Chapter 75

I was still considering Janet’s offer a week after she went home to watch the reviews of ‘That Bitch Tory’ TV show. I truly did not want to start another script with Janet. She was still too intense for me. I liked to use the shotgun approach to writing. She, on the other hand, wanted to analyze every word. My dialogue tended to be the words of people I met. Hers tended to be that of a bunch of college professors at an afternoon tea. In other words, we fought the whole time we worked on an episode. Tonya babied her, but left me to my own devices. So Durham Artist Co-op was of no use to me whatsoever. They just wanted to make the film. They didn’t give a damn, if it was about Sherlock Holmes, or Dirty Harry Callahan. The film just had to make money, the more money the better.

At that particular moment they were either filming or getting ready to film two of my dramas. That was pretty good stuff, I thought. One of them Tonya, Janet, and Allison had written, but I had also had a hand in all of them. The other one Janet and I had written. It looked as though I had been involved in two hit shows. It was time I took a few weeks off.

The pain in my hip should be leveling out, but it was still raged some days, while other days weren’t too bad. I had that pain on my mind more than Janet. I loved a challenge. However, when everything, everyday, became a challenge it wasn’t much fun. It was all wearing me down. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Mikah, I might have moved back into The Haven. I knew my tinkering days were mostly over. To be perfectly honest most days I didn’t miss them at all.

At that time in my life, my daily work consisted of plugging and unplugging my trike into the battery charger. That and doing my household chores. No wonder I was depressed. Thia tried to get me to go to one of her doctor friends from the Emergency Room. She was sure that he would give me something for clinical depression.

“Thia, I don’t need drugs, I need something interesting to do,” I admitted.

“Do you want me to change my name to interesting and start the thing between us up again?” she asked.

“It’s tempting, but you seem to be at peace with where you are at the moment. You are not responsible for my state of mind,” I admitted.

“Then during my next break, let’s go to the company store and buy those dogs and cinnamon buns,” she demanded.

I smile and said, “Of course honey.” Agreeing with Thia wasn’t the only way to get her off my case, but it was the easiest.

Later that same Monday morning Jon showed up at my door. “Why aren’t you in class?” I asked.

“I don’t have a class this afternoon,” he said. “I was wondering if you needed anything done around here?”

“There is always something to do here,” I replied. “It’s about time for the last grass cutting before winter, but what I really need is to put the bed in the spare room away. I don’t want to undo the work the builder did, I just want to make more room in there. We can leave the desk and the shelves, just turn the box spring and mattress into wall art.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Jon said. “Effie loves to design things. How about I cut your grass today, then bring Effie by. She can design something cool, to hide the bed in plain sight?”

“Sure why not,” I said to Jon.

Jon had to free the electric mower and cord from the tangle he had left it the last time he cut the grass, before he could he could start. He finished in an hour, but I paid him for two. We had agreed on ten bucks an hour after my hip surgery. I always made sure to over pay him. I hoped that he would want to work for me again because of it.

Nothing much happened before Effie showed up at my door without Jon a couple of days later. “Hi Mr. Rogers. I need to take some measurements of your spare room,” she said.

“Do you need me to hold the tape?” I asked.

“No Sir, I’m fine,” she said walking back to my extra bedroom. I watched the breaking news on the computer, while she took her measurements.

It was just a few minutes later when she came back to the living room area. “I was wrong, I do need your help,” Effie admitted. I noticed that Effie had grown up several weeks before. She had begun to dress more provocatively as well. She even showed a lot of cleavage while she measured for the partition. I decided while helping her, that she had more cleavage than her mother.

That’s it, I thought as I watched her ass. She showed it off while I was holding the end of her tape measure. I am now officially a dirty old man, I thought that with some disgust. Of course mixed with that was some delight as well.

“Would you like a coke?” I asked as she sat down at the half ass desk and book case I had built for Janet.

“I’d love one, Would you mind if I do my rough sketch here. Just in case I forgot something?” she asked.

“Not at all. I’ll get you the coke and let you work,” I said it as I left to take care of the small chore.

While she worked, I returned to the national news. I couldn’t get her body off my mind. Yes I was a dirty old man without a doubt. Funny how something like a teenage girl’s body could still pull me out of my funk. Even if she was dating my grandson, I could still appreciate her beauty.

“Mr. Rogers?” she asked quietly. She usually spoke in that voice, but somehow she seemed to have a larger presence on that day. She was standing in the doorway when she asked, “Would you mind taking a look at my sketch?”