I
It was the first day of work in the dining hall for Kevin Pearson. A job and position he very much did not want, but circumstances being what they were he was thankful to have a job, if only as a way to occupy his time and attention. Consequently, it was also something he absolutely needed.
Having turned 51 years old the previous summer, by the time the cold autumn rain arrived in Connecticut Kevin had proceeded to lose both his career of twenty-five years and a marriage of nearly equal length. It never rains but it pours, right?
Although, truth be told, he had an easier time letting go of his wife. Their marriage had been on the rocks for years anyway, held together by force of habit. As far as he was concerned... well, she could just go fuck herself.
Their marriage had been a burden for more years than he cared to recount. Now, at least, he was liberated - free in a way he hadn't experienced since his early 20s and, in many ways, it was exhilarating. Sure, there were times when he was lonely, but then he would watch some porn and rub one out. Honestly, it was the same thing he had been doing for years anyway. The only difference now was that he didn't have to worry about his bitch of a wife catching him in the act.
However, losing a career he had worked so hard at for so long was a sizable and painful blow. For a quarter century Kevin had worked in the insurance business and made a rather handsome income, which undoubtedly contributed to him getting the axe when the company decided to downsize. What a delightful word that is - downsize. It just means grab your dick and hang on because shit is about to get real and your ass is the first one on the chopping block.
He had degrees, designations beside his name, and years of knowledgeable experience. In the end, all of that counted for precisely jack shit. Thankfully, Kevin had already accumulated a sizable nest egg for retirement, but he didn't want to dip into that until it was absolutely necessary...which was why he was so desperate to find some kind of employment.
So...Kevin had never been one to wallow in self-pity nor rest on his laurels. Which is why from the moment he lost his job he was out searching for gainful employment if only as a matter of having something to do. To keep his mind occupied, his body busy and some measure of income coming in to allow him to survive.
But as the days turned into months he became desperate for something - anything - just so long as it came with a steady paycheck. After sending out over two hundred resumes - yeah, you read that correctly - Kevin had no choice but to alter his search criteria. He needed to examine things, and his situation, a little more realistically.
Almost on a lark, Kevin applied for a position in the dining hall of a prestigious boarding school right in his hometown. It seemed they needed a full-time dishwasher and, things being what they were, he thought what the hell. Why not apply and see what happens?
Low and behold, they were interested in hiring him. The head chef and supervisor of the dining crew had come to his job late in life, also out of necessity, and felt a little sorry for Kevin. As long as Kevin could accept working for minimum wage, the dishwashing job was his for the taking.
Knowing things would be tight, and hoping this would only be a temporary setback, Kevin accepted the job with a handshake and began working behind the scenes in the kitchen. His job could not have been any simpler - retrieve all the dirty dishes from the conveyer belt, stack them in designated racks and slide them through the huge washing machine where they came out on the other side clean as a whistle. Yet, cleaning dirty dishes from all the young, self-righteous, arrogant, selfish - and very rich - boarding students was a very humbling experience for him, to say the least.
All in all, the job was one of routine. But, really, aren't they all? This was just a different sort of routine, but it suited Kevin well nonetheless. He stayed in the background, did his job, kept his mouth shut and, as a bonus, was able to eat both his lunch and dinner for free. In fact, he considered that to be the biggest perk of the job. It helped considerably to cut down on his expenses at home and was almost worth having the fucking job to begin with.
However, what made his job equally worthwhile was Josie.
As a young, 21-year-old, Josie had the body of an angel and a temperament to match. She stood just a shade under five-seven with dark brown hair that was always pulled back in a bun and big, luminous brown eyes that were utterly radiant.
To Kevin... and everyone else...Josie's looks were intoxicating.
She possessed a slender, hot little body which was even more amazing in light of the fact that she had given birth to a little girl - Chloe - just a couple years before. But, you wouldn't have known it. Her tits were set high and perky on her chest, and her ass was as tight as a drum - or so it looked from behind.
All of those attributes complimented Josie greatly, but they weren't even her greatest features. That belonged to her face. What a face!
Her complexion was soft and light - ethereal - with faint, almost undetectable freckles on her cheeks and around her cute little nose. Josie's face was like that of a china doll, which made her hair and eyes really stand out against her skin. In fact, when you looked closely (which was hard to do without appearing like a pervert) she revealed a rather long neckline while her eyes appeared slightly slanted in shape, as if she was squinting or perhaps sizing up someone from a distance. Regardless, there was an enchanting allure of mystery about her.
Stated simply - Josie was a captivating figure in every way and, not surprisingly, she was the focus of much attention in the dining hall, from the young men who attended the boarding school to the older men who were her coworkers.
Yet, she never seemed affected by the attention. Or she was really good at ignoring it. Josie just casually went about her business. She completely dismissed comments she didn't care to acknowledge and seemingly ignored people she didn't wish to engage with. It occurred to Kevin that was a pretty convenient way to go through life. It kept things smooth and uncomplicated.
It also seemed to Kevin, although he was certainly no expert on the matter, that Josie fit the description of what some people would call an "old soul." She possessed a unique inner quality that matched and complimented her exterior veneer perfectly. Things that bothered most people never appeared to fluster her at all. Josie always seemed above everything - removed from it all somehow.
She had an uncanny ability to keep herself distant and detached from nearly everything and everyone in the dining hall - completely comfortable in her own skin and in her own company. It was a gift, and Kevin could only sit back and marvel at the effectiveness of her behavior.
Nearly a month had gone by after he began working at the dining hall before a chance encounter in an elevator brought Kevin and Josie together. Up to then he had only interacted with her casually - a brief wave or nod of his head, the occasional quiet hello - or privately watched her from a distance as she scurried from one place to the next. There had never been an opportunity to chat face to face.
But, the brief meeting in the elevator allowed for official introductions along with a courteous handshake. Josie smiled warmly at him, which almost knocked Kevin right the fuck off his feet. In an instant, that fleeting smile unlocked a doorway into her soul. What he saw captivated him. He was hooked. Whatever it was about her, mysterious or completely obvious, Kevin was fascinated and immediately cursed himself for thinking explicit sexual thoughts about someone more than half his age.
Still...that smile...
The dining staff consisted mostly of a younger crowd - and by younger we're talking folks in their 20s and 30s. People who had been lucky just to have graduated high school themselves, if they did, and sought out the only real kind of steady employment that could be found in the area.
Sprinkled in the mix were a few people in Kevin's generation, but they were largely ignored as the more youthful group preferred to mingle together and kept their distance as if older people had the plague. Although, seriously, who could blame them. Interestingly, the older Kevin got the more annoyed and repulsive he found people his own age. However, while he chose not to socialize much with his own crowd, neither did the younger group choose to associate much with him.
So, that left him somewhere in the middle - which suited him just fine. He wasn't planning on working at the dining hall any longer than was necessary.
But, as Kevin grew more and more comfortable in his new surroundings and around those he worked with, he became privy to conversations just by being present. Many of those conversations were about Josie - especially from the older guys who, it seemed, had perverse inclinations toward any member of the opposite sex but most particularly toward Josie.
Their conversations consisted of typical inappropriate "locker room" talk - fantasies about what they wanted to do to Josie if ever given the opportunity. It never seemed to occur to them that Josie had about as much use for them as a soiled tampon, but that didn't much matter to those guys. Their fantasies and shit-talk got them through the shift with humor.
On occasion they would come right out and tell the young, attractive woman to her face exactly what they wanted, which usually produced an eye roll as Josie briskly walked past. Naturally, this did nothing to stop the men from talking and, in fact, may have contributed to them continuing it.
Of course, to be honest, Kevin could also imagine himself doing any number of things to and with Josie. There were many nights when he jerked himself off with those thoughts rolling around in his brain. However, he never would have thought to verbalize them. He had the decency to keep his thoughts to himself.
Over the course of a couple months, as Kevin fell into a kind of groove and the "newness" of everything and everyone had worn off, Josie would make a point to stop and talk with him occasionally as she passed by his area. She was always so nice - asking how he was or what he was up to. He really appreciated that, especially because he knew she didn't have to. She certainly didn't interact with any of the other older guys. But, she chose to interact with him and that made all the difference. In a way, he felt honored.
As expected, some of Kevin's coworkers - those he had labeled the "dirty old men" - would rib him about Josie being his "new best friend" and began saying other stupid shit to him. But, he brushed it off much like she did and dismissed the teasing altogether. Clearly, they were jealous. That was their problem.
There were times when some of the comments were highly inappropriate, or times when he really didn't feel like humoring them, and Kevin would respond with a "fuck off" or "go fuck yourself." Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't, but either way he would return to his little corner of the kitchen and do his job. If there were no dishes to wash he found another activity to engage in.
