Martha's Second Chance
"Ricky, yo Ricky!" the manager yelled over the kitchen noises, "your Stratharn order is up."
"Thanks man," the kid with his hat on backward said, "what's a straight arm order?"
The manager laughed, "Stratharn, it's a name. The lady gets the same thing for Thursday lunch every week. Been doing it for years. I'm busy so ask Mike how to deliver it. Best hurry ya got eight minutes to get there."
Ricky thought to himself this better not be some new guy prank or something. He had just started at Food City Delivery last week. He ran out the backdoor and put the plastic bag of food in the insulated box on the back of the scooter. He looked for the address on the delivery ticket and all it said was Stratharn. Terrific, now I do have to find Mike. Just then Mike came bursting out of Luigi's Italian with an order.
"Hey Mike, I got a Straighten order, where's it at?"
Mike laughed and said, "It's S-T-R-A-T-H-A-R-N, 201 Maple, big old pile on the corner. Go onto the front porch, put the food on the table there. In a wood box is your money. Ring the bell and leave."
He looked at his watch and said, "Hustle up, you've got six minutes. She insists that we deliver on time."
He found the place with no problem. Jesus, Mike was right, the place was a huge old Victorian mansion. He grabbed the food and opened the wrought iron gate and ran up onto the wide porch. To the right of the door was an old kitchen table. He put the food on it and opened an ornate wooden box. He found a $20 inside, the meal was only $12, was the rest a tip? He shrugged and pocketed the money. The bell was exactly that, what looked like a giant key had to be turned which rang an actual bell in the house. He gave it a twist and went down the walk closing the gate behind him.
He got back to the alley and had to wait his turn for an order. It was kind of slick how it worked. There were three restaurants on Elm St. south of Main and two restaurants one block over on Oak St. south of Main. That meant that all five shared the same alley. The restaurants had formed a corporation, bought some scooters, put boxes on them and hired kids to deliver meals. They paid the kids minimum wage and a dollar a delivery.
Ricky thought he could make enough money to live on. Being a high school dropout he was used to low paying dead end jobs. He didn't really care anyway. He would only work someplace until one of his buddies found him and said they were going climbing in Washington or kayaking in Canada and he would throw everything he owned in his old truck and be gone.
He never worried about a place to stay. He was a good looking, tanned, fit twenty year old. He could always find a gal that would take him in until something better came along. That was the situation he was in now, he was staying at the apartment of the bartender he met his first night in town.
Ricky started at 11 am and worked until 2 pm. They only kept one guy on from 2-4 pm. Then all three worked 4-9 pm. Then one guy from 9-11 pm except on Friday when two people stayed. Ricky was the new guy so he never got the extra hours. That was fine with him, he got paid for eight hours and they let him take a scooter on the break to cruise the town so he wouldn't get lost on deliveries.
Getting off at 9 pm was cool too, he would head over to the bar where his girl Cassie worked and get a half a load on for free. Then about 11 pm he would go to her place and crash until she got home at 2:30. She would wake him up and they would fuck like rabbits, get up, have something to eat and go back to bed. She would still be sleeping when he left at 10:30 or if she were awake she would swallow his load before letting him go to work. It was a great gig for him, the only time he saw her was in bed and at the bar. Free beer, free place to live, free food and best of all, free pussy from a kinky always horny thirty year old.
That was his routine for the next three weeks. He found he delivered at least four meals a week to the Stratharn place. He asked Mike and he said she had lunch and dinner delivered Monday to Saturday. Mike didn't know much about her, no one he knew had ever seen her. He only knew that much from taking orders sometimes.
Ricky asked Cassie about her at the bar that night. "What do you want to know about that creepy old lady for?" she asked, "I remember I was a really little girl when her folks got killed in a car wreck. Family was real rich. That's about all I know."
The older guy sitting next to Ricky leaned over and said, "I'm Darnell, her name is Martha. She was always a loner, that happens sometimes with an only child. Parents used to go on vacation with her most of the summer. Now she just sits in that old house all by herself. I think the last time anyone saw her outside was at her parent's funeral. That was twenty five years ago now."
"You mean to tell me in twenty five years she has never left that house? You have to go out to do shopping, or to the dentist, the doctor, a movie, something," Ricky asked incredulously.
Darnell said, "My son is a UPS driver and he delivers two or three packages every day to her. Dr. Mills the dentist goes with a hygienist twice a year to her house. Dr. Renner might go there too, but I never heard tell of it. Hairdresser goes over every month. She gets her groceries delivered twice a week."
"So no one else ever goes there, like friends or family?"
"Oh no, Mrs. Howell cleans on Tuesday. Doesn't have any other family."
The man sitting on the other side of Darnell piped up, "I had to deliver a new refrigerator and take the old one away. Never saw her but I can tell you nothing has been upgraded since her folks passed. That fridge I took out had to be forty five years old, it was Harvest Gold color."
"So how old is she then?"
"Oh she's forty four, same age as me. We graduated high school together," Darnell told him.
"Shit," said Ricky, "the way everyone talked I figured she was like eighty years old. She's my moms age is all. Seems a shame she should hide away like that. Or is she really ugly or gross?"
Darnell shook his head, "Nope she was a very beautiful young woman. Never started a conversation but was always real pleasant to talk to if you started one. Never had anything bad to say about anybody. Just kept to herself is all."
"So she's never left that house, ever?"
"She went to college for a year and a half, out east somewhere, I don't remember where. Was there when the accident happened. But no, since then never been outside," answered Darnell.
Ricky shook his head, bought Darnell a beer and said good night. He walked to the end of the bar and Cassie came over to kiss him and let him cop a feel and squeeze her ass.
It was lunch two days later when he got an order for Stratharn. He noticed the gate wasn't closed all the way and was on the porch before he saw the big dog looking at him. Ricky didn't know if the dog belonged there or not but he rather doubted it. What the hell was he supposed to do now? The way the dog was sniffing the air he was hungry. He couldn't just leave the food on the table. He didn't want to try to get the dog off the porch and out the gate just in case it belonged there or decided to turn on him.
He decided the only thing to do was ring the bell and wait for someone to answer. He was sure that it would be all right once he explained the situation. He approached the door keeping one eye on the dog and gave the bell ringer a twist. He took a step away from the door and tried to look as pleasant as he could. It was only a few seconds before he could see a shadow behind the curtained glass of the door. Whoever was there was having a very hard time getting the door open. It finally opened and an attractive slim middle aged woman in a house dress looked at the table first and seeing nothing there looked up and saw Ricky. She gasped and retreated into the house and hid behind the door.
"Don't be afraid ma'am. I'm here to deliver your food. There is a dog out here and I didn't want him to eat your hot beef sandwich," he smiled reassuringly at her.
"A dog?" she exclaimed, "what in the world would a dog be doing on my front porch?"
"I don't know ma'am, I take it he's not yours then?"
"Certainly not, don't be absurd, a dog for heaven's sake. Why would I have a dog?"
"Well I'll hand you the food and then try to get the dog to come with me. I mean I'll try to get him out of your yard."
"Yes I suppose that would work. Come up to the door but don't come in."
"Here you go ma'am, I'm sorry for the trouble."
"No trouble at all, you showed enterprise and initiative young man. Thank you, don't forget your money in the box."
