The cobalt darted into the drive and rolled nearly to the garage door before it stopped. He had brought the large black Labrador and border-collie mix but was determined to leave the animal in the car. He had not been in the woman's house before and did not desire to add problems with the dog to his concerns for the heart of the woman. For the first time in his life he was not even considering the body of a female. The woman had made him happy just by smiling and he did not want to mess it up. "Go poop!" he ordered the dog as he held the front door open for it. He looked around the darkening neighborhood as he waited for the dog to finish urinating. It was a rather low middle-class neighborhood and most of the homes were an older version with lower house payments than most homes in the area.
He saw the lady that lived next door lying on her bed with two young children. It was not hard to see then and even harder to ignore them since they had no curtains or blinds on their windows. This literally shocked him as he had never known of a woman who would not at least hang a sheet over a bedroom window to keep even casual eyes out. "Okay, now get in 'cause you aren't coming in," he told the dog as he held the door open for the dog. He waited until the dog had leapt into the car before closing the door and walking to the side porch. At the door he pushed the door bell but nothing happened.
He turned around to avoid seeming too interested in the woman he had come to visit and then saw again that anyone could stand on the porch way and watch the woman next door who seemed to lack any concern at all that her window and bedroom was open to the world. He made a mental to mention it to the girl if he ever got the chance as it turned his stomach to think that these two little children were so exposed to any person's voyeuristic tendencies. Finally he grew worrisome that the door bell did not work and opened the screen door to knock on the inner door. He was rewarded with the sound of yelping from what he recognized was the throat of a Chihuahua.
"Oh. Hello. Come on in," the dark haired woman sat as the door opened and she saw him standing their in his jacket and black jeans. At her feet was a white and tan Chihuahua that was dancing around and barking at the doorway. "Shut-up!" She yelled at the dog as she stepped back away from the door to allow the man to enter.
"That's all right, it is his duty to warn of visitors and I am the one intruding on his territory," the man explained as he entered and turned to close the door. He walked up to her, used a single finger to turn her face up to his and kissed her gently on the lips. He then fronted the Chihuahua and removed his shoes before following her into the living room. As he followed her he kept moving his foot toward the dog with each step. The dog would snap at his sock and then run off until he took the next step. With each bite the little dog would yelp so that it was obvious someone else who had known less about animals had kicked the little dog for snapping at their feet.
"Ya think, but he still gets on my nerves," she said as she walked to the couch and sat down on it. "The little fucker!" She finally snapped as she turned and sat on the couch.
"He's really alright," he said as he watched the little dog leap up onto the couch beside her and continue to bark at him. He sat on the couch and the dog lept onto the back of the couch and help a position there. "He's a good dog," he added as he held a his hand in front of the dog palm outward to distract it as he bent over and kissed the woman gently on the lips. He then sat back on the couch and the little dog came and sat between them quietly. It was a short haired Chihuahua that looked more like a tiny reindeer in the body due to its long thin legs. "So did you still want to go with me to Wal-Mart? I promise not to dance you down the aisles."
"He's never acted like that toward a man before," Beth said with a smile of satisfaction. "If you still want, let me tell Heather where we are going and we can go."
"Be my guest. Wal-Mart is open all night," He added with his own smile. He watched as she went into the back room and then looked around the home as he waited. Thought he never got off the couch he could see that she was a woman who tried to have taste and class in her own home. The smell of dog manure could be smelled, but otherwise the home seemed relatively clean. The floors were of hard wood but contained the residual staining of dog droppings having sat for at least a day, but otherwise he was pleased with the living room area.
"Do you know how to get to Wal-Mart from her or do you want me to drive?" She asked as she walked back into the room and went into the kitchen.
"Hey, rule is as long as I can get you to smile I will do the driving," he said as he followed her. He had never been to the Wal-Mart in the area but he did need some dog food and copier paper. If going to Wal-Mart in the area could count as a date he was all for it and more. After she had spent their first night basically at his home it was only fair that he spend a little time at hers.
"Ahhh, he left you out here all by yourself?" She asked the dog when she got in the car. Petting and rubbing him as he fought to get every ounce of her attention.
"I did not know how your dog would respond to him," Jim said as he got in the car and turned the key in the ignition. "The last thing I want is for him to get beat up by a little dog. He's only had one fight and that was with a cat when he was a pup, damned thing beat him up, too. Split his lip," he added as he darted out of the drive and back toward Portage Trails. "Which way My Dear lady?" He asked as they reached the intersection.
"Left."
"Now is that my left or your left or Chester's left," he asked jokingly as he waited for the red light to change. He smiled as he saw that his playing had worked and the woman was smiling once more. Her face had dimpled and he could see in her eyes that she was comfortable and pleasing in his presence again. Even as she caressed the dog's coat, he was trying to plan the next caress of the woman's heart. He really believed that if she could be made to love again, she would be the loveliest woman on Earth.
"Your left..." she stumbled through a smile that was partly forced.
"Well, I guess that means you don't think my dog knows which way is left and which way is right," he continued to ramble as he turned onto the four lane road and speeded up. "I have you know that he likes you and to him that is right and he follows my orders so he must know that I am his Left...tenant."
"Go through the next few lights..." she interjected as she lit a cigarette and tried to conceal the smile and dimples from him. The guy upset her the way he was able to make her smile and laugh after only one day. It was not right that after avoiding any entanglements with a man, this one should come out of no where and be able to manipulate her feelings. She had never met any man in her life that had made her feel so free and so comfortable so quickly and intensely. In less than a week she felt herself falling...falling...falling in love with a man she had barely known for a week!
Nothing seemed to apply to this guy. She tried to rationalize some fault in him, but nothing seemed to work. The man defied all logic. He opened doors for her. Drove for them like a servant. Was not as dirty as most men and was not spotless to a fault either. He seemed to like to hold hands, walk shoulder to shoulder and even removed her coat for her when they went to dinner. He cooked and got her something to drink when she wanted it. Never ordered for her but allowed her to order and even though he did not have much income he never set a limit on her orders. Spontaneous he was and when she seemed to have a depressing thought he was there to make her smile even if it meant acting insane. In bed he was like no other she had ever met. Either he was having orgasms without her knowing it or he was so wrapped up in providing her pleasure he did not pursue his own. There was nothing she could say that was so negative that she did not want to be around him every moment she could. He was like a knight in shining armor that just popped out of a bottle and now she did not know how to get him back in the bottle--even worse, she did not really want him to go back in the bottle...in fact she was hoping he would forget he had even come out of the bottle.
"Ok, now where do I go from here?" He ask when he realized her mind was drifting off somewhere else. He had a belief that when it came to dating the Forces sent him or made a connection possible with a person that needed to love. The problem was that he could lift them up into a world of romance that most women could only dream of, but he could not stop them from becoming jealous or greedy. He was familiar with the way she looked and it brought him a depressing moment. He turned the way she pointed, no longer directly pursuing a smile from her. His own heart was growing heavy. Every woman he had managed to meet, he had changed in dramatic ways. They had gone from a life of monotonous boredom to one of exciting romance. Their low self-esteem had soured to new heights and their friends and family noticed that the person was smiling from the heart for the first time in years. It not only affected them but their children and relatives as well. It was like taking a woman from the lowest level and taken her to the highest when he was around. Just as the wino jealousy protects his only dollar, so he found that women can become so jealous and greedy of a man's time...of that moment and feeling...of being loved and attended to. Beth, this woman he had known less than a week had that look on her face. It saddened him. He had been married to a woman when he was younger and when they had separated she had spiraled into the heroin dens trying to find a replacement. His last wife still set in her house with two rooms of unpacked belongings hording over the things they had shared and spiraling out of control in a downward drop. A girl friend he had lifted to new heights had gone from a home to losing her daughter and living in a trailer in her search for the same form of love. Another was pregnant with an unwanted child in an attempt to find a man like him. Beth had that same look on her face.
