How the Coronavirus Jump-Started my Sex Life - 19. Chapter 19

Mother

“Christensen residence.” It was Carrie.

“Hi, Carrie.”

“Cal!” She screamed loud enough to hurt my ears. “Oh my God!”

“Yep, it’s me. Is Mom handy?”

“Oh, Cal, they closed our school and cancelled everything until next fall. It’s horrible. My life might as well be over. It’ll be months before I can see anybody. I can’t wait to see Justin. What am I going to do?”

She finally took a breath as, I swear, she started sobbing.

“That’s awful …”

I could hear a scuffle on the other end and Dad said in the background, “Give the phone to your mother.”
Simultaneously, Cole hollered out, “Is that Cal? Can I talk to him?”

In between sobs, Carrie yelled, “Wait!”

There were more scuffling sounds.

“I need to talk to Cal, Carrie,” Mom said. “It’s important.”

“But,” Carrie started before Dad yelled (from closer to the phone, I think).

“Give her the phone, young lady!”

More scuffling before Mom had apparently wrestled the phone away from her only daughter. In the background there was a loud shriek, some stomping feet on the stairs, and eventually a slamming door in the distance.

Mom was breathing deeply when she said, “Finally! I don’t know what we’re going to do with her. She’s gone crazy since they cancelled prom. You’d think it was her whole life they cancelled.”

“I guess it feels like her whole life has been cancelled.”

“You’re right, Cal. We just have to get through to her reasoning side so we can try to find a way to make it a little better.”

“Well, good luck,” I said sincerely. “I’ll send her an email later.”

“She really misses you, dear.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come home to see you all. But I do understand.”

“I’m glad you do, honey.” She took a breath. “Your father tells me you and your friend have found a loft in Nob Hill to rent.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So, tell me about it.”

I spent about 5 minutes describing it, making sure to mention there was a queen-size bed and a single bed and that the sleeping areas had room dividers creating private spaces. When I told her it’s located above Brandi’s Boutique, she laughed.

“I know that store. I’ve been in it once, I think, a couple of years ago. Frankly, their merchandise is a bit too, uhm, provocative for my taste.”

“We didn’t look in the shop, but it seems a little garish to me.”

“That’s an excellent word choice for that place.” I could hear some disdain in her cultured voice.

“I’ll bet you could get some costume ideas for some of your sleazy characters, Mom.”

She laughed heartily. “Most of my main characters are rather dowdy, but there is usually a Jezebel in the story somewhere. I’ll definitely check out the shop when we can come up to visit you.”

“I hope that’s soon.”

“I guess it all depends on the pandemic.” She paused for a second. “So, the loft is furnished, right?”

“Yes. It’s nothing fancy, but there is everything we need to be able to live there.”

“Good. So, does it have dishes or do you need to provide them?”

I thought back to our walk-through a few hours before. The cupboards had all been bare. “No dishes.”

“Appliances?”

“Well, it has stove and fridge. And it even has a washer and dryer, too.”

“Great. What about a coffee pot?”

“No.”

“Microwave?”

“No.”

“You guys will definitely need a microwave.”

“There’s nothing like that.”

“Okay. What else do you need?”

“Uhm.”

“Linens? Sheets? Pillows? Blankets? Towels?”

“Yes. Well, actually I have sheets and blankets and stuff for the single bed. Alan will need to get stuff for a queen bed, I guess. And we have our towels we use in the dorm.”

“Okay. Is there a TV set?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Everyone needs a TV even if it’s just for the news sometimes or to relax a little on Friday night. Especially right now when you can’t go out to do anything.”

“Yeah, we’ll need a TV.”

“Is there anything else you think you will need to get the place set up?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“Okay, honey. Dad and I will pull all that together for you. We even have a couple of sets of queen sheets we don’t use anymore so your friend can have those.”

“That’s really great of you guys, Mom.”

“We want to take care of you, Cal.”

“Thanks. But how do we get it up here to Albuquerque?”

“Does your friend have a car?”

“Yes. It’s a Dodge Durango SUV.”

“It has a big cargo space?”

“Yes, pretty big.”

“Okay. Here’s the plan. You guys drive down here. We will get everything together and in boxes and such and set out on our driveway. When you get here, you honk and park in the drive. You can load everything into the back of the SUV. The family will come out and we’ll put lawn chairs across the drive. We’ll sit 20 feet apart and we can talk and see each other.”

I got choked up imagining it. “That sounds wonderful, Mom.”

“Of course, there can be no close contact. No hugs or kisses.”

“You’d better tie your other kids to their chairs,” I joked.

She laughed. “You always were the smart one.”

“When should we come?”

“I’ll need a few days to pull everything together, but then any day would be fine. We aren’t going anywhere and have nothing on our schedules.”

“I guess not. Well, we’re probably going to move in on the 21st because that’s the day we have to be out of the dorm. No point in paying rent any earlier.”

“Is that Saturday?”

“Yes. A week from this Saturday. You know, we could move out of the dorm on Saturday and then come down the next day to get all this stuff.”

“That sounds perfect, honey. I’ll have plenty of time to get everything ready and you won’t have to store it before you move to the loft.”

“Mom, I can’t tell you how much your support means to me right now.”

“It’s going to be a fun little project. Maybe I can get Carrie and Cole to help me. It’ll give us all something good to do and the promise of seeing you will make them both happy.”

“Me, too.”

“Now, Dad needs a word, so I will say good-night.”

“G-Night, Mom! I love you.”

“I love you, too, honey.”

There was a moment of silence as she handed Dad the phone.

“It sounds like you and your mother have a good plan, son.”

“I think so, Dad.”

“I just need to know how much money you need me to deposit into your account before you have to pay your rent. I’m sure the university will not get its reimbursements out very quickly, so we’ll need to float you at first.”

“You think of everything, Dad.”

“I try. Now, you need to cover your half of the rent. And you will need to start the electricity and water, or is that part of the rent?”

“I don’t think it is.”

“How much is the deposit for the loft?”

“Twelve hundred, I think.”

“And rent is $1100?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll move $2K over to your account tomorrow. If you need more, just ask, but try to give me as much time as you can before you need it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll make another deposit just before the end of the month so you’ll have plenty to make the April rent payment.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll be looking forward to hearing about your new job next time we talk.”

“I hope so, sir.”

“Good-night, Calvin.”

“G-Night, Dad.”

A Quiet Evening

After I hung up from the call home, I grabbed a couple of sodas from my mini-fridge and strolled over to the TV room to meet up with Alan.

Alan had received similar financial advice from home. His parents would provide but also were counting on him finding employment to help defray all the costs. They were happy with the idea of picking up a course or two over the summer, assuming something suitable was offered. Dr. Kennedy (Alan’s father) said the University of Alberta was following a very similar path to UNM and that it was unclear what the summer offerings would be at this time.

Alan was thrilled to hear that the Christensens would be providing all the “stuff” needed to set up our loft for occupancy.

“Of course, you’ll have to meet the family when we go to pick it all up,” I cautioned.

“I think that will be fine,” he smiled. “I know how to act in a social setting. I honestly hadn’t thought much about dishes and linens and such, but we will definitely need those things.”

We watched a bit of TV and then Alan said, “I’m rather tired. I think we’ll skip a training session tonight and try to catch up a little on our sleep.”

“Oh,” I tried to hide my disappointment. “Sure.”

A few minutes later, Alan gave my knee a squeeze and stood up. “Good night, Cal. Wake me at 8.”
I nodded. “Good night, Alan.”

Back in my room, I decided I was a bit tired but was still a little keyed up from the events of the day. So, I logged on and went to my Gmail. Bert messaged me to confirm our Zoom call for tomorrow at 11, which reminded me to set it up. So, I scheduled our meeting on Zoom and sent him the link with a short note to see we had found a place. I answered an email from my buddy Joe Escondido back in Cruces but decided not to mention the pending trip just yet. Perhaps there was a way for Alan and me to meet Joe in a park or something while we are there.

Finally, I only had the note to send to my sister.

LCCal1277@gmail.com: Hey, Sis. I’m so sorry they had to cancel everything for the rest of the year. I know that sucks. You deserve to get all dressed up and go to your junior prom with that cutie Justin and see your girl-friends and all that. This damned pandemic isn’t fair to anyone, sweetie. Remember, I couldn’t come home for my spring break and now I’m being kicked out of the dorm. Now, that sucks! I’d be living in a tent somewhere except that my friend Alan and I found a neat loft to rent. You may have heard Mom talking about getting some stuff together to help us get set up. And that means we get to come to LC to pick up the stuff. How about that? How about suggesting to Dad that he grill some burgers for us? It would make it like a party on the driveway. That could be fun, yes? I can imagine that you feel like your whole life has just stopped. But, really and truly, Carrie, it has kind of stopped for everybody. Are you doing Face Time or Zoom or something with your friends? You girls should get together every 2 or 3 days and chat about hair and boys and music and stuff. I promise you won’t feel so cut off from them and alone. And if you would like to date Justin, perhaps a Face Time meeting would allow you to get better acquainted, just like a date would. Okay – it’s not quite the same but it can get you connected now so when this lockdown is over you can actually go out. Mom and Dad are worried about you, Sis. Please give them a bit of a break. They didn’t cause this situation. They are just trying to handle things in the best way for all of us. See ya soon!

I glanced at the dildo lying on my nightstand as I prepared to go to bed. Having the memory of actual sex with a real man with a beautiful cock made the thought of getting it on with myself a little less appealing. I settled into the sheets, turned out the light, and went to sleep feeling only a little bit isolated and alone.