Double Nickels on Your Dime

Ben wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. He pushed himself to run a little further, just to last for the sixty minute mark.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

He slowed to a walk, placing his hands on his hips and breathing heavily. He walked the block or two back to his house allowing his body to return to its normal rhythms. He passed his favorite house on the block doing a double take when he saw a moving truck being unloaded.

The old man who had lived there must have finally decided to move…or he kicked the bucket. Hopefully, the first. Ben continued on his way watching the people carrying boxes out of the corner of his eye. He turned into the alley that ran behind his house and between the two blocks. The brick wall covered in ivy that surrounded the new peoples house was just short enough for him to see over. The back yard held a pool and a gazebo, surrounded by freshly trimmed shrubbery. A middle aged woman pushed her way out the back door holding a squirming toddler in her arms. She toted him through the yard and out the side gate towards the large yellow truck. Ben made his way down the alley seeing many of his neighbors playing in the yard with their young children. His house was second to last. His dog Hermione greeted him as he went in the back door. His parents were still at work. His younger sister at a friend’s house.

He lay on the floor in front of the large flat screen TV and finished the core exercises his schedule had outlined for him. He eventually got up and took a quick shower. He was walking around in the kitchen in a towel when someone knocked on the door. Ben peeked past the door and saw it was a lady.

She knocked- no, pounded on the door again and slung a satchel over her shoulder. He unlocked the door and cracked it open.

“Hello! I was wondering if you are interested in buying any of my pieces today?” Ben opened his mouth to say no thank you and she cut him off.

“If you just look at these beautiful statues of the lord, I’m sure you won’t be able to say no!”

Ben sighed and opened the door wider. The lady immediately turned red as her eyes flickered down towards his waist and back to his face.

“Look, my parents aren’t home and we really don’t have the money to buy anything. I’m sorry, but we can’t help you today.”

“A-are you sure? They really are quite-“

“Goodbye.”

He shut the door on her face. He felt a little bad, but she asked for it.

He dug a pair of clean boxers out of the dryer and pulled them on. As he was searching for food his sister came through the back door.

“EWWW! BEN! PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!”

Ben turned around and saw she had a bunch of other girls with her and frowned. “No…”

She huffed and herded the giggly girls in front of her. Soon after, his mom came home, followed by his dad.

“Hi honey, how was your day?”

He grunted.

“Sounds great, do anything productive?”

“Mmmf.”

“Oh yeah? Well good. Hey did you notice we have new neighbors?”

“Nnyeah”

“Oh come on Benjamin. Speak English, please.”

He sighed, “Yes mother I did see we have new neighbors. I saw them moving boxes when I ran past.”

“Thank you, now I want you to help me carry this casserole down to them. It was going to be for Ms. Dailey because of her husband, but I’ll have time to make another for her. Go get it out of the freezer while I change.”

He groaned but did what she told him. A few minutes later she led him up the alley.

“Mom. I look like a dumbass holding this thing.”

“Oh hush, Ben. And watch your language. I wonder what they're like? They better not be stuck up. Honestly, the Mazur’s are snobbish enough for the entire community…”

They cut through the side of the front yard of the large green house. It was barn shaped with a large front yard. There were fully grown trees delicately shading the yard and making it feel like it belonged in another time period. He focused on the front door which was a nearly black, brown. He stood behind his mom awkwardly as she knocked on the door. A few moments later, it opened revealing the lady he’d seen earlier with the toddler on her hip.

“Hi! I’m Debbie Taylor from down the street! This is my son Ben. We saw that you were moving in and had this extra casserole and figured you might want it after moving in today! Save you the hassel!”

The lady smiled brightly and waved them into the house.

“Thank you so much! That is such a help! I’ll put it in right away! We were going to order pizza, but the phones aren’t hooked up yet. And the kids are crazy… I’m Sally by the way. Sally Jameson.” She held out a slender hand and quickly grasped his mothers.

“How many children do you have?” His mom asked curiously.

“Four: Nicky, Jane, Amanda and this one Peter.” She gave Peter a little bob on her hip and he giggled.

Ben’s mother whistled, “You are a brave woman! It’s just Ben and Leese. Ben is…How old are you now honey? Almost 19 I think and Leese is 13.”

“Okay, well that’s good! Nicky is 18, too! Jane is 17, Amanda 12, and Peter is nearly 3. Why don’t I let Ben meet them? Just give me a second to get them down here.”

Ben tried to protest, but had to cover his ears when Sally started screaming. “NICKY! JANEY! AMANDA! COME INTO THE KITCHEN NOW!”

Little Peter used his pudgy hands to cover his ears. He heard footsteps above his head stomping around.

A dark haired girl that looked to be Leese’s age shyly slunk into the room.

“Manda, this is Mrs. Debbie Taylor and her son Ben. Mrs. Debbie has a daughter that’s 13, so you two will be in the same grade!” Amanda’s eyes flitted around the room and her cheeks were dusted pink. She squeaked a shy hello and goodbye and was gone from the room as quickly as she had appeared.

“NICKY! JANEY!”

The footsteps overhead began to stomp around again. They moved away from where they were standing, then they heard them on the stairs in the front room then more stomping into the kitchen.

“No, I don’t know what she wants, I just need to unpack my room. My bed isn’t even put together yet. I don’t want to sleep on just a mattress, that’s ridiculous! Mom why do you need me? I’m trying t-“

A girl stopped in the doorway of the kitchen with a cell phone held to her ear. She turned red quickly and said, “I’m going to have to call you back, Manny.” And flipped her phone shut.

“Janey, where is Nicky? Is he coming?”

Janey’s eyes flicked back and forth between his mothers, her mothers, and his own face before saying, “His music is on. He probably didn’t hear you.”

“Well, Janey, why didn’t you knock on the door?”

“It was out of the way. I’ll go get him. Geesh. “

“No, no, Ben, why don’t you go up there? Your mom and I can talk for a while, and you can get to know Nicky and Janey.”

His mother made a flapping motion and pushed him out the door. He followed Janey up the stairs as she texted madly.

“So…where’d you move here from?” He found it awkward that he was speaking to her back.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Atlanta.”

“Why the big move?”

She said flatly, “Dad’s job, better offer. I’m Jane. Not Janey.”

Ben laughed a little. They turned left at the top of the stairs, moving into a large empty room. There were three doors off the room. They continued through the door on the left into a short hallway with two doors. He heard music coming from behind the one on the end. Jane knocked.

“Nick! Open the door!”

The music continued to play just as loud. She pounded on the door.

“NICK! OPEN THE FREAKING DOOR!”

The music cut off and the door was flung open. A tall guy with the same dark hair as his two sisters and mother stood there looking pissed. “WHAT!” He snapped.

Jane rolled her eyes. “This is Ben. Lives down the street. His mom brought us dinner.”

“Oh. Hey.”

“Mom said we have to get to know him.” The three of them stood there awkwardly. Ben finally spoke up. “I could just show you around. We could go to the mall or something?”

Nearly an hour later they were sitting in the food court of the mall eating pizza.

“No offense to your mom, but that was a terrible casserole.”

Ben shrugged. “Always are. My dad is the cook. He doesn’t make casseroles. Ever.”

“You both will be going to Northhampton right?”

“Yep! You have a cheer team right? Competition?” Jane asked excitedly.

“Of course, I think they’ve won region for the past three years? Maybe…”

Nick spoke before Jane could ask more. “How is the football team?”

“They’re decent, but the soccer team, is the best.”

Nick leaned back in his chair stretching. “Well, that’s good, because that’s my best sport.”

“Yeah? Mine too. I’m playing in college, for sure. I’ve got off season training program for Man U.”

Nick raised his eyebrows, “Really? You’ve been keeping up with it?”

Ben put his elbows on the table. “For the most part, yeah. If I miss a day here or there, I let it go.”

Jane yawned loudly. “Boring! Let’s walk around a little. Where is the pet store?”

The three of them strolled around the mall. Jane and Nick seemed to be close to each other. He politely pointed different things out to them and asked questions. They were walking out of the bookstore when he heard a squeal and something attached itself to him.
He looked down to find a blonde mass of hair snuggled into his chest.

“Heather!” He hugged her back picking her up off the floor. “I thought you weren’t coming back for another three days? How come you didn’t tell me?” She grinned up at him and gave him a peck on the lips.

“Well, if you must know, I showed up at your house and your mom told me you were here. Everyone is evacuating for the hurricane, so the beach was boring and here I am! I missed you!” She kissed him again. He remembered he had guests and slipped his hand into Heather’s.

“Heather, this is Nick and Jane Jameson. They moved into the house up the street. And this is Heather Singler, my girlfriend.”

They said polite hellos and made some small talk. They walked around some more window shopping. It was nearly 8:30 and the mall closed at 9 so they made their way back to Ben’s car. Heather said bye and that she would see him tomorrow, pecked his cheek and left. Ben dropped the two Jameson’s off at their front walk. They made plans to meet up tomorrow sometime, then Ben went home.