It was a bright sunny spring morning and as I opened the living room drapes to greet the day, I thought to myself, ‘God, what a beautiful day to be alive.’ I had gotten out of bed, took my shower, shaved and made my breakfast just like I do nearly every weekday. I had awakened at the same time I do every day even though I don’t bother to set my alarm on the weekend at all for the obvious reasons.

I have been getting out of bed by my alarm at the same time for so many years I really didn’t need to set my alarm anymore. I guess I have become a slave to my old habit of setting the alarm but, I still set it as an insurance crutch anyway during the week days.

After eating my breakfast I poured myself a second cup of coffee, took it into the living room and set it down on the end table next to my easy chair. Then I stepped outside to get the morning paper off of my front porch. On returning through the door and sitting down on my easy chair I was able to take one sip of my coffee and my phone rang.

It was only just eight o’clock and I muttered, ‘Who the heck can be calling me this early on a Saturday morning?” I picked up my phone and the voice on the other end sounded like my cute little blond headed blue eyed Sister, Olivia.

She said, “Bret, this is Livia (My Sister’s affectionate nickname – pronounced Livia or Livie). I hope I didn’t wake you, did I? I just wanted to call and see what your plans for the day are and see if I could come over to your house and visit with you for the day.”

I responded, “Sure, Livia, I don’t really have any plans for today other than staying around the house and doing a few Suzy Homemaker chores. What time do you want to come over here? I have a fresh pot of coffee brewed and I have only gotten my second cup out of it. The coffee pot keeps it hot for a couple of hours and you can help drink up the rest of the pot with me.”

“That sounds good, Bret. I have a couple of things to do here before I can leave and then I’ll stop at the bakery and pick up some donuts for us to have with our coffee. I’ll go off of my diet to eat donuts and drink coffee with you this morning, Big Brother. I should be over there within an hour and a half or so. I think the coffee should still be hot by that time.”

“You don’t have to rush, Livia. If the coffee isn’t as hot as you like it we can always reheat it in the microwave. Catch you when you get here, Hon.”

I had always called my Sister Livia. My Mother said that was what I began calling her when she brought her home from the hospital. Mom told me that I couldn’t pronounce the “O” of her name and I just dropped it. And it always came out ‘Livie’ and that’s what we all called her. At the age of three, how many children can pronounce her name?

My parents, principally my Mom had always told me to look out for and protect Livia. She continually told me, “Bret, you need to love and protect her because she is just a little girl and you are a big tough boy and you are much tougher and stronger than she is.”

I know that I always loved and I protected her all through grade school. When she got into high school I still looked after her but not to the same extent as she grew into a young adult woman.

Since I was three years older than Livia, I graduated from high school after her freshman year and went to college. At the start of my senior year in college Livia enrolled in college but, I didn’t see her all that often since she was required to live in the dorms and I had a room off campus. She called me occasionally and came by my room and spent a Saturday or Sunday afternoon with me.

About a year after I graduated from college I met a young woman, Hali, and we were married. I found a job in my hometown and we later bought a three bedroom house where we lived and raised our two boys. I still live in our house although I own the house alone now. After our two boys got out of high school they both joined the service and are gone now.

Hali in the meantime got to running around without my knowledge and she found another guy she liked and she wanted a divorce. I wasn’t happy about it but, we got our divorce on the grounds of “Irreconcilable Differences”, whatever that means. We split up our possessions and I scraped up enough money to buy out her half of the equity in our house.

After the divorce was final Hali split with her new lover and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of her since. I guess I still loved her some but, there wasn’t anything I could do to convince her to stay with me.

About a year after Livia graduated from college she met a guy who was a police officer. She appeared to love him very much and I liked him a lot, too. I thought he was a great guy. Livia told me that they really wanted to have children but, she had not been able to get pregnant even though they really wanted to have kids.

They both went to the doctor to have themselves checked out to see what the problem was. The doctor said that she couldn’t find any reason for Livia not being able to get pregnant but, her husband’s doctor said that he had a very low sperm count and would not likely ever be able to father a baby. They accepted their situation and continued their marriage as they had in the past.

Unfortunately, her husband was killed in the line of duty during a police action and Livia was left alone with no children and just her house. Since her husband’s pay as a police officer was not all that great Livia had gotten a job and was working to help support them. Her house had been paid off with his life insurance and she continued to work and live in her house alone.

Livia had a lot of friends from her work and as a police officer’s widow and her personal social schedule had been active. But, she still lived alone in that house with no companion to keep her company. Every few months she called and came by my home to visit with me to renew our family ties since both of our parents had since passed away. I figured that was her reason for coming over to my house this Saturday morning.

I sat back in my easy chair, read my newspaper, drank my coffee and watched the morning cable news show. An hour and a half after our short phone conversation, I heard a knock on my front door. When I went to the door there stood Livia with a twinkle in her eyes, a bright smile on her face and a box of donuts in her hand. She looked even more beautiful and shapely to me than she had in the past.

Before I could get a word out of my mouth she said somewhat impudently, “Where’s my cup of hot coffee, Big Brother? I brought the donuts and I demand that you pour me a cup of hot coffee, if you’ll let me come into the house.”

I grabbed her arm, pulled her inside, shut the door, wrapped my arms around her, kissed her cheek and said, “Ok, now, where’s my, Please, Big Brother, Little Sister?”

She looked me directly in the eyes with an even broader smile and said in a long drawn out fashion, “Pleeeeese, Big Brother.”

We kissed each other’s cheek again and I said, “I serve coffee to any beautiful Princess in the kitchen, especially, if they are bearing fresh donuts when they come to my door.” Livia just giggled with that impudent grin on her pretty face and turned toward my kitchen.

As we started toward the kitchen, I stopped to pick up my coffee cup as we went. I got out a coffee cup for her along with the half and half and two little plates. I poured Livia a cup and refilled my cup, too. She put a couple of donuts on each plate while I poured our coffee. I thought to myself, ‘If I continue to drink this much coffee I’m going to be hanging my dick over the toilet all day long and Livia is going to think that I’m in there playing with myself.’

Livia and I chatted and visited as we ate our donuts and drank our coffee. And when we had finished our donuts I warmed up our coffee cups with more coffee right out of the coffee maker. Then I said, “Let’s go sit in the living room and relax, Livia. We can visit there much more comfortably in the easy chairs or on the couch with each other.”

We continued our visit and chatted while we verbally sparred with one another like we had always done. Livia is smart and very quick with her remarks and she makes me really search my mind to keep up with her sharp wit.

Our sparring with each other is always friendly and it is always aimed at who can best the other without ever being mean to each other. I said, “Livia, I know you didn’t come over here just to have a war of wits with me so, to what do I owe the honor of your gracious visit and your sweet presence with me this morning?”

Livia’s tone turned much more somber. She said, “You’re right, Bret. You know I go to work each day and come home to that empty house since my husband has been gone. I go to lunch with some of the other women I work with and come home to that empty house in the evening. Once a month I go out to eat with some of my girlfriends from work and I come home to that empty house.

In the evening I eat my supper alone and watch TV alone and go to bed alone. I can only watch so much TV and read the newspaper so much or read magazines so much and in the end I’m alone in that empty house without anyone to see or to talk to. I guess I’m lonely for some companionship, Bret.

Then I got to thinking the only family I still have is my beloved Big Brother and I had that need to see you and talk to you and see if you may be going through the same thing I’m going through, Honey.”

As she said that, she got up from her easy chair and stepped over to me, sat down on my lap like she had done so many times when she was a teenager. She leaned her upper body against me, threw her arms around my neck and kissed my forehead and my cheek.

Livia continued, “Bret, you have to be in the same situation that I’m in although you got here in a little different manner. But, the result is still the same you are living alone in this house and you have to be in some need of companionship, too.

I’d like us to see a lot more of each other, Honey. I’d like to go out to eat with you from time to time and maybe go to a movie once in a while, go dancing with you or even just watch TV together with you in the evening.

I want to have you sitting side by side next to me on the couch feeling you close to me without having to look for you and being able to talk to you and not necessarily over the phone. I guess I’m in need of a replacement for the companionship of my husband.”

Holding her tightly in my arms I said, “Yeah, Honey, I do get lonely here in this house all by myself and I’d like for us to get together much more often than what we have in the past.

I haven’t said anything to you because I wanted to give you enough time to recover from the loss of your husband before I said anything. And maybe I still had a glimmer of hope that Hali would want to come back to me but, time has closed that door and I’m all but certain that she will never return to me.”

We talked through the afternoon and I got to feeling like my belly was telling me it was time to feed it. I said, “Livia, let’s go out and get something to eat.”

“Oh, No, Bret, I can’t do that. I’m not dressed to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant.”

“Well, Livia, don’t give me that bologna after all of what we have talked about to day. We’ll just go to a nice restaurant with good food that doesn’t require us to be dressed up. We can go to Pappadeaux for some Cajun food or to Pappasito’s for some Mexican food.

They don’t care how you’re dressed as long as you are decent. Not only that, they serve wine by the glass or by the bottle with our meal, too. So let’s get in the car and I’ll take you out for your supper tonight, Honey.”

“Ok, Bret. But, you need to let me go comb my hair and put on some more lipstick and then I’ll be ready to go.”

I thought, “Hell, I guess all women are just alike with having to comb their hair and put on lipstick before they can go out to eat.’ Then I thought, ‘Shit, it’s all that coffee that she’s having to pay rent on just like me.’

We went out to eat and we ordered a bottle of wine to have with our meal. I enjoyed my meal and I could see that Livia enjoyed her meal, also, since she cleaned up everything on her plate. We both really liked having the wine with our meal as well and we finished the bottle before we paid the check and left the restaurant. Livia was very happy with our Cajun meal

On our way home I stopped and bought a couple of more bottles of wine to take home with us. When we got home Livia was feeling jovial and I opened the second bottle for us. We sat on the love seat, sipped our wine and talked and laughed in front of the TV.

Ever so often Livia would lean over to me and kiss my cheek. Each time she said, “I’m really glad I came over here to see and visit with you today, Bret. This has been so much fun and satisfying to have someone to see and talk to, today rather than sitting in that empty old house by myself just watching TV.”

About ten o’clock which was getting near my bedtime Livia said, “Bret, it’s getting pretty late and I think I ought to get in my car and go home since it’s about my bedtime.”

“No, Livia. I don’t want you driving home this late especially since you have had so much wine to drink this evening. I want you to stay here in one of my other two bedrooms and sleep here. You can drive home in the morning.”

“But, Bret, I don’t have anything to sleep in and I don’t have a toothbrush and tooth paste to brush my teeth with.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, I have something you can sleep in and I can give you a brand new tooth brush in the original package and you can use my tooth paste to brush your teeth tonight and in the morning. It will be here for you to use the next time you’re here visiting with me.”

I took her into the bathroom and got a brand new tooth brush out of the cabinet and handed it to her and showed her the tooth paste in the drawer beside the basin. Then I took her into the guest room and told her, “The bed has clean linens on it and you can sleep here in this bedroom tonight, Honey.”

I turned to the dresser and got out one of my son’s old football jerseys and said you can sleep in this, Baby. There’s also a night light in every bedroom, the bathroom and the hall. You won’t have to worry about stumbling over anything or running into the wall if you have to get up before daylight.”

As I started to leave the room, Livia stopped me, put her arms around me and kissed me on the lips. She softly said, “Thank you for all that you have done for me today and this evening, Bret. It has been a real joy being here with you today and I wish I could spend a lot more time here with you like this.

“Well, Livia, I have really enjoyed having you here with me, too. You have made my day and evening, as well. I want to have you here with me more often like this.” I just had to quickly remark, “God, what a beautiful day to be alive.”