Dylan and Buck looked at each other as they made their way up the driveway.
They both took a nervous breath, but pushed forward.
"Well, here we go...," Buck said as they rang the doorbell.
Darla's doorbell was a musical tune, that of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
It comforted the boys a bit.
The door swung open, the smell of potpourri welcoming them.
"Dylan, Buck, come on in," she urged, in a nice, soft manner.
That settled their nerves a bit.
"I was...cleaning up a bit," Darla said, as she continued to pick up laundry here and there, moving cushions about on the couch. "Having company later, but come, let's go into the kitchen."
As much as this was a serious meeting, Dylan and Buck couldn't help but check out Darla's rockin' body. In an effort to be loose and comfortable as she cleaned her house, Darla was indirectly showing off her big caboose, accentuated quite nicely in a pair of tight, black Emporia State University shorts, and her flimsy Charlie's Angels tee didn't do much to hide her rather impressive rack.
The only reason the two 18-year-olds weren't all out drooling was that their level of arousal was tempered by the fact they were there to discuss the repercussions of their actions.
"So...," Darla began, as the three sat down at the kitchen table.
Buck immediately jumped in.
"Ms. Kensington, I just wanna say how sorry we are," he poured forth with a tremendous level of sincerity.
She put her hand up, as if to say, no further need for that.
"We're past that," she said in a comforting tone. "Today is about moving forward."
The boys squirmed in their seats a bit out of nervousness but tried to settle in.
"So...," Darla began, just like she did moments earlier. "Herman and I talked...We came up with a resolution that I hope...you boys will embrace."
She paused for a moment, seemingly allowing the boys to take a breath.
"You two will clean my carpet in the closet," she began. "Shampoo, scrub and rinse. Then, you will fix my fence - I'm not sure if you noticed, but when you hopped over, one of you managed to break some of the wood off the top of one of the posts."
Dylan sent a look of disgust over to Buck, the obvious culprit.
"And," she continued, "this is the big one. Sixty four hours of community service - for each of you - at the Eisenhower Park Zoo."
That was a punch in the stomach. The number loomed large.
"I know, 64 hours seems like a lot, but basically you can knock it out over four weekends, which, over the summer, shouldn't seem like that big a deal," she encouraged.
"Yes, mam," Dylan agreed.
"Hey, I was young once too," Darla sympathized, even though she was still quite young - and beautiful. "And curious. So I know, believe me. But, boys, what you did was pretty serious.
"You should have seen (laugh), how long the list of charges Herman rattled off, that he could have hit you two with. Him being an ex-cop...But I talked him down a bit. However...in the end, it was his privacy that was mostly invaded so...I did defer to his judgement."
She never broke stride in her explanation.
"I'm doing this for your sake, fellas," she continued. "To help you. Listen, I'm not going to call the police...and if you two wanna just blow this off, that's up to you. But for me, I don't wanna turn a blind eye.
"I think you two need to experience a sense of contrition for your actions. If you don't catch this now, who knows what it could lead to? And I'm only doing this because I care. I think you two are nice, wholesome kids. You just...used poor judgement."
"Absolutely, mam," Buck answered quickly.
"And I think after all of this, we could all be friends," Darla offered.
