It's a quiet street. Ever since I moved here, the people around here have been more then nice and helpful. Next to my house is a family, a bit loud at times, but they keep to themselves pretty much. On the other side of my house, a nice lady who lives with her daughter. She's a bit quiet, and sometimes visits when I'm cooking on the BBQ. Across the street is a couple in what would be the nicest house on this part of the street.
They are friendly and inviting in a generous way. This is a great when it gets hot during the summer, as they have a nice pool out back for us to use. In fact, they have a lot of nice things. New cars, big house, perfect lawn.
Jen, who lives with Dave, is the kindest person I've met in years. Yes, I can say that easily with the luck I've had meeting people. Heck people just have to meet my wife once to find ways to not visit. That story is a whole other ball of wax, but in a nut-shell she can carry a conversation for two people all by herself.
Over the years I've worked at a few jobs in the big city, my wife teaches out of town. We don't get to see each other too much, as I get home late at times, and she leaves early in the morning. Things changed in the past two years. She now works late on extra school activities, and finds herself going out in the evening with other teacher friends.
It doesn't take a whole lot of math to figure out her kind of fun filled evenings. But after 10 years under her control, I actually enjoy time to myself when she's out playing.
I keep the house in shape. Mow the lawn, trim the hedges, paint and fix anything that I find. I find myself doing as much as I can outside when the weather gets warm. This week I'm focused on cleaning my car, and taking care of a few mechanical things. The car is getting old, but I like to keep it in top shape as much as driveway work will allow.
Recently, I was building a shelf for the garage when Jen walked over for a visit. She had a calm look on her face as I hammered away on my work, not noticing her behind me at first. I finished driving a nail into a 2x4 and rested my hammer on the counter.
"Nice day it turned out to be eh?" I said as I pulled my arm across my forehead.
"Oh, it's nice to finally get some warm weather" she said as she blocked the sun from her eyes while looking down the street. "John, Dave is in Germany this week..."
"Again?" I cut in.
"...Ya, he's still working on the project there." I looked at her with a passive look, and glanced over her shoulder to the open gate beside her house.
"When is he getting back?" I questioned. She closed one eye as she lowered her hand to scratch a spot on her well tanned arm.
"in about two weeks, he's going from there to france to fix something at the other site." I looked down and casually scraped some dirt off a corner of my table-saw with a nail.
"He's a busy guy." I said while looking up. "Always..., anyways, I was wondering if you can put some chlorine in the water pump of the pool. I can't get the cap off and I want to shock the pool so we can use it this weekend." I put my hammer down and dumped my handful of nails on the table. "Sure".
I followed Jen as she walked over to her gate. Jen has an amazing body, well toned, trim and evenly tanned. The kind of woman that makes any swimsuit look good. I often see her cycling or jogging. But mostly, she keeps her figure with laps in the pool. Dave works at a hi-tech company that sends him all over the world. He's barely at home and spends lots of money on the family every time he returns. I feel bad for Jen though, as money doesn't help when your alone for sometimes 6 weeks. Dave is a nice guy, but really work minded. Sometimes can give you the feeling that he had a wife to get free maid service for his house.
"It's turned off right now, ...and here is the cap." Resting her hand on the cap she looked down at the machinery, and then looked back at me. "I don't have the hands to open it." I moved in beside her and grabbed the cap. I was on good for sure, but a good hard crank is all it needed. The cap turned as dried powdery residue fell from the threads.
"There you go." I said with satisfaction.
"here, drop one of these in" I saw that she was opening a plastic wrapper with a white block of chlorine in it. I looked back into the reservoir brushing off the dried powder, as I looked I held my hand back to grab the block and ran my fingers into her. I quickly turned to see she was leaning in with me to look, and that my fingers touched her breast. "Sorry, didn't see you there" I said with a jitter in my voice. I reached for the block in her hand and dropped it into the reservoir. Tightening the cap, brushed my hands together and looked down at the floor.
"You better wash that off your hands, you can use the sink in the kitchen."
"Thanks" I said. After washing my hands we talked a bit at the front door, then I went back to my work.
A week later, the phone rang. It was Jen.
"I was wondering if you can do me a small favor, I want to set some mouse traps but I haven't set one before." Talk about a sheltered life. "Can I come over to have you set it?" I thought for a second...
"Well actually, I better set it near where it's going to be used, traps are sensitive, and a small bump will set them off."
"Oh, thanks, the front door is open."
I opened the door and called out "Hello.." while looking around.
"Back here" a voice came from the kitchen. I closed the door and made my way back to the kitchen. She had a cupboard door open below the counter and was pushing a few things around to make room.
"I'm so scared of mice" she said with a slight giggle. "I just can't stand to see any of them." I was really amazed at how nervous she was, holding her hands together against her chest, she really hates mice I guess. I bated the trap and loaded it, then placed it in the corner.
"That should do it, just don't let the cat touch it". She closed the door slowly and held out another trap.
"Two?" I said.
"Well, I herd things in the back washroom" I went to the back room and opened the door. Here was the laundry and a shower stall for anyone coming out of the pool. I set the second trap by the sink on the floor beside the shower stall.
"Thank you so much, I really want to get rid of these mice". I smiled and walked out to the front door talking with her a bit more.
"Call if you need anything". I offered. She smiled and thanked me again.
Later that evening I was working on the car in the driveway. The weather was real warm by now and carried into the evening. Air-conditioners could be herd in windows that night. Laying on the driveway, I was checking a few thing under the car. Taking note of a leaky water pump and a loose control arm.
"Steve!" A voice cried from across the street. It was Jen, she was waving franticly at me while clutching a towel around her. She was wet and not happy. I ran over to see what the matter is, I could see that she was in a hurry to put that towel on, as it wasn't covering her too well.
"There is a mouse in the trap" My eyes narrowed
"which one?" She led me in and walked quickly to the back of the house. I followed her, but she stopped short of the washroom.
"it's in there" I glanced in and saw the poor dead mouse on the floor. Jen was hovering over my shoulder and squirming at the sight of the mouse. She held the towel so tight in one hand that it opened at the bottom a bit, only glancing back did I happen upon a quick peak into the towel.
"I got out of the shower and there it was..." She was still hiding behind me as if the mouse would somehow attack her. I picked up the trap with the mouse hanging from it and said "garbage bag please" she quickly turned and went under the sink to fish out a bag. I almost dropped the trap when I watched her from behind. That towel slid up enough for me to see she didn't shave. I looked back into the washroom to occupy my attention and not give her the idea that there was something to look at. While I did, I noticed that her swim suit was nowhere to be seen. The laundry machines were closed and nothing on them, nothing on the towel hangers, and nothing on the door. Did she swim in the nude? Well, it was dark out, and her pool was well isolated with tall fences and plenty of trees and bushed.
If I had a nice private pool like that, heck I would swim in the nude too!
"Here we go" She held out a plastic bag and I dropped the mouse in. She was so skittish about it all, that she barely held the bag with any effort. The trap hit the bottom of the bag and yanked the bag out of her fingers. She let out an "EEakk!" and her arms retracted with a frantic reaction. Her two little fists bunched up under her chin, as if to hid behind her hands. Her grip on the towel was now compromised and one half of it came loose. Like a wrapper on a candy bar the towel opened up down one side, peeling its way around her. She was a tangle of fingers and hands, and she couldn't control it. So she just let it fall in order to find the corners and pull it back up. She raised her head and looked at me with a nervous smile. eyebrows raised, her eyes darted around. I looked down and grabbed the bag up.
"I will just throw this out in the trash can in the garage" I focused my eyes on the bag, held it out in front of me and walked out the back door to the garage. I could feel her embarrassment, and so I kept my gentleman attitude with me and tried to act as though nothing happened.
I stepped out of the garage and closed the door. I turned to see Jen standing at the back door with a Robe on.
