Bohemian Avenue #4

It was a slow day in the carwash at the bottom of the glass tower. John turned in his dirty towels to be laundered and walked to the single metal and glass booth for the parking company’s cashier.

Today, the cashier was Margaret. She was the petite and rather buxom girl who got her auburn hair from a bottle. John liked her cheerful disposition and the ready way she joked and bantered with him.

The more John talked with her the more he found out about her. She was very open about herself when given a chance. She had been a skater with the Sesame Street On Ice show when it had come to the Target Center one year. She had dressed as Grover the blue monster from the kids’ show.

As John asked her more about her skating, she revealed that she was an aspiring dancer. In their silliness, John convinced her to show him some dance steps, and she immediately stepped out of the booth and executed a series of provocative fan kicks. John was speechless.

About that time, there was a call for a car wash, so John went to pick up the car. It turned out to be one of the cars with a wiper on the back window. He would have to take extra care when drying the back window. At least the seat had programmed positions to instantly restore the short driver’s seat to the proper distance from the pedals.

As John passed the booth to put the car back after the wash, he saw that the new guy was giving Margaret her lunch break. He had met him yesterday. He was a bible school student named Nathan. He was a freshman and obviously needed this job to help him through school. He was a nice guy from the conversations John had with him.

After parking the car, he had to go up into the tower to collect the fee, and as he was on his way back, he walked past the building security desk. One of the security guards called him over to the desk. It was Diane, a short blond that he had several conversations with recently when she had found out he had been in the Army as she had.

“Hey,” said Diane. “Is that cute guy working today in the booth downstairs?”

“Do you mean Nathan?” asked John.

“Gosh, is he ever cute!” she gushed. “I’ve got to go out with him! Better yet, take this note to him for me. Will you?”

John took the note and looked at her with interest. The idea of Nathan paired with this worldly-wise Army veteran amused him very much.

“That’s to invite him roller blading. You’ll put in a good word for me. Please?”

John looked her in the eye and affirmed it with a straight face. “I think you guys would be good together.”

John went down to find Nathan still sitting in the booth and gave him Diane’s note.

After he read it, John explained whom the author was. “She’s really gone on you. I think you should consider going out with her.”

At Nathan’s look of doubt, John said, “It’s up to you.”

He walked away thinking that the encounter could broaden his horizons a bit. At least, Nathan could experience someone from another side of life. She had reminded him of a girl he had met in the Army that he’d had a temporary crush on. He had met her daughter and if things had gone differently, he might have taken a chance with her. But he’d met his future wife a few months later, and nothing came of his crush.

Later on, Margaret was back in the booth. As they were talking, the phone rang and John was ready for another carwash order, but it was for Margaret. It turned out that Margaret wasn’t going to be picked up from work that evening, and she needed a ride home.

“I know,” she said. “I’ll treat you at Annie’s for supper if you drive me home.”

“I’ll driver you home, but you don’t have to buy me supper,” protested John.

“Oh, but I wanted to eat at Annie’s anyway,” she insisted.

“Okay, we’ll eat at Annie’s Dutch treat, and then I’ll drive you home. Is that acceptable?”

“Good,” she said smiling.

When John had pulled up to the booth that evening when work was finished, Margaret had gone through a small transformation. She had changed into a dress that put her legs in a good light, and had even applied some make up. He smelled her freshly applied perfume when she got into the car with him. She looked very attractive.

By the time they were in the parking lot of Annie’s hamburger restaurant, Margaret was in the middle of tell him about a guy she had over to the house and how he had stolen some money from a jar in her parents’ kitchen. She was now upset and John had the funny feeling she was going to ask for a hug.

Sure enough, she did and John let her hug him. She held onto him a few seconds longer than he was comfortable with as he looked out the window at the gathering dusk. There was warning flag in his mind.

Their time over their burgers was back to the comfortable friendship they had known as fellow employees of the parking ramp. She began telling how she had stalked the drummer for AC/DC and showed up at his house in New Zealand while John listened wide-eyed.

The drummer, Phil Rudd and his wife had allowed her to stay with them for more than a week. She had the chance to meet more of the band and his other friends as well. They had been very kind and tolerant of her.

When John pulled up in front of her house in the Highland Park area that night, Margaret wanted to show him her souvenirs of the trip to New Zealand. He protested that he should get going, but she insisted that her parents were home by now and it would only be a few minutes.

She used her key to get into the house, and went immediately to a wooden display with a glass cover. Her parents were obviously not home, but she pointed to the display and waved him over.

Inside the case were various items from AC/DC concerts, and when Margaret opened the case, she picked up a stone to show him. “Phil and his wife gave me this rare piece of yellow jade. They said it was kind of valuable.”

John looked at the stone. It was the size of a goose egg, and off-white in color with veins of tan all through it.

“Do you want to touch it?” asked Margaret with an intent look in her eyes.

“Um, not really,” said John uncomfortably. They both immediately began to laugh.

She then asked him to stay for a while and even overnight, but John was firm in answering no. He had no intention of ruining his marriage over this girl. Even if his wife never found out, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he gave in to temptation.

He drove away breathing a sigh of relief. He would have to not put himself into this kind of situation again.