Trivial Pursuit

"Do you enjoy Trivial Pursuit?" she asked him out of the blue.

"I've never played. Why?"

"Never? Wow. Um...just wondering. You seem like a very smart man and I need a new partner." She looked at the wedding ring on his left hand and said, "I mean, if your wife would be okay with that."

He took a quick look at it himself and said quietly, "My wife passed away right after we retired. I started teaching to force myself to do something but sit around feeling bad all the time."

"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. That's just...terrible." She waited for a second then said, "I don't mean to be flip about something so serious, but that's yet one more thing I didn't know about you. I'm really sorry."

"Me, too," he told her. "She had Hodgkin's Disease which has a very high cure rate, but a rate that isn't 100% obviously means some people don't get better, right?"

"Do you guys have children?" she asked.

"One. Our son is a freshman in college and I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn he's planning on becoming a Marine officer himself. He wants to fly F-35s or anything with wings. I told him that means he'll end up flying trash haulers... sorry...helicopters in Marine-speak, but he said he'd be just fine with that, too."

"Were you a pilot?" she asked.

"Oh, no. Never had any interest. I was an infantry officer and can't imagine having been anything else."

"I'd like to hear about your experiences sometime," she told him sincerely.

"It's mostly just boring stuff," he said not wanting to get into everything he'd seen over the years.

"Not to me it isn't," she assured him. "So...what do you think? Would you be interested in playing as my partner?"

"Oh, right. Trivial Pursuit. Gee, I don't know. I mean, wouldn't you feel a little silly showing up with a guy your dad's age?" He smiled to soften the truth, but it was still the truth.

"My dad is 55 and you can't possibly be that old. Besides, we're just playing a game, so who cares, right?"

"Well, I'm 47—almost 48—so I'd say that's at least 'close' to your dad's age, but somehow I feel better knowing he's a few years older."

She smiled again and said, "You know, not a day goes by in here that you don't make me laugh! So? How about it?"

"When do you play?" he asked.

"Every Wednesday evening. We alternate between my place and my sister's house. This week they're coming to my place."

"Don't you have someone, you know, under 30—or at least under 40—to play with you?" he said only partly joking.

"Well...I did," she replied. "But we had a recent...misunderstanding, and he's no longer my partner or in my life so..."

"Oh, sounds serious. Well, okay. Sure. I can be a temporary placeholder until you find someone who didn't go to school before the internet was invented."

Kristen laughed again and told him, "Hah! My dad just recently said something very similar."

"Well, your dad's older than dirt, you know." He pretended to think about what he'd just said before adding, "Which must make me...dirt."

"Oh, my goodness. That was beyond corny!" she said but laughed anyway.

"Yeah, but it made you laugh so, I call that a win," he said flashing another smile at her.

"Shouldn't you at least have some gray hair if you're older than dirt?" She corrected herself and said, "I mean...since you are dirt?"

He ceremoniously pulled his shirt open at the top button and pretended to look down inside it at his chest and said, "Oh, I have gray hairs. Yep, there's another one right there! Gonna have to go home and pluck that out."

She laughed so hard again several of the kids looked over to see what was going on. "Yeah, right. Like a Marine is gonna be using tweezers."

She paused for a second then said, "Oh, guess what? I'm getting my splint off after school today."

"You were in a cast for a while first as I recall."

"Four weeks. Plus two in this thing. Hopefully I can start doing some strengthening exercises immediately and slowly work back into a running routine." She held out her ankle and twisted it around in a circle. "It actually feels pretty good."

"Just don't overdue it trying to get your groove back too fast."

"Oh, no way. I'm not gonna blow all this recovery time by being careless."

The bell rang and as the kids lined up she saw a scrap of paper and grabbed a pen laying on his desk. She scribbled out her phone number and said, "Just give me a call and I'll text you my address, okay?"

He took it from her and promised her he would.

"Class? Everyone tell Mr. Hansen 'thank you for your service.'"

In unison, all of them did just that.

"Thanks, guys!" he told. He went to the door and did a high five or a knuckle bump with each of the kids. A couple of the boys asked if they could hold his sword and another said, "Did you kill anyone?"

Kristen almost passed out. "Holden! We don't ask people that question. Go on outside, please." She looked at Hansen and said, "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. They're kids, right? And kids are curious about everything. It's no big deal."

Kristen was the last one out. As she walked passed him she said, "Well, take care and again thank you for your service and you really did look very handsome today."

"Ah, well, as I said, it's the uniform, but thank you. I'm no flirt, but you're kinda cute yourself. You know, for a kid."

She made a face then stuck her tongue out just a little bit and said, "Ha! I'm turning 28 in two weeks and I don't feel much like a kid anymore, but thank you for saying that. I think. See you tomorrow?"

It was the following Monday before Kristen said anything to him about Trivial Pursuit. See saw him in the teacher's lounge before school when it was just the two of them and said, "So, did you forget?"

"Forget?" he said.

"You were supposed to call me so I could send you my address. For Trivial Pursuit. Remember?"

"No, I didn't forget," he said as he grabbed the pay stub and school newsletter laying in his box.

"Oh, okay. Did you change your mind?" she asked surprised by how much the thought of that bothered her.

"No, I haven't changed my mind."

"Then what is it?" she asked. Another teacher came in and Hansen said, "Um...I'll see you later in the lab, okay?"

"If I were single," the other teacher said. Hansen had been the talk of the school since the assembly. Time and again, Kristen heard other women saying they'd never seen him before or how they had no idea he was even at the school. One however, mentioned she very much knew he was there and she made it a point to find an excuse to stop by his room for whatever she could think of every time she could. Then again, she was about 40 and recently divorced so...

When she got everyone settled in she said, "So what couldn't you tell me this morning?"

"I made a commitment and I'll honor it, but I'm not really sure about this," he said.

"Oh, okay. You know it's just a game, right?" she reminded him again.

She was looking at him waiting for an answer when he said, "Why me?"

"Why you what?" she said indicating she was confused.

"Well, you have an entire school full of fellow teachers with college degrees. They're all smart people. I was just wondering why you asked me out of all those choices just here at this school."

"Well, I just thought...I mean, it seemed like it might be fun if..." She stopped talking and said, "Uh well...I don't honestly know. When you put it like that, it does seem kind of...silly." She sat there for a few seconds and said, "Maybe it was the uniform," she said almost meekly. "How shallow is that, right?"

He could see she felt like he'd put her on the spot so he pushed his wheeled chair closer to hers. "I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything. I guess I was just trying to make sense of why a very young, um...very attractive, single woman would ask a guy my age to do...anything with her. If it really was just a momentary swoon over the uniform..." He tried not to laugh as he said that, "Then I'm happy to let you off the hook. That way it'll be easier when you find a regular partner in another week or two."

"Yeah, I guess maybe it was the uniform," she said. "But I really don't have anyone else for this week so could you possibly come this one time? I'd really appreciate it."

"Oh, sure. Like I said, I told you I'd do it and I know it sounds cliche, but my word is my bond. I'll be there with bells on." He looked down at his feet and said, "No, on second thought, forget the bells."

Kristen didn't laugh or even smile at his silly humor.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"What if it wasn't just the uniform?" she said without looking at him.

"Pardon?" he said.

She turned toward him again and said, "What if if wasn't the uniform? Or what if the uniform was just the thing that pushed me over the line to make me want ask you? And even it was, is there something wrong with that? It's not like I asked you out or anything."

She was being defensive now and Hansen felt terrible for saying anything. He should have just gone this one time, then told her 'no thanks' if she asked again. He could have a heart of stone when it came to making life or death decisions, but he couldn't stand hurting a woman's feelings.

"No, of course there's nothing wrong with it, Kristen," he said using her first name knowing the kids were't paying attention. "I just thought you might want an out after you'd given it some thought. That's all. I'm just a little surprised you asked me and I'll leave it at that."

She seemed a little moody the rest of the time she was in the lab and she spent it with the kids which was a good thing. It was a bit unusual as this was a self-paced lab, but wasn't that what good teachers did?

On the way out, he let all the kids go by then asked them to stand right outside his door for a minute. He kept the door propped open with one foot so he could watch them as he talked to their teacher who was still inside his room.

"I'm really sorry. I feel like an ass for even saying anything."

Her mood softened slightly and she said, "It's okay. I understand."

"Do you?" he said looking at her.

"Well, yeah. I get it. You don't want to hang out with someone you see as a kid and I'll get over feeling silly for having asked you. We'll do this the one time and that'll be that," she said not really looking at him.

"Then you really don't get it," he said as politely as he could.

"I'm sorry?" she said as she finally looked up at him.

He sighed and said, "It's just that men my age...we... I mean, sometimes we forget how old we are and we still think we've 'got game' even though the game long since left us behind. So when a really attractive young woman shows any kind of interest in us, well, sometimes we misread things. I guess what I'm saying is I'm the one who feels a little silly right about now."

He finally got her to smile and told her, "I'm actually looking forward to this. And as you said, it is just a game, right?"

"Exactly," she said. "It's just Trivial Pursuit."

She started to leave and he said, "Oh, I still need your address."

"Do you have your phone with you?" she asked him.

"Right here," he said as he grabbed it off his desk.

"Open it to your phone contacts for me, please." He did and she quickly tapped in her number. "Since you didn't call me last time, I won't ask you to again. But if you'll send me a text, I'll send you my address."

Hansen watched her limp out and wondered why women these days had to text everything. She could have just written it down for him. Then he remembered she'd done that once already with her phone number. He sighed again about how confusing all this was and got ready for the next class.

He still had a couple of minutes left so he decided to stop procrastinating. He brought up her number under "Messages" and typed: "Sorry for being such a Richard Cranium. I'm not normally like that. Please send me your address and I look forward to playing with you." He hit 'send' then realized what he'd written. "Shit!" he said out loud forgetting to look for kids first. The room was still empty and he breathed a sigh of relief. He typed another text that read: "Wow. That sounded really bad. What I meant to say was I'm looking forward to playing Trivial Pursuit with you. I guess I should stop digging while the hole I'm is still reasonably shallow, right?" He added a smiley face and hit 'send.'

A few minutes later he got a reply: "I was trying to stay mad at you but as usual, you made me laugh again with your synonym for 'dick head' so you're out of the hole! Here's my address: 16495 E. 18th Street, Auburn, WA. Oh, and you can play...Trivial Pursuit...with me...anytime." Smiley face.

Hansen had kids in the room by then so he couldn't send another reply, but he felt something he hadn't felt in a very, very long time, and it was actually a very pleasant feeling. Even if that was the extent of it, if nothing more came of it, it felt nice to have someone be a little flirty with him. Well, maybe she wasn't even flirting, but that was okay, too. Just having an attractive, younger...no, a much younger woman be nice to him, was a very good thing. In fact, he'd forgotten just how good it felt as he hadn't even gone out since the death of his wife. Women still flirted with him pretty regularly, but until now, he'd never paid any attention let alone flirted back. Maybe playing Trivial Pursuit would be a great way to slowly get back in the game. Then he remembered he no longer even had game.

Mid-November was always cold. Not Minnesota cold, but highs of 45-50 were typical. Hansen was no slave to fashion, but having served at the White House for two years as a young captain, he'd learned how to dress himself with the help of his late wife. He wore a pair of Levis with a blue, button-down shirt and a navy colored sweater. He had an old, worn leather jacket he'd worn for years and threw that on over it as he headed out.

It took him about fifteen minutes to get to Kristen's apartment which was located in a nicer part of the city of Auburn which was maybe 15 miles almost due south of Seattle. He'd been born and raised in nearby Renton before attending the University of Washington then accepting a commission in the Marine Corps in 1982. Since then, he'd lived mostly around Marine Corps bases like Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina with a couple of tours in Okinawa, Japan. The weather had been warm, hot, or hot and humid for most of his career with temperatures in Iraq hitting 125 or better all during the summer months. He'd been back home for three years, but the cold still bothered him. Looking back, he wondered how he'd never even noticed it growing up and decided it must be that kids just accept life the way it comes to them. Kids in Miami probably didn't notice or care it was hot as hell all year long so why should kids from Seattle think 40 degrees is cold? To them it was just—normal.

He shivered as he got out of the car. His car was the only exception to his otherwise relatively frugal lifestyle. Hansen had a very nice home but it wasn't luxurious. Thanks to the ton of money they'd saved over his career and the life insurance he'd reluctantly accepted after she died, he owned his home and the car outright. His only real 'bill' was his son's college tuition and room and board.

Before she died, his wife had made him promise two things. The first was that he'd splurge on the car he'd always wanted but never bought. They'd never avoided taking a vacation or buying what they wanted and had still managed to save and invest a lot. She wanted him to have this one luxury. So he'd gone crazy by buying a 5.0L supercharged Jaguar with 550HP in 'ultimate black' for just over a hundred grand and he'd done that without even touching their...his...savings. The other was a promise he wouldn't live alone. She made him promise her he'd find someone else and even though his heart wasn't it, he assured her he would.

He got out, hit the remote and locked the car then started looking for her apartment.

David and Angie had been there for about a half hour and she wanted details from her sister. "So how did Mike react when you told him it was over?"

"Not well," she said cryptically.

"Did he get physical?" she asked with real concern.

"Not with me," she said. "But he did punch the wall."

"God! What an idiot! I'm so glad you got away from that guy. I was always worried about him doing something like that to you."

Kristen finished putting out snacks along with some wine and cheese and said, "Well, it's over and that's behind me."

"Thank God," she said. "So who's this guy coming over tonight?"

"Guy."

"Right. Which guy."

"Guy," she said playing the word game out one time too many.

"What?" Angie finally asked totally confused.

"His name is Guy. Guy Hansen. He's a teacher at school."

"Oh, okay. So...is he hot?" she asked excitedly. Everywhere Kristen moved, Angie stayed in front of her demanding an answer. "He must be because I've never seen you look this nice to play Trivial Pursuit. You're wearing makeup. And...that's definitely a new sweater. Cashmere no less. It's really pretty so, yeah, he must be hot."

"It's not like that," Kristen said sidestepping her. "This isn't a date. He's just a really nice guy."

"Named Guy?"

"Yes. Oh, and he lost his wife to cancer a couple of years ago, so don't say anything stupid about him wearing a wedding ring, okay?"

"Well, I'm glad you told me because I remember that guy before Mike who was..."

"Okay, okay! I made a big mistake. But at least I didn't sleep with him. Jeez, Angie. Do you ever let anything go?"

"No, she doesn't!" David called out from the kitchen. "Never. She's like an elephant."

"Did he just call me fat?" Angie said standing up straight without smiling.

"No, honey," he said. "Those pants do not make your ass look big."

"I'm gonna kill him when we..."

The doorbell rang cutting her off in mid-sentence.

"Saved by the bell!" David called out.

"Do you want me to get it?" Angie offered.

"No, thanks. I'm good," Kristen said as she headed for the door.

She looked through the peephole and saw him standing there holding a bottle of wine so she opened the door for him. "Hi! Come on in," she said.

He stepped inside and handed her the bottle saying, "Just in case."

She looked at it and said, "Oh, wow! This is the good stuff. Angie? Check this out."

Angie was already right beside her sister checking it...and him...out. "Hi, there. I'm Kristen's older but much prettier sister, Angie. It's nice to meet you."

"Guy Hansen. Pleasure."

David waved from the kitchen. "I'm her average-looking husband, Dave. Nice to meet you, Guy."

"Can I take your jacket?" Kristen offered.

"Oh, sure. Thanks." He peeled it off and handed it to her.

Angie stepped in and took his arm to lead into the living room and said, "Kristen didn't tell me you were so...distinguished looking."

Kristen was right behind Guy as he replied, "I believe the age jokes have begun."

Kristen glared at Angie who said, "What? Distinguished doesn't mean old. It means...distinguished."

Kristen held up the bottle of wine and said, "Oh, good. We didn't open the cheap stuff. Angie? Can you come help in the kitchen?" She grabbed her sister by the arm and essentially dragged her off.

"What?" Angie said.

Dave took the hint and brought out the last of the stuff he'd been cutting up and set it down. He shook hands with Guy started making small talk. As they chatted Guy heard parts of the girls' conversation which was maybe 20 feet away. "I didn't know you liked older guys, Kris!"

"Angie, hush it! This is not a date. He's just a friend."

She turned her head and craned to look at Guy and said, "He's older but he's very cute. Are you sure this isn't a date? I mean, if it's not, can I have him?"