All characters depicted in this story are 18 years old or older.
* Life is a tapestry, a cloth woven from many different threads that create the whole. This story is a thread, a part of Barbra's story, contributing to the waft and weave that is the Whole cloth, being Jim.
Being Jim-Ch.07-Barbra's Wish
By Frodov
* This story is based entirely on true experiences from my past, names and a few details have been changed to provide anonymity for those involved. Discretion is a precious commodity and is becoming rarer every day. I reached way back to relive this story for everyone. At the time I was the ripe old age of thirty. Bear in mind that Cell phones were barely a novel idea at that time. The internet was taking its first baby steps and people were discovering the likes of A0L and to a lesser extent local messaging or electronic "bulletin boards". How many of you out there remember dial-up modems? Cable TV was still mostly commercial free. Ah, good times. So in that frame of mind enjoy the memory.
* Pulling into the parking lot of my apartment complex I had to sit and wait for the garbage truck to finish tipping up the dumpster and emptying mine and my neighbors' garbage into its cavernous cargo hold. The sound of the large engine and whining hydraulics accompanied by the banging and clanging of metal on metal only to be accented by the sound of the trash spilling into the truck served to merely irritate me further. I was tired after working all night, a long stressful very humid and hot summer night in late August. All I wanted to do was take a long relaxing shower and then crash into my bed and sleep. The garbage truck was currently blocking the only open parking spaces in my lot and it appeared that the driver was in no hurry to be finished with this particular set of dumpsters. BANG... BANG... BANG... BANG... the metal doors and covers of the dumpster rang as it was tripped over and rocked back and forth repeatedly as the driver shook out the contents into his truck. Then finally satisfied that he had got out all that was going to come out of the metal bin he went through the process of tipping it back upright and lowering it back onto its concrete pad. After he disengaged from the dumpster and backed away to move on to the next dumpster further down the lot I was finally able to pull into an empty parking space.
Stopping at my building's mail boxes just inside the door I checked my own mail slot seeing that I had some to collect. Sales flyers, ads, junk mail and a couple of bills... I sighed and tucked it under one arm as I climbed the short flight of steps to the second floor and to my apartment door. I unlocked and let myself in, tossing the mail onto my small dining table outside my galley kitchen. I kicked off my steel toed shoes and stretched and flexed my tired feet still in my damp socks as I walked to the refrigerator to get something cold to drink.
Opening the door to the fridge I found one lone can of ginger ale, an empty pitcher that I usually keep filled with iced tea and a nearly empty carton of milk. Grabbing the milk I opened it and took a whiff before bringing it to my lips and draining it. One can never be too careful with milk. Anyone who's ever taken a big gulp of sour milk will forever more smell the milk before they drink it. This milk was good, but it was all gone now. Looking deeper in the fridge I gave a weary sigh realizing that like the milk carton it was empty as well. Well, one doesn't really consider condiments like ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce or steak sauce as food in and of itself.
"Guess I'll be going to the grocery store later after I wake up." I spoke to myself... and then getting a whiff of my sweat stained shirt I mentally added a trip to the Laundromat as well. Shower time!
I peeled off my clothes and checked my beard in the mirror of my small bathroom, it wasn't too bad but what the hell, I might as well take care of it now too. I ran some hot water in the sink and pulled out my razor and shaving cream and lathered up my face. I had just taken the second swipe at my beard when my phone rang in the kitchen. Hanging my head down in resignation I dropped my razor and grabbed a hand towel to wipe my face as I walked the five or six feet down the hall way to my kitchen doorway and grabbed the handset off the wall.
"Hello..." I said in a far more chipper voice that I actually was feeling at the moment.
"Fro! How's it hangin' brutha?" Todd's all too chipper voice came through the line.
"Hey man! Just caught me cleaning up after getting home from work, I'm fine, just tired and hungry and ready to lay my head down after cleaning up. How are you doing Todd... Anne and the kids?" I greeted my friend as I leaned back against the kitchen counter and idly looked through my cabinets making a mental grocery list.
"We're all good man... I'm sorry I caught you in the middle of something but I wanted to catch you before you went to bed. You are off tonight, right?" Todd told me with a certain lilt in his questioning voice leading me to believe he was up to something.
"Yeah man, last night was three of three, tonight tomorrow and the next night I'm free! Well... aside from getting groceries and doing laundry anyway... I almost hated to ask but I did anyway... "What's up?"
"Oh you know, just the same standing invitation for you to come down and play a little..." Todd chuckled. I could picture him leaning back in his desk chair with his feet up on the desk or on the end of the bed if he were watching Anne. I can't blame him for that though. She's certainly worthy of any and all attention, no matter what she's doing. I sighed internally knowing that the "standing invitation" was well intentioned and sincere but I still felt a little uneasy just jumping into bed... or on the couch or wherever with the two of them. I knew full well it was more of something for Anne as the attention of two men at the same time just really sets her off, and that Todd is as straight as I am so there would be no same gender games but still... for a mostly straight laced guy like me that would just be... well... awkward. Not that I had completely ruled it out I just wasn't quite ready to make that last step... yet.