A Necessary Evil
It was a dirty, filthy kitchen. At one time it might have been painted bright yellow, but now it was gray with the dust that had settled on the greasy walls. It looked as though she had never bothered to clean or paint since she'd moved in. The 1950's style oven had worn enamel. The squares of linoleum on the floor where coming up at every corner. I couldn't believe she could stand to live there. Empty beer cans and half rack containers were lined up along the wall, having spilled out of the garbage. I paused at the doorway to the living room. I didn't want to wake him up. I thought I'd just go back and sit at the kitchen table to wait for Loreen but the chairs looked grimy and unstable, not that it would physically matter, ( I was pretty light) it just bothered me.
As I contemplated this I heard her car pull in. I opened the creaky screen door and stepped out onto a weather beaten porch. They had lived here for a couple of years now; I didn't know why the lazy bastard couldn't take an hour away from sleeping to fix the damn porch. I watched her park. She looked up at me, startled, and then ducked her head, but it was too late. I had already seen the sunglasses she was wearing. Since it was raining I assumed she was covering up another shiner. I shook my head and came down the stairs toward her. She got a grocery bag out of the back seat. The lazy bastard wanted beer more often than food. Thank God they never had any kids.
"Lookin' good, Loreen," I said.
"Yeah, yeah, you want to grab one of these please?" She went to hand me a sack, and then thought better of it. We walked back up the steps and into the kitchen.
"This place is creepy dirty, Lee," It had been the nick name I had used for her in college.
"Yep."
She began moving the groceries (mostly beer) from the bag to the refrigerator. Suddenly she looked up.
"Is he here?"
"Asleep on the couch, saw him when I came in."
"You shouldn't come here when he's alone."
She began putting the empty beer cans that were on the floor into the now empty grocery bag, looking self conscience and embarrassed.
"I'll go with you to take that out to the dumpster, and then I have a surprise for you," I started out the screen door again.
"What is it? Don't let that door bang shut behind you, you'll wake him up," She glanced over her shoulder.
"Aww geez, Lee, He's probably been passed out all day. Here, go ahead of me," I moved aside and let her go past me, and then moved sharply, causing the screen to swing shut with a loud bang. Loreen looked terrified. There was no movement or sound from the house.
"Told ya so," I grinned at her.
"You think it's funny but I'm the one he would've come after. Maybe not with you standing right here, but eventually," I saw that she was shaking a little, but starting to calm down. She seemed annoyed and a little guilty.
Loreen knew what I thought of the lazy bastard. We had been out of college for awhile, and Loreen had started working for a law firm as a legal aide. She could've worked her way right into a full partnership eventually, she was that good. She never got around to taking the bar exam, though, because one day this jackass walked in and needed legal counsel. The attorney she worked for was in court; the secretary was at lunch, so she started asking this guy a bunch of questions. They went out to dinner and that was the beginning. I'd heard the story a hundred times, mostly in the early months when Loreen still couldn't believe her good fortune of meeting such a good looking, charming man that was also interested in her.
