Chapter 2

Lou was scrambling to close her robe as a spritely twelve-year-old burst into the dining room. The mutt looked back and forth between the newcomer and me. For my part, I hadn't moved all that much and was holding Lou onto my lap. The twelve-year-old said, "Hi! I'm Jenny! Are you Mr. E's girlfriend?" The dog sat, its tongue out and panting.

"Hello, Jennifer," I said. "This is Ms. LaRue, and, yes, she is my girlfriend." I turned to Lou. "Lou, this little imp is my next door neighbor and sometime dog-watcher, Jennifer Ciccorelli. And this," I reached down to the head staring up at me, "is my buddy, Jake. Shake, Jake." He sat even straighter and held up his right paw. I took it and said, "Good boy, Jake. Good boy!" His tail thumped the floor vigorously.

Lou held out her hand to Jennifer. "It's nice to meet you. You can call me Lou. Do you prefer Jenny or Jennifer?" she asked.

"Oh, it don't matter to me. Mr. E likes to call me Jennifer because he says it makes me sound more growed up, but all my friends call me Jenny."

"I hope we'll be friends, so Jenny it is," said Lou.

I interrupted. "It's 'it doesn't matter' and 'more grown up'. Jennifer, when are you going to start using grown-up vocabulary?" I said, sounding exasperated.

"When I get boobs and you take some naked pictures of me!" she retorted, sticking her tongue out at me. Lou laughed and I rolled my eyes.

"Listen, Jennifer: would you take Jake out to the kitchen and make sure he's got his meds and some fresh water? Ms. LaRue and I will go change and be right back down."

"Sure, Mr. E," she said, turning away from us. "I'm not going anywhere. Mom and Dad are fighting again." She walked off, slapping her leg, Jake following her, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

I gently slapped Lou on the leg. "We'd better get upstairs and change. Jennifer is a pretty observant and curious young lady. I don't want to have to answer a lot of questions, like 'why are you naked?' and 'what's that thing?' and so forth."

Lou laughed as she got up. "I can understand that! Can you get my bag? I think I left it in by the front door."

I closed my robe as I got up. Lou went up the stairs while I got her case, and we met in the bedroom. "I think I need a shower." I said, stepping into the bathroom. "Care to join me?"

"I think I'd better, or that precocious child downstairs might be asking 'what's that smell?'" said Lou joining me there. "So, what's the story on Jenny, anyway?" she asked stepping into the shower.

"She and her parents moved in next door when she was about four. I had just gotten Jake as a puppy about two days before. She saw Jake in the backyard, and the next thing I knew, she was in the backyard playing with him. I guess her parents were too busy to notice their little girl had gone missing until about suppertime when they started calling for her. When I heard them, I went to them and told them where she was, in my yard, in one of my big loungers with Jake curled up on her lap, both fast asleep.

"Well, since then, Jake and Jenny are pretty inseparable. I pay her $25 a week to walk him, extra if she needs to take him home with her when I'm not home. He obeys me OK, but he'd go through fire for Jennifer."

While I was talking, I was washing Lou. She handed me her shampoo and I washed her hair. It was growing out, but it was still pretty short. She rinsed and I washed it again. As she rinsed her hair a second time, I commenced to wash her body. There was no love-making involved, even though I was far gentler handling her body than I would be with my own. When she was clean, she stepped under the spray, and then she was ready for me.

I suppose I could have cleaned myself much faster, but it is much more pleasurable to have someone else do it for you. I had to get on my knees for her to wash my hair, face and shoulders, but I had a distinct jump of pleasure when she took a hold of my dick to give it a thorough cleaning. When we were done, we patted each other down with the towels and stepped into the bedroom.

I was very glad I had wrapped the towel around my waist, for who should be waiting for us but Jennifer and Jake. I stood there, staring, blocking Lou from coming out. She didn't even have the towel around her as she peeked around me to see why I wasn't moving.

"What are you doing up here?" I asked, incredulous that she would be in my bedroom.

Lou wriggled her way around me, and despite her nudity, squatted right in front of Jennifer. Jake was being unusually gentlemanly and didn't sniff at Lou at all, but came over to me for some pets.

"What did you want to talk about, Jenny?" asked Lou.

"I can't talk about it with him here," said Jennifer, pointing with her chin at me.

"Well, we'll talk in the bathroom, then," said Lou. She took Jennifer's hand and led her into the bathroom. Once Jennifer was past me, Lou stuck her head out of the doorway and said, "Why don't you get dressed and we'll meet you downstairs in a little while." She then shut the door.

I went over to my dresser and pulled out some underwear (boxers, if you must know!) and some boot socks. Just as I was about to drop the towel, Lou came bursting through the door.

"Oops," she said. "Forgot my case!" She grabbed it and disappeared back into the bathroom. I shrugged my shoulders and hurried my dressing.

About 45 minutes later, while I was reading the paper, Jennifer came bounding down the stairs with Lou following much more sedately. Jake jumped up and ran over to Jennifer. She told him to sit, which he did, and that she'd be right back. I shot a look at Lou.

"I told her she could go with us when we went to the studio. That's where we were going, right?"

I thought about that for a moment. "That wasn't on my agenda today," I said. "I wasn't going there until tomorrow. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Lou said slowly. "But, I've taken a liking to her, you know? I'm sure Jake wouldn't mind going, would you, boy?" Jake, predictably, 'woofed' his approval and wagged his tail frantically. Lou squatted and scratched him behind his ears. He got this stupid grin on his face and licked at her arms. I guess it was close to doggy heaven for him. Lou looked up at me. "Also, you have a twelve-, almost thirteen-year-old with a heavy-duty crush on you. Something we need to discuss and deal with."

"What do you mean?" I asked, again clueless.

"Jenny," said Lou. "She idolizes you. Do you let her use your cameras?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah. She has a pretty good eye for being only twelve."

"I thought so," said Lou. "You probably compliment her a lot, too, don't you?" I thought about it for a moment and then nodded again. She continued. "It's probably a good thing you're digital and don't have a darkroom anymore; she'd try to jump your bones in the dark." She laughed and I joined in, but mine was not as merry as hers. Yeah, it probably was good thing Jennifer didn't know about the darkroom I kept in the basement. I thought about the few seductions I'd made there in the past, and I shuddered

Just then, the back door slammed, announcing Jennifer's return and we were inundated with and excited, chattering twelve-year-old. I got what I needed, including a leash for Jake and we piled into the van. In 15 minutes, we were cleaning out the van and putting things away at the studio.

Once we had things squared away, Lou announced she and Jennifer were going to take Jake for a walk. I was told to stay at the studio and get the pictures from the night before into the computer. "I want to help you choose just the right picture for the ad," Lou said.

Jennifer was full of questions about the ads as she and Lou went out the door, Jake leading the way with his nose on full alert. Lou was being very patient with Jennifer, I thought. I went to the various cameras and dug out the memory cards and proceeded to download the ones and zeros that now constitute one's ability to create photographic images. While that was going on, I started reminiscing about how I had done my job in the past and wondered about reviving my old black and white stuff. Something to think about, I guess.

I was doing some batch processing on the exposure balance when the three of them returned. Jake looked happy and plopped himself in a corner of my office. He proceeded to fall asleep. Lou came in and saw that I was still pretty busy and turned and led Jennifer away from the office. I think Lou might have ESP or something; she seemed to know that I needed to concentrate and with her presence and Jennifer's chatter that was something I would not be able to do. I heard them talking as they went down the hall, Lou asking Jennifer for a tour of the studio.

After a while, I looked from my work and saw that it was fairly late in the morning, almost noon. My stomach was starting to growl, so I thought I'd get the ladies and start working towards getting something to eat. As I walked down the hall to the photography room which was across from the proofing room, I heard voices in the proofing room. I wanted to let them know what time it was, but something stopped me. I know it's impolite to eavesdrop, but that is exactly what I did.

"Do your parents fight all the time?" I heard Lou ask.

"Nah; it just seems like they do," said Jennifer. "They're both second generation Italian, so it makes them very passionate about everything. Or, that's what my mother says all the time. It's like that ice cream commercial with the couple fighting almost through the whole commercial. The only time they stop is when they eat the ice cream. Then they're all lovey-dovey, until they start fighting again. My parents are the same way, except they don't talk a whole lot when they make up; they make the bed squeak!"

I smiled to myself; Jennifer had told me this after she figured it out. Make up sex can be some of the best sex. I tried to explain that to Jennifer once, but I think it will take a while, and a couple more explanations, before she really gets it. She's pretty sharp and she's noticed how much more her parents like each other after they've made up. They're even nicer to her. My thoughts were interrupted by Lou's voice.

"Is that why you're over at Jonny's so much?" she asked.

"Well, partly," Jennifer said. "I think I'd come over even if they didn't fight."

"Why's that?"

"Well, first there's Jake. Mr. E pays me $25 a week to just be sure Jake gets some exercise. And, next to Mr. E, Jake listens better than anyone else I know."

"Jonny really listens to you, then?" asked Lou.

"Yeah," said Jennifer. "It's like when I'm with him, I'm the most important person he knows, you know what I mean?"

"Yes, I do," said my girlfriend, seriously.

"And, he always has the time to listen, not like Mom or Dad. With them, sometimes I can't get a word in edge-wise. That's what Mr. E says when he tries to talk to them. And they're always lecturing; do this, don't do that. And, you know what else?"