The large hall was filled with people of all ages, and Nick knew most of them in one way or another. The children were yapping and squabbling like dogs, the adults were trying to socialize and supervise the children at the same time, and there was a group of men congregating around a keg of beer in the back room. Chuck made a beeline to the tap, almost falling on his face, because the linoleum floor was slimy with spilled food and drink.
“Hi, handsome!” shouted Mindy, a fair-skinned, curly-redheaded year rounder who taught at the community college. Mindy had a Ph.D. in psychiatry and religion from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and had moved here to take care of her elderly parents who lived in a retirement home in Harbor Springs. She had been divorced twice, the second within the past year, and she knew Nick was single and available--she did not know how available. He certainly never went out of his way to mix with people, but rather seemed to crawl around in the protective colors of his environment out on the river. She was surprised to see him at a fundraiser.
At the same moment that Mindy had turned to greet Nick, she reached for a piece of garlic bread straight from the oven, and recoiled as if she had touched a hot iron. She had burned her hand, and she was embarrassed. Nick reached out, and held her hand open for inspection. He was adept at recognizing the severity of burns to the skin, and engaged her immediately in help, comfort, and conversation amid the noise of the hall. Mindy was astounded by the focus of his attention to her. It was if the two of them stood alone in solitariness, like two blue herons in the middle of a marsh filled with song birds. He seemed liked a bright sun, drawing powers within himself. She felt dizzy as hell, and when she stepped back to sit down, she slipped on the wet floor, shoved her toe into the leg of a folding chair and felt a searing pain. She turned bright red, laughing and crying at the same time, and fell to the floor. Her attempt to openly flirt had quickly devolved into a first-class fiasco. When she tried to rise, she fainted, then revived a few moments later to see Nick’s eyes a few inches from hers.
“ I think we need to take a look at your foot--if you broke a toe, there’s nothin’ we can do but tape two together,” Nick said. “Let’s go to my place, I have a first aid kit.” She nodded, and Nick helped her hobble out to the truck. “It’s a good thing I had a pedicure today,” she thought, “but I think my foot’s going to look pretty ugly anyway.” After she had been carefully placed in the passenger seat, Nick hopped in on his side, and pulled a checkbook out of the center console. “Forgot one thing,” he said. She watched him write out a check for $500, and then disappear back into the the hall. He also told Chuck that he would have to get his own ride home, and he didn’t like the insinuating smile that Chuck gave as a response.
When they arrived at the cottage, Mindy had some second thoughts, but she still felt bowled over by him. She looked around the interior of the bungalow. The living room looked as if it was in original condition with beautiful quarter-sawn oak. Everything was so neat--much more so than her place. The house had been ordered from a Sears catalogue in 1908, and shipped by rail to Boyne City, assembled on site. The eight-room floor plan was named, “The Modern Home No. 125 ” ($1500 constructed). The middle of the house boasted a large living room with a brick mantel and open fireplace in front of a kitchen at the back of the house with a nook. Two large and four small bedrooms were arrayed around the center, three on each side. There was a 33-foot front porch, and a cellar. The front of the house faced the woods, and in later years, a bathroom was added, replacing one of the large bedrooms. Nick built a covered deck on the back that hung out over the river’s edge. There was a boathouse next to the main house that had a second floor sleeping room and bath. Nick had bought the house after he retired from his Naval career ten years earlier for about $150,000.
Nick invited Mindy to sit down in a Stickley rocker and placed her legs on a leather ottoman. He pulled off her shoes, and examined her bruised and swollen foot. “It looks like you broke your little toe,” he said. “Let me get some tape, and a few Tylenol.” He disappeared for a few minutes. While he was gone, Mindy kept looking around the room, scanned the books in his bookcases, and checked the polish on her toes. He came back with a warm, damp towel with a wash basin, and washed both feet, then carefully taped her little toe to its partner. “We can take you in to the ER to have it x-rayed tomorrow, but this should do for now.” He then left a second time, and brought back a bowl of cool water. “Here, soak your hand for about five minutes, then I’ll apply some aloe vera gel.
So there they were in Nick’s living room, both thinking about “what’s next?” when there was a loud, dull thud outside, and the whole frame of the house shook. Mindy had just stood up, and in an instant, she was on the floor under Nick. He “hit the deck” as his body learned to react to incoming mortar in Vietnam. So for the second time that evening, Mindy ended up on the floor, this time under Nick. She felt the terrain of his body, and all the dreams, visions, and fantasies that close proximity to an attractive man’s body can configure in the space of a few seconds.
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