by Frank Wylie

Created on: July 15, 2008

Quiet, Just listen

1

The neighbor's lawn was overgrown and his fence tattered; finishing my cigarette, I flicked the butt into his yard and walked inside my den. Elaine, my wife of 5 years was coming in the door as I poured more burgundy, and put a glass out for her.
"Hey babe" She said coming down the center hall, with groceries and what looked like a bottle of tequila.

"Hey honey, whatcha got there, hmmm" I asked while she set down the groceries.
"Just something for after dinner" She said and smiled; I heard my fax alert and rushed into my office to see what my business partner Greg sent, in regard to our next job. A few pictures and descriptions printed out for the next client and a note, reminding me about the meeting with Vandellier on Friday.
"Hey baby, did you see Smokey around lately?" Elaine asked as I walked back out dropping the fax through the shredder.
"No, he was outside when I got backyeah about 3:00pm" She took a sip of the wine, then turned and opened the back louvers to outside for some air. Elaine went upstairs to get in the shower after putting a roast in the oven; I puttered around my office looking for the shed keys. A nice summer night and I might as well take out the patio torches just for the effect, why not?
Neatly grouped in the corner of the shed were the torches, I picked up 4 of them and walked into the yard sliding them into their mountings. A quick flash of light came from the neighbor's back window drawing my attention to his house; I focused my eyes in the shadowed property but couldn't see anyone around. The sun was setting fast, so I shut and locked the shed, then made my way back inside to see if the roast was done.
After checking the oven's temperature and poking the meat with a fork, I took out the orange juice she'd bought before and made two tequila sunrises for us and set them on the coffee table.
"Hey handsome" Elaine said coming down the steps with one of my cigars, mischievously waving it around in her hand. I grinned and winked at her, patting my hand on the couch she jumped beside me and we kissed. She ran her hand through my hair as I sipped my second drink, then I put my arm around her; we sat there for a while and smoked with some mellow opera playing from the kitchen radio. Moving outside onto our patio for another aperitif and cigarette seemed to be a good idea. We sat on lawn chairs in our yard and watched the lightning bugs everywhere around us. Elaine looked toward me and suddenly over her shoulder I saw

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