Winter turned to Spring and Spring turned to Summer for Kevin Ralston, but nothing in his life noticeably changed. He still spent the better part of his days working only when the feeling hit and spent his nights crashing wherever anyone had the space and tolerance to put him up.
By late Summer of his 18th year of life, Kevin found himself working at a landscaping firm ran by a drug dealing acquaintance of his, Miguel. Even though the early but long hours required for the job sucked, the pay was pretty good and the upscale neighborhoods that many of Miguel's clients lived provided Kevin with an occasional opportunity to pocket a few trinkets.
One such chance was tending to the home of a 54 year old divorcee named Melanie Willberg. Melanie, and her then husband Stuart, had been vital members of the town's social circles and active participants with the city's Chamber of Commerce.
That was until Melanie caught Stuart cheating on her with one of the part time women who worked at the family's jewelry store. While Melanie had made out quite well in the divorce settlement, there was a tangible sadness about the women considering all her children had grown up and gotten on with their lives and she was left to pick up the shattered remnants of her world while trying to navigate her mid 50's.
Melanie had gotten the family home in the divorcee settlement, but that huge house had became a lifeless museum chronicling the lonely woman's existence as it was before the breakup. Even her neighbors had come to laugh amongst themselves that Melanie Willburg had turned into the sweet lady down the street who lived alone with her cats and dogs.
Having allowed Stuart to buy out her half of the jewelry store, Melanie had gotten her real estate license and using her vast connections of acquaintances in the area, was making a decent living in her new field.
With no one in her life to handle all the menial chores around the house however, Melanie found it necessary to find a trustworthy person to keep the property looked after. After a suburban neighbor gave Melanie a business card for Miguel's Landscaping several years earlier, she had been nothing but satisfied with Miguel's employees work. In fact, on the days when the boys were scheduled to come by and do some work at the house, she made it a point to always keep a pitcher of fresh ice tea or lemonade for them to drink while she was gone.
* * * * *
Desperate to make all the money he could on the side, Kevin had noticed that several of the large oak trees in Melanie's backyard had grown out of control and needed to be trimmed back away from the house. Knowing he could do that himself without having to cut Miguel in, Kevin approached Mrs. Willberg one afternoon when their paths crossed and offered to do the tree trimming. Seeing how the limbs were encroaching on her roof, Melanie quickly accepted Kevin's offer, especially since he had earned her trust and was going to save her a few dollars.
One Friday afternoon in early August when Miguel was out of town, Kevin took Miguel's garage key and barrowed some of the companies tools along with Miguel's pick up truck and went to Melanie's to prune the trees. Knowing Melanie would be at work, Kevin took his time as he one by one sawed down the overhanging limbs until there was a neat pile of freshly cut wood in the corner of Melanie's backyard, right beside where her prized Great Dane named Champ was tied in the shade.
Wiping away the sweat off his brow as he looked at his wrist watch, Kevin smiled seeing that he had got most of the work done with an hour and a half to spare before Melanie was expected home from work.
Letting himself in the backdoor that Melanie always kept unlocked when she expected her landscapers to come over so they could have access to a bathroom and get something to drink, Kevin walked inside with all the cocksuredness of a lion strutting into his own den.
After taking three full swigs from the pitcher of ice tea that Melanie had made that morning, Kevin filled a glass to carry with him as he sauntered through the luxuriously decorated first floor of the divorcee's home.
Spending his whole life living in either a trailer or a cockroach infested apartment, even someone as cynical as Kevin found himself rubbing his rough fingers gently across the silk and lacy items that adorned Melanie's house. Taking a seat on the cushy sofa, Kevin flipped on the TV as he sipped at the glass of tea and surfed through the more than 100 channels Melanie got on her dish system.
For a brief moment, a childhood hue of amazement washed across Kevin's grim face, and just for an instant his jealousy turned to envy.
It wasn't long however until the inviting presence of the stairway leading to the second floor of Melanie's house caught Kevin's eye. Looking at his watch and seeing he still had over an hour to goof off before the home's owner was expected back, Kevin quickly lurched up from the sofa and made his way towards the foot of the steps.
As he made his way upstairs, Kevin felt as if his work boots were walking on clouds as the soft carpet lining the staircase cushioned his trek upwards. Feeling his heart in his throat, every nerve in Kevin's body sizzled with electric curiosity as he inhaled the flowery fragrance wafting out of the upstairs bathroom.
Turning the corner at the top of the steps, Kevin smiled like a wolf entering a henhouse as he approached the inviting entrance of Melanie's bedroom.
Kevin felt as if he was entering a Voyeur's Disneyland as he sized up the older woman's immaculate kept inter sanctum. Even though he wasn't particularly attracted to the graying and slightly chubby divorcee, Kevin couldn't resist getting a stiff erection from the thought of going through the woman's most private things.
Looking intently down at the bed, Kevin found himself imaging what the older woman looked like spread out naked across the mattress. Dropping his right hand down to his growing crotch, Kevin massaged his manhood for several moments, picturing what Melanie might do on that bed late at night while she was alone.
Walking over to Melanie's nightstand as those lurid visions still danced in his brain, Kevin rubbed his gritty hand across the smooth finish of Melanie's fine oak dresser before wrapping his fingers around the first handle and pulling the contents of the top drawer out gently towards him.
"Underwear drawer... " Kevin hummed to himself as he allowed his hands to disappear into the cluttered mess of silk, lace and cotton.
"Everybody's got a secret or two in their underwear drawer," Kevin glibly laughed as he explored the entire drawer twice, to no success other than finding a pair of skimpy panties that appeared as if they hadn't been worn in quite a while. " I bet they wouldn't even fit her now. "
Moving his aimless search one drawer lower, all Kevin came across was an overflowing pile of winter sweaters and jeans. While roaming his hands through the middle drawer however, Kevin did find a hidden wad of money that Melanie had been saving for a rainy day. Figuring the lady of the house wouldn't miss $10 worth of it, Kevin pocketed a portion the petty cash and continued his luridly perverted search. Deciding to try the bottom drawer, all the sweaty teenager could do was hiss the word, "Nothing", when all he found was a collection of long unworn stuff that dated back to the 60's and 70's.
Shaking his head in disgust, Kevin put everything back the way he had found it in the dresser and shifted his focus to Melanie's walk in closet on the other side of the room.
Turning to his left, Kevin briskly made his way for the entrance of the closet when the sound of a vehicle slowing down on the street outside caused him to rush over to one of the bedroom windows.
Worried that Melanie might be returning home early from work, Kevin anxiously hurried behind the curtain and peeked out the edge of the window to see who was coming. He initially let out a sigh of relief seeing that it wasn't Melanie's Cadillac easing up to the house. Instead it was a tan minivan slowing down and preparing to turn into the driveway across the street.
Peering through the window, Kevin tried to be as nondescript as could be as he waited for whoever was pulling up to get out of their vehicle before he returned to the immoral chore of riffling through Mrs. Willburg's privacy.
