The scent of fresh cut grass was heavy in the afternoon heat, it was the first week in July and the month had come in hard and hot.
Jack Taylor pushed the mower into the shed, and took the gas trimmer off its hooks, made a quick check of the fuel tank, already full, another fifteen minutes and this week's yard work would be compete. As He walked up to the fence that bordered his lawn and the neighbors, he primed the trimmer and was about to start it up when he heard a woman curse on the opposite side of the fence. Unable to contain himself he laughed, heard another curse, then a scolding voice came thru the fence.
"Don't you laugh at me Jack!" Bernie Graham said thru the fence.
"Sorry, you caught me off guard, I saw the truck gone, and figured I was alone today," he lied, the curse was what made him laugh, he'd seen Bernie earlier watering the flowers out front. "Problem?"
"The pool pump isn't working, Mike was supposed to fix it but he left early to get out on the river. Now I need to clean it for the party and can't run the vacuum."
"Tell you what, give me twenty minutes to do the trimming over here and I'll see what I can do."
"You fix this pump and I'll owe you." She answered.
"In this heat, a cold beer would be nice."
"Deal."
Jack fired up the trimmer and went to cutting weeds, the only thing that seemed to grow in the July heat, he finished in a little over the twenty minutes. He put the trimmer back on its hooks and brushed himself off, he was hot and the well-worn tank top from some long forgotten vacation was soaked with sweat. He needed shower but a deal was a deal, he tossed the few tools he figured he'd need in a spare tool bag, kicked off his yard shoes and walked barefoot across the fresh cut lawn to the neighbors. He had a good idea what the problem with the pool pump was, he'd discussed it with Mike earlier in the summer, with luck it would be an easy fix.
He knocked on the gate to the Graham's backyard as he entered, Bernie yelled a hello as he came up to the pool. She was sitting in one of the pool side chairs sitting on the elevated deck, there was a glass of wine in her hand, the bottle sat on a table beside her.
"Let me get your beer." She stood up, her five foot seven, one hundred sixteen pound body was tan, her shoulder length sandy blond hair bleached lighter from time spent in the summer sun.
"Not yet, let me get the pump running first," He walked around the pool to where the pump was set up. It took only a couple seconds to see the problem, the seal on the power box was dried out and split, and water had apparently gotten inside and caused a short, tripping the GFI or the breaker.
He called, not looking up, "Bernie, could you check and see if the breaker switch is off?"
"Sure." She answered from behind him.
He jumped, and laughed, "You startled me, and I didn't hear you."
"Can you fix it?"
"If it's what I think, no trouble."
"The breakers in the garage, I think, be right back." She turned and headed for the house, he watched her walk away, long legs and the tight fitting cutoff jean shorts she had on. He shook his head, forget it Jack, she's at least ten years younger than you and she's your neighbors wife, he watched her until she disappeared thru the man door on the garage.
A minute later her voice drifted across the yard, "It's off."
He went to work, first the power box cover, two screws and it was open, as he'd suspected water had gotten into the connections the copper wire had corroded and shorted out. Taking the wires loose he cleaned the connections, cut away the bad wire, stripped back the wire insulation to new clean wire, and reattached the connection. Putting the cover back he made a mental note to tell Mike the seal needed replaced or the cover caulked, he wrapped the outside of the box and cover with duct tape as a temporary fix.
"Okay, turn it back on." He shouted. There was no answer. He picked up his tools and walked to the garage, the man door still open. "Bernie?" No answer. He looked around the garage, the breaker box was open on the rear wall. Walking over the pool circuit was easy to find, marked with a label "POOL", He flipped the switch and walked back to out to the pool pump, it wasn't running, the outlet was a GFI switch, he pushed the reset and the pump came on, job done. Time for a beer and a shower.
"Fixed?" Bernie's voice, this time above him on the pool deck.
He Jumped. Damnit, twice. "Yep, a short. Still needs some work but nothing too difficult, I'll talk to Mike about it when he gets home."
"He's on the river with a group... so I doubt he'll be home early,"
Jack heard the hesitation change her tone of voice but ignored it, "How about that beer?"
"Right up, how about a second favor, help I clean the pool and I'll double the offer?"
"Okay, but I get an extra helping at the party." He joked.
"Don't you always?" with that she walked away across the pool deck chin level with Jack, he now noticed her shorts and blouse had been traded for a thong bikini bottom and crop top T-shirt, it was only a few steps and she was gone from sight.
He hooked the vacuum hose to the pool filter, climbed up on the deck and started sweeping the pool bottom, there wasn't much to clean actually, just a leaf or two and the odd silt that settled to the bottom. Bernie had gone into the house again.
