The characters and events in this story are the inventions of the author's imagination. Any similarity to real individuals and events is purely coincidence.
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We all have crosses to bear during our lives. If we're lucky we learn along the way to deal with our crosses and get rid of them. This story is about how I was able to get rid of one of my crosses with the help of a woman who was beautiful both physically and as a person. The events of this story are as clear to me as if they happened yesterday.
My name is Rick Scofield. I'm a normal kind of guy with normal desires. My needs are simple and my luxuries few. It was not like this in my youth. Puberty for me occurred during the 1960's also known as the Age of Aquarius and the age of the sexual revolution. They never knocked on my door once. I was what you'd call a late bloomer in large part due to a painful shyness around women. When I finally broke through my shyness I discovered I had another problem. If I found a young lovely interested in a relationship with me it didn't last long. It wasn't that I treated them badly or because I had bad breath or something like that. I was, and still am, hairy. The only parts of my body without hair are the palms of my hands, the soles of my feet and the cheeks of my fanny. As soon as a relationship got to the touchy-feely stage things would turn very chilly. When my lovely companions would see or feel the mat of fur covering my chest and stomach it was all over.
This situation had me very confused. I had read all the men's magazines and how to books so that I wouldn't be a total klutz. According to those "experts" there were women out there who adored a man with a hairy chest, there were even supposed to be a few driven so wild they would practically rape a guy with hair on his chest. I can assure you my virtue was never in danger.
This all changed the winter of my twenty-forth year. I found I had a love of cooking why I don't know. When I graduated high school I tried to enlist to become a cook. The military said I had a Rheumatic heart and disqualified me. I worked full time at a job I hated and enrolled in a school of culinary arts at night to learn cooking and restaurant management. By the time I was twenty-four I was cooking full time and still going to school part-time. I had a dream of owning my own restaurant and wanted all the knowledge and experience I could get. The restaurant where I worked was a mom and pop place called J&M's. A sweet couple Joe and Maria owned it. They had no kids of their own so I became their adopted son.
As my surrogate mother Maria felt it was her duty to find me a wife. She set me up with every available woman she could find. She started with the waitresses at the restaurant, then her bank teller, and daughters of friends. The result was always the same. I finally begged her to stop trying to set me up. A guy can only take so much rejection from the fair sex and I had more than my share.
Joe's competition started offering entertainment along with food. Joe decided he had to do the same so as not to loose customers. He started offering light entertainment. Small jazz, blues and folk combos and piano players and the like. He even had a small dance floor installed. One day Joe came in all excited, he couldn't wait to tell me about the act he had just hired. "Rick wait 'til you see the act I just hired. Maria and I just had a demonstration and we hired the girl right on the spot." I had never seen Joe gush before.
"What kind of act is it Joe?"
"It's a mind reading act that is unbelievable. And wait 'til you see the girl!"
"When does this lady Svengali start."
"She starts Friday night and will fill in between the band's sets."
Friday night was business as usual. The early sitting orders had me hopping. Our new star must have come in the back and changed because I never saw her. I didn't even know she was there until I heard Joe introduce her. The act was one where she talked to members of the audience for a few seconds then began to tell them things about themselves she should never have known. She was very good at it. Her voice was low, sultry and very sexy. If the rest of her matched the voice this was one sexy lady.
Most nights there was a lull between the first and second sitting and that night was no different. I used that time for my break. My assistants finished up getting ready for the next sitting while I had a soda and a smoke at the staff table. That night I joined Maria and a couple of waitresses at the table.
"What did you think of the new act," Maria asked?
"I only caught bits and pieces from the kitchen. What I heard sounded pretty good."
"What about the young lady?"
"I never got a chance to see her Maria. She has a sexy voice though."
Just then I heard that voice behind me, "Well big guy, now's your chance to see the rest."
I began to stand and turn with my hand out then stopped dead in my tracks. Looking back at me through lavender eyes was the prettiest face I had ever seen outside a fashion or glamour magazine. She had shoulder length blond hair nicely styled and was covered from neck to toe in a flowing diaphanous gown. She was also tall, she looked me in the eye and I stand six feet.
Maria saved me by saying, "Rick I would like you to meet Glenda Miller. Glenda this is Rick Scofield our cook."
She put a small but strong hand in mine and said, "Nice to meet you Rick."
"My pleasure Ms Miller."
"Oh, Glenda please Rick."
The eyes the voice and the warm hand were sending shivers up and down my spine. She joined us at the table and we began to get aquatinted. Just then one of the kitchen staff came to tell me that orders were starting to come in. I excused myself to returned to the kitchen and never made it back to the staff table. When I looked at the clock it was 11 PM and we were cleaning up for the night. I was putting the finishing touches on the range when I heard that voice behind me. The shivers came back.
"Good night Rick. It was nice to meet you."
"The pleasure was mine Glenda. Good night."
She waved and was gone. Over the next several weeks I got to know Glenda better. She would make a point to stop by the kitchen between sets to talk. Sometimes I would catch her looking at my arms and hands as we talked. The heat of the kitchen forced me to wear a tee shirt, but I always wore my apron up so the thick chest hair wouldn't show. I didn't want to scare this woman away. Slowly I learned that she was about six years older than I was and divorced. She had a ten-year-old daughter and lived in an apartment. Despite getting to know her I still didn't know what her figure looked like. She looked to be thin what the fashion folks called willowy but beyond that nothing. Glenda had slipped into my fantasies and I looked forward to the weekends again.
About a month later fate intervened. One night Glenda was late, so late that she missed her first show. This was totally unlike her and we were all a little worried. She finally showed up just in time for her second show, and apologized profusely to Joe and Maria for being late. Her car had broken down on the way to the restaurant and she'd had to get a cab. The car was left where it stopped because there was no time to call for a tow. As I was closing up the kitchen that night Joe appeared in the door.
"Rick, would you see that Glenda gets home and her car gets taken care of? I'd do it myself but Maria doesn't feel good and wants to get home to bed."
I could see Glenda behind him in her winter coat with her garment bag over her arm and an anxious look on her face. I said, "Sure, I'd be glad to. Give me a minute to change and I'll be right with you." She looked relieved.
In the changing room I traded my apron and tee shirt for the flannel work-shirt and jacket in my locker. When I came out I looked at Glenda, "Ready?"
"Let's go," she said.
When we got to my car Glenda ooed and ahed. The car was my one luxury then, and my pride and joy. I called her Baby. Baby was a bright red '69 Mach One Mustang with 390 interceptor engine, Holley carbs, Hurst shifter, dual exhaust, positraction rear end, and tuck and roll red leather interior. She was as fast as she looked too.
Once inside with the heater going full blast Glenda told me where her car was. It took about twenty minutes to get there. I lifted the hood and found the problem after about five minutes. I got back in the car blowing on my hands.
