My wife, Melanie informed me that a foreign-exchange student would be here this week and they'd be staying with us for the summer. I didn't much care but since she came back from her mission trip, she keeps yapping about helping needy youngsters in poverty stricken countries. I just shrug and continue to enjoy the life of retirement so I went to mow my grass.
The weekend came and our new roommate arrived. From the cab stepped a young man of asian decent. Melanie squealed with joy when she saw him, "Josh is here!" He had an athletic build and dark features. He smiled brightly as Mel ran to hug him. After they embraced, Mel pointed to me and I waved. We introduced ourselves and Josh said, "Thank you for letting me stay with you for the summer Mr. Stanford."
"Oh please, call me Rick," I replied. I helped him get his luggage inside so he could start getting settled. I gave him a quick tour and some ground rules, "Make yourself at home. Now, since you're here for the college summer classes, I think it best if you did not leave the house after 9 PM. You are a guest in my home, therefore, I don't think it's appropriate for you to bring your own guest here. So no girls, they're a distraction for you anyway."
Josh nodded along. I could see he was taking it seriously and didn't want to cross any boundaries so he said, "Not a problem." He went upstairs to his room to begin to unpack. I had an uneasy feeling about this.
"Isn't it wonderful to be helping someone?" Melanie asked. I gave a grunt and went upstairs to take a shower. It's been nearly 20 years since my kids lived here. I guess it wouldn't be too bad having another soul around. Bah, who cares. As long as he doesn't ruin my routines, things will be fine. As I walked by his open door, I glanced in to see he was in the middle of changing into shorts. For a 19 year old young man, he had a nice backside on him. I hurried into my bathroom, confused at what I had just thought. Why was I checking out his ass?
The next couple weeks went by without anything special. We all fell into a routine. Josh went to classes in the morning until mid-afternoon and at night, he worked as a dishwasher. Josh always got home before 9. But one night, he came in at 9:15. I happen to be in the living room finishing up a scotch and a book.
"Sorry, Mr. Stanford! Work was crazy busy and I tried to get out as fast as I could." Josh explained. A little tipsy, I said, "It's alright kid. You've been working real hard since you came. Don't worry about it." Josh was kind of a mess and he needed to change clothes and wash them for his shift tomorrow night. I waved him off as I took my empty glass to the kitchen. Josh came back down to the adjacent laundry room to toss some clothes in the washing machine.
