The Brea

If there is such a condition as early-life crisis, David Patton suffered from it. For the past year, since he had left college on the pretense of earning enough money to continue his education, his life had deteriorated.

His idea to take a year off was not to his parents’ liking. They practically disowned him. He moved out of their house, another mistake.

Now he wished that he had remained in school. He would be close to graduating

and even if he had to take loans it would be better than the predicament he found himself in.

Stuck in a dead end job, putting up with two sloppy room mates and not getting ahead financially were preying on his mind and making him depressed. After a year’s break he was not even close to being able to return to school. To compound the crisis, his love

life, or what little life he had outside of work, had eroded.

Somewhere between twilight sleep and REM sleep, David felt something wet in his left ear, jolting him back to reality.

“Come on Bubba, wake up,” the male voice urged.

David hated being called Bubba as much as he hated the Wet Willy in his ear. The giver of the Wet Willy was Phil, one of his roommates. Big Phil was 26 going on 18 and lived to party.

“Wha...what time is it?” David said, using a corner of the sheet to dry his ear as he looked up through half opened eyes.

“Who knows, who cares, get up, we got an extra chick out here, just for you.”

With that, Phil turned around and left the room. Hearing laughter in the other room David shook his head silently. It wasn’t unusual for Phil and Jason, their other roommate, to bring girls home after a night in the bars but they had never brought a third girl before.

Phil reached for his jeans and looked at the clock. It was after 1:00 a.m. It won’t hurt to just go out and say hi. Throwing on a T Shirt and looking for his shoes, he thought to himself, ‘She must be a dog.,’

David stopped by the bathroom first to splash some water on his face and make sure he was somewhat presentable. Besides, he had to pee. He could hear Jason talking to someone.

“Hey, here he is, what’s your name, honey?” Jason was asking the girl. “Meet Davey, we said you wouldn’t be disappointed and we weren’t lying.”

Their eyes met. He had seen her someplace, but where? He noticed the blonde highlights in her already flaxen colored hair and her brown eyes. His eyes scanned quickly over the rest of her. She was wearing loose fitting black pants and a whit shirt and sandals. Putting all of this together in his mind he still couldn’t place where he had seen her before?

“Caroline,” she said, a timid look on her face. “I’m Caroline.”

David tried to smile as did Caroline but it was just an attempt on both their parts. Phil introduced the other girls to David but he didn’t pay attention to their names. Jason had placed a CD in and pushed the play button. As the music started Phil came in with a tray full of glasses filled with brew. After gulping their drinks down the other couples begin to dance. David and Caroline stood nervously sipping their drinks and watching the dancers get closer and closer to one another.

Caroline seemed preoccupied with the squalor, almost afraid to move. David had become accustomed to the living conditions but watching her survey the room made him see it through a stranger’s eyes. It must have been a shock to walk into a room with only one piece of furniture, what Phil referred to as the ‘curb-side’ sofa. The only wall decoration present was a dart board, surrounded by chips in the plaster caused by errant darts. The wooden floor was bare, except for various article of clothing and conspicuous stains, sticky liquids, mixed with white specks of plaster. The girl’s coats had been tossed in a pile near the front door.

David noticed two Hustler magazines and a pair of Jockey shorts lying on the floor near where they were standing and did his best foot shuffle to push them under the sofa and out of site. Otherwise, there was not much he could do.

“You work at the hardware store,” she broke the silence in an attempt to make small talk, veiling her uneasiness.

David had heard what she said but he leaned toward her to answer, stalling.

‘How did she know? had Phil or Jason told her that they all worked for old man Jenkins, the cantankerous owner of the store?’

“That’s right,” looking towards his roomies and back to Caroline, “ we all work there,” he said, trying to smile.

They stood silent for a time, watching the dancers. Both couples had drifted to the far side of the room near the hallway leading to the bedrooms. As a new song started, Phil and his partner danced down the hall. Jason and the red head were close behind.

Hearing two doors close, David turned to Caroline and asked if she would like to dance.

As they danced she seemed detached, as if she wasn’t hearing the music. Unlike the girls with Phil and Jason she kept her distance. He wondered what she was doing with the other two girls. ‘Probably like me, living with these two goons,’ he thought, ‘she probably knows them from work or worse, lives with them.’

“Can you turn the music off now?” Caroline asked nervously. Then, hearing the strange sounds coming from down the hall, “or turn the volume down, that would be okay also,” she added.

“Sure,” he said. “Would you like another drink?”

Declining the drink, she took a seat on the couch. David softened the music and took a seat next to her.

“Are they your friends?” he asked, placing his arm above her head on the back of the sofa.

She smiled, it was a relaxed grin, “We work together. I was thinking, how different you are from your room mates, it’s like me, I don’t know why I went out with them, we’re so totally opposite from each other.”

David decided he liked her, animated yet serious but he had to admit it was her smile that had gotten to him. Her teeth were not perfectly straight but she wasn’t afraid to show them when she was amused. Slowly, he let his hand drop to her shoulder. Her smile disappeared and she tensed a bit but she didn’t reject him either.

“I thought that was probably the case. They wanted to go out and insisted that you go along, am I right?” He subconsciously let his hand start making circular motions on her shoulder as they talked. There was the smile again.

“That’s right. I’ll bet the same thing has happened to you,” Caroline confirmed.

“All the time. Let me guess, did they promise that you would meet someone?” David asked as his face drew close to hers.

Laughing again, she turned toward him to acknowledge that he had been right, there had been a promise. They kissed, softly. He drew her to him and she did not resist. However, a loud giggle followed by a sharp scream coming from one of the bedrooms caused her to break off the kiss.

“It’s getting late, will you please take me home?” She asked shyly, with an almost plead in her voice.

‘She’s right,’ David thought to himself. It was late and he had to work the next day. . The hardware store was open 15 hours per day, seven days per week and there was no flexibility in the schedules. Even otherwise rebellious Phil and Jason never questioned the schedule, always showing up on time.

The streets were quiet as they drove across town. They chatted about who they both knew. David was surprised to learn that Caroline had been two years ahead of him in high school but that was not where he had seen her before. Directing him into a subdivision and turning on several streets, she had him stop in front of a house on one of the side streets. It finally dawned on him, he remembered where he had seen her. It had been at this house.

Still lost in his thought David felt a peck on his check and she was out of the car. “It was nice to meet you, thanks for bringing me home,” she said before closing the car door. He watched her race to the front door and let herself inside before he drove away.

‘That’s Helen’s house,’ he thought. Helen was the bookkeeper for the store. Though she had a small office on the second floor at the store it was seldom used; she usually worked at home.

When they had closed the store together a few weeks before Mr. Jenkins had asked David to bring a satchel full of papers to Helen and when the door opened it was Caroline he saw, not Helen. He remembered he had been surprised when Caroline met him at the door that night. Wearing a robe and holding a sleeping child in her arms, Caroline took the pouch and closed the door without saying a word. Expecting to see Helen , he had been surprised to say the least. He had even hoped for an invitation to come inside.

‘That’s where I’ve seen her, wonder why she didn’t mention that meeting,’ he mussed. The meeting had been brief, perhaps she didn’t remember. But she had said, “you work at the hardware store.” ‘She must have remembered.’

David had become the receiver shortly after he went to work for Mr. Jenkins.

His duties included unloading the trucks, signing for merchandise and verifying that vendor’s counts were correct. His normal work schedule was during the day when delivers were made but that Saturday night he had taken Jason’s shift as a favor. That had been the only time he had been to Helen’s house until he brought Caroline home.

Helen was a knock out. Always wearing short skirts and silk blouses, the word would quickly spread when someone spotted her entering through the back entrance. Phil and Jason would race to a spot in the back room where they could watch her climb the stairs, hoping to get a glimpse of her slender legs and shapely ass, they were always mindful of where Mr. Jenkins was as he would not approve of their lewd behavior.

The stairs were off limits to store employees when Helen was in her office, with one exception. “David, Helen wants to see you,” Mr. Jenkins would announce over the store intercom. Phil, Jason and the store clerks would mimic Mr. Jenkins, ‘Helen wants to see you,’ they would mouth as he climbed the stairs.

“What does she want to see you for when she calls you up there?” Phil ask

one night when they got together at the house.

“She wants to suck his little prick,” Jason chimed in. “I watched her coming down the stairs today. It made me wish I was the one called to the office when I saw those tits jiggle. Hey Davey, her lipstick was smeared, what were you two doing up there?”

David took the abuse good naturedly. The two older guys were assistant managers, ordering him around at work, it was the same at home. He knew that they resented the trust Mr. Jenkins had placed in him after such a short period on the job. They had rotating schedules, opening at 6 A M and closing at 9 P M, while David worked from 8 to 5. It was a constant source of irritation to them. They also envied his access to Helen.

There was no simple way to answer Phil’s question. Helen was always business like, usually asking him to double check the quantity delivered on a high priced item. David declined to answer the question; thinking that Phil would just scoff and not believe him anyway.

On this particular day, she had greeted him in her usual manner, She had questions on some invoices and wanted him to look them over and initial them if they were correct. She moved her hand across David’s so they purposely touched for a instant. The contact sent a spark up his arm making him look up as her dark eyes met his. His heart started pounding and his mind swirled. Noting that everything was correct in looking the invoices over he went ahead and initialed them.

‘What was she questioning?’ he thought as he handed them back to her. Helen smiled and said, “I want to thank you for bringing Caroline home the other night, she said you were very courteous.”

Their eyes met again. David opened his mouth but nothing came out. She smiled again. “It was really nothing, honest” he managed to say.

A voice jolted him back to reality when Phil asked, “What happened with that chick we fixed you up with?” He had seemingly forgotten about Helen.

This was easy, “She wanted to go home so I took her,” David answered, cautiously.

“You took her home? Is that it? Do you believe this guy, Jason? We’re too good to you, we bring your sorry ass a good looking chick and this is the thanks we get, you take her home?”

For the rest of the night the two of them criticized David until they tired of the game and went to bed. Sitting alone in his room he thought about what the ‘boys’ had said. Maybe they were right. His ineptitude toward women was becoming a problem. He would try to become more aggressive.

The next evening he came home from work and thought about, ruminated, even berated himself for being such a nerd, a drip, a bore and a geek when it came to women. Finally gathering his courage he made a telephone call. At first, he was uncertain which one had answered, Helen or Caroline.

Taking a deep breath he took a chance. “Caroline?”

“Yes,” the voice said, tentatively.

“Hi, this is David, remember me? from the other night?”

“Oh, sure, David, how are you? Thanks for bringing me home,” her voice was chipper. This was going better than he had expected.

“Caroline, I was wondering if you would like to do something, how’s this weekend?”

“Oh, David, thank you for thinking of me but I don’t go out much. My daughter is teething and she’s cross all the time, I just can’t.” She seemed apologetic, but firm.

He tried to think of something to say, ‘how do you accept rejection gracefully?

‘Why be graceful?’ he thought..

‘Just say goodbye! Just end it, hang up!’ he couldn’t.

His mind was still racing when he heard Caroline on the other end. “David, hold on, I’ve got to check on my daughter. I think I hear her crying, I’m going to her room, hang on.”

He heard a door close but there was no other sound, the child was not crying.

“David,” she was whispering, “I had to come in here, I’m so glad you called.”

Puzzled, David couldn’t believe his ears. Minutes before she was rejecting him. Now she was glad he had called.

“It’s my sister, she has a thing for you, I didn’t want her to know it was you, she would kill me if she knew I was telling you this.”

David’s was speechless, his heart had stopped beating and sweat had beaded on his forehead. Was this a dream. “Caroline,” he said weakly, “Caroline, are you sure?”

“Dummy,” she said, too loudly, “of course I’m sure, she’s my sister.”

“But, I mean, how do you know?” he asked then thought to himself. ‘This was too good to be true, it must be a dream, I need to pinch myself.’.

“Remember that night you delivered the package of paperwork and I met you at the door? When she saw it was you she made me go to the door because she didn’t want you to see her in her robe, even though we were both dressed for bed but she made me go,” Caroline explained as if it answered everything.

In shock, he said nothing, but listened as she continued, “I’m sorry I closed the door in your face that night. I was mad at her for making me answer the door, I love her but she’s so self disparaging sometimes.”

David thanked her for the information. After they said their good-byes he sat staring at the wall, not believing his good fortune.

David walked on air for the next week. ‘David, Helen needs you up stairs,’ he heard Mr. Jenkins’ voice on the speaker. Cutting a delivery driver short in mid sentence, he dashed up the stairs, taking two at a time. Helen was striking as usual, she smiled at him as he entered her office. Bolstered by what Caroline had told him, David smiled back, making a point to search her eyes for any sign of encouragement. Their meeting was brief. Her questions seemed pointless to him but he answered them, painstakingly and she thanked him for clarifying them.

Slowly, he trudged back down the stairs, cursing as he talked to himself for not having been more assertive.

‘Helen, whatcha say we go out sometime?’ No good.

‘Helen, would you like to see a movie with me?’ That wouldn’t work either.

‘Helen, how about...’ he didn’t even bother to finish the sentence. He had ascended the stairs and walked into the office. Sitting down, staring at the paperwork on his desk, he thought, ‘I’m pitiful.’

The aroma of her perfume was still in his nostrils, sending him into a trance as he concentrated to memorize the smell.

Jason cornered him in the kitchen that night. He seemed nervous, “Hey, kid,” he whispered, “how about covering my shift this Friday night?” Jason shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Just from 6 to 9, that’ll give you an hour to get something to eat, how about it, I really need this favor.”

Hearing the sound of shuffling feet they both turned to see Phil at the door listening to them.

“Because he’s doing my shift on Saturday night, aren’t you Davey, he can’t do both, the old man won’t let us leave early two nights in a row,” Phil countered.

This was the first David had heard that Phil wanted him to work for him, there had been no such arrangement. Yet, this was what he had been hoping would happen. There was a chance that Mr. Jenkins would need him to deliver a satchel to Helen again. He considered the situation, both room mates watching him, waiting for his answer.

“I’ll give you fifty bucks for three hours,” Jason offered.

“That’s what I’m going to give him,” Phil boasted, “so your out, he’s mine, aren’t you Davey?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll make it 60, that’s 20 per hour,” Jason sounded desperate.

“I’ll match that,” Phil countered.

David was beside himself. Which night should he choose? Which night would Mr. Jenkins ask him to take the satchel to Helen? Last time it had been on a Saturday but what if it wasn’t always the same day?

Phil spoke up, “maybe he can do both, how would that be?, Davey, 120 bucks, how would that suit you?”

“The old man would never go for that,” Jason interrupted.

“He might if David asks him,” Phil said, “he likes you kid, how about it?”

This was what David had been thinking. One of the nights was sure to pay off.

It was all set, David agreed, making everyone happy, especially David.

Mr. Jenkins rejected the idea completely. Sternly, “they’re making a habit of this, I’m not going to stand for it,” he said. David watched the old man’s eyebrows twitch, a well known sign that he was irritated.

“They’ve both got plans, I guess it’s important to them,” David tried again.

“Let them switch nights,” Mr. Jenkins countered dismissively.

“I think they have plans for both nights, Mr. Jenkins,” David said, paying attention to the eyebrows.

“Why are you speaking for them? Did they put you up to this?

“They’re making it worth my time,” David said, immediately seeing that he had hit the right button. This was something Mr. Jenkins understood. In his mind, David was an enterprising young man.

“You’ve sure got a way with that old codger,” Phil said that night, celebrating David’s success. Both he and Jason were overjoyed with the news that they would have both nights off. Much to David’s surprise, they coughed up the payments in advance. They

didn’t know that he would have paid them for the chance to see Helen. He couldn’t wait for Friday night to arrive.

The store was busy. Mr. Jenkins left at six, giving David last minute instructions about closing the store. Aisles were to be swept, cash was to be stashed in the safe and the security system was to be armed. “Call me at home if something comes up,” were his parting words. The crew was not used to David being in charge but things went reasonably smooth.

At closing time David gave a big sigh. Other than making an extra sixty bucks, the evening had been a big zero. Things had not turned out as he had hoped. “Better luck tomorrow,’ he thought as he locked the safe for the evening.

At six o’clock Phil introduced David to the crew which was different from the group that had worked the night before. They were mainly high school and college students who would rather be someplace else on Saturday night. Mr. Jenkins was not there. ‘Another zero,’ David thought. Surprisingly, not many customers needed hardware items on a Saturday night. Rain was keeping people at home. Things were so slow that David had to break up a makeshift shuffleboard game in one of the back aisles. The employees were restless and so was David.