taxed?"
"Of course."
"I'll make you a deal. I'll go along with this if you'll hire her, pay her, and fire her, when she doesn't work out. I'll help her learn what is expected of her, but that's all."
"And be nice to her."
"Yes, and be nice to her.
"The only thing is she might have to do it like on the weekend or evenings or something because she works full time."
"That's fine with me; I don't care what day of the week she would work. By the way, just what would you have her do?"
"Oh, you know, sweep and mop, clean the bathrooms, dust, and the laundry, and whatever she might see that needs to be done."
"That would mean I'd have no housework to do at all."
"That's the whole point of it right?"
"You do realize this is going to be very expensive."
"I know, but if it works out it, will be worth it. If we find out later that we can't afford to keep her, then okay, and we'll go back to how it was before."
"You've had this in mind ever since you met her haven't you."
"No...well not exactly. It did occur to me when I met her though."
"So is it safe to assume you've already offered her the job?"
"Of course not. I did mention there was a possibility though. I told her I had to talk to you first."
"And when do I meet this so called young lady?"
"Tomorrow night."
"Okay, tomorrow night it is then. But remember this is your baby and I'm just her trainer."
"I remember. It's important that you like her though, because you'll see a lot more of her than I will."
"I guess that's true. Okay I admit I like the idea of no housework, but I'm afraid to get my hopes up."
"I understand, but try to think positive because I just have a good feeling about her. It's even better that she'll work when we're here, because you won't have to worry about somebody else having a key to our house."
"That is a good point. Okay honey, you have me convinced."
Tuesday evening Ross was a few minutes late getting home from work, and when he went in Lois was at the kitchen table talking to a young woman that he assumed would be Patty. He put on his best smile and joined them as Lois said, "Ross, this is Patty the woman I was telling you about."
"Nice to meet you Patty."
"Nice to meet you too Ross, would you like some coffee?" He stopped in his tracks and tried to hide his smile from Lois. He had to admit she was getting off to a very good start.
"Yes, thank you Patty."
