Requiem for a Heavyweight Ch. 02

She surprised him by her insight and flattered him with her interest.

"Why yes, indeed, it is. Most people never guess the origin of the name," said Ken.

In the way that she looked at him and suddenly took interest in him, he couldn't help but feel that he was on a first date.

"Where did you grow up?"

He smiled at her with pride.

"Boston born and educated. I'm a proper Bostonian," he said raising his glass to take a sip.

She laughed.

"How does an Englishman find happiness in the Italian section of the city?" She giggled her question.

Ken smiled at her while remembering her mother who had passed a few years ago.

"My mother was Italian," he said. "First generation born in this country, her father immigrated from Italy when he was sixteen-year-old."

Something about her confidence and the ease of her manner confessed her intelligence. He had always been attracted to strong, intelligent women. He'd more easily fall in love with a woman who had a big brain and small breasts than with a woman who had a small brain and big tits.

"What about you? Where are you from?"

She put him at ease with her melodious giggle and it helped that she was so very pretty.

"South Boston," she said with a laugh and moving her open palmed hand to her shoulder in the way of a mini stop sign. "I know, I know, much like you, the only Englishman in an Italian neighborhood, I may be the only Italian in an Irish neighborhood. I may be the only woman who doesn't have red hair and freckles," she said with a melodious laugh.

Ken smiled at her sense of humor.

"Well, all the parts of the city have dramatically changed for the better. Actually, I live in the Back Bay now, instead of the North End. The old, territorial, neighborhood people have died off and their children can no longer afford Boston's price of admission," said Ken. "Most of them have moved away to Everett, Malden, Somerville, and Medford. Even Charlestown, once a safe haven of Irish, taken over by out of state and other country, foreign interlopers, has become as expensive as living on Boston's waterfront."

Ken thought of how much Boston had changed since he was a kid growing up in the city.

"I couldn't help but overhear you with your friend as he was leaving," she said. "Are you shopping for a new car?"

Ken was glad that Roxanne hadn't witnessed Jeff receiving a blowjob from Cindy. Yet, then again, perhaps Roxanne was a prostitute in the way that Cindy was a prostitute. Perhaps had she witnessed Jeff receiving a blowjob from Cindy that may have inspired her to give him a blowjob too. With housewives and grad students embracing paid sex for some easy money, if Roxanne was a hooker, she didn't look and act like any women of the night that he ever knew.

"Actually, I am shopping for a car. I haven't owned one in years. I live close to here. It's more convenient to walk, grab a cab, take the subway, or ride my bike than it is to endlessly drive in gridlock traffic looking for a place to park. Yet, now, especially if I want to travel and get out of the city, I need a car."

Roxanne nodded her head.

"Yeah, you can say that again. The traffic around here is bad. I had to park two blocks down and the meter was broken. I hope I don't get a ticket," she said.

Ken wondered if the broken meter was one of the meters that Jeffrey had jammed with Chuck E. Cheese tokens. Ken looked around the nearly empty restaurant. Well after the lunch hour, he wondered why she had stopped in for a drink at this particular time.

"Are you meeting someone?"

She shrugged her shoulders with sadness.

"I was supposed to meet a man that I met online but obviously, he's a no-show. He didn't even give me the courtesy of a call," she said checking her smartphone. "Maybe he spotted me from the window and didn't think that I was attractive enough to even bother meeting me," she said with a sad, little laugh.

Ken beamed her a happy smile.

"That's bad for you but good for me," said Ken with a laugh. "Otherwise, I never would have made your acquaintance. Actually, now that I take a closer look at you," he said as his excuse to stare at her longer. "Maybe when he saw you, he thought that you were too attractive for him and too good to believe."

Roxanne returned his smile with her smile.

"Thanks, you're sweet. I'll drink to that," said Roxanne.

Ken took a sip of his beer.

"Just for curiosity sake, what kind of car do you own?"

She smiled her pride. Obviously by the sudden enthusiasm that showed on her face, she loved her car. In the way that Jeffrey was a car buff, obviously, she was too.

"A Mustang. I drive a Mustang. I love Mustangs. This is my fourth one."

Ken nodded his admiration of her car choice.

"Is it a stick or an automatic?"

She made a face as if she had just swallowed a bug.

"It's a sacrilegious crime to buy a Mustang with an automatic," she said with a laugh. "I bought one with a 6 speed."

Ken smiled his admiration again.

"Nice." He looked closer at her. She was a good-looking woman, maybe around 35-years-old age, with a smoking hot body. Hard to believe, she was even better looking and hotter than Cindy. "Pardon my forwardness and it's okay for you to say no, but are you doing anything for the next few hours?"

Something he'd never ask of any woman, something that he couldn't even ask of Jennifer, Jeff's hot, sexy receptionist, he was about to ask of Roxanne. Obviously, Jeffrey had inspired him to be more forward. Suddenly, he felt like the lady killer that he wasn't. Only, sweating bullets that she'd reject him, he was nervous with anticipation while waiting for her response.

"A few hours?" She looked at him sideways before giving him a sexy look and a naughty smile. "Why? Keeping in mind that I just met you, and don't know anything about you, other you're your name, what did you have in mind that would take a few hours?"

In the sexy way that she looked at him and in the naughty way that she smiled at him, he wondered if he suggested something other than what he was thinking if she'd go for it. Having not had sex since his ex-wife divorced him, he imagined her naked and having an orgasm in his bed. Only, when it came to meeting new women, especially when it came to sex, he was nothing like Jeffrey. No doubt, Jeffrey would have already propositioned her. No doubt, Jeffrey would have already had her back at his place naked and in bed.

"Well, my friend, Jeffrey, gave me the business card of a guy selling a car. He recommended this car, but wouldn't tell me the kind of car that it is. I have no idea of the make, the model, and/or the year of the car."

Ken looked down at the business card before looking up at her again.

"I see," she said with a smile of interest and curiosity.

Ken was quick to pick up on her interest and curiosity with a question.

"I'm really curious what car he recommended," he said pausing before asking his question. "If I can arrange to see the car now," he said looking up at her as if begging her while getting lost in her blue, beautiful eyes. "Would you care to take a ride with me to go see the car? He further qualified his question. "Being that you seem to be as much of a car buff as I am, I could use your help in deciding if I should buy the car or not. When it comes to making big purchases, I'm always so indecisive."

She beamed him a smile as if he had just asked her out on a date, and kind of, he did.

"Sure," she said. "Why not? Looking at cars is always fun."

They walked the two blocks down Newbury Street to where her car was parked just after Dartmouth Street. Not pegging her for that before but by make, model, and color of her car, he figured she was a bit on the wild side. She had an orange Mustang GT with black stripes and black, spinner wheels.

"Wow, when you said you owned a Mustang, I figured you owned the six cylinder version and not the hot, GT."

She laughed.

"There's no substitute for horsepower."

* * * * *

Ken called Jake on his cell phone en route to Cambridge where the car was stored. While waiting for Jake to answer the phone, soon to find out, Ken wondered again what the make, model, and year of the car that he had to sell him.

"Hello?"

Jake sounded like an older gentleman by the sound of his voice.

"Hello, Jake?"

Jake paused on the other end as if he was trying to recognize Ken's voice.

"Yeah? This is Jake. Who's this?"

Ken's first impression of Jake was that he sounded like an old curmudgeon.

"I'm Ken, Ken Lunderry. I'm a friend of Jeffrey's and—"

Ken was nervous that the man wouldn't know who Jeffrey was. He was nervous that the man wouldn't care that he was a friend of Jeffrey's. He was nervous that the man wouldn't have a car for him. Perhaps he never should have told Jeffrey that he was buying a car. Perhaps, he should have just gone to a Porsche or BMW dealership and bought whatever they had on the showroom floor on in their lot. Only, if he bought a car without his best friend's help, he'd not only insult him and hurt his feelings but also he'd never hear the end of it.

"Jeffrey! Any friend of Jeffrey's is a friend of mine. He's a fine lawyer. He's helped me out of several jams. How is he? I haven't seen him in a while?"

Ken felt relieved.

"Jeff is good. We just had lunch together and when I told him that I wanted to buy a new car, he recommended me to you. He said that you had the perfect car," said Ken.

Ken wondered again what car Jake had to sell him.

"Is Jeff still driving the Alpina B6 that I recommended for him?"

For this man to recommend the best car that Jeff ever had, he must know his cars.

"Yes," said Ken. "He's still driving his Alpina. He loves the car. He said that it's the best car he ever had, and if you know Jeffrey, he's owned them all," said Ken. "Which car do you have for me?"

The man laughed out loud.

"I have lots of cars for sale," said Jake. "Which one did Jeffrey suggest?"

Not wanting to spend too much money on a car but knowing Jeffrey as he did when it came to cars, he wondered if Jake was going to try and sell him a hot Ferrari, a sexy Maserati, or a fast Porsche.

"Actually, he didn't say which make, model, and year car. He only said that the car that he had in mind was a special one. For Jeff to say that the car is a special one must really mean that the car he had in mind is really special," said Ken while wondering what would be deemed a special car to Jeffrey.

The man laughed out loud.

"Oh, that one. The special one. I see. I know the exact car," said Jake with a laugh. "I know just the car that he wants you and expects you to buy. This was a car that he wanted to buy for himself. For him to be willing to sell this car to you, you must be a close friend," said Jake.

Ken laughed while wondering what the mystery was around the car deemed special.

"I am," said Ken. "We grew up in the same North End neighborhood. I've been friends with him since I was a child."

Jake returned Ken's laugh with his laugh.

"He's a sly rascal that one. This way, after you buy it, when you drive it, he'll ride in it too," said Jake with a pause. "So, when can you come to take it for a drive?"

As if he was the proud father, Ken hasn't been this excited since his robot BART took his first steps and said his first few words.

"Actually, I'm on my way to you now. I'm on Storrow Drive," said Ken passing MIT and Harvard before passing Boston University on his way to Cambridge.

Along the way to Jake's place of business, half a dozen exotic sports cars flashed through Ken's mind. Maybe the car suggested is an Aston Martin. That's an awesome car.

"Wonderful, I'll see you in a few minutes."

Jake hung up the phone before even telling Ken the make, model, and year of the car that Jeff suggested.

"Wait! What kind of car is it? Hello? Jake? Hello?"

To be continued...

As if your vote is my applause, please vote.