It was in early 2001 that I met her. I was married and actually quite happy with my home life. We were now a childless couple as both the boys had moved away. Our eldest had joined the army and our youngest was living in Toronto at a university residence. Life was good, predictable but good.
Terry was well known for her strict religious beliefs. At 5â 10â tall and very thin she was not exactly body beautiful. On top of that her hair looked more like one of those old mops you would see grandma using to wash the kitchen floor. And just to finish her off she had an extreme case of facial acne. In other words she was not my idea of a sexy woman.
She did have a few redeeming features. She was very tall and, despite her poor choice of the dowdiest clothing possible, had a lovely ass. More important to me at the time was she was a hard worker. Terry was the kind of person that once she knew what the goal was would work like a dog to make it happen. And she was intensely loyal to me.
I guess after a while a few people had made comments around her about her looks and I was met in my office by her the first thing in the morning. She was clearly upset and had been crying. She eventually explained that she had overheard one of the cleaners who works out of our office tell another co-worker that he thought Terry was a dog.
Well I had two choices. Be honest and tell her the truth or follow the corporate dictates and just appear caring and do nothing. Stupid me chose wrong again. I tried to do what I thought was the right thing. I pointed out her good parts (a major corporate no no) and suggested she consider looking after the bad parts. I suggested a good facial-cleansing regimen to look after the acne and a trip to a proper hair stylist to get her mop turned back into hair. And dummy that I am even suggested she update her wardrobe at least from the 50âs to the 90âs.
Well that went over like a lead balloon and she didnât speak to me for three days. To be honest I felt bad about this. I donât like to hurt people. I also hate it when other people feel they have to criticise someone for being what they are. Sometime over the three days Terry was so pointedly ignoring me I resolved to somehow turn this ugly duckling into at least a duck if not a swan.
I tired to be subtle. If Terry came in and did a good job with a project I made sure she received the proper accolades. Once she came in on a day off wearing a nice conservative top and obviously new jeans. I tried to make it seem like a normal offhand compliment but Terry was seemingly taken quite aback by a simple âWow you clean up well when you arenât at work.â It was one of the first times I had ever seen her shit ass grin. It made her look a lot prettier than I would have thought possible.
Well the years went by in a hurry. Somehow my wife and I grew apart to the point where we separated and were in the midst of talking divorce. This was a difficult time for both of us and I frankly was not in the mood to help anyone else like Terry.
Life had changed for her as well. Like all of us she was a little older (46) and yet somehow she had changed. The constant preaching about the benefits of her church and what I referred to as the God Squad activities had almost stopped. Her hair was now decently quaffed into tight curls and her face had cleared up. Okay she still wonât win a beauty contest you wouldnât call her a beast.
Terry had acquired a dog for her morning walks and seemed fairly content with her life. She even brought the dog to work one day and I had to admit seeing how happy she was with her new best friend was a nice thing to see. Early in the spring of 2003 I had just arrived at work about 5:30 AM when Terry called. Her dog had been killed by an another dog (a pit bull) owned by a local drug dealer near her apartment. She was totally distraught and begged me to come to her home to help her get through the police investigation.
I arrived at her home about 6:00 AM and went inside. She was dressed in an old pair of track pants and a tee shirt that could possibly used to put wax on my car. Except it was soaked in blood. The police officer was there trying to get some facts for his investigation. After a short while of some serious tears I was able to get her to calm down and give the Officer a clear description of the dog and itâs owner.
I have to tell you I have never felt so bad for another person. In her eyes the world had just ended with the death of her best and only friend. Yeah she actually said that to me. Now at this time I had known Terry for over 3 years and this was the first indication that she had any emotions. I stayed with her for about two hours. She kept going back to the moment where the pit bull had grabbed her dog and shook it to death.
I was finally able to get her to go take a shower and change her clothes so I could drive her over to her parentâs house. I was sitting in the living room just looking at a blank TV screen and heard the door to the bathroom open. No, I didnât jump up and get a look at her. You people are so predictable. I kept my eyes fixed firmly on the blank TV. Did I mention that the TV faced the bathroom door? Well to make a long story a little shorter what I saw changed two lives.
Picture this in your mind. A tall woman with an incredible body wearing only plain white panties and a bra races out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. To say the least I was shocked. For over three years this rather unlovely woman was covering up an incredibly luscious body. I was able to recognise that this was not the right time to make a play for her but I resolved somehow I was going to get this woman.
Terry took a few days off work so I didnât see her until the following week. When she did come back to work she was in obvious distress. So full of anger and yet lost in a whirlpool of loathing for the killer of her dog and self-pity. This lasted for about two months until one day I had had enough. Her car had blown an engine and she was trying to buy a new car. So I was being the hero and picking her up at home and driving her to work. I showed up at her apartment door with a little present. A friend had arranged for me to get a little golden retriever pup.
When Terry opened the door there I was with this little ball of fluff looking like it badly needed some loving. After she got over the initial shock I was able to get her to hold Max in her arms. Now picture this tall woman holding a little golden ball of love and you got magic happening. In a few seconds she had changed. Gone was the angry woman replaced by a new mommy. I handed over the dogâs papers and a few things I had picked up from the pet store to get her started. I gave her the day off and left her and Max to get fully acquainted.