I was working as a teaching assistant for William Grey, Ph.D, a sport psychologist, at the University of Florida. My small office is adjacent to his across the street from the football stadium. There is absolutely no parking available close to my office. So I park my car in a commuter lot off campus and ride the bus in to work every day.
The office closes at three-thirty and, if the weather is nice, I usually go enjoy the afternoon sun and wait at the bus stop for the 4 PM bus.
Oh my gosh. There he was, slowly coming down the street towards me. Only now he was on crutches instead of in a wheel chair. I hadn't seen him in over two weeks and had some sense of loss even though I didn't even know his name.
He is a young Marine. When I first saw him both legs were covered in heavy bandages. Now only the right leg was bandaged. I could see that he was having a difficult time navigating the sloping sidewalk. When he managed to get to the bus bench, I smiled up at him. Scooting over I nodded to him offering the seat next to me.
It was but a few minutes later when the bus arrived. I helped him to his feet as the bus driver lowered the wheelchair lift to make it easier for him to board with his crutches. The bus wasn't too crowded with students and we found seats toward the front.
At the next stop, I sighed as a guy I went out with once, got on.
Brian McDonnell was a jerk and a bully. He didn't take it kindly when I refused to go out with him again. He was making my life miserable when I spoke to my family about him one night at supper. When I told them that he had grabbed me in the hallway at school, my older brother, Patrick, said he would take care of things.
Actually, Patrick is not really my brother. He's my cousin. My dad's sister and her husband were killed in an accident when I was four and Patrick came to live with us. Patrick was five and my real older brother, Shawn, was six at the time.
Shawn said he would make sure that none of Brian's friends would interfere when Patrick spoke with him. I don't know any of the details of what happened, but Brian stopped bothering me. In fact, every time he saw me he turned and walked the other way.
Now here he was striding toward me with a big smirk on his face. Plopping down in the seat across the aisle he started in about wanting to have a 'good time' with me.
I told him I wasn't interested and I was perfectly happy with my boyfriend. When he persisted I reminded him of what happened a few years ago.
"Well, so what," he replied. Patrick ain't around, so I heard. Out of the country ain't he?"
"That's true. But Shawn isn't. Now leave me and my boyfriend alone."
That and the healthy poke from the end of a crutch pushing into his chest from my seat companion shut him up for the moment.
"Come on, honey, this is our stop," I said getting up and assisting my seat mate to his feet.
As we left the bus we heard Brian yell, "this ain't over yet, asshole."
"Well, that was interesting," he said once we alighted from the bus. "Since I'm your boyfriend, shouldn't I know a few things about you?"
"Like what," I asked?
"Your name for starters and when did I become your boyfriend?"
"Fair enough. My name is Mary Kathryn Murphy. Almost everyone calls me Murphy or Murph. My brothers and closest friends call me MK. Only my mom and dad call me Mary Kathryn. You became my 'boyfriend' about five minutes ago. I'm sorry if that bothers you."
"Hey. I kinda like the idea of having a 'girlfriend'. Especially one as pretty as you and I kinda like the name, Mary Kathryn."
"Oh. Flattery will get you everywhere. By the way what's your name?"
"Ok. Fair enough. I'm Frederick Mann. It was shortened from Mannheim by my grandfather when he came to this country after World War II. But I go by Rick to friends and foe alike."
"You wait on this bench, under the shade trees, while I go get my car and I'll take you home since I kinda forced you off the bus," I told him. "I'll only be a moment."
When I retrieved my car and drove to where Rick was waiting I realized he would never be able to sit the front seat of my Mustang with his leg all bandaged up. After parking the car I said to him, "let's go to that restaurant across the street and wait while I make some alternate arrangements for getting you home."
After being seated and ordering a couple of drinks, I searched my purse for my cell phone. Finding it, I hit speed dial for my dad. After explaining the situation I asked him if he could help me out.
"No problem, sweetie. Where are you?"
I answered him and he continued. "Sit tight, I'll have Henry run over with something for you to use."
"Thanks, daddy." I replied. "I owe you one."
"Oh no, Mary Kathryn. You owe me a lot more than one," he said, laughing, as he ended the call.
Looking at his watch Rick said. "As long as we're here why don't we have some dinner? My treat . . . 'girlfriend'."
We had just finished ordering when Henry walked up to me with a set of keys. "Blue Lincoln Navigator. Parked out front," he said to me with a grin on his face. "Gonna introduce your boyfriend to me?"
After the introductions I handed over the keys to my Mustang and thanked him for helping me out.
Turning back to Rick, I said, "you know he is going to report every last detail about you back to my dad."
"Is that a bad thing," he asked? "And what's this thing with the car swap?"
I explained to him that my dad owned the Ford-Lincoln dealership in town. "It's the largest one in North Central Florida," I proudly replied.
I gave him a short history of my family and continued telling him about myself during dinner. We sat there enjoying each other's company for the next two hours before I took him to his home.
When I pulled into his driveway all I could say was, "Wow! What a nice house. You know, I only live a couple of miles from here."
"Would you like to come in for some coffee?"
Once inside he said to me. "While I start the coffee call your folks and let them know where you are so they won't worry."
As we sat over our coffee I tried to find out more about him. He was very skilled in turning the conservation back around to me.
I thought to myself, here's a guy who is more interested in me than about listening to himself. What a change from the other guys I ever dated.
I did manage to find out that he had inherited the house from his parents after their death in a traffic accident five years ago. They were returning from the ceremony celebrating his promotion from second to first lieutenant when their car was struck by an out of control, fully loaded semi-truck.
When he started to choke up talking about them, I reached across the table and grabbed his hand. Squeezing it, I said, "I'm so sorry. You needn't go on if it's painful dredging up the memories."
"No. I actually feel better about it when I have someone to talk about it with."
When he finished giving me the details we just sat there for several minutes without saying another word. Then he turned the conservation back around to me.
Around ten o'clock we heard a distant rumble of thunder and he said, "you better get along home before this storms breaks."
As we walked out to my car the first few drops of rain began falling. Before closing my door he said with a smile, "be careful. It looks like it's going to be a bad one. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my . . . ahh . . . my 'girlfriend' especially on the first day I've met her."
Just as I pulled out of the driveway there was a flash of lightening and a loud clap of thunder. The rain came down in buckets making it difficult to see even with the wipers going full blast. A five minute trip turned into a fifteen minute one.
Standing in the rain, Rick watched her car until the taillights disappeared before going inside. Stripping off his wet clothes he toweled off and checked to see if the bandage on his leg was dry. Thankfully, it was. Putting on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts he went back to the phone Mary Kathryn had used and hit the redial button.
A woman answered and he said, "Hello, Mrs. Murphy. I'm Rick, Rick Mann. Mary Kathryn left just before this storm hit. Would you ask her to call me so I know she got home safely?"
She replied, "certainly. What's your number?"
Before he could reply she said, "wait a moment I think I hear her coming in right now."
Chapter Two
Walking into the kitchen from the garage I saw mom on the phone. When she saw me she said, "it's that young man, Rick. He's worried about you driving in this storm. Here take the phone and talk to him."
After assuring him that I was ok we spent the next half hour talking to each other. Ok, I admit it. I did most of the talking while he listened. Finally, I thought to ask him how he got to campus every day. He told me he took a taxicab or a neighbor would drop him at a bus stop on his way to work.
"Well, 'boyfriend' of mine, what time should I pick you up tomorrow morning? Can't have you taking cabs or depending on neighbors."
So at seven-thirty Thursday morning I arrived at his home, parked and got out.
After helping him get in the front seat I explained to him I would drop him at Van Fleet Hall, the ROTC Headquarters, and then drive to the commuter lot and take the bus back to campus.
"That won't be necessary," he said, handing me a campus parking permit. "Put this in the lower left hand corner of the windshield. It allows you to park in the faculty lot next to Van Fleet. It's just one of the perks for being an instructor in the ROTC program."
When I drove into the faculty lot by Van Fleet Hall, Rick directed me to a parking spot. The sign read, 'Reserved - Captain Frederick Mann, USMC'. The Health and Human Performance building, where I worked, was a short half block walk away.
"I am finished at three-thirty today. What time do you want to leave this afternoon?" I asked, while helping him from the front seat.
"Three-thirty works just fine for me," he replied, giving me a quick kiss before heading inside.
Wow! I didn't see that coming.
Friday afternoon while driving Rick home I told him that my mom would love for him to come over for Sunday dinner after church.
