I am looking forward to living a long and healthy life, so let me start out by telling you that my neighbor, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Melanie Jackson is just north of 40 and by that I really mean that she is just north of 50 and by that I really mean she's pushing her compass to 61. But, for the record, my 40 years old neighbor is really a very nice person who still likes to tend to her flower garden, even though at 61 she shouldn't be kneeling down for that long in the mornings. And let me be clear, she actually looks amazing for being 40 and single. In other words, if you don't want to be shunned, she's 40 and that's the end of that story.
We get along just fine and talk over the fence on a regular basis and I'm always willing to help her when she asks for something. The thing is that she seems to need something every time I kick back on my deck with my double bold coffee. To her credit, I always seem to just finish my coffee when she yells for me over the fence. It's almost like she knows that my cup is empty by how high I raise it to my mouth. It's funny how that works, right? I'm kidding. She's cool and she can ask me anything at any time.
Well, on one particular beautiful Spring Saturday morning, LOL, she waited patiently for me to finish my coffee and asked me help her get her little garden work wagon out of her she shed.
I immediately knew three things. One, I would need a chain and a pick axe because I've seen how she puts her garden tools away in her she shed. Two, having that little gap in our dividing fence is a blessing because it saves me a lot of steps. And three, Melanie really looks good in her garden work shorts and shirt, which by the way, isn't much of a shirt.
Because I'm in the running for "Neighbor of the Year" and because I seem to get hypnotized by her very pronounced nipples, I slipped through the fence and stood in front of her she shed doors and quietly gasped. Seriously, there is a right way to stack yard equipment and a "Melanie" way to stack garden tools and guess which way Melanie uses? That's right. It's like a Beaver Dam in here.
"So, Jake, can I make you a coffee for your trouble? And just how old are you these days?"
"Double-Double, cream and sugar and I'm still 23. You checked my ID last week. Stand back Melanie."
I lowered my safety glasses and fired up my chainsaw and dove right into her train wreck of a she shed. Again, I'm making a little, but it wasn't the easiest thing she ever asked me to do. It took a minute to disassemble her Beaver Dam of tool handles, but I finally got her cute little green garden wagon out.
And she still wasn't back with my coffee yet which tells me that she doesn't have a Keurig which tells me that she just might be 61. But I say again, she looks great for 42 and I look better without a black eye.
To increase my "Neighbor of the Year" votes, I wheeled the wagon to the back of her house and rinsed it off with the hose and still no coffee. I went back to her she shed and began rearranging her rakes and shovels, when, well it's about time Melanie, I heard her soft voice.
"Here Jake, sorry it took me so long, but my friend called me with old people issues, I mean middle-aged people problems. I hope the coffee is up to your standards. Oh my, did you wash my wagon for me? That was so nice of you."
"Thanks Melanie. And yes, clean and ready to go. And please, use those garden knee pads. They work and they are not a sign of, well, ah, middle age."
I don't know what happened next. Well, I do know what happened, I just don't know why it happened. As I took the coffee from her, I leaned in and kissed her on lips, like a husband would do to his wife. I didn't plan to do that, but my body seemed to be comfortable enough to just lean in and peck her on the lips. It wasn't wet, it wasn't sloppy, but it was a peck directly on her lips. A very nice shade of red for a Saturday morning.
"Jake! Did you just kiss me? In my backyard?"
"Has it been that long Melanie? I'm sorry I didn't ask first, but it just seemed natural. Are you mad at me now that you want me to go home and you'll never ask me to help you with anything ever again?"
"Shut it smartass, but, maybe, I mean, that was a kiss, right? So, yes, it has been a while, but never mind all that. I'm old enough to be your well, I'm a little older than you. I mean, do you have your Driver's License yet? What were you thinking, Jake?"