Sophia Pt. 03

"Well, if you tell me what to do, maybe I can take care of it Maria?"

"No, believe it or not it will be easier for me if I just take care of everything myself." All true again; am I good at pulling a "Don" or what?

"Don, how big an area can I take for the dance floor? I would like a twenty by twenty area or maybe even a twenty-four by twenty-four, and where can I put it?

"We've got lots of space; twenty-four by twenty-four is fine if you want to go that big. Just put in the northeast corner of the gym, I'll move some exercise junk out of the way."

"That's perfect Don, thank you."

"Why are you thanking me, you're giving me lessons, and now you're going to clean my floor? I should be and I am thanking you."

With a perfect "Don" completed, I gave Megan a subtle wink to clue her in that it was time for her act.

"Dad, while we were at Maria's we made sure to get all our homework done." (With my, Freddie's, Kathy's and Vanessa's help during breaks in our Saturday movie night.) We thought that maybe, if it's okay with you, and if Maria would like to, we could have a mini-movie night here, with just the four of us?"

"Baby, Maria is a wonderful friend to this family; she can stay any night she wants. You just have to ask her. But you said 'the four of us', and I'm not exactly into your kind of movies."

"Oh, that's the best part, Daddy. We were talking, and Maria is a big Alfred Hitchcock fan, and Robin and I like them too. We could start off with "North by Northwest" and maybe watch one or two other movies after that, if that is okay?"

When Megan said the name of the movie, Don had suddenly gone on point like he was a hunting dog. Oh, what fiendish girls Megan and I were! I had told her about wanting to get closer to her daddy, and she was willing to help. I was a Hitchcock fan and she had told me how "North by Northwest" was her father's favorite. Come here, little birdy, said the hungry kitty, and such a cute little birdy he is. I had made a firm promise to myself that the practice dates would continue, but every time Don turned around I would be there. And in a month, maybe two at the most, I would make my move.

"Yeah, that would be fun with the four of us watching Hitchcock. What do you say, Maria?"

Better and better, he had asked me! Next month Don; and tomorrow world domination will be within my grasp! Nah, all I want is Don and my girls, world domination would probably be too damn much work!

"Why, Don, that would be wonderful. What's for dinner?" Hold it, where did that come from, curse Don and his fantastic cooking. I was becoming a slave to it.

Don looked a little bit chagrined. Oh, oh, had I pushed things too far? I was like one of Pavlov's dogs, see Don and think about food. "Nothing special, I was just planning on making grilled cheese sandwiches, French fries and tomato soup for dinner. Something quick and easy; with maybe blueberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert. It won't be as good as your cheesecake, of course. Does that sound okay?"

Don's homemade French fries and bread for the sandwiches, oh I think I could handle that and he said my cheesecake was better than his cobbler too! But then it got even better when Robin agreed with her father.

"Yeah, Maria, your cheesecake was real good, we think it is the best that we have ever had. It's as good as THE CAKE, and might be as good as THE PIE." Heady stuff, I now accept the Nobel Prize for cheesecakes, please no photographs. Then it happened, Megan spoke.

"It was simply the best; Daddy even stole a third piece. Bad Daddy, bad, bad, Daddy." Don looked suitably crestfallen, like a guilty little boy. I wanted to step close to him, rub his head and tell him that everything will be alright. "I think we need to take a vote, but I think your cheesecake should now only be referred to as THE CHEESECAKE!" I heard it, I heard it, the sound of cows mooing, and it sounded like a whole herd! "Mooria, Mooria, Mooria!" And the cows go wild; IT'S A FREAKING STAMPEDE, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Suddenly I became aware of Don's voice, and my shoulders were being shaken. "Mooria, Maria, Maria, are you alright?" My eyes focused on him. "You seemed to have zoned out for a moment there."

That's it, how to catch a man, prove you're mentally deranged. I hid my embarrassment. "I was just so thrilled at Megan's nomination of my cheesecake that I lost my focus."

"Oh well, we took the vote and it failed, two to one. Sorry Maria."

I was completely crestfallen, my dreams shattered, when suddenly Megan and Robin both spoke up, "Daddy, you big liar! We all voted yes!"

My eyes focused on Don, my intended prey. I WAS GOING TO KILL HIM! He started to back up hastily with a big grin on his face, showing me all his teeth. He was going to need an emergency trip to the dentist after I got through with him. I started looking for something to hit him with, when Robin handed me the silly door stopper from the front door, it was shaped like a big fat stuffed chicken and it appeared to be more like funny shaped firm couch pillow than a door stop. I was doubtful about its effectiveness until Robin said. "There's a brick in the bottom of it." I took it from her with glee, and Don's grin was completely wiped from his face as he started running.

Megan screamed out, "Don't kill him, we need him for dinner!"

I yelled my father's motto about hunting back at her. "Don't worry, we always eat what we kill!"

The chicken was pretty awkward to hold and I had to use two hands. I was only able to get two hits on him before he was able to break away and make it outside. Curse his physical training he was able to keep ahead of me. Megan and Robin had followed us outside and were cheering for me, but I had to finally stop because I was too tired, and I was also getting hungry! When he came back to his apartment he was like a meek little lamb for the rest of the night, but I kept the chicken close at hand in case he got out of line again.

Don made another superb meal, even with his over the top performance that he was desperately hurt from my two hits. The top of the fake chicken was soft just like it had originally appeared to me, only the bottom was stuffed with the brick and it was still surrounded by thick padding. On top of that, I had made certain to only tap him lightly with the soft end, the big cry baby!

After dinner, he quickly prepared the cobbler and put it in the oven. While he was doing that, my girls and I got changed into our jammies except this time I was actually wearing a nightgown under my silk robe. It was modest while at the same time it was very feminine, and it did show some leg too! Not too much, but enough. My fuzzy bunny slippers kind of killed the whole look, but they were really comfortable. Megan and Robin were jealous of my robe so I decided that the next time I took them shopping I was going to have to get them each one, and some slippers too.

Don finally came out of the kitchen, put the DVD in the player and sat down in his chair to watch.

I cleared my throat, "Ahem." He looked up with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?"

Robin spoke up, "Daddy, you have to be in your pajamas, it's tradition."

"But I don't like….." I caught Don's eye and started to stroke the chicken I was holding on my lap. "Just give me a moment, I'll be right back," he said hastily. I think I'll name the chicken Roscoe.

There was much discussion between Megan, Robin and me on how to arrange the seating on the couch. We finally decided that I would be on one end, then Megan on my left, then Robin, and Don would be on the other end. Robin mentioned how at Christmas time Don had gotten very sweaty and red in the face when he was sitting in the middle.

When Don got back in the room, he once again tried to sit in his chair. Robin had to speak up and pat the couch beside her before he even had a clue what was going on. I merely stared at him, stroked Roscoe, and he moved quickly to his assigned seating position. Yes, you are Roscoe; you are a good little chicken, aren't you?

Like we had promised Don, we watched "North by Northwest" first. I had observed Don's sitting posture before when he was sitting on a couch. He always liked to lay his arm on top of the back of the couch. Anticipating this, I did it first. He was uncomfortable for the longest times holding his right arm in his lap while my left was on the top of the couch back. Finally he noticed that my arm was very close and even touching the back of the girls' heads. He saw that there was a large space between my arm and the wall, plenty of space for his arm. With a sigh of relief, he put his right arm on the top of back of the couch. Dudley Doright had fallen into my trap once again; sometimes I wish I had a mustache with long handlebars that I could twirl. I wonder if Don likes girls with mustaches?

So, during the first movie, except for when Don served the cobbler and ice cream, that is where my arm stayed and Don, thinking that he had adequate space, also kept his arm in the same location. Then fifteen minutes into the second show, I moved my arm back a tiny bit and brushed it up against Don's arm. There was a framed picture above the television, the glass in the frame made a pretty good mirror, just like the oven in my kitchen at home. I watched Don go rigid and heard him take a sudden deep breath. I slowly pushed my arm more tightly against his, not so tight that he would withdraw it, but tight enough that he could feel me. He was absolutely stiff during the rest of the movie, and I think he was a bit flushed too. Perhaps I went too far for one night, or perhaps he just got tired (it was a bit late), but when we put the third movie in, he decided to go to bed. As he did, he warned us that it was getting late; maybe we should take the movie to my room. So my girls and I did just that. Megan fell asleep first, then I did, and I don't know when Robin conked out, she might have watched the entire movie for all I know.

The next morning was the normal routine; drag Megan out of bed, eat breakfast and take my girls to school. I'd been doing it for months every Thursday morning, and now I've added Monday. Little does Don know, but thanks to Megan and Robin, this is going to become a regular event. Some of their friends waved to me, I was becoming recognizable, and it gave me a warm feeling.

After dropping my girls off, I called Carl about the dance floor I needed.

"Where are you Maria?"

"I'm on my way back to my condo."

"If you want a dance floor by Wednesday night, you'll have to turn around."

Carl has always played it straight with me, so I immediately did as he instructed. "Why am I turning around, Carl?"

"Wood flooring has to acclimate to the room at least two days before you install it, and you've got to have the flooring material sitting in the same environmental conditions. That basically means the same temperature and humidity. So, you need to buy the flooring materials today and have it delivered right away."

Carl then asked me for the closest major home supply store to Don's apartment building. I told him the one I pass by every time I drive there, so he told me to go there and pick out a wood or laminate flooring material that I liked. He said glueless laminate would probably be the easiest to install and he would have people (probably his nephews) meet me at the flooring desk so they could pick up the flooring and deliver it to Don's apartment. I did as Carl told me; I went to the store, picked out the flooring I liked that was in stock, and it cost me about a grand with all the little extras I needed. About the time I was done with the purchase, two big young guys showed up. They introduced themselves as Mike and Matt, and they were Carl's nephews. Mike had an old van; they loaded the flooring in and followed me to Don's apartment. I let them in, found a place to hide the flooring (it's a big basement) and they unloaded it. Two hours after Carl told me to turn around we were done.

Wednesday morning we were all waiting for Don to drive off to work. Carl came down from the mountains with a friend of his, and Carl's two nephews were also with us. Don drove off and we swung into action. Carl was happy because Don had done a beautiful job (he always does) preparing the floor for us. Carl said that when Don built the plywood floor he made it "dead nuts level", and last night it seems that he went and sanded any rough spots and swept the floor clean.

"I tell you, Maria, this is going to be a cinch. We're not trying to fit this floor into the whole room, just one corner of it. That means that we can make your dance floor any size, and that means we don't have to do much cutting, no finicky custom bits at all. Just put the cushion down and start fitting things together. You go upstairs and rest, it will get kind of dusty down here with the cutting we have to do."

"Carl, Don has his workshop down here too. I'm sure that he won't mind you using it, especially since he used your tools without permission at my house."

I led Carl to Don's workshop and his eyes lit up when he saw it. "I knew there was something I liked about that boy, even if he can't dance. This is going to be a really easy job. It will take us all day doing it right, but still really easy."

I went upstairs to stay out of the way, and at lunch time I fetched them something to eat. By the time Megan and Robin got home from school at three-thirty they were almost done. At four they were done. The floor was installed and had been trimmed out on all four sides. Carl had used wide sloping trim boards on the outside of the dance floor, so there would be less to stumble over. The floor was roughly twenty-three feet by twenty-five. At four-thirty they were in their trucks and ready to head for home. I had paid each man four hundred dollars; maybe I could have gotten away with less, but why? I'm loaded; they did a good job and probably needed the money. Carl reached into the back of his truck, opened up a cooler chest and pulled out a six pack of his home brew.

"You give this to Don and you tell him that if he learns dancing really good, next time I might let him lead." With an evil chuckle he took off for home.

When they left, I hurried inside to prepare dinner. I figured if I made dinner and had it ready to go when Don got home, we would have plenty of time to eat before my girls' therapy session, that way Don wouldn't have to make dinner so late and he could just rest this evening - after our dance lesson, of course.

…………………………………….

I got home and I was beat. I still had so much to do. I had to make our 'before therapy snack'; I was getting lazy so I was just going to give them shrimp cocktail, and it wasn't even fresh shrimp! For dinner, hamburgers again; there are some things that I can cook really well, but I don't have that many things that I can cook. To keep my friends happy, I had even resorted to reading cook books and going on line to get recipes. I don't even like to cook! Especially as much as I had been doing lately. My girls are easy to please, but I know one of the primary things that my new friends find attractive is the food I do cook. I'm sick of it! Sure, if one of them were romantically interested in me, I could keep going for a while longer. But….. Oh shut up Don and quit your whining. I told myself. You, Megan and Robin are much better off today than you were five months ago. If you have to go to cooking school to keep positive things happening, DO IT! You know it is worth it. Maybe you just need a vacation, or just quit your tech job, you don't really need it. I took some deep breaths to calm down and reenergize myself, and then I opened my front door.

Wonderful smells assaulted my nose. Before stepping in, I looked at the floor by the door. Maria still hadn't returned that damn chicken; she had started keeping it on the nightstand by her bed. She had even named it. I would have to check with the police and see if she needed a permit for it. Maybe I could get her to take a chicken safety class. Always make sure your chicken is unloaded and never point your chicken at anybody. Halt, I've got a chicken and I know how use it, "Buk-buk-baaak"! With these thoughts, the smell of food, and a silly ass grin on my face, I made my way through my front door and into my house.

"Hello, I'm home, what smells so good?"

Maria stepped briefly out of the kitchen with a cute little apron on.

"Welcome home, Don. I thought if I made dinner before we go, that would give us much more time this evening to relax. I've made spinach salad, stuffed pork chops, mashed potatoes, snow peas and fried mushrooms. I know how much you like mushrooms. I even got THE CHEESCAKE for dessert." Why did I hear the sound of cows, mooing for just a moment? Bizarre! "How does that sound?"

I had to close my eyes for a minute to stop the tears threatening to come out and I felt a wave of sorrow envelope my body. It was a nice dream that I had let get too real, she's just a wonderful friend. I figured that she had too much in the way of unused maternal instincts and had attached herself to us because of my girls, but that was all right, too. "Don, Don - are you okay?" I didn't want to open my eyes because they were too wet, but I had to.

"I'm fine Maria; it's just that it is so nice to come home to a wonderful meal when you're tired. I really, really appreciate it, thank you."

She gave me a really strange look and then returned to the kitchen. I hurried to the master bath to wash my face and compose myself.

"♫ Unchain my heart. Cause you don't care about me. ♫"

It took me a few minutes to get myself together. Suck it up Don, what are you, a little girly man? When I returned to the dining room, the food was already on the table and everyone else was seated. I apologized for being slow and sat down.

The spinach salad was great, plenty of bacon. The pork chops were wonderful; instead of regular stuffing there was some kind of a cheese, bacon and onion mixture inside. It was nice to be waited on, and by a multi-millionaire no less. I enthusiastically complimented Maria on the meal, and she seemed to be very pleased. Megan and Robin were less fulsome in their praise, but they enjoyed it too, probably not enough cheese and grease for them. It was about time that they had a really healthy meal. My hamburgers, French fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, fried coconut chicken wings and lasagna thingy with extra sausage and cheese were probably not the healthiest of diets. I was lucky we hadn't gotten scurvy yet. We decided to save the cheesecake for later.

When we got back from the therapist, Maria led us all down to the gym to practice our dancing. On the way, she asked me a strange question. "Don, do you recall when that tree fell on my home and you asked for my permission to do a 'little bit of work' cleaning up the mess."

Guardedly I said, "Yes". What have I done now?

"Sunday night I said 'I was going to fix things up a bit, and shouldn't really take me much work'. I just want you to remember that and what you said to me about the tree."

With some trepidation now I followed Maria into my gym. In the northeast corner was not a "tuned up" piece of plywood flooring but a large beautiful hard wood floor with a sign on the wall that said, "Maria's Dance Studio, Lessons by Appointment Only". Maria muttered something about Carl; I think the sign might have caught her by surprise.

The floor probably cost over three thousand dollars, what with it being a rush job. I turned to look at Maria. She looked me squarely in the eyes.