Chapter 21

“Good morning, Johnny.”

“Good morning, Jack.”

“I guess it is cereal for breakfast,” Jack said looking at the bowls on the table.

“Yes. There’s coffee over in the pot,” Johnny said. He appreciated having breakfast laid out like this in the morning.

Jack grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. He grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereal. He said, “It is kind of nice to have company for breakfast.”

“I know what you mean. I’m used to eating buffet breakfasts when I’m on the road. Lukewarm scrambled eggs, rubbery pancakes, and stale Danishes,” Johnny said.

“This is just cereal,” Jack said.

Raising an eyebrow, Johnny said, “You try to eat cereal knowing that it is costing twelve bucks.”

“That’s horrible,” Jack said thinking he’d get sick if he had to pay twelve dollars for a bowl of cereal.

Johnny looked over at Jack with a smile on his face and said, “My grandmother packed us lunch.”

“That’s nice of her,” Jack said absently.

Pointing to the counter, Johnny said, “Yours is over there on the counter.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Jack said looking at the lunch box. It was an old lunch box like he used to carry to elementary school. There was a comic book figure decorating the outside.

“I thought you’d like that,” Johnny said with a laugh.

“That’s probably worth a fortune,” Jack said staring at the lunch box. He figured that it had to be forty years old.

“Her feelings will be hurt if you don’t take it to work,” Johnny said.

“What about you?” Jack asked wondering if he had been singled out for some particular reason.

“Mine is the pink one with Cinderella on it,” Johnny said pointing at the other lunchbox.

“Are you actually taking that in to work?” Jack asked unable to believe that anyone would expect a man to show up at work carrying a lunch box like that.

“I’m eating in my car,” Johnny answered with a smile.

Thinking that he would end up doing the same thing, Jack said, “Smart man.”

Looking fresh and alert, Mary came in and grabbed a cup of coffee. She smiled at the pair of men seated at the table and said, “Breakfast time for the working crowd.”

“Yes,” Johnny said just before shoveling a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

She sat down at the table and grabbed a bowl. She said, “Ella came over last night. She asked me if I’d take care of you two.”

“In what way?” Johnny asked confused by the subject.

“Don’t tell me,” Jack said getting irritated.

“Well, get your mind in the gutter and think about it,” Mary said with a laugh. She had never been so surprised by a proposition in her life. It wasn’t only the content of the proposition, but the source as well.

“This is really beginning to make me mad,” Jack said dropping his spoon in the cereal. It seemed to him that the little old ladies were bound and determined to get him fixed up with one of the single women.

“Don’t get mad. Claire warned me that it was coming,” Mary said lightly. She wished that she had that kind of support when she had been going through her divorce. It seemed to her that no one cared about the quality of life she was living. Her married friends had avoided her like divorce was a contagious disease. Single men hovered around hoping to get laid. Single friends had viewed her as competition. She said, “I think it is kind of funny. You’ve got eight old ladies all plotting to get you laid.”

“Wait until they decide that it is your turn,” Jack said halfway convinced that day would come.

Not sure that it would be all that bad, Mary said, “They figured that I was a whole lot closer to your age then any of them.”

“So what did you tell her?” Johnny asked.

“I said okay,” Mary answered. She burst out laughing at the expressions on their faces.

Abby came in and poured a cup of coffee. She asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I was just telling them that Ella came to me to ask me if I would start taking care of our two young bachelors here,” Mary answered.

“What did you tell her?” Abby asked shaking her head.

“No,” Mary said. She noticed the looks of relief on faces of the two men.

Disgusted at the efforts to get Jack laid, Abby said, “We’re going to have to tell them that we’re lesbians.”

“Frau Shultz came to that conclusion about you already,” Mary said.

“That bitch!”

“Hey, don’t get so angry. She means well,” Mary said. She wondered if it was because Frau Shultz was in her eighties that she had so little patience for the mating dance of the young.

Jack finished his cereal and took the bowl over to the sink. He said, “I better head off to work before I say something that gets me in trouble.”

“Don’t forget your lunch,” Johnny said with a smirk.

Abby saw Jack pick up his lunch box and burst out laughing. She said, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Hey, Gail means well,” Jack said shrugging his shoulders.

Johnny pointed to the other lunch box and said, “The Cinderella one is mine.”

“You poor man,” Mary said. She would look up the prices on the internet. She figured that she could probably get whoever owned them to sell them for a good price.

“Grandmother means well,” Johnny said with a grin.

“I’ll see what they are selling for on the internet,” Mary said.

“I’ve got a stack of porno magazines. Maybe you can see what they are selling for,” Jack said.

When Mary looked at him, Abby said, “Frau Shultz and the other little old ladies brought them by for him. They thought he would enjoy reading them.”

“Figures,” Mary said. She watched the two men leave. Once they were gone, she said, “You know something. I was half tempted when Ella mentioned taking care of them.”

“No?”

“It’s been a long time,” Mary said with a sigh.

Understanding what Mary meant, Abby said, “It’s been a long time for me, too.”

Jack returned home after another day at work. He carried the lunchbox into the community house. Holding it up for Gail to see, he said, “Thanks for packing me a lunch. It was great.”

The reminder of the lunchbox, prompted Mary to say, “I looked that up on the internet. That lunchbox is worth two hundred and fifty dollars. The one that Johnny had is worth four hundred.”

Surprised that those two old pieces of junk were worth so much, Gail said, “Really?”

“That’s right. I suggest that you consider selling them,” Mary said. She had a feeling that the elderly woman would have a hard time passing up six hundred and fifty dollars.

Gail said, “What will they carry their lunches in?”

“I’m sure that with that money, you could afford to buy them new lunch boxes,” Mary said trying hard not to laugh. She said, “Why don’t you and Abby go get two lunch boxes for them tonight? You know how young men are. They are rough on things. I’d hate to see them break those valuable lunch boxes before you can sell them.”

“That’s a good idea,” Gail said looking over to see where Abby was hiding. She realized that she should probably get one for Mary as well.

Appreciating what Mary had done, Jack nodded at her. She winked and turned to talk to someone else. He looked around the house. The house was basically bursting at the seams with people. Everyone was there except for Bev. He asked, “Where’s Bev?”

“She’s entertaining Dave’s friend,” Sally answered grumpily.

“Oh,” Jack said. He looked over at Dave and got a wink in reply. He figured that tensions just might be easing around the community.

“She didn’t waste any time. He wasn’t here five minutes and she was leading him off to show off her house,” Sally said. She was half tempted to go over there and get a little attention from their guest.

“I guess not,” Jack said hoping that it would get some attention off of him.

“Our turn is coming,” Liz said tapping a finger on the table.

“You’re worse than a bunch of teenagers,” Jack said shaking his head.

“You go a decade without it and tell me how much you enjoy it,” Sally said looking over at Jack.

“You get used to having something all of the time and you miss it when it is gone,” Liz said. What she really wanted more than the sex was to feel a man’s arms around her. It had been years since anyone hugged her.

Jack asked, “Who is cooking dinner?”

“Frau Shultz,” Liz answered.

“Sausages, cabbage, and potatoes,” Jack said. He had to speak a little loudly because Abby and Claire were laughing about something, Cheryl was directing the boys to stay out of trouble, and Laura was telling a story that involved Dave’s friend. It was a friendly warm background noise of people enjoying themselves.

“That’s right,” Sally said. She grinned at Jack and said, “Prepare for two helpings. You’re a growing boy and need to eat.”

Mike chirped in, “I’m a growing boy too.”

“Me too,” Chuck said tugging on his brother’s arm.

“That’s right. We’re all just growing boys,” Jack said rubbing Mike on the head affectionately.

Rich laughed at how Mike ducked out from under Jack’s hand and said, “Dave and I are just two old married men.”

“Who are you to complain?” Cheryl asked looking across the table.

Dave grinned at seeing Rich in trouble and said, “He’s not complaining. He’s just stating a fact.”

Jack sat back and listened to the easy banter flowing around the room. Topics were touched upon and abandoned with ease. There were little teasing remarks thrown in amongst serious topics. He realized that this was the first time in his life that he had ever experienced so many people interacting on such a friendly level. It was something that had been missing from his life. It was a fact that everyone there worried about money, their health, and the future, but they were giving and accepting support from each other. It was a real sense of community and he discovered that he liked it.

Noticing that Jack had a thoughtful expression on his face, Johnny nudged him and said, “A penny for your thoughts.”

“I was just thinking that this is nice,” Jack said gesturing to the room around him.

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone here has problems, but we’re all helping each other get through them as a community,” Jack answered giving the elevator speech version of his thoughts.

Although he had not given it much thought, Johnny understood what Jack was saying about the atmosphere there in the community house. He smiled and said, “You’re right. You should spend a night or two in a hotel on a business trip. You’d give your left nut to have a minute of this.”

Hearing the comment about giving a left nut, Sally asked, “Is someone talking sex?”

“No,” Jack said shaking his head.

“I think I’m going to take Bev and Dave’s friend a little supper,” Sally said thinking Bev might be willing to share.