Let The Joyous News Be Spread
The Wicked Old Witch At Last Is Dead!!!!

(With apologies to Frank L! lol)

All that is herein contained is not for the consumption of those under the legal age to be in possession of Adult Material or Materiel in any wise, guise, and shape or form in any region, municipality, county, state or nation. If you is not of proper age or legal station, then you should oughta not be a readin' this here!!!

This Work Copyright  (c) Khanundrum 2003


Glasage et Noir

Chapter 2

The water was lovely: warm, embracing, and sensual to the Nnnth degree. My dive was just a falling in the water; it brought me to surface a few feet from where I entered.

As I shook the water from my face, I found myself looking straight into Aphrodite's eyes! She was smiling. Her hands were holding the lip and she was floating the rest of herself at the waters surface. We were twenty-five or so feet apart, and she was more or less resting with her tummy facing the sky.

Her headlights were on!

And what lovely headlights they were. I was mightily impressed at the strength of my response to this sight. Being in the water almost daily, I was accustomed to seeing women in barely there fashions; it had become a rare event for me to feel the old familiar tingle of excitement at merely looking upon a female. 

Now that tingle was full on; my body was as interested in this lady as was my mind!

From up on the deck I heard "Hey, Arthur!"

That's me: Arthur Hayes. I was named after my mom's favorite uncle; he had lived and died before I entered the world, and my mom remembered him with fierce affection. It is good to be named after someone who was loved!

I looked up to see Chris; he swam regularly, but did not use the water as I did: Chris preferred running. Swimming was his time to play and relax.

"Have a good run?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but looked past me to Aphrodite; she looked back at him with a wide smile of recognition and said "Hey, Chris!"

"Hey, Carrie!" he replied, and made a horrendous
Cannonball into the water, just three feet from me. Chris prefers to make a big splash!

Christopher Allen Smith was my old pal; we had worked together a few years back, and it was because of him that I learned of the place where I now lived. He had invited me over one day after work and I had fallen in love with the pool. Within six months, his roomie moved to another state, and I moved in. Two months later, I left the job where Chris and I had met and moved to a better position: Sous Chef at the Downunder Restaurant. 

Chris and I grew to be very good friends, mostly because we had the same schedule and ample time to hang with each other. We found ourselves very much alike, having one major common interest: Cooking! We also shared a joy in working out to keep fit.

Living in Fort Lauderdale ("Fort Liquor-dale!" lol) has its benefits, one of which is that unheated pools are useable from late February through October. I swam at a pay-by-the-month indoor club during the colder months and that's how I kept a regular schedule of workouts through the year.

Chris could run in snow if he had to.

Today was Wednesday, April 5, and I was due into work in two hours. Chris kept much the same schedule as me where he worked. Our arrangement at our apartment was a very good one: we each had a bath, and we each had our own entrance. This is not an easy thing to find in FtL. I was very grateful that Chris had offered the place to me. We shared the kitchen and living/dining room; even so, there were often three and four days strung together where we just didn't see each other.

Such a period had just now come to an end.

Chris shot up out of the water, falling toward "Carrie" (Aphrodite seemed like a better name, but what do I know?) and splashing water on her.

She was laughing at him, and she stood up and splashed him back as he came up standing. He pretended to be overwhelmed, and promptly slipped back under the water, swimming in strong strokes toward Carrie. When he reached her, he came up under her and lifted her completely free of the water with one hand on her upper arm and one on the outside of her thigh.

I was instantly envious of his hands!

In one smooth motion, he accomplished the lift and threw her about ten feet through the air. Chris stands about 6' 2", and weighs about 230, so he did this rather handily.

We are close to being twins, physically.

He is very dark, where I am very blonde. His hair is long while I keep mine cropped close. He has a short, full beard. I keep my face naked. His eyes are green and mine are blue. Our faces are alike, though. And, our appearance when fully dressed is very similar. We occasionally wear each other's clothes by accident, if we happen to leave something lying around the living room.

Which does happen in bachelor pads every now and then.

We do manage to avoid sharing skivvies and the like, though!

"Chris, be gentle with me, you bum!"  Carrie shouted as she came up for air. Chris for an answer grabbed her in a bear hug and kissed her on top of her head.

Gosh. I had never set eyes on her before and here is my roomie gettin up close and personal like with her?

What a world.

"Don't sweat it, 'Cuz', that's as rough as I get today" he told her.

("Cuz"???, I thought!)

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. A girl can only take so much rough housing, you know. I am a delicate flower, easily bruised!" she said, laughing.

"Oh yeah, very delicate! So delicate you beat me to a pulp until I was twelve!" he replied. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Arthur, my man, have you met my Cousin, Carrie?" Chris asked.

"Umm.. no, not as yet" I said.

I smiled my best smile at her, and held out my hand. She promptly took it, and said to Chris "I think we kinda already met, we just hadn't gotten to names as yet".

I actually blushed!

She smiled even wider as she took this in, Chris being oblivious to my state. 

"Well, cool! Arthur is my main man! I was wondering when we would finally meet up, now that you live here," he told her. "How do you like the place?"

Carrie gently let go my hand and answered him, "It is just lovely. I'm happy the apartment became available when it did. I thought I might have to impose on you for a place to live my first year here!"

Chris made a mock shudder. He said, "No way, Cuz, I ain't havin no woman move in with me and cramp my style. You woulda had to stay at the Y or something, us bachelors need our space!"  He chuckled as he said this, and winked at me.

"You've been planning to move here for some time, Carrie?" I asked.

"Since last September, Arthur. I start school next month, and I wanted to be comfortably in place before my first day."

"Start school? In May?" I asked.

"She's goin to Art type school, my man" said Chris. "She is a Ar-teeeste!" he said with a laugh.

"They run their school with an unconventional schedule, Arthur," said Carrie. "Their courses run from May to December, and then start again in April for second year classmen. I will be down here for the next few years while I obtain my Degree in Art."

"Yeah, man, she's gonna major in cartoons!!" laughed Chris. Carrie made sounds of disgust at him and splashed him again. He laughed harder and jumped away into the deep end.

Carrie turned to me and said "Chris told me he had a roommate. Have you known him very long?"

"About four years, now. We met at the restaurant called Yesterdays, when we were both still line cook grunts" I answered. I wanted to know more about this Aphrodite, so I asked her "When did you decide to go to school in Lauderdale?"

Carrie told me "At first I was going to attend one of the school's northern campuses, up in Jersey. But this past September, a school counselor told me that there was a cancellation at the Lauderdale campus and I could switch here if I wanted. I didn't hesitate, especially because I knew Chris lived down here. Having some family in the area made all the difference to me."

I wondered aloud if Chris had arranged for her to get an apartment here. "He set me up with the property manager; she made it easy for me, arranging all the application and lease stuff over the fax and through the mail. My folks paid the first year's lease in February, and I will have an option to continue another year with no increase on rent. I feel so lucky to be here, especially because of how nice this place is and, of course, this beautiful pool!" She said that last with a slight smirk on her face, and added, "I used to swim on my High School team, and I always like being wet."

Yikes.

I must have been blushing from the water up to my ears. Carrie just smiled wider and dropped down into the water, slicking her hair back away from her face, as she promptly stood upright again.

I was captivated with this picture; she looked like a goddess as she came up out of the water, and her headlights were on bright!

I could not help staring at her, and she just grinned at me.

"See something you like?" she laughingly asked.

I must have been turning purple by then. I answered her "Uhhh.... um, er...". "YES" I finally growled out.

She giggled. It was a very nice giggle. I could listen to it for hours.

Carrie looked over at Chris, who was now climbing out of the deep end. "Hey, Chris, what are you doing after work tonight?" she asked him. "I have nothing planned after my shift, why don't you and Arthur come over and do a proper house warming?"

"That sounds like a winner, Cuz. What time?" he asked.

"Well, I get done at 9:30, so just wander over when you get out?" she suggested.

"I'm up for it. How's about you, my man?" he asked me.

This was a no brainer if ever there had been a no brainer.

"Ummm. Er. Sure! I'd love to!" I stammered. "You get done at 9:30?" I asked Carrie. "Do you work at a restaurant?"

Carrie smiled. "No, I work at the Ben Franklin over by Sears, off Sunrise and Federal" she said. "I work in the Fabric and Art Supply department. It was part of how I chose this campus. The job was listed with the counselor's office, and I got the job over the phone because the store manager is an old friend with the school counselor. I moved in on the first of April, and went to work the next day."

I smiled, and said "Well, at last - someone who does NOT work in a restaurant or hotel! How do you like your job?"

Carrie said, "It's fine. I help mostly old ladies who want to keep themselves busy doing something useful. They come to us to find materials for all kinds of projects. So far, I find most of them to be charming. I'm only four days in the job, so who knows what will come tomorrow?"

I grinned real big and said "If I had a severe craft attack, could you get me a fix?"

She laughed, a deep belly laugh. It was marvelous to hear. "You don't know how true that is! Most of these ladies behave like they are seeking the true manna of craft or something! Its scary!"

I was having such a good time talking to Carrie, yet the time was getting tight. I preferred to shower and dress for work by three. I knew it must be moving on toward 2:30, so I asked Carrie "What time do you start your shift?"

She said, "Most days will be 5, but some weekends I will work from opening till 6. Why, you thinking of coming in for a quick fix?"

I smiled. "Nope. Gotta get to work myself. We start dinner prep at four, and usually have the kitchen mostly cleaned up by 10 on weeknights. Our busiest times are typically Friday and Saturday nights. Sometimes we even break two hundred. That is not much for some restaurants, but we don't cook like most restaurants. We are primarily French, and it takes time. We charge for that time!"

Chris had come to sit on the lip of the pool, ten feet away from where we stood in the water. "Yeah, them guys at the Downunder have a very select clientele: only people who MUST waste money go there!!" he said with a guffaw.

I splashed at him and told Carrie, "He's just jealous. He works over at the Chez Josef, where they pack 'em in by the hundreds. We do quality, Chez does quantity!"
With that statement I splashed at him again. "We better get goin and get ready to earn our pay."

Carrie turned, stretched out in the water and swam to the shallow end; I just stood there and watched. My attention on her backside was not lost on Chris, who chuckled and said "Careful, roomie, she bites!" 

I blushed again, and swam the other way to the deep end ladder. I climbed out and walked over to my things, putting the towel around my neck and laying my shirt over my arm.

Carrie and Chris were walking up to me as I readied to head off.

"I look forward to seeing you later, Arthur. Just come over after your done: I'm in 21520, apartment A3" Carrie said. "I will have some chips and dip or something, so don't worry about snacks?"

I smiled. "We make sure to leave work without hunger! At least, I do!" 

"Yeah, Arthur would be a true fat body if he didn't work out like he does, Cuz. The poor boy would be a regular walrus!" Chris laughed as he said this.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Food is for cooking, but then it is for eating!" I said.

Carrie smiled at me and said "Well then, just come on over. It will be nice to get to know you better. Any friend of Chris's is a friend of mine."

"I will see you tonight, Carrie. Welcome to the complex!" I said. As I said that, I reached out to take her hand. I could tell she thought I just wanted to shake; when I lifted her hand toward my lips, I felt her hesitate for just a fraction of a second. Then, she let me have it completely. I pressed my lips to the back of her hand very slowly and then carefully let it down, releasing it back to her.

"Gosh, Cuz, you didn't tell me he was such a smoothie! Should I be watching out, here?" she asked Chris with a smirk.

I blushed again.

"You keep this up, Arthur, and I may never get dry!" she said with a giggle.

I turned crimson, I'm sure.

"Gotta go, see ya later!" I said.

I turned away and headed toward my apartment, wondering why Chris had not said a word about Carrie.

I'd no idea he even had a cousin.

I couldn't help paraphrasing the old guy on the radio, thinking, "There's more to the story"...


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED KHANUNDRUM 2003

khanundrum at yahoo dot come
