"I'm glad you're up. Mrs. Harris just called and asked if you could come over and help her move some things out of her basement this morning," Buddy's mother told him when he appeared in the kitchen on the Tuesday morning after the weekend during which the eighteen year-old high school graduate had become lovers with his thirty-six year old married neighbor. His mother was standing at the sink, washing dishes.
"She did?" the young man replied. He was surprised. He knew Mr. Harris had returned home from one of his numerous business trips and would be home for most of the week. He also knew Mrs. Harris - he thought of her as Marla most of the time - was planning to ask his mother if it would be all right for him to go along with her to the beach house the Harrises owned to "help get it ready for winter."
"Yes," his mother said. "She also asked if your father and I would mind if you went along with her to help her get their beach house ready for winter. She wants to go Thursday. Apparently Tom will be leaving on another business trip on Friday. I told her that your father and I don't mind if you go to the beach house with her. Lord knows she needs the help with her husband gone as much as he is." She rinsed the plate she'd been washing and put it in the dish drainer next to the sink. "I have to say," she continued, "I certainly wouldn't like it if your father traveled as much as Tom does.. I really can't believe he can't manage to be home for Marla's birthday. I don't know how Marla handles his being gone so much."
"It would blow your mind if you knew how she's been coping for the last few days," her son thought as he took a box of cereal out of the cupboard and poured it into a bowl his mother had handed him. "When is Mrs. Harris's birthday?" he asked, trying to keep his tone off-handed. He set the bowl full of cereal on the table and walked to the refrigerator to get milk to put on it.
"It's Saturday," his mother commented. "Sometimes it seems as if Tom's gone more than he's home."
Buddy walked back to the table, sat down, poured milk on his cereal and sprinkled some sugar over it. "Yeah, I know," he said. "I hope he keeps taking business trips for the rest of the summer," he thought as he began eating his cereal. He was glad Marla had called. After their wild weekend of almost non-stop sex, going all of Monday without seeing her had been hard and he was anxiously waiting to hear from his mother that he'd be able to go to the beach house for the weekend. The fact that he'd get to see his pretty neighbor today was a pleasant surprise, although the fact that her husband was home made him wonder if they'd get to do anything.
After he finished eating his cereal, the young man rinsed the dish and put it in the dishwasher. Then he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and headed for the door. "See you later, Mom," he said.
"From what Marla said, it will probably be a lot later," his mother replied. "She told me she their cellar is filled with things she wants to get rid of."
"Yeah, she has a lot that needs to be taken care of," Buddy replied as he walked out the door. His back was to his mother so he didn't make any effort whatever to keep the grin off his face.
"So Saturday is Marla's birthday?" he mused as he walked across the street toward the Harris house. "Since her husband's not going to be around, maybe there's some way I can help her celebrate."
He walked around to the back door of the Harris home, went up the two steps to the small back porch, and knocked on the door. He wasn't sure whether Mr. Harris was home and didn't want to raise any suspicion by just walking in.
Shortly after he knocked, Marla answered the door. "Buddy, come in," Marla said, smiling. "I'm so glad you could come over. I really do need your help today."
Buddy observed that his pretty neighbor was wearing a pair of form-fitting jeans and a white crocheted sweater and her golden blond hair was perfectly styled. "God, she looks incredible," he thought.
"Would you like a cup of coffee or some juice before we start?" Marla asked. She glanced over her shoulder. "Tom isn't going in to the office until a bit later this morning," she continued, lowering her voice a bit.
"Ah...sure...um...I could drink some orange juice if you have some," Buddy replied. He hadn't planned on Mr. Harris being home. That information was a bit of a disappointment. On the other hand, Marla did say her husband would eventually be going to the office, so...
"Come on, I'll get you some OJ," Marla said. She turned and started walking across the kitchen.
Buddy followed her and as he did, he looked up and saw Mr. Harris sitting at the kitchen table. The man, wearing a bathrobe Buddy himself had worn a few days earlier, had the newspaper spread out in front of him and was drinking out of a cup. "Hey, kid," he said when he finished. "How ya doing? You graduated this year, right?"
"Ah...yes, I did," Buddy replied. He found it a bit difficult to talk with Mr. Harris, given what he and the man's wife had been doing.
"You going to college?" Mr. Harris asked.
"Yes," Buddy replied.
"Good, gotta get a college education if you want to get anywhere these days," the man said. He glanced down and started looking at something in the newspaper. "Getting through college is like getting through high school was when I was a kid."
"Here, Buddy," Marla said, handing the young man a glass filled with orange juice. "Why don't we go downstairs and I'll show you what I need you to help me with today?"
"Ah...sure," Buddy said.
Clutching the glass of juice in his hand, the young man followed his attractive neighbor down the hallway, then down the stairs into the basement. He was careful to close the door at the top of the cellar stairs after he went through it.
When they reached the basement, Marla stopped and turned to face Buddy. She took the glass out of his hand and set it on a shelf mounted on the wall next to the steps, then she pulled the befuddled teenager into her arms, pressed her warm, soft lips against his, and slid her tongue into his mouth.
