The Unemployed Boy Next Door

I didn't choose him as a neighbor; he was already there when I moved in.

It was the fall of 2001 and I had just moved into my little rented house and was throwing a (imagine this) party. I was readying for my little shindig, and the unemployed boy next door picked that day to walk on over and introduce himself. So being neighborly and such, I invited him to drop by.

And I haven't been able to get rid of him since.

Oh, he's not a bad person. He's just a little ... odd. As I said to a friend recently, "He's a strange bird, but he's my bird." At first, I knew very little about him, and I think that was by choice, on both our ends. He was somewhat secretive, and having just moved to (among other things) get a little distance from John who was the boy next door in my old apartment, I really wasn't looking to get involved either.

It was a gradual thing, getting to know the unemployed boy next door. The first winter was mild and I was able to handle most of the snow removal myself. I had another party in June 2002 and the boy began to come out of his shell. By winter of 2002, when the snow fell in copious amounts, he began to help in earnest, and while I didn't want to assume that he would bring the snow blower over, I often hoped that he would, because there was an awful lot of snow.

Slowly, he began to tell me more. He's divorced - has been for years. Claims he doesn't even know where his ex wife is or what she's doing. Being newly separated and not yet divorced at this point, I just couldn't imagine that he didn't even know where his ex-wife was. How could you spend so much time with someone and then just lose touch? I suppose it happens ... and I suppose one day it may happen to me too.

Initially, he just simply stated that he didn't work. Over the years he's changed his story slightly to say that he is retired. In his early 40s. My interest was piqued. After all, one of my secret fantasies is to be a kept woman. It would be nice to not have to work, to have a man take care of me. The boy is attractive and fit. Hmmm - what are the possibilities?

Then we went out to dinner. A real date. And my bubble was burst.

{this post in progress - you didn't really think you'd get the whole story in one telling, did you?}