The next day was pretty normal, she got up early, helped Sandy with Kyle and Erica's lessons, did some touch up cleaning, and made lunch for the kids. It was then that Sandy remembered that Leslie had been out late the night before and began to question her about it.
“So, what was the meeting at work all about?” she asked Leslie who sat at the kitchen grading Victoria's science homework.
“Oh, a couple of the kids families are being transferred and she needs us to step up and cover the shifts, I have to work Monday 6 to noon. I already found someone to come pick me up, so you don't have to drive me in that early. Speaking of which I've got to go change so we can leave.” Leslie said as she stood up and headed for the stairs, she hurried to her room and quickly changed. Less than five minutes later she was standing at the front door in her uniform ready to go, but as usual Sandy was not. Ten minutes later they were finally on their way.
The first thing she did when she got there was find Michelle and tell her that she would be able to take the Monday shift as well, then she headed to the front and started her shift. Knowing that Jamie was going to stop by made time seem to drag and she was really glad when they started getting busy because it took her mind off of the wait. Around 6 it started slowing down and she had a chance to restock the front and clean some tables, she was just finishing with that, when Jamie walked in. As he placed his order, Leslie found Michelle and asked if she could go on break, then she clocked out and ordered her supper. Jamie had slipped around the corner with his tray, so Leslie headed that way too.
“Hey,” she said, as she sat down at his table “Thanks for not saying anything in front of the others about us meeting for supper.”
“I kinda figured it would be better if they didn’t know you were having dinner with a guy.”
“That way they can’t say anything to Sandy” they both finished together.
Jamie asked if she wanted to pray for their meals, she hesitated for a second, but then went ahead and prayed. When she finished Jamie asked her why she hesitated.
“I was raised where, it’s the man’s job to pray over the meal” she answered
“Really,” Jamie asked “your mom never prayed for the food at your house?”
“Not, if my dad was home” she said “if he was gone, she could, but not if he was there.”
“Wow” Jamie said “at my house we all took turns praying, even Mom.”
“Well, my dad is a firm believer in the husband is the head of the home, and he made sure we never did anything that might remotely be construed as usurping that authority.” Leslie said, rolling her eyes.
Jamie laughed and they discussed what the headship of the husband really meant. They found that they agreed on what the Bible meant, that the husband and wife were partners, equal in every way and both needed to check with each other to see how they would be affected before making any decisions.
“It really ticks me off, when I see these men that take those verses about submission and beat their wives over the head with it, but completely ignore the verses about loving their wives as Christ loved the church.” Jamie said vehemently.
Leslie smiled “You just described my dad to a T!” she said wryly “I’m not kidding! he thinks women don’t have any purpose other than to keep the house clean and have babies”
Time flew as they talked, suddenly Leslie looked at her watch “Oh my gosh, I got to get back to work” she said jumping up and grabbed her tray.
“Here let me take that” Jamie said reaching to take the tray from her “I’ll see you later!”
“Thanks” Leslie said and waved over her shoulder, as she hurried back around the counter and clocked back in. There were several people waiting to be helped so she opened her register and started taking orders. Jamie dumped their trash into the trash can, refilled his soda and then stood back and watched her work. The customer she was dealing with couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted; Leslie smiled courteously and patiently tried to help him. Jamie straightened, smiled and waved at Leslie; she met his gaze and returned his smile as he headed out the door.
They didn’t see each other again until Friday, Jamie called her about 10 in the morning.
“Hey you about ready to go?” he asked when she answered the phone.
“I don’t know I will have to ask”, Leslie said for the benefit of Victoria who was standing close by. “Hold on a sec.” she told Jamie and laid the receiver down. Turning to Victoria she asked “Where’s your mom?”
Victoria shrugged “Out back, I think” and then headed upstairs.
Leslie ran out the side door and into the back yard, where Mrs. Holland was helping the youngest two kids move their pet bunny’s cage to some fresh grass. “Hey, Sandy” Leslie said as she ran up, pausing to take a deep breath “Burger king just called, they are short staffed this morning and want me to come in a little early.”
“How early is a little early?” Sandy said, irritation visible on her face.
“uhm…, I think they want me to be there by 12” Leslie hesitated “Michelle said she might be able to send someone to pick me up, if that was ok with you.” she finished with a smile.
“Did you get the kids papers graded?”
“Yep.”
“Well, if they’re sending someone to pick you up I don’t see why not.”Sandy said grudgingly.
“Thanks, Sandy!” Leslie said as she turned and raced back into the house. She was breathless when she reached the phone. “Hey, you still there?” she asked into the receiver
“Yeah, what’d she say?” Jamie asked
“I can go!” Leslie was almost squealing, she was so giddy.
“Ok,” Jamie said “I’ll see you in about 20 minutes”
Leslie raced upstairs to her room her eyes sparkling with excitement “I can’t believe I’m going to pull this off” she whispered to herself then quickly looked around to make sure no one else was around to hear her. She quickly brushed her hair, thankful that she had had the foresight to dress nicely that morning, she looked critically at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a jean skirt and patriotic t-shirt, her hair was pulled back in a pony tail. “It will have to do!” she muttered as she stuffed a clean uniform into her back pack and grabbed her purse. She tore back down the stairs, and saw Victoria coming out of the family office she wondered if she had been listening in on her conversation with Jamie. Sandy and the kids were coming inside as Leslie ran out the front door.
“Where are you rushing off to?” Sandy hollered after her.
“My, ride’s meeting me at the train station” she yelled back “I don’t have time to change so I’ll change when I get there!”
As soon as she was out of sight of the house she slowed down a bit, but she was still too excited to just stroll along, Apparently Jamie was excited to ‘cause when she arrived at the station there he was waiting for her.
“Hey, beautiful” he said as she climbed into his pick up.
Leslie blushed at the complement, “Hey, yourself” she replied as Jamie started the car and they drove off. “We might have a little problem” she told Jamie.
“What’s that?”Jamie asked.
“When I was leaving I saw Victoria come out of the office, I think she was listening to our conversation on the other phone. Not that we said anything that would make her suspicious, but if she gets mad at me there’s no telling what she might twist it to mean” Leslie grimaced at the thought of the stories that Victoria could concoct if she wanted to.
Jamie smiled as he adjusted the volume on the radio “Well,” he said, as the Backstreet Boys singing “Anything for you” came over the airways, “There’s only one thing to do in a situation like this…”
“And that would be?”
“We’ll just have to stop and get you a cell phone” and with that Jamie pulled out on to the Autobahn and headed back towards the base. But when they came to the PHV turn off he kept going. Leslie looked at him questioningly “We’re going to the Heidelberg Shopping Center; it’s close to the movie theater we’re going to. You can look for a cell phone until it’s closer to time to meet the guys for the movie” Jamie said, he could see that Leslie was nervous and having second thoughts about coming with him today and he was trying to put her at ease.
When they arrived at the Shopping Center they headed straight to the cell phone store and after talking to the clerk for a few minutes, she decided to get a simple Motorola camera phone, with a pay as you go plan. Nothing really fancy but enough that she felt confident in being able to get a hold of someone when she needed to, it also gave her the feeling of being cool and grown up. After they finished up there, they went into Popeye’s Chicken to grab a bite to eat. When they got their food, Jamie prayed for the meals and then helped Leslie set up all the functions on her new phone. Then it was time to go meet the guys, Leslie was really nervous, for two reasons, though she was really comfortable with Jamie, she hated meeting new people and was constantly wondering what they were thinking of her. And secondly, she was concerned that the more people that saw her with Jamie, the bigger the chance that Sandy would find out about it and throw a fit. However she did her best to hide her feelings and smiled bravely as they drove to the cinema complex.
“It ok, relax Les” Jamie said, as he parked the car and walked around to open her door “I told the guys you were coming. They’re cool with it.”
“Are you sure?” Leslie asked, ashamed that her feelings were so visible on her face, but glad that Jamie saw her concern and was trying to put her at ease.
It was easy to spot the other 3 guys as they were the only ones standing outside the theater and even though they weren’t wearing uniforms, Leslie could tell that they were military just by the way they were standing.
“Hey, guys what’s up?” Jamie said as they walked up to the entrance.
Leslie scanned the group, trying to remember their names as Jamie made the introductions; Chad was his roommate and best friend, the only blonde in the group. Justin was the shorter one with the dark black hair and Blake was the biggest of the 3, and had dark brown hair, and a fiancé at home in the States.
“Well, there seems to be a little problem.” Chad said as he and Jamie greeted each other with a typical male hand shake.
“And what would that be?” Jamie asked, putting his arm around Leslie’s waist and drawing her closer to him.
“Well, I was talking to Jim and he said he had seen a film here that was in English, I assumed that it was a regular occurrence. But when we got here nobody even speaks English and when I asked them if they showed any English films they said Nein” Chad finished exasperated.
“Oh great,” Jamie said frustration showing on his face, Leslie smiled as she stepped away from the group and into the building as the boys tried to sort out who’s fault this whole mess was. They were still arguing when she returned 5 minutes later tickets in hand.
She stepped up to Jamie who turned to her trying to apologize for the mess when she hands him the tickets. “If you guys still want to watch the show you can, I got us the tickets and I talked to the Manager and he said that they could turn on the English subtitles, but they don’t have the English version” They all turned and starred at her.
“Ok let’s go!” Jamie said and they all headed inside. During the movie, Leslie would occasionally giggle and lean over to Jamie and explain the way the words were coming out in translation.
As they left the theater Justin turned to both of them and asked “What was all that whispering about?”
Jamie smiled “That is for me to know and for you not to find out!” he replied as he helped Leslie into the truck.
Leslie smiled and waved to the guys standing in the parking lot as they drove away. In no time they were back on base and after they parked the car close to Jamie’s check point station, he kissed her good-bye and then he stood and watched as she walked down the street. They had decided it was best for her to walk to work so that no one would see him drop her off and tell Sandy, it seemed lately that they made a lot of their decisions based on what Sandy might find out. It bothered Leslie a little bit, but not enough to stop seeing Jamie “Besides” she told herself “if she wasn’t such a stick in the mud about boys I wouldn’t have to sneak around”
In spite of having spent most of the day together Jamie was having a hard time waiting to the middle of his shift to make a coffee run, to Burger King of course. He knew no matter what they called it, he was in love, he was pretty sure Leslie felt the same way, he wanted to tell her the truth, he wanted to tell the world that he was in love and this was his girl …his and his alone! These were his thoughts as he walked into the restaurant, his face lit up when he saw the lobby was empty and Leslie was working the front counter. She had her back to him filling a milk shake and called over her shoulder “Be right with you!”
Jamie smiled mischievously and said, in his gruffest voice “I need two large coffee’s on the double!”
At the sound of his voice Leslie spun around nearly spilling the milk shake, she rolled her eyes at him and said “Maybe you should work on your manners, sir” as she walked over and handed the milk shake to the customer at the drive thru window.
When she returned to the front counter she took his order, she turned to the coffee pot and said “This stuff is a little old would you like me to make some fresh coffee?”
Jamie smiled “Sure, I can wait.” He said and then dropped his voice to a whisper “especially if it means I get to spend more time with you.” He winked at Leslie, enjoying the blush that colored her cheeks.
“Shsh” she scolded “Michelle might hear you.” In spite of her protests she walked around the counter and snuggled against his chest.
“I missed you” he murmured against her hair “I wish I could go with you when you go home this weekend, I don’t know how I’m going to manage 3 whole days before I see you again.”
Leslie grinned at him “Well, you have my cell phone number, you could always call me.”
Jamie smiled back “Or you could call me, since I would have no way of knowing if you’re free to talk.”
“hmm… that would work” Leslie said as she moved to pour the coffee in to the cups. “Are you working tomorrow night? she asked “I don’t want to call when you might be busy.”
Jamie thought for a moment “yeah I’m on duty tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon the guys and I are going to get together for a Bible study thing we do, but if your free and need to talk you can call anytime”
“Ok” Leslie said “I’ll try and not call at those times.”
“Alright, see ya later!” Jamie said and picked up the coffees. As he was walking to the door he saw Leslie’s boss walking toward the front of the store so he smiled and waved to Leslie as he walked out the door.
“So who was that?” Michelle asked as Leslie headed past her.
“Who?” Leslie asked innocently, a smile creeping onto her face in spite of her best effort to hide it.
“That guy you were talking to, he seemed nice.”
“Oh, him, that's just the guard at the check point I come in at. He recognized me from my picture in my Passport.”
“Ah, is that all huh?” Michelle teased, she really liked Leslie and enjoyed giving her a hard time.
“Yep,” Leslie answered “that's it. Besides you know the rules: No Boyfriends!”
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Chapter 4 - A Date?
Leslie was in the middle of lunch rush when Jamie walked in the door, since Burger King was the only fast food restaurant on the base, unless you were pretty fluent in German it was hard to eat out any were else. It was also, the most popular hangout of the high school students, so it could get really busy at times, so busy that Leslie often went without a break for the first several hours of her shift. Jamie took his place at the end of the line and waited for Leslie to finish with the customers in front of him.
Leslie hadn't even noticed that Jamie was there, she was that focused on her job and getting each of the customer’s orders right. “What can I get for you today? She said as she finished with the customer directly in front of Jamie, the words died on her lips as she looked up and noticed who was standing there.
“Oh, hi. How are you?” she said, he looked twice as handsome in the daylight as he had in the dark last night. She hadn't really noticed how deep blue his eyes were.
“I told myself to wait for super but I just couldn't help myself and had to stop by before I went in to work!” Jamie broke into her thoughts, Leslie blinked back to reality.
“You like Whoppers that much?” she joked, not completely caught off guard, but slightly flushed at the implied complement, then it dawned on her “You didn't get in any trouble for letting me use the phone, did you?” she asked he eyes wide and fearful.
“Oh, no” Jamie was quick to reassure her, “I'm not in trouble, just a little hungry” he teased.
“Oh, I'm so sorry, what would you like?”
Jamie wanted to say a kiss but knew that would be wrong, besides he didn't want to scare her away, so he ordered a basic Whopper Meal Deal.
“Would you like to make that a King size?” Leslie asked, she was in her element now and determined to remember her job, “It's just another customer” she tried to tell herself, but that didn't stop her heart from racing or keep her hands from shaking as she typed in his order.
“Sure, why not?” Jamie said with a grin.
“Will that be for here or to go?” she asked.
“For here”
Leslie reached under the counter and pulled out a king size cup and placed it on his tray with his receipt and then turned around and grabbed his sandwich and fries and placed them on his tray as well.“There you go” she said with a smile “Have a good day”
“Thanks. You too.” James responded trying desperately to think of something to say. “Do you go to church anywhere?” he finally asked.
“Actually, I go home for the weekends and attend my dad's church.” Leslie answered, as she turned her attention to the next customer in line. She was actually quite pleased that he had asked her that question because it proved two things; one, he was a churchgoer and two, he was interested in her, at least she hoped that's what it meant. She only wished she wasn't so busy and could give a better answer.
Jamie took his food and headed to a booth “See ya later” he said and winked at Leslie “I might come back in when it slows down and get me some desert”
Jamie settled into a booth that faced the register and watched Leslie as she swiftly took orders from the customers, there were a couple of times he noticed that she was getting flustered but she managed well. She was a little blond tornado and she had stolen his heart. He watched her until he had to go to work, as he left he caught her eye “See you tomorrow.” he called and waved over his shoulder.
Leslie wasn't able to take her break for a couple more hours in fact it was almost 10 before she clocked out and ordered herself a sandwich for supper and headed back to the break room.
“Leslie, can I see you for a minute?” Michelle, Leslie's boss called as she passed the office.
“Sure,” Leslie said “Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, everything is fine, I just wanted to ask you a few questions?” Michelle said
“I was wondering if you would be interested in some more hours? Stacy's dad is getting transferred back to the States and I'm having a time getting someone to cover her shifts”
“Well, what hours are they?” Leslie asked
“I have everything filled except for, Saturday 6-close and Monday 6am to noon, I know this is out of your regular schedule, but if you can work something out I would appreciate it. I don't need you to start for a couple of weeks yet, but I do need to know soon.”
“I will talk to my folks when I go home this weekend and see what we can come up with.” Leslie said as she stood and headed to the break room to eat before they needed her up front. Leslie was relieved when she saw that no one else was in the break room and that the conversation with Michelle had only taken 5 minutes. That meant she had 25 minutes to eat her sandwich and read in peace. She picked up her book and lost herself in the story of “The Princess” written by one of her favorite authors Lori Wick.
The rest of her shift was a breeze and Sandy was on time when she got off, Leslie was actually a little disappointed when she saw her pull up cause it meant that there was no excuse to stop by and chat with Jamie. She was pleasantly surprised when Stacy turned toward the South Lexington check point instead of the usual route home.
“I ordered pizza tonight cause I don't feel like cooking so we're got to run over to Domino's to pick it up” Sandy said by way of explanation.
When they arrived at the check point, Jamie was his usual, cheerful self, though he too had wished that Leslie's ride would be late as well.
“Looks like everything is in order here. You ladies have a nice weekend.” He winked and handed the paperwork back to Sandy.
“Did you see that? Oh, my gosh! He is sooo cute!” Victoria drooled from the backseat “Did you see him wink at me? I just know he likes me. He was looking right at me.”
Leslie took a deep breath, “Yeah, right!” she thought “he saw you through the tinted glass and winked right at you.” Being around Victoria could be so draining sometimes. Out loud she said “Hey, sorry, tuts. I saw him first, plus he's closer to my age.”
“How do you know?” Victoria pouted; Sandy looked sternly at Leslie who grinned
“Aw, you can have him, but I get Mr. Darcy! He's all the man I need!”
The girls had been staying up the last several nights trying to finish a new video series, Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudiced, staring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, they both were enthralled with the romance of the period and Mr. Darcy's English accent and melancholy demeanor.
“Oh, we just have to finish that movie tonight!” Victoria gushed “I can't wait to find out what happens.”
“We'll see!” Sandy interjected “I need Leslie to help with the cleaning tonight.”
“Aw Mom, I want to watch the movie.” Victoria whined “cleaning will take all night!”
“That's ok Victoria.” Leslie answered as she turned and smiled at Victoria “If you help me clean, we could make some cookies to munch on while we watch the movie tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Victoria grimaced.
“Sorry, girls, but I'm going to need your help grading papers tomorrow, Leslie. And you'll have your own school work to do, Victoria. Maybe tomorrow night you can watch the movie” Sandy told the girls apologetically.
“Not fair! Why should I have to wait to watch my movie because Leslie has to clean?”Victoria complained.
“Victoria, that is not nice!” Sandy scolded “You don't have to help clean, but you won't watch the movie until Leslie can watch it with you”
Victoria grimaced cleaning was not something she liked doing. “Something she apparently got from her mother.” Leslie though, when she entered the house; dishes covered the sink, counter, and kitchen table, and in the living room piles upon piles of laundry waiting to be folded.
Sighing, Leslie removed her coat and shoes at the door, picked up her shoes and carried them to her room. She laid her purse and uniform cap on her bed and hurried back downstairs to get started on the cleaning. As she passed the upstairs entertainment room she heard the video playing and knew that Victoria was watching the movie, in spite of her mom's command not to. Leslie knew there would be no help from Victoria tonight and since Sandy probably wouldn't make it upstairs tonight, she would again get away with her disobedience.
Leslie was frustrated as she started on the dishes, would she ever know a place where she was wanted for more than her ability to clean dirty dishes and wipe snotty noses. It was no different here than it was at home, except she was able to escape to her job every afternoon. And now there was Jamie, Leslie smiled to herself, she wondered what he meant by his comments this afternoon. To be able to clean his dishes and fold his laundry and take care of him, that would be fun. Her imagination took over and she imagined what it would be like to be married to Jamie and how he would hold her and tease her as they did their chores together. Four hours later, the dishes were washed and the clothes folded and stacked neatly in their respective baskets, Leslie quietly climbed the stairs to her room, the rest of the family had gone to bed hours ago. As she entered her room she realized that was another thing that was different here than at home; she did have her own room, well it was actually more like a small closet, but it was especially nice just to have a space to call her own. She reached for her purse and realized she hadn't put her passport back in but left it on the bed with her hat, as she picked it up she noticed a piece of paper slipping from the pages, she opened it up and there was a phone-number and next to it was written “Call me if you need anything, Jamie”. She slipped it into her wallet and sighed, Jamie was a really nice guy, definitely the knight in shining armor type of guy, and she was the princess stuck in the castle complete with the evil “step-mother” and “step-sisters”. If only there was a way around Sandy's silly “no boyfriends” rule. “Well, true love always finds a way” she thought to herself as she grabbed her book and snuggled under the blanket, to try and finish her book before she fell asleep. Tomorrow was Saturday she would be headed home and she knew it wouldn't be a relaxing trip, since she had to bring up the subject of working Saturdays.
It was 7 o'clock Sunday Evening when Leslie arrived back at the Holland's, her trip home had been exhausting, as usual, she had fought all weekend with her dad. This time, trying to convince him to let her look for her own apartment, he still wasn't convinced. Leslie was sure he just couldn't handle the fact that she would be on her own and not needing him anymore. At 19 she didn't really need his permission to do it, but she would really like to have it anyway, it seemed like she had spent most of her life trying to gain his approval and no matter what she did she could never succeed in gaining it. She had managed to tell him that she had to work at least some Saturdays over the next few weeks, she had decided that it was easier to just tell him she had to and that would save her from having to argue her side. She didn't want to answer a lot of questions from Victoria, so when she saw the young girl lounging in front of the TV she waved briefly and headed for the stairs. Victoria waved back and then jumped up.
“Leslie,” she called, Leslie sighed and turned she'd never get any peace and quiet now, “someone from your work called said it was important that you call her back, I think her name was Michelle.”
“Thanks” Leslie said “I'll call her.” and picked up the phone to discourage any further conversation, she smiled when Victoria headed back into the living room without a word. Leslie dialed the number for Burger King after talking to Michelle and telling her that she could work Saturdays and that Mondays were still uncertain but she would get back to her on that and getting her schedule for the week. She hung up and was going to head for the stairs when she thought of Jamie, after only a moment’s hesitation she picked up the receiver and dialed his number, he answered at the first ring. Leslie nearly dropped the phone at the sound of his voice, hesitant as to what to say, now that she had him on the line “ah...hi, this is Leslie”
“Hey, girl what's up?” Jamie asked, excitement tingeing his voice “How'd your trip home go?”
“Not so good...” Leslie said “I don't know what I expected though.” she paused “To be honest I don't even know why I called you.”
Jamie laughed “That's fine! I wasn't doing anything anyway.” he said “would you like for me to come and pick you up, we could grab a bite to eat and talk.”
“I guess I could” Leslie said, wondering all the while, what on earth she was getting herself into.
“See you in about 30 minutes?” Jamie asked
“Yeah, I'll meet you at the Schwetzingen Bahnhof” she replied
“Ok, see ya in a bit” Jamie said as he hung up.
Leslie took her suitcase to her room and when she came back down she announced casually “Michelle said there is meeting tonight that I have to attend. She's coming to pick me up here in a few minutes. I don't know how late I'll be, but she'll give me a ride home as well, so I'll see you all later tonight” Leslie grabbed her purse and jacket and walked out the door. The short 5 minute walk to the train station helped to relieve some stress from her body, and by the time Jamie arrived she was quite relaxed.
“So where would you like to go?” he asked as he walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.
“Umm, the Gaststaete here at the Bahnhof is supposed to be pretty good,” she said with a smile “want to try it?”
“Sure” Jamie said “I haven't really got a chance to try the local cuisine.” he leaned in and whispered “I'm always afraid that I'll order something weird like squid”
Leslie laughed “That's not really likely since very few places in Germany sell squid”
They walked to the Gaststaete and went inside Leslie spoke to the waitress in German and asked for a table for two. They were shown to a table and given menus which Leslie poured over and tried to translate for Jamie. They both got to giggling at the funny way the some of the words came out in direct translation. In the end they ordered Bratwurst and SauerKraut. James prayed for the food when it arrived then he asked “So, what went wrong this weekend?”
Leslie rolled her eyes “A better question would be what went right, that would take less time to tell.”
“I've got all the time in the world” Jamie replied, looking deep into her eyes as he reached across the table and took her hand in his. Leslie never could figure out what did it whether it was the look, his touch, or the tone of his voice, but something caused Leslie to break down and between sobs the whole story came out. How her dad wouldn't let her look for her own place and how she had hoped living with the Hollands would provide her with a little breathing room but instead they were treating her with less respect than her own family “I know they mean well but I want a chance to prove that I can survive on my own and I don't need someone looking over my shoulder all the time!” she concluded in frustration.
Jamie smiled, she was definitely the most beautiful girl he had ever met. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, but he didn't, he remained calm and said “Well, since you're over 18 you don't have to have to have anyone's permission to get your own place. So what if you were to get your own place and just don't tell anyone till you've been on your own for a while, then they couldn't say anything cause you would have proved that you can do it both to them and to yourself.”
“I have thought of that ...” Leslie said “I've got a few more hours at Burger King, and I'm saving most of my money... I could try that, I guess I could look around and see what an apartment would cost me. But, I still don’t know… anyway, enough about me, what did you do this weekend?”
“Well, I did what I always do, work, eat, sleep, and play basketball with the guys.” Jamie said and then without really thinking he asked “So, do you have a boyfriend?”
The question caught Leslie completely off guard and she nearly choked on her drink of water “Ah, no, I don't have a boyfriend,” Leslie answered as she grabbed her napkin and wiped her mouth. “The Holland's don't want me to have a boyfriend while I'm living with them. I don't think they trust me. Just another reason I need to move out.” she said with a grin, “Why do you want to know?”
“Well, I was going to ask if you would consider going out with me, but I don't want to get you in trouble.”
Leslie smiled “Oh,” not really knowing what to say to that.
“We could just be friends for awhile and get to know each other.”
“Right, they didn't say I couldn't be friends with boys, just I couldn't have a boyfriend.”
James winked at her, “And if we decide we want to get serious and be “boyfriend and girlfriend” you could move in with me.” he finished with a grin.
Leslie's shocked face said it all. “Just Kidding” Jamie quickly reassured her. “So, would you like to go see a movie on Friday? As friends, of course. The guys and I were going to go see 'The Pirates of the Caribbean'”
“Sorry, I can't, I have to work Friday”
Jamie laughed, “So do I. We're going to the afternoon showing, could you maybe come with us before you go in to work?”
“I guess, I could see if Sandy would drop me off early.”
“That would work, or I could meet you here and drop you off at work when we're done.”
“Ok, that would actually be better, I could tell Sandy that Michelle is sending someone to get me cause she needs me to come in earlier. Actually, do you think you could do me a favor, Michelle wants’ me to work the morning shift on Mondays, if I paid you for gas would you mind coming to get me and take me into work I have to be there at 6 am.”
“That would work for me, I don't work Sunday nights so I would be able to get over here in time.” Jamie said and then he looked at his watch “Oh, my gosh, it's almost 11 o'clock, I better get you home, before you get in trouble!”
They laughed together, Jamie paid the tab and they walked hand in hand to his truck. When Jamie dropped her off, he brushed a kiss on her cheek. “What time do you work tomorrow?” he whispered
“1 to close” Leslie answered with a giggle
“I'll come in around 6:30 and have supper with you, ok?” Jamie said “Now, you get in there and get some sleep. Sweet Dreams!” He opened the door for her and waited till she had let herself in, then he waved to her and drove off.
Leslie was surprised that the house was completely quiet and everyone seemed to be asleep, so she tiptoed up the stairs and slipped into her room as she got ready for bed she remembered the feel of his lips on her cheek and her hand in his, she wondered what it would feel like to have his arms around her and feel his lips on hers. And with a smile on her face she drifted off to sleep.
Leslie hadn't even noticed that Jamie was there, she was that focused on her job and getting each of the customer’s orders right. “What can I get for you today? She said as she finished with the customer directly in front of Jamie, the words died on her lips as she looked up and noticed who was standing there.
“Oh, hi. How are you?” she said, he looked twice as handsome in the daylight as he had in the dark last night. She hadn't really noticed how deep blue his eyes were.
“I told myself to wait for super but I just couldn't help myself and had to stop by before I went in to work!” Jamie broke into her thoughts, Leslie blinked back to reality.
“You like Whoppers that much?” she joked, not completely caught off guard, but slightly flushed at the implied complement, then it dawned on her “You didn't get in any trouble for letting me use the phone, did you?” she asked he eyes wide and fearful.
“Oh, no” Jamie was quick to reassure her, “I'm not in trouble, just a little hungry” he teased.
“Oh, I'm so sorry, what would you like?”
Jamie wanted to say a kiss but knew that would be wrong, besides he didn't want to scare her away, so he ordered a basic Whopper Meal Deal.
“Would you like to make that a King size?” Leslie asked, she was in her element now and determined to remember her job, “It's just another customer” she tried to tell herself, but that didn't stop her heart from racing or keep her hands from shaking as she typed in his order.
“Sure, why not?” Jamie said with a grin.
“Will that be for here or to go?” she asked.
“For here”
Leslie reached under the counter and pulled out a king size cup and placed it on his tray with his receipt and then turned around and grabbed his sandwich and fries and placed them on his tray as well.“There you go” she said with a smile “Have a good day”
“Thanks. You too.” James responded trying desperately to think of something to say. “Do you go to church anywhere?” he finally asked.
“Actually, I go home for the weekends and attend my dad's church.” Leslie answered, as she turned her attention to the next customer in line. She was actually quite pleased that he had asked her that question because it proved two things; one, he was a churchgoer and two, he was interested in her, at least she hoped that's what it meant. She only wished she wasn't so busy and could give a better answer.
Jamie took his food and headed to a booth “See ya later” he said and winked at Leslie “I might come back in when it slows down and get me some desert”
Jamie settled into a booth that faced the register and watched Leslie as she swiftly took orders from the customers, there were a couple of times he noticed that she was getting flustered but she managed well. She was a little blond tornado and she had stolen his heart. He watched her until he had to go to work, as he left he caught her eye “See you tomorrow.” he called and waved over his shoulder.
Leslie wasn't able to take her break for a couple more hours in fact it was almost 10 before she clocked out and ordered herself a sandwich for supper and headed back to the break room.
“Leslie, can I see you for a minute?” Michelle, Leslie's boss called as she passed the office.
“Sure,” Leslie said “Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, everything is fine, I just wanted to ask you a few questions?” Michelle said
“I was wondering if you would be interested in some more hours? Stacy's dad is getting transferred back to the States and I'm having a time getting someone to cover her shifts”
“Well, what hours are they?” Leslie asked
“I have everything filled except for, Saturday 6-close and Monday 6am to noon, I know this is out of your regular schedule, but if you can work something out I would appreciate it. I don't need you to start for a couple of weeks yet, but I do need to know soon.”
“I will talk to my folks when I go home this weekend and see what we can come up with.” Leslie said as she stood and headed to the break room to eat before they needed her up front. Leslie was relieved when she saw that no one else was in the break room and that the conversation with Michelle had only taken 5 minutes. That meant she had 25 minutes to eat her sandwich and read in peace. She picked up her book and lost herself in the story of “The Princess” written by one of her favorite authors Lori Wick.
The rest of her shift was a breeze and Sandy was on time when she got off, Leslie was actually a little disappointed when she saw her pull up cause it meant that there was no excuse to stop by and chat with Jamie. She was pleasantly surprised when Stacy turned toward the South Lexington check point instead of the usual route home.
“I ordered pizza tonight cause I don't feel like cooking so we're got to run over to Domino's to pick it up” Sandy said by way of explanation.
When they arrived at the check point, Jamie was his usual, cheerful self, though he too had wished that Leslie's ride would be late as well.
“Looks like everything is in order here. You ladies have a nice weekend.” He winked and handed the paperwork back to Sandy.
“Did you see that? Oh, my gosh! He is sooo cute!” Victoria drooled from the backseat “Did you see him wink at me? I just know he likes me. He was looking right at me.”
Leslie took a deep breath, “Yeah, right!” she thought “he saw you through the tinted glass and winked right at you.” Being around Victoria could be so draining sometimes. Out loud she said “Hey, sorry, tuts. I saw him first, plus he's closer to my age.”
“How do you know?” Victoria pouted; Sandy looked sternly at Leslie who grinned
“Aw, you can have him, but I get Mr. Darcy! He's all the man I need!”
The girls had been staying up the last several nights trying to finish a new video series, Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudiced, staring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, they both were enthralled with the romance of the period and Mr. Darcy's English accent and melancholy demeanor.
“Oh, we just have to finish that movie tonight!” Victoria gushed “I can't wait to find out what happens.”
“We'll see!” Sandy interjected “I need Leslie to help with the cleaning tonight.”
“Aw Mom, I want to watch the movie.” Victoria whined “cleaning will take all night!”
“That's ok Victoria.” Leslie answered as she turned and smiled at Victoria “If you help me clean, we could make some cookies to munch on while we watch the movie tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Victoria grimaced.
“Sorry, girls, but I'm going to need your help grading papers tomorrow, Leslie. And you'll have your own school work to do, Victoria. Maybe tomorrow night you can watch the movie” Sandy told the girls apologetically.
“Not fair! Why should I have to wait to watch my movie because Leslie has to clean?”Victoria complained.
“Victoria, that is not nice!” Sandy scolded “You don't have to help clean, but you won't watch the movie until Leslie can watch it with you”
Victoria grimaced cleaning was not something she liked doing. “Something she apparently got from her mother.” Leslie though, when she entered the house; dishes covered the sink, counter, and kitchen table, and in the living room piles upon piles of laundry waiting to be folded.
Sighing, Leslie removed her coat and shoes at the door, picked up her shoes and carried them to her room. She laid her purse and uniform cap on her bed and hurried back downstairs to get started on the cleaning. As she passed the upstairs entertainment room she heard the video playing and knew that Victoria was watching the movie, in spite of her mom's command not to. Leslie knew there would be no help from Victoria tonight and since Sandy probably wouldn't make it upstairs tonight, she would again get away with her disobedience.
Leslie was frustrated as she started on the dishes, would she ever know a place where she was wanted for more than her ability to clean dirty dishes and wipe snotty noses. It was no different here than it was at home, except she was able to escape to her job every afternoon. And now there was Jamie, Leslie smiled to herself, she wondered what he meant by his comments this afternoon. To be able to clean his dishes and fold his laundry and take care of him, that would be fun. Her imagination took over and she imagined what it would be like to be married to Jamie and how he would hold her and tease her as they did their chores together. Four hours later, the dishes were washed and the clothes folded and stacked neatly in their respective baskets, Leslie quietly climbed the stairs to her room, the rest of the family had gone to bed hours ago. As she entered her room she realized that was another thing that was different here than at home; she did have her own room, well it was actually more like a small closet, but it was especially nice just to have a space to call her own. She reached for her purse and realized she hadn't put her passport back in but left it on the bed with her hat, as she picked it up she noticed a piece of paper slipping from the pages, she opened it up and there was a phone-number and next to it was written “Call me if you need anything, Jamie”. She slipped it into her wallet and sighed, Jamie was a really nice guy, definitely the knight in shining armor type of guy, and she was the princess stuck in the castle complete with the evil “step-mother” and “step-sisters”. If only there was a way around Sandy's silly “no boyfriends” rule. “Well, true love always finds a way” she thought to herself as she grabbed her book and snuggled under the blanket, to try and finish her book before she fell asleep. Tomorrow was Saturday she would be headed home and she knew it wouldn't be a relaxing trip, since she had to bring up the subject of working Saturdays.
It was 7 o'clock Sunday Evening when Leslie arrived back at the Holland's, her trip home had been exhausting, as usual, she had fought all weekend with her dad. This time, trying to convince him to let her look for her own apartment, he still wasn't convinced. Leslie was sure he just couldn't handle the fact that she would be on her own and not needing him anymore. At 19 she didn't really need his permission to do it, but she would really like to have it anyway, it seemed like she had spent most of her life trying to gain his approval and no matter what she did she could never succeed in gaining it. She had managed to tell him that she had to work at least some Saturdays over the next few weeks, she had decided that it was easier to just tell him she had to and that would save her from having to argue her side. She didn't want to answer a lot of questions from Victoria, so when she saw the young girl lounging in front of the TV she waved briefly and headed for the stairs. Victoria waved back and then jumped up.
“Leslie,” she called, Leslie sighed and turned she'd never get any peace and quiet now, “someone from your work called said it was important that you call her back, I think her name was Michelle.”
“Thanks” Leslie said “I'll call her.” and picked up the phone to discourage any further conversation, she smiled when Victoria headed back into the living room without a word. Leslie dialed the number for Burger King after talking to Michelle and telling her that she could work Saturdays and that Mondays were still uncertain but she would get back to her on that and getting her schedule for the week. She hung up and was going to head for the stairs when she thought of Jamie, after only a moment’s hesitation she picked up the receiver and dialed his number, he answered at the first ring. Leslie nearly dropped the phone at the sound of his voice, hesitant as to what to say, now that she had him on the line “ah...hi, this is Leslie”
“Hey, girl what's up?” Jamie asked, excitement tingeing his voice “How'd your trip home go?”
“Not so good...” Leslie said “I don't know what I expected though.” she paused “To be honest I don't even know why I called you.”
Jamie laughed “That's fine! I wasn't doing anything anyway.” he said “would you like for me to come and pick you up, we could grab a bite to eat and talk.”
“I guess I could” Leslie said, wondering all the while, what on earth she was getting herself into.
“See you in about 30 minutes?” Jamie asked
“Yeah, I'll meet you at the Schwetzingen Bahnhof” she replied
“Ok, see ya in a bit” Jamie said as he hung up.
Leslie took her suitcase to her room and when she came back down she announced casually “Michelle said there is meeting tonight that I have to attend. She's coming to pick me up here in a few minutes. I don't know how late I'll be, but she'll give me a ride home as well, so I'll see you all later tonight” Leslie grabbed her purse and jacket and walked out the door. The short 5 minute walk to the train station helped to relieve some stress from her body, and by the time Jamie arrived she was quite relaxed.
“So where would you like to go?” he asked as he walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.
“Umm, the Gaststaete here at the Bahnhof is supposed to be pretty good,” she said with a smile “want to try it?”
“Sure” Jamie said “I haven't really got a chance to try the local cuisine.” he leaned in and whispered “I'm always afraid that I'll order something weird like squid”
Leslie laughed “That's not really likely since very few places in Germany sell squid”
They walked to the Gaststaete and went inside Leslie spoke to the waitress in German and asked for a table for two. They were shown to a table and given menus which Leslie poured over and tried to translate for Jamie. They both got to giggling at the funny way the some of the words came out in direct translation. In the end they ordered Bratwurst and SauerKraut. James prayed for the food when it arrived then he asked “So, what went wrong this weekend?”
Leslie rolled her eyes “A better question would be what went right, that would take less time to tell.”
“I've got all the time in the world” Jamie replied, looking deep into her eyes as he reached across the table and took her hand in his. Leslie never could figure out what did it whether it was the look, his touch, or the tone of his voice, but something caused Leslie to break down and between sobs the whole story came out. How her dad wouldn't let her look for her own place and how she had hoped living with the Hollands would provide her with a little breathing room but instead they were treating her with less respect than her own family “I know they mean well but I want a chance to prove that I can survive on my own and I don't need someone looking over my shoulder all the time!” she concluded in frustration.
Jamie smiled, she was definitely the most beautiful girl he had ever met. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, but he didn't, he remained calm and said “Well, since you're over 18 you don't have to have to have anyone's permission to get your own place. So what if you were to get your own place and just don't tell anyone till you've been on your own for a while, then they couldn't say anything cause you would have proved that you can do it both to them and to yourself.”
“I have thought of that ...” Leslie said “I've got a few more hours at Burger King, and I'm saving most of my money... I could try that, I guess I could look around and see what an apartment would cost me. But, I still don’t know… anyway, enough about me, what did you do this weekend?”
“Well, I did what I always do, work, eat, sleep, and play basketball with the guys.” Jamie said and then without really thinking he asked “So, do you have a boyfriend?”
The question caught Leslie completely off guard and she nearly choked on her drink of water “Ah, no, I don't have a boyfriend,” Leslie answered as she grabbed her napkin and wiped her mouth. “The Holland's don't want me to have a boyfriend while I'm living with them. I don't think they trust me. Just another reason I need to move out.” she said with a grin, “Why do you want to know?”
“Well, I was going to ask if you would consider going out with me, but I don't want to get you in trouble.”
Leslie smiled “Oh,” not really knowing what to say to that.
“We could just be friends for awhile and get to know each other.”
“Right, they didn't say I couldn't be friends with boys, just I couldn't have a boyfriend.”
James winked at her, “And if we decide we want to get serious and be “boyfriend and girlfriend” you could move in with me.” he finished with a grin.
Leslie's shocked face said it all. “Just Kidding” Jamie quickly reassured her. “So, would you like to go see a movie on Friday? As friends, of course. The guys and I were going to go see 'The Pirates of the Caribbean'”
“Sorry, I can't, I have to work Friday”
Jamie laughed, “So do I. We're going to the afternoon showing, could you maybe come with us before you go in to work?”
“I guess, I could see if Sandy would drop me off early.”
“That would work, or I could meet you here and drop you off at work when we're done.”
“Ok, that would actually be better, I could tell Sandy that Michelle is sending someone to get me cause she needs me to come in earlier. Actually, do you think you could do me a favor, Michelle wants’ me to work the morning shift on Mondays, if I paid you for gas would you mind coming to get me and take me into work I have to be there at 6 am.”
“That would work for me, I don't work Sunday nights so I would be able to get over here in time.” Jamie said and then he looked at his watch “Oh, my gosh, it's almost 11 o'clock, I better get you home, before you get in trouble!”
They laughed together, Jamie paid the tab and they walked hand in hand to his truck. When Jamie dropped her off, he brushed a kiss on her cheek. “What time do you work tomorrow?” he whispered
“1 to close” Leslie answered with a giggle
“I'll come in around 6:30 and have supper with you, ok?” Jamie said “Now, you get in there and get some sleep. Sweet Dreams!” He opened the door for her and waited till she had let herself in, then he waved to her and drove off.
Leslie was surprised that the house was completely quiet and everyone seemed to be asleep, so she tiptoed up the stairs and slipped into her room as she got ready for bed she remembered the feel of his lips on her cheek and her hand in his, she wondered what it would feel like to have his arms around her and feel his lips on hers. And with a smile on her face she drifted off to sleep.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Chapter 3 - Leslie Ann and Jamie
Five years and five months earlier, Heidelberg, Germany
Leslie sighed and brushed her dark, blond curls out her face as she looked at her watch and then scanned the road. It was empty; she stepped out from under the awning into the drizzling rain. Her ride was late, again, and unfortunately she couldn't go back inside to wait because her manager, Michelle, had already locked up and left for the night. “Well, I guess I shouldn't have told her to go ahead and go, but I hated for her to have to wait, and I figured Sandy would be here by now...” she muttered under her breath as she trudged down the road, pulling the hood of her jacket up over her head, trying to keep the rain off her face. She wasn't really sure where she was headed, she knew she couldn't walk all the way home. Schwetzingen was over 30 minutes away, over the Autobahn and it was dark and raining, so that was out of the question. “I don't have a cell phone and no money for a pay phone.” she thought to herself “Why can't Sandy ever show up on time? I don't even know if she left yet? This is so frustrating!” Leslie brushed a wet strand of blond hair back out of her eyes, she was sopping wet, tired, and getting angrier by the minute. She had only been working at the Burger King in the Patrick Henry Village for 2 weeks and already her ride had forgotten her three times, but at least before it had been daytime and she had been able to go back into the store to wait or call. Leslie had no idea where the nearest pay phone was and wasn't about to go searching for one in the rain, and dark, beside the fact that she didn't have any money for one even if she found it.
Suddenly, she had an idea, there was a guard post just around the corner, surely they would have a phone there. It was just around the corner so she shouldn't miss Sandy, should she already be on her way, she would call Sandy's cell phone.
Sergeant James Jamison was bored, he hated the night shift on guard duty, nothing ever happened. In fact he had seen two other people all night. Suddenly, he noticed something, someone was coming. It looked like, a girl, walking.
“Whatever is a girl doing out on the road at this hour and in this weather?” James thought. The girl approached the window.
“Hi” she said, as she fished in her purse for her passport and workers permit and slid them under the window.
“What are you doing out on a night like this?” James asked looking over her paperwork.
Leslie sighed, “Trying to get home.” she answered with a weak smile “you haven't by chance seen a green, Ford mini-van come through here, have you?” she asked hesitantly.
“Nope.” he answered “Everything looks like it's in order with your papers. Here you go.” Leslie sighed again and leaned her head on her hands.
“Are you ok?” James asked.
“Not really” Leslie responded “My ride was supposed to pick me up over 30 min ago, and they never showed. Is there any way I could use your phone?”
“Sure. Come on in!” He said as he opened the door. “It's not much, but it's dry.”
“I hope you won't get in trouble 'cause I'm in here” Leslie said, she was still learning what was and wasn't allowed on a military base and was nervous about making a mistake.
James moved to the other side of the room so Leslie could reach the phone. “No, I won't get in trouble.” he said easily “It's my job to assist anyone who needs help, especially a damsel in distress.”
Leslie smiled at his attempted joke then turned and dialed the number quickly and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for someone to answer. Finally, “Hello? Victoria? Is your mom there? Well, could you please give her the phone? I need to talk to her. Yes, it's important.” Leslie rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust at James, who just grinned. “Hi, Sandy? This is Leslie, you were supposed to pick me up 30 minutes ago. No, I'm not at Burger King anymore, I walked up to the guard station. Yeah, the one on South Lexington. Well, I guess I'll have to, won't I, since I'm not walking all the way home in the dark and rain. Sure. See ya in a bit.” Leslie hung up the phone “Thanks, Sergeant...ah...”
“Just call me Jamie, my friends do. And you can stay in here, where it's dry, until your ride gets here.”
“Thanks, I think I will. I really can't afford to get sick and miss work right now.”
“So, you work at Burger King, and I gathered from your conversation, you're not living with your family right now and you’re not military, so, how did you get over here?” James asked curiously.
“Oh, that's a long story. But the short version is that my parents are missionaries in Koblenz and I couldn't get a job there, due to being a foreigner. I was bored stiff living at home and when the Hollands offered to give me a place to stay and help me get a part time job on base, in exchange for helping home school their two youngest kids, I jumped at the chance. Now I'm wondering if it was such a good idea. Sandy, that's Mrs. Holland, is my transportation, but she's not very reliable, I've been late to work once already because she wasn't ready to go and this is the third time that she's forgotten to pick me up. But that is nothing compared to the fact that they refuse to treat me as an adult, capable of making my own decisions, I mean, they are even worse than my own parents. I think it might be more beneficial to me if I tried to get a place of my own and go full time at my job.” Leslie shrugged as she finished “but I don't know if I can get my dad to go for that.”
“How old are you, anyway?” Jamie asked, somewhat surprised that she would have to get her father's permission to move.
“Nine-teen, I'll be twenty in Sepyember.” Leslie smiled “And, yes, I know that I don't legally have to have my dad's permission to move, but that's the way I was raised. Besides if I do it without his permission he'd probably never speak to me again. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, sometimes.” Leslie smiled again and shrugged “You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I can relate to that. I joined the Army so I wouldn't have anyone telling me what to do.” Jamie laughed at his own joke. “But seriously, now that I'm an ocean away I kinda miss mom telling me what to do, and doing my laundry.”
Leslie laughed “You boys are so helpless; my brothers would probably die if they had to do their own laundry.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Jamie asked trying to change the subject.
With a smile Leslie answered “Four, and one Sister, all younger than me. So you know who did all the chores.” Leslie really didn't want to think about her home life, she realized that it probably could be a lot worse, but she hated the way her dad treated her mom and every time she went home it just seemed to get worse and worse. Her brothers had no respect for her mom and expected to be waited on hand and foot. And her little sister, Lilly, wasn't any help either, especially since she was only 4 and spoiled rotten.
Leslie was brought back to the present with a jolt as Jamie said “Looks like your ride's here.”
“Well, I guess I better go. Thanks for letting me use the phone.” Leslie said as she stepped out the door, and with a quick wave of her hand she was gone.
Jamie sighed as the van pulled away, why did all the strange stuff happen on his shift. Well at least it alleviated the boredom a bit. Two hours later he was relieved from duty by Chad Peterson. Chad was his best friend from home, they had grown up together, went to the same church, same school and after graduation they had decided to join up together. They were really excited when they had learned that they were both to be stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. They kept tabs on each other, it helped to have a Christian brother to remind him of the principals that he had grown up with.
“Anything interesting happen tonight?” Chad asked as he checked the log and set everything up for his shift.
Jamie stretched “Nothing much, some girl that works at Burger King came and used the phone, apparently her ride forgot that she was supposed to pick her up when they closed at midnight.” If there was anything in this world that Jamie couldn’t stand it was inconsiderate people. Though why he should feel this upset over the treatment of a complete stranger was beyond him. He was probably just tired and needed to go home and get some sleep.
As he walked into the apartment he and Chad shared, about 20 minutes later, he wondered what it would be like to be married, to have a wife waiting for him when he came home off of these late shifts or when he came back off of a weekend of drills. The apartment wasn't bad for a bachelor's pad, it was clean, but bare, Jamie could see where it could use a woman's touch. As a handsome Sergeant it wasn’t like he didn’t have his pick of girls and he had gone out with a few of them but he just hadn’t found the right one yet, for some reason Jamie thought of the girl that had stopped by his post last night, what did she say her name was… Leslie.
He wondered if she had a boyfriend, probably not, if her dad was really as controlling as she had indicated it wasn’t likely that he would allow her to have a boyfriend. But what did that matter to him anyway it wasn’t any of his business. Jamie tossed his keys into the dish by the door and headed over to his desk. He opened up his laptop and hit the check mail icon, as tired as he was he wanted to see if there was any news from home. After responding to e-mails from both his mother and little brother he got up from the desk and headed to his room unbuttoning his shirt as he went, once there he stripped down to his boxers and collapsed across the bed. His last thought as he went to sleep was of Leslie.
Eight hours later and insistent beeping noise roused Jamie slowly from sleep. He stretched his arm out, hit the snooze button and glared at his alarm clock that read 13:00. Jamie rolled out of bed pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, already the sleepy fog that surrounded his brain was starting to lift. He stopped in the kitchen long enough to grab a glass of water and tie on his running shoes, and then he was off. Jamie always enjoyed his “morning” run but on a day like today it was fantastic. You could hardly tell it had rained last night, the sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing sweetly. Dogs barked in the distance and you could hear the chatter of children playing on the playground Jamie smiled and waved to the children at the playground and most of them waved back. One thing about living on the American Base was it was just like home, you really couldn't tell that you were in another country unless you ventured off base, which very few did. Jamie wondered what it would be like to be raised in a foreign country to have to learn a new language and culture...like Leslie had.
Back at home, he tossed the mail on the table and hurried through his shower. He was suddenly hungry for a burger and he wanted to have plenty of time to stop by Burger King on his way to work.
Leslie sighed and brushed her dark, blond curls out her face as she looked at her watch and then scanned the road. It was empty; she stepped out from under the awning into the drizzling rain. Her ride was late, again, and unfortunately she couldn't go back inside to wait because her manager, Michelle, had already locked up and left for the night. “Well, I guess I shouldn't have told her to go ahead and go, but I hated for her to have to wait, and I figured Sandy would be here by now...” she muttered under her breath as she trudged down the road, pulling the hood of her jacket up over her head, trying to keep the rain off her face. She wasn't really sure where she was headed, she knew she couldn't walk all the way home. Schwetzingen was over 30 minutes away, over the Autobahn and it was dark and raining, so that was out of the question. “I don't have a cell phone and no money for a pay phone.” she thought to herself “Why can't Sandy ever show up on time? I don't even know if she left yet? This is so frustrating!” Leslie brushed a wet strand of blond hair back out of her eyes, she was sopping wet, tired, and getting angrier by the minute. She had only been working at the Burger King in the Patrick Henry Village for 2 weeks and already her ride had forgotten her three times, but at least before it had been daytime and she had been able to go back into the store to wait or call. Leslie had no idea where the nearest pay phone was and wasn't about to go searching for one in the rain, and dark, beside the fact that she didn't have any money for one even if she found it.
Suddenly, she had an idea, there was a guard post just around the corner, surely they would have a phone there. It was just around the corner so she shouldn't miss Sandy, should she already be on her way, she would call Sandy's cell phone.
Sergeant James Jamison was bored, he hated the night shift on guard duty, nothing ever happened. In fact he had seen two other people all night. Suddenly, he noticed something, someone was coming. It looked like, a girl, walking.
“Whatever is a girl doing out on the road at this hour and in this weather?” James thought. The girl approached the window.
“Hi” she said, as she fished in her purse for her passport and workers permit and slid them under the window.
“What are you doing out on a night like this?” James asked looking over her paperwork.
Leslie sighed, “Trying to get home.” she answered with a weak smile “you haven't by chance seen a green, Ford mini-van come through here, have you?” she asked hesitantly.
“Nope.” he answered “Everything looks like it's in order with your papers. Here you go.” Leslie sighed again and leaned her head on her hands.
“Are you ok?” James asked.
“Not really” Leslie responded “My ride was supposed to pick me up over 30 min ago, and they never showed. Is there any way I could use your phone?”
“Sure. Come on in!” He said as he opened the door. “It's not much, but it's dry.”
“I hope you won't get in trouble 'cause I'm in here” Leslie said, she was still learning what was and wasn't allowed on a military base and was nervous about making a mistake.
James moved to the other side of the room so Leslie could reach the phone. “No, I won't get in trouble.” he said easily “It's my job to assist anyone who needs help, especially a damsel in distress.”
Leslie smiled at his attempted joke then turned and dialed the number quickly and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for someone to answer. Finally, “Hello? Victoria? Is your mom there? Well, could you please give her the phone? I need to talk to her. Yes, it's important.” Leslie rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust at James, who just grinned. “Hi, Sandy? This is Leslie, you were supposed to pick me up 30 minutes ago. No, I'm not at Burger King anymore, I walked up to the guard station. Yeah, the one on South Lexington. Well, I guess I'll have to, won't I, since I'm not walking all the way home in the dark and rain. Sure. See ya in a bit.” Leslie hung up the phone “Thanks, Sergeant...ah...”
“Just call me Jamie, my friends do. And you can stay in here, where it's dry, until your ride gets here.”
“Thanks, I think I will. I really can't afford to get sick and miss work right now.”
“So, you work at Burger King, and I gathered from your conversation, you're not living with your family right now and you’re not military, so, how did you get over here?” James asked curiously.
“Oh, that's a long story. But the short version is that my parents are missionaries in Koblenz and I couldn't get a job there, due to being a foreigner. I was bored stiff living at home and when the Hollands offered to give me a place to stay and help me get a part time job on base, in exchange for helping home school their two youngest kids, I jumped at the chance. Now I'm wondering if it was such a good idea. Sandy, that's Mrs. Holland, is my transportation, but she's not very reliable, I've been late to work once already because she wasn't ready to go and this is the third time that she's forgotten to pick me up. But that is nothing compared to the fact that they refuse to treat me as an adult, capable of making my own decisions, I mean, they are even worse than my own parents. I think it might be more beneficial to me if I tried to get a place of my own and go full time at my job.” Leslie shrugged as she finished “but I don't know if I can get my dad to go for that.”
“How old are you, anyway?” Jamie asked, somewhat surprised that she would have to get her father's permission to move.
“Nine-teen, I'll be twenty in Sepyember.” Leslie smiled “And, yes, I know that I don't legally have to have my dad's permission to move, but that's the way I was raised. Besides if I do it without his permission he'd probably never speak to me again. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, sometimes.” Leslie smiled again and shrugged “You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I can relate to that. I joined the Army so I wouldn't have anyone telling me what to do.” Jamie laughed at his own joke. “But seriously, now that I'm an ocean away I kinda miss mom telling me what to do, and doing my laundry.”
Leslie laughed “You boys are so helpless; my brothers would probably die if they had to do their own laundry.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Jamie asked trying to change the subject.
With a smile Leslie answered “Four, and one Sister, all younger than me. So you know who did all the chores.” Leslie really didn't want to think about her home life, she realized that it probably could be a lot worse, but she hated the way her dad treated her mom and every time she went home it just seemed to get worse and worse. Her brothers had no respect for her mom and expected to be waited on hand and foot. And her little sister, Lilly, wasn't any help either, especially since she was only 4 and spoiled rotten.
Leslie was brought back to the present with a jolt as Jamie said “Looks like your ride's here.”
“Well, I guess I better go. Thanks for letting me use the phone.” Leslie said as she stepped out the door, and with a quick wave of her hand she was gone.
Jamie sighed as the van pulled away, why did all the strange stuff happen on his shift. Well at least it alleviated the boredom a bit. Two hours later he was relieved from duty by Chad Peterson. Chad was his best friend from home, they had grown up together, went to the same church, same school and after graduation they had decided to join up together. They were really excited when they had learned that they were both to be stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. They kept tabs on each other, it helped to have a Christian brother to remind him of the principals that he had grown up with.
“Anything interesting happen tonight?” Chad asked as he checked the log and set everything up for his shift.
Jamie stretched “Nothing much, some girl that works at Burger King came and used the phone, apparently her ride forgot that she was supposed to pick her up when they closed at midnight.” If there was anything in this world that Jamie couldn’t stand it was inconsiderate people. Though why he should feel this upset over the treatment of a complete stranger was beyond him. He was probably just tired and needed to go home and get some sleep.
As he walked into the apartment he and Chad shared, about 20 minutes later, he wondered what it would be like to be married, to have a wife waiting for him when he came home off of these late shifts or when he came back off of a weekend of drills. The apartment wasn't bad for a bachelor's pad, it was clean, but bare, Jamie could see where it could use a woman's touch. As a handsome Sergeant it wasn’t like he didn’t have his pick of girls and he had gone out with a few of them but he just hadn’t found the right one yet, for some reason Jamie thought of the girl that had stopped by his post last night, what did she say her name was… Leslie.
He wondered if she had a boyfriend, probably not, if her dad was really as controlling as she had indicated it wasn’t likely that he would allow her to have a boyfriend. But what did that matter to him anyway it wasn’t any of his business. Jamie tossed his keys into the dish by the door and headed over to his desk. He opened up his laptop and hit the check mail icon, as tired as he was he wanted to see if there was any news from home. After responding to e-mails from both his mother and little brother he got up from the desk and headed to his room unbuttoning his shirt as he went, once there he stripped down to his boxers and collapsed across the bed. His last thought as he went to sleep was of Leslie.
Eight hours later and insistent beeping noise roused Jamie slowly from sleep. He stretched his arm out, hit the snooze button and glared at his alarm clock that read 13:00. Jamie rolled out of bed pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, already the sleepy fog that surrounded his brain was starting to lift. He stopped in the kitchen long enough to grab a glass of water and tie on his running shoes, and then he was off. Jamie always enjoyed his “morning” run but on a day like today it was fantastic. You could hardly tell it had rained last night, the sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing sweetly. Dogs barked in the distance and you could hear the chatter of children playing on the playground Jamie smiled and waved to the children at the playground and most of them waved back. One thing about living on the American Base was it was just like home, you really couldn't tell that you were in another country unless you ventured off base, which very few did. Jamie wondered what it would be like to be raised in a foreign country to have to learn a new language and culture...like Leslie had.
Back at home, he tossed the mail on the table and hurried through his shower. He was suddenly hungry for a burger and he wanted to have plenty of time to stop by Burger King on his way to work.
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