Short Story Time!

Good evening, my darlings.

I know I’ve been away for quite some time, but I have been busy. And by busy I mean I’m working from home and helping my kiddo with his schooling from home. It has NOT been an easy ride, but…it also hasn’t been as bad either.

I have away, yes, but I also have something new for you. New and a little “disturbing”. I put in quotations because it’s not disturbing for me, but for others, it may be.

No time to waste, here is a short little diddy about a man name Barry, and his new dream home. I hope you enjoy.

Barry’s Dreamhome

The key slid in the lock, reaching inward, fitting inside before the click signaled it worked. A sigh of relief reverberated within the anxious Barry as he had issues with his lock before. He was all too happy to have it finally be fixed. He had only been there for a little less than six months, but already had an incident. Someone had broken into his home, which he thought was safe since the neighborhood was rather “posh”, as his English-born neighbors would say. Posh enough that he had to get an alarm system installed along with all of the locks changed. It was a hassle but one he could afford, and paid for.

Once inside his ranch style bungalow, he breathed easier, locking the deadbolt and door smoothly. The light from his sliding glass doors in the living area showed him that evening was approaching. The glow from the sun outside was tinged a lively orange. He loved when it illuminated his space. From the steps that opened into the pit where conversations were had and encouraged, led to the glass doors that lent to his back yard, complete with the modern furniture for outdoor entertaining. Alongside those meaningful bits was the tour de piece: his new pool. The home didn’t come with it, but Barry insisted and had to have it. Construction started and ended quickly due to Barry’s deep ends. He had a bonus from his position with his consulting firm and it paid handsomely. He was quite comfortable with the end result of that relationship. And he showed it with his house.

California was his dream state, and the house was the perfect showcase for the California living. He had more than enough recommendations for neighborhoods where he could see himself possibly getting married and raising a family in. The home was the first step toward that life. A young man from Ohio, it seemed, had big dreams, ambitions. Ones his single, working mother wasn’t too happy about, but Barry didn’t have a mind for her protests. He instead worked harder in school, college, cultivated relationships in college that transitioned into the world of the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street, and then…and then…

The pool. It was the perfect mix of the deluxe lifestyle. Something right out of his fantasy and thrown into his real life. All of his goals were coming to fruition. He couldn’t have thought of anything better than what he dreamed of. His dreams were becoming the real thing.

He casually strode along the edge of the stillness of that clear aqua green color. Tips of fingers dipped into the coolness, reaching in to only pull back, flicking the excess after. Barry admired his life. Even if there was still no wife to speak of.

Dating had been…interesting for him. He didn’t consider himself a bad looking fellow. Dark hair that he styled in a slick back coiffeur. Blue eyes as blue as the pool on a bright sunny day. His lips weren’t the pouty sort but he smiled and dimples met you along with his slack jaw that he didn’t too much care for. He wasn’t ugly. He took care of himself, his body was in tip top shape, and he ate carefully. His hygiene was impeccable. His fashion was contemporary but yet timeless. Yet, somehow, he could never fully connect—commit—to one woman.

He had his pick. Models, successful business women, socialites, party scene gals, you name it. None of them held even a flicker of a flame to his first and only love, Vanessa.

The waif brunette girl with the lusty lips and deep, brown eyes. The petite madame who he risked sex in an elevator for in college. The ingenue who kneeled before him in an alley, taking him all into her mouth before he exploded from the sheer excitement of it all alone. The many chances they took, the careless abandon with emotions that transpired. The endless naked conversations about art and books he couldn’t get out of his mind, night after night in this new place. This wondrous place.

He longed for her as she was, as he remembered her.

This dream he couldn’t make a reality, unfortunately. Vanessa wasn’t one to give up the small town life and he aspired to bigger, better things.

Barry took these memories with him as he went back into his home, locking the sliding door behind him. He took off his casual shoes, leaving them at the door to walk his way to his bedroom where the girl-for-now waited for him.

Her mousy brown hair spread over his pillows carelessly. She probably napped while he ran his errands. As it were, this arrangement was going to run its course soon enough. It always did with these girls. Never lasted long enough to go anywhere near a real relationship, let alone a marriage. But still, Barry felt a physical thing was better than no thing at all, and he preferred his things warm and inviting. This girl was overstaying her welcome at this point.

Her once happy, brown eyes had all but glossed over whenever he spoke to her, finally graying as time passed. It disappointed him to see such a lackluster look in her eyes. Sure, it always came down to this but he had notions this one would last a little bit longer. He was disappointed once more, it seemed.

Nature always won out, no matter what lengths he went to. This girl managed to last a little longer but nothing more than two months, maybe three if he really wanted to stretch it. She was right about three months now, maybe a little over. Time escaped him. He figured what did it was the time he had spent away from her when cops came over to investigate what happened to his door—the break-in. She couldn’t be seen, couldn’t be around. He had hoped she would understand and cooperate with this mishap, but from the flies fluttering around her more and more now, he was sure it didn’t matter after all. Her once tanned skin began to taken a pallid hue, veins erupting just underneath. A sight he was hoping he wouldn’t have seen at all.

He stood in the doorway of his luxe bedroom, and there on his king sized bed laid his latest short-lived love affair. The flexibility of her left long ago. They had tried to make love last night and it was too…the smell of her. He couldn’t, and she couldn’t. So they didn’t.

He sighed, knowing that this little romance was done. And so was she.

“They always leave far too soon,” he sighed, taking her in one last time. The nude elegance of her losing its effect. He had tried and lost once again. His now disposable darling was no longer an option to him. He knew the process of seeing her out was going to be long and he didn’t look forward to it. Luckily, he had this down to a science. No amount of ointment was going to keep these women from turning rancid. Eventually, they always turned rancid.