Houseboat

by Paul Shadinger

  I proceeded to tell Scott of the morning’s happenings with Miss Rockingham and the stepsister’s jerk lawyer. I ended up, “I don’t know what the status is now. It looks like if there’s no existing will, my guess is the daughter and stepsister will probably take the estate to court, and unless my wolves are very good, there might be a chance the houseboat could sink before it’s all over.”

  Scott tugged at his beard for a moment, and then started, “I’m not a lawyer, but I think as long as there are legal problems, Wheel can’t do a thing to have the houseboat evicted. Even better, this might cause the city to stop doing anything for a while.” Scott paused again, “Oh, and as long as the police investigation is ongoing nobody can move a thing, anyway.”

  As far back as I can remember there have been articles in the Seattle papers about how the city wants to rid itself of the houseboats scattered around the various lakes within the city limits. It looked like the council was going to try to take another run at it again. I was confident that when most of the residents in other marinas heard about the plight of Wheel’s place there would be a major ruckus down at City Hall.

  I knew back in the day houseboat owners were dumping a lot of raw sewage into the lake and, for good reason, the city had demanded they change that practice. Laws were passed and rules enforced so now they have everything plumbed, and to my knowledge, no one can put anything in the lake. No wastewater and no sewage of any sort. I was curious on what legal grounds the city thought they could now do away with houseboats. I debated in my mind if I wanted to bring in my wolves, or just let things ride for a while and see what was going to come out of all of this.

  By now, I’d developed a headache. I felt torn between giving the place up without a fight, or fighting for what I felt was mine by taking on Slim’s estate. I glanced up at the windows and saw it was dark outside. The day had slipped away and I hadn’t even noticed. Automobiles will do that, you know. We all said our goodbyes, and Art told me he’d lock the place up.

  The drive back to my place was a dark wet one. With the influx of drivers from southern states who have no idea how to drive in the rain, driving around here is really getting difficult. Worst of all is when it gets dark everyone seems to run into each other. You can always tell an out of stater when they start to whine about all the rain we get around here. Actually, if you compare the amount of rain that falls in New York City, and the amount that falls in Seattle, you’d be very surprised. Very surprised! New York City gets much more rain than the Puget Sound area. I also now know that Atlanta has more rain than Seattle does. If these people are so unhappy here, go home! It sure would make driving easier.

  On the way up in the elevator at the apartment, BJ kept pawing at the doors. Usually this is her signal to go to visit the outside. As soon as the elevator door opened, BJ took off through the kitchen towards the back door.

  Suddenly I heard her start to bark madly. I called her twice, but when she didn’t return and continued to bark, I got alarmed.

  Even with all my history I’m still not really a big gun nut, but I’ve always kept a Glock 21 in a secret spot in the front room. I moved quickly, removed the Glock from its hidden location, and started down the hall. BJ had gone through the kitchen to reach the back door, and I had the hope I could enter the kitchen from the back way. BJ continued to bark, and then I heard a thud and she started yelping. I heard her go whimpering toward the front of the house.

  Now that BJ wasn’t barking, I could hear someone fumbling with the back door. I moved quickly down the hallway and stepped cautiously into the kitchen. By the time I turned the corner, the back door was standing open, and I saw the steel door closing. I ran to the open door and opened the steel one. As I looked across the vacant lot behind my place, I could see a dark figure running down my walkway and into the lot exactly where BJ does her visits.

  Suddenly the running figure slipped and fell. As the person hit ground, I thought I heard a loud snapping sound and then I heard the person on the ground cry out.

  By then I’d reached the end of the walkway and I’d aimed my gun at the prone figure. As the person started to rise, I called out to him. “I’m a fairly good shot at this distance. I’m telling you if you move I’ll shoot you. Do you understand?”

  The figure was not even standing upright but he started to move towards me. As he tried to put weight on one of his legs, he fell again, and a groan escaped when he hit the ground. “I’ve broken my leg,” a male voice informed me.

  “Lie still and I’ll get help.” I figured with a broken leg my visitor was not in condition to go anywhere soon. I walked back down my walkway, and as I passed my kitchen counter I picked up my walk-around phone. I continued to the front room looking for BJ, and I saw she had curled herself up in my chair. As soon as she saw me, her tail started to wag. From what I could tell, she seemed all right for the moment, and I figured I’d check on her after I called the police on my visitor with the broken leg.

  When I entered the kitchen as I was returning to the vacant lot, I heard the sound of two gunshots. I shoved the steel door open, and saw the back end of a car speeding away up the hill without any lights on.

  For a moment, I considered going for a John Wayne feat to see if I could hit the departing car, but I quickly realized if I missed, I might hurt some innocent bystander. I put the phone down on the railing, and moved as quickly as I could towards the prone figure lying on the ground. I reached down to feel his neck for a pulse, but I could tell from the side of his face that it was a wasted effort on my part.

  By now there were others standing outside of their homes. One of them called to me and asked what was going on. I forgot I had brought out the phone and had left it on the railing and I yelled for someone to call 911, I needed the police.

  From where I was kneeling, I could smell the strong odor of fresh dog shit. I thought I’d stepped in some until I glanced over at the feet of the figure prone in front of me, now pointed towards the street and the light overhead. One of the soles of his shoes completely covered with some of BJ’s droppings.

  After this fellow had kicked BJ, it seemed only fair that Blackjack had been the one to bring him down. I doubted if BJ had wanted him dead, but it sure seems someone else had.

  BJ? I remembered I still needed to check on her. So I went back into my place and searched for her. When I found her, still curled up in my favorite chair, I coaxed her to the floor. As I carefully checked her over, she licked my hand, and whimpered when I gently pushed on one side of her ribs. It didn’t seem that she had anything broken, just some bad bruises. She was obviously not a happy camper. I carefully picked her up, and placed her back on my favorite chair, where she started to lick herself.

  Walking back through the kitchen, I noticed for the first time that when the guy had kicked BJ she’d left a puddle on the floor. I got a handful of paper towels and dropped them on her accident. Totally wiping up the mess at this point seemed a bit anal.

  By now, the first patrol car had arrived. I asked if they could let Jeff L. or Sakol know about what had happened. I was not sure why, but I felt that somehow tonight might be all tied in with Slim and his death. I had no idea how true that was.

  As I sat on the steps of my walkway, Sharon came out of my kitchen door and sat down beside of me. A long time ago, I’d given her a key to my elevator stop, so she could always have free rein of my place. She leaned over and pecked me on my cheek. “You know if I was the landlord, I’d have to tell you to keep it down, or I was going to have to ask you to move.”

  I turned to her, and I guess she could tell from the look on my face I was not a happy camper. She leaned over again, kissed me a little harder and whispered in my ear, “Sorry! I was trying to make you feel better.”

  I kissed her back, “Thanks. I appreciate the effort.” I filled her in on what had happened, and when she heard about BJ she immediately went off to search for her. One thing abo
ut Sharon, besides being a nurse, she also seems to feel she’s the original earth mother. Whatever mishap had befallen BJ, she was in the most capable hands I knew of. Sure enough, in two or three minutes they both returned with Sharon carrying BJ cradled in her arms. BJ seemed to look up at me as if to say, “Look dad, this is the way you’re supposed to comfort me.” I scratched her head, and she rewarded me with another lick on my hand.

  About an hour later Sakol arrived, alone. He informed me that Jeff L. was doing family things for the evening, thus he was the only one available. I told him my story. He asked me what I’d heard when I walked into my place, and all I could tell him was nothing. The first time I realized something was wrong was when BJ wouldn’t stop barking.

  He walked back down the walkway, turned on his flashlight, and examined the steel door. He found a few scratches on the lock, which seemed to indicate that someone had picked it. But other than that, the door seemed OK. I told Sakol I thought I’d installed a good lock. But Sakol told me that if a person was skilled enough, given enough time he could pick any lock.

  When we were though chatting, Sakol went over and petted BJ for a few moments. I thought it was cool of Sakol to do that. It seemed that BJ was the hero of the evening. Sakol gave permission to have the body removed and I saw the boys from the morgue had seen my visitor’s shoes and had removed them before they put him in a body bag. The shoes got their own bag. After they removed the body and Sakol was through with his questions, I was allowed to return to my place.

  I made sure BJ did a final visit to the back lot and then headed towards the kitchen. I had no sooner locked the back door when I heard my elevator door open. I walked through the kitchen and found Sharon standing in my foyer. She was wearing her bathrobe, and as she walked by me, she took me by the hand, and led me back to my bedroom. Once inside the room she picked up BJ, sat her on the end of the bed, and then slipped out of her robe. Underneath she had on nothing but her glorious nude body. Stepping to my bed, she pulled the covers down and once she was nestled into the bed, she looked up, smiled and said, “Get your clothes off, I’m sleeping over tonight.” I contemplated what I’d seen this evening, and at that moment, I decided I really didn’t want to sleep alone tonight after all.

  Later, as she lay curled in my arms, I thought even though this was getting to become a habit, it could be a nice habit. Actually, it was a habit I was truly beginning to enjoy. For a few moments, I reflected on all the womanly charm coiled around my body. But before my body could react, my mind shut down for the night.

  CHAPTER 14

  When I awoke the next morning, I felt a very soft and very feminine bottom nestled firmly against my lower tummy. Because I do not wear anything at night, the feeling of soft skin and womanly delights snuggled against me was obvious. As I lay there, I was not too surprised when things began to stir. Between the physical feelings of Sharon’s amazingly soft cheeks against my body, and the erotic images I was having of her lying here naked with me, even a deceased man would have risen. Without much luck, I tried to take my mind elsewhere. I tried the houseboat, last night’s shooting, even the last time I’d seen Slim. However, the physical feeling of her naked tush resting against my naked tummy was getting to me, big time. The more I tried not to think about it, the more I became aware I was losing the fight. I was starting to grow firm between the cleavage of her bottom. For some unknown reason, my breath had developed a catch, and each breath was becoming more difficult than the last. Finally, I realized I’d reached my full size, and it was now resting against the outer area of her womanhood. At that point, before anything happened, I got out of bed. To say forcing myself to get up is an understatement, but I did. I padded off to the bathroom where I had to wait for my chub to go away before I could relieve myself.

  On my return from the bathroom, I picked a towel off the rack and wrapped it around my middle. As I entered the bedroom, I found Sharon sitting in the center of my bed, glaring at me with the covers gathered around her waist. I glanced at her naked inviting breasts, her nipples firm from the morning coolness and realized this was not helping matters either. I politely asked her to cover up. She ignored me.

  She continued to glower at me, and then finally asked, “What’s with you? Just what the hell is it with you, Matt?” Sharon paused, waiting for an answer, and when nothing was forthcoming, she continued. “We’re all curled up like spoons, and I’m really happy because I’m here with you. I feel you’re starting to get interested, and trust me, I was getting interested, too. We’re snuggled here together, I hear you start snorting like a bull in heat, I can feel you’re in the mood, and then you suddenly jump up and run away. Now you tell me to cover up. What the hell’s your problem?”

  “I … uh...well...I thought we’d given up on the physical thing. I just don’t want to confuse things. I...well...I didn’t think I should start…and...well… uh…” Boy, was I glib this morning.

  “Matt!” At first, her voice was hard. Sharon stopped talking for a moment, took a deep breath and then resumed in a softer voice. “Matt, listen. I know at one time we tried the physical thing and…well, to be blunt about things, it really wasn’t great between us. I must admit I was glad when we quit, and after that I was really starting to enjoy having you for a friend. And you’ve become a very good friend!”

  I tried to interrupt, but she shook her head for me to stop. She continued, “Please, let me finish. You told me the last time we made love it scared you. Well, sweetheart it scared me too. I’ve never had making love feel that way before,” She paused and shook her head, “Never! And I really enjoyed being with you our last time. I think, in my head, it’s become more than you just helping me over a nasty experience. I think about it a lot, and I guess I want us to try it again.” Once more, I tried to speak, and again she held up her hand to silence me.

  This time she asked me with a bit more of an edge to her voice, “Please let me finish!” I nodded my head. “The last time when things worked so well, I was in need! I thought this time since you were in need…well…it just might work again. To be perfectly honest, I want to try to see if it would be like that for us all the time.”

  This really took me aback. Two marriages had left a very unpleasant taste in my mouth. Since then, I’ve worked very hard at not becoming too involved with anyone. I didn’t know if I was ready to go where I thought, where I believed, Sharon wanted to go with our relationship. I came and sat down in a chair across from the bed.

  “Sharon, you’ll never know how flattered I am. I’d be less than honest if I said you didn’t turn me on, a lot! But you’ve become so much more than a sex thing to me. You’re a friend. You’re one of my best friends, if not my very best friend. I talk to you about things I never would have discussed with my two exes. Shit, I talk to you about things I wouldn’t even talk to Scott about. I can say any fool thing to you, without censoring my thoughts. That includes any stupid fool thing I think of, and I know its okay with you.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had a relationship with a woman where we were just friends. Please don’t get me wrong, I enjoy this, and I enjoy you. I’d like to keep all of this, and if it means that we don’t make love to do that, then I’m willing to pay the price. No matter what, I just don’t want to alter our relationship, and I’m afraid if we start having sex again, things would change.

  “Besides, not to hurt you, but being perfectly honest, I don’t know if I’m ready to have the relationship you want. Stop me if I’m making it worse—but, in some crazy way, I have the same feelings for you. I don’t want to be flip or anything, but my life the past few days has been just a little on the fast side...”

  Sharon interrupted, “OK, I understand.” We sat and stared at each other for a few minutes. I still wished she’d cover those lovely breasts. She drew her lips into an exaggerated pout, and said, “But you’ve made me rather horny now, what am I supposed to do?”

  “Cold shower?” Rig
ht after the one I need to take, I said to myself.

  Sharon snatched a pillow off the bed and threw it at me. “Drop dead!” she laughed.

  This seemed like it was a good time to drop out. “I need to get going. I think I might try and see Jeff and Sakol today and for sure I’m going to find Wheeler. I want to see what that SOB is going to do with the marina. I need a space for that damn houseboat.”

  “Well, I can see I won’t be getting any action around here. I guess I’ll leave too.” She stood in the middle of the bed with her hands on her waist, looking down at me, as if she was daring me to take her. What an amazing sight. Her body was truly breathtaking. This was not fair!

  I could tell I had a large tent in the front of my towel, and it was all I could do to turn away. Why was she making it so damn tough? I really didn’t want to start something which might be destructive to our relationship. BJ looked up from her corner of the bed. She looked up at Sharon, and then returned her gaze to me, as if to say, “Dad, if you don’t do something, you’re dumber than I thought!” I turned and went to the bathroom to take my shower.

  When I came out of the shower Sharon’s bathrobe was gone. I rummaged in my drawers until I found a clean pair of shorts and a shirt that looked reasonably good with them. When I got to the kitchen, I found a note from my nocturnal visitor on the ‘fridge door.

  “I’m sorry if I create problems. I also enjoy our friendship! Thanks for being smart enough to see what maybe is best for both of us. I think!” I hated to admit it, but I still wished we had made love. I can talk a good game, but the truth of the matter is that woman really turns me on. It was time to get my day started and I called for BJ.

  CHAPTER 15