Next Door Neighbor

okay?

Boomer, here, he comes up with the idea of trying to do something to add some flavor to them – kinda disguise the taste, right? We all see what we've got to flavor them with, and about the only thing we've got left is some little packets of ketchup, and some pepper. So I mix some extra pepper into the ketchup to kinda make a barbeque sauce, okay? We dump the grubs in, cook the whole mess, and chow down while it's still plenty hot – thinking that if our tongues are scalded, it won't taste so bad. It didn't help much, though. Anyway, after we get back, a bunch of us are out drinking, and get hungry. We wander into this barbeque joint, and Boomer here asks them why there aren't grubs on the menu. They get upset, and we finally wind up in a fight. Ever since then, we need to compare food to something, we say it's better or worse than barbeque grubs.'

Lucy and the girls had made a few faces during the story, but were laughing pretty hard there at the end. Even the headwaiter and poor Ricky were smiling, and looking at their boss in a new light.

Muddy gestures at Ricky, and a minute later, Lucy and I have a cup of fresh coffee in front of us; Robyn and Sandra get hot chocolate. Then Muddy says he'll give us a few minutes before he brings out dessert.

Lucy and the girls try to protest, but he just looked at them and smiled before disappearing into the kitchen.

About the time we finished with our drinks, Muddy came out again, Ricky right behind him with a tray. As Ricky put the plates in front of us, I can see that we're getting strawberry cheesecake. Lucy eyes it for a second, then picks up her fork to cut off a bit. She put it in her mouth, chewed once, and her whole face lit up – prompting Sandra and Robyn to follow her example; right down to the smiles of delight. I took a bite, and must have smiled, too – all of them grinned at the expression on my face. It was strawberry cheesecake, all right. With*fresh* strawberries (not in season), and the cheesecake was the lightest, tastiest thing I'd ever had. The next bite came a little faster.

Muddy just sat there, enjoying the expression on our faces as we made short work of the delight he'd provided us. As we were deciding whether or not to lick the plates, Ricky appeared again with more coffee and hot chocolate, distracting us from embarrassing ourselves.

Lucy told him 'That was incredible. Can I get the recipe?'

Muddy looked embarrassed (first time I'd ever seen it), and told her, apologetically, 'Sorry, Lucy, I just can't do that. But if you'll give me a call, I'll be more than happy to get one to you any time you ask.'

Ricky brought Muddy a cup of coffee, and the five of us sat there at the table, chatting about almost nothing of consequence for probably half an hour or more. Finally, though, I knew that we had to leave, if only so that Muddy could try to make*some* money off that table that night. I started to reach for my wallet when I didn't think Muddy was looking. Without moving he said 'Boomer, I sure hope you're reaching for a sandwich, cause whatever you pull out of that pocket, you're going to eat it.'

'C'mon, Muddy, you know I don't take freebies.'

'Ain't no freebie. If anything, I owe YOU. So just put your hands back on the table where I can see 'em, and don't be making any fuss.'

'How many times I gotta tell you, Muddy? You don't owe me anything'

Muddy looked at Lucy, and said, 'This here is one stubborn dude.

Saves my life, and keeps telling me I don't owe him anything.'

Lucy looked at him in surprise and curiosity; Robyn and Sandra just kept switching their stares between Muddy and me, as if waiting for us to fight.

Muddy saw the expression on Lucy's face, and told her 'We were out on a mission – the last one we were together, as it turned out. Things got messed up, pretty bad. A mortar round lands kinda close, and messes me up some. Boomer here, he patches me up real quick, before anything serious falls off or slides out, and drags my black ass half a click to our base camp. As if that isn't enough, he's dodging enemy troops, and plugging the rest of the holes in me along the way. I didn't know till later that a mortar fragment hit him in the leg so he could barely walk by himself, never mind dragging me all over hell and gone. Anyway, he gets me back, and then goes out and pulls in a couple of the other guys, too. Man, that was some kinda screwed up mission.'

Sandra and Robyn were looking at him, and when he noticed it, rolled up his shirtsleeves to show them a few scars before opening his shirt a little ways and showing them some more, telling them 'It looked a lot worse, back then', with a grin.

Lucy was looking at me, as were the girls, as I told him 'Dammit, Muddy, I*told* you: I was just saving MY ass; you were just close enough to get in on the deal.'

Muddy gave a wry laugh, and said 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, tonight, it's my turn – I was making ME happy, and YOU were close enough, friend.'

That said, he stood up, and stuck out his hand. I stood up, too, and we shook hands – then gave each other a hug before he quickly headed back into the kitchen. Ricky and the headwaiter were watching me, as were the girls and Lucy. The best I could do was give them a lopsided smile as I gestured that we could leave. I tried to tip Ricky and the headwaiter, but both flatly refused, thanking ME, instead.

We were the center of another Zone of Silence as we left; back outside, the valet managed to fiddle around long enough to get a bonus 20 seconds of watching Lucy and the girls before I got the keys from him.

All three of them were quiet on the way back to the hotel; only when the doors closed on the elevator for our ride up did Lucy finally say, 'You are one surprising son of a bitch, you know that?'

Surprised, I looked at her and asked, 'Who? Me?'

'Yes, you, you son of a bitch.'

'What'd I do?'

'It's what you DIDN'T do, bastard.'

'Okay, what*didn't* I do?'

'You were obviously involved in some pretty scary stuff while you were in the Army. But you don't say*shit* about it. Not even mentioning that you'd done anything serious, like saving someone's life. Yeah, you told me you were in the Army, and yeah, you told me that you'd gotten some self-defense training. But you never said a *damn thing* about any of the rest of it.'

'Didn't figure it mattered. Like my buddy Popeye says 'I am what I am'; I don't figure the how and why of it are as important.'

That got me a dirty look, followed with 'Yeah, but that's still the kind of stuff that people close to you should know.'

Sandra and Robyn were watching this with considerable interest – but being careful not to draw attention to themselves.

I asked Lucy 'Honestly, now, if I had told you about any of this before, would you have taken it as bragging, or as simply telling you about myself?'

That slowed her down, some. I could see her thinking it over for a bit before she hesitatingly admitted 'I don't think I would have taken it as bragging; but I probably would have thought you were just trying to impress me.'

'So not saying anything about it, and letting you find out about it on your own, was a*bad* thing?'

That settled her down some more, and I just stood there looking at her, waiting for her response. She finally blushed, and conceded 'No, it wasn't. Not a BAD thing. Just really, really surprising.' She thought a few more moments, then added 'It's like finding out you're not who I thought you were.'

'Perhaps I'm not. But am I better, or worse than what you thought?

Did I somehow mislead you into thinking what you did?'

Grudgingly, she said, 'No, you didn't do anything to mislead me. If anything, all you've done has been to try to get me not to mislead *myself*. And you're a LOT better person than I thought you were. I guess that's why I'm so mad – not really at you, but at ME, for being so mistaken about you, and not giving you the credit that I knew you deserved.'

She started leaking around the eyes about the time the elevator door opened; I took her in my arms, and guided her and the girls toward her room. At the door, she fished the keycard for her room out of the small purse she'd been carrying. I handed it to Robyn, who used it to open the door; she and Sandra followed us into Lucy's room. We hadn't any more than closed the door before all three were shedding their shoes; a woman thing, I could only guess as I eased Lucy toward one of the chairs by the smallish table in her room, and then took one on the other side. Robyn and Sandra both discretely found seats on Lucy's bed.