Chapter 10

Before school started Ted did visit some of the places that were recommended for him to see. The number and variety of attractions were impressive, especially Fort De Soto county park. He marveled at its white sandy beaches.

He golfed with Don a few times and quickly realized that Don was a much better golfer than he was but it was an enjoyable time in playing golf. It was somewhat challenging however to be playing this sport in the heat and humidity of the summer months. No wonder the green fees were so low and explained why some of the private golf courses were open to the public during this time of the year.

It was two weeks later after his offer to buy was made on the house that the closing occurred. Ted told Becky he was now the homeowner and the work could start. He also needed to give the home insurance agent the effective date of the policy and do the other things a new homeowner needs to do.

School started and it was what Ted expected it to be. Brad Keith the athletic director took Ted under his wing and introduced Ted to many people. As to be expected, some of the names of the people that Ted was introduced to he didn’t remember. He did however remember the names of the good-looking women he was introduced to but most of them were married. He made it a point to strike up a conversation with the single good-looking ladies when the opportunity occurred. So far that’s all it was, just conversation. He wouldn’t say he was horny but he did miss having sex.

Five weeks into the school year the work on his home was completed with the appliances delivered and installed along with all the furniture items. The total overall cost was only a little higher than the eyeball estimate Jenny had given. He spent that weekend moving into his house and settling in. Don delivered the boxes and gave Ted a hand while they polished off a six-pack of beer.

Ted looked around his home and was pleased with all the work that had been done. Becky he thought had good taste as to what she selected from the ceramic tiles on the floor to the colors of the paint on the walls. He did mentally kick himself in the ass in that purchasing a large television was overlooked but he would correct that error right after school ended tomorrow. Ted spent some time making a list of the many other items a homeowner needed to purchase.

Basketball practice started at school. Two students hadn’t played on the Junior Varsity and asked if they could try out for the team. These two players had recently enrolled in school because of their families moving into the area. Ted’s initial thought in seeing them on the court during practice was that they were good and would improve the team. One student, Jerry Bauman was a shooting guard and Johnny Collins the other student was a tall rebounding power forward. Ted did lose from the team what was reputed to be a good ball-handling guard whose family had moved to the Carolinas. Ted thought he would have a respectable team and wouldn’t say more than that since he was unfamiliar with the quality of the other teams in the conference.

There was class preparation that Ted needed to do. He used the free period he had to go to the library which usually was void of students to do his class preparation. There was an area in the library that consisted of a small office with a few desktop computers that was reserved solely for the teachers’ use.

One of the librarians, Beth Thompson was friendly toward Ted and seemed to enjoy his coming to the library. She was quite helpful in getting Ted where the information was located that he was looking for.

There was no question in Ted’s mind that Beth was a nice person. Looks wise he thought she was at best average and that could be a stretch in him thinking that. She was about five foot six and always wore her dark hair in a bun along with wearing big thick black plastic-rimmed glasses. The little makeup along with bright red lipstick that went passed her lip line and the maxi-type long dresses she wore even in the warm weather gave her what Ted would say was a “mousy” look. That being said Ted still enjoyed talking to her.

Just after the Thanksgiving Holiday Ted was in the library doing some class preparation when Beth asked him if he knew of a handyman he could recommend.

“What is the problem that you need a handyman for?”

“Well, I have a few problems at my condo that need to be fixed. First of all, the faucet in my bathroom sink is constantly dripping. Then there is the under-the-cabinet light in my kitchen that keep fluttering and sometimes work and sometimes doesn’t work. The toilet paper holder in one of the bathrooms looks like it is ready to fall off. One of the rods holding up some drapes moves when I close the drapes and it shouldn’t. Finally, now the garbage disposal doesn’t do anything when you turn on the switch.”

“All of that does sound like something a handyman can fix. I am a little handy and I may be able to fix some of the things you have mentioned. If you want, I could come over Saturday around noon and give it a try and maybe save you a few dollars.”

“You would? I would be so appreciative if you would do that.”

“Let me write down now what those problems were that you mentioned and when I am here tomorrow tell me if there is any name on the faucet that is dripping. Don’t worry about being appreciative, you have been so nice and helpful to me already that it is the least I can do.”

Come Saturday based on the list and the information Beth gave him Ted selected several of his tools along with a few other items. He put these items in a tool bag and made a quick stop at Home Depot before he went to Beth’s condo. Carrying the tool bag he pressed the doorbell button on the unit’s address of the condo Beth had given him.

A fairly attractive dark-haired lady wearing tight white shorts and a blue pullover opened the condo door. Ted did not recognize this lady and thought he had the wrong unit and checked the unit number on the door against the written address Beth had given him. It was the correct address and Ted was a little confused.

Hesitantly he said, “Excuse me, but does Beth Thompson live here?”

“Ted it’s me, I am Beth.”

He gave her a good look and concluded she was indeed Beth. He couldn’t help but notice her pretty face, that she was not wearing glasses, her hair was being worn down and the maxi dress was gone along with the overdone bright red lipstick. The clothes she was wearing showed she had a very nice figure which she had been hiding from the clothes she wore at school.

Ted didn’t say anything about this transformation Beth had done which he could see was for the better. He walked in making a little apology for not recognizing her. After putting his tool bag down he looked at the problem list and started on doing the repairs.

His first repair was the loose toilet paper holder in the bathroom. This he fixed by taking out the screws from the holder that had become loose. Using epoxy, he wedged two golf tees into those holes. A little while later he sawed the tees flush to the cabinet and drilled into the tees. Screwing back into those newly drilled smaller holes he remounted the paper holder.

Beth had told him the dripping faucet was a Moen. He replaced the cartridge in the faucet with a new cartridge he purchased that morning. The curtain rod holder was loose which he fixed by putting a large plastic insert into the hole that was there and used a larger screw. The under the cabinet light problem he figured out by just touching the wires. There was a loose connection between wires that had been just twisted together. That he fixed by putting the wires together with a small wire nut.

The last thing to fix was the garbage disposal which turned out to be the easiest. A look into the drain showed that a spoon was lodged in it which prevented the disposal from rotating. Using what was a big Allen-type wrench tool that came with garbage disposals, he broke the jam loose and removed the spoon which was no longer usable. Pressing the reset button on the bottom of the disposal and flipping the wall switch brought it to life.

“All done,” he said to a smiling Beth.

She was beside herself and couldn’t thank Ted enough. Beth said that she watched what he had done and thought that now she could do those repairs herself. Purchasing a few tools she said was something she was going to put on her “to-do” list when she visits the flea market.

Beth offered him a drink and he said he would take a cold soda if she had one which she did. She also took out a cold can of soda for herself. After putting away his tools he sat with her on the couch sipping his beer.

“Can I ask you a question?” he said.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Let me see if I can say this right without offending you because that is the last thing I want to do. The Beth that I see at school and the Beth I see here appear to be two different persons. Why is that?”

“You mean the little and sloppy makeup, the hair in a bun, thick glasses, and the maxi dress?”

“Yes, why is that?”

“That’s because of teenage boys who have raging hormones which translate to them wanting to flirt with me and maybe more. At a different school, I dressed how a normal woman would dress and the teenage boys were always coming on to me. It got to be a big pain in the ass. I didn’t want to get the boys in trouble which had me ask for a transfer to a different school. It was granted, so when I came to this school I put on very little makeup, was sloppy in putting on lipstick, wore my hair in a bun, had thick glasses, and wear a maxi-type dress to hide my figure. If you were to ever look at my glasses you would see that they are just plain glass that I had specially made. Believe me, when I say it has been well worth the effort to do that since now I have peace and quiet.”

“Well, your secret is safe with me. I was thinking that maybe I could take you out to dinner tonight.”

“Let me now ask you a question, if I was dressed today as I do for school would you be asking me out to dinner?”

“That is a tough one and while I consider you to be a very nice person, in being honest with you no, I probably wouldn’t be asking you out. You do understand that even us older men do and can have raging hormones when they see a pretty lady don’t you?”

Laughing she said, “I like an honest man and yes we can go out to dinner tonight.”

Ted left her saying he was going home to shower and change and would be back at six. If she knew of a nice restaurant he asked her to make a reservation.

He was back at six and she promptly answered the door when he pressed the doorbell button. If she looked good when he first was here at noon she looked even better now. She had on some additional makeup and looked very attractive in the somewhat form-fitting red dress she was wearing.

Ted remarked, “Excuse me, but like I said before is Beth home?”

Laughing she gave him a playful slap on his arm telling him to cut it out.

Beth had made a reservation at a nice restaurant that was up north in Indian Shores. Dining with her was very enjoyable. How nice she was during school she just continued to be that way since that was the way she was. The evening ended much too soon Ted thought.