Chapter 2

Saturday morning found Jerry Sanders working at Sav-A-Bunch supermarket. The 18 year old high school senior liked to work as many hours as he fit into his school schedule. His mother died last year from Covid and related health issues. His father disappeared six years ago after yet another booze fueled argument with his mother. Neither Jerry nor his mom felt it was a big loss with her divorcing him for abandonment.

Shortly after 10 a.m. Jerry saw his favorite customer Norma Black enter the checkout line where he was bagging groceries. As the cashier rang up Norma’s groceries Ned started bagging them and loading the bags in an empty shopping cart.

“Help you take your groceries to your car?” he asked Norma.

“Yes, Jerry, that would be wonderful. You are always so nice to help me when I come in.”

“Well, Mrs. Black, you are my favorite customer. How are you doing your husband died last month?”

“To tell you the truth, overwhelmed. Just so many details.”

“I’m really sorry. I would be happy to help anyway I can. Even if it is just sitting down and talking.”

Norma was an attractive 45 year old woman. She enjoy running three to five miles every day. Lately, however, with depression invading the outer reaches of her mind, it did not hold the same pleasure as it did before her husband’s illness and death.

“Jerry, that’s so nice of you, but with all these little girls running around I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than spend it with an old woman.”

“Actually, not at all Mrs. Black. I try to avoid all the drama high school girls like to spread around. Seriously, give me a call if you ever want to talk. Here, let me give you my phone number.”

“Jerry, thank you, I just may take you up on it.”

As she got in her car to leave, Jerry headed back inside to continue his work day.

He did not work a full schedule the following week as he was studying for midterm exams. With exams over, he was back at work Saturday morning when again Norma came through his line. They exchanged light conversation as he bagged her groceries. Again he pushed her cart to her car after she finished paying.

As they walked to her car, he asked, “Has this week been any better, Mrs. Black?”

“Not really, Jerry, I have a better grasp of everything, I just don’t see an easy path.”

“Really, Mrs. Black, let’s find time to just talk. Maybe we can see a different path if we put our heads together.”

“Well, I’ve been talking with my girlfriends but one more can’t hurt. Can you come over for lunch tomorrow?”

“Well, I work tomorrow. How about dinner tonight or tomorrow?”

“What, good looking high school senior would rather spend time with little OLD me rather than taking your girlfriend out?”

“Yep, you got me. Nothing on for tonight or tomorrow.”

“I don’t have any plans tonight either. How does burgers at 6 sound? I’ll text my address.”

“Sounds good, Mrs. Black. I’ll see you then.”

“O.k., Jerry, tonight then,” she said as Jerry headed back in.

After work, Jerry headed home. He quickly cut the front yard then showered and dressed in jeans and a pull over shirt drove to Norma’s address in a nice neighborhood.

“Jerry, you’re right on time. Want something to drink? Coke, iced tea or cold water? No beer for you, young man.”

“Coke is fine, I really don’t like beer. Never ‘acquired the required’ taste for it.”

“Can O.K. or would you prefer over ice in a glass? It’s already cold from the fridge.”

“Can is good, one less thing to wash.”

“Well, let’s go on out, the grill should be ready for the burgers.”

“So what has you so flummoxed, Mrs. Black”

“First, Jerry, drop the Mrs. Black. That is very respectful of you, but call me Norma. I’ve been talking with my girlfriends, but with Rob’s death there is just too much. Rob and I shared the work around here, but now it is all on me. Cleaning, laundry, cutting the grass, you name it, I get it. Plus, with just me, I don’t need the house. I’d be happy in an apartment, but then I’d be trading a mortgage for just paying rent. And it wouldn’t help with money situation either. Just trading one expense for another. Going from two incomes to one takes some adjusting. Yes, Rob had a life insurance policy and his retirement account, but the medical bills pretty much wiped that out.”

“I thought maybe money problems were weighing you down. Never really got the feeling you were a trust fund baby, after all, you drive a Buick not a Bentley. I’ve been thinking about this, so it’s not something I’m throwing out lightly. Don’t know if you are aware of it, but I’ve got my Mom’s house. Although she was a single mom, she did not fit the stereotype. She was a CPA and made good money. She was careful with her money, never just throwing it around and she raised me to do the same. That’s why I work as much as I can. The house is paid for and she left plenty to take care of things, like taxes, insurance and utilities. Keeping her paid for car maintained and taking care of the house is pretty much covered also. But working, I cover my day to day expenses like my clothes, food and school stuff. I know with all the deaths, real estate is a depressed right now, but how much do you think you could sell or rent out your house for?”

“I have no real idea, I have not even looked into it. But that doesn’t help me, I would still have to pay to live somewhere.”

“What I was considering, I’ve got my house and I’m used to living with my Mom. Having you there should not be too different. We could share housekeeping details and food costs. Unless you use a whole lot of water or power, the utilities should be about the same. You could sell or rent out your house and save that income. All in all, it should save you a bunch. We don’t know each other very well on that level, but you could stay at my place for a couple of weeks and we could see how we get along.”

“Jerry, that is very generous of you and something to think about. Something else to think about is I’ve let the burgers burn up while we were talking. So, what do we do for supper? Pizza?”

“Pizza sounds good to me. I’m a carnivore when it comes to pizza, not a vegie lover. How about you?”

“Sounds good to me. I don’t see any reason to put a bunch of veggies on it, just no anchovies. I’ll just have to run an extra mile or two.”

“I’ve got the pizza place on speed dial, Norma. As our Aussie and British friends say, My Shout. As far as arrangements go, I have not done anything to Mom’s room since she died, so you could have her room and the attached bath. Maybe you’d be willing to help me clean out her clothes and stuff. I would really like some help going through her jewelry. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”

“The more we discuss this, the better is sounds. It is still early. After we finish dinner, I can you follow over to your house and we can see how things might work out.”

The pizza soon arrived, and with another nod to our commonwealth friends, they tucked in. After clean up, Jerry drove home with Norma following.

Arriving at his house, Norma was impressed. Although a bit smaller than her house it was just as well appointed and did not look like an 18 year old guy lived there by himself. No pizza or Chinese delivery carton were piled around. No big stack of video games on the coffee table. No dirty clothes on the floor. Her proposed bedroom was roomy and the furniture looked great. She thought it just might work. Certainly worth a try.

She turned to Jerry, “This maybe a great idea of yours. The house is large enough we won’t crowd each other and our rooms are not right together. That way I won’t hear you dates screaming your name,” she teased Jerry.