Worth the risk (closed)

[Asa]

Wondered when you were going to speak Mr. Cain. Hard to hide when a different brand of cologne is your choice for distinguishing yourself from the rest of the polo herd. More questions I suspect about how anyone could divine fun different than you and the rest of this money put define it?

Her eyes never once lifting from her paperwork.

 

[susurrus]

I was a little taken absck by her cologne comment. Yes, I was wearing cologne, but it wasn't a lot. Besides, I had no idea many other of the guys bothered. It was my effort to not smell like a wart hog at the end of the day. However, that she could identify me by scent wasn't altogether a bad thing, was it?

"Who said I was trying to hide?" I didn't comment on the "money" line. That she disdained every one of us for where our origins laid was clear from the start.

 

[Asa]

Well then what brings you to my office?

Looking up briefly from her paperwork. Perhaps she was hard on them for all the wealth she has seen thrown around by so many of the students and parents. She did take great pleasure in rattling the parents who thought they could "buy off thee poor soldier" to see that their kid passed her first yr here. Teaching at this place had left a bad taste in her experience this far. She tried to dial back and realize that she was still working with young people and not so much the parents who held even less clue of how the world truly.eorked than an infant would.

 

[susurrus]

"What brings you to my office?"

Shit. What a loaded question.

'Well, Doc, I'd like to bend you over that desk and fuck you till we both scream bloody murder.' Was what coursed through my brain, but I kept my inside voice inside.

Instead, I fidgeted a little, but finally worked up the balls to say:

"I know you know I'm one of your better students, so I don't need to beg for a better grade, and I did well enough on base to prove to you I'm not a candy-ass, so that said: will you go out with me?"

I then braced myself for being blown out of the water by a rejection of nuclear proportions...

 

[Asa]

She slowly put down her pen and looked up at him.

What was that?

A brow quirked as she studied his face for any form of joke

 

[susurrus]

Her reaction stopped me for a second. There was no humiliating laughter, no "What the fuck are you thinking?" just a simple double-take.

It gave me the nerve to repeat: "I'm asking you for a date, Doctor Legacy."

Now that I'd laid it out in no uncertain terms, I once more set myself for the explosion...

 

[Asa]

You are one of my students that would be highly inappropriate.

She saw no deception in his eyes.

Is this an attempt to learn more anout me perhaps you can tend to the grounds at the cabin I bought. There are flowerbeds lined out but I am not all that we'll versed in such things. If you are then you help would be rewarded.

 

[susurrus]

Doc Legs' answer to my announcement wasn't unexpected, but it wasn't the devastating rejection I'd steeled myself for.

When she came up with the gardening offer, it was my way in. The last time I'd tended a flowerbed, I think I was about eight or nine years old, but how difficult could it be? Besides, I had the internet to refer to if I needed help.

Plus, it likely would be just her and me. And she more than likely wouldn't be wearing her iron-clad "dress blues," which is what the guys had taken to calling her usual attire.

"Sure, I'd be happy to help," I told her confidently. "Where's this cabin, and when would you like to begin?"

 

[Asa]

She slid a business card across the desk to him.

See you saturday

 

[susurrus]

The card doc gave me had her name, an address and a phone number handwritten on it. I assumed it was her own neat, precise script. As I examined it, she turned back to her work. Nothing more was said to me, and after sitting there, unacknowledged for over a minute, I took it as my dismissal.

The remainder of the week went on like usual, but as I got in my car Saturday in jeans, T-shirt and athletic shoes, I wondered just how much work was ahead of me...

 

[Asa]

The cabin was not very modern on the outside but the inside was much more connected. Flowers and rose bushes sat in pots ready for their freedom in the various flowerbeds that look like they had been mapped out a century ago perhaps when the cabin had been built.

She stood studying everything not really hearing him arrive.

 

[susurrus]

The drive to the doc's cabin grew more scenic the farther I went. After around an hour, I was well into a more rural setting than I'd started. The cabin was well off the beaten track. In fact, when GPS turned me off a gravel road onto a dirt lane that ran off into a stand of forest, all I could think of was the beginning of a slasher film. I highly doubted any chainsaw-wielding maniacs were lurking, but if there were, it'd give me the chance to see Doc take the bastard down... that is, if all her vaunted training was everything she made us believe it was.

As I turned in to the indicated location, I was struck by how little civilization was nearby. It'd been at least ten minutes since I'd seen another dwelling. That wasn't to say the setting wasn't beautiful, but it emphasized the doc's comment about "alone, not lonely."

Pulling in beside Doc's car, I caught a glimpse of a pond out past the cabin, and standing beside the building was the doc.

She wasn't wearing a severe outfit like she did in class. Neither was she wearing her military garb - not that I'd expected either. What she did have on was casual, but she pulled it off with a hell of a lot of flair. She stood in front of a patch of dirt with a bunch of flowerpots of varying sizes scattered around her.

Now, she seemed unaware that I'd arrived. Her concentration appeared to be on the task at hand, to the exclusion of all else. An evil part of me said I should sneak up and try to scare her, but:

1. I didn't think this woman scared easily, and

2. I'd seen enough movies where somebody sneaks up on the well-trained individual and gets their asses kicked before the "sneak-ee" realizes they were waiting on the "sneak-er" all along. I didn't know if such a thing would happen here, but I didn't care to take the chance.

"Morning, Doc," I called from the car.

 

[Asa]

Hello. How long do you have I was sent quite a bit by the garden center apparently.

She turned around looking to him in jeans and a black t-shirt.

 

[susurrus]

When Doctor Legacy turned, my breath caught just a little. As good as she looked in her good duds, she was breathtaking in everyday casual. The tee she wore was practically form-fitting, and the shorts she had on revealed almost as much as they covered. I was going to have a tough time concentrating on plants...

"I'm yours till Monday morning," I said as I closed the car door and started toward her. "Think that's enough time to get a couple plants in the ground?"

 

[Asa]

After your offer in my office you might want to be more careful.with your words.

She smirked.

 

[susurrus]

At Doc's comment, I thought of how I'd phrased myself. Yeah, I'd left it pretty open to interpretation. Still a weekend with a woman who'd become an infatuation with me wouldn't be so bad... would it? I guessed it'd depend on what it all entailed.

Anyhow, I continued on up to her. I had to admit, she looked even better up close than she had from.a distance. A debate raged as to whether I should compliment on how I thought she looked. Then a voice inside me said, 'She's probably already seen how you've been looking at her. She's no dummy. It's a damn sure bet she already knows.'

So, instead of a compliment, I just said: "You want to set the pots where you want things and I'll get them dug in when you're satisfied?"

 

[Asa]

She nodded and started moving the pots around. Clearly getting a little frustrated with the entire situation. One of her first none base housing since she was a teen.

This should not be this insane... Should it?

 

[susurrus]

I stood there for several minutes, watching the doc set down a pot, then pick it up and move it somewhere else. By the time she'd done this about a dozen times and still only had three pots in the bed, I knew she was in trouble. For someone who was an officer in the Army, she was having a terrible time making decisions.

I found it hard not to laugh that such a self-assured woman in every other situation I'd seen her in was being bested by a bunch of plants.

Keeping any reaction that might embarrass the Colonel inside, I stepped up and started shifting pots around.

"When I was twelve, my dad hired a landscaper to do the yard, and all the beds around the house," I explained as I worked. "Being twelve, I was bored out of my mind. Instead of doing the kind of stuff you might expect for a guy like me doing that summer, I took an interest in what this guy was up to. My folks just figured, 'At least he's doing something outdoors.' Of course, the fact that his daughter was on his crew and I'd developed a crush on her helped my interest a lot.

"I learned a lot that summer, got a hell of a tan and built up a decent set of muscles for a kid my age. Even Denise commented on how I looked that summer. That was the guy's daughter. I remember being both flattered and embarrassed by her noticing. She was built a little slimmer than you, but then, she was only a few years older than I was at that time.

"They never came back after that season. I never did find out why, for sure. My guess is that my dad found somebody cheaper. It was my one time doing gardening. My summers were pretty well filled after that. Some of what I learned must have stuck though."

By this time, I was sweating. It felt good, though. And also, I had most of the pots set.

Dropping the last pot in its spot, I straightened and asked the doc, "What do you think, Colonel? Lot of digging left to do, but does this arrangement look suitable?"

 

[Asa]

She nodded.

Yes, that will be fine. Perhaps a break for you to get food or something to drink would be in order?

She had already expected that he would be around during lunch and dinner. She smiled a little she enjoyed the visual effect of gardens like this but had never had to arrange not to prepare one ever. She could barely maintain house plants normally with her schedule but now that it had slowed down considerably she was trying to incorporate more life like plants into her life. Soon he would also have to meet her "roommate" guard dog.

 

[susurrus]

"A drink of some kind would be good.

"Is there a hose, or are we hauling water?"

I figured I might as well get started while the doc got me something to drink. It was early, and I hadn't done all that much yet. She had a spade near where she'd had all the pots laid out, so I grabbed that and got digging while I let her fetch.

 

[Asa]

She went and got them both a couple of bottles of water and walking back out to him she smiled.

Glad you learned so much about this.

 

[susurrus]

"I'm glad I remember some of what I learned so long ago. Honestly, it isn't brain surgery. You just have to not overthink it. For the most part, there isn't a hard and fast right answer here. It's mainly knowing how high each one is going to grow, so you don't put something that grows low to the ground behind something that's going to hide it.

"Did you read the tabs that came in each pot? Most of them will give you an idea on height and spread."

I took the doc's hand and led her to the bed. Picking up one of the pots, I pulled out the little plastic info tab.

"See? The front has the nursery's logo and tells both the scientific name as well as the common. There's also a picture of what it should look like when fully grown."

Turning the tab over, I said, "See, here's all the horticultural info. Information is power, Colonel."

Popping the tab back in the pot, I put it back where I'd got it.

Picking up the spade, I suggested, "If I dig, you want to take them out and place them in the hole? Don't worry about covering them. We'll do that once everything's in and we can water them in.

"Ready to get going?"

 

[Asa]

She laughed a little. They don't take orders and most modern plants look nearly nothing like their predecessors from an archeological standpoint.

Pocking up one of the plants she pointed to the few inches tall "grown" picture and shook her head.

The predecessor to this one stood well over 5 feet tall and the flowers were more bunched up on the branches.

 

[susurrus]

I shook my head slightly.

"You've gotta work with what you've got, Doc. It isn't twenty thousand years ago. It's now. The prehistory of it's interesting, but it's irrelevant here.

"We can discuss botanical history later. There are plants to get in the ground now.

"I repeat: you ready?"

It was kind of odd, but nice, to be the one in charge, particularly with this particular person. She was usually so in charge. I kind of liked seeing her out of her element...

 

[Asa]

She continued to take plants out of the pots and handed them to him.

Yeah yeah...

She laughed.

Force of habit from my Archeological studies.