Trouble Comes in Threes - 3.3

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Welcome to the  Wednesday Briefs  flash group (click to go to the site). The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the bottom to the other flashers. If interested in joining us, drop me a line and I'll tell you how. :)
The prompts are:"It's not raining. The sky is leaking."“You’re not leaving, are you?”"The things you own end up owning you.""Stop acting like an ass.”"I need open spaces.""A penny saved is a penny earned.""Enjoy the show."“Watch me.”or use: doors, carpet, flowersor have music playing loudlyor a phone ringingor use: horn, dust, water hosefind a penny on the ground.or: plastic chicken, paper, moneyor here I go againor color me baffledor where’s a man in lingerie when you need him?



Trouble Comes in Threes 3.3
Once I had the fire going, I closed the screen. Didn’t want to burn the house down while taking a shower.  Now that my headache had lessened, I thought I could stand water beating down on my head. Actually, as tight as my neck and shoulders were, a hot shower sounded good. No doubt about it, I was too old for this kind of stuff. Forty was not the new twenty, I didn’t give a damn what they said. For that matter, whoever ‘they’ were… Well, they could kiss my forty-year old ass too. Right now, I felt every ache and pain. I opened the glass shower door and turned on the water. While I waited, I stripped off my shirt. Off came my shoes next. The shirt, and my jeans, went in the hamper. Standing in my boxers, I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. There were dark circles under my eyes, not that I was surprised. The lines that bracketed my mouth didn’t shock me, either. The white strands in my hair annoyed me, but again, they weren’t unexpected. The last year had been stressful. My gaze raked down my body. My six-pack was long gone, but I wasn’t fat, not by any means. I removed the boxers and threw them in the hamper. Straightening up, I looked at my cock. Hmm, I needed to shave. I liked being hairless down there. God knew the rest of me wasn’t. Dark hair covered my legs, arms, and there was a nice treasure trail leading south. I wasn’t a bear, but I sure wasn’t hairless, even if I did like my men that way.Turning, I checked out my ass. Okay, you couldn’t bounce a quarter off it anymore, but it wasn’t flabby, either. I slapped my ass, my handprint showing up immediately. My breath rushed out as the skin turned pink. I had dark hair, but my skin was very fair. Huh, nice handprint. Thank fuck my ass didn’t shake too badly, and shit, that felt good. Would’ve been better if someone besides me was slapping my ass. . Sighing, I faced away from the mirror only to find I had company. “Shit, guys.” Both cats sat by the door as if they owned the place. “Okay, I got to remember to shut the damn doors around here. Scoot, you two.”Neither moved, but their blue eyes damn sure marked my every step. The temptation to cover my cock was nearly overwhelming. Then I shrugged. They were cats. What the hell was I freaking out about? If they wanted to stay, then fine. As soon as it got steamy in here, I bet they’d leave. Although, them tracking my every move was disconcerting. Was that a cat thing?“Mmmmeow.”  I looked at Tiger. Damn thing was standing on the sink. When did he get up there? Christ, we were almost eye-to-eye—he was a damn big cat. “You’re not leaving, are you?” Snowball rubbed against my leg while Tiger just stared at me. “Fine. I’ll leave the door open for you.” So much for me keeping them out of the bathroom. I took a long shower then dried off. Wrapped in the towel, I rid myself of my five o’clock shadow. The cats followed me as I stepped to the bedroom. Throwing the towel on the bed, I hunted up clear underwear and jeans out of the mess of clean clothes I’d thrown over a recliner. There was a black sweatshirt and a thick pair of socks I managed to find too. I really needed to hang the clothes up, but I wasn’t in the mood now. [image error] Snowball bounced across the room and dive-bombed my pile of clean clothes. “Hey, hey! Come on, cat! Those are clean.” I hurried across the room to where Snowball was rolling around on my fresh laundry. “Off! Get off. Jesus, there’s going to be hair everywhere.”Damn cat was having a field day. I lifted him off my clothes and held him, his purring suddenly filling the room. Well, someone was certainly happy, and damn, he weighed a ton. Okay, maybe not a ton, but he had to be close to thirty pounds. Big, big cat. I petted him, then carried him out of the bedroom—away from the clean clothes. Tiger followed me and we made our way to the living area. I sat, and Snowball curled up in my lap. Tiger jumped on the couch and lay next to me. I needed to take the garbage out, and some other things, but this was nice. What the hell, I could sit here for a minute. I was warm from the shower and the cats. Yawning, I closed my eyes.Next thing I knew, I jumped, my leg jerking. Shit, I about fell off the couch. Snowball yowled loudly and leaped down. Guess I scared him. Scared myself too. Damn, I’d been dreaming, dreaming that I fell. No wonder I jumped like a scalded cat. Snorting at my choice of words, I petted Snowball until he calmed, then stood and added more wood to the fire. I glanced outside. Lovely, it was sleeting. As much as I hated snow, ice was much worse. I need to bring more wood in before it got wet. “Okay, guys, wood run.” Both cats cleared out. I put on my boots and heavy coat, determined to do this as fast as possible. Taking a deep breath, I stepped outside.  “Shit, this didn’t just start.”No, there was a film of ice everywhere. This wasn’t good. Already the ice was thick enough I could see it on the trees and shrubs. I’d just had my electricity turned back on. If the ice took it out… I’d scream. Hurrying to the woodpile, my foot slipped. Cussing a blue streak, I slowed down. The ground was slick, and the last thing I need was to fall. TBCAndrew Q. Gordon
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