My morning started out innocently enough... I was just stretching out in a quiet corner, getting ready to sit down and read a book. What I got certainly wasn't what I had in mind when I had woken up!
My wife and I were on a "second honeymoon", of sorts. We married almost right out of high school ten years ago, and have spent the last ten years working our asses off trying to get ahead. With some luck and good career decisions, we were doing better than just okay, we were doing what my parents would have called "very well". I went from punching a clock to sit behind the wheel of a bobcat for someone else, to owning my own landscaping/snow removal business with a staff of twelve employees, and my wife has worked her way up from secretary at a law firm to the head of their human resources department. As with all things, however, that success comes at a cost, and over the last decade we haven't much time for romance or reconnecting.
We're from Minnesota, and had been talking that last couple of winters about how much we'd like to start taking an extended winter holiday somewhere warmer, like Arizona or Nevada. This year we decided to quit talking and start doing, and quickly went on-line and found a nice house in Phoenix we could rent for 3 weeks for a pretty reasonable sum. This would be my first stretch away from my business, but I had good staff and knew I'd be able to stay in touch by phone and email to make sure things kept running in good order.
After getting through a good portion of a frosty, snow-filled Minnesota winter, the day finally arrived and we loaded up our SUV and were on our way. The drive was thankfully uneventful, and at the end of the second full day of driving we pulled into the driveway of our new (temporary) holiday home.
We were glad to see that the pictures on the rental site didn't do it justice. We were looking for a quiet getaway where the two of us could rekindle the fire of romance, so didn't want to be in a noisy neighborhood. The house we got was at the end of a cul-de-sac, with a high school on the end and a ranch behind, leaving us with only one neighboring house. We found out from the rental agent that this neighboring house is also a rental, and they didn't have it currently rented out, so we had the area completely to ourselves.
The back yard featured a lovely private pool with a waterfall, and the driveway featured a tall gate that closed off the road, making a courtyard of sorts. With the tall cement brick fence surrounding the property and the driveway gate closed, we had all the privacy in the world. Or so we thought.
On our first morning, I arose at 7am (a career of being an early riser has left me unable to sleep any later than that) and went into the courtyard to do my yoga. After years of running industrial equipment, I had begun to develop chronic back problems and my doctor suggested yoga. I now began every day with a routine that kept my muscles loose and limber, and my active job kept me in good shape.
The courtyard was bathed in the morning sunlight, and I was already bathed in sweat. I had my earbuds in, my ipod playing something mellow, and, dressed only in my boxers, and was 10 minutes into my routine when I noticed some shadows moving on the wall of the garage. The cement block wall behind me bordered the high school, but I didn't think anyone would be there yet at this hour. Not wanting to break my routine, I ignored the shadows and continued my stretching and balancing. After another minute or two, the playlist ended leaving me with silence. I was almost done my routine anyway, so I just sat in position enjoying the quiet.
"Damn, he's soooo fucking HOT!" I head a girl's voice say quietly, through the quiet of my now-silent ipod.
