Congratulations !
You have been awarded points.
Thank you for !
- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Love stories / Romance
- Subject: Love / Romance / Dating
- Published: 08/22/2013
Dogs Swap
Born 1949, F, from Zurich, Switzerland.jpg)
It was a very hot day and the two dogs did not really seem to want to move fast. They stopped at every second palm tree. There was not much to see on the coast walk. Most people were having lunch or had already started their siesta. Armando stopped and put his leg up on the stone wall that separated the path from the beach and looked at the sea. The two dogs also sat down and for a moment looked at the sea as well. Then both lay down flat on the ground and stretched their short legs.
After a while staring at the sea without actually perceiving anything, Armando realised that in fact he was bored. He could first hardly believe it but then clearly was aware that he really was very bored. It struck him like a flashlight. ‘What the hell am I doing with these toy dogs here on this promenade?’ he asked himself and shook his head rather shocked.
He was a sports teacher and after working two years on a cruise ship he fell over this advertisement where a lady painter looked for a male model. The painter wanted to finish a special series of male nude paintings and the former model had to leave because his parents needed help after an accident. The lady painter lived twenty minutes uphill from the promenade in a romantic cabana house with a nice garden and stunning views. She was called Melissa and her paintings were very interesting. She had invented her own style of nude painting with colourful wild strokes and hints of clouds. The viewers had to use creative imagination to find the female and male bodies in the powerful and unique compositions. The bodies were just merging into the whole composition and could only be perceived as passing shadows. No faces, only moving or fleeting bodies disappearing in colourful bunches of clouds. Powerful and unique. She started with painting at the age of 60 after a career as commercial assistant in various enterprises.
Melissa had two dogs called ‘Pick’ and ‘Nick’ and she was very attractive and a fine example that even at 71 a woman could be a pleasure to look at. In addition she was full of energy, open-minded and it was always a joy to chat with her.
Armando took the job because he needed some money and was undecided what to do next in his life. He had to pose daily late morning for two hours, then after a light lunch to go for a longer walk with the two dogs. He usually started with a light jogging while reading the sport news on his small tablet. The dogs occasionally stopped following their usual notorious business, sniffing and marking walls, corners and trees. Half way along the promenade they used to make a break, the dogs rested and Armando looked at young women jogging by.
Today it was obvious that something was cooking inside him, probably since a longer time, and now erupting. He changed his position and put the other foot on the stone wall. The dogs shortly looked up to check whether the caravan was going on or not and then again lay back and closed their eyes.
Armando blew out his cheeks and stared at the sea. ‘Some people might even think that I am a gigolo,’ he thought by himself. A flash ran through his body. ‘Oh no, I never thought about that!’ he said into the air and started to be totally confused and upset about his situation. He was wondering since quite a while why he could not find a girlfriend. Either he was not interested or then, if he was interested, the other side did not show any interest in him. Several times already he got severely hurt when making an attempt to begin a conversation and he got doused with refusing comments. Some young women had really confused his male feelings in these recent months, so that he sort of gave up.
Armando peered over the sea and thought to himself: ‘Life is sometimes a bit cruel and one is not really prepared for certain things. Like finding a female goddess who was interested in sharing life with me! Almost all other people around here walk as couples, young, old, middle age. I seem to be the only one who just could not make it!’
He took his leg down from the stone wall, pulled the dogs lead rather vigorously and started to run at once, so that the two small dogs hardly had time to collect their legs, stand up and start trotting.
The trio trotted along on the promenade and after a short distance Armando stopped by the newsstand on the left. He tied up the dogs on the bike stand and disappeared in the shop. The dogs settled down and closed their eyes. They knew from experience that this would take considerable time.
The newsstand had an integrated coffee bar and a range of cold drinks and ice creams were available from a large fridge, where regular guests usually served themselves. Armando took a beer out of the fridge, waved to Barry, the Caribbean owner of the place, and went to the far back corner of the newsstand where he used to establish himself and extensively study erotic magazines.
Armando was immediately caught by the radiant naked beauties and fully absorbed in his daily highlight, the erotic encounter in the newsstand. Barry knew his daily habits and used to greet him with a large smile all over his face showing a row of wonderful and healthy teeth. Also other male readers from time to time came for a longer intent to search around and with absolute shyness, or with seemingly great routine and knowledge, to look at the wonderful and provocative naked females in these popular magazines.
Armando took repeatedly a sip of beer and browsed through the collection of his favourite magazines. The world around him did not exist. He was in his own world, full of naked bottoms, half open lips shimmering in all glossy colours, tiny G-strings, invitingly decorated bras, long legs, stilettos, female curves and breasts, a wonderful world of lust and sin, as far as the eye could see. Desire and pleasure.
‘Are you not a bit too young for this?’ said a dark female voice, which came from the door. He was torn away from his wonderful dreams of lust and desire and looked astonished as well as somewhat ashamed in the direction of the door to the main room.
He dropped his magazine, opened his eyes and mouth and almost poured out the rest of the beer over the magazine in front of him.
An absolute beauty of a real live woman with long hazelnut brown hair posed on the doorstep, just wearing a tiny bikini and changing positions every three seconds and whispering with a sexy voice: ‘A photo like this? Or how about from the side? Or maybe like this?’
Armando thought he was dreaming or perhaps hallucinating and could hardly react. He forgot to breathe and move, he felt sweat in his neck and his legs were almost shaking. His mouth was still half open and he was playing with the thought to escape, when the unknown beauty invited him with her velvety voice: ‘Why do you not take some nice pictures? Then you will never forget me and you will always have me with you?’
Slowly and almost like a robot and without letting her out of his sight, Armando grabbed his tablet and started to take picture after picture. It was almost an ecstasy.
Then the beauty announced: ‘OK, this is enough for now. Please send me copies per email. Thanks.’ She threw a slip of paper in his direction and disappeared the way she came, like a wonderful dream.
And on the doorstep Barry appeared instead with his famous smile on his face saying full of pride and joy: ‘You know what, I think she really likes you. You know what I mean. Don’t mess it up, man!’
Armando, lightly sweating all over his body and way out of his normal control, could not believe what just had happened. He shook his head and shoulders, pressed the tablet to his chest, picked up the slip of paper, smiled when he read her name and email address, placed some money on the cash desk and left the newsstand. He walked out of the newsstand on soft balls filled with air and heard Barry saying: ‘Bye Armando, enjoy the world!’
Outside the sunlight touched his body and his soul. ‘Oh boy, the world can be really gorgeous!’ he whispered and untied the two dogs that immediately jumped up and started running.
Armando had no eyes for anything. He just looked at his tablet, walked along the promenade and indulged himself in her pictures. Again and again he whistled full of adoration about her wonderful body. And he tenderly murmured her name, Karin. He walked rather fast and was a bit surprised that the toy dogs really seemed to be in good shape today, quicker than ever, however he had no time to further think about this. He only felt her skin on his skin, and almost lost consciousness.
At the corner where they had to cross the street, Armando stopped for a moment and sent a short message to her address from his tablet just saying: ‘You are so beautiful,’ attaching three pictures and adding, ‘Love, A.’
Then the three ran up the hill and rushed over the doorstep into Melissa’s house. He was still totally involved and absorbed by the pictures of Karin. He stood there in the hallway holding the lead with the two toy dogs and for a moment he closed his eyes.
Suddenly a loud voice pulled him cruelly out of his loving dreams: ‘What on earth are those two dogs? What the hell happened to my dogs? Whose dogs are these? Melissa stood in front of him with a paintbrush in her right hand and with questioning eyes.
Armando stared totally shocked at the two dogs on the lead and could not believe what he saw: They were not the right ones; they were totally different dogs happily panting at him. His ears became boiling hot out of embarrassment. His heart jumped. The world seemed to fall apart, or was he in a terrible nightmare?
Melissa had no scruple, nor eyes for his special condition, and absolutely no understanding for the importance of his moment, his great day. She continued with a touch of vehemence: ‘You really seem to love your tablet. Therefore you keep pressing it so tightly to your chest, all right. But for good havens sake, you will go back to wherever you have been and exchange those dogs and bring back mine, immediately please. These are Scottish terriers and mine are Shih Tzu, as you know very well. And hurry up, do not forget, we have a vernissage tonight!’
Armando sank on the next chair and tried to remember what could have happened, it must have been, there was no doubt, at the newsstand. Melissa was just about to remind him again, when he gave a sigh and said: ‘Let me send this email, it is urgent. Then I will go and try to exchange the dogs.’
‘What do you mean with try?’ Melissa started to ask, putting both hands on her hips, the right hand still holding the paintbrush. She looked almost a bit threatening. She stopped in the middle of her sentence because Armando jumped up, his face lit up like ten candles and an expression of ecstatic joy came over his face. He was fascinated and staring with a deep love at his tablet screaming full of delight and obvious obedience: ‘Yes of course, yes of course, yes of course, of coooourse!’ He dropped the lead with the two dogs, left them behind, and rushed out of the house, still pressing his tablet to his chest.
Melissa was not quick enough to react and remind him to take the two wrong dogs with him. With a grimace on her face she moved over to her atelier and put the paintbrush aside. Those two wrong dogs ran around her feet pulling the lead behind them and she had to try to manoeuvre them out of the place, before they crashed into the legs of various easels standing around with some of her recent large paintings and caused them to fall over.
She managed to bring those two dogs to the loggia where she tied them on the metal gate, and put two bowls with water in front of them. The two dogs sat down and looked a bit irritated at her. Since she did not have much time to guard them, she brought them each a chewing stick for dogs and thought by herself: ‘This will occupy them for a while!’ The two seemed totally happy with what they got, sat down and started chewing the sticks with joy.
Melissa took a shower, creamed her body and carefully combed her hair. She sat down to take care of her make up and thought about what to wear. She was undecided about which dress she should select for this special evening and walked over to the large mirror in her atelier. She stood a while in front of the mirror in her underwear holding a long black silk dress and alternatively a red taffeta jumpsuit in front of her body.
She could not decide.
Then, a male voice said: ‘Take the black one!’
Melissa stood petrified, turned around and held both dresses in front of her body. On the doorstep stood an interesting looking man of her age with wild grey hair and dressed in black. Left and right of him sat her two dogs.
‘Good evening, I am Jay, I bring you your dogs. Karin mixed up the dogs in the newsstand this afternoon and brought the wrong ones home.’
Melissa opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. She wanted to be absolutely relaxed and cool. But the man woke up feelings in her, which must have slept deep inside. Fire ribbons were dancing around her head, smooth lava streams seemed to wrap her body and her heart was pounding and singing. She wanted that this man would never leave again. It all happened within seconds and she heard herself answering with a most loving voice and could actually not believe how sweet she could be: ‘Thank you so much for bringing the dogs. Who is Karin?’
Jay also first wanted to be cool, superior and elegant, but also he felt something unusual happening to him, something that he could not really define. The floor seemed to move under his feet. He felt like dancing. He heard the most wonderful violin sounds playing right into his heart, but there was no music playing and no one who played. He felt comfortable, great, confident and ready to tell this wonderful woman everything, quite knowing that she would understand it at once.
With his most charming face he answered: ‘Oh, Karin is my, uhm, was my girlfriend. She in fact just has left me an hour ago.’ After a short pause he added: ‘Obviously she had fallen in love this afternoon with a man she met at the newsstand near the promenade. She had observed him already for some weeks and always hoped that he would take notice of her and start a conversation. Today she apparently took heart and approached him. She invited him to shoot some pictures of her in her bikini in the newsstand. Then she left and deliberately took the wrong pair of dogs with her. She arrived at our home with the wrong dogs, explained to me that it is over with us and after receiving an email, sent an answer with no eyes or words anymore for anything else. She took a bag with her belongings and left my house.’
After finishing his report, Jay felt rather ashamed and it all seemed endlessly ridiculous and he thought: ‘Why should anyone be interested in my dreary love story with a young woman of only a third of my age. All the past years I might have known that this girl picking attitude at some point would have its price?’ All of a sudden he felt sorry for himself, the ceiling seemed to fall on his head and he would have preferred to become invisible or sink into the ground as soon as possible. Before his misery could consume his whole body, he searched for his handkerchief and extensively started to blow his nose. It lasted an eternity.
Melissa, still standing there covering her body with the two dresses, said with her most charming voice: ‘Why do you not go to the living room and prepare a drink for us. You’ll find glasses in the kitchen and champagne in the fridge. I will get dressed and then we have about half an hour before we go to my vernissage.’
Her words sounded like violin strokes touching his heart. He would have loved to float high into the air and glide to the kitchen. He turned around and fell over the two dogs. Melissa could not hide a smile and added: ‘Bring my dogs to your other two in the loggia and tie them up together. And give them each a dog chewing stick. They are in that package on the kitchen table. The other two are also chewing on their sticks. So we have peace for some time.’ Then she rushed out of the atelier.
Jay tied the dogs up in the loggia, gave them the dog sticks and poured two glasses of champagne. He also discovered some olives in the fridge and arranged them on a small plate.
He stood there in front of the sofa and admired all the wonderful paintings on the wall. Melissa entered, sat down on the sofa and reached out for her glass of champagne. They toasted each other and she asked, after taking a large sip of champagne: ‘And how did you finally find out my name and address and that your dogs are actually my dogs?’
Jay seemed amused and proudly explained: ‘Well, I called the newsstand. Barry, the owner, gave me the details. I took a taxi and came here!’
After a short break and a sip of champagne he stated: ‘I am 73, sold my dentist praxis a few years ago. I was twice married in younger years, it did not work out well. In the last years I had changing relations with younger, often much younger, women. Karin was only 25. I realise now that I just was a sort of sugar daddy.’
After another sip of champagne and a deep breath he continued: ‘Sorry to bother you with all this. I must admit, I feel rather ashamed and naked and foolish.’
Melissa’s phone rang and she answered: ‘Yes, I know that I am late, but I am under way.’ And she turned her head to Jay and said: ‘I have to go to my vernissage in the town hall to earn some money. Would you like to accompany me?’ Jay jumped up and shouted with joy like a kid spilling the rest of the champagne from his glass over the floor. He hesitated a moment, looked at the wet mess, then placed his glass on the table and embraced Melissa, who had stood up from the sofa, gently around her shoulders. They stood there and looked for a long moment lightly smiling into each other’s eyes. Then Melissa said with a velvety but clear voice: ‘I am 46 years older than your last girlfriend was. Do you think you can cope with this?’
‘Easily,’ he answered without hesitation and took her by the hand. They picked up the four dogs and rushed out of the house to the taxi, which was still waiting after delivering Jay and the dogs.
Arriving at the town hall a group of photographers rushed towards them and produced a wave of flash shots. Jay stepped out of the car, ran around the car und helped Melissa gently and with style to get out. Holding each other by the hand they walked toward the entrance door. The driver walked behind with the four dogs. At the entrance stood Armando and Karin tightly holding each other. They were smiling, deeply happy all over their faces, their eyes shining like small lakes filled with diamonds.
Before Melissa and Jay disappeared inside, Melissa looked back over her right shoulder and said to the young radiant couple, pointing to the four dogs: ‘And you two happy joggers will now go dogging with the four, please!’
*
The young couple married and had four wonderful children. Melissa and Jay fell madly in love and moved together with their four wonderful dogs. Every year on that specific day, together with the four children and the four dogs, they all celebrated a party called dogging day.
Dogs Swap(Dill McLain)
It was a very hot day and the two dogs did not really seem to want to move fast. They stopped at every second palm tree. There was not much to see on the coast walk. Most people were having lunch or had already started their siesta. Armando stopped and put his leg up on the stone wall that separated the path from the beach and looked at the sea. The two dogs also sat down and for a moment looked at the sea as well. Then both lay down flat on the ground and stretched their short legs.
After a while staring at the sea without actually perceiving anything, Armando realised that in fact he was bored. He could first hardly believe it but then clearly was aware that he really was very bored. It struck him like a flashlight. ‘What the hell am I doing with these toy dogs here on this promenade?’ he asked himself and shook his head rather shocked.
He was a sports teacher and after working two years on a cruise ship he fell over this advertisement where a lady painter looked for a male model. The painter wanted to finish a special series of male nude paintings and the former model had to leave because his parents needed help after an accident. The lady painter lived twenty minutes uphill from the promenade in a romantic cabana house with a nice garden and stunning views. She was called Melissa and her paintings were very interesting. She had invented her own style of nude painting with colourful wild strokes and hints of clouds. The viewers had to use creative imagination to find the female and male bodies in the powerful and unique compositions. The bodies were just merging into the whole composition and could only be perceived as passing shadows. No faces, only moving or fleeting bodies disappearing in colourful bunches of clouds. Powerful and unique. She started with painting at the age of 60 after a career as commercial assistant in various enterprises.
Melissa had two dogs called ‘Pick’ and ‘Nick’ and she was very attractive and a fine example that even at 71 a woman could be a pleasure to look at. In addition she was full of energy, open-minded and it was always a joy to chat with her.
Armando took the job because he needed some money and was undecided what to do next in his life. He had to pose daily late morning for two hours, then after a light lunch to go for a longer walk with the two dogs. He usually started with a light jogging while reading the sport news on his small tablet. The dogs occasionally stopped following their usual notorious business, sniffing and marking walls, corners and trees. Half way along the promenade they used to make a break, the dogs rested and Armando looked at young women jogging by.
Today it was obvious that something was cooking inside him, probably since a longer time, and now erupting. He changed his position and put the other foot on the stone wall. The dogs shortly looked up to check whether the caravan was going on or not and then again lay back and closed their eyes.
Armando blew out his cheeks and stared at the sea. ‘Some people might even think that I am a gigolo,’ he thought by himself. A flash ran through his body. ‘Oh no, I never thought about that!’ he said into the air and started to be totally confused and upset about his situation. He was wondering since quite a while why he could not find a girlfriend. Either he was not interested or then, if he was interested, the other side did not show any interest in him. Several times already he got severely hurt when making an attempt to begin a conversation and he got doused with refusing comments. Some young women had really confused his male feelings in these recent months, so that he sort of gave up.
Armando peered over the sea and thought to himself: ‘Life is sometimes a bit cruel and one is not really prepared for certain things. Like finding a female goddess who was interested in sharing life with me! Almost all other people around here walk as couples, young, old, middle age. I seem to be the only one who just could not make it!’
He took his leg down from the stone wall, pulled the dogs lead rather vigorously and started to run at once, so that the two small dogs hardly had time to collect their legs, stand up and start trotting.
The trio trotted along on the promenade and after a short distance Armando stopped by the newsstand on the left. He tied up the dogs on the bike stand and disappeared in the shop. The dogs settled down and closed their eyes. They knew from experience that this would take considerable time.
The newsstand had an integrated coffee bar and a range of cold drinks and ice creams were available from a large fridge, where regular guests usually served themselves. Armando took a beer out of the fridge, waved to Barry, the Caribbean owner of the place, and went to the far back corner of the newsstand where he used to establish himself and extensively study erotic magazines.
Armando was immediately caught by the radiant naked beauties and fully absorbed in his daily highlight, the erotic encounter in the newsstand. Barry knew his daily habits and used to greet him with a large smile all over his face showing a row of wonderful and healthy teeth. Also other male readers from time to time came for a longer intent to search around and with absolute shyness, or with seemingly great routine and knowledge, to look at the wonderful and provocative naked females in these popular magazines.
Armando took repeatedly a sip of beer and browsed through the collection of his favourite magazines. The world around him did not exist. He was in his own world, full of naked bottoms, half open lips shimmering in all glossy colours, tiny G-strings, invitingly decorated bras, long legs, stilettos, female curves and breasts, a wonderful world of lust and sin, as far as the eye could see. Desire and pleasure.
‘Are you not a bit too young for this?’ said a dark female voice, which came from the door. He was torn away from his wonderful dreams of lust and desire and looked astonished as well as somewhat ashamed in the direction of the door to the main room.
He dropped his magazine, opened his eyes and mouth and almost poured out the rest of the beer over the magazine in front of him.
An absolute beauty of a real live woman with long hazelnut brown hair posed on the doorstep, just wearing a tiny bikini and changing positions every three seconds and whispering with a sexy voice: ‘A photo like this? Or how about from the side? Or maybe like this?’
Armando thought he was dreaming or perhaps hallucinating and could hardly react. He forgot to breathe and move, he felt sweat in his neck and his legs were almost shaking. His mouth was still half open and he was playing with the thought to escape, when the unknown beauty invited him with her velvety voice: ‘Why do you not take some nice pictures? Then you will never forget me and you will always have me with you?’
Slowly and almost like a robot and without letting her out of his sight, Armando grabbed his tablet and started to take picture after picture. It was almost an ecstasy.
Then the beauty announced: ‘OK, this is enough for now. Please send me copies per email. Thanks.’ She threw a slip of paper in his direction and disappeared the way she came, like a wonderful dream.
And on the doorstep Barry appeared instead with his famous smile on his face saying full of pride and joy: ‘You know what, I think she really likes you. You know what I mean. Don’t mess it up, man!’
Armando, lightly sweating all over his body and way out of his normal control, could not believe what just had happened. He shook his head and shoulders, pressed the tablet to his chest, picked up the slip of paper, smiled when he read her name and email address, placed some money on the cash desk and left the newsstand. He walked out of the newsstand on soft balls filled with air and heard Barry saying: ‘Bye Armando, enjoy the world!’
Outside the sunlight touched his body and his soul. ‘Oh boy, the world can be really gorgeous!’ he whispered and untied the two dogs that immediately jumped up and started running.
Armando had no eyes for anything. He just looked at his tablet, walked along the promenade and indulged himself in her pictures. Again and again he whistled full of adoration about her wonderful body. And he tenderly murmured her name, Karin. He walked rather fast and was a bit surprised that the toy dogs really seemed to be in good shape today, quicker than ever, however he had no time to further think about this. He only felt her skin on his skin, and almost lost consciousness.
At the corner where they had to cross the street, Armando stopped for a moment and sent a short message to her address from his tablet just saying: ‘You are so beautiful,’ attaching three pictures and adding, ‘Love, A.’
Then the three ran up the hill and rushed over the doorstep into Melissa’s house. He was still totally involved and absorbed by the pictures of Karin. He stood there in the hallway holding the lead with the two toy dogs and for a moment he closed his eyes.
Suddenly a loud voice pulled him cruelly out of his loving dreams: ‘What on earth are those two dogs? What the hell happened to my dogs? Whose dogs are these? Melissa stood in front of him with a paintbrush in her right hand and with questioning eyes.
Armando stared totally shocked at the two dogs on the lead and could not believe what he saw: They were not the right ones; they were totally different dogs happily panting at him. His ears became boiling hot out of embarrassment. His heart jumped. The world seemed to fall apart, or was he in a terrible nightmare?
Melissa had no scruple, nor eyes for his special condition, and absolutely no understanding for the importance of his moment, his great day. She continued with a touch of vehemence: ‘You really seem to love your tablet. Therefore you keep pressing it so tightly to your chest, all right. But for good havens sake, you will go back to wherever you have been and exchange those dogs and bring back mine, immediately please. These are Scottish terriers and mine are Shih Tzu, as you know very well. And hurry up, do not forget, we have a vernissage tonight!’
Armando sank on the next chair and tried to remember what could have happened, it must have been, there was no doubt, at the newsstand. Melissa was just about to remind him again, when he gave a sigh and said: ‘Let me send this email, it is urgent. Then I will go and try to exchange the dogs.’
‘What do you mean with try?’ Melissa started to ask, putting both hands on her hips, the right hand still holding the paintbrush. She looked almost a bit threatening. She stopped in the middle of her sentence because Armando jumped up, his face lit up like ten candles and an expression of ecstatic joy came over his face. He was fascinated and staring with a deep love at his tablet screaming full of delight and obvious obedience: ‘Yes of course, yes of course, yes of course, of coooourse!’ He dropped the lead with the two dogs, left them behind, and rushed out of the house, still pressing his tablet to his chest.
Melissa was not quick enough to react and remind him to take the two wrong dogs with him. With a grimace on her face she moved over to her atelier and put the paintbrush aside. Those two wrong dogs ran around her feet pulling the lead behind them and she had to try to manoeuvre them out of the place, before they crashed into the legs of various easels standing around with some of her recent large paintings and caused them to fall over.
She managed to bring those two dogs to the loggia where she tied them on the metal gate, and put two bowls with water in front of them. The two dogs sat down and looked a bit irritated at her. Since she did not have much time to guard them, she brought them each a chewing stick for dogs and thought by herself: ‘This will occupy them for a while!’ The two seemed totally happy with what they got, sat down and started chewing the sticks with joy.
Melissa took a shower, creamed her body and carefully combed her hair. She sat down to take care of her make up and thought about what to wear. She was undecided about which dress she should select for this special evening and walked over to the large mirror in her atelier. She stood a while in front of the mirror in her underwear holding a long black silk dress and alternatively a red taffeta jumpsuit in front of her body.
She could not decide.
Then, a male voice said: ‘Take the black one!’
Melissa stood petrified, turned around and held both dresses in front of her body. On the doorstep stood an interesting looking man of her age with wild grey hair and dressed in black. Left and right of him sat her two dogs.
‘Good evening, I am Jay, I bring you your dogs. Karin mixed up the dogs in the newsstand this afternoon and brought the wrong ones home.’
Melissa opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. She wanted to be absolutely relaxed and cool. But the man woke up feelings in her, which must have slept deep inside. Fire ribbons were dancing around her head, smooth lava streams seemed to wrap her body and her heart was pounding and singing. She wanted that this man would never leave again. It all happened within seconds and she heard herself answering with a most loving voice and could actually not believe how sweet she could be: ‘Thank you so much for bringing the dogs. Who is Karin?’
Jay also first wanted to be cool, superior and elegant, but also he felt something unusual happening to him, something that he could not really define. The floor seemed to move under his feet. He felt like dancing. He heard the most wonderful violin sounds playing right into his heart, but there was no music playing and no one who played. He felt comfortable, great, confident and ready to tell this wonderful woman everything, quite knowing that she would understand it at once.
With his most charming face he answered: ‘Oh, Karin is my, uhm, was my girlfriend. She in fact just has left me an hour ago.’ After a short pause he added: ‘Obviously she had fallen in love this afternoon with a man she met at the newsstand near the promenade. She had observed him already for some weeks and always hoped that he would take notice of her and start a conversation. Today she apparently took heart and approached him. She invited him to shoot some pictures of her in her bikini in the newsstand. Then she left and deliberately took the wrong pair of dogs with her. She arrived at our home with the wrong dogs, explained to me that it is over with us and after receiving an email, sent an answer with no eyes or words anymore for anything else. She took a bag with her belongings and left my house.’
After finishing his report, Jay felt rather ashamed and it all seemed endlessly ridiculous and he thought: ‘Why should anyone be interested in my dreary love story with a young woman of only a third of my age. All the past years I might have known that this girl picking attitude at some point would have its price?’ All of a sudden he felt sorry for himself, the ceiling seemed to fall on his head and he would have preferred to become invisible or sink into the ground as soon as possible. Before his misery could consume his whole body, he searched for his handkerchief and extensively started to blow his nose. It lasted an eternity.
Melissa, still standing there covering her body with the two dresses, said with her most charming voice: ‘Why do you not go to the living room and prepare a drink for us. You’ll find glasses in the kitchen and champagne in the fridge. I will get dressed and then we have about half an hour before we go to my vernissage.’
Her words sounded like violin strokes touching his heart. He would have loved to float high into the air and glide to the kitchen. He turned around and fell over the two dogs. Melissa could not hide a smile and added: ‘Bring my dogs to your other two in the loggia and tie them up together. And give them each a dog chewing stick. They are in that package on the kitchen table. The other two are also chewing on their sticks. So we have peace for some time.’ Then she rushed out of the atelier.
Jay tied the dogs up in the loggia, gave them the dog sticks and poured two glasses of champagne. He also discovered some olives in the fridge and arranged them on a small plate.
He stood there in front of the sofa and admired all the wonderful paintings on the wall. Melissa entered, sat down on the sofa and reached out for her glass of champagne. They toasted each other and she asked, after taking a large sip of champagne: ‘And how did you finally find out my name and address and that your dogs are actually my dogs?’
Jay seemed amused and proudly explained: ‘Well, I called the newsstand. Barry, the owner, gave me the details. I took a taxi and came here!’
After a short break and a sip of champagne he stated: ‘I am 73, sold my dentist praxis a few years ago. I was twice married in younger years, it did not work out well. In the last years I had changing relations with younger, often much younger, women. Karin was only 25. I realise now that I just was a sort of sugar daddy.’
After another sip of champagne and a deep breath he continued: ‘Sorry to bother you with all this. I must admit, I feel rather ashamed and naked and foolish.’
Melissa’s phone rang and she answered: ‘Yes, I know that I am late, but I am under way.’ And she turned her head to Jay and said: ‘I have to go to my vernissage in the town hall to earn some money. Would you like to accompany me?’ Jay jumped up and shouted with joy like a kid spilling the rest of the champagne from his glass over the floor. He hesitated a moment, looked at the wet mess, then placed his glass on the table and embraced Melissa, who had stood up from the sofa, gently around her shoulders. They stood there and looked for a long moment lightly smiling into each other’s eyes. Then Melissa said with a velvety but clear voice: ‘I am 46 years older than your last girlfriend was. Do you think you can cope with this?’
‘Easily,’ he answered without hesitation and took her by the hand. They picked up the four dogs and rushed out of the house to the taxi, which was still waiting after delivering Jay and the dogs.
Arriving at the town hall a group of photographers rushed towards them and produced a wave of flash shots. Jay stepped out of the car, ran around the car und helped Melissa gently and with style to get out. Holding each other by the hand they walked toward the entrance door. The driver walked behind with the four dogs. At the entrance stood Armando and Karin tightly holding each other. They were smiling, deeply happy all over their faces, their eyes shining like small lakes filled with diamonds.
Before Melissa and Jay disappeared inside, Melissa looked back over her right shoulder and said to the young radiant couple, pointing to the four dogs: ‘And you two happy joggers will now go dogging with the four, please!’
*
The young couple married and had four wonderful children. Melissa and Jay fell madly in love and moved together with their four wonderful dogs. Every year on that specific day, together with the four children and the four dogs, they all celebrated a party called dogging day.
- Share this story on
- 10
.jpeg)
Martha Huett
01/10/2020Hi Dill. I was searching Story Star for dog stories and found yours. Loved it! Ditto Jd - a feel good rom com. Vale la pena. Gracias! (I read your profile) :)
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
.jpeg)
Dill McLain
01/10/2020Hi Martha, thanks for your nice comment. There is a second dog story: 'Hello, my name is Nuri' (and a 3rd one 'Village rescued by biting dogs'). Hope you like them too. Are you on fb? If so, please connect with me there. Abrazos.
Help Us Understand What's Happening
.jpg)
Help Us Understand What's Happening
.jpeg)
COMMENTS (3)