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From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} A Different Sort Of Lifestyle 10 (MF, rom)
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Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 21:10:03 -0500
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Lazlo Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
 
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<1st attachment, "Life01-10.txt" begin>

A Different Sort Of Lifestyle
Chapter 10: Invitation to a Disaster
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2006

Seated in his living room wearing a rented tuxedo, Jack McCullum 
was confused. He was still trying to figure out how his wife and 
daughter had talked him into going to someone's house for dinner 
wearing a tuxedo. He had fought against the idea from the very 
beginning. His argument that it was just a waste of money should 
have been successful. Somehow, they had managed to win this 
one.

For Jack to be confused wasn't anything new. Just about 
everything concerning being a husband and father confused him. 
The life he was living was not the life he had grown up expecting; 
not at all like he had expected. He wasn't sure if the problem was 
him or the world. He leaned towards blaming the world.

It seemed to him that things were easier for men when his father 
was his age. During the weekdays, the man went off to work and 
came home to a hot meal. On Saturdays, the man mowed the lawn 
and washed the car. Occasionally, there was something that had to 
be fixed. On Sundays, the man took his family to church and then 
enjoyed a Sunday dinner. His word was law in the house. The man 
knew his place in the world.

It was a different world for women as well. His mother had a very 
different life than his wife. Women didn't have jobs outside the 
house. They cleaned the house, cooked dinners, did the shopping, 
and raised the kids. She didn't have to drive the kids everywhere; 
they walked to wherever they needed to go. He remembered his 
mother having time for herself. He couldn't say the same for his 
wife.

Even the kids were different. They were more independent back 
then than the kids today. If they needed to go somewhere, they 
walked or rode their bike. They spent the afternoon outside 
playing. They didn't require organized sports with coaches, special 
equipment, and all that. Back then, some neighborhood kids would 
get together and decide to play kick the can, baseball, or touch 
football. 

He didn't remember his father sitting up late at night wondering 
how to pay the bills. He felt that the credit card was an invention of 
the devil. Because of them, you ended up paying twice as much as 
what the item should have cost. It was just too easy to buy 
something when you didn't have the money for it. Although he 
was tempted to blame his wife for the credit card debt, he knew 
that he was just as much to blame.

Of course, his money problems weren't entirely explained by the 
fact that they used credit cards. In the past, there weren't so many 
things that you had to buy and, once bought, replace when they 
broke. His father had a lawn mower, clippers, a tree saw, snow 
shovel, and a rake. He had all that and a weed-whacker, leaf 
blower, snow blower, and a chain saw. His garage was nothing 
compared to the rest of the house. When he was a kid they had a 
radio and a black and white television. Now they had two 
televisions, two computers, a video recorder, stereos, a DVD 
player, and an answering machine. 

It wasn't just the quantity of items and their individual cost that 
was killing him financially. He was lucky if something lasted for 
more than four years. Every year he had to replace a quarter of the 
things in the house. It was impossible to repair them since they 
were solid state. It wasn't even possible to fix your own car 
anymore. The money drain was never ending.

Of course, not all of his expectations about life were rooted in the 
lives experienced by his mother and father. When he was a young 
man, he had dreams of marrying a sexy woman and dying an old 
man after having sex every day of his life. That hadn't happened. 
With both of them tired all the time, he was lucky to have sex once 
a month. 

He remembered the old stack of playboys that he had found when 
he was a teenager. The women in those pictures were incredible. 
He thought about his wife and remembered when she looked and 
acted like one of those women. Those had been the days. Every 
night they made love for hours. All of that ended when she became 
pregnant. Their sex life had never recovered. She had gained a 
little weight, but still looked good. 

Having a child had changed a lot of things. There weren't any 
dinners out with just him and his wife. That wasn't possible since 
it would mean his daughter would have to stay at home with a 
babysitter and his wife didn't trust others with her baby. Of course, 
Lisa was long past the age where she needed a babysitter now, but 
his wife still didn't want her to stay at home alone. He didn't 
understand the reasons why, but it wasn't necessary for him to 
understand. He was just expected to obey.

He remembered when his daughter had been born. She was such a 
little thing that he was afraid that he'd crush her when he held her. 
He looked down at her terrified by the responsibility that she 
represented. So many things could go wrong raising a kid. His wife 
didn't like him holding the child though and, after the first few 
times, she wouldn't let him hold her. He knew that put a physical 
distance between him and his daughter, but he didn't know how to 
correct that over time.

Raising a daughter was so different than having boys. If he'd had a 
boy he would have thrown the baseball with him in the evening. 
He would have taught him how to use tools and fix things. He 
couldn't do those kinds of things with a girl. Girls wore dresses, 
played with dolls and had imaginary friends. They didn't wrestle in 
the middle of the living room floor. He had no idea what to do with 
her and there was no one to tell him how to be a father to a little 
girl.

She was smart like her mother and he took a lot of pride in that. 
She made good grades in school and would show him her grade 
reports. He'd tell her that she did well, but it seemed to him that 
she was disappointed by his reaction. His wife on the other hand 
jumped up and down on seeing the report. The reaction always 
seemed a little excessive to him.

The thing that puzzled him the most, though, was his position in 
the family. Somehow, he had become the low man on the totem 
pole. It seemed to him that his wife's life revolved around the life 
of his daughter. She ferried the kid to this activity or that activity. 
His life revolved around the whims of his wife. His job was to 
show up where he was told and to do the errands assigned him. 

Now that Lisa had a boyfriend, he was really getting worried about 
her staying a good girl. He had been a teenage boy once and knew 
all the tricks. He also knew that he wasn't going to be able to 
prevent anything from happening. He had never thought there 
would be a day when he couldn't prevent his little girl from falling 
prey to a teenage boy.

June interrupted his thoughts when she entered the room carrying a 
paper bag and said, "I've got the wine."

He looked over at his wife and took in her formal dress. She 
looked great in it. In fact, he hadn't seen her look that good since 
they were dating. Rather than comment, he asked, "Why are we 
going over there?"

"To meet Harry's parents," June explained for the tenth time. 

"We're not dating Harry, our daughter is dating Harry. She's the 
one who has to deal with his parents," Jack said. That was another 
thing that was different now. When he was a kid all of the parents 
knew each other without having to be introduced. Scratching his 
cheek, he asked, "Why am I wearing a Tux?"

"It is a formal dinner," June answered for the thousandth time. She 
hadn't seen him in a tuxedo since the day they were married. 
Looking at him brought back such great memories. The early years 
had been filled with passion. He couldn't keep his hands off her 
body. She wondered what happened to the couple they had been. 
She was curious about when they had turned into a pair of middle-
aged fuddy-duddies. 

"Oh," Jack said hoping that a formal dinner included strong 
alcoholic drinks. He could go for a drink about now. 

The idea that they were going to a formal dinner made him a little 
nervous. Although Harry was a polite young man, he wasn't sure if 
he liked his daughter dating a rich kid. He tried to remember the 
words to the song that kept flashing through his mind. It was about 
how to treat girls based on the wealth of her father. He couldn't 
remember the words, but the gist of it was that if her father is rich 
you have to treat her well, but if her daddy is poor you can treat her 
as you will. He decided that meeting the parents wasn't such a bad 
idea. 

"Lisa is nervous about this evening," June said worried about how 
Jack was going to react to the Anders family. 

"If those rich bastards make her feel unwelcome, I'll ..."

"What will you do?" June asked raising her eyebrow. It wasn't a 
good idea to let him get worked up like this. She needed to get him 
under control.

"I'll do something," he said fidgeting with the collar of the tuxedo. 
The truth was that he didn't know what he could do. His little girl 
was falling big time for Harry. Soon his wife would be putting her 
on birth control pills. He shook his head disturbed by the idea. That 
boy was going to destroy his little girl and telling her that she 
couldn't date him was out of the question. Looking at his watch, he 
asked, "Where is she?"

"She's getting ready. She's a young lady about to meet up with her 
boyfriend. She wants to look her best."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of that," Jack said looking at his wife. 
She just smiled that superior little female smile that meant he was 
about to lose the fight, the battle, and the war. Wisely, he decided 
not to say another word.

He was saved when Lisa came out of her bedroom wearing a new 
dress. Spinning around, she asked, "How does it look?"

"You look wonderful, honey."

Looking at the dresses worn by the two women, Jack knew this 
evening was costing him a fortune. Depressed at the thought of 
more bills, he asked, "Isn't that a little too fancy for school?"

"Of course," Lisa said with a sigh. His reaction to her dress was 
horrible. She wondered if she could ever please him. The idea of 
wearing the dress to school did bring a little smile to her face. She 
could just imagine the reaction of the kids to her showing up to 
class dressed as though it were the prom. 

"She can wear it to church and to other formal occasions."

"My monkey suit is rented. How much did your outfit cost?" Jack 
asked looking at his wife. She looked great in it, but he was sure 
that it cost five hundred dollars or more. He didn't have that kind 
of money for one night. Even the tuxedo rental was more than he'd 
spend on a dinner out. He wondered if she'd be able to return it to 
the store and get her money back.

"Seventy five dollars," June said. She had gone to a second-hand 
store and found the dress for fifty dollars. It was initially a little 
large and a lot dated, but she had taken it to a tailor. Twenty-five 
dollars later, she had a gown that was to die for. 

Surprised at the price, Jack said, "That's not too bad. You do look 
nice in it."

"Thank you," she said accepting the compliment as intended rather 
than voiced. She hadn't seen that look in his eye in years. 

"You look stunning in that dress, mom." Lisa said proud of the 
way her mother looked. She looked over at her father and said, 
"Really nice? You should tell her that she looks beautiful."

"Okay, you look beautiful," Jack said frowning at his daughter. 
That was another thing they did to him. One would always be 
correcting him about how he talked to the other. It was two against 
one and he didn't stand a chance. The fact that he was sitting there 
wearing a tuxedo was proof of that.

"That's better," Lisa said flashing a smile at her mother. Excited 
about the fancy dinner, she asked, "Isn't it about time for us to 
go?"

"By the way, since I'm driving where am I supposed to take us?" 
Jack asked while levering himself out of his chair. 

"They live in the Glenwood Estates," Lisa answered.

"Oh God, it just gets worse," Jack groaned. Shaking his head, he 
said, "Their butler probably makes more than I do."

Deciding that it was time to put him in his place before he ruined 
the evening for Lisa, June wanted a chance to talk to him alone. 
Smiling at Lisa, June said, "Why don't you get in the car? We'll be 
out in a minute."

"Okay."

Once Lisa was out of the house, June turned on Jack and asked, 
"What in the hell is your problem?"

"Do you remember the words of that song that goes something like 
- if her father is rich you have to treat her well, but if her daddy is 
poor you can treat her as you will?" Jack asked trying to sing the 
song and mangling it in the process.

"If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal. If her daddy's poor 
just do what you feel," June sang. She loved that song when it first 
came out. It was a great song to dance to since it had a simple beat 
that most men could follow. When she finished singing the lyrics, 
she said, "That's `In the Summertime' by Mungo Jerry."

"Think about it for a minute," he said looking down at the tuxedo. 
A stray thought crossed his mind. What kind of name was Mungo 
Jerry? He dismissed the thought since that wasn't the point. He 
looked back at his wife wondering if she got the point.

She frowned and looked at him with concern in her eyes. Jack was 
a good provider and she had never done anything to suggest 
otherwise. It wasn't necessary for her to work, since his wages 
paid the bills. Her wages allowed them to have steak instead 
hamburger and hamburger instead of hamburger helper. She asked, 
"Is that what's bugging you? You're upset because they have a 
little more money we do?"

"They are already rubbing our noses in it by making me dress up 
like an idiot just to have dinner," Jack said gesturing at the tuxedo. 
Shaking his head, he said, "Lisa's daddy's poor. Harry has swept 
our little girl off her feet. She's all primed for him to do as he 
feels."

Faltering in her defense of the evening, June said, "I don't think 
he's that kind of boy."

"He's a teenage boy," Jack declared in a fashion that conveyed his 
concerns. He knew that boy was going to hurt his daughter and 
there was nothing he could do about it. His wife didn't even 
believe him. Knowing that he had lost, he decided it was time to 
go. The sooner the evening started, the sooner it would end. 
Glancing down at his watch, Jack said, "We better go."

June was quiet on the drive to the Anders' home. Jack had planted 
some serious seeds of doubt in her mind and they were taking root. 
Lisa had explained that this dress up dinner was the result of some 
sort of romantic lifestyle adopted by the Anders. It sounded so 
plausible, but Jack's story made more sense. 

Up until that day, she thought that Jack didn't care about Lisa. 
When Lisa was younger, he didn't seem to know how to connect to 
her. When he held her in his arms, it was as if he was holding some 
strange creature that was going to attack him. Later, she would try 
to have tea parties with him. He was uncomfortable with the play 
acting. Even now, he seemed to be uneasy around her. He had just 
about blown a gasket when he had seen her bikini. Lisa was 
crushed when he didn't like it. 

Having watched the anguish on his face at the thought of Harry 
taking advantage of his little girl, she realized that he cared a lot 
about her. It dawned on her that his apparent indifference was 
actually a complete lack of understanding of how to deal with a 
little girl. Thinking about it, she realized he hadn't grown up with a 
sister. He didn't know how little girls played with dolls and had 
pretend tea parties. He hadn't known to bring home stuffed 
animals for her when she was sick.

In a way, she had been punishing him all these years for not loving 
Lisa. Whenever a choice between Lisa and Jack had to be made, 
she chose Lisa feeling that her daughter needed someone on her 
side. That's not to say that she had been mean to him, just that she 
was always nicer to Lisa. 

There had been times when he had tried to show that he cared. 
Once when Lisa was sick, he offered to sit by her bed through the 
night. Not trusting that he knew what to do, she had chased him 
away. She hadn't understood the look of disappointment on his 
face. She hadn't realized that he had wanted to be there for his 
little girl in a fashion that he understood.

Thinking about it, she was amazed that he hadn't left her before 
now. He had tried to do things with her, but if Lisa wasn't involved 
then she rejected the offer. How many times had he complained 
that they never did anything with each other as a couple? It was 
definitely too many. She wondered if that could be fixed now.

Over time, she and Lisa had reached a point where they 
manipulated him into whatever they wanted him to do. It wasn't a 
conscious act, just something that had evolved. This evening was 
an example of that. Lisa wanted them to meet the Anders so they 
were going to meet the Anders regardless of what he wanted. 
Considering his suspicions, his suggestion of meeting at a park for 
a barbecue was probably a good one. Instead, they had pushed him 
into this. She was sure that he didn't even know why he was doing 
it.

She looked in the back seat at Lisa. Her daughter was playing with 
the hem of her new dress. It was a gorgeous dress and far too fancy 
to wear anywhere else. She had bought it knowing how much Lisa 
had wanted to impress Harry. By siding with Lisa, had she set up 
her daughter for a broken heart? The idea scared her and she 
wondered what she could do to minimize the possible damage.

Considering possible damage made her think about her relationship 
with Jack. She turned back to look at him. His jaw was tight with 
tension as he drove towards the rich neighborhood. She knew his 
attitude towards that particular neighborhood. He thought it was 
pretentious to have more house than was needed for the family. 

One of the things that had attracted her to Jack was his lack of 
pretension. He wasn't out to impress anyone. He never boasted or 
bragged about his accomplishments. He just did the things that 
needed to be done and went on his way. She always knew where 
he stood on an issue. He was a straight shooter.

Lisa's high school served three kinds of neighborhoods, the lower 
middle class, the middle class, and the upper middle class. She 
knew that it was stretching their budget to be living in a lower 
middle class area. Based on what Jack made, they should have 
been living in an upper lower class neighborhood, but she had 
beaten him up over the school system. It had been one of many 
accommodations that he had made for them and she had never 
appreciated it. It meant more bills and less comfort for him.

The strong man who knew his own mind had slowly lost track of 
his values. Each concession to her had derailed him from his 
essential self. In a way, that had contributed to the slow erosion of 
her respect for him. He had sacrificed himself for the family and 
she had never realized it. June wondered what she could do to fix 
things.

In the backseat, Lisa watched her mother and father. She could tell 
that something was bothering them. She hoped they hadn't fought 
over her again, although fought was too strong a word for what 
they did. It was more like they discussed things energetically. Each 
time her parents discussed her, it seemed that her father grew ever 
more distant from her. She was afraid that one day his indifference 
would turn into hate. 

She felt that it was her fault that he didn't love her, but she never 
understood what she had done to him. She had tried everything she 
knew to get him to love her. She had tried to include him in her 
games, but he wouldn't play with her. She had tried to impress him 
with her fashion sense, but he just grunted. She was a good girl and 
didn't get into trouble, so her behavior wasn't the problem. She 
didn't know what else to do.

For a long time she had wondered if she was just unlovable by 
men. The boys at school had pretty much ignored her and she had 
despaired of ever getting a boyfriend. Then one day, out of the 
blue, Harry had asked her out. He had convinced her that a male 
could love her. Everything he did was amazing. That first date had 
been overwhelming. He had been attentive, polite, and gentle with 
her. He had respected her. The only thing he hadn't done was to 
declare his love for her, but she was sure that he would one day 
soon.

She admitted to herself that he fulfilled a great need within her and 
she was ready to do anything to thank him. Late at night, she 
touched herself imagining that it was Harry doing the touching. 
She knew the effects that his kisses had. The feelings that shot 
through her body were just too intense. Even the memory of them 
sent shivers down her spine. She couldn't imagine what making 
love to him would be like.

Lisa knew that it was past time to talk to her mother about birth 
control pills. She knew her mother wouldn't be thrilled with the 
idea of her daughter sleeping with a boy, but that wasn't what 
prevented her from broaching the subject with her mother. There 
were no doubts in her mind that her mother would take her to the 
doctor. Her fear was that her dad would find out and he would 
actively hate her. 

Judging by the angry look on her father's face, she decided that he 
had already come to that point. The thought saddened her because 
she really didn't have any idea what she had done wrong.  She only 
hoped that he could contain his hatred for the rest of the night. The 
idea that he would tell her how much he hated her in front of 
Harry's family scared her to death.

Her musings were interrupted when her father said. "We're at 
Glenwood Estates. Where to now?"

Her mother answered, "Third street up, we'll take a right."

With tension evident in his voice, he said, "Jesus, these houses are 
big."

June flinched at the thought of what he would think of the Anders' 
house. It was the biggest house in the entire development. She 
glanced back at Lisa and noticed the worry on her daughter's face. 
Trying to smile, she said, "We're almost there."

The expression on Jack's face when he pulled into the driveway of 
the Anders' house was not a good sign for the evening. June 
crossed her fingers hoping against hope that he wouldn't cause a 
scene. Lisa hoped that he wouldn't criticize her in front of Harry. 

Jack stared at the house wondering what kind of people could live 
in a house that big. The yard was half the size of the block on 
which their house was located. From the outside, he felt like his 
whole house would fit in the living room. He glanced at June and 
Lisa. He felt that even they were intimidated by the house. 

They got out of the car and made their way to the house. For Jack, 
it felt as if he was moving through molasses. Lisa walked ahead of 
them, anxious to see Harry and feel the comfort of his hand in hers. 

Feeling guilty that she had not warned him before this moment, 
June whispered to him, "Please remember to address Harry as 
Master Anders and their daughter as Miss Anders."

Jack froze and stared at June. This was too much. Blood boiling in 
anger, he said, "He's not my master. I'm not his fucking slave."

The anger in his voice was too strong to ignore. She said, "It's a 
form of address for a young man, just like Miss is for a young 
woman. They aren't trying to make you feel like a slave."

"I don't like it. He's a boy and I'll call him Harry," Jack said 
looking at his wife like she was a stranger. How dare she suggest 
that he call a boy master? He looked at the car and considered 
getting in it and leaving.

Knowing that she had pushed him too far, June said, "You know 
what, you're right. Call him Harry if you're more comfortable with 
that. If they don't understand, then fuck them."
<1st attachment end>


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