The Strange Maid

Keith returned to his home after toiling in the data center until 3am with a sore back from racking two rows of servers without a break. The only thing he managed to do before bed was brush his teeth and rinse. As he did so, he noticed his haggard and gaunt face with bristles of white and gray streaks deposited around his head, possibly even the touch of a tiny empty spot near the top of his head. Accidentally, he stubbed his toe against the wash basin’s cabinet when a large spider dropped down out of nowhere on his feet. Before he could smash it, the spider scrambled under a hidden breakage in the corner of his restroom, which was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. Sighing, Keith knew that the increased pressures of the new job was preventing him from doing anything else for his home and he worried about other possible invaders that might sneak up on him while he slumbered in the night.

Nonetheless, the following day would require from him a similar effort and he could not afford to stay up. He stumbled onto his bed without bothering to pull up the covers over him, the only thing to comfort him being his faithful stuffed giraffe. That night he tossed and turned having nightmares of the cables strangling him, data center doors locking, the safety system freezing him inside, fires bursting out from faulty wiring and his manager constantly berating him over incompetence. When he woke up, he found his foot entangled by the sheets and a sharp cramp in his right calve that developed into a Charley Horse. Keith gritted as he was forced to get up faster while he wrestled with the ache in his leg that would cause him to hobble for the rest of the day.

He shivered as his bones creaked in the early morning frost of his heatless home, a hint of dim light from behind his bedroom curtains implying at least an overcast sky along with a moderate wind whistling at him. He drug himself to pull aside the curtain to see how the windows were frosted over from the outside by a fresh storm. Even if he no longer had to commute by his own car, he wondered how the office would be able to send their self driving vehicles to his place in this weather.

For that the notification on his mobile device provided a clear answer: work was cancelled until further notice. On the one hand, it was a relief to get a day off but he was on an hourly contract, which meant he wasn’t earning anything for the day nor the foreseeable future. Sighing, he pondered just falling back into bed except that his stomach growled and he realized that it was already 11am. His cupboard was nearly empty as he had so little time in recent weeks to hit the market, which was out of the way. Also, by the time he returned home every night, the market or the Walmart Superstore were closed. His region of the country lacked an Amazon Fresh delivery system but he doubted that anyone would be able to get through in this weather.

Nonetheless, he was lucky to discover several frozen dinners buried in his freezer. After joining the data center project, Keith no longer needed to purchase food as his meals were catered in the onsite cafeteria so he lost track of what he kept on hand in his pantry. As he scourged through his refrigerator, he examined various items that had been expired for at least a month, including a full container of milk that curdled up as he dumped the contents down the drain. Once the microwave dinged for his meal, he went to his office room where he ate on his desk, watching various video clips on YouTube or movies and TV shows from Tubi.

Like the bathroom, his desk was partly covered by cobwebs and a layer of dust. He grabbed some cleaner and wiped the surface, noticing another spider sitting in the corner of the ceiling, almost ready to pounce over him. Gritting his teeth, Keith issued a few sharp sprays at the creature, who dropped to the floor and scrambled away. This is not good. With his day off, he preferred to use the time for other projects and not cleaning. After lunch, he washed his dishes where he found the ones in his washer already cleaned from two months prior but never put away. Then he grabbed a garbage bag to dispose of all the expired items and went outside to dump it in the bin, which overflowed from him forgetting to put it out.

He trudged back into the house, doing his best to avoid slipping along the slick icy concrete that was partly covered by snow. Used to the Southern California weather of his hometown, Keith regretted leaving the warmth of his home and possibly his move away from California as he had dressed in gray athletic shorts, t-shirt, slippers and a hoodie, which only demonstrated how ill prepared he was for the vastly different climate conditions. While walking on his porch, he slipped forward and landing hard on his hands. He caught him before smashing his face on the pavement but his knees got scraped and both his hands were sprained. It took him a few minutes to gather himself as he saw one of his knees bleeding and the other bruised. Cautiously, he raised himself back up and made his way back inside, settling on the couch while he rubbing his knees and sore wrists. In turn, he decided he couldn’t afford to do anymore housework and searched his cabinets for some bandages after cleaning off the scrape.

The incident left him shaken up. Once he recovered his nerves, he walked around the house to inspect how much remained in disarray. It became clear that he needed help. He recognized that he survived the slip without serious injury but he was older and his body was frail. There was no one to help him if an emergency came up. One of his fears was triggered an old back injury that could leave him disabled for days, which would make his job impossible.

In turn, he returned to his office and searched for a local maid service. There weren’t many listed. He perused the Craigslist classifieds, a few spots on Yelp and a subscription service which had a minimum charge, fees and other things that effectively would cost him a few hundred per month. These options were not viable at this point as he didn’t want to deal with scheduling, leaving a spare key around, double checking his place in case something was missing or just spending more money than what he needed. Instead, he continued perusing the net, coming across the classifieds for the town’s local newspaper. There weren’t many ads but he did run into someone posing in the dating service but marketing themselves for household aid without naming a price. An email address that was a randomized jumble of letters and numbers linked to a Yahoo account was the only way one could contact this person.

Keith smirked to himself in seeing the older email service being used but figured that the residents from this town probably didn’t care much for tech beyond mobile service and TV. He submitted a polite inquiry then switched to an ARPG game he hadn’t touched since moving. It only took five minutes before his mobile lit up with a notification that an email was awaiting his inbox. Pausing the game, Keith opened up his Gmail application on the phone from another email address he did not recognize but more readable with judy.mccafferty as the sender. It only provided a number and requested that Keith call the person immediately.

In turn, Keith rang up the person and in a few moments received an answer from a woman. “Is this Keith?” Keith acknowledged himself then went on to explain his situation. After describing the details, the woman mentioned that she could arrive in 15 minutes. “Today? Snow is pretty heavy outside.”

“You’re not from here. I’ll be fine.”

Keith consented to her rate, which was remarkably low and gave her his address. While waiting her arrival, Keith searched his drawers for an old checkbook he almost never used anymore but kept around for emergency, in case she might not take Venmo or some other online payment system. He uncovered the checkbook as he heard a loud vehicle pulling up near the driveway. Keith ran back to the living room and tepidly peeked from behind the dark curtain covering the front window to see that an ancient station wagon with the trunk and mid section filled to the brim by the sidewalk. He observed a blonde woman struggling with the driver side door and retrieving a small cart where she unloaded a bucket, mop, several cleaners, an ancient vacuum and other tools and supplies. Keith pondered whether to help the woman as she dragged the cart through the sludge of melting snow but considered that he might slip again and dropped back out of sight until she arrived at the door with a sharp knock.

Upon opening the door, Keith greeted the woman, someone Keith guessed was at least in her mid 40s, possibly older. She had a very pretty face to Keith but was marked by lines of stress with small hints of white in her hair. She wore acid washed trousers that had a few stains and sharp tears but not by design as well as a faded white blouse under a once elegant fur coat that had seen too many years. Also, she was heavily doused in perfume. In turn, she examined him with a professional smile and extended a slightly worn hand. “Keith, I presume?”

Almost coming out of a dream-like state, Keith recalled his manners and shook the lady’s hand. “Yes. Come on in and get out of that cold.”

He helped her move the cart into the living room before closing the door. Both shivered as the wind started to pick up. Keith offered to take her coat and turn on the heater as the woman inspected the living room. Afterwards, Keith gestured towards her parked vehicle, “Hey, if you want you can move your car inside my garage. I’ve got only one vehicle inside and don’t know how much more it’s going to snow.”

“It’ll be fine for now,” the woman responded. “I think it’ll relent by the time I’m finished here.”

“I’m sorry if I didn’t get your name earlier,” Keith hinted as he placed the woman’s coat in the coat closet.

“Judy,” she responded. “I’m sorry if I was brief on the email but I heard that people can get this spam thing so I use two separate accounts.”

“Smart deal,” Keith agreed. “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, I’m really glad you’re here. Work has really gotten to me lately and I realized that I don’t have time to maintain this place anymore. I was lucky that they closed the place for the day because of the weather or I wouldn’t have known just how bad things have been getting here. Originally, I was going to clean up myself but I ended up slipping and hurting my wrists and knees. I didn’t want to risk anything since I have a bad back.”

“Well, just show me where I can help. I can do a variety of tasks,” Judy offered.

“Maybe the biggest is some deep cleaning. I’ve been noticing a few spiders pop up here and there in places I can’t get to without bending over and crawling on my knees. I just can’t handle that right now. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Spiders aren’t terrible,” Judy brushed off. “Luckily, you don’t have to deal with brown recluses out here. That’s where I have my limit. Usually, these are probably the typical household type especially in this place.” She glanced around the living room and hallway as Keith guided her to the bathroom. “New place?”

“Yeah, moved in a few months ago. Got a great deal where I could not only get this place but got a job too.”

“Oh, what are you doing?”

“Contract work building up the data center nearby.”

“I think I’ve seen that zone. Heavily blocked off when it started,” Judy noted. “Must pay good if you’re getting this place.”

“Hourly. So a day like today really hurts. On the other hand, I think I needed the day off given what happened today.”

“Just put your feet up and relax and ol’ Judy will handle the rest. Just point out the rooms you want me to fix up.”

Keith had her focus on the bathrooms, kitchen and family room since those were the most neglected by him. He offered to help out since he was a stickler for how things were organized but she promised that she wouldn’t throw things out of order and insisted he relax on his couch. The woman was surprisingly spry once she started her work and a few hours in, his home smelled better than when he first unlocked it. She did have to rest and Keith could only offer filtered water from his Brita, which she accepted as she sat on one of the dining room chairs that she pulled up into the living room.

“You live alone?” Judy asked taking a sip from her glass.

“Pretty much. Never married. No kids. No baggage,” Keith grimaced.

“So what happens when you do get injured?” Judy inquired putting her glass down on a small tray. Keith pointed at Judy. “I see. What about food or even using the restroom?” Keith shrugged glancing in the distance. “Well, if you need a meal, I can certainly help cook you one or fetch food.”

“I shouldn’t complain but part of the issue is that I’ve been eating at my work’s cafeteria. They have onsite chefs that match the hours of the workers. Also, unlimited snacks. I think I got a little spoiled over the past few months.”

“I read about those types of working environments. They get you to do overtime with a little free meal they can write off.”

“Food is ridiculous in price and in my case I get overtime pay so it is worth it.”

“You also mentioned that you had to throw out a bunch of expired stuff. I’m guessing you hadn’t been to the market in a while. Again, what do you plan to do if you get hurt or sick?”

“Hopefully avoid all that by being even more cautious.”

“You sound like you’re still a teenager with that kind of thinking. There’s some good pantry stuff you can keep around for days like today.”

“Well, I would have more stock stuff like corned beef hash or something longer lasting. But I’m not good at planning.”

“Let me help with that sometime. I’m very good at meal prep work.”

“Thanks, Judy. I’m a bit of a picky eater. That said, I need to figure out what to do for dinner. I’ve got some frozen meals in the freezer but the one I had earlier left me a little queasy.”

“Maybe eating that junk got you in trouble when you fell,” Judy insisted. “Well, I don’t know if you’ll need me much longer then.”

“So do you prefer a check or maybe use Venmo?”

At the mention of either, Judy’s jaw dropped. “I can’t accept a check. The last one I received bounced. And I can’t do Venmo. Cash only.”

Keith cursed. “You got to be kidding. Why wouldn’t you put that in the ad?”

“Because most people don’t carry cash anymore. I wasn’t sure if you would and work has been very slow. Please. I really need the money.”

“Well, that means I have to go find an ATM because I certainly don’t have one of those plugged in my home.”

“The Walmart has one. If we leave now, I can help you pick out some groceries and make you dinner. That’ll be on the house from me. I can do a lot but not Asian.”

Keith bit his tongue and agreed. “Well, I hope that the ground is clear outside.”

“If not, I can drive. I’m familiar with this area and can handle snow if you’re uncomfortable.”

Fortunately, the snow had melted away but the roads were still slick. They took Keith’s old RAV4 as he had more space inside where Judy insisted on driving as she knew a few short cuts. She wasn’t a crazy driver as Keith had feared but steady and sharp. The typically crowded parking lot of the super Walmart was slimmer than usual and they obtained a space fairly close to the entrance. Before they proceeded though, Judy compelled Keith for her payment. She gave him some distance to perform the transaction. Keith noticed how she was shaking and was in a sullen mood. In turn, Keith withdrew more money than he had planned and handed her $200.

“I can’t accept this. This is beyond my rate,” Judy said in surprise as Keith stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, I know times are rough for everyone right now. I mean it took me over a year before I landed this one and I can see things aren’t easy for you.”

“This is the most generous anyone has been towards me,” she fought to hold back her tears.

“It’s just money. Look, you were pretty good in getting my place into shape. And I can’t ask you to cook for me for free. How about this. Let’s have a good dinner. My treat. I’ll help out and call it even.”

“Thank you so much!” Judy enthusiastically hugged him.

“Don’t worry about it. I haven’t eaten with anyone in a long time. Even my coworkers I don’t socialize much since our hours shifted and everyone is constantly trying to get every second in.”

They loaded up on groceries where Keith selected a fair of New York steaks, some potatoes, shrimp and asparagus. Though Keith had an area for a grill in the backyard, he would have to settle for a stove top cooked meal, which he didn’t mind as he wanted to whip out his Sous Vide. The meal took until 9pm but was well worth the effort, despite how it lasted only 30 minutes in terms of devouring it. Afterwards, Keith was stuffed as was Judy and she offered to clean. “It’s late. You’ve already done a lot for me today.”

“You’ve overpaid me. This is the least I can do,” Judy said as she rinsed his dishes. “Besides, your washer will do the rest.”

“You don’t have to be anywhere?” Keith asked as he moved the dishes into his washer.

“Not in particular. Work in this town is tough to come by,” Judy admitted grimly.

“Even so, aren’t you tired? It was a long day. Or maybe you have a favorite TV show you enjoy watching at night?”

“No TV for me. Not these days,” Judy replied as she wiped down his countertop. Keith then noticed that her hands lacked any jewelry.

“I didn’t want you to feel awkward here since it’s getting late.”

“No, I enjoyed my time here. This is a very nice place and you’re a wonderful host. I just hope you have more work in the future.” Keith stacked up her cleaning tools back on the cart and hauled them outside.

“You’ll be okay tonight?” Keith asked as he helped guide the cart towards Judy’s station wagon.

“I’ll be fine. You don’t need to do anything else for me. I’m really happy I was able to have dinner with you. You’ve been more than generous.”

“You have my number in case you need something,” Keith said. Instead, Judy just grinned and started up her car, waving as she let the engine warm up.

Grimly, Keith returned inside to take a hot bath then brush his teeth before setting his alarm, knowing that another day of work awaited him in the morning.

 

The following day, Keith’s internal alarm went off earlier than expected. But he figured he could get a head start for work that day to make up an hour or two for the previous day. Outside remained dark and he was glad that the company afforded people like himself the automated ride service as he would’ve hated driving around in that part of the country under those conditions. There were a few people who also decided to take the early shift and ignored him as he checked into his section of racks. Closer to lunch time, Keith received a call from the police about an attempted burglary near his home and required that he appear since there only was one other person living on the block. In turn, Keith searched around for their manager and was informed that he took an extra day off, which infuriated him since he needed a sign off for obtaining a new vehicle to return him home.

Instead, one of Keith’s coworkers offered to drive him as that person had to pick up his kids from daycare in an hour. As the pair approached his street, Keith noticed Judy’s station wagon parked near the other occupied home in the neighborhood. Besides the vehicle was a cop car, a pair of policemen, the neighbor’s wife and Judy not in handcuffs but appearing tense. Keith thanked his coworker as he flew out of the door and interrupted the pair of cops as they were about to shove her into the open backseat of their car.

“What’s going on here?” Keith exasperated.

“This woman shouldn’t be parked here. This is a private road,” one of the cops replied with tobacco laden breath.

“Well, she’s my maid and works for me,” Keith interjected.

“She was sleeping in that nasty derelict!” the neighbor accused. “On my sidewalk.”

“That’s not on your sidewalk. Besides, if someone decided to have a large family gathering out here, this whole street would be filled.” Turning back to the cops. “Looks, it’s probably a misunderstanding since she just started for me the other day and possibly forgot my address. It’s the house over there,” Keith pointed at his home.

The cops released Judy as the neighbor continued to grumble out loud until one of the cops ordered her back into her home. After showing the cops his identification, the pair left and Keith had Judy move her vehicle onto his drive way. Afterwards, he invited her into his home. “Judy, can you tell me what’s going on? Was it true you were sleeping on Mrs. Harris’ sidewalk?”

“I don’t want to say. It’s really embarrassing,” Judy insisted as she stifled her tears.

“Well, I can’t help you if you don’t let me know what’s going on. I had to lie to those cops about you working for me because I didn’t put in an order for your help for today and I had to take off early from work.”

“I know. I’m really sorry. But the truth is that I live in my car. I’ve been living in my car for over a year now and drive from place to place trying to find work and doing odds and ends type of jobs.”

“Jesus Christ, why did you say something to me yesterday? You mean to tell me you were sleeping in your car the entire night? It was freezing outside.”

“Like I said, I have no where to go. I didn’t want to seem like a leech.”

“We don’t know one another that well but you don’t seem like a terrible person. Why don’t you just stay at my place, help me out a bit and call it even.”

“Are you serious?” Keith nodded. “You’re taking in a homeless person that you just met.”

“Maybe I’m crazy but you didn’t try to poison me with your cooking last night so I figured you’re not going to murder me in my sleep.” Judy chuckled. “But let me open my garage, go park your car inside, get yourself a hot bath, wash your stuff up and we’ll talk.”

“Okay, but what about your job?”

“I’m taking the rest of the day off. Manager wasn’t even there and there’s plenty of work for months to come. Don’t worry about it. I got an eye witness to show that this was a bizarre incident. Besides, you can come and go as you please there.”

Judy took Keith’s advice in moving some of her belongings inside, washing some of her apparel then taking a hot bath in the guest bathroom. When she finished up, Judy was like a brand new woman. Even without Judy’s makeup, Keith found Judy to be quite attractive. Her hair gained back some luster and she no longer was overly emanating her perfume, only the fragrance of bath wash and shampoo. Also, she wore a set of clean pink satin pajamas and pink satin robe that looked fancy for someone who was previously homeless. Keith offered her a spot on his sofa which she gracefully accepted as she dried her hair with a spare towel.

“Feel better?” Keith asked.

“It’s been a while. I’m sure you probably didn’t like all the perfume I had on but I didn’t want to offend you.”

“How long since you had a proper wash?”

“A few weeks,” Judy dourly admitted. “Once in a while the local gym will leave the doors open and I can sneak inside for a quick shower. Or one of the girls at the sorority house lets me in if I fix up their dormitory. But the school hired a custodian so I stopped going.”

“There’s other places that probably have more opportunities. Why this spot of all places?” Keith asked.

“Not an easy to tell. But I’m a bit trapped here is the short version. Ran out of money. Can’t go far enough. All my life is packed into that old thing. Also, people didn’t mind me in this place and I was able to survive have a small studio for myself. Not glamorous but I could eat and have a roof over my head.”

“But you’re not from this town I surmise,” Keith observed.

“As much as you are. But I’m not from California and certainly not from Los Angeles. Maybe my life would’ve been a lot easier if it were.”

Keith snickered sardonically. “That’s what everyone says. But the grass is always greener, right?” Judy shrugged. “Do you need to rest? I imagine sleeping in a car can’t be comfortable at all.”

“You get used to it. But I could use something hot to drink if you don’t mind.”

“Let me fix us some coffee. Or cocoa if you prefer.”

Judy accepted his offer for coffee as he went into the kitchen to grab a pair of keurig cups for his machine. He added creamer to both out of habit, forgetting that he had a guest and apologized in case she was lactose intolerant. Instead, she sipped the liquid in delight. “Good stuff.”

“So you asked me the other day about me living alone and I mentioned my status. What about yourself? Were or are you married? Or maybe have some family that need to get in contact with you?”

Judy took a deep breath. “No children but I had a husband once and some annoying in laws.” She remained tight lipped.

“Did he pass away or something? Because I noticed you don’t wear a ring.”

“Just nothing but pain,” Judy answered as she broke down again in tears.

“Okay, I won’t pester you on the subject. It’s just odd seeing someone like yourself in this state.”

“How about you?” she asked in a raspy voice as she recovered. “I noticed your place is more like a young adults rather than someone with a job.”

“Nope. Been single my entire life like I said yesterday.”

“I mean, there must have been someone out there. If not why?”

“Never met anyone. Well, that’s not true. The real love of my life, the person that I probably should have been with got married a long time ago. I was too ignorant to realize what she meant to me at the time. I never was good with women. Instead, I focused on my career. I wanted to avoid getting fired or sued for bad behavior. Of course, you see a lot of these jobs where people treat it like some post college party. Then you try to do the right thing and only end up with a pink slip or getting ghosted despite having no issues from your work history. Go figure.”

“At least, you have employment and a roof over your head now.”

“Which is ironic since I’m at the office almost all the time. Makes me think I could’ve saved a ton of money dumping everything into storage like one of my coworkers who’s from Canada.”

“But you said that you got this home as part of a deal.”

“Like a signing bonus thing to move out here. It was either that or a bigger starting stipend. Figured it would be better just to settle down instead.”

“That usually happens only when you have someone to settle down with. Anyone you have your eye on at your office?”

Keith laughed loudly. “Everyone there is a dude. I think Jimmy Deans has less sausage grown on his farm than the DC unit. But I was thinking I was probably going to retire out here. Try to work as much as I can, save every penny, pay off this place as fast as possible, save a little more for a new car and maybe extra for any emergencies on this place or in my life. Then work on my hobbies until the inevitable.”

“Must be nice to have a dream. I haven’t had my own dreams since before my marriage. Then one day all I could do was live day to day.”

“If it helps any, feel free to stay here as long as you’d need. Just don’t steal anything. If you really need something badly, ask me. Except for a Porsche or something ridiculous ask like that.”

“Thank you, Keith. You’re really my angel come to life.”

 

Keith took a nap and was awoken a few hours later by the aroma of garlic, tomatoes, onions and various meats. His stomach growled vengefully which he told it to behave as he slid a tank top over and sauntered to his kitchen, hunting down the scent. Judy was there, her attire changed again with a chef’s apron as she wore over a dark shirt and her jeans. She was rolling Braciole and tying them with strings while toasted garlic cheese bread sat on a foil covered trail.

“Jeeze, is that Sunday gravy during a weekday?”

“Yes, saw that you had the pots for this and with the cold later tonight thought it would be a nice meal.”

“You need any help? You must be exhausted from today.”

“No, I’m fine. Really. Also, I disturbed your work earlier. So this is the least I can do to make up for it.”

Once again, Keith was able to utilize his family’s dining room table and aided Judy in setting up the table. She prepared a garden fresh salad and even grated Parmesan over his salad and sauce. Half way through the meal, Judy put a cake into the oven, despite how Keith could not finish half his plate. “I like baking,” Judy mentioned. “Keeps the home warm during the winter.”

“You are something else, Ms. McCafferty. I’m sorry if I couldn’t finish this but that was a lot. The one or two times I made something like this for myself, it would take me a week to get through half.”

“I take it you enjoyed yourself,” Keith acknowledged that with a subtle belch that made Judy beam with pride. “My ex-husband never showed any appreciation for my cooking. He expected it then complained all the time along with the in laws that lived with us.”

“Did his family serve him filet mignon and lobster tail every night or something? I mean this has to be one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. And I will say that the cafeteria ain’t that bad.”

“I have no idea why he didn’t like what I cooked. No matter how hard I tried, he never was satisfied. Then he made me feel like I was worthless.”

“Maybe you should forget this guy. He is your ex- after all,” Keith suggested.

“It’s not that easy because of what he did. I’m sorry I keep bringing him up.”

“Well, try not to worry about it while you’re here. Look, I don’t have a TV and usually use my laptop or my office to watch anything. So if you want any kind of entertainment like that, you’d have to bring one of those chairs into the office or sit on the floor.”

“I think I’ll just clean up instead,” Judy said.

“No, why don’t you lie down on the couch and let me handle all this. You’ve been busy all day. It’s time you deserved some rest yourself.”

“You’re very sweet to me, Keith.” She hugged him. “My ex- didn’t care how exhausted I was. I had a job and I still had to do everything. He never appreciated a single thing I did for him and his folks. God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“Go relax. I’ll finish up here. We can chat after.”

Quietly, Judy took him up to rest on his sofa as he moved the half full pot of sauce and other remaining meal items into the fridge then rinsing his plates and cups. By the time he was done, Judy was fast asleep on the couch. Keith grabbed a few spare blankets in his walk in closet and gently placed them over Judy as well as leaving a few pillows under her head. From there Keith went into the garage where his washer and dryer units were and moved Judy’s attire into the dryer. He noticed that the robe she wore from earlier was one of the items. He examined the fine material and spotted a few dark stains on the sleeve that had long been made permanent. Shrugging, Keith dumped the robe with her other attire, a few nice pieces of silky lingerie possibly high end, into the dryer before retiring back into his office to watch a few shows.

In the morning, Keith noticed that Judy was still sound asleep on his sofa. Keith hoped that day would be short as he wanted to spend more time with her and learn about her background. Work was set at a frantic pace as two admins had been fired for abusing the contract system in adding extra hours to their timesheets. One of Keith’s coworkers told him in private that the two admins had been sleeping inside the data center and were counting those hours as official work. However, the cameras corroborated that the opposite was true when their manager denied approving the extra hours. In turn, the manager was put on probationary status and had his position shifted, which left the remaining admins in a small quandary. As a result, the team were only allotted a maximum of 40 hours until a new shift manager was hired but that would mean Keith could leave at a normal time.

Keith took off around 4:30pm and arrived with Judy greeting him at the door. Secretly, Keith was elated to see Judy still around as he was fearful she might attempt to run away or steal something. As he entered the front door, he noticed that the living room emanated with a clean scent and that the rug had been thoroughly cleaned. “You didn’t have to do all this,” Keith said in awe of how pristine the living room was compared to when he found it.

“It’s okay. It kept me busy for the day. It’s my way of repaying you for letting me stay here last night.”

“No, you don’t have to do any of that. I said you’re free to live here. Don’t worry about it.”

“I know but…I’m afraid that you’ll just end up kicking me out and having a court ordered injunction then…”

“Why though? Unless you suddenly drive me crazy, steal, burn this place down or do something anti-social, I really don’t have a reason to kick you out. I mean, I’m enjoying the company. I didn’t think I would after all these years but it’s nice having someone around the house.”

“You really don’t know how that makes me feel,” unexpectedly she hugged him then pulled herself off after seeing that he was surprised. “Sorry. I’m just very emotional now.”

“No, it’s fine. The thing is that after the fall I had the other day, it scared me. I’m not young anymore and I have no idea what I would do in case something like that happens again especially if it’s a health scare problem.”

“Well, I’ll look after you, if that’s what you want.”

“You don’t have to go that far. I’m just saying that it’s been really rough over the past few years. Even before the pandemic started but having a job forced me to avoid these issues.”

“Maybe for now you can relax a little. I thought you would be returning later this evening. Did something change?”

“They fired two guys and my manager got put on probation. I heard people looking into this project think he was doing a poor job especially because a few people were sleeping on premise and claiming hours he approved. Instead, they’re telling us to work 40 hours maximum until they find a replacement.”

“That sounds good.”

“Well, the time and a half was nice. But I guess it was probably too good to be true.”

“By the way, I must thank you for the blankets and pillow last night. It was pretty cold when I woke up.”

“Feel free to turn on the heater if you get too cold. Also, I moved your clothes into the dryer last night.”

“Oh,” Judy’s face changed to slightly pale. “Thanks again I guess.”

“I was going to wash my attire but forgot. Also, figured to help out. Hope you don’t think I violated your privacy rummaging through some of your intimates.”

“No, but I do think I should wash up now that you reminded me.”

Judy excused herself and went into the garage to grab her other suitcase. A hour later, she came out dressed in a slinky lacy and satin tap panty and cami combo with her pink robe that had the stain. She located Keith in his office perusing several news sites. “Anything interesting?”

“Not really,” Keith replied as he shutdown the browser tab. “Just bad habit. I’m a bit of a news addict.”

“If you’re not too busy then, there is something I would like to request. Now, that you’re letting me stay here, is there a place I can store my belongings? I know you have two rooms that I haven’t seen yet.”

“Come along then,” Keith said as he guided her to two locked up doors. One was an empty room where he kept a few bookshelves. The other was his basement with his massive Lego collection. “Don’t think you’d want to use the space down here. But I figured to satisfy your curiosity.”

Judy’s mouth dropped in awe at the numerous shelves that were lined up, a table containing the start of a project, various plastic crates containing his Lego collection where a few had been opened as he started wiping them down for reassembly. Several dozen instructions cluttered the long table in various states of his progress. “My god. How much do you own?”

“I estimated at one point at least 2000 sets. Maybe close to 200,000 parts. I guessed the value to be around $60,000 based on age if I could get a buyer who wouldn’t mind non-mint in box condition.”

“If you ever were to have kids, they would be incredibly lucky.”

“Ever see that Lego Movie? I’m more like that Mr. Business character/father who had no desire to let his kids touch his sets.”

Judy laughed. “Ah, so you’re the kid in this,” Keith nodded. “In any case, neither situation solves my problem.”

“How about you use some bins I have for the time being? Not these in particular but others I keep in my closet when I did my move.”

Keith helped move more of Judy’s items from her vehicle into the spare room. Besides her cleaning equipment, she had additional suitcases that were worn from years of travel and usage. She teared up again once she put them in the room’s closet. “I’ve been carrying these things for so long that I can’t remember the last time I had a proper place to put them.”

“How long were you living in that car?”

“Too long,” she admitted. “I lost count and prayed no one would discover I was drifting from place to place, hoping people wouldn’t kick me out or have my vehicle towed. Years ago I had a much better car too but traded down to get some money to survive and do this business.”

“You don’t have to move from place to place as long as I have this home.”

“Keith, even so I still need to work. I’ve got some old accounts I need to settle and handle. My phone was barely working and I got lucky when you contacted me. But for that I need internet.”

“Oh, god. I’m such a bozo. Let me set you up here. Also, I’ve got a spare laptop you can use since my new place gave me a fresh system.”

“I want to make it up to you sometime. I never intended to impinge on your hospitality.”

“Forget it. After showing you the laptop, let’s have dinner and watch a movie or something. I’ve got that standing desk with a monitor I’m not using and can hook up one of my laptops to some streaming service. We’ll just move that into the living room for now.”

They had the leftovers from the previous night then proceeded to watch Miami Vice from Tubi on the monitor for his standing desk. Outside, the wind howled loudly and the lights flickered periodically. Inside, the air was frigid and Judy suggested keeping his mobile device handy and charged or a flashlight. Keith checked the news report which mentioned a heavy snow storm that would last two days straight and possibly knock out power in the region. In addition, he received a message from his work telling him to stay at home until the storm passed. A minute later the power shutdown with the video from Tubi cutting off as his router and net died.

Keith cursed up a storm as he scrambled to unplug the monitor from his laptop and use the light to search for one of his spare flashlights he kept in a cabinet near the kitchen. He kept a pair along with spare batteries for situations like this. Still, he knew he wasn’t prepared mentally for a black out. Judy stayed behind him closely and they moved back to the living room after he handed her one of the flashlights.

“What should we do now?” Judy asked.

“Originally, I wanted to take a bath. According to the news report, this storm might last another day so I doubt I can do much more for the night.”

“Going to sleep then?”

“Yeah,” was all he could respond with as he shut the hood of his laptop off and cautiously walked back into his bedroom.

Even with his blankets, Keith shook from the severe cold. He would have to check the insulation about he couldn’t do anything in the short term. A knock at the door startled him even though he knew it was Judy. He unlocked the door seeing that Judy had wrapped herself in one of the blankets he provided. “It’s too cold out there.”

“Yeah, here too. I’d use the fireplace but I wasn’t prepared for this.”

“Is it okay if I share your bed for tonight?”

“Sure. Get the other blanket and pillows too.”

A few minutes later Judy returned and they partitioned his bed. Judy stayed near him even though his back was turned towards her. Even with the added blankets, both remained chilled in the dropping temperatures of the night. Judy lightly tapped him on the back. “Maybe we can hold each other to keep warm.”

Silently, Keith turned around and wrapped his arms around her as she did the same. “Sorry, I didn’t take a bath earlier. Most times, I just have a shower in the morning.”

“It’s fine,” she replied. “I didn’t smell too good living in the car for a while. I’m sure you knew that’s why I kept all the perfume on me. I didn’t know how effective it was because I couldn’t notice anymore.”

“You smell wonderful now,” Keith mentioned as her hair brush softly under his nose.

“When was the last time you were with a woman?” she ventured.

“Can’t remember. Perhaps, when I was in Japan two decades or so ago. Not even for more than a week.”

“What happened?”

“I started seeing this hair stylist. Slightly older lady but pretty. She broke up with a guy she had been seeing and we went on a few dates. Later, I met up with that woman and we had dinner. She came back with me to my place and we had sex. No condom. I lost control with a crazed idea in my mind. She panicked and started counting since she experienced her menstrual cycle. I told her I’d take care of the kid if we had one. But I think we were both in shock. We were supposed to visit LA together to see my mom and dad because my dad was in a nursing home and I only had a small chance to see him after a business trip a few months before. She left the following morning because she had to go to work and I stayed in bed thinking about what happened.

“One day just as I was about to quit this insurance company job, I called my mom up and learned my dad had passed away in a nursing home. I didn’t have any time to grieve because it was the same day I would leave this place. I was so angry that I walked around for an hour blaming everything. It wasn’t surprising because he already had suffered a few bad strokes that left him paralyzed and speechless. Didn’t help I was going through a lot of pressure at work. I was glad that episode of my work was done but that woman kept calling me to find out what to do about the tickets because she bought them. My mind was a mess because I found out that my aunt came down from Hawaii and had my dad cremated. I didn’t even get an invite. My mom wasn’t invited either. Instead, I stopped talking to the woman and started the new job. But I was messed up for a long time.”

Judy’s blue eyes reflected from the tiny digital light from one of the few electronic devices in his room that offered minimal light without needing an outlet. “Keith, I’m sorry for that. Did you like her at all?”

Keith shook his head. “Doubt it. I think if she really meant anything to me, I would’ve had a family by this point. I think I was scared and not confident in myself. Maybe I thought about putting a child through everything I went through or messing up someone else’s life. All I know is that I was confused.”

“Would you ever consider someone else?” Keith nodded solemnly. “What do you think about me?”

“I think…I knew I felt something the moment I saw you. I don’t know what but I felt something.”

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