Dexter waited for Samantha to turn her back to him. She was busy talking to a woman who was working out on the StairMaster. He moved the rowing machine four inches closer to the center of the room.
"I saw that!" Samantha shouted.
She spun around and pointed a finger at him.
"What?" Dexter asked trying to look innocent.
"You moved that rowing machine," Samantha said.
"I did?" Dexter asked wide-eyed.
"Don't play 'innocent little boy' with me. I watched you move that machine in the mirror," Samantha said.
The woman on the StairMaster giggled.
"Damn, busted."
Samantha said, "It's been driving me crazy. Every other day, that stupid rowing machine has been moving across the room. At first I thought there was something wrong with it to make it move like that. Then I realized someone was moving it."
"Occam's razor," Dexter said. At her puzzled expression he said, "The least complicated explanation is usually the best explanation."
"Yesterday I sat down, and came up with a list of suspects."
Dexter asked, "How many names were on the list?"
"One," Samantha said.
The woman on the StairMaster had to stop exercising, because she was laughing too hard to stand upright.
"You could have put at least one other name on it, just to make me feel better," Dexter said.
Samantha laughed at the pitiful expression on his face.
"You're the eccentric uncle I never had."
"Is that a compliment?" Dexter asked.
"Yes," Samantha said.
"That's good," Dexter said.
He sat down on the rowing machine and started rowing.
Fidgeting nervously, Samantha said, "I've got a date, tonight."
"Who's the lucky guy?" Dexter asked.
"Calvin," Samantha answered.
"That's nice," Dexter said.
Samantha said, "Amber doesn't like him. She thinks I should take a chaperone with me."
"Really? That's not good. She's really people smart," Dexter said.
"She's coming with me on the date," Samantha said.
Dexter said, "That's really nice of Amber. There's nothing worse than being the third wheel."
"She needs a date," Samantha said looking at Dexter.
"She's an attractive young woman. She'll have no problem getting a date," Dexter said.
"She doesn't want a date, date ... she wants a date," Samantha said with an odd emphasis on the last word. It was almost like it was in quotes.
"Huh?" Dexter asked.
Samantha looked over at the woman on the StairMaster. She said, "Dexter is in the process of getting divorced from his wife. He hasn't been on a date in twenty years."
"That explains it," the woman said.
Dexter said, "Oh. You want to know if I'll be her date, right?"
"Yes," Samantha said.
"It's not a real date, is it? I'm not divorced yet, you know," Dexter said.
It was strange, but Dexter didn't feel comfortable going out on a date until his divorce was final. He didn't have any problems with guilt concerning his visits with prostitutes in Nevada, but that was just sex. A date kind of promised more.
"No, it's not a 'real' date," Samantha said.
"Okay, then I'll go," Dexter said.
Samantha looked relieved and said, "We'll be at your apartment around six to pick you up."
"Okay," Dexter said.
"You don't know how much I appreciate this. It's been so long since I've had date, and then Amber kind of spooked me," Samantha said.
The woman on the StairMaster asked, "When was the last time you were on a date, Sam?"
"A year and a half ago," Samantha answered.
"I don't stand a chance," the woman said.
"The men these days must be crazy. If I was fifteen years younger and twice as handsome, I would fight to have a date with you," Dexter said. He paused in rowing long enough to mimic a fighting posture with his hands. Then he added, "Of course, you'd have to swing by the hospital to get me after the other guy finished beating me up."
The woman on the StairMaster laughed again.
"It's tough getting a date. The good ones are all married. The bad ones aren't worth dating. The ones in between are working on their careers," Samantha said.
Dexter said, "I do know a little about that. I've had several young men tell me that they can't date because they have no free time. Getting a business call in the middle of a date really kills the chance for romance."
"The last guy I dated got called into work in the middle of our date. Never date a systems administrator. They get a call and they drop everything," the woman said.
"Calvin is a sys-admin," Sam said.
"Are you talking about the Calvin who lives above me?" Dexter asked.
"Yes," Sam said.
Dexter said, "He's a nice guy."
"Hey, Calvin," Dexter said.
"Hi, Dexter."
"Are you looking forward to your date, tonight?" Dexter asked.
Calvin was pacing around in front of the apartment. He was dressed in slacks with a sport coat. He was actually wearing a tie, which surprised Dexter, as he didn't think young men did that anymore. Calvin's black leather shoes were polished to a high shine. He looked pretty sharp. He also looked pretty nervous.
Calvin said, "I don't know. It's a double date."
"I know," Dexter said.
"How do you know?" Calvin asked.
"Amber and I are going with you," Dexter said.
"She hates me," Calvin said.
"Don't worry about it," Dexter said. "You're a nice guy."
Mary, walking from the parking lot, greeted the pair of men, saying, "Hello."
"Hello, Mary," Calvin said.
"Hi," Dexter said, increasing his distance from her. He was ready to run if her hand went anywhere near her purse.
Mary said, "I'm not going to mace you."
"That's nice to know," Dexter said.
"I've been getting some help with my problem," Mary said.
"That's good," Dexter said. Charlie had already told him that.
"That's great," Calvin said.
"I want to thank you for dropping the assault charges," Mary said.
Dexter shrugged his shoulders. There had been a lot of reasons behind his decision. Learning that she had been gang raped had made him feel like she was a victim in that whole mess as well. He could understand being a little skittish, particularly after having had someone try to kill him.
Charlie had told him that she was getting some treatment so that she wouldn't be so quick on the pepper spray. Charlie said that she often returned to work from her therapy sessions with red eyes from crying and emotionally exhausted. Dexter didn't know if that was a good thing, but it did sound like she was making some progress in dealing with past issues.
Dexter could also imagine the press having a field day with this. He could just imagine how some of the pundits who disliked him would report it. He'd be cast into some sort of sex crazed madman who stalked innocent women trying to get into their apartments. He couldn't imagine going through that.
Another reason that convinced him to drop the charges, was that he just didn't want to bother with going to court. It wasn't that he didn't have the time. He just didn't want to spend all day sitting around a courthouse.
Calvin said, "That was nice of you, Dexter."
"I don't think going to jail would help anyone," Dexter said.
"I'm really sorry," Mary said. "I just didn't have a chance to thoroughly check you out on the sex offenders list, before you surprised me that morning."
"What?" Dexter said.
Mary said, "Well, I ran your name through the system, and it came up blank. Then again, you never know if people are using their right name."
"Why would you suspect someone living here, of being a rapist?" Dexter asked.
"There are two men in this apartment complex that are on the sex offenders list. I make sure that I stay away from them," Mary answered.
"There are two men on the sex offenders list living here?" Dexter asked shocked to learn that little piece of information.
He couldn't believe it. It seemed like a pretty nice apartment complex.
"Yes. One was convicted of sexual assault. That's a polite way of saying rape. The other was a teacher who molested a young girl in one of his classes," Mary said. Her eyes flicked over to two different parts of the apartment complex.
"I had no idea," Calvin said.
"You can't choose your neighbors," Mary said.
Dexter said, "It must be hell living here knowing they are around."
Mary sighed. "I'm trying to save my money so I can move into a gated community with around the clock security."
"I don't blame you," Dexter said.
"I'm going to go into my apartment, now," Mary said.
"Have a nice evening," Dexter said.
"Take it easy," Calvin said.
Once she had entered her apartment, Dexter said, "I thought this was a nice safe place."
"No apartment complex is safe, anymore," Calvin said.
Dexter said, "What do you mean?"
Calvin gestured to their surroundings. "There's over a thousand people living in this complex and we don't know even a handful of them. Every month a couple people move out and new people move in. Some are on their way up and others are on their way down. It is a transient society where everyone is a stranger. You can't investigate everyone ... so, there are people with secrets."
"I didn't think about that," Dexter said.
"Every year someone in this apartment complex gets arrested for drugs or drunk driving. Sometimes someone gets into worse trouble than that. You've got a bunch of single people here who have friends. Those friends stop by for visits. Some of those friends are trouble. There isn't a day when you don't see some strange face walking through here," Calvin said.
Dexter said, "Jesus, how are you supposed to protect yourself?"
Calvin said, "I think you have to get to know as many people around you as possible. They tell you things so that you have a clue as to who is dangerous and who isn't. It gives you a better awareness of your situation. Of course, that takes time ... and free time is a rare commodity these days."
"Yes, it is," Dexter said thoughtfully.
"There are others who go the whole self-defense route. They take all kinds of martial arts instruction, just so that they can protect themselves. I don't think that works, but it does give some of them confidence enough to know more of the people around them. That effectively gives them the same strategy that I use," Calvin said.
"It might give them a false sense of safety," Dexter said.
"Mary thinks that it is better to lock herself away from everyone," Calvin said. "I'm not sure if that is a good strategy."
"It's a lonely strategy," Dexter said.
"We're guys and the chances of someone wanting to rape us are pretty low. This isn't a particularly violent area so we are not likely to get mugged. Women, like Mary, have to be a lot more careful than we do," Calvin said.
"What about the guy that lives next to me? He's almost as bad as Mary in terms of locking himself away," Dexter said.
"I have no idea. He doesn't talk to me either," Calvin said.
Dexter said, "By the way, where are we going, tonight?"
"I was thinking of a little family owned restaurant that I know of. It is kind of expensive and I wanted to talk to the other guy to make sure he could afford it," Calvin said. "I guess that would be you."
"I can afford it," Dexter said.
"Do you like jazz?"
Dexter said, "I don't know. I haven't ever really listened to any."
"There's a jazz club down the street from the restaurant. I was thinking of going there after dinner," Calvin said.
"I guess I can listen to a little jazz," Dexter said.
He had images of a smoke filled room with old men sitting around playing jazz while drinking beers or whiskey on the rocks. Then he realized that with the anti-smoking laws that smoke filled rooms were extinct like the dinosaur. He couldn't decide if something had been lost.
"You won't be sorry," Calvin said.
"How did you get turned on to jazz?"
"My uncle. He really likes jazz. He used to babysit me when I was little. He'd bring over a stack of records and listen to jazz music the whole night. He would tell me stories about the various artists that he's known. He sometimes plays at the club I was talking about," Calvin said.
"Will he be there tonight?" Dexter asked thinking it would be kind of neat to actually meet some of the musicians there.
"I don't think so," Calvin said. "Usually he spends all day Saturday there playing with some of the other amateur jazz musicians in the area. A lot of the time is spent telling stories, but they do play a lot."
"That sounds fun," Dexter said.
He wondered how many other folks had hobbies like that. He didn't remember any of his old coworkers talking about playing a musical instrument. He remembered in high school that a lot of kids played instruments of some kind or another. His school had an orchestra and a marching band. There must have been a hundred or two hundred kids in the marching band. There were even kids who had their own garage bands.
Calvin said, "It is a lot of fun. I played the sax. I used to join them before I started working. Once I got a job, I had to quit because I didn't have much time to practice."
"Are you going to start up again?" Dexter asked.
"That's not a bad idea, now that I've got real work hours again," Calvin said thoughtfully.
Dexter said, "I had my concerns about this evening, but I'm beginning to look forward to it."
"Me, too," Calvin said.
Samantha cocked an eyebrow when the barmaid brought another round of beers for Dexter and Calvin. This had to be their fourth beer each. Amber could see that Samantha was beginning to get upset. The date had really started out well. The dinner had been outstanding and the music at the club was amazing. She was now having visions of trying to wrestle two drunken men into her car.
Dexter and Calvin raised their glasses to each other in a silent toast and took a sip.
"Are you two going to drink beer all night?" Amber asked.
She had expected Calvin to do something like that, but not Dexter. She figured that she knew Dexter pretty well considering she had lived with him for a week. He just seemed like a nice guy. She was really disappointed in him.
"Probably," Calvin answered with a grin. He winked at Dexter.
"It's not like we're going to get drunk," Dexter said.
"The way you two guys are drinking?" Samantha asked.
There was a bit of an edge to her voice.
"It is alcohol free. It has all of the lousy flavor, and none of the stupidity, of a regular beer," Calvin answered.
"Really?" Amber asked.
Dexter said, "Calvin told me about it when we were waiting for you two to show up at the apartment."
"Your wine is alcohol free, too," Calvin said.
"I didn't order alcohol free wine," Samantha said. She had been nursing that glass of wine for at least an hour.
"You didn't have to," Dexter said.
Amber said, "I don't believe you."
Calvin said, "A whole lot of the musicians that come here, have drinking problems. The owner of the place set up a dozen non-drinking tables and brought some non-alcoholic beverages. You know ... fake wines and fake beers. It lets all of the old guys fit in, without making a big deal out of not drinking. I asked the owner to seat us over here so that we could enjoy ourselves, without making fools out of ourselves."
"I've been nursing this wine all evening," Amber said.
"Drink up and order another one," Calvin said.
An albino man dressed in black walked by their table. His long white hair was pulled back in a pony-tail. He had a short well trimmed beard. He glanced over at their table spotting Calvin. He stopped and came over to the table.
Clapping Calvin on the back, the man said, "Hey, Calvin! What are you doing over here in the 'drunk free zone'?"
"I'm on a date with Samantha, here. These are my friends, Dexter and Amber," Calvin said.
"Say no more ... I didn't mean to interrupt your date. I just wondered where your uncle was hiding."
"I imagine he's at home, Edgar. He should be around tomorrow."
"I'll swing by to see him. I always enjoy playing with that old coot," Edgar said.
"I'll let him know that," Calvin said.
"You folks have a nice evening," Edgar said before he walked off.
Samantha looked at Calvin and then over at where Edgar was stopped by another table.
She asked, "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yes," Calvin answered.
Dexter said, "I haven't had this much fun in ages. I'm going to have to try this dating thing again, sometime."
Edited By TeNderLoin