The Unexpected Student

The continuing life of David Harden.

For those of you who know me from reading “Caught You!” and “The New Neighbor” welcome back for more. For those who are new to me, I’m a forty-six year old freelance graphic designer/illustrator. I work out of my home for anyone who needs design help. That’s why I’m heading through the door of Matt Allen’s place on this fine Friday morning. Matt owns Allen Advertising, not the biggest ad agency in the world but not the smallest. I have a ten o’clock appointment, it’s nine-forty now. I approach the pretty young lady at the reception desk. “Hi, I’m David Harden, I’m here for a ten o’clock with Matt.” I announce.

She looks up with unexpected enthusiasm. “Oh, yes, Mr. Harden, I’ve been waiting for you. My name is Debbi Teri.”

“You have been waiting for me Debbi?” I asked surprised.

“Yes, Mr. Harden, I was hoping I could talk to you about becoming a designer. What I need to do?” She looked up with hope in her eyes.

“Well, uh, sure but not here, if Matt knew I was talking to you about becoming a possible competitor with him he might not like it too much.” I say taking my card from my shirt pocket and handing it to her. “Later would be better but you call me.”

I figured this would be the end of it. Matt came over the intercom and instructed Debbi to send me in when I got there, his meeting finished early. He didn’t sound any too happy.

“He is here now Mr. Allen. I’ll send him right in.” She answered. “Great!” Matt said.

I headed toward his office as Debbi was giving me directions. I winked at her and told her I knew the way. Matt greeted me at the door with his usual handshake. I like Matt, he’s a great guy and a hell of an ad man.

“David, when are you coming to work for me?” Matt asked his usual question. He’s been asking it since the first job I did for him three years ago.

“Matt, if I ever went back to work for some one else it would absolutely be you.” I gave him the same answer I had been giving him since he had started asking it. And I’m not lying, if I did, it would be him.

We had a good meeting, we always do. He loves the fact that any problems that come up I have solved before he can finish telling me about it. I studied the job and took it. Several thousand dollars worth of work that will take three weeks to a month, you bet I took it. He walked me to the door, we shook hands and I headed toward the lobby. Debbi was busy on the phone but looked up and shook her head yes at me as if to say, “I will be calling.” I waved at her and hit the street headed for my car, I never gave her another thought.

I was half asleep on the couch watching TV when the phone rang. It shocked me awake and I picked it up on the fourth ring. “Hello.”

“Hi, Mr. Harden, this is Debbi.” She said;

“Yes, Debbi? I really don’t have time to talk now and I wouldn’t buy anything I’m sure. Have a good night.” I started to hang up thinking it was a tele-marketer.

“No, no, Mr. Harden, Debbi from Allen Advertising, Debbi Teri!” She almost yelled not wanting me to hang up.

“Oh my gosh, Debbi, I am so sorry. Hi, how are you? I was about to drop off here, you caught me falling asleep. What’s up?” I answered.

“Oh, I’m sorry should I call back later?” She asked.

“No, no you’re fine.” I answered.

“Well, you told be to call you.” She continued.

“That I did, what do you want to know?” I had told her to call after all.

“Well, Mr. Harden, I took my job at Allen to learn computers and design and they stuck me behind that stupid desk and I will never learn anything. What do I have to do to become a designer?”

Be a designer, I thought to myself. “Well, Debbi, there is a lot to learn. Are you in school?’

“No, I graduated from Central High last year.” She told me.

“Oh, good, that’s great.” I said. “But Debbi you need to get to a school now that teaches design. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding one. You know I live half a mile from a great place right here in town. County Tech Community College has a good beginning program.”

“Oh wow, I live close to CTCC too. I needed to start making money though and decided to go to work and learn but…” She didn’t finish her thought.

“Really, where do you live? I’m at 3614 Cottonwood.” I asked.

“Yeah! I know where that is. I’m about six blocks away and three of four streets over. 3012 Maple. Cool huh?” She sounded excited to be that close. “Well, CTCC would be great but I can’t work and go to school. My mom and I just make ends meet around here since my dad left…” Again her words fell off.

She didn’t need to go any further, I understood completely. Something told me I would regret my next words but they came out anyway.

“Well, Debbi are you busy tomorrow? I mean if you would like to drop by, maybe I could find some textbooks and maybe some software guides and we could get something started for you.” Oh man why did I tell her that.

“OH! Yes, I mean no, I’m not busy tomorrow. Yes, I could drop by. Oh, Mr. Harden I can’t thank you enough!” The girl was flying high.

“Ok Debbi, call me when you get up in the morning or afternoon whatever your Saturday schedule is.” Why do I keep digging this hole deeper? If someone shot me just now I would fall into my own grave it’s so deep.

“OK! Well, Mr. Harden goodnight, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up.

Damn, she’s already here in her mind. Ok David you can give a struggling little girl a couple of hours of your boring, have-nothing-to-do, Saturday.

When the phone rang by my ear I shot out of bed like a bullet. I knocked the phone to the floor and almost fell out of bed picking it up off the floor. I hit myself in the forehead with it as I jerked it to my ear, bad aim. I stopped to rub my head a few seconds. Damn that hurt.

“Hello?” I wasn’t exactly a happy camper.

“Hi, Mr. Harden, it’s Debbi. I’m up and I was just wondering when I should come by?” She said. Oh, for the energy of youth. I looked at the clock on my night table. SEVEN O’CLOCK!!!!!!!!!!

“Debbi…it’s seven…seven in the morning!” I was still aching between the eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is it too early, I thought you older…I mean, I thought you didn’t need as much sleep when you got that old…oh, I mean, is it too early, I can call back later?” She was stepping in it deep.

I smiled at this but didn’t let on that I wasn’t mad. She tried to dig herself out but like me she dug deeper. I lay back on the bed and tried to clear my mind and figure out what to do this fine early morning. I looked down between my naked thighs and had a monster hard-on. What in the hell was I dreaming about? …oh, yeah, well no wonder. My mind returned to the little designer-want-to-be on the phone.

“Debbi, if you could drop by about nine o’clock I think we could talk then, ok?” I said thinking two hours should get me to a normal state of mind.

“OK, ok, nine o’clock, I’ll be there Mr. Harden, nine o’clock.” She hung up.

I started to get out of bed and head to the front door figuring she would beat me there. My hand slid down and Rosie palm and her five daughters took hold of my cock. I popped up, went to the kitchen, started the coffee and I was in the shower in not time. Once again my sexual release ended up dripping down the tiled shower wall as the warm water ran down my face and chest and bathed my cock and balls with it’s soothing wash.

It was eight-fifteen when I strolled butt naked in to get my second cup of coffee. I hate getting dressed straight out of the shower, I mean stuffing those little boys into a cotton shroud still damp, I hate that. I was just walking pass the front door and the door bell rang. I just threw my head up and surrendered. I peeked out the window and there stood this sweet little anxious girl. I opened the door but just poked my head out.

“Nine? Debbi, nine comes after eight. You know 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, NINE!” I hoped she would be a good enough designer one day to make this worth it. “Debbi, I’m not dressed yet. Give me a couple of seconds to get out of sight and come on in!”

“Oh, Mr. Harden, I’m so sorry, should I come back later?” She asked.

“No just let me get dressed.” I said.

This girl got her way through the sweetest, most darling ways. I was starting to like her. I disappeared into the bedroom and came back wearing my robe, coffee in hand. She was walking across the living room heading toward the hall. I wondered if she had gotten a good look at my butt before I got out of sight. I showed her the way to my studio. She looked at my equipment, the computer I mean, as if she were a kid in a toy store. She sat down at the computer before I could tell her to.

“Debbi turn the computer on, I need to get dressed, I will be back in just a second.” I told her.

I hit the bedroom, slipped on my sweats, still no underwear. I put on my Saturday comfy tshirt and flip-flops. I got back and she was just sitting there, looking blankly into the dark monitor.

“I don’t know how.” She looked at me sadly.

“You don’t know how to what, turn the computer on?” I smiled at her in surprise. “But you use a computer at work, don’t you know how to turn it on?

I reached down and hit the on button on the keyboard. Her eyes watched my every move. She was sucking up everything, even the smallest details.

“Oh, I see. We used Apples in school but they were always on in class, we didn’t learn a lot. The teacher didn’t know a lot.” She put her finger on the on button as if she were filing it to her memory. “These are like some of the computers at work I think, but I have a PC at work not a Mac.”

I pulled a couple of my favorite basic design textbooks from my bookshelf and placed on the table beside the monitor as the computer was starting. She was fidgeting in her seat waiting to get started. She grabbed the first book on the stack.

“Are these for me?” she asked.

I told her they were indeed for her to borrow. Her eyes were reading over and over the huge words on the cover, “Basic Design.” If she has this kind of enthusiasm in a month I will be surprised I thought. We started in on the education of Debbi.

We had gone through working her way around the desktop. I explained the art tablet and how to use the pressure sensitive stylus pen. She was eating it up. They had one at school but each student only got to use one or two days, just enough to say they had used one. We had gone through PhotoShop’s tutorial several times when I glanced at the clock on the menu bar. Eleven-forty-five! Oh my gosh three and a half hours.

“Oh man, Debbi it’s past eleven thirty!” I exclaimed.

“Oh, it is?” She kept working on the tutorial. “Is this the right way to do this, is this what they are saying to do here?”

“Yes, I think so. Time to take a break.” I said.

“Ohhhmmm, ok.” she said reluctantly. “Just let me finish this one last one, ok? When can I come back Mr. Harden?” She tucked the stylus pen clinched in her fists just beneath her chin as if she was refusing to give it up.

“Well, Debbi I was just going to suggest we order a pizza or go get something to eat and keep working but I you’re ready to go home…” I knew the answer to that one.

“Oh, no, I would love pizza. And we can keep going? I mean, I can still do some more?” Her eyes got bigger than silver dollars. The smile on her face lit up the room making the sunshine coming through the windows fade in comparison.

I had to laugh at her. The little darling was stealing my “daddy’s” heart. “Yes, Debbi, let’s call in a pizza and stop and let your eyes rest and start back up in a little bit.”

She has shoulder length straight hair parted down the middle. She has a pretty face, no makeup and just as sweet as a little girl can get. Not much of a body yet, but hey she was still growing. And hungry this one was hungry to learn, to learn it all and she wanted to know it all today. I took the pen from her hand, pulled down the menu bar and hit the “sleep” command. The monitor went black. She sighed, hopped up and dashed to my bookshelf a few feet away and started perusing the reference guides and software user guides.

We had half pepperoni and half hamburger, thin crust pizza and cokes and she didn’t say a word from the time she left the computer until we finished. She ate standing at the bookshelf stopping just long enough to get another piece of pizza, then back to the books. I switched on the TV and caught up on college football. What the hell happened to Nebraska this year?

Debbi came bouncing into the living room and jumped on the couch beside me holding an opened book on her lap, a half of a slice of pizza in her hand. She almost spilled my coke and pizza, I barely caught them. She looked at them, said, “oh sorry,” and started asking me a question about something she read in the PhotoShop users guide. She snuggled up beside me to show me the book. I couldn’t believe the question. It was an in-depth question that no one just starting should have even thought of. I admired her for this. We left the colleges fighting each other on the tube and hit the computer for the second round.

“Now, Debbi, the question you asked is answered in the PhotoShop tutorial you’ve been working with. Figure it out for yourself. Think about what you asked and see if something you have done this morning will answer it.” I said. I believe in making people think about it, the answer sticks better if you have to think it out.

I fell silent watching her eyes fall from the monitor to the question she had in the guide and back to the monitor. This went on for several minutes. She finally looked up at me smirking her mouth as if she was lost and shook her head no, she couldn’t find the answer. I gave her the first step. She looked puzzled now but determined to get it. I gave her the next step and I saw a light come on in her face. She thought deeper now. In the middle of giving her the third step her eyes shot opened, and she finished telling me the rest of the procedure. She smiled at me and hugged my neck and rushed back to work. We started the tutorial over for the third time and she worked through it on her own. I sat back watching, very proud of my protégé.

It was almost seven-thirty when she asked a question yawning. I told her it was time to stop for the night. She leaned her head on my shoulder and said. “Ok daddy-teacher, whatever you say.” She smiled and closed her eyes and yawned again.

It was getting dark, the orange of the setting sun barely visible over the house tops. I noticed there was no car out here. I looked in the drive and along the street in front of the neighbors’. No strange cars.

“How did you get here?” I asked.

“My mom dropped me off this morning on her way to work.” She yawned again.

“Is she supposed to pick you up or do you need to call her to come get you?” I asked.

“Oh no, I’ll just walk, it’s such a great evening and I have so much to think about. Mr. Harden this has been the greatest day of my life. I can’t wait until next time. When can I come back?” She was anxious.

“Well, call me and we can set a time I guess. And why don’t I drive you home, I hate to think of you walking home alone.” I was worried, a cutie like her.

“Oh, I really want to walk, is it ok?” She asked permission.

“Ok, but I am walking you home no arguments.” I could use the exercise too.

“Fine with me Mr. H, I would love the company.” She answered.

“One rule about our walk though, ok?” I told her.

“What rule Mr. H?” She asked.

“No design or PhotoShop talk or anything related to it, I have had enough for one day.” I commanded.

“Deal.” She agreed.

We hadn’t gotten a block when she thought of something she just had to know tonight. Just this one question, promise. She asked at least four more questions before we got to her house.

It is surprising how neighborhoods can change in just a few blocks. Her house was plain, needing paint. The neighbors apparently not too concerned about their yards. An old Ford sat in the drive, mom was obviously home from work. She met us at the door. The porch light was on, she looked at her daughter with a where have you been girl smile on her face. I couldn’t help it but after Debbi introduced us the cliché just slipped out on it’s own.

“Now I see where Debbi gets her good looks.” I did, I said it, wishing I could get the words back in but…

Cheryl Teri looked at me as if to say, “oh brother!” She invited me in for a glass of tea or whatever. I thanked her but figured I better get home, but took a rain check on the tea. I thought a lot on the walk home. Now I couldn’t wait for Debbi to come back. I had a great thought about the time I hit my front yard.

I opened the door to the storage room in the garage and looked over the four outdated but still very useful computers from years gone by. When a new generation of computers hits the market I buy the state of the art equipment. I studied my leftovers and decided I could hook Debbi up with a screaming hot system along with an art tablet and all. I shut the door and returned to catching up with college football. What the hell happened to Nebraska this year?

As I went to sleep that night my final thought was, “damn I forgot to tell Debbi not to call before noon, well, probably wouldn’t do any good anyway. I would sleep good tonight. She had tired me out for sure. A nasty thought slipped in and I cussed myself out for even thinking it. Not this little girl. She’s so sweet and I would hate to bust her bubble by scaring her away now.

The first NFL game was over before she called. At least I got to see Dallas beat St. Louis, what a joke. How did they do that? The phone rang and I was glad to hear it.

“Hello.” I answered.

“Hi, Mr. H, its Debbi. Did I wait long enough to call today?” She asked.

“Yes honey you did. How are you today?” I asked.

“Oh, my brain hurts. I don’t know whether to rest it today or go again. Yesterday was so cool! Thanks again.” She sounded tired.

“Debbi you make yourself happy but I have a surprise waiting for you over here. Will your mom allow you to have a computer?” I asked.

“No Mr. H, we can’t afford one. We talked about it several months ago, but we just can’t.” She said sadly. “What’s my surprise?”

I couldn’t wait to turn that sadness into overwhelming joy. “No, Debbi, I didn’t ask if you could afford one. I asked if your mom would allow you to have one in your room?” I repeated my inquiry.

“Well, yeah, I guess, I think she would like to have one too but…” She stopped as if my idea finally struck home. “WHY MR H? Why do you ask?” The excitement in her voice told me she understood where I was going.

“Well, Debbi I have a couple of old computers, their good machines but I don’t use them any longer.” I barely got the words out of my mouth.

“Can I come over now, right now, is it ok to come now?” She was giddy.

“Sure, come on.” I didn’t get the words out before she hung up.

She was breathing like an Olympian who had just finished a hard won race by the time she got to my door. She smiled like a kid at Christmas when I opened the door. She could barely speak.

“Hi Mr. H!” She was flying high.

“Come in Debbi.” I opened the screen door for her.

She bounced in like a cheerleader. But she was dressed a little differently than yesterday. A loose fitting top with ruffles around a low neckline, and those low-rider jeans. Why do they wear those, don’t they know what they are doing to us old men. If they slip down a hair they show a hair, pubic hair that is. Damn! And those cute tasty little belly buttons. Don’t they know? I had the computer sitting boxed in the middle of the floor. She looked at it and then looked at me and hugged my neck, I thought she would break me. Pretty strong for a little girl. She released her grip some and turned to look at her computer, still hanging onto my neck. That neckline is too low. And her little breasts are so small, the whole of one of them wrapped in a sheer almost non-existent bra begged my eyes to it.