Chris and Julie moved in to the small house across the road from our place off post after we had lived there for just over a year. Mandi and I decided to get on the waiting list for quarters on the post, and were just biding our time. At first we didn’t know anyone had moved into the house. It was a small place with one large bedroom, small kitchen and laundry room, and small living room. It had an oddly large back porch with just a concrete stoop in the front. For a young couple it was cozy and enough, I guess.
We found out we had neighbors when Mandi was standing in the kitchen with the sliding doors to the deck open, and our dog had gone outside for his morning stroll. While she was fixing herself a cup of coffee, she heard the dog come back in from the deck. She reached over to a box of dog bones she had sitting on the cabinet and turned to find the dog had brought a friend in with him.
Sitting there in the floor with a gape-jawed look was a large, tawny colored pit bill she had never seen before. He was no small animal, and had big, bulging jaw muscles that looked like they could easily rip an arm or leg completely off. She stepped back against the cabinet, scared to move. As they stared at each other, she noticed that our dog was also sitting patiently, waiting for his bone.
She reached behind her and got the box, took out a bone, tossed one to our dog, and then tossed one to the pit bull. He caught it expertly, lay down in the floor, and casually chewed away. Our dog lay down as well, and the two of them ate their dog bones with a crunching sound. Mandi gave them each another bone, still wary of the big pit bull. They finished up their bones, grabbed a drink of water, and casually strolled out onto the deck.
Mandi followed at a distance to see what was going on. The two dogs sniffed around the deck for a couple of minutes until they found a place to lay down in the shade, and appeared to be taking a little siesta. Mandi was confused until she heard someone calling a name, and the sounds were coming from beside the house. She gingerly stepped out on the deck and down on the steps to look around the house when a young woman popped into view, almost scaring her. She jumped back with a start, and noticed that the pit bull had jumped to his feet and headed straight at her. She was about to dive into the house and slam the door behind her when the pit bull went right by her to the young woman who had so suddenly appeared.
The young woman grabbed the sides of the pit bull’s face and began shaking his cheeks up and down, goo-gooing at him and asked, “Where’s mommy’s baby been hiding?”
She looked up at Mandi and asked, “Did Rebel frighten you?”
Mandi regained her composure and finally said, “Well, a little bit. I didn’t expect a strange dog to wander into the house.”
The woman apologized, telling Mandi, “He’s a big baby who wouldn’t hurt a soul. I guess he met him a new friend,” nodding toward our dog.
“I guess,” Mandi told her after taking a couple of deep breaths.
The young woman introduced herself as Julie, and told Mandi she and her husband Chris had moved in across the street, and while carrying some things into the house, they hadn’t noticed that Rebel had wandered off. Since she had seen our dog earlier going toward the deck, she decided to look behind our house first.
Mandi invited her in for a cup of coffee, and they sat and got acquainted. Mandi also got acquainted with Rebel, and once she got over her shock, decided she liked him quite well.
Mandi invited Julie and Chris over for a couple of beers and a burger that evening after the guys got home from work, and Julie gratefully accepted the invitation, explaining that she wasn’t much of a cook anyway, and they hadn’t gotten their kitchen items unpacked yet.
That afternoon when I got home, Mandi interrupted her soap opera during a commercial break and told me to run to the store for a large pack of hamburger, some extras, stock up the beer and get her some extra wine.
When I asked what was up, she quickly blurted, “New couple across the street are coming over for a burger and beer this evening,” and returned to her soap opera.
I changed out of my uniform, grabbed the dog, and headed back to post to get what we needed for the evening. When I got home, Mandi was in the kitchen, having finished her soap opera, and told me to get the grill ready. I went out on the deck, grabbed the charcoal, made my usual careful stack and proceeded to light the fire. I was sipping a beer when Mandi came outside with a glass of wine.
After staring at me intently for a while, Mandi finally blurted out, “You better be nice this evening, and keep your eyes to yourself and your tongue in your mouth.”
This caught me off guard, since I hadn’t even had so much as a brief word on who the new folks were across the road and what they might look like. But if the look and tone of voice was any indication, I was probably in for at least a visual treat. It turned out that I was.
Chris and Julie must have smelled the burgers when I started cooking them, because I didn’t have them on the fire more than 10 minutes when they showed up at the steps to the deck, preceded by Rebel. My dog saw him and the two of them started making play circles around each other and making little growling noises of fun.
Chris was a big guy, crew cut blond hair, barrel chest, maybe 6’4” tall. Behind him was Julie. Good god she was gorgeous! She was my height, muscular, with long brunette hair, built like a brick shithouse. While big in most respects, she was well proportioned and carried herself like she played some kind of sports. It turned out she was a softball player in high school and college, good enough to earn a scholarship.
They introduced themselves and I did likewise, and they immediately thanked me for inviting them over. I poo-pooed their thanks, and offered a beer. Both accepted. As I went into the house, Mandi was coming out with a plate of cheese for the burgers. She greeted them and set the plate on the table by the grill and proceeded to make small talk, introducing herself to Chris.
