One Prince of Serendip

"I'm fairly sure Kiwi knows where the grain is," Kate chuckled. "But we ought to get going. I wonder if we can ride back along the highway? No pine needles."

"Only if you cover up," I decided to point out. "Otherwise, someone might stop to be 'helpful' and you might not like it."

"Good point," Marsha agreed. "But our suits and shirts are dry, so we can get dressed before we leave. I do prefer going without, though. I really wish it wasn't such a big deal out in public. We don't get any shit at home about it."

Really? I thought. Must be an interesting home.

"Okay, so let's get a quick shower before you leave, and something to drink if you want," I told them. "This day is going to be etched in my memory to my grave." That got big grins from both of them.

I asked for their phone number and they told me they didn't know what it was. They'd just gotten it two days ago. They asked for mine and I told them two short, two long and they looked at me like I was nuts. I had to explain it was a party line that hadn't been converted yet. They were still confused. I told them not to worry about it -- by the time they figured it out, the phone company would have finished their upgrade to unique numbers.

They grabbed a bottle of water each and I walked them out to their horses. I pointed to the driveway and promised it really did T-junction into the highway. Turn right and ride to their drive. I got a very passionate hug and kiss from both of them, and then the two most amazing women in my life to that point mounted up and rode off.

I walked back to the house, feeling kind of dejected because I was never going to have that kind of high again. They had fundamentally altered me, and all because I liked to sunbathe nude. I think my sigh was probably heard three counties over.

I went ahead and napped for awhile, eventually getting up to fix something for dinner. Something more than a fifth of von Steihl sweet cherry wine, that is. Drowning my sorrows with that particular wine seemed fitting somehow. I looked out over the lake from the big picture window, watching while the day grew darker as the sun went down. Echoes of my soul.

I damn near jumped out of my skin when the phone rang. Two long, two short. Two long, two short. Fuck! It was for me! I ran to the phone to answer it.

"Hello?"

Very quietly, I heard a confused "hello?" on the other end.

"Okay, everybody," I said loudly into the phone. "This one is for me and it's private. You can hang up now. I can barely hear them!" One after another I heard the clicks as people on the party line hung up. Out of eight people on the circuit, I heard five hang up. "Can you hear me better?" I asked and Marsha's voice answered, "Yes, a lot... Mark?"

"Just a moment," I told her. Based on the volume, there was still someone on the line besides us. "Mrs. Grady, you can hang up, now. This call isn't your business." She didn't bother to answer me. She just hung up. Knowing who the busybodies were went a long way towards ensuring privacy.

"Okay, this is Mark," I told Marsha. "You'll have to learn how to know if there's more than just you and your intended party on the line. So... what's up? You obviously figured out how to use the phone."

"Actually, my Dad did," Marsha told me. "I told him Kate and I had met some really nice neighbors on our ride and I wanted to call one of them, and I didn't know anything but two long, two short. He laughed at me, then told me about calling the operator and having her put it through. Pretty archaic system..."

"I'll have to remember to thank your Dad," I chuckled. "So what can I do for you? Did you forget something?"

"No..." she drawled and I could hear the smile. "Kate and I remembered something, and it had a lot to do with what you could do for us. We were wondering... what are you doing tomorrow?"

Life had just gotten a whole lot more wonderful.

~ Finis ~

Just an end note: The Three Princes of Serendip is the story/fairy-tale that spawned the word Serendipity, because of the princes' happy luck. Our hero in this tale was certainly one lucky bastard, though he wasn't from Ceylon.