I called Maurice at what turned out to be his home phone. Maurice told me that a client had closed on a house that afternoon and was looking for help in cleaning it up and possibly painting a room or two over the weekend as the movers would be there Monday. The client would pay me $100 for two days work.
I was more than willing and told Maurice, I'd volunteer to work for any of his clients in the future also if the money was this good.
"I'll keep that in mind, Dave. Can you be at my office by say, 8:00 tomorrow morning?" Maurice asked.
"See you then!" I replied.
On Saturday morning, I arrived at Maurice's office where in addition to Maurice's Eldorado there was a sweet yellow '72 Camaro Z28 parked in front of the door.
Maurice had heard me pull up and had already come to the door. A white guy in a wife beater t-shirt and gym shorts was standing next to him.
Maurice introduced us, "Dave, meet Mr. Hancock."
"Please, call me Mark." he said stepping forward and offering his hand.
I took him in. Late twenties, early thirties, about five foot, nine, maybe 200 pounds, thick barrel chest, impossibly wide shoulders, narrow waist, muscular legs, what appeared to be a nice sized package under the shorts...
"Mark? Glad to meet you, my name is Dave." I responded, raising my eyes to meet his.
Turning to Maurice, Mark said, "Thank you for all your help. I guess we're going to get to it."
"You ready?" he asked me.
I was tightening the chin strap of my helmet and replied, "I'll follow your car."
"Think you can keep up?" he asked, grinning.
"I don't know, my little scooter only has 900cc, but I'll give it a try." I said.
"Dave? Thanks for doing this." Maurice said before his voice was being drowned out by engine starts.
I followed Mark easily enough. We arrived at his new house roughly ten minutes after leaving the realty office.
Mark unlocked the house and opened the garage. We both grabbed an armful of cleaning supplies from the trunk of the Camaro and carried them inside. Mark gave me a quick tour. He really wanted to paint one of the bedrooms, the kitchen and the living room before Monday. The living room was going to provide the most difficulties as it had a rather high vaulted ceiling and front wall.
We went back out to the car and brought in the other supplies along with a big Kirby vacuum that was in the back seat.
We made a plan of action and got to cleaning. I started in the kitchen while Mark took on the bedroom and living room. We figured that would give the walls a chance to dry and perhaps be ready for painting later that day or early Sunday.
I finished the kitchen close to noon. All the appliances had been cleaned inside, outside, and underneath. The old shelf liners had been removed and the cabinets had been Murphy soaped, the sink faucet buffed to a dull sheen and the floor mopped. Good enough for an inspection.
I went in search of Mark whom I found precariously standing on an apple ladder that the previous owners had left behind trying to clean the upper windows on the high wall. The ladder would rock side to side quite a bit with each movement that Mark made.
"Hey Dave, could you hold this thing? I just know this wobbly bitch is going to collapse on me and dump my ass." Mark asked.
I went over and held the side of the ladder, when Mark moved, the ladder still freely moved. So I stood underneath the ladder, pushing up and back with both arms. That seemed to hold it better. Mark cleaned the window while I stared straight ahead at his sizable package wrapped neatly in his shorts. When it occurred to me that Mark hadn't been moving for a couple of moments. Looking upward I met his questioning eyes. It was clear that he knew exactly where I was looking.
We moved the ladder and repeated the process twice more, once for each window, Mark's package filling out more each time.
Mark grabbed his wallet and keys from the bedroom and headed out to pick up some food to eat and the paint. He also brought back a small step ladder so he could trim in the bedroom walls.
While we were eating the burgers Mark had brought back, he told me that he was an E6, he and his wife were married seven months ago and his wife was now six months pregnant.
"She's already told me she isn't putting out until well after the baby is born." he grimaced, subconsciously reaching down to adjust himself, "That means damn near a year without getting any."
"That must suck." I said.
"No, she won't do that either." he said laughing, "Good girls don't do that, she says."
"I guess you'll have to find some other way to relieve the pressure." I replied.
"What do you do for relief? Is it easy to score something around here?" he asked.
"Oh, you know, the usual, single GI stuff. Get out on the weekend and look to see if I find something." I shrugged, "Probably the same stuff you did before you got married."
We finished lunch and went inside. Mark decided that I should keep cleaning the other rooms of the house while he started painting the small bedroom. By the evening, the house was clean, the small bedroom and the kitchen had been painted.
I asked Mark what time he would be ready in the morning.
He said 10:00 would be good because he was going out to get some breakfast. He asked for restaurant suggestions. I gave him the name of a diner and told him I would meet him there at 8:00.
I got to the diner right at 8:00. Mark was already there and enjoying flirting with the waitress, Norma.
"David! It looks like you need some coffee, my love." Norma purred, casually leaning over my shoulder and pressing one of her ample breasts against my neck while pouring coffee in my cup. "The usual for you, Dave?"
"Yes, please, Norma." I replied.
"Now, how 'bout you sweetie? You know what you want?" Norma asked Mark.
After Mark quit staring at her breasts, he stammered out his order. I also added some club sandwiches and chips to go.
After we had eaten, Norma brought out the bill and the lunches. Mark reached for the bill, but so did I, and I have longer arms. One of us managed to knock the pen out of Norma's hands. The pen hit the edge of the table and then skittered underneath.
"Dang-it." she said, squatting down to get the pen. As she reached under the table with her right hand her left hunted for something stable to hold. It found Marks' right thigh, just below the leg of his shorts.