Chapter 1

Well, we won! I guess some good came out of my little incident. My hand though, could have fared a might better. I blocked the pass with my hand though and we intercepted but hit the guy’s helmet on the way down. Damn, another ‘Ata-boy’. X-rays showed my hand was broken now. The Doc put me in a small hand cast and wrapped it in a sleeve like thing, I would be able to play. Lucky I was defense not a receiver. 24- 20 was the final score of that game; they had to try for a TD not a field goal in those last 32 seconds.

We did not need any more rain, sleet and snow. I hated snow. Since I went to Green Bay, I saw more snow than I had ever had in Dallas.

Whoever dreamt up Thursday night football should be tared and feathered. Walking to my car I had a terrible feeling. I was not certain if I left a window open in my place or not. My car was inside where it was nice and warm, one of the benefits coach gave me for coming over with him; of course, the prospect of winning a Super Bowl didn’t have anything to do with him doing that.

Looking back, or was it ahead, Thursday night had turned into early Friday morning; a dark, dreary Friday morning. If this were LA, New York or even Miami there would be a ton of good food available; not here though. My agent found me a nice place to lease, actually it had been home to another player who went to Miami; lucky stiff.

The Stadium was old but still was nice to look at but I had not figured out the directions on the best way home yet. In this rain, sleet and snow it probably made no difference, I wondered if I would ever get warm again.

My new ‘fun’ car had GPS, the American Piece of crap I drove to the airport and to the game on days like this did not; but it was a 4-WD. One guess which car I had tonight in this muck?

Things so far were going along splendidly. All the games so far were away or in the daylight. Let me tell you, trying to get home in the dark was a different story. I passed where I was supposed to turn-off three times. Yes, I was going in circles all right.

On the way home, I saw a car pulled over with the flashers on. It might have been a car about twenty years ago but now there was more rust on it than paint. Although it was late, the car was in a well light area. From where I was you could not see inside, the windows were fogged up which happens when someone is inside.

I pulled up next to it and honked my horn. Three doors opened up, three panic-stricken, crying faces streamed out as I unlocked the doors of my SUV. I cranked up the heat and three pixies came scurrying over as doors slammed shut. So far not a word had been said by anybody. They were all still dressed with green tights, short little skirts and were recognizable as our ‘Packer Cheerleaders’ by the wraps they wore. Unlike some teams these girls were homegrown, not store bought models, just regular girls.

If it had been LA, Miami or New York chances are I would not have stopped, but hey, this was Green Bay, not a city noted for muggings or car jacking, besides what carjacker rides in a 20 year-old junker.

When all three were in, I heard a mix of, “Brrr, K-OLDEEE” and chattering teeth and sniffles. My asking them if they were Pixies or Elves and how far was the forest they lived in got little if any response. Those in the back seat were now scooting up to the front trying to get more warm air.

One saw the cast on my left hand and shouted; “You’re him. The guy who blocked the TD pass for us.”

“Yeah, blocking the pass was not much though; hitting a helmet on the way down broke my hand a bit.” I held up my hand. There seemed now to be some unspoken bond between us. We were all ‘on the same team’. Whatever fear or apprehension existed from getting into a stranger’s car/SUV in this case, disappeared. I was now getting slaps and pats on my arm and shoulder with a variety of complements. “Hey guys, enough, any more bruises and you will have to drive me home. By-the-way, I’m the new guy so answer me, are you pixies or elves and do you really live in trees?”

They just did not appreciate my wit.

“Since there are three of you and I am ‘severely in-incapacitated’ from using both arms, if we pass anything open you want to stop and get food and something to drink while you warm up? From the looks of your car it is not going anywhere for a while. Since we all are ‘teammates’ in a way if you take me home you can use this car until yours is fixed or you get something that runs; I have others at home. Besides, I hate this ‘American Made’ car.”

They looked at each other in that way only young girls in a group can do. “Sure, if you are serious, we thought we were going to freeze to death out there.”

I nodded my head. “Tim, Defensive Tackle.”

They responded, “Paula, Genie, Bev” and our pact of friendship was made based upon that. There was something about them in addition to their being cute. I knew the $8 mil a year I was being paid brought out some sympathy for them when I saw their almost car pulled over. Hell for a few grand I could lease new cars for all three of them for a year. It should give them a good ‘start’ anyhow. (Cold-weather car joke!)

We did not see anywhere open though for the rest of our trip home. The house was in a guarded and gated community. I went in through the guard place, just wanted them to recognize the girls and tell them they may be driving my car later. It turned out to be a good thing that I did that.

Rolling up to the house, the garage door opening up and a Lexus and a Mercedes were shinning in the headlights brought out ‘Ohhs and Ahhs’ from the admirers.

“Well ladies, come inside, warm up, I think we have coffee, tea and hot chocolate mix in the kitchen. We can see if anywhere still delivers, but I doubt it. We also have a wide selection of ‘Marie’s’ finest both in the freezer downstairs and the one in the kitchen, but not much else. I’ve been playing a road game last week.”

I handed one of the girls the keys to the SUV. “There are several bedrooms that have extra blankets and pillows in them. The guy who leased me the house either dressed in ladies clothes or had several live-ins since 2 or 3 of the closets have an assortment of women’s clothes in them. You are welcome to take anything that you want, I have a 5-year lease, plus an option to buy but I hate snow. Off my room, through those glass doors (I pointed) is a hot tub and saltwater pool use them if you want.

Each bedroom has a bathroom, feel free to use any room you want. Now let’s see what food and drinks we can find in the kitchen.”

I am not certain if it was having their own bathroom, a change into dry clothes or the food and hot drinks but I no longer saw hesitation in them. The food and hot drinks had won out I think. We walked in, I opened the fridge first and as I said, nada. I went to the freezer and my vast selection of frozen meals were on display. I heard.

“Oh my god, OMG, Wow. Everything is like a ‘Sub-Zero’ and you must have a fortune tried up in those copper pans hanging and those are ‘Sheffield’ knives in that block. You may be a master of the gridiron but in the kitchen, I don’t know what is below a trainee if you let these sit unused?”

“Nope, they all came with the house, even without this cast I never micro waved what was not in the freezers.”

“I’m Bev, can I use your phone?”

“Sure, there is one here on the wall or go into any bedroom for more privacy. Girls I think there is a kettle to heat water in one of those cabinets or use the ‘instant-hot’ thing on the sink. Coffee (Instant), hot chocolate mix and tea caddies (bags) are in there.” I gestured to a wall pantry. I now had almost expended my entire repertoire of kitchen knowledge; “oh yeah the trash bag is under the sink”.

One of them was looking though my fine assortment of frozen meals. She looked mighty fine too bending over to look.

“Do you have any idea how much salt and preservatives there are in these?”

No, never looked, just had them deliver cases of it, there are more kinds downstairs if you don’t like these.

Bev came back. “I’m going to bring back Trish. We will stop at a grocery store and buy some decent and healthy foods for her to cook. She cooks like a master chief by the way and with what you have here as far as tools, she will be in heaven. We barely have three pans at our place. Now Tim, you have a choice, either eat what we get or pay for something you may like.”

“What, you mean I, ‘Moi’, has a choice? I though women shopped and us men just paid for everything.” I took out 5 $100 bills and handed them to her.

“This is too much; we don’t spend this much in a month to feed the four of us.”

“Too bad, get extra to take home with you and if you bring any money back I will just give you more. Oh, fill ‘your’ temp car up with gas so you don’t get stuck with it either. Here is a card with my address and numbers here, I’ll write my private cell for you too. Now, scoot, get enough for here and for you to take home, you got it my new food shopper?”

She just nodded.

“Ok one of you go with Bev to find some warm clothes in one of the bedroom closets before she goes and the other cutie make something hot to drink for all of us please, travel mugs are in the pantry with the coffee. I am going into the shower and try not to get this cast wet. Oh and Bev, if the place has a pharmacy, would you please have this filled, (I handed her the script) it is for the pain in my hand. Here is some more cash” I handed her another $100 bill.

She just shook her head but did not argue with me.

“As to food, simple things like steaks, ribs, lobster, shrimp, scallops and fresh blue fin tuna if they have it, the restaurants always do. Just get anything more you like too. If you are staying for breakfast let me give you more money to get the stuff for it. This is neat; no one has ever made me a meal that was not frozen in the last 7 years. I refuse to think of the stuff they served in college as food.”

I had no idea where Bev thought would be open and have real food. I figured she would be lucky to even find a service station open let alone a pharmacy. My 6 months worth of frozen meals would look like a feast to them when she got back later this morning. I found out soon enough how much I did not know, they had stores where you bought actual food and they were open 24 by 7. She did say she was bringing Trish to cook, didn’t she?

Later. The sensors sounded that a car had entered the driveway. I heard the horn beep which must have been the signal the other two knew so well, that fetch and carry help was needed. I was not moved by this urgent call for help but resigned myself to go downstairs where the newer types of meals had been placed. I told myself to get a box of the Jimmy Dean egg and sausage biscuits as well as some pancake, egg and sausage link meals that were on sale. I imagined these would surprise my guests, ha, ‘Marie’s were not the only meals I had stocked up on.

I heard, “We got your pills too. Like I said you gave me too much money!”

“Like I said, if you brought any back, I’ll just give you more.”

I had this thought about bringing home strays, feeding them and never being alone again. Oh, how I wished that were true for people too. I told you before there was something special about these girls. I also remembered Bev said this Trisha could cook too. I returned to my room, dried off better, put on clean jeans and tore the sleeve on another clean shirt to get the cast through. Luckily, the doc just left my one arm bare and tucked the cast one inside my warm jacket. I would have hated to lose that jacket.

When I walked into the kitchen, I did not know where to look first. The two, Paula and Genie were separating foods for Trisha to cook now and stuffing the rest away, at least what would fit into the fridge or pantry. Standing next to Bev was an ‘Angel’. All five foot of her. I wanted to say ‘What army was being fed’ but all I could do was hang my mouth open and stare at who I supposed was Trisha.

“Tim, this is Trish, my younger sister. I could not stop telling her about this house and kitchen. We went a little crazy with buying food. When she saw what you have for her to work with she told me she was never leaving.”