The year she turned twenty Angela, my daughter, moved out of home and into an apartment. She was sharing with Jenny, a friend of hers of about the same age. I had no real objections. I'd known Jenny for a few years and she was a reasonably sensible girl. Both girls worked and could afford the rent so why shouldn't they be more independent?
After a few months they seemed to have settled in. They did complain every so often about a lack of money at the tail end of the working week but they managed.
One Saturday afternoon I was passing close to their apartment and decided to drop in and say hullo to Angela. I knocked on their door and Jenny answered.
"Oh, hi, Mr Bries," she said, turning and walking back into the apartment. "Come on in."
"Afternoon, Jenny," I replied, enjoying the sight of her walking.
Why wouldn't I? She was twenty, stacked, and her behind was twitching in a beguiling manner as she walked.
"I was in the vicinity so just dropped in to say hullo to Angela," I said.
"Uh-huh. Then in that case you're out of luck," Jenny happily informed me. I don't know why she would be happy about it but that was definitely the impression she gave.
"Angela has gone out with Mickey. I doubt that she'll be home until this evening. I was in the middle of making some coffee. Like some?"
Why not? I had no objection to having a cup and chatting to a pretty young thing. I assented and Jenny insisted that I sit down in the front room so she could serve it properly.
I sat on the couch and very shortly Jenny was there with the coffee, settling down onto the couch next to me. We drank our coffee and Jenny chattered away and I could tell she was leading up to something. I just patiently waited to find out what.
Finishing her coffee Jenny started regaling me with a very convoluted story. It started with her doing something that morning that was illegal in a civil way, ie, not criminal, and being caught by a cop and she had a fine and she had to pay it that afternoon and she was a little short and could I please let her have twenty to pay off the fine or she'd have to go to court and cop a bigger fine and she'd be in so much trouble, and it was only twenty she wanted so could I help out.
I reached for my wallet and extracted a twenty and held it up. Jenny brightened up tremendously, her eyes fixed on the twenty.
"So, let me get this straight," I said as I passed it over. "You want to go out tonight but need twenty to cover the door fee and a couple of drinks, relying on male friends to buy additional drinks. As a matter of curiosity did you really expect me to swallow that load of codswallop you were spouting?"
She blushed rather fiercely, but that didn't deter her from taking the twenty.
"No, honestly," she protested. "It was the truth."
"Really? Explain it to me again. Maybe I wasn't listening properly the first time."
She looked rather taken aback at that but she was game. She started telling her story all over again and I interrupted before she got very far.
"Sorry, Jenny, but that's not the same story you told me earlier. You're getting your facts all mixed up."
"Well, if you don't believe me why did you give me the twenty?" she demanded, sounding irritated.
