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From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} A Different Sort Of Lifestyle 15 (MF, rom)
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Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 09:10:05 -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, "Life01-15.txt" begin>

A Different Sort Of Lifestyle
Chapter 15: The Break
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2006

Jack bent over the sheet of marine plywood and, using a tape 
measure, double checked the lines drawn on the surface. He made 
measurements along the reference points and compared the results 
to the specifications in the blueprint. They all matched. 

"What are you building?"

Not having heard his neighbor approach, Jack was surprised. 
Turning to face the younger man, he said, "Oh, it's you George. 
You startled me."

"Sorry. So what are you building?"

"A boat," Jack answered. He gestured over to the blueprints and 
said, "It's a little Jon Boat."

George Liberman looked over the blueprints for a second. It 
looked like a lot of work to build the boat. He said, "Looks like it 
will be a nice little boat for fishing. Where did you get the plans?"

"It is from an old Popular Mechanics magazine," Jack answered 
with a smile. He had found the plans on the web and wasn't quite 
sure when the issue containing them had been published. It had 
taken him almost two weeks to find full size plans that could be 
used to actually build the boat.

"Why build a boat? You can probably get an aluminum boat for 
about what the wood will cost you," George asked looking over the 
materials list. He hadn't bought any hardware in years and wasn't 
all that sure how much it would cost.

"I'd have to pay for the aluminum boat all at once. I'll spread out 
the purchase of the parts for a couple of months," Jack answered, 
"Besides, I want to build it."

Jack went over to the workbench to get his saw. He picked up a 
curve saw that had belonged to his father. His father had taught 
him how to work with wood using these same tools. His dad had 
told him that using manual tools the old fashioned way was more 
work than using power tools, but you remembered your mistakes a 
lot longer. It was a good way to learn. If he'd had a son, he would 
have done the same thing. Having a daughter had left him 
somewhat confused as to what he could pass down. 

"You're using that old thing?" George asked looking at the old saw 
with disdain. He hadn't seen a tension saw in years. As if he was 
sharing some valuable piece of information, he added, "You know, 
they do make saws that are powered by a motor."

"I know. I own a power saw that would make short work of this," 
Jack answered with a laugh. Looking down at the plywood, he 
said, "I want to take my time doing this."

Their conversation was interrupted when Lisa came out with a can 
of coke. Holding it out to him, she said, "Dad, I saw you were 
working out here and thought you might like something to drink."

Taking the Coke from her, he hugged her and said, "Thanks, Lisa. 
I appreciate it."

She turned to George and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't see you out 
here. Would you like a Coke?"

"No thanks," George answered. 

"Okay," she said. Turning back to her father, she said, "I'm going 
to help mom in the house."

"I'm sure she'll appreciate the help," Jack said with a smile. 
Smiling, she ran back into the house to rejoin her mother. He 
opened the coke and took a drink from the can. 

George had watched the interaction with surprise. He'd never 
thought that the family was that close. He said, "That was nice of 
her."

"Sure was," Jack said setting the can down on the work bench. 
Looking at the frame saw, he asked, "Would you like to operate 
one end of this saw?"

George decided that he'd like that a lot. Glancing back at the 
house, he wondered what his wife would say. After thinking about 
it for a second, he decided that it didn't matter to him. Nodding his 
head, he said, "Yeah, I think I would."

The two men went to work cutting out the traced pieces of the 
boat. With the two of them working on it, it wasn't that hard. Jack 
asked, "So how's the job?"

"Rough. I spend three weeks out of the month on the road," 
George answered. He was a corporate trainer for a large company. 
He taught six different management courses and traveled from one 
major corporate location to another over the course of the year, 
visiting each six times. Most courses were five days, although he 
taught a few that lasted ten days. 

"That's a long time to be away from home."

"Tell me about it. I am sick and tired of hotels, restaurants, and 
airlines," George said. He had the same breakfast foods from the 
breakfast bars in the hotels where he stayed. If he had to eat 
another turkey sandwich catered for lunch, he thought he would go 
crazy. Dinner was almost always a hotel restaurant meal. It seemed 
to him like they only had ten items. Leaving the hotel usually 
meant chain restaurants. There were times when he would have 
killed just to have a bologna sandwich, canned soup, and a glass of 
cold milk. 

"Must be hard to live like that," Jack said.

"Weekends are the hardest. There's nothing to do but sit around 
the hotel room and stare at the walls."

"Why don't you fly home on the weekends?" 

"Even a two hour flight takes five hours by the time you take into 
account the early arrival at the airport, transit times to and from the 
airport, rental cars, and all the other hassles of traveling. I end up 
traveling ten hours to spend thirty two hours at home. It's hardly 
worth it," George said. He had tried it a few times when he was 
new to the job. He stopped when he ended up getting home at four 
in the morning Saturday and had to leave at six in the morning the 
very next day. He was at home for twenty six hours and had slept 
through fourteen of them.

Jack paused sawing and looked over the board at George. Like a 
lot of people who didn't fly often, he didn't take into account all of 
the time required to get to and from the airport. Not aware of 
modern airport security, he didn't consider that traveling had just 
become even more difficult. He said, "I didn't think of that. Still, 
you must miss being at home with your wife and family. I'm sure 
they miss you. I bet you have a nice welcome when you get 
home."

Frowning, George leaned against the sheet of plywood and looked 
around to see if he would be overheard. He said, "To tell the truth, 
coming home after three weeks on the road isn't all that much fun. 
The kids don't remember me that well. They're just three and five 
years old. The wife spends all of her time with them and it is rough 
on her. She never gets a break. As a result, she's never in a good 
mood when I get home. I usually get hit with all of the problems of 
the past three weeks within minutes of getting home."

"Ugh, that must be horrible," Jack said.

"I spend the first and last full day taking care of the house. That 
really doesn't leave me much time for the wife or kids," George 
said. He wasn't going to mention that for the past three trips, his 
wife's cycle was in sync with his times at home. That was another 
source of pressure.

"I bet," Jack said. He asked, "Is your wife going to get upset that 
you're over here talking with me when you could be over there 
with her?"

"Probably, but I'm enjoying this. Let's get back to sawing," 
George said with a smile. The fact of the matter was that he didn't 
have a chance to have any kind of friendship with his travel 
schedule. The only person who he talked to with any regularity 
was his wife and that was a nightly telephone call for three weeks 
and one week at home. All his other conversations were work 
related.

The two men finished cutting out the first plywood part and went 
on to the next one. While they worked, Jack considered what kind 
of life his neighbor was living. It didn't sound like much of a life. 
He said, "It must be lonely being away from home all that time."

"Lonely is hardly the word for it. Every week I have to deal with 
another set of twenty strangers for seven hours a day. All 
conversation is associated with work. Every night, I make a 
telephone call home, but that usually lasts five to ten minutes. 
When I'm on the other coast, I don't even get much of a telephone 
call home. The rest of the time is spent staring at the walls of the 
hotel room."

Jack tried to imagine sitting around every night and all weekend 
doing nothing. That kind of life would drive him crazy. He said, 
"You have to do something to fill your time."

"Can't exactly take a hobby with me," George said. He chuckled 
and said, "Can you imagine me trying to build a boat while staying 
in a hotel? I'd have to lug all this around from hotel to hotel. 
Imagine the sawdust."

Jack laughed at the idea and said, "I guess sawdust in your bed 
wouldn't be any better than cracker crumbs."

The men worked with the saw at a nice even pace. It wasn't long 
before the wooden parts were stacked up on the floor of the garage. 
George stepped back and looked at his hands. They were a little 
raw from the work and said, "I don't get many opportunities to do 
physical work like that any more. If it weren't for the workout 
rooms in some of the hotels, I'd be three hundred pounds."

"What do you miss the most when you're traveling?"

"Home cooked meals," George answered. That was one of the 
sources of conflict between his wife and him. He'd come back 
from a trip where he had eaten out every night for three weeks and 
she wanted to have dinner at a restaurant. 

Understanding the problem without George having to tell him, 
Jack said, "I bet the wife is real happy about that. I'm sure she 
wants to go out to eat when you get home."

"You can say that again."

"So do you take her out?"

"No. That's usually our second big argument of the week," George 
answered. The first argument was always about the work that had 
to be done around the house. He would just step in the door and 
she would be giving him the list of stuff he needed to do before 
leaving. 

"You should take her out," Jack said.

"Not you too," George said with a groan. After hearing his wife 
nag him about it all week, he couldn't believe a guy would be 
taking her side.

"Hey, I'm not taking her side. I'm taking yours," Jack replied. He 
could see that he had struck a nerve.

"Why do you say that?"

"Look, I bet for the week that you are at home she talks constantly 
about going out to eat. Am I right?"

George nodded his head in agreement. He answered, "You can say 
that again."

"So you take her out and make her happy. I know that you don't 
want to do that, but it is just one evening. The rest of the time, 
she'll be a little happier."

Shaking his head, George said, "You don't understand. I've come 
to hate eating in restaurants. It is even worse with the kids along. 
We can't even go to a good restaurant; we have to go to a family 
place. You can't enjoy a meal with kids screaming, low quality 
fatty food, and tables crammed together."

"So get a babysitter and leave the kids at home," Jack said with a 
shrug. 

"Who?"

"My daughter is working on getting her driver's license. I'm sure 
that she would love to get a little extra spending money. You could 
ask her to baby sit. Her boyfriend takes her out Friday nights, so 
you could take your wife out on Saturday night. Take her out the 
Saturday before you are to leave. She'll be excited all week about 
going out to the restaurant."

George scratched the back of his head. He wondered what it would 
be like to go the whole week without an argument about that. He 
could see that Jack's plan would work. He said, "It sounds kind of 
manipulative the way you put it."

"Manipulative? No. It is giving her what she wants. The fact that 
you benefit from it isn't a crime," Jack said with a smile. He 
added, "I think they call that compromising."

"I'll think about it," George said. He looked over at his house and 
saw his wife headed in their direction. The two kids were running 
around beside her; yelling and screaming as was the nature of kids 
playing outside. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. 

Jack noticed the look that came over George's face and looked in 
the direction the other man was watching. He was struck by how 
much weight she had gained since he had last talked to her. He 
smiled and said, "Hello, Cindy. How are you doing?"

Cindy was not doing that well. In fact, she was very angry that 
George had snuck off without telling her where he was going. 
There were enough things he needed to take care of around the 
house that he shouldn't have wasted his time gossiping with the 
neighbors. Not wanting to argue in front of Jack, Cindy plastered a 
fake smile on her face. She answered, "I'm doing fine. How are 
things over here?"

"Great. I hope you don't mind me borrowing George for a minute 
to help cut this wood. It is really a two person job," Jack said.

"Not at all," she answered although she really did mind it a lot. 

Jack thought about the old bartender's advice. He said, "I'm glad 
to hear that. We had just finished and George was telling me how 
much he loved you guys. The kind of stuff he has to put up with to 
make sure that you and the kids are taken care of... Well, he must 
really love you to do that."

The look on Cindy's face softened a little. Maybe George wasn't 
telling her that and hearing it second-hand wasn't as good as 
hearing it from him directly, but it was always nice to hear that he 
loved her. She faltered and didn't know what to say. "Oh."

"I'm sure it is just as rough for you. It must be rough taking care of 
the kids all alone. Three weeks without a break must drive you 
crazy," Jack said watching her reaction.

"Yes, it is. Don't get me wrong, but there are times when all I want 
to do is lock myself in a small room and scream," Cindy said. 

While keeping an eye on the kids, George listened to her talk with 
Jack. He could see that she was venting some of her frustrations in 
Jack's direction. It was a relief not to have her saying that to him. 
He actually found that he was listening to her with a little more 
attention than when she talked to him. He glanced in the direction 
of Jack's house and thought about the advice his neighbor had 
given him. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Jack and I were talking. 
Would you be interested in going out for dinner Saturday night?"

Cindy stared at George with her mouth open. She was shocked at 
the sudden turnaround by her husband. She jumped up and down 
shouting, "Oh George! That would be wonderful!"

The kids noticed their mother's excitement and paused in their 
play. George was pleased with the look of happiness that came 
over her face. The idea of dealing with a happy Cindy rather than 
an upset wife was too good to allow it to pass by. Looking over at 
Jack, George said, "Jack suggested that we ask Lisa to baby sit. I 
was going to ask Lisa if she was available for this Saturday. Would 
that be okay with you?"

It took a second or two to process the fact that he was suggesting a 
baby sitter. The idea of them going out as a couple was more than 
she ever expected. She felt a little guilty about how happy she felt 
at the chance to be away from the kids for even a couple of hours. 
Tears of happiness welling up in her eyes, she said, "That would be 
wonderful."

Watching the exchange, Jack smiled. It was clear to him that Cindy 
was happy about the plan. It was clear to him that George was 
surprised at her reaction and was coming to realize just how 
important this had been to her. He said, "Cindy, you might want to 
consider having Lisa baby sit while George is on the road. I'm sure 
that a break of a couple hours would be nice."

Deciding that nothing interesting was going on, the kids went back 
to their play. The younger boy was chasing his brother around a 
tree in the front yard. As visions of taking a long relaxed bubble 
bath blossomed in her mind, she smiled. Reality came crashing in 
and she said, "I don't know if we could afford that."

Despite the fact that George was still watching the kids, he noticed 
the dreamy expression cross her face and how suddenly it 
disappeared. He said, "I'm sure that we can fit it into our budget."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Why don't you go talk to Lisa about baby sitting 
Saturday? I'll get back to work on fixing the faucet. I'll take the 
kids back to the house with me," George said gesturing first to 
Jack's front door and then to his house. 

`You are going to get so lucky tonight,' Cindy thought with a little 
smile on her face. Aloud, she said, "Okay. I'll just be a minute."

George watched his wife go over to the door. He looked over at 
Jack understanding that his neighbor had managed to salvage the 
rest of the week for him. In a soft voice, he said, "Thanks."

"No problem. Better get to work on that faucet," Jack said with a 
smile. 

George went to work on the faucet. It was a simple task; all he had 
to do was replace a washer. The only thing that made it difficult 
was trying to keep an eye on the boys. The older boy, John, was 
busy flushing the toilet and watching the water disappear. His little 
brother, Joe, was begging to have his turn. So long as they weren't 
trying to fill it with toilet paper or flush their toys, he was content 
to have them play.

While disassembling the tap, he thought about how Cindy had 
reacted to the news that he would take her out to dinner. Jack had 
been right that it would change things. He had expected Cindy to 
tear him a new orifice when she had come to fetch him. As a result 
of his offer to take her to dinner, she had cried tears of happiness. 

The suggestion that Lisa baby sit while he was gone had far more 
impact on her than he could have imagined. Thinking about it, he 
realized that his wife and he suffered from opposite problems. He 
was lonely and she was never given a chance to be alone. As he 
thought about it, he realized that his insistence that they do things 
as a family had been exactly the opposite of what she had needed. 
She needed a break from family.

While cleaning the fixture with a little wire brush, it dawned on 
him that his time at home had turned into both of them wanting a 
break from the rest of the month. Their needs for that week 
conflicted, but there was room to accommodate both of their needs. 
Jack had called it compromise.

He looked over and saw that John was looking at the roll of toilet 
paper. Heading off a problem before it manifested, George held up 
a screwdriver and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

John looked at it for a few seconds and then answered, "It's a 
stabber."

Chuckling at the answer, George said, "It's called a screwdriver. 
We use it to remove screws."

With his face screwed up in thought, John said, "Mom uses it to 
stab things."

Joe nodded his agreement and said, "She does stab things with it."

A shiver went through George at the idea of his wife using his 
tools incorrectly. Curious, he asked, "What does she stab with it?"

"The ground when she's doing things with the plants," answered 
John. 

Pointing at the parts in his father's hands, Joe asked, "What are 
you doing?"

"I'm changing a washer," George answered.

John looked puzzled for a moment and then said, "The washer is in 
another room."

George laughed and held up a little rubber washer. He said, 
"You're right. The washing machine is in another room. This little 
piece of rubber is called a washer. It keeps the water from running 
all the time."

The boys decided that what he was doing was more interesting 
than watching the toilet flush. They closed the lid and climbed up 
to watch what he was doing. George started describing the steps 
involved in changing the washer while he worked. The boys asked 
all kinds of questions about each step. George found that he was 
enjoying the job a lot more than he had thought possible. The 
errand had turned into a chance to bond with his sons.

Returning from next door, Cindy stood outside the bathroom and 
watched the three males for a minute with a smile. She could see 
that George wasn't bothered by the boys asking questions about 
what he was doing. Their incessant questions often drove her out 
of her mind. 

Relieved at the short break, she went into the kitchen to finish 
cleaning it up. The chance to work without having to watch over 
the boys was a rare luxury. It amazed her how much faster the job 
went. 

She thought about her discussion with June. The woman had told 
her of the minor changes in lifestyle they had adopted and the 
major changes it had made in the family. Just the introduction of 
Sunday dinners had brought them much closer together. Thinking 
about George teaching the kids how to repair things, made her 
realize that she wouldn't mind cooking a Sunday dinner if he was 
keeping the boys busy. She had an idea of how much he'd 
appreciate a homemade dinner.

Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was nearly the boys' 
bedtime. Stepping back, she looked at the kitchen unable to believe 
how clean it looked. Leaving the kitchen, she called out, "Boys! It 
is time to get ready for bed."

George, followed by the two boys, came out of the bathroom 
carrying his tools. Smiling, he said, "The faucet is fixed."

"Great," Cindy replied. Looking at the boys, she said, "Time for 
your baths."

"Do we have to?"

"After you finish your baths, I'll come read you a bedtime story," 
George said. 

The boys ran off to the bathroom without further complaint. 
George headed to the door to return his tools to the garage. Cindy 
watched him go and thought, `We might not be able to screw, but 
you're going to get the blowjob of your life. I'm going to try 
swallowing tonight.'
<1st attachment end>


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