Uncle Henry

Afternoon drizzle pelted the bus as Henry stopped to pick up another load of passengers. The day was as dreary as his mood. As the last of the passengers entered, Henry accelerated again, sending them scrambling for their seats. But one remained standing.

"You need to get behind the yellow line, miss," Henry said without looking at her. He was still replaying Grace's conversation with him at the Dairy Queen in his head.

"Look at me, Uncle Henry," the young voice said. "Don't tell me you don't remember me."

Henry looked up at shy, gangly 18-year-old who had started this mess his life had become. Only she didn't look so shy any more.

She stood with arms crossed over her red cotton shirt, impervious to the twists and turns the bus took as Henry guided it forwarded. Her big brown eyes gazed down at him without mercy.

"Mindy?" Henry said. "How are you? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't give me much choice," Mindy said. "I've been calling you for days but you never answer your phone. How else am I supposed to talk to you?"

Henry stopped for a red light and then glanced back at her. "What do you need to talk to me for? You already got what you wanted."

She reddened slightly. "It's not about me this time. I'm doing fine in that department. But someone else needs you. Someone very important to me. I'm going to bring her by your place tonight. Will you help her?"

Henry shook his head as the light turned green and he moved the bus forward. "I don't do that any more."

"I heard that," Mindy said. "But why? Don't tell me you don't like it. I know you better than that."

Henry shrugged. "Of course I like it. But -- I met someone. That's all there is to it."

"Who is she?"

"Doesn't matter. She doesn't want anything to do with me."

Mindy tapped a foot on the floor. "Then you can do whatever you want."

"She's very important to me," Henry said. "I can't betray her."

"Uncle Henry, if she's not with you, there's no one to betray. Sounds like you could use the distraction anyway. I'll be at your house tonight at 8:00. And you better be nice to my -- to the woman I bring," she said softly, "the way you were with me. I told her you would be. Now let me off here."

Henry opened the doors and Mindy stepped out onto the sidewalk. She turned to look at him as the bus moved on, a dwindling figure in his rear view mirrors.

Later that day, Henry prepared for his final encounter with an unfamiliar woman. He told himself that he would do this one last time as a favor for Mindy, but from now on he would put his foot down. This was it. No more, unless and until he felt something. But he would make this last time special, both for himself and the woman he was with.

He showered and shaved and even trimmed his eyebrows. He applied just enough aftershave to make himself smell nice, but not enough to overpower. He found his cleanest underwear and put them on, then brown slacks with a shiny black belt and a white cotton shirt. Plaid socks and shiny black shoes.

He double-checked the refrigerator. Plenty of beer. Maybe he should have gotten wine, but it was too late for that now.

Back in the living room, everything seemed neat, clean and in order. It was almost 8:00.

Henry paced for a few moments between bedroom, kitchen, and living room until he heard a car pull up in the driveway. He paused expectantly with his hand on the door handle until he heard a knock, then yanked the door open with what he hoped was a warm, endearing smile on his face.

The smile froze.

"Uncle Henry," Mindy said, "this is my mother. Her name is --"

"Grace," Henry said.

"Henry?" Grace said, her eyes widening. She wore a gorgeous lavender dress and a pearl necklace that drew his eyes to the V between her breasts.

"You guys know each other?" Mindy asked, startled.

"We ... went out a few times," Henry said.

Grace stepped forward. "You're Uncle Henry? You're the one all the girls have been talking about?"

"Mom, I told you. He's the one who... you know. Only he's not doing it any more because of some woman he met. And the woman doesn't even like him."

Grace looked Henry up and down, pursed her lips, then turned to her daughter. "You can leave now, Mindy. I've got it from here."

"You better be nice to her, Uncle Henry," Mindy said, then got back into the car.

"Don't worry, he will be," Grace said under her breath.

"Come in, Grace," Henry said, but Grace had already closed the door behind her and stepped into the room.

"Henry, what is going on here? Does this have something to do with why we left early at the bowling alley?"

Henry stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at her. Grace had put two and two together pretty fast. It was a privilege to be in the presence of such a smart woman. "Have a seat. I'll get us some beers and we'll talk about it."

"A beer sounds pretty good to me," Grace said, taking a seat on the couch.

He told Grace the whole story, from when Diane had first brought Mindy over to see him until when the flirtatious brunette at the bowling alley had upset him so much that he cut short their date there.

Grace drained her beer when he finished. "So you broke Mindy. I have to thank you for that. She's so shy, I thought she was never going to get any. But look at how happy she is now."

Henry was silent for a moment. "You want another beer?"

Grace ignored the question. "You had all those women wanting you, and you gave it all up?"

Henry nodded.

"You turned them all away just for me?"

Henry nodded again and drank from his beer.

"Why, Henry?"

Henry set his beer down. "Because, Grace. Just because."

Grace set her empty bottle down and leaned forward to kiss him.

"What are you doing, Grace?"

"What does it look like? I'm doing what I came here to do in the first place."

Henry's house was never empty again.

THE END