the Scuffy - 3. Chapter 3

I paid off the crew, I gave hundred fifty to Ron and fifty to Glen and Lou. Lou was gone as soon as I gave him the money. “See you next week Uncle. Glen, how do you get home?”

“I have a scooter”

“You can’t go home on a scooter, the scooter will smell like fish. Come home with me, clean up and then you can go home.”

“How do you get home?”

“I walk, I live about three blocks from here.” Glen smiled and went to pick up the scooter. “Leave it here. It’ll be safe, no one will bother it.”

Walking home I found out Glen was 26, two years younger than me. He talked about Lou and how he kept pushing him to have sex. “It wasn’t the idea of having sex, it was just that I prefer to choose my partner and not be chosen. I don’t like pushy guys and Lou was very pushy and repulsive to me.”

“Well, we’ll never see him again, here’s my home.” I opened the garage door.

“Nice car”

“Thanks”

Leading the way into the house, “This is the laundry room. Take off your shorts and shoes, I’ll wash them. It takes three wash cycles to get the fish smell out of them. You can take a shower there. You’ll have to shower three times to get all of the fish smell off of you. Start with the soap marked one, rinse and then use soap marked two, rinse again and use the soap marked three. Use the soap on your hair as well.”

When Glen finished I gave him a towel and started the wash on the second cycle. “Glen, help yourself to anything in the refrigerator. Oh, there’s also beer in there.”

I took my shower, dried, started the third wash minus the shoes. I put them in the soaking tub with a little detergent and bleach.

Going into the kitchen, Glen was sitting at the table with a glass of water. “Don’t you want a beer?”

“I don’t drink alcohol. I saw what it did to too many of my friends in college.”

“Aw, come on have one for me.” I took two bottles of beer from the fridge, opened them and set one in front of him.

He started to laugh. “Root beer, you didn’t say root beer.”

“I know a little joke. That is the only kind of beer you’ll find here. No alcohol, I don’t drink either. It was a drunk that killed my parents. Come upstairs, I think I have clothes that will fit you. We're about the same size. Bring your beer with you.”

“How many bedrooms do you have?”

“A total of three plus”

“Plus”

“Yes, I have one room that doesn’t have a bed. I’ll show you but first let’s get dressed. This is my bedroom, it use to be my parents. Took me three years before I could sleep here. Boxer briefs in the 2nd drawer, T-shirts in the 3rd drawer and I have some sweats in the closet.” I got out my clothes, Glen followed. “I have flip flops we can use.”

“This use to be my bedroom” I opened the door to show him.

“It’s getting late can we go?”

“Sure”

I drove back to the docks, picked up the scooter, putting it in the back of the car. “Glen, what do you do for a living?”

“I work for my dad. He owns a jewelry store. Once I got my business degree, he asked me to join the family business. How about you?”

“I work for Johns and Smithson Investments. I got my degree in accounting and then my CPA. I started right out of school with them. It’s interesting, I kept my ears open and made some good investments.”

“Isn’t that the outfit on Strauss Avenue?”

“Yes”
Glen started to laugh, “You park in that garage across the street?”

“Yes”

“My dad parks there. Our store is just down the street from your building.”

“That’s great, stay with me tonight and I’ll drive us to work.”

“I’ll think about it, maybe”

“I think you’re a tease.”