New Beginnings: Bob and Jolynn Ch. 01

"Don't be. I was fine until the hug thing became a battle of wills. I was only concerned that it might bother you if you found me hugging her."

"Lissa has never had a man in her life since she was born. I am fine with you showing her some affection. She needs it. I know I damn sure do too."

Bob got up and came to her and gave her a hug.

"Thank you so much. It's been a long time since I've had a simple hug without the next step being a hand being shoved down or up my dress. I hope that you have an extra hug for me from time to time."

"Not a problem."

"Jolynn, that dirty old man is hugging my mom." Lissa yelled from the doorway back towards the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it. His heart is big enough to give hugs to lots of people who need it."

"Oh. Bob, Jolynn wants her glass of wine. Something about the cook needing oil?"

"She means the cook needs to be well oiled."

"That's it."

Bob and Francie laughed and walked to the kitchen with Lissa leading. Bob opened the bottle he found on the counter and poured four glasses and handed one to each of the women. Francie and Jolynn smiled and took a sip. Lissa sniffed hers before she tentatively tilted the glass and let the wine touch her lips. Then she licked her lips to taste it. She smiled. "That's good."

Jolynn responded, "In an Italian family, every one over the age of twelve has wine with dinner. But it isn't 'let's kill a bottle or two and get smashed' drinking. The wine cleans your palette for dinner and then enhances the food when you eat. It is part of the meal; not party time."

"Oh, I understand." Lissa said, clearly indicating that she didn't.

"Oh, Mom. Guess what we are having for dinner?" Francie shrugged her shoulders. "We are having pizza and it didn't come in a box or frozen. She made them from scratch." Francie's eyes opened wide.

"Homemade and not store bought. It must be a special day."

"To an Italian, every day is a special day. And no day goes by without a good home made dinner at home. This is normal for me. Bob thinks that I am going to make him fat. But I told him, well let's take these pizzas. They probably have half the fat of any pizza you buy. The toppings are all fresh. Tonight, the sauce came out of a can but soon, it will also be fresh. There is less salt, less sugar, and less of all the bad things. To me and I hope to you, it will be just as filling and taste better than anything you can buy already prepared."

"It certainly smells better already." Francie said.

"Have seat at the table, we'll eat in here rather than the dining room."

"There is no TV in here." Lissa said.

"And there never will be. We can put some music on if you like, but meals are for enjoying; enjoying the food, enjoying each other, enjoying the conversation. And yes, Lissa, kids are allowed to talk and everyone listens and the kids are expected to listen when the adults talk. If you don't participate, how can you learn anything? There are only a couple of things that aren't discussed during a meal: sex and politics. Sex is for private. Politics is for after dinner. And nobody is allowed to go to bed angry."

"Wow. I didn't know that families could do that." Lissa said. Francie looked embarrassed.

Jolynn quickly responded. "Not all families can do that, Lissa. I know that many single moms and working mothers wish that they could have dinner like this, but their job or their stress makes it impossible. But that doesn't mean that they don't want to. A lot of families don't know how. It is a long tradition in Italian and Greek families and also in many Spanish and Hispanic homes. But a lot of Americans don't. If you come to dinner here frequently, you will get used to it fairly soon."

"I'm still getting used to it." Bob said, "I've never been part of a family that did this regularly. We only did it at holiday meals. Now I wish that we had done more of it. I can see how a lot of stress and problems can be resolved easily."

"Ok, folks, dinner is served." Jolynn brought out two large cookie sheets and set them on the table. Then she went and brought back a butcher's knife and waved it toward Bob. "See we need tools, I tell you, proper tools." Then she brought the knife down and neatly sliced each pizza into eight parts. "Oh, and before you eat you say your thanks. It can be silent or aloud. Some call it grace or whatever. But everyone, every day has to say thanks for the blessings they receive."

She sat and took Bob's hand and looked up. After a moment, she said, "Lissa, which pieces do you want to start with?" Lissa pointed to one and she used a cake spatula to serve it. "Francie?" She served another." Bob?"

"No, you first."

"The cook is always served last. That way, if one the diners die from the first bite, the cook can go back and figure out what went wrong." Everyone at the table roared with laughter and the mood was set for the evening.

They each had completed their first slice and started on the second when Francie began.

"Bob, you know Margaret, the preacher's wife?"

"I met her a couple of times, I think. Little petite woman, could be 26 or 46, always dresses in black or brown?"

"That's her. She really is very nice once you get past her gruff exterior. Well there are two things I wanted to bounce off you. Oh, I better give you a little background. She came from a poor family out west who are very strict fundamentalists. She married this guy when she was eighteen. After a year of marriage, he decided that God had spoken to him and that he needed to save the world. In their religion, you don't have to go to school or anything. You just up and start a church and start preaching. So that is what he did. And it turns out that he wasn't a very good preacher and didn't get many people to come on Sunday. Margaret told me that her household budget for food and clothing was $100 per month."

"$100 a MONTH. I think that it would be impossible to live on $100 a week." Jolynn busted out.

"You're telling me something I don't know?" Francie continued. "Well she has for five years. How she did it, I don't know. Anyway, last week she came home and found him worshipping at the altar of someone else's uncrossed legs, if you know what I mean."

Lissa asked, "What's that?" Everyone looked a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry, honey. This is one of those things that can be brought up at the dinner table because it's news, but we wait until after dinner to discuss. I'll tell you later when we are alone. OK?" Jolynn responded.

"Sure." Lissa said uncertainly.

Francie cleared her throat and nodded at Jolynn and then continued. "Well, Margaret packed up her stuff, two grocery sacks full, and left and ended up at the diner. She has $20 to her name. I couldn't let her spend her money there and she had no place to go, so I brought home with me. She is very thankful. But I got to wondering, if I let here stay for awhile, I might be breaking my lease. It says that the only occupants are to be me and Lissa and it sounds pretty strong. What do you think the landlord would say if I asked to add someone else for a while?"

Bob thought before he replied. Jolynn watched him thinking. "Francie, I don't think that you would have a problem. That clause in a lease is usually to protect the landlord in case the tenant turns a one bedroom apartment into a home for six or something. Or if two people on a lease turn it into a whore house. Or in your case, if you got a boy friend who moved in, got drunk a lot, and beat you up or destroyed the place. In the case of a female friend, it would be like having your sister staying with you for a long time. I doubt that any landlord would have a problem with that."

"I know you are right. I wouldn't mind having a boy friend but the rest of that isn't going to happen in my house, now or never. I'll write the landlord a letter tomorrow."

Jolynn asked, "Why don't you just e-mail him? It would be a lot faster."

"I know. I have a computer but it crashed; it is so old. And even if it did work, I don't have internet. So I'll write him a letter."

Jolynn looked at Lissa and saw a little embarrassment. She looked at Bob and raised her eyebrow. Bob looked back at her and shrugged his shoulders slightly. She wasn't sure what he meant but was going to ask.

Jolynn said, "You said there were two things about Margaret?"

"Yes, but the second kind of hinges on the first. Margaret needs a job. She won't take charity from anyone including me. She insists on paying rent to stay there. Like I said she only has $20 to her name. I could get her on at the diner but I'd need to get her to clean up her act a little and it would be next month at the earliest. But she needs money pretty quickly. So I was wondering......" She slowed down and stopped.

Bob said, "Go on."

"Well I know that you want a garden but with you not being here that much, it will be slow. I know for a fact that Margaret can grow anything anywhere. That is how she can make it on $100 per month mostly. So I was wondering if you might want to hire her to get your garden started for you. You wouldn't have to pay her much but you would have to pay her or she won't do it."

Bob looked at Jolynn who returned his look. "I think that we might be able to work something out. Why don't you bring her down tomorrow so she can see what I have to work with and let's see if we can't work something out."

"Thanks, I would appreciate it and I know she would."

"So squirt, tell me how school is going."

"Bob, her name is Lissa. Squirt is what you do in bathroom or with a hose in the garden." Jolynn said calmly.

"My apologies. Tell me about school, Lissa."

"I'm doing OK, I guess. I'm glad that this is my last semester. I am really looking forward to college."

Francie jumped in, "OK, my ass. In four years of high school she has four B's. Everything else is A's and a lot of those are in AP classes. She will graduate with about 5 college credits. I couldn't ask anything more from a daughter."

"Wow, that's impressive Lissa. My high school transcript doesn't look nearly that good. What are your college plans?" Jolynn said.

"I would love to go to a four year school like Hanover but we can't afford it. So I'm going to go to the junior college for two years and hope I can get a scholarship to a big school."

"What are you interested in majoring in?"

"Well until last year I was thinking Math or Physics. I like those. But after I got my horse, I'm thinking about equine husbandry or may veterinary."

"That's impressive, don't you think so Bob?"

"I've helped her with both Math and Physics and I have no doubt that she would do well with either. But the first time I saw her on that horse, it was like the two were one animal or person. She has a natural feel for horses. I think that they talk to each other in a language only they understand. It's quite a sight."

"Well that settles that. After dinner, you can take me to meet your horse before it gets dark."

"You want to see her? I have to go feed her anyway and I'd love for you to come along. Is that alright Mom, Bob?"

"Of course it is." They said in unison.

When they were finished, they were surprised that all of the pizza was gone. No one felt stuffed nor did they realize that they had each had four pieces. All that was left was a few crumbs.

"Oh, my I don't think that I have eaten that much pizza since I was a teenager." Francie said.

"I really liked the crust. It tasted so good but it wasn't too thick or too thin or too hard." Lissa said.

"Unless I miss my guess, Jolynn made it from scratch." Bob added.

"You didn't make it from scratch, did you?" Francie said.

"Wow. That must have been a lot of work." Lissa added.

"It's not really. It only takes ten minutes to put the dough together. The problem is that you have to let is rise for a while. Most people don't take or have the time to wait for dough to rise. So they don't bake bread. My mother was a stay at home mom. She baked bread three times a week. Sometimes bread, sometimes dinner rolls or biscuits, or whatever we needed or wanted. It's a little bit of work but if you have the time, it will beat anything you can buy in the store."

"If you make bread again, can I watch?" Lissa asked.

"Of course you can. It will probably be on a weekend since I will be back and forth for a while. Now why don't you old people take a glass of wine to the den and talk. I have a horse to meet."

"Old people? Who are you calling old?" Bob blustered

"Well you are both over thirty and us young chicks have some talking to do. You can take a nap if you want. Bye. We'll have pie when we get back."

And the young chicks were out of the door. Bob poured another glass of wine for Francie and himself and led her to the den. They sat on the couch.

"I hope you don't mind, but I've got to ask how you met her. She is special."

"Well, you know that I like my privacy so don't spread this around. OK?" Francie nodded. "I met her for the first time last Friday night and she literally swept me off my feet. By that I mean I was sitting by myself, she walked over sat down and asked me where I was taking her after the meeting was over. So I took her out. Saturday was more of the same and every day since. Last night I gave her a ring which says that in four months I will ask her to marry me. And in spite of the short time, I don't feel like I rushed into a thing."

"Well I'm glad you gave yourself some time. A lot can change on four months. You can find out things about a person that even they don't know."

"Do you see anything phony about Jolynn?"

"Are her tits real?"

"Yes, they are."

"Then no, I don't see anything phony about her. I like her a lot and I think she will really help Lissa. I trust her. But I am concerned for you. I slept with a guy once who I trusted and loved. When he found out I was pregnant with Lissa, he disappeared. And I haven't trusted many men since then. I hope that something like that doesn't happen to you, but I can never shake that feeling for myself."

"I appreciate your concern. And I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thanks." Then they settled in to discussing various local things and people while drinking their wine.

Lissa took Jolynn's hand and led her toward the barn. Inside, Jolynn say the most beautiful paint horse she had ever seen. The horse came to the stall door as soon as she saw Lissa. She nuzzled her nose on Lissa's arm. Jolynn reached out her hand and the horse sniffed her and allowed her to scratch the side of her face.

"She likes you. She doesn't let many people to scratch her face. Sometimes she warms up to people who bring her an apple or something. But mostly she just responds to me."

"She is beautiful. I don't know much about horses but I am amazed at how firm her muscles are and how colorful and well defined her colors are."

"She didn't always look like that. Bob found her at a rescue shelter and talked mom into letting me get her. Bob told mom that the fee was $100 but I know that it was $750 and that he paid the difference. She was skin and bones and could barely stand. Her coat was filthy and ragged. Bob got a trailer and we brought her here. The vet said that I should put her down. I looked into her eyes and she was telling me 'No, not yet.' So I started feeding her and caring for her. It took two months before I could take her out to the pasture and let her walk alone. The fresh grass seemed to help her more than the hay and she seemed happy. I walked with her every day. She likes the spring sun and gentle rain. One day, I felt like she was asking me to ride her. I didn't have a saddle so I carefully got on her bareback. I didn't even have reins. I just held onto her mane. But I didn't even need to do that. She just walked around the pasture and stopped at several places. It was like she was showing me her favorite spots. Two weeks later, when I got home from school she was standing by the gate. When I went to her, she turned and started trotting around. She was showing me that she could run a little. So we started trotting rather than walking. Now I had to get her out of our little pasture, so I began riding her down to Bob's house. She loved that. She went right up to one of the apple trees and pulled one off the tree and ate it."

"This is really an amazing story." Jolynn said. She had begun stroking the horse's neck. "What did you name her?"

"I couldn't think of a name I liked. So I just called her, 'Her.' But she always seemed to respond to the word sunshine. So now I call her Sunshine or Sun for short. Once we started trotting, she really got stronger quickly. By the time school started this year, she was running every day. She found an opening in the fence and went down to Bob's every day for an apple when they were ripe. In September, Bob came down one weekend and called me to ride Sun down to his house. He had a bridle and saddle. He said that he got them at an Estate Sale in Dallas for a very good price. They fit perfectly. I know he bought them from someone who knows horses and it cost a lot more than he said. He's such a goofball. He doesn't even realize that we know that he bought the house and rents it to us cheap. He has done a lot of things for us. Mom puts up the front of wanting to pay for things but since she lost her job at the plant, it has been hard to make ends meet. She really doesn't want to take charity but she knows that without it, we would be in big trouble. But every night she says thanks that Bob is always there for us. She doesn't know how she can ever pay him back. I don't know how I can either."

"Honey, for some people, knowing that they are helping someone who needs it is all the thanks they want or need. I think Bob is like that. He would probably be embarrassed if you or your Mom ever said or did anything. That's just the way he is and one of the reasons I fell in love with him." They were silent for a few minutes. "Do you want to tell me when you fell in love with him?"

Lissa stopped and looked at her, "How did you know that?"

"Simple. I was your age not that long ago and I felt the same thing. You coming into the store and demanding his attention and then looking over your competition and trying to find a way to get rid of me are all signs of a girl who loves someone but doesn't know how to show it. So tell me."

"You're not mad at me?"

"I will be mad at you if you don't tell me."

"I was 14 when he bought the house and started coming down every weekend to work on it. I started going down to see what he was doing. When I watched him work, sometimes without a shirt, I sort of well, I would feel a tingle."

"Right between your legs along with other places, right?"

Lissa looked at her sheepishly, and replied "Yes. And it got worse the more I went to visit. When he went home for the week, I would lay in bed dreaming about him and touching myself; there. I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how to make him notice me, so I started calling him old fart and things like that. But what I wanted was for him to notice me and treat me anything but like a little girl. Then when I was fifteen, I started badgering him and finally got him to make a promise to me. But I guess that that won't happen now."

"Spill it all."

"You will hate me."

"Not a chance. I am guessing that he promised to make love with you some day. Right?"

"How did you know that? I've never told a soul."

"I am learning about you and I know Bob. The rest is easy to figure out. Now give."

"I was pestering him pretty badly, when one day he just looked at me and asked, 'What do you want from me?' I said, 'I want you to take me out on a date and fuck me.' Just like that, I said it and then was so embarrassed, I just ran away. I didn't see him for three weeks after that. I was too ashamed. The next weekend he came down, Momma told me to help carry some things down to Bob's. I felt safe enough being with Momma, so I went. When we got there, Bob was sitting on the porch with a glass of iced tea and he asked me to sit down. Now I was scared. Momma stood behind me. He said that he wanted to talk about what I had said. He said that he couldn't do that but that he would make me a promise. He promised that if I was still a virgin and graduated from high school and turned eighteen, he would take me out and if I still wanted to, we would make love. I almost melted in the chair right there. I didn't know what to say especially with Momma right there. So I just said OK. He said that we wouldn't talk about it again until after I graduated from high school and we haven't. But now that he has you, that isn't likely to happen. Do you hate me?"