Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Eleven Part 3

   *** Please send feedback to jadeeb94 (at) gmail.com *** *** Everything
in my stories is 100% fiction!  Children are precious - It's fine to
fantasize, but NEVER actualize!!  ***

   It began on a late summer day.  It was August, and soon the pool would
be closing and the kids go back to school.  I had been thinking of going
over there, but there had been a thunderstorm a little earlier, and I had a
backlog of work, so I was buckling down to it in my office at home.  After
a while, I got to staring out the window at the beautiful, cloud-puffed
sky, and I couldn't stay at my desk a moment longer.  So I took some of my
files and sat out on the porch, where the afternoon sun was angling in, and
I read on the swing chair.

   I had been sitting there a while when I heard a loud barking, and before
I knew it a huge dog had run through the open gate and into my back yard,
where he was chasing a squirrel.

   "Bono.  Bono, come back!" A girl's voice called after it, and there,
standing at my gate, was Karen.  She was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans,
her brown legs graceful and smooth in a pair of black plastic beach
sandals. On top she wore a faded white tee-shirt, with "JEALOUS" splashed
over an angry-looking woman's face.  I had no idea what it meant, but
honestly the whole outfit looked like it came from the overstock counter at
WalMart.

   "Sorry," she said, "He gets excited by squirrels.  And he's gotten so
big that I can't hardly hold on to him any more."

   "It's fine," I said, and indeed, Bono was trotting back looking pleased
with himself.

   I knew that an opportunity like this would never come again.  Swallowing
dryly, I said "You're Steve and Jennie's neighbor, aren't you?  I saw you
the other day when I was having a drink with them."

   She looked at me blankly.  I guess she had never noticed me before,
although she had been filling my dreams for weeks now.

   I was drinking a cold coke, and I gestured at my beaded glass.  "Want a
drink?  It's a hot day for a walk." I smiled at her, as naturally as I was
able to manage.  This was not something I had experience with!

   She hesitated for a minute.  If she had any sense she'd say no and move
on!  But she took another look at my coke, and nodded.  "Okay, sure."

   Five minutes later she was sitting on the swing chair next to me,
drinking a cold Coke, and telling me about Bono.  "His real name's Bruno,
but he loves to chew on bones, so we got to calling him Bono.  He's really
smart.  I've been training him to do tricks."

   "Want to show me one?"

   "Okay.  Bono.  Shake hands!"

   Bono looked at her, licking his chops.  I guess he wasn't quite getting
the message.

   "Shake hands, Bono!" And she held out her hand, which Bono obligingly
lifted his paw to touch.

   "So what do you want to do when you grow up, Karen?" Awkward question, I
know, but I hadn't been around young girls much.

   She didn't hesitate.  "I want to be a model.  Actually I've been saving
up and this Fall I'm going to start at John Robert Powers.  It's a modeling
school, you know.  Most of their students get successful modeling contracts
- they actually guarantee it, you get a refund if you don't make back your
fees."

   "Oh, that's awesome.  I bet you'll be great."

   We sat and rocked for a bit, then, as though I'd just been struck with
the idea, I said "You know, Karen, I'm actually a photographer myself, and
I do model shoots sometimes.  You ought to come over for a session some
time.  It's be good practice, and if we get some good shots I'll submit
them for you.  I don't need any money from it - if they sell, the money's
yours."

   Karen looked at me for a while, thinking about what I'd said.  It was as
though she was actually seeing me for the first time.  She had a little
band of sweat on her upper lip, and her tongue was slightly black from the
Cola.  Her beautiful jet-black hair hung straight down either side of her
face.  I thought I saw the gleam of a ssmile playing around her mouth.

   "Sure," she said at last.  "I'd do it for twenty an hour."

   "Wait, you want me to pay you for doing you a favor?" I laughed.

   "Well, modeling's a business, you know.  I got to get something for my
time."

   I laughed again.  "Okay," I said, "deal.  It'll be my contribution to
our classes.  Come over any afternoon."