This story is fantasy and any characters in it that might resemble someone in real life is purely coincidental.
***
I am a senior citizen who is retired from the work force and who is a veteran of the Vietnam War. I have a nice family but there are times when I fantasize of all kinds of things, and one of them is as follows:
I was asleep next to my lovely wife one night and was very tired. I fell into a deep sleep and into dreamland where I was taken back to an earlier time in my life before I got married.
I had come back from the war zone about six months earlier and was looking for employment. I heard that jobs were plentiful in the upper Midwest so I drove to Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Cleveland. I bought a local newspaper as I sat down at a table in a small diner, opened it up to the want ad section, and then looked at the menu that was handed to me by a very pretty blonde woman of about 25 years of age.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully. "May I help you?"
"Sure!" I said, "Do you know where I can get me a job?"
"No, I meant what would you like to eat," she said with a huge smile on her pretty face.
It was lunch time so I ordered a cheeseburger, plain, because I do not like condiments. I always thought why ruin the great taste of a beef hamburger with all that stuff others put on them. So Sally (her name tag told me that) said thank you and took my order to the kitchen where the cook would get it.
I watched Sally walk around doing her job and I loved the way she sauntered as she seemed to be in a very good mood. I also loved the beauty of her legs as I am and always have been a staunch legman. Sally looked to be about 5'8" and perhaps a nicely shaped 125 pounds. She was a looker!
In a few minutes she brought my lunch to me and handed me a small note. On the note was her name, phone number (no cell phones back then), and writing that said she might have found me a job. She also winked her eye as if to tell me that she wasn't allowed to talk too much to one patron.
Sally went and waited on a few more customers and when I was finished she brought my check. She also whispered to me that she was done work at 4 o'clock.
At 3:45 I was at the diner again and sat at the counter and ordered a small Pepsi, mainly just to have something to do as I waited for Sally to get off. Sally was still working tables but came and waited on me at the counter anyway. I believed she had told her co-workers that I was coming in to see her and they let her wait on me.
"I'll be off in a few minutes. Here, the soda's on me," she said to me. I thanked her for that then patiently waited for her shift to end.
***
After work she told me she had to go back to her apartment on Apple Street to get out of her work clothes. I drove her there, which wasn't very far, and told her I would wait in my car for her. She told me she thought that was very nice but if I wanted to come in she didn't have any problem with it. So I went in. She had a nice 2-bedroom with a kitchen, living room, and bath that she had decorated very well. It was even pretty well done considering she didn't have much income being a waitress. It should have given me a heads up but I was too fascinated that this gorgeous woman seemed friendly to me.
"So what kind of job is it?" I asked.
"What kind of job is what," she asked, but quickly changed her reply to, "Oh, the job I said I might be able to get you? Right. A friend of mine whose father owns a small factory is looking for help, that's what type job it is. I think I can get you in if you'd be interested. They make some kind of things for the military. That's about all I know."
"Sure, but I'd have to see what it is first. I don't want to be choosey but I don't have many skills just coming back from Nam."
"Here, let me call my friend," Sally said. But unknown to me as Sally dialed a number, she also kept her finger on the cradle so there really was no phone call. "Oh, darn, nobody answers. Julie must be out but I'll keep trying. Please make yourself comfortable and we'll try her again."
