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.
