To this day I still remember when Sharon moved into the neighborhood. I was 19 about to turn 20 when I walked out my font door that unseasonably warm May morning back in '94 and saw that moving van at the house next door. Naturally I was curious who would be moving into the neighborhood, so the first question I had on my mind was if they had a daughter my age and if she was cute. I stood in my parent's front yard, slowly making my way to the garbage cans with a bag from the kitchen in my hands, as I tried my best not to look like I was staring at the group of movers entering and exiting the house like ants in a colony. When I finally threw the garbage out, after a good 10 minutes of slow walking (which normally only takes 3 minutes at a normal pace), I made my way back to the front door at the same slow pace constantly glancing at the house next door in the hopes of seeing who would be my family's new neighbor. By the time I reached my font porch I had figured I wouldn't be getting my answer today, and that's when I saw her emerge from the front door in a pair of loose fitting jeans that hung at her hips and a t-shirt that just seemed to drape itself over her upper body. Never before in my life had a woman stopped me in my tracks like she had. Being a 19 year old guy my head was naturally on a constant swivel in search of girls, and there were plenty that had slowed my pace as I watched them walk past me. This woman, however, pulled the handle on my emergency brake and I almost tripped on the first step of the porch.
She had her chestnut brown hair up in a ponytail obviously to keep it out of her face while she was unpacking; what she unknowingly did was show off her slender, aquiline neck. The gentle sway of her hips as she walked to her car were hypnotic as they seemed to move to the rhythm of some internal soundtrack that played only for her. Her breasts had a delicious bounce to them that I could see even from this distance, and when she bent over to retrieve a box from her back seat her jeans slipped down past her hips revealing a green thong that signaled like a neon arrow 'Further down is Paradise'. She didn't look like a lot of the girls I went to school with or that were on the boardwalk down by the beach, big breasts but no hips or ass, a clumsy walk because they still weren't used to the new shape of their bodies; no, she moved with a grace that made every curve of her seem like poetry in motion. She was all poise and voluptuousness... she made me realize this was the way a woman should look. I didn't want to move from this spot and lose sight of this goddess for fear that I may never see something as beautiful again.
How long I was glued there I still have no idea, and probably didn't care. It was like being in a meditative state with nirvana only a short distance away. Unfortunately, I was jolted back to reality in one of the harshest manners I know, the sound of my father's voice.
"Hey! Does it normally take a half-hour to throw out a bag of garbage?" he said opening the screen door.
I jumped at the sound of his voice and my head snapped in the direction of the front door. "Uh... sorry... I was... I was, uh.... just...," I stuttered trying to formulate an excuse as I was uncontrollably looking back in the direction of "heaven".
"You were just what?" he said as he looked in the direction that I kept turning. "Oh! Oh, I see!" He looked at me and smiled in amusement making me blush and grin like an idiot. "Very nice," he said looking back at her. As he turned back to me his smile turned from amusement to deviousness. "Let's go and introduce ourselves."
I thought my heart had stopped as a feeling of momentary panic overwhelmed me. "No, Dad, we can't...."
"We can't what? Be neighborly? Where's your manners?" he asked having fun with my embarrassment. Perhaps it's time that I also tell you that I can be very shy when it comes to a girl or a woman who I think is out of my league. That's not to say that I was some kind of dork around the opposite sex. I was and am very good at flirting and can be quite charming, if I do say so myself. And while I wasn't a jock with the "V" shaped torso and a body that was cut and defined, I was in great shape at 19. But, this wasn't an 18 or 19 year old chick, this was a woman who just seemed to exude sexiness and confidence.
"Well, didn't Mom want us to get to work cleaning out the garage? We should probably get started or she's gonna get pissed," I tried to reason with him, but it just came out as a pathetic form of pleading.
"No, your mother would want us to introduce ourselves as good neighbors," he said jumping at my uneasiness. My father was a huge prankster and was the kind of person that if he found something that would embarrass you he'd harp on it for all it was worth.
"Dad, I'm sure she'd want us to get to work, she's been asking us to get this done since the weather got warm," I said, trying to sound as rational as I could.
"It'll only take a minute to go—"
"To go where?" my mother said walking out the front door. "It'd better be into the garage, John," she warned him.
"I am going to get to it today, hon, I promised you, and I will keep my word. But, your son here, noticed we have a new neighbor and is being rude by not introducing himself," my Dad said motioning next door.
My mom looked around the front porch pillar and saw the cause of my flustered state and than looked back at me. My forehead was saturated with nervous sweat, even though it wasn't that hot out. "Is this what took him so long to throw out the garbage?" she asked looking over at my Dad.
"Mmm Hmmm," he said with a nod and an evil smile.
My mom rolled her eyes and sighed. Having been the one who was around more through my teenage years, since my dad worked a lot during the week, she knew how shy I could get. "Oh, leave him alone, John. Besides, you two need to get to work, now," she said. The wave of panic that had swept over me was starting to subside. My mom glanced at me from the corner of her eye and smirked slightly. Once she put her foot down on a project for me and my dad there was no getting out of it. She knew how much I owed her for this.
*****
It had been a week since Venus (that's what I had come to call her, since I didn't know her name) had swept in to take my breath away. For days I had stolen glimpses of her as I went outside to mow the lawn, take out the garbage, or walk my dog. In fact, it's thanks to Shadow, my dog, that I got the chance to meet her. Shadow's an old dog of about 15, the fur on his snout had turned grey and while he was still in good condition, he just didn't move as fast as he used to. He had grown to the point that I didn't need a leash to walk him as he stayed by my side without any commands. We were coming down the street from his afternoon walk and were passing by "Venus'" house. She was outside on her hands and knees in front of her front planter cleaning out the dead leaves and pine needles that had accumulated there over the winter months. She must have been down there a while because when she stood up she leaned back as far as she could to stretch. She was in a pair of black jersey knit shorts and a plain form fitting red t-shirt that just accentuated her breasts as she stretched back, which had to be at least C-cups, or as I called them, perfect handfuls.
Now, since I had raised Shadow from a pup he had come to recognize my mannerisms and responded to them. He could simply tell if I thought someone was friendly or unfriendly just from my reactions, and he must have thought "Venus" was someone I thought was friendly because he decided to just trot on over and say hello. I was again half in a daze and hadn't noticed Shadow had walked over to her until he was half-way across her front yard.
"Oh shit," I muttered and started after him, but it was too late. "Venus" noticed him, tail wagging and panting as he stopped and sat down in front of her.
"Well, hello, boy. Who are you and where did you come from?" she said with a curious giggle. Even her voice sounded like music to me as each word rolled past her beautiful lips. She crouched down to pet him and scratch him behind his ears. Yeah, there was no way Shadow was leaving her now.
"Sorry, he doesn't normally do that," I said walking across her overgrown lawn.
"Do what, be the first to introduce himself to a new neighbor?" she asked with a smile. "You live next door, right?"
"Yeah," I said. I wanted to follow that up with something witty like,
'It doesn't' normally take me using a lame trick like a loose dog to start a conversation with a girl.'
Instead I just stood there silently like an idiot.
