My Girl Next Door

I was twenty eight, had spent four years in the US Army and another four in college, and had gotten a great job as an engineer for an auto parts supplier in Tennessee. After another year of living in an apartment in one of the newer apartment complexes in town, I decided I didn't like having so many neighbors. I'd saved quite a bit in the Army and worked during college, so I didn't have any debt except for my car payment. After doing some figuring about my rent costs versus buying, I went looking for a house.

The realtor was very helpful. She started showing me houses in new subdivisions that were great houses. Most were on one acre lots, had at least three bedrooms and three baths, and half of them had in-ground pools. They also cost between two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand. My job paid well, but not that well, and though I'd saved a lot of my salary, I couldn't afford a down payment that would result in a reasonable monthly payment. I finally had to sit down with her and explain I just wanted a small house in a quiet part of town that was in the range of fifty to seventy five thousand.

She wasn't really too happy about that. She told me houses in that price range were few and far between and usually required some work. I think her biggest reservation was that her commission wouldn't be quite as big. After explaining that I didn't mind doing some work if the house was basically sound, she said she'd do some looking and give me a call if she found something.

Two days later, she called me and said she'd found three and could I look at them that afternoon. There were no hot projects at the office, so I took the afternoon off.

On the way to the first house, the realtor explained it had been owned by a retired couple for thirty years. The husband had passed away and the wife was in a nursing home. Her son was trying to sell the house to pay for the nursing home costs. To sweeten the deal, he was selling the stove, refrigerator, and washer and dryer along with the house. Since I didn't have any of those, this house was really interesting.

It was what I suppose was called a bungalow when it was built right after WWII. It sat in the middle of a block of houses of the same basic design but with slight variations to make each one a little different from the rest. This one had a front porch and a dormer above the main floor that formed a narrow bedroom upstairs. The house was brick and had a full basement with windows on the sides.

Like all the other houses on that block, this house had two hard maple trees in front and two in back. The trees were huge, and kept the house in shade. There was a drive on one side that led back to a single car garage.

I liked the house. The rooms were relatively small, but still bigger than my apartment and the lot was small as well. I wouldn't have to spend all day mowing the yard. Flowers were never my thing, but there were flower beds in back. The realtor told me they were perennials, so I wouldn't have to do anything except weed them once in a while. When I said I liked the house and the neighborhood the realtor told me the price was eighty five thousand.

That was more than I'd intended to spend, and I could see there was some work that needed to be done, so I had her write up an offer for seventy. I didn't expect that offer to be accepted, but it was a place to start. She called me the next day, said the owner had accepted my offer, and asked if I'd come by after work so she could start the loan application.

My apartment lease was due to expire in a month, so I was in a bit of a hurry to get things moving. I asked her how long it would take. She said if my credit score was good, probably about two weeks. It actually took three, but a week before I had to either sign a new lease or move out we closed on the house. I called my brother in law to see if he could help me move. Between his pickup and our backs, I moved in on Thursday morning.

On Friday, I bought a lawn mower, gas can, and a rake. The grass hadn't been mowed yet because it was only April, but we'd had a lot of rain and it was starting to look a little rough. By the time I got the mower put together, it was five and I was hungry. The mower went into the garage and I went to the grocery store. By seven, I was eating a pizza and sucking down a beer.

That Saturday I filled the mower with oil and gas and fired it up. The front yard was done in about twenty minutes. I was starting on the back when my neighbor to the east came out of her house and pulled her mower out of her garage. She waved at me when I went by and I waved back.

She was maybe fifty or a bit older. She was dressed in loose jeans and a knit top, the same thing my mom usually wore around the house. I couldn't really see much of her figure, but I could see enough to know she was definitely not skinny. Her figure was full breasted with wide hips that tapered to a nice, but not small waist.

On my second round of my back yard, she was trying to start her mower, but she was having trouble. I watched her pull the starter rope six times and still nothing happened. She put her hands on her hips then and frowned.

When I was growing up, everybody in the neighborhood helped everybody else. It might have just been making sure their house was OK while they were on vacation, or it might have been helping to put up a garden shed, but all the families helped each other. I decided I'd introduce myself to my neighbor and ask if she needed some help.

She smiled when I walked over to where she stood. I grinned.

"Hi. Looks like you're having a problem. Need some help?"

She shook her head.

"My old mower is on its last legs I think. I hoped I could get another year out of it, but I suppose I'll have to go buy a new one."

"Well, maybe not. It might just be something simple. I'll have a look if you'd like."

She smiled.

"If you can fix it, I'll be happy. I didn't want to spend that much money right now."

It was an old mower, and once I got close to it, I could see it was in pretty bad shape. The deck was rusted through in one small place around the engine mount, and the starter rope didn't retract all the way. I also smelled gasoline. That probably meant there was no spark getting to the spark plug.

The spark plug wire didn't have a boot. There was just a clip that connected to the plug and the clip looked pretty corroded. When I pulled it off, it came off way to easy to have been making contact because the little jaws had spread apart. I thought I could probably bend them back into shape. I looked up at the woman.

"I think I found the problem. I need to go get a pair of pliers to fix it. I'll be right back."

Once I got the clip cleaned up and fitting tight again, I checked the oil level so I could make sure if the engine did start, it wouldn't seize up after running a minute or so. The oil looked dirty and needed to be changed, but it was full.

By then, the gasoline odor had pretty much gone, so I gave the starter rope a pull. The engine coughed and fired once, but quit. After two more pulls, it started running, but it would rev up and then slow down, rev up and slow down, over and over.

I knew a little about small engines because cars and engines had been my love since I was sixteen. The only thing that makes an engine rev up and then slow down is something blocking the main jet in the carburetor or an air leak that was leaning out the mixture. That was fixable, but I'd have to get a carburetor kit. After killing the mower, I said as much to the woman. She frowned.

"Well, it would be nice not to have to buy a new one, but I do have to mow. How much will it cost to fix this one and how long?"

"Not much for the kit, but it's Saturday so I won't be able to get one until Monday. I'm working all week, so it'll probably be next Saturday before I can get you running again."

She scratched one arm.

"I guess I need to call someone to mow then. My yard will look really bad in a week."

I looked at her frowning face framed by her dark brown, shoulder length hair and then decided.

"You won't have to call anyone. I'll take care of it for you."

She stuck out her hand.

"I'm Natalie Wade. Thank you so much. My other neighbor gets all up in a snit if mine doesn't look as nice as his."

Her hand was soft. Her grip wasn't. I smiled.

"I'm Mark Jacobs, and it's not any trouble. Your yard isn't any bigger than mine. It'll only take about an hour."

Natalie went back in her house. I finished my back yard and then moved to her front yard. I saw her watching me from one of the windows as I mowed.

Natalie wasn't a beautiful woman, but she wasn't plain either. I figured most of that was because she didn't seem to have on any makeup and she hadn't done much with her hair other than comb it out. It was Saturday, though, and I didn't usually shave on Saturday, so I figured she was just taking it easy.

I also hadn't seen a wedding ring on her left hand. She might have just taken it off to work in her yard, but I thought if she was married surely her husband would have been helping her.

I finished her front yard and then finished the back. I was wheeling my mower back to my garage when she came back out and waved at me to stop.

"Mark, I want to pay you for your gas."

"I didn't even use a whole gallon on both yards. You can help me do something one of these days. That's enough."

Natalie shook her head.

"I'd still feel bad. I was going to grill a couple of hamburgers for dinner. Would you like to join me?"

I said I'd like that. She grinned.

"OK, maybe about six? Just come over to my patio. I'll have my grill going. What do you usually drink? I usually like a beer with my burger, but I have soft drinks too."

I said I'd like a beer. Natalie went back inside. I put the mower up and went inside.

About five, I started to change clothes and then decided if I didn't want Natalie to think her neighbor was a slob, I should probably shave. Once that was done, I put on a clean pair of jeans, a clean shirt, and the cowboy boots I wear when I'm not at the office. A little before six, I walked next door to Natalie's patio.

Her grill was one of those with a cover and it was smoking a little. Natalie was evidently inside. I sat down at her picnic table to wait. A few minutes later, she came outside with a bowl in one hand and a small cooler in the other. She smiled when she sat the bowl on the table.

"I had to go inside to get the potato salad I made and to bring out the beer. The burgers have a minute or so before they're done. Grab a beer while I go get the buns and other stuff."

I watched her go back inside with more than a little interest. Natalie had changed out of her loose clothes and into snug jeans and a pink T-shirt. The hips I'd guessed to be wide were, but the jeans made them look sensuous rather than large. I figured she must have been wearing a pretty soft bra, because her breasts sort of rolled around under that T-shirt when she moved.

She'd also apparently done something with her hair, because it was shiny and there was a little flip at the ends. I was pretty sure she'd used some lipstick because her lips looked a little pinker.

Natalie came back out with a package of buns in one hand and a little basket with ketchup, mustard and pickles in the other. She sat those on the table along with the two forks and two paper plates that were in the bottom of the basket. Then she went to the grill.

Five minutes later, I bit into one of the best hamburgers I'd ever tasted. I chewed that bite, swallowed, and then told Natalie she made great hamburgers. She smiled.

"That's what Jack always said too. We used to do this every Saturday night until it got too cold. I'd make potato salad and cook the hamburgers. We'd sit here at the table and eat, and then have another beer or two until the mosquitoes drove us back inside. It was so nice here, then. The people were all about our age, and we got along well. In the summer, we'd have a block party every month. All the families would bring food to one house and we'd have hamburgers or hot dogs or brats and all kinds of salads.

"It's changed a lot, the neighborhood I mean. Now, there are more young people, like you, and they don't want to socialize. They're all nice, but they're more interested in television and video games than in being with their neighbors I guess. You're the first neighbor who'd said more than two words to me in years."

I chuckled.

"Well, I couldn't just let you keep trying to start that mower. I grew up in the same kind of area. It was a suburb, but everybody still knew everybody else and helped each other. We didn't have block parties though."

"Well, I'm glad you tried to help. Since I lost Jack, I have to do everything by myself and there are some things I don't know how to do very well."

"Jack was your husband?"

"Yes, for twenty-one years."

I said I was sorry. Natalie smiled.

"It hurt, but that was ten years ago. I do OK now. Let's talk about you for a while. You said you grew in a suburb. Where was that? Here in Nashville?"

"No, it was in Springfield."

"So, what did you do between there and here?"

I went through my story about joining the Army and then going to college. Natalie listened and nodded here and there. The only time she said anything was to tell me she had to go inside for a minute.

"I don't want to stop you, but I need to use my bathroom. You won't go away, will you?"

I said I wouldn't.

Natalie came back out, pulled another beer from her cooler, and then asked if I wanted another. I said I should probably be getting home so she could relax a little. Natalie chuckled.

"What do you think I've been doing? This is the most relaxed I've been in years. I don't get to just sit and talk with anybody anymore. It's fun. Please stay for a while longer."

Well I did stay, through a second and then a third beer. I learned a lot about Natalie that night.

She and her husband had married just before he went to Vietnam. She worked to support herself while he was gone by running a cash register at the local dime store. When he came back, they bought the house and had two daughters. Both daughters were married now. One lived in Missouri and the other in Virginia. Natalie only saw them at Christmas.

The dime store went out of business years ago, but Natalie stayed working in the retail industry. She was now a department manager in a women's clothing store.

Finding out that much about Natalie didn't take all that long. It seemed like we mostly talked about me. By the time I said goodbye and went home, we'd talked about most of my life. Natalie was interested in it all, but especially in what I'd done in the Army and what I'd done in college.

She'd asked if I had a girlfriend. She grinned when I said I didn't.

"That's odd. I thought all guys had a girlfriend by the time they're your age."

"I probably would if I could find one. It's just that after I came back from the Army, girls seemed a little ditzy. They were all wrapped up in stuff that seemed kind of silly compared to what was happening in the world."

"You didn't find any in college who thought like you do?"

"Well, there weren't many girls studying to be engineers, and the ones that were weren't what I was looking for."

Natalie chuckled.

"You had a shopping list?"

"No, I was just looking for a woman who wanted to be a woman, not someone who designs the next spacecraft. They were all very career oriented, and not very feminine."

Natalie chuckled again.

"So, you're looking for a girl who'll stay home and have your babies?"

"Oh, I'd want her to have a career if she wanted one. I'd just want to be as important to her as her career. As for babies, I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet."

"Well, you keep looking. I'm sure there's one out there who fits what you want. You just haven't met her yet."

I finally left about ten after helping Natalie carry all the stuff back inside. At her door, she touched my arm and smiled.

"Mark, I had a nice time tonight. Maybe after you fix my mower, we could do it again?"

I said I had a good time too and I'd be happy to do it again if she'd let me bring something next time. She grinned.

"OK, you bring the beer. I'll do the rest. I like cooking for somebody besides myself."

I was pretty happy when I went to bed that night. I thought Natalie was going to be a great neighbor. She was smart, she was friendly, and we thought a lot alike about several things. I wondered why she hadn't remarried. Like I said earlier, she wasn't beautiful, but she was as pretty as most other women. I didn't think she'd want for a chance to meet another man.

Monday after work, I stopped off at a small engine shop to buy a carburetor kit for Natalie's mower. The guy looked up the engine number I gave him in his parts book and then frowned.

"That engine is almost twenty years old. I don't have a kit to fit it and my parts book says they've been discontinued. Your best bet is probably a new mower. They're pretty much throwaways after a few years anymore, but they'll mow grass."

What I really needed from the kit was the gaskets. If something was just clogged, I could clean it easy enough. I asked the guy if he had a roll of gasket material I could buy. On the way home, I stopped by an auto supply shop for a can of carburetor cleaner.

That night after I ate, I knocked on Natalie's door. She smiled when she opened it.

"I didn't expect to see you again until Saturday. Come in. I just made a pot of coffee. Would you like some?"

After Natalie brought the coffee from her kitchen, I told her about the kit.

"I couldn't buy a kit because they're obsolete. I think I can still fix it. It'll just take a little longer. I'll get started on Saturday morning and we'll see what we see. If I can't get it running, I'll mow your grass again."

Natalie smiled.

"I'll fix lunch for us then. Do you like ham sandwiches?"

On Saturday morning about nine, I picked up my tool box and walked over to Natalie's back door. She was already outside waiting for me, and had her mower on the patio. I sat down on the concrete and started taking off the carburetor. Natalie sat down in a lawn chair to watch.

Nobody had taken anything apart on that mower in years, so getting the carburetor off took me a while. It was after ten before I had it off and taken apart.

It didn't look all that bad inside. There was some varnishing that came off easily with the carburetor cleaner, and the main jet cleaned up just fine. The gaskets were shot, just like I'd suspected, so I started making a bowl gasket.

Once I had a bowl gasket, I put the carburetor back together and moved the throttle and choke levers to make sure the fly disks were centered and the shafts moved freely. All that was left was the main gasket between the carburetor and the engine.

I was ready to start making that gasket when Natalie said lunch was ready. I hadn't seen her leave, but when I looked up, she had carried out some sandwiches, potato chips, and two sodas.

She looked at me, and grinned.

"If you eat with your hands that dirty, your sandwich is going to taste awful. You better wash up first. Jack always used dishwashing soap when his hands were greasy. I'll show you the kitchen and bring you a clean towel."

The ham sandwiches were great. Sitting there with Natalie was better. What I'd told her about the girls I knew was true. They were either all glued to their cell phones or were working so hard at getting a degree they didn't have time for anything else. Even when I got out of college and met a few women, they were more interested in getting ahead than getting a man, or so it seemed. It was hard to get them to talk about anything but their careers.

Natalie wasn't like that at all. She had a career, but she didn't really talk about it. Instead, she wanted to talk about me and what I liked. The girls who were constantly on their cell phones were also always dressed in sexy clothes so they could take pictures of themselves and add them to their social media sites. Natalie was just Natalie. That afternoon, she had on jeans that fit well, but not tight and a top that outlined her figure but in a very feminine manner. I liked her smile too.