Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. The following story is fictional. The author reserves all rights conveyed by the Berne Convention. No one shall redistribute this story without the author's permission. No one shall profit from redistributing this story. The Red Haired Waif Chapter 1 By Happy zjehappy1@aol.com He had watched her for a few moments at a time each day from his window near the main entrance of the apartment building. His attention was distracted enough to look up from his computer screen and through his double window as she walked by coming or going. The red haired girl is about twenty years old. The man who watched her from behind the panes of glass is fifty. He has morals and the limit that he set for himself was to just watch her from afar. Every time that they coincidentally passed by each other in the hallway or the parking lot was a quiet experience. That happened for months and changed suddenly in one day. The man approached the row of cars closest to the main entrance from the garage area. He saw the back end of a familiar 'neon red' Pontiac Sunfire and re-read the black bumper sticker applied near the right tail light for the hundredth time. The message on the sticker was: 'How to impress a man: #1 arrive naked #2 bring beer' He was about to smile at it for the hundredth time, but then the front of car became apparent. There was heavy damage here. The red haired girl had hit something hard. It was amazing that the hood was still attached to the car. Steam was still gently rising from the front edge of the engine compartment. This indicated that the radiator or some other part of the engine cooling system was damaged. A glance at the ground confirmed this with a look at the puddle underneath the front end. He let himself into the main entrance door with a big brass key. The door to the man's unit was only fifteen feet away. His hands were juggling to switch keys for this last door when a sound was heard. Instinctively, he stopped all motion and listened. The sound came to his ears again from around the corner. They were sobbing noises. Quietly, he crept to the corner and peeked from the edge of it. The red haired girl was 20 feet away and sitting on the floor with her back against her door with her legs stretched out in front of her. The man approached slowly and silently. As he arrived at her feet, he noticed a yellow piece of paper taped to the door over her head. It was from her landlord. It announced that the lock has been changed and all of her personal belongings have been removed to be auctioned for back rent. The red haired girl looked up at her visitor with mascara running down her face and asked harshly, "What do you want?". "I heard a beautiful woman crying", he answered. "Go away!!", she exclaimed. "I won't go away without you. I'm here to help you", the man replied. He then offered his hand to help her stand. She looked at him suspiciously for a moment and then took his hand. After she stood, he said, "My name is Anthony. What is yours?" "Rain", she returned. "Is that your real name?", Anthony asked quietly. "Yes", she answered, "My Dad named me and said that I was the dark cloud in his life. My Mom past away during child birth". Anthony didn't let go of her hand as he said, "Come with me". They made their way back around the corner to the door of his unit. The man unlocked it and ushered her inside. After pointing to the couch, he stated, "You're safe here. Have a seat". The man pulled out his cell phone and called a nearby auto body shop that he had experience with. He looked out of his window at the damaged Sunfire as he explained his call. Anthony gave a description of the car, the license plate number, the address and requested that the car be towed to the body shop's location. He told them that he wanted a detailed estimate before they did any work on it. Rain stood from the couch and grabbed Anthony's arm that held the cell phone. "Please don't", She interrupted, "My insurance was canceled for non-payment. I lost my job. I don't have any money". "It is okay. I've got this", he answered,"For now, I just want to find out if your car can be repaired for less than its value. You're not going to get your life straightened out if you don't have a reliable vehicle". She let go of his arm. Anthony finished the call by reading credit card information for the towing charges. He put his phone away and offered his hand to the young woman again. She hesitated a little less this time when she took it. Anthony led her gently to the bathroom. He stopped in front of the vanity, stepped away from it and motioned her to stand in front of him. The vanity had a large oval shaped mirror mounted on the wall above it. Anthony had his hands on the young woman's shoulders as he looked over one of them to match her image in the mirror. The mascara tracks down her cheeks and her lower jaw were striking. "The blue towel on the bar is fresh and clean. There are two choices of liquid soap in front you. Clean your face up. We're going out for a meal and shopping", He said as he left her to her privacy. Rain emerged from the bathroom in a short time. She looked refreshed and even grinned for a moment. "When is the last time that you ate?", Anthony asked her. "Lunch time..........yesterday", she responded. "We'll definitely be taking care of that first then", the man answered. They had a sumptuous lunch at a local independent restaurant that had a good reputation. Rain giggled at one of Anthony's jokes. Then it was off to shopping. The young woman resisted at first when they arrived at one of three clothing stores. She said that she didn't want to feel like a charity case. Anthony countered with, "You can't wear the same clothes day after day. I want you to pick out two weeks worth of clothes. Make it a variety. Some should be casual, some for job interviews, some to sleep in, etc. If you choose not to participate, I'll pick your clothes for you. You would definitely be disappointed in that. I'm not very trendy and I'm terrible at judging sizes". There was a long silence in the car before Rain said, "Okay", with watery eyes. Like most males, Anthony thought that woman's clothes shopping was something to be endured rather than enjoyed. He looked at his watch while sitting in a chair opposite of the woman's dressing room of the third store. Rain slid open the curtain of her cubicle and emerged wearing a bright red sleeveless night shirt. There were gold letters on her upper chest that spelled out 'I feel a sin coming on'. When it was confirmed that she had his attention, the young woman reached down and pulled up the hem of the shirt far enough to expose her trimmed brown girl fur and some engorged outer pussy lips. "I like that night shirt. It's a keeper", Anthony said as he sat up straighter to make more room in the front of his pants. The last stop was the grocery store. Their shopping cart was already half full when they arrived at the 'Heath & Beauty Aids' aisle. "Get yourself a toothbrush, a hair brush, cosmetics, etc", He said. She didn't resist this time and gathered them methodically. But, when she reached for a box of red hair dye, he stopped her. "From what you showed me a few minutes ago, you were born a brunette. Embrace it. All of the different hues of brown are just as beautiful as any of these other colors. Pick out a box that matches this", he instructed as he tickled her pubic area through her clothing. "That would make me happy", Anthony finished. It took a few moments for her to decide, but she eventually chose a box and tossed it into the cart and looked to him for a sign of approval. He smiled back as he said, "Let's go home". Anthony pulled into the parking space where the Sunfire used to be. They made multiple trips to lug in all of their purchases starting with the perishable food. It was a 98 degree day. He had central air conditioning and it was set to a low temperature, but was struggling to keep up with the extreme heat outside. Just before their last trip to his car, it started down-pouring from the sky. Anthony stalled at re-opening the trunk until they were well soaked, but cooled off. The young woman looked confused. "Rain can be a good thing", he started, "Doesn't it feel better versus the humid heat?" She smiled and understood what he meant. They both knew that her father had been mean to her. When they had everything put away, it was time to change into dry clothes. He chose a light weight pair of cotton shorts. She picked her new red night shirt and changed in the bathroom with the door closed. Rain opened the bathroom door and asked, "What should I do with my wet clothes?" Anthony pointed to the narrow bi-fold door next to her, "Open that. You'll see a stack of laundry machines. The one on the bottom is washer. Put them in there. We'll run it tomorrow". Later, they worked together to make a light dinner and sat on the couch for some evening TV after cleaning up. It was then that she realized they were in a studio apartment (no bedroom). "Where am I going to sleep?", she asked meekly. "You're sitting on it. It is a 'Lazy-Boy' queen sized sleep sofa. The mattress is memory foam, so it's more comfy than most 'pull outs' are". "We're going to share a bed?", she queried. "We'll be sharing a mattress. It is all that we have. Beyond that, I'm making no assumptions", he replied. When it got to late evening, Anthony opened the bed and switched the TV to a channel that played soft music with a mostly black screen. He laid on his side so that his back was to her. With eyes opened wide, his mind raced with the thoughts of what he had involved himself in. A red garment sailed by and landed on the floor next to his side of the bed. She pressed her bare breasts into Anthony's back just below his shoulder blades. Bare breasts that he hasn't seen yet. She nestled her nose and mouth against the back of his neck and whispered, "Thank you for today". He reached back and pulled her nude hips closer to his so that she was spooning him as tightly as possible. Anthony was pleased. Rain trusted him unconditionally. 'What could possibly define 'love' better than that?', he thought.