The Problem 1

I am a 50 year old engineer for an aerospace firm located in one of the Northern plains states. My name is Chuck Everett. Due to various physical problems, including arthritis, I can't get out to exercise much. As such I am not physically trim and fit. Face it, I'm a bit pudgy and love to cook. I lost my wife of thirty years to cancer five years ago. Our one child has moved to the West coast and might as well live on the moon for all I hear from her.

I work with a team of others designing CMGs, Constant Momentum Gyros, used to alter the attitude (position) of a satellite in orbit. Most of our work is for NASA/JPL, but some of it is for various intelligence agencies.

My department has its share of "Dilbert type" engineers. In all honesty I probably fit into that category. Although I know my co-workers at a surface level, I can't claim to be close friends with any of them. At least I couldn't have claimed that up until about two months ago.

I live about forty miles from my place of work. I prefer to live out "in the boonies". I don't like to have close neighbors. A few weeks ago there was a shutdown period for our plant. It has been determined, by our bean counters, that is a waste of money to have anyone work from Christmas eve to the day after New Years day. So, the plant was shut down to save on heating, lighting, and salaries.

It was Christmas eve, and I was looking at spending yet another holiday season alone. There had been a bit of an extended lunch hour at work and people had set up a de-facto dish to pass meal. It had all tasted very good. About three hours after the meal, I became very ill. I had a brutal headache, my muscles ached, and I had begun to run a fever. Now, I almost never run a fever but the company nurse indicated I was running a 101 degree fever and should not drive. She also told me that I should leave work ASAP to prevent passing on whatever I might be carrying. Talk about a "bummer". I was sick, but not at home, and didn't have clothes or such to stay in town.

As I went back to my cubicle and was shutting down my computer and putting files away when Carol walked in. Carol is a technician who builds up my designs and does testing on them to verify that I haven't produced "a lemon". She took one look at me and started to grill me about what was wrong. Carol wasn't Playboy centerfold material. In fact she was almost as heavy as I was.

I told Carol what the Nurse had said and the bind that I was in. After a few moments of thought she made a suggestion. "I think I can solve your problem. If you think you can ride for an hour, I can drive you home and watch after you for the next couple of days. If you don't think you can ride for an hour I can drive you to my place, which is about fifteen minutes from here. What do you say?"

At that point I had to ask her a question: "Aren't you going to ruin your holiday by looking after me? After all, you will be going home to someone, won't you?"

Carol looked down at the floor and half mumbled, "No, there is nobody else at my place and I don't have any pets. My folks live on the East coast and haven't been on speaking terms with me since I joined the Navy to learn to be an electronics technician. I'm alone."

I can't tell you why I did, but I told her I would love to have her drive me home; if she didn't really mind. Ten minutes later we were walking out to my car.

I guess the drive was uneventful. With my fever I wasn't overly observant or rational. When, at last, she pulled my car into the driveway she got out and came around to the passenger side and helped me out and into the house.

Now, I don't need to tell you that bachelors aren't always the neatest people. I know I wasn't. The house wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't neat either. By this time I needed the bathroom very badly, but was extremely wobbly. Carol helped me into the bathroom and then went to make up a pot of tea and find something that we could both eat, even though I wasn't really hungry.

By the time I finished on the seat I was having chills. I opened the door and told Carol that I was going to take a hot bath and to go ahead and eat without me. I drew the water, climbed into the tub and passed out in the hot water. When I woke up, I was in my bed. Carol was sitting in the room watching me.

"How did I get here?"

"You gave me quite a start the other night. After you had been in the tub for about half an hour I went to the door to see if you had run into problems. There was no answer. You were in the tub and had obviously passed out. I couldn't wake you s I rigged up a rope harness to help get you out of the tub and onto a large towel. I dried you off and dragged you, on the towel, into your bedroom. The hard part was getting you into the bed. I thought you probably should have had a trip to the hospital emergency room, but that wasn't likely going to happen due to the weather. For the last few miles when we were driving here we had been getting freezing rain. It turned to sleet, and when I looked out I knew that the chances of getting an ambulance were just about nil. I've been keeping watch over you for the last thirty-six hours. Last night your fever broke and I suspect that you are over whatever it was that hit you."

"You mean I've been out for a day and a half?"

"Yup!"

"I need to go to the bathroom and then would like to have some coffee and food. I feel a bit strange getting out of bed, and getting into a robe with you here in the room."

With a mischievous smile Carol said: "I can leave if you would prefer, Chuck; but remember you were naked when I took you out of the tub and still naked when I put you into the bed. It's not as if I haven't seen all of you."

'O.K. I'll dispense with the robe then." I got out of bed and realized I was still a bit wobbly on my feet. Carol came over and put my right arm over her shoulder and guided me to the bathroom. She supervised my sitting down on the toilet so that I wouldn't fall and crack my head on the tile.

While sitting on the toilet I talked to her. "I don't know how to thank you Carol! You have been a real friend in a time of great need. I'm sorry that I've ruined your holidays. You shouldn't have to keep track of a sick co-worker. How can I repay you for your kindness?"

Carol's response was painful for me to hear. "Chuck, I'm know I'm not pretty so I don't get out on dates very often. I have no pets and no family I can turn to. I would have been alone for this week trying to find something to keep my mind off being alone. In many ways your problem has helped me out of a bummer of a week."

The look of pain on her face was heart rending. I don't think I have seen a look that sad, except on some mornings when I look in the mirror.

"I know how you feel, Carol. I'm alone too. You can see that this house, at one time, held a family. Since my wife's death and my daughter's departure to the West coast I have had nobody around either. My daughter irrationally blames me for my wife's death. She won't speak to me anymore. You are a bright light in what would have been a very somber week. You see, this time period had been special to my wife and I. What was special became bleak and sad after her death. Thank you for being here."

I don't know what made me do it, but I took her hand and kissed it (since it was the only part of her that was in kissing range). She broke down in tears. I cleaned myself, flushed the toilet, took her in my arms and simply held her while she cried. I wasn't sure if it was due to true sadness or from lack of sleep keeping watch over me. After several minutes she calmed down. By this time I felt much much better. My balance had returned.

"I'm going to get some clothes on and make breakfast, what do you like for breakfast Carol?"

"I don't want to put you to any trouble, I'll have whatever you are having."

"I feel like French toast. Is that o.k. with you?"

"Absolutely! that's one of my all time favorites. How about I make the breakfast while you get dressed?"

I couldn't argue with that suggestion, so I went back to the bathroom to shave and shower and to my bedroom to put on sweat pants, sweat shirt and bedroom slippers. The first pieces of French toast were being taken from the frying pan as I entered the kitchen.

"Sit down, Chuck, and you can start in on the toast."

"No way, Carol, we'll put them on a plate in the oven to keep them warm so that we can eat together. I have missed good conversation during meals for quite a while now. Beside that, you are doing all the work so far. I'll make some good coffee while you finish cooking the French toast and bacon."

And so it went. At last we sat at the table, said grace, and started eating. I was famished! As we progressed through breakfast I asked Carol how she ended up unmarried and alone.

Her story was one that would be familiar to many people. She had married a person who she thought was a good person. After just a few months of marriage she had fully discovered that "Mr. Right" was in fact "Mr. Wrong". He used illegal drugs, beat her, and proved himself a womanizer. She divorced him since it was clear that he wasn't interested in cleaning up his act. That experience had led her to isolate herself so that she wouldn't be hurt again.

We both discussed what things we liked and disliked in terms of entertainment, food, books, and any other topic we could think of. It was amazing how much we were alike.

When we finished breakfast I cleared the dishes from the table and washed them. Carol stood there with a strange expression on her face.

"What's wrong?", I asked.

"I've never seen a man get up and do the dishes before! Neither my father, nor my ex-husband would do any household work. How long have you been doing dishes?"

"My father insisted that I wash, or dry, dishes every night after a meal. If I washed, he dried; if he washed, I dried. He said it was only fair to help my mom."

Carol's expression didn't change much, but it was obvious that she was deep in thought.

We listened to the morning news and heard the public service announcement that my county was still under a state of emergency. No private excursions by car would be allowed. If there was a medical, heating, or lack of food emergency we were to call 911 and we would be put on a list to be visited by someone driving an appropriate vehicle. We were effectively snowed in.

I told Carol that it was her turn to get cleaned up and get some sleep. I went to my wife's closet and got out a soft flannel nightgown, terrycloth robe, and fleece slippers. I told her that she could use my daughter's old room because it had a lock on the inside of the door. I thought that it would make her feel safer to know that there would be no chance of a visitor during her sleep.

Within half an hour she had showered, gotten into bed, and dropped off to sleep.

While she slept I went back to the kitchen and decided to do some cooking. I made a pan of lasagne and set it aside for dinner. As you probably know, lasagne is always better after the second or third re-heating. Then I made a fruitcake. I use my own recipe for fruitcake, it is similar to the Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk recipe but in stead of "candied fruit" it uses raisins and a full cup to cup and a half of whole walnuts are added to the mix. The cake took its normal hour to cook and came out beautifully. I checked my rum supply and found that I had enough to make a good eggnog. I waited to make the eggnog until we would be ready to drink it. Then I lay down for a nap.

It was early evening when I woke up. I went to the kitchen and started re-heating the lasagne. I was part way through the process when Carol came into the room wearing my wife's robe.

"So, sleeping beauty has awoken" I said with a smile.

Carol started to look unhappy.

"Carol, I mean it. You are a lot like my wife used to be. She had been brought up on a working farm and had a solid frame, just like you do; and she was about your build as you can tell from the nightgown and robe. I think you are very pretty."

The look on her face, upon hearing this, was inscrutable. It looked like she was trying to organize her thoughts. I broke the silence; "I'm heating up a pan of lasagne, and am about to make garlic bread. Are you hungry.

She said yes and grinned.

I got busy on the garlic bread and half an hour later we were at the table enjoying a good meal. I told her that I had made a fruitcake. She looked like she wasn't overly interested in it.

"Don't you like fruitcake, Carol?"

"Not really, it is usually sickeningly sweet. I can't stand those candied fruits."

It was my turn to grin. She wanted to know what my grin was about so I told her about my recipe stressing the fact that I hated candied fruit. We both got a bit of a laugh about that.

We finished dinner and I again did the dishes. This time, however, Carol dried while I washed. When we were done we retired to the living room. I've never been much of a t.v. addict, but I love good music. I cleared off the couch, and put on one of my favorite pieces of music; Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto. As she heard the opening bars of the music Carol immediately perked up and said: "I love this piece of music. The Romantic and Neo-Romantic composers are my favorites."

I was very surprised. All I could say was: "me too".

I sat down on one end of the couch leaned my head back and started to "get into" the music. About halfway through the first movement I felt a head leaning on my shoulder and a warm body up against my side. I lowered my arm around her shoulder and gently hugged her. We stayed that way until the end of the piece.

With great trepidation, I leaned down and kissed her cheek. Her response was all I could have hoped for. She eagerly received the kiss. We sat there in silence for the better part of half an hour. We didn't rush into any action, we just enjoyed moment. At last I asked Carol if she would like some fruitcake and either coffee or eggnog. At the mention of eggnog her face lit up. "I haven't had eggnog in years. My favorite is heavy on the nutmeg and laced with a moderate amount of dark rum. Do you have any?"

"Yes, I do. I checked earlier and found that I still had an unopened bottle I bought about five years ago. It should still be just fine."

I went to the kitchen and started to make the eggnog. When I returned to the living room I went over to the fireplace, opened up the flue, place dry wood on the andirons, and dropped an igniter block on the wood. I hate messing with kindling and have found that there are some nice paraffin and sawdust blocks that will start a fire quite nicely. The fire took off qickly since the wood was quite dry. I put the fruitcake and eggnog on the coffee table and sat back down on the couch, this time sitting right next to Carol.

We both ate and sipped our eggnog in silence.

"That was excellent fruitcake! I like the way your recipe tastes. The eggnog was good too, you didn't make it overly strong."

I grinned and commented: "I don't want to have you think I'm trying to get you drunk! That is not my intention. I just love your company!"

"Me, too!"

There was a period of awkward silence. Apparently we both noticed that the other was hesitant about something. I broke the silence; "I hope I don't get slapped for this." and kissed her on the lips. It was a long and lingering Kiss. It was also received and returned with much ardor. We spent the next, I don't know how long, just kissing and holding each other. I shouldn't admit it but I started to cry. Carol didn't comment on it since she also was crying. We fell asleep on the couch in each others embrace.

In the middle of the night I awoke to find that Carol was gently caressing and fondling my balls. That got my attention right away! In response I gently started to fondle her breasts. I was in ecstasy! We spent, I don't know how long, just doing some heavy petting. It had been several years since someone had played with me like that. It appeared that the same was true for Carol. After a while, we got up, went to my bed and fell asleep embracing each other.

When I awoke the next morning I smelled coffee and pancakes! I got up and went into the kitchen. Carol had made corn pancakes! (For those of you who have never had them you make normal pancake batter and then add a cup of thawed frozen corn to it. When cooked up it is sort of like a mix between corn fritters and pancakes.) Carol had a broad smile on her face, I suspect that it matched mine.

"You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble, Carol. After all the host is supposed to serve the guest, not the other way around." I hugged her.

I grinned and said that even though this was my favorite breakfast that it was a toss-up whether I wanted to eat or wanted to hug her. She smiled and led me to a chair at the table. We had a wonderful meal, and we did the dishes together.

During the meal I asked her if she was involved with a church. She indicated that she had been brought up as Presbyterian, but then had become an American Baptist. I indicated that I had been brought up as an American Baptist.

Carol stepped back for a moment and looked at me seriously. "Chuck, you have given me a gift that you may not realize. I have needed to be shown affection for years now. You have treated me with respect, you haven't tried to push yourself on me. These are things I could only dream of up until yesterday. I'm afraid that I am falling for you, and falling hard."

"Carol, you have no idea how hard I have fallen for you. You have showed me kindness, gone out of your way to make me feel comfortable. I've known you for several years now in terms of a work relationship. What I am feeling now is much more than that. We need to find out what things we really like and dislike. Are you open to a free ranging discussion, no holds barred, to find out if we are as compatible as we seem?"

She looked at me in a very strange way. It was as if she were trying to determine where this might be going. After a moment or two she said "yes, that sounds good". "Since I suggested it, why don't you ask the first question?"

"O.k. Chuck, since one of the big friction areas that couples face is finances; how would you describe your financial goals and your current financial state."

"You're right, many marriages fail due to the fallout from bad financial management. I started out being a spendthrift, but it only took me a year out of school to realize that approach was a dead end. I cut up my credit cards and brought my spending under control. I started out using the "Money Map" from the Crown Financial group and have done rather well at it. Currently I am returning about 15% of my gross income to the Lord, and saving most of the rest. This house is paid for, I have no other debts, and have about three hundred thousand dollars in long term stable securities. Unfortunately, two hundred thousand dollars is from my wife's life insurance. Financially I consider myself to be blessed." She looked a bit shaken when I indicated what I had in savings. 'How about you, Carol, how do you see finance?"

"Well, I have no where near what you have in the bank. My savings are about fifteen thousand dollars. I tithe to my church and give a little extra to some of my favorite charities. I also got rid of my credit cards and now only use a charge card. I guess it is time for you to ask a question."

"Well, here goes nothing, with regard to sex do you consider yourself straight laced, a little kinky, or what? I know that this is a loaded question, but it also can be at the root of marital discord. I should tell you before you answer that I had a vasectomy many years ago and cannot father any more children unless I have surgery. I'm not sure at my age that I have the strength to raise another child."