(This story was originally written under the name Agony. I have made some minor changes to the story. After writing a story called Violets Are Blue, I was encouraged to rewrite this story.)
It was a scorching Saturday morning in the beginning of a great July. Barbara Letti slowly walked down the rich and elegant section of Porter West. All the houses here are expensive, big and well designed. They have spacious back yards and swimming pools. The grass here is green, the gardens produced delicious vegetables and the homes are guarded by top of line security systems. There aren't any millionaires in the town of Porter West, however, the people who live in this section, with their magnificent homes, are living a hell of a lot more comfortably than all the other residents.
Barbara was a block away from her destination: Don Arnold's house. Don was one of the comfortable people in town. He is also one of Barbara's old high school teachers. Back in June, two months ago, Don, known to Porter West High School’s student body as Mr. Arnold, had flunked her. He taught psychology and did an excellent job, but Barbara never had time to complete the assignments that sucked away so much of her precious time. She almost cried when she saw the progress report the Mr. Arnold handed to her.
After the class was over and her friends were gone, Barbara confronted Mr. Arnold and was able to convince him to pass her with a D. She was only able to convince him by making a deal. Barbara had to clean his house and run important errands until she went to college in August, in exchange, she would get to graduate. She happily agreed to his terms. She graduated a week later and thought nothing of the deal she made until he finally called her about repaying the deal early yesterday morning. At first she was hesitant, not really wanting to spend her last summer as a free woman cleaning her teacher's house, and she didn’t really want to see the psychology teacher during his free time away from school. The same hour after the call, however, Barbara was there. She cleaned his house and even fixed his lunch. She was there for four hours, then she spent the rest of the day living a normal life.
Barbara found out she enjoyed spending time with Don Arnold. Once she got to know Don better, she got really began liking him. He was cute for a forty-four year old man. His hair is jet black, showing no signs of aging, and it seemed along before he finally succumbed to grayness of the elderly. His face is kindly, muscular, but mostly handsome and full of character. His chin and nose are built strong. His teeth are almost perfect and he has a smile that could light up a room. Best of all, Don was tall. He is six foot five and well over two hundred pounds, mostly muscle. Since becoming aroused by men at the age of thirteen, Barbara has always had a thing for tall men. She was only five foot eight herself, and barely one hundred pounds, but something about looking up into a man’s eyes from way below was real turn on. During so many steamy nights, Barbara had sat in her living room, watching NBA basketball games, enjoying the tall, sexy men dribbled the basketball, running and dunking, sweat glistening from their muscular bodies. She was usually the TV during these games, watching in a stone silence, feeling herself becoming hot, wild and eventually, horny.
She approached Don's front door and waited a few seconds before ringing his door bell. When Barbara finally did ring the bell, she waited five more minutes for Don to respond. He opened the door like the charming gentleman he could be, and invited the sexy young lady inside.
The parlor was spotless, the way Barbara left it yesterday. She looked at the fifty-six inch plasma television, the brand new and unused Phillips DVD, and the expensive stereo displayed carefully around the parlor. The couches are all leather and were very comfortable. The walls are painted white and floor is covered with brown carpeting. She watched Don take a seat on the leather couch. A black screen played on the television. Don was reading an Ernest Hemingway novel.
"What will I be doing today?" Barbara asked.
"I need you to clean the kitchen,” he said, polite as usual. “The grass needs some cutting, in the backyard, but that can wait until tomorrow. I might hire the boy down the street to do that, however. A girl has no business cutting grass. If you don’t mind though, I'd appreciate it if you fixed me a few sandwiches for lunch, and perhaps go to the grocery store for me when that's out of the way. I’ve prepared a list on the kitchen table.
"No problem," she agreed.
"The shopping list is the kitchen, on the table." Don repeated himself and put the book down. "And I want to thank you for helping me out. Although your lazy behavior got you in this situation, I’m really thankful for your help.”
"It's nothing. Really." she said. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have graduated."
"Right you are. Right as rain, in fact. But I feel like I'm taking advantage of you. Today will be your last day if you wish. And if you don't wish to leave, by some miracle, then I'll let you stay on one condition."
"What?"
"I presume that means you will stay. Delightful. I'm actually glad. Well, the condition is that I pay you. I pay twenty dollars an hour. It may seem a bit much, but I have plenty of money. And I’m sure you can use the money during your college adventures.”
She argued with him over the sum of money for a few minutes, trying to make him lower the amount, but she was easily defeated. Besides, he argued his strongest point, the money will really come in handy. College isn‘t cheap Your always strapped for cash. Save some of this money and you will have an advantage. She went to the kitchen, quickly doing the dishes. They was only a few plates, a bowl and a couple of pots along with some scattered silverware. Don never made much of mess which made Barbara wonder why he needed a house cleaner in the first place. She finished in less than five minutes.
"Barbara!" Don Arnold called from the parlor. When she appeared by the kitchen doorway, he spoke. "I almost forgot. I took a shower this morning and left some things in there. The room is a disaster. Would you mind fixing it up?"
"Sure," she smiled at him.
"You're a sweetheart," he complemented.
She went up the stairs, to the bathroom. There were three rooms on this floor, not including the bathroom. Barbara didn't clean any of these rooms, because she was never asked too. She knew the door at the end of hall was the master bedroom and not even Don went into that room anymore. Barbara knew why too. Everyone in town did.
Barbara went into the bathroom and began making things look presentable. It actually wasn’t the catastrophe Don made it out to be. While she worked, she thought about Don's deceased wife, Becky. Five years ago, Becky had went to Famous Henry's Bar and All Purpose Diner. A weird name for a hangout, but a great place to be. It is located on the outskirts of Porter West. She drank too much and didn't leave the bar until two in the morning. It was December, winter had come with a serious vengeance that year. Turns out, Becky left the bar in the heart of a blizzard. She drove her jeep, but controlling the monster vehicle was hell and a half. She kept the vehicle on the road for three miles, but condition on that road weren‘t great on the best days. She skid out of control at some point on her way home, in a mass of white evil and drove right over the Porter’s Orange Bridge and ended up in the freezing river where she was found three days later, frozen in her jeep. People like to think she didn’t suffer a great deal, and if God truly loved Her creations, then she died instantly.
Barbara placed the dirty clothes in the hamper and went back downstairs. Since the list was already in her pocket, and there was nothing else to do around the house, she decided to go to the grocery store.
"I'm going to the grocery store now," Barbara said as she entered the parlor.
Don turned around toward her and smiled. "Super." He took his wallet out from under the couch and handed her a one hundred dollar bill. "This should be more than enough. By yourself something nice if you want."
