The weather in November can't decide if it is fall or winter. There would be a few days where it would be pretty cold and then a few days where it would be warm. This particular day, the weather chose to be nice and Jack decided to take advantage of it by taking his lunch on a picnic table that was off to itself on the college grounds. Very few people ever made it out that way so he would be able to enjoy his lunch in peace.
Jack opened his huge metal lunchbox and looked through it. There was a thermos of soup, a monster sandwich, a small container of chips, an apple, and a cookie. He smiled and said, "Wanda must have packed my lunch today. She always includes an apple and a cookie."
He had just taken his sandwich out of the plastic wrapper when a woman's voice said, "Guten Tag, Herr Jack."
Jack looked up and saw Melissa standing in front of him. He said, "Guten Tag, Fraulein Melissa."
"Das ist ein grosses Mittagessen, das Sie dort haben," Melissa said looking over the food spread in front of him. She couldn't help comment on how much food he had packed away in his lunch box.
"Die alten Damen mogen uberprufen, ob ich esse," Jack said letting her know that one of the old ladies had packed it for him.
"Alte Damen?" Melissa asked thinking Jack had used the wrong word. She wasn't sure that he meant 'old ladies.'
"Ja," Jack said with a smile.
Believing he didn't know what he was saying; Melissa decided it was time to switch to English. She asked, "Old ladies?"
"I have a bunch of elderly neighbors. We help each other out. One of them packed my lunch for me this morning," Jack answered knowing that his situation sounded crazy.
"What do you do for them?" Melissa asked thinking that it was rather unusual for neighbor ladies to be packing someone a lunch.
"I mow their lawns, repair things around the house, and lend my muscles when they need something moved," Jack said.
"Lucky them," Melissa said with a smile that hid her curiosity. She wondered just how old these ladies were.
Not wanting to get into the whole commune thing, Jack pointed to the other side of the table and said, "Have a seat."
"I think I will," Melissa said putting her lunch bag on the table.
"Do you teach here?" Jack asked.
Melissa laughed at the suggestion she was a professor and said, "No. I'm a student working on my Master's Degree."
"What subject?" Jack asked knowing that almost every student was willing to talk about their major and career plans.
"European History with a specialization in the High Middle Ages in Germany," Melissa asked.
"Oh, the eleventh through thirteenth century," Jack said remembering it from an article that he had read about medieval communes.
"You know about the High Middle Ages?" Melissa asked raising an eyebrow.
Shrugging his shoulders, Jack said, "I read a little about it."
"In what context?" Melissa asked surprised that a repairman knew about the High Middle Ages.
"Medieval Communes," Jack answered. He was going to have to give Daryl a big thank you for printing up those articles for him. Afraid that she was going to misunderstand, he said, "They were really allegiances of mutual defense and not live off the land free love hippy movements. They kind of predated that by nine hundred years or so."
"I'm shocked that you know about that," Melissa said.
"The librarian who lives next door to me was rather helpful in getting me signed up for an internet class where I could look up stuff like that," Jack said.
"The librarian next door?" Melissa asked.
"Yes," Jack said realizing that it didn't sound that good.
"Are all of your neighbors that helpful?" Melissa asked sensing there was something odd about his story.
"Not really," Jack answered.
Checking his finger for a wedding ring, she was pleased to see that it was bare. She asked, "So are you dating any of your neighbors?"
"No," Jack said shaking his head. He added, "Most of my neighbors are retired. Rich and his wife are a little older than me. They've got two young boys. Johnny and Abby are closer to my age. The librarian is in her forties, but everyone else is retired."
"So you were serious about them being old ladies," Melissa said looking across the table at him somewhat amused by his insistence of being surrounded by old ladies in his neighborhood.
"Yes," Jack said.
Melissa said, "They are showing Das Boot Friday night at the auditorium. It is in German with English subtitles."
"Really?" Jack asked thinking that Frau Shultz and Ella would enjoy watching a movie in German.
"I was thinking of going to see it," Melissa said hoping that he would get the hint.
"That really sounds like fun. Would you mind if I showed up there?" Jack asked. He poured out some soup into the cup of the thermos. It was tomato soup.
"That would be lovely," Melissa said.
Jack glanced at his watch and was shocked by the time. He said, "I better eat. I have to get back to work in fifteen minutes."
"I'm sorry about taking up your lunch time," Melissa said.
"Don't be sorry. I'm enjoying the conversation," Jack said. He took a bite out of his ham sandwich.
Melissa unwrapped her sandwich thinking it was about half as thick as his sandwich. She said, "Those little old ladies really feed you well."
"Yes," Jack said. "I would worry about getting fat, but I do a lot of physical work. It helps me stay in shape."
"Keep doing whatever you're doing," Melissa said thinking that he looked pretty well put together.
Taking a swallow of his soup, Jack said, "I'll try."
Melissa took a bite out of her sandwich and watched him eat. He noticed her watching him and asked, "How's your lunch?"
"It is okay. I packed a turkey sandwich," she said holding up her sandwich.
"Care for some chips?" Jack asked sliding the container across the table. He took another bite out of his sandwich.
"Don't mind if I do," Melissa said wondering why he had chips in a plastic cup rather than a small prepackaged bag.
Looking at his thermos, Jack said, "I'd offer you some soup, but I've only got one cup. You wouldn't happen to have a cup packed away in your paper bag?"
"No," Melissa said.
Jack looked at the package containing potato chips. It was a little round plastic cup with a lid. He moved the plastic that had covered his sandwich over to the middle of the table and dumped the chips out on it. Holding up the plastic cup, he said, "Problem solved."
"That's real clever," Melissa said watching him pour out some soup for her. She accepted it and took a sip. It was warm, but not hot.
"I've got to ask a question," Jack said looking across the table.
"What?" Melissa asked.
Jack asked, "What kind of a movie is about a boot?"
"Huh?" Melissa asked.
"The movie, Das Boot, is about a boot, right?" Jack asked. He ate a potato chip while waiting for her answer.
Melissa had a hard time keeping from laughing at him. He had told her that his German was limited, but he had been pretty good with it so far. She said, "Das Boot means The Boat."
"That makes a bit more sense," Jack said. He took a bite out of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully.
"It is about a World War II German Submarine and how they evaded an American Fleet that was hunting it," Melissa said thinking that he would have watched a movie about a boot just to be with her.
"Sounds interesting," Jack said. He hoped that Frau Shultz would like it. He was afraid that the World War II theme might upset her, but it was a German film so he figured it wouldn't be that bad. He ate the last of his sandwich and washed it down with the last of his soup. The chips were finished.
"I think you'll like it," Melissa said. She ate the last of her sandwich and pulled an apple out of her lunch bag.
The couple ate their apples without much discussion. Upon finishing his apple, Jack asked, "What time does the film start?"
"It starts at 8:00," Melissa answered.
"How about I meet you at the Auditorium at a quarter til?" Jack asked thinking it would be nice to see someone he recognized when he got there. He figured that fifteen minutes would be long enough to buy tickets and get some popcorn.
"That would be great," Melissa said smiling at him.
Jack packed up his lunch box and rose from the table. Smiling at her, he said, "I've got to get back to work. It was real nice talking to you."
"It was nice talking to you," Melissa said. She watched him walk off thinking that things had gone much easier than she had thought it would. He had jumped at the chance to go to the movie with her. She frowned wondering about his talk about old ladies and neighbors. There was something odd about it.
Jack walked away thinking that it would be nice if a woman like that was interested in him, but he felt that was wishful thinking. He was confident that woman with the kind of education she had wouldn't want anything to do with him. He said, "She's really pretty."
Jack returned home to find a crowd gathered in front of Rich's entertainment system in the community house. Cheryl called out, "We've got cable."
"Excellent," Jack said. With Thanksgiving coming up, he would get to watch the football games after dinner. He took one look at the large screen television and fell in love with it.
Claire noticed the expression on his face and said, "Well, we just lost Jack to the television."
Laughing, Jack said, "Not quite. I was planning on doing a little work on the house this evening. We've got to get it fixed up a little before all of our guests come."
All of the wallboard had been put up, but not all of it had been painted. They were walking on bare wood rather than real flooring. Most of the outlets didn't have covers on them. It wasn't very aesthetic, but it was functional. Dave said, "Are you thinking of painting?"
"I was thinking about it," Jack answered thinking that it would be him, Dave, Rich, and Abby doing the painting. With four people painting the walls, they could get a good percentage of it done in one evening.
"You'll wait until after dinner?" Liz asked. She didn't like the idea of eating in a house filled with paint fumes.
"Of course," Jack answered. He figured that he would wait until after Abby got home from work so that she could help.
Volunteering to help, Cheryl said, "I love to paint trim."
Bev said, "I can paint too."
Liz said, "I'm willing to give it a try."
"Who will watch the boys?" Jack asked.
"Rich. He hates painting with a passion," Cheryl said shrugging her shoulders.
"Okay," Jack said. With seven people painting, they could probably get the job done that evening.
Dave said, "We might be able to get everything done in time for Thanksgiving. We'll have the whole weekend to install the flooring."
"That's true," Jack said. He could install the faceplates over the electric outlets one evening.
"I'll do the faceplates once the paint dries," Dave said looking around the house. Even with a paint job and flooring, the house wouldn't be finished. The lighting fixtures were forty years old and looked rather bare.
"Excellent," Jack said feeling like they had made a lot of progress over the past two months.
Bev said, "I've got some interesting news."
"What?" Claire asked.
"Penny's son asked me if I could take care of cleaning up her house and getting it ready for sale," Bev answered.
"It is about time someone took care of the house," Jack said. The house had been sitting untouched for a long time. It was only a matter of time before someone was successful in their attempt to rob it.
Bev said, "He said that we should pack up anything that was personal and ship it to him. We could put everything else up in an estate sale. We would get ten percent of the sales as payment for our efforts."
"That would really help the repair fund," Liz said.
Wanda said, "You can say that again."
Dave asked, "What about the repairs?"
"He said that we could hire people to do the repairs so long as we let him know the cost up front. I figured that we could do some of the work and add even more money to the communal coffer," Bev said looking around to see what people thought of her idea.
"Even better," Jack said. There were still a lot of repairs that had to be done on the houses in the neighborhood. This was the first house to get painted, but almost all of the houses could use a coat of paint. He looked over at Wanda and said, "We might get to paint your house soon."
"That would be wonderful," Wanda said breaking out in a smile.
"All of this talk about working is making me hungry. What's for dinner?" Jack asked provoking laughter in the room.
"Pot Roast with potatoes, carrots, and gravy," Laura answered. It was her turn to cook and she knew that it was one of Dave's favorites.
"That sounds good," Jack said. His stomach growled in response.
"It will be about twenty minutes before it is ready," Laura said. Rich hadn't returned home from work yet.
Jack said, "How about I toss the ball with the boys while dinner is getting prepared?"
"They would love that," Cheryl said relieved to have a little peace.
"Where are they?" Jack asked.
"They are out back," Cheryl answered.
Jack went out in the backyard and found the boys chasing each other around the yard. He shouted, "How about a game of catch?"
Chuck shouted, "Great!"
"Yahoo," Mike shouted running over to the garage to fetch the ball and gloves. His brother was right on his heels.
Within two minutes, the trio was tossing a baseball around. Mike, the younger of the two brothers, was still at that phase where catching and throwing were awkward. More often than not, the ball landed at Jack's feet. Occasionally though, the ball was high enough to catch. On the other hand, Chuck was developing into quite a good thrower.
Jack was giving Mike little pointers about how to catch the ball with the overlarge baseball glove when Rich arrived. He watched the three of them throwing catch and grinned. Jack noticed Rich and said, "Your father is home."
The two boys dropped everything to greet their father. Jack went over and picked up the ball and gloves off the ground. He figured that the game of catch was over. Chuck was busily explaining how they now had television in the house. Mike was telling how he had carried all of the cords from their home to the community house. Rich patiently listened to the boys tell their stories and praised them for the contributions to the commune.
Jack watched Rich interact with the boys. All in all, he thought that Rich was a pretty good father. He actually listened to the boys and gave them little pearls of wisdom in a gentle non- threatening manner. Rich was good at giving advice on how to deal with social situations and Jack recognized a slight difference in a blue collar childhood and a white collar childhood. His father's lessons had been about fixing things while Rich's lessons were about dealing with situations.
Gail stuck her head out the backdoor and shouted, "Dinner is ready."
Rich looked down at the boys and said, "Run on into the house and wash your hands."
"Okay," the boys shouted before running into the house. There was a little pushing and shoving at the door, but it was the normal rough and tumble interaction between brothers.
Jack laughed at watching the pair. Rich came over and said, "Thanks for playing ball with them. I don't get a chance to do that kind of stuff with them."
"It is my pleasure. I enjoy getting out occasionally to throw a baseball around," Jack said.
"I was thinking about getting a basketball hoop for the boys for Christmas. What do you think of the idea?" Rich asked.
"Where would you put it?" Jack asked.
"I was thinking we could hang it on the side of the community house," Rich said gesturing to the side of the house by the driveway.
Jack looked over at the house and said, "That might not be a good idea. We've got the solar cells atop the house and I'm not sure how well they'll stand up to getting hit by a basketball."
"They couldn't throw it that high," Rich said although he hadn't really thought about that.
"You and I can," Jack said with a grin. He wouldn't mind taking Rich on in a game of one on one. He looked at the detached garage and said, "We could put it on the garage."
"Sounds good to me," Rich said. He hadn't thought about him and Jack playing a little basketball. The fact of the matter was that hanging around with Jack and Dave had led to being a lot more physically active than in the past. He had lost a little weight and it actually felt good.
"I think they'll enjoy playing a little basketball," Jack said.
"Let's get in and eat," Rich said.
The pair of men went into the house which was filled with the activity of setting the tables with plates loaded with food. The little old ladies had serving food down to an art form. Waiting for a chance to wash his hands, Rich said, "This community house is really a great idea."
"My garage wasn't the best meeting place," Jack said. It had served its purpose, but it would have become a problem before much longer. The community house had come along at a good time.
"It was missing a lot of the essentials for a community life," Rich said. He imagined that Jack had been tired of people going into his house to use the bathroom. Over time, he had come to appreciate all of the sacrifices that Jack had made for the commune. For a time there, he had lost a lot of privacy and had born the increased cost of hosting the commune.
"Including heat," Jack said knowing that was going to be a significant issue soon.
"Yeah. It is starting to get a little chilly at night," Rich said. The energy costs of heating the house was another economic hit lurking on the horizon.
"We're going to paint the house tonight," Jack said wanting to change the topic of conversation.
"I hate painting," Rich said with a grimace on his face. No matter how hard he tried, he could never manage to keep from getting paint over everything. There had to be a trick to it, but no one had ever showed it to him.
"Cheryl already told us that," Jack said with a grin.
"I'll help if you really need it," Rich said knowing that he had to make the offer.
"We've got seven volunteers. That's more than enough," Jack said with a laugh.
"Thank God," Rich said. He stepped into the bathroom and washed his hands. Looking over his shoulder, he asked, "How's it going on your job?"
"I like it," Jack said finding that it was nice having regular hours. Every day was filled with activity, but there was enough variety that he was never bored. That afternoon he had help run some cables through the ceiling of one of the buildings where they were installing WIFI.
Rich dried his hands and stepped out of the bathroom. Jack went in and washed his hands. He said, "I like the campus a lot. The kids there are really friendly. There are a lot of really smart kids coming up through school. It kind of gives me hope for the future."
"I worry about being able to afford putting my kids through college. It is pretty expensive," Rich said. He had started a college fund for them when they were born, but he hadn't put any money into it for the past three years.
"One of my job benefits is free tuition for my dependents," Jack said looking over at Rich.
Understanding just how much money that one benefit was worth, Rich said, "You better not let the little old ladies hear you say that. Your stock as husband material just went up another ten points. They'll have you married and with kids in a minute."
"I don't have the resources to take a woman out on a date much less get married," Jack said shaking his head. He still had to rebuild his financial situation before he could ever think of getting married. He dried his hands.
"I've been married for more than ten years, but I do remember how expensive it was to take a woman out on a date. Dinner and a movie was a quick hundred dollars back then. I shudder to think how much it costs now," Rich said.
The two men went out to the main room and took seats at the table. Turning to Jack, Bev said, "Fred has volunteered to help paint."
Rich looked down the table and noticed a man he had never met. He knew that Fred had to be Dave's friend who was taking care of some of the women in the commune. He waved and said, "Hi Fred. I'm Jack."
"I've heard a lot about you, Jack. You've made quite an impression on the ladies here," Fred said with a smile. He knew who the real power in the commune was and it wasn't any of the women. They all talked about Jack and his steady leadership. Even his friend, Dave, spoke highly of Jack.
"I've heard a lot about you, too. Unfortunately, I can't repeat the impression you've made with the ladies here at the table. I will hint that it is favorable," Jack said with a wink. His comment provoked a round of laughter from the women around the table. He wasn't sure who was sleeping with Fred, but he did know that Bev, Liz, Sally, and Wanda had all invited him over for an evening or two.
After a quick glance at Laura, Dave said, "We do appreciate your contribution to the commune, Fred."
"Yes, we do," Bev said giving Fred a wink.
Emily sighed and said, "It is nice to feel like a woman again."
On hearing that, Jack had an epiphany. In becoming widows, these women had lost more than a husband; they had lost that little extra something in life that made them feel like women. All of the sexual tension and interest in his sex life wasn't about sex at all. It was about feeling like women again. It was about regaining a small part of their identity that had been theirs for most of their lives until they had lost it along with their husbands.
A silence settled over the table as a result of that comment. Wanting to fill the silence, Bev asked, "Where is Mary?"
"She's working tonight," Claire answered realizing that she had the house to herself. She looked over at Fred thoughtfully.