Odd Jobs (some Odder Than Others)

We finish the last morsels of the meal and she reaches to take the plates. I stand up, smile over to her and grab up our dishes, give her a wink and walk them over to the sink to start rinsing them off and put into the dishwasher. "That hit the spot, Jo. Thank you!"

"You're very welcome, honey. Come on and give me a hand up, I'm ready for a smoke." She smiles back to me and closes her eyes for a second. "You're alright, Luke. Thank you for comin' to lend a hand around here." Just then, the phone on the wall rings. "How are you as a receptionist?" She nods to the phone and gives an expectant look.

I stand in a sort of still confusion for half a second and as she grabs the end of the table to pull herself up from her seat, I catch on and answer the phone. "Hello? Jo's house." I feel a little odd answering somebody else's phone but hell, I'm the hired help for the day and I'll be glad to do anything that makes things easier for her.

"Heyyy!! This is Desirae! Who is thiiiiis?" sings a bright voice from the other end of the wire. She lets out a little giggle.

"This is Luke." I answer a little awkwardly.

"Really....hmmm....how do you know my Jo? She doesn't get out much, you know. How did you two meet?" More giggling. I find myself blushing a little.

Jo looks up from the table and asks, "Who is it?"

"Excuse me." I cover the mouthpiece. "It's Desirae."

In a flash, she rises up with a little groan and rushes over to the phone. "God damn...let me save you, honey." She grabs up the receiver. "Now, don't be scarin' off my help. How you doin', girl?"

I move aside and over to load the dishwasher, put in some detergent and after shutting the door and pulling the latch, I twist the knob and the cycle starts up with a whir.

"No, I got that all covered but thank you. I finally got an answer to that ad I tacked up at the grocery and he's working out just fine. Doing a hell of a job so far." She walks along the counter and grabs her drink up, then heads towards the screen door.

I pick up my smokes and lemonade and step up to open the door for her. We each find a seat out on the porch and as she continues chatting with Desirae, the dogs scurry up to me and rub their noses at my hand. I start talking to them and giving them vigorous scratches over their hackles as they take turns pushing each other out of the way to gain all of the attention.

Jo's shriek of laughter makes the dogs jump and take a few steps back. "Ha! Damn it, Des...No! They'll put you away for that kind of operation. You gonna feed my animals?" Looking over to me with a grin, she lifts her glass and takes a strong swallow from it. "Yeah...I bet you would, trouble. You aint me. I sleep better knowing that most nights." Her hand reaches out for the scruff of Cooter, one of the Heelers, and she gives him a good scratch. "Hell, I don't know....that'd be fine. If you're gonna, you'd best behave yourself." Lifting her hand to check her watch, Cooter rubs up against her thigh as the scratching stops for a second. "Okay...alright...okay then....bye....incorrigible!" She lets out a laughing sigh and presses the phone off, then sets it beside her on the chair.

"What do you say about finishing the day just harvesting some of those weeds and callin' it good for today?" she asks. She shakes hear head a little as she closes her eyes and smiles. "You plannin' to stay for dinner?" One of her eyebrows raises and she glances to me over the tops of her glasses.

"If it's not too much to ask, I'm pretty much hooked after breakfast. I'd be hard pressed to find better fare in town now." My face holds the expression of a boy that has just asked his parents for a new puppy.

"You won't. I've been to town." Taking a long drag from her cigarette, she sits back in her chair and surveys the property. "If I'm gonna help you build your appetite, the least I can do is feed it." She turns over her shoulder to me, glances me over from my boots up, shakes her head again and crushes out her cigarette. "C'mon, honey. Let's get to work." She lifts her hand to me and I stand, pulling her up with me as I go.

"Before you get started, I gotta have you throw that old snake in a bucket and bring it by the back door of the house." She looks to the barn and smiles. "Looks like I got a chore too."

Jo turns to go into to the house and I head off to the barn. Inside by the yard tools, I find a galvanized metal bucket and bring it out to fill it with a healthy sized Rattler, body first and then the head laying on top. I walk it over to the porch and set it on the chair by the door.

For the next several hours, I have my knees in the dirt, yanking weeds from the soil and taking trips to the back of my pickup to dump full buckets of them in. I keep at a good rhythm and my body moves almost on auto pilot as my mind's free to wander off.

I am so thankful to have the opportunity I was given. To be able to get outside of my routine and do some honest work for enough money to make a huge improvement to my quality of living, I'm ecstatic. If I'd never stopped by the store, who knows, it could have been just another weekend of pacing the floors at the house and living inside my head until the distraction of Monday came again. All of this is more than money could seem to afford anyway. The food, the atmosphere around her simple but expansive back road oasis, all of the moments that I could never seem to find anywhere else in life, all priceless gifts. Oh, and the company of her...the lady that is seeming to unlock the whole world for me, I just marvel at her!

My head goes back to lunch in the kitchen. Sunlight was coming through the screen door and bouncing off of the tile, it highlighted the muscles of her legs in such a flattering way. When she was at the counter, I stole a few lasting gazes up them to about strike my soul to blazes inside. Every time she lifted her glass and knocked down another long swallow, I couldn't help but glance at the way the curves of her hips and waist danced beneath the fabric of her top and then to her swollen nipples that were almost piercing their way through. I had a secret wish that she would use the last half of her drink to pour over that t-shirt so the soaking cloth would cling to her form like a liberal coat of wet paint. If I had more courage than brains in my head, I would have pulled my chair out, walked up and done it myself.

The wanting for exploring each inch of her, every small detail, mapping her body with caresses, kisses, taking note of her response and working to slowly bring her to the edge, this all consumes me for the moment and I bury my hands deep into the rich dirt as the thoughts have arrested me completely.

I realize that I am driving myself crazy. I should be grateful for all that I've been blessed with here and not enter into unwelcome territories that may cost me dearly. I've started to care deeply for this woman and I would never in a million years want for her to be uncomfortable because my hormones were too greedy to let my better judgement have me do better by her. I reach into my pocket and pull out a smoke, light one up and then spit the dirt out of my lips that my fingers have carried there. A few seconds to get it together and I set myself back to the rest of my work.

Tromping down the last row of fluffy soil after a trip to dump another bounty of weeds, I scan the garden for anything out of place and find that as far as I can see, everything that isn't dirt looks like it should stay put. Walking up and down the rows, I check for spots I may have missed. Everything looks pretty clear.

"I'll be damned! Looks like a garden again! Thank you, honey!" Jo calls out to me from the kitchen window. "I just got one more thing for you to do for the day. Out behind the barn towards the back, there's an ant hill just across the fence."

Okay, I figure that I'm going to be setting out some poison or traps so I position myself to the barn while I'm listening. That doesn't end up being the case at all.

The back door opens and she's holding the galvanized bucket. "Throw this on it. No sense just wasting. Nature takes care of its own." I walk up to get the bucket and look into its contents. Meat, bones and guts, that's it. Looking over by the sink, I see a long board and on it is tacked a shining and stretched Western Diamondback Rattlesnake skin. She's been busy!

As the sky grows a little darker, I scan the ground carefully while I make my way down the backside of the barn and up the the barbed wire fence, spot a mound of pale dirt and watch large societies of ants marching to and from it with a great sense of duty. I lean over the fence and hurl the contents of the pail over it. In a few seconds, the scattered mess is heavily populated with busy little black creatures and I turn to take the fence line back down behind the barn. By the door of the barn is a hose bib for water and I rinse out the bucket before setting it back inside by the tools.

Passing through the yard, I look over what I've done today. The trees look secure, the garden looks clear and maintainable and is surrounded by a knife edge straight little wooden fence. To have my hand prints on parts of the serene beauty of this place is an honor.

"Better wash up, honey. Dinner's comin' off in a few shakes. Hope you're hungry." Jo waves me in from the kitchen window and as I move towards the porch, my nose fills with savory scents and warm air hits my face while I past the opened door.

I slide out of my mud caked boots and move down the porch to scrub up in the utility sink by the laundry machines. Drying my face and hands off in a big, lemon colored towel, I hear gravel crunching under wheels and then skid to a stop. A door opens and out from it blasts an AC/DC tune at full volume, breaking through the air just before the engine shuts off and I hear the car door creak and smack shut.

I hear Jo calling from out the front door to a woman with a bright and cackling laugh. "God damn...Little Desi Dynamite! Why don't you saunter your little lily ass inside this house and get yourself ready for supper." Finishing up drying my arms, I look through the house and see them hug through the front door before Jo leads her friend inside.

"Don't I look ready?" Behind Jo's shoulder, I see a mess of stringy brown hair dancing around in a circle. "I put on shoes and everything!"

"You know what I mean," says Jo, "wash up and help me set the table." She smiles and raises an eyebrow as she turns over her shoulder for a second and then moves through the living room towards the kitchen.

Desirae looks to be around five foot nothing. Untamed dark hair lays across half of her face and over her torso, almost to the bottom of her ribcage. Her limbs are almost sinewy and with every subtle motion, you can see them all moving over each other, not that anything about her seems to be described as "subtle". She is adorned with enough jewelry to make her chime with every motion. Setting her bag down on the couch and then rising up, her face appears from behind her tousled tresses. A very prominent nose holds her bangs towards one cheek and she wears a large silver hoop through the opposing nostril. Dramatic eye makeup and scarlet lipstick make an already very animated face to where you could recognize her expressions from the back row of a balcony. Dressed in a black tank top and short black skirt, the contrast of her sallow skin tone is further intensified. Stepping over the old plank floors of the house, her pointed heels send up a hard clicking sound in every pace of her swaying strut to the kitchen.

"So, where's Mr. Mannypants?" she asks as she turns the faucet on full blast and starts filling her hands with enough soap to wash a fire truck with.

Jo turns the tap down a little and replies, "LUKE is just coming in from working. He's done a hell of a lot in just his first day around the place."

I set the towel over the rail by the utility sink and step in my socks to the door. Opening it, they both turn to me and I notice Jo tap Desirae in the shin with her heel.

"Luke, I'd like for you to meet my girl, Desirae. Desi, this is Luke and he's had a long day already so I'd thank you to be easy on him." She turns and looks over the tops of her glasses to Desirae who responds with an unconvincingly innocent nod.

"Oh, Jo...you worry too much. He's a grown man and shouldn't be afraid of any tiny little women that might wander by." I step halfway over the kitchen floor and extend my hand to shake hers. She puts her hand on her hip and gives me a stern look while waving her long, painted fingernail in the air. "I don't shake hands with anyone."

I stare back to her blankly and try to figure out how I have offended her by common courtesy.

She goes on, "If I don't like people, I give them the finger. If I like them, I give them THIS..." Heeled feet tapping across the floor for about four steps and then leaping at me like a cat to a play post, she flies into me with a hug and has her arms and legs wrapped around my body, almost making me lose balance. My eyes must have been huge because as I looked to Jo for some kind of answer, she just started laughing so hard that tears dewed under her glasses.

"I like him, Jo! He can stay!" She continues to cling to me and rub up on me until my chest gets hot and I have stray brunette hairs in my lips and nose. Her hands are still wet from washing and my upper back is soaked.

"Alright, girl. Down and help me set for dinner." Jo turns and walks to the counter with a whispering laugh. "Jesus......what have I gotten myself into?" she says as she turns off the flames under the burners.