This is for Tricia:
OUR PERSONAL EDEN
I was on my way to the last call of the day when my dispatcher radioed my truck. Usually, this meant an added appointment. Some kid sticking his pb&j in the vcr or something. Some fella just bought cable for his grandma's birthday. I reached for the mic. with trepidation and picked it up. Being "the cable guy" is not the worst job in the world, in fact, if it wasn't for that mic. being able to change your day it's not even a bad job. I clicked. The mental eraser in my head obliterating another evening. Snap, crackle, pop!....(yeah I thought that only happened with breakfast cereal till this thing.) There he was, the voice of doom! I invented several new swear words as he began to speak. Then, at 4:00 p:m. on a Wednesday afternoon, the voice of doom became the voice of God.
" Your last call just cancelled", he said, then he reached down, touched me, and said, "Go home, my son."
CLICK! I turned off the dispatch radio , turned on the "real" radio and headed for home, early for the first time in forever.
She was in the shower when I got there. I stripped and quietly entered the bathroom. She had not heard me come in. I watched her through the warm steam. Her body was full, firm, beautiful, inviting. Not at all that of the young, fresh things cavorting the malls. To me, it was sexier. It seemed like an odd adjective, but what i was looking at transformed in my head to the word "reliable". I watched as she began to rinse off, then sneaked in to the shower behind her and gently kissed the back of her neck at the hairline. I slid my arms around her and moved my hands up and cupped her breasts.