Chapter 23

The weather in November can’t decide if it is fall or winter. There would be a few days where it would be pretty cold and then a few days where it would be warm. This particular day, the weather chose to be nice and Jack decided to take advantage of it by taking his lunch on a picnic table that was off to itself on the college grounds. Very few people ever made it out that way so he would be able to enjoy his lunch in peace.

Jack opened his huge metal lunchbox and looked through it. There was a thermos of soup, a monster sandwich, a small container of chips, an apple, and a cookie. He smiled and said, “Wanda must have packed my lunch today. She always includes an apple and a cookie.”

He had just taken his sandwich out of the plastic wrapper when a woman’s voice said, “Guten Tag, Herr Jack.”

Jack looked up and saw Melissa standing in front of him. He said, “Guten Tag, Fräulein Melissa.”

“Sie haben da ein großes Mittagessen,” Melissa said looking over the food spread in front of him. She couldn’t help comment on how much food he had packed away in his lunch box.

“Die alten Damen überprüfen, ob ich alles esse,” Jack said letting her know that one of the old ladies had packed it for him.

“Alte Damen?” Melissa asked thinking Jack had used the wrong word. She wasn’t sure that he meant ‘old ladies.’

“Ja,” Jack said with a smile.

Believing he didn’t know what he was saying; Melissa decided it was time to switch to English. She asked, “Old ladies?”

“I have a bunch of elderly neighbors. We help each other out. One of them packed my lunch for me this morning,” Jack answered knowing that his situation sounded crazy.

“What do you do for them?” Melissa asked thinking that it was rather unusual for neighbor ladies to be packing someone a lunch.

“I mow their lawns, repair things around the house, and lend my muscles when they need something moved,” Jack said.

“Lucky them,” Melissa said with a smile that hid her curiosity. She wondered just how old these ladies were.

Not wanting to get into the whole commune thing, Jack pointed to the other side of the table and said, “Have a seat.”

“I think I will,” Melissa said putting her lunch bag on the table.

“Do you teach here?” Jack asked.

Melissa laughed at the suggestion she was a professor and said, “No. I’m a student working on my Master’s Degree.”

“What subject?” Jack asked knowing that almost every student was willing to talk about their major and career plans.

“European History with a specialization in the High Middle Ages in Germany,” Melissa asked.

“Oh, the eleventh through thirteenth century,” Jack said remembering it from an article that he had read about medieval communes.

“You know about the High Middle Ages?” Melissa asked raising an eyebrow.

Shrugging his shoulders, Jack said, “I read a little about it.”

“In what context?” Melissa asked surprised that a repairman knew about the High Middle Ages.

“Medieval Communes,” Jack answered. He was going to have to give Daryl a big thank you for printing up those articles for him. Afraid that she was going to misunderstand, he said, “They were really allegiances of mutual defense and not live off the land free love hippy movements. They kind of predated that by nine hundred years or so.”

“I’m shocked that you know about that,” Melissa said.

“The librarian who lives next door to me was rather helpful in getting me signed up for an internet class where I could look up stuff like that,” Jack said.

“The librarian next door?” Melissa asked.

“Yes,” Jack said realizing that it didn’t sound that good.

“Are all of your neighbors that helpful?” Melissa asked sensing there was something odd about his story.

“Not really,” Jack answered.

Checking his finger for a wedding ring, she was pleased to see that it was bare. She asked, “So are you dating any of your neighbors?”

“No,” Jack said shaking his head. He added, “Most of my neighbors are retired. Rich and his wife are a little older than me. They’ve got two young boys. Johnny and Abby are closer to my age. The librarian is in her forties, but everyone else is retired.”

“So you were serious about them being old ladies,” Melissa said looking across the table at him somewhat amused by his insistence of being surrounded by old ladies in his neighborhood.

“Yes,” Jack said.

Melissa said, “They are showing Das Boot Friday night at the auditorium. It is in German with English subtitles.”

“Really?” Jack asked thinking that Frau Shultz and Ella would enjoy watching a movie in German.

“I was thinking of going to see it,” Melissa said hoping that he would get the hint.

“That really sounds like fun. Would you mind if I showed up there?” Jack asked. He poured out some soup into the cup of the thermos. It was tomato soup.

“That would be lovely,” Melissa said.

Jack glanced at his watch and was shocked by the time. He said, “I better eat. I have to get back to work in fifteen minutes.”

“I’m sorry about taking up your lunch time,” Melissa said.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m enjoying the conversation,” Jack said. He took a bite out of his ham sandwich.

Melissa unwrapped her sandwich thinking it was about half as thick as his sandwich. She said, “Those little old ladies really feed you well.”

“Yes,” Jack said. “I would worry about getting fat, but I do a lot of physical work. It helps me stay in shape.”

“Keep doing whatever you’re doing,” Melissa said thinking that he looked pretty well put together.

Taking a swallow of his soup, Jack said, “I’ll try.”

Melissa took a bite out of her sandwich and watched him eat. He noticed her watching him and asked, “How’s your lunch?”

“It is okay. I packed a turkey sandwich,” she said holding up her sandwich.

“Care for some chips?” Jack asked sliding the container across the table. He took another bite out of his sandwich.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Melissa said wondering why he had chips in a plastic cup rather than a small prepackaged bag.

Looking at his thermos, Jack said, “I’d offer you some soup, but I’ve only got one cup. You wouldn’t happen to have a cup packed away in your paper bag?”

“No,” Melissa said.

Jack looked at the package containing potato chips. It was a little round plastic cup with a lid. He moved the plastic that had covered his sandwich over to the middle of the table and dumped the chips out on it. Holding up the plastic cup, he said, “Problem solved.”

“That’s real clever,” Melissa said watching him pour out some soup for her. She accepted it and took a sip. It was warm, but not hot.

“I’ve got to ask a question,” Jack said looking across the table.

“What?” Melissa asked.

Jack asked, “What kind of a movie is about a boot?”

“Huh?” Melissa asked.

“The movie, Das Boot, is about a boot, right?” Jack asked. He ate a potato chip while waiting for her answer.

Melissa had a hard time keeping from laughing at him. He had told her that his German was limited, but he had been pretty good with it so far. She said, “Das Boot means The Boat.”

“That makes a bit more sense,” Jack said. He took a bite out of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully.

“It is about a World War II German Submarine and how they evaded an American Fleet that was hunting it,” Melissa said thinking that he would have watched a movie about a boot just to be with her.

“Sounds interesting,” Jack said. He hoped that Frau Shultz would like it. He was afraid that the World War II theme might upset her, but it was a German film so he figured it wouldn’t be that bad. He ate the last of his sandwich and washed it down with the last of his soup. The chips were finished.

“I think you’ll like it,” Melissa said. She ate the last of her sandwich and pulled an apple out of her lunch bag.

The couple ate their apples without much discussion. Upon finishing his apple, Jack asked, “What time does the film start?”

“It starts at 8:00,” Melissa answered.

“How about I meet you at the Auditorium at a quarter til?” Jack asked thinking it would be nice to see someone he recognized when he got there. He figured that fifteen minutes would be long enough to buy tickets and get some popcorn.

“That would be great,” Melissa said smiling at him.

Jack packed up his lunch box and rose from the table. Smiling at her, he said, “I’ve got to get back to work. It was real nice talking to you.”

“It was nice talking to you,” Melissa said. She watched him walk off thinking that things had gone much easier than she had thought it would. He had jumped at the chance to go to the movie with her. She frowned wondering about his talk about old ladies and neighbors. There was something odd about it.

Jack walked away thinking that it would be nice if a woman like that was interested in him, but he felt that was wishful thinking. He was confident that woman with the kind of education she had wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He said, “She’s really pretty.”

Jack returned home to find a crowd gathered in front of Rich’s entertainment system in the community house. Cheryl called out, “We’ve got cable.”

“Excellent,” Jack said. With Thanksgiving coming up, he would get to watch the football games after dinner. He took one look at the large screen television and fell in love with it.

Claire noticed the expression on his face and said, “Well, we just lost Jack to the television.”

Laughing, Jack said, “Not quite. I was planning on doing a little work on the house this evening. We’ve got to get it fixed up a little before all of our guests come.”

All of the wallboard had been put up, but not all of it had been painted. They were walking on bare wood rather than real flooring. Most of the outlets didn’t have covers on them. It wasn’t very aesthetic, but it was functional. Dave said, “Are you thinking of painting?”

“I was thinking about it,” Jack answered thinking that it would be him, Dave, Rich, and Abby doing the painting. With four people painting the walls, they could get a good percentage of it done in one evening.

“You’ll wait until after dinner?” Liz asked. She didn’t like the idea of eating in a house filled with paint fumes.

“Of course,” Jack answered. He figured that he would wait until after Abby got home from work so that she could help.

Volunteering to help, Cheryl said, “I love to paint trim.”

Bev said, “I can paint too.”

Liz said, “I’m willing to give it a try.”

“Who will watch the boys?” Jack asked.

“Rich. He hates painting with a passion,” Cheryl said shrugging her shoulders.

“Okay,” Jack said. With seven people painting, they could probably get the job done that evening.

Dave said, “We might be able to get everything done in time for Thanksgiving. We’ll have the whole weekend to install the flooring.”

“That’s true,” Jack said. He could install the faceplates over the electric outlets one evening.

“I’ll do the faceplates once the paint dries,” Dave said looking around the house. Even with a paint job and flooring, the house wouldn’t be finished. The lighting fixtures were forty years old and looked rather bare.