Ashley & Milo

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  Monday morning I went down to a little used car lot that I had passed several times. I had seen an old Toyota pickup that didn't look too beat up sitting off to one side. It was one of the smallest ones made. The model had been discontinued when the Tundra came out. The owner wanted $480.00 for it. I offered him $300.00 because it didn't have much for tires on it. We settled for $325.00.

  I drove it over to my buddy's tire shop and picked out a set of four used tires for $40.00 installed. When I got it home, I applied the cleaner polish to it and had me a decent looking vehicle that I could go to the dump with or carry tools and supplies.

  I went down to the rental agency and rented a brush mower, some hedge trimmers, a small chain saw and a weed whacker that I could cut brush with. I started to work on the lot between Ashley's house and my apartment. At one time there were some ornamental plantings and a gazebo.

  There were even three granite benches that had been knocked off of their bases. The ornamental trees were huge. Nothing could be done about the height of them, but I could thin the number from eight down to three and put in some small plantings in the spaces.

  The biggest problem was how to plant shrubs where the old trees had been. I could leave that until I found out what Ashley wanted to do. Maybe she would want another gazebo put in. If she did, I would leave the plantings until that was placed. Lunch time I had to go across the street for a minute.

  I then started with the brush mower. This left stubble four inches high. I whacked it off and loaded it onto my truck, taking it to a place that made mulch and had it shredded for a few bucks and brought it back for compost. The weed whacker had an attachment saw and I went along and clipped off anything that the lawn mower wouldn't handle. Then I mowed the whole thing. I had only about a quarter of the lot done when I looked up and found Ashley standing beside me.

  "Milo, how in hell do you get so much done? It is amazing."

  "It is easy. I take five minutes in the morning to decide what I am going to work at today and the progression I am going to do it in to make it happen. Then I start. I don't worry about getting done. I know if I start and work at it, I will get done sometime. I think it has something to do with focus."

  "Whatever you do, it works."

  "Ashley, I can't stand around holding you up. In fifteen minutes you are going to have some company. There are tea bags on the counter and I dug a teapot out of your cupboard. There is a lemon meringue pie in the refrigerator. You might want to comb your hair and put a little color on your lips. Now go and be friendly to your guest."

  "You are running my life and I don't know if I like it. Someday you will go too far."

  "Whatever. Go, you don't have time to talk about it now." I got a disgusted look as Ashley turned and hurried to her house. I worked another couple of hours and I didn't need the chain saw anymore. I returned it to the rental store. When I returned, Ashley was waiting for me.

  "Hi there, Ash Baby. Did you save me a piece of pie? Come on, get in and ride in my new truck. I'm headed to the deli for a sandwich. Do you want one? On the way you can tell me if you like what I am doing in your backyard."

  "Damn it, Milo, will you slow down? I mean will you slow my life down. You are five steps ahead of me all the time. Mrs. Hamlin came to my door. She wanted to talk about my grandmother, whom she knew well. I didn't know they had been friends. I am so ashamed I haven't been friendlier all these years. She actually cried when we talked about Calvin. When I told her I was pregnant with his baby she cried again."

  "That's good. The burden of carrying all that grief is now being shared. It helps. I had my session with her at noon today and I've felt pretty good this afternoon because of it. Oh, I'm taking an hour or more off tomorrow morning. I have a neighbor with some leaking faucets that need attention. You won't mind will you?"

  "Mrs. Hamlin?"

  "Yes." I was silent for a few minutes. "Ashley, the day after tomorrow, if they haven't changed, you are going to meet two of the sweetest little girls you can imagine. I can hardly wait to have you meet them and if it wasn't for you, well, thank you anyway."

  I'll give Ashley credit. She was opening up to those around her. She talked a minute with the cashier whose son was in Iraq and then she whispered that she found out recently that she was pregnant and the father would never know he fathered a child. She said she was handling her husband's loss pretty well and was glad that she was pregnant, for she had something to remember him by. "Aren't you the brave one, Dearie." Ashley's spirits were lifted by this.

  We ate our sandwiches at the table in my kitchen. "Do you live on this kind of food all the time?"

  "I have been lately. Jean was a pretty good cook and she always cooked good meals for the kids. I often was late so I would bring something from the restaurant. Along toward the last, I would come home and spread out my food. Jean would get up and leave if she was around. I never knew why until she was here yesterday.

  "The last two months she would leave the house and tell me to take care of the kids. I know now where she was heading. She was doing her thing with Burgess. It came to a head one evening when I asked her. That was the day she said she was leaving for good."

  "Too bad. A guy needs some home cooked meals once in awhile. Someday you will have to try my cooking."

  "I'm willing anytime. Soooo, what do you think of the work I am doing out back? The place I cleared was made for a gazebo. Are you going to replace the one that has rotted away?"

  "What do you think?"

  "If this place was mine, I definitely would. You know if you are having a party in the house and you get bored, you can sneak out and have a tryst with some guy that turns you on."

  "Are you volunteering?"

  "If I turn you on, I am."

  "Milo, we have come very close to flirting. Does that bother you, knowing our situations, me being a pregnant widow and you a heartbroken divorced dad?"

  "Not at all. It is fun. It can only be dangerous if one of us takes it seriously and the other doesn't. If it ever gets hurtful, we'll stop, okay?"

  "I got it, you work-aholic handyman, you."