Chapter Two: Caught Between A Fence and A Leaf Pile

“You know, Bannon,” Landen called from the yard, “you could come out and help me.” He had been raking leaves all morning while I sat, curled on one of our flower cushioned white wicker rocking chairs, drinking from the coffee laden oversized mug cupped between my two hands and watching him.

“I know,” I replied, right before taking another sip. “But then I wouldn’t get to watch you work. Besides, I’m in my pajamas still.”

“It’s almost eleven,” Landen said as he took the shirt he had tucked in the waistband of his jeans and wiped his forehead.

“What’s your point?” I asked as I bite my left thumb’s fingernail. “I had a rough week.”


“You certainly had no problem waking up with me this morning.” Landen replied as he returned to raking up the maple and apple tree leaves that covered the grass he had cut the previous weekend.

“You rustle a lot when you get up, I can’t help that.” I pushed back my cuticles. “We need one of those beds that don’t spill wine when you bounce on them.” I watched Landen’s deltoids flex and relax as he raked the right side of the lawn to the left. As he was passing the porch, he slipped the rake under the leaves and flicked them up to where And The Sun Shone Down That Morning and I were sitting. Shoned, the more familiar name for our basenji, yodeled playfully and leapt off the porch and ran around Landen’s legs. As a note, we are aware of the improper grammarness of her name, but with her full name being And The Sun Shone Down That Morning, we didn’t see anything wrong with the name Shoned. Besides, there’s a certain level of humor to the name “Shoned”.

“See, that’s what you get,” I laughed, “attack of the killer Shoned. And now you have to sweep up the porch, too.”

Landen shot me a glance. He looked at Shoned and looked at me again. He had a smirk on his face. Shoned ran up the porch and barked as best she could and danced around my feet. The second I looked down at her, Landen threw a pile of leaves onto the porch as Shoned continued to yodel and chirp. Looking up at Landen, I brushed the leaves out of my hair and off my clothing. Shoned continue to prance around my feet.

“Now my clothes are all dirty,” I whined, looking at Landen, pouting.

“Oh, is my baby all dirty?” Landen replied in his “Mother-Talking-To-Her-Three-Year-Old” voice.

“No,” I said, still brushing the leaves off my clothes. “My clothes, and your mind, are dirty. Shoned. Maul.” I pointed at Landen. Shoned looked at my arm, tilted her head, and turned and looked at Landen. She leapt off the porch with a happy yodel and chased after Landen as he ran around the yard. I walked off the porch, finally getting the leaves off my clothing, and out of my hair. I picked up the rake that Landen had dropped on the ground when Shoned came after him. Dipping it in the pile that Landen had spent such time making, I repaid Landen with a shower of leaves when he ran by with Shoned nipping at his heels. The leaves and dirt stuck, as anticipated, to his sweaty chest and face. Landen grabbed the handle of the rake, using it to pull me to him. I stumbled slightly, partly because of the force of the movement and partly because Shoned darted under my legs in the process. Landen tossed the rake into the pile of leaves, which seemed counterproductive, though given the recent throwing of leaves, a rake in the mix hardly seems to be a major problem. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed me against him.

“Your sweaty,” I said as the sweat and dirt mingled between his body and my shirt. “And dirty.”

He leaned forward and kissed me. And of course I kissed him back. Shoned tilted her head at both of us and cooed quietly.

You know that feeling you get when someone is watching you? Even with your eyes closed, you can still feel it. Trust me. We opened our eyes at the same time, stopped kissing and turned our heads to the right, well, my right, his left. Sure enough, there were three people standing there watching us from the sidewalk. We separated. Two of them, who I would guess were a couple given their blah, almost matching clothes, nervously averted their eyes. The second woman, third person, who carried a brown, leather attaché case, and was wearing a smart, if boring, navy suit, skirt combo, didn’t seem phased by the public display of affection. I’ve yet to really understand how clothing can be considered “smart,” but I really have no other word to describe it, so smart it is. And technically, it wasn’t public, given the fact that we are on our own property and they were the ones lurping around.

“Hi,” the businesswoman broke the ice. “My name’s Nancy Walker.”

Landen wiped his hand on his shirt and shook her hand over the fence. “Yeah, I recognize you from the realtor sign. I’m Landen Brinks, this is my boyfriend Bannon Chase.” I half waved and bit the right side of my lip.

“These are the Keatings, Barbara and Thomas.” She waved at the couple, the woman first and then the man, to emphasize which was Barbara, and which was Thomas in case we needed it.

“You’re Irish? Or your name is, I guess that doesn’t mean you are.” Uncomfortable pause. “Bannon and I met in Ireland.” He reached his hand out. The couple crept forward and quickly shook it. Landen snapped his left hand and I sidled forward and shook their hands.

“It’s not contagious,” I mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Thomas replied, confused.

“Nothing,” Landen said, glare-smiling at me. “House hunting?”

“They’re interested in 1630.”

“That’s a nice house,” Landen continued. “Lots of room. Do you have kids?”

“Not yet,” Barbara responded.

“Still practicing?” Landen winked. I stifled a chuckle, and a bit of a gag at the thought of that activity.

“Um, well, um,” Barbara began, blushing. Thomas continued looking at the ground.

“Sorry,” Landen quickly said. “Not really my business. Forget I asked. Just trying to be funny.”

“You’re rambling,” I whispered to him.

“That dog is the cutest thing ever,” Nancy exclaimed, emphasizing the word ever, leaning over the fence. Shoned tilted her head and raised what would have been her eyebrows if dogs had eyebrows. “What is he?”

“She’s a basenji,” I replied.

“She’s adorable, what’s her name?”

“And The Sun Shone Down That Morning,” I replied.

Nancy, Barbara and Thomas looked at us.

“It’s her AKC name,” Landen explained.

“And you say that every time you call her?” Thomas asked.

“No, of course not. We call her Shoned.” I nodded agreement with Landen.

“You do know that Shoned…” Barbara knowingly began.

“Yes, we do,” I responded. “But we like it. It’s funny.”

“Why is improper grammar funny?” Barbara asked.

“I don’t know,” I retorted. “Why are most sitcoms considered funny? Personal preference.”

“Easy, honey,” Landen whispered.

“Well,” Nancy spoke up in possibly the chirperest, make my head want to explode voice I’d ever heard. “I just wanted to introduce them the some of the potential new neighbors and since you two were out here, I thought it’d be nice if you got to talk for a bit.”

I smiled and raised my eyebrows.

“It was lovely to met you both, well, all three of you,” Landen said reaching his hand back over the fence to get in a second shaking. “Hopefully we’ll get to see you around soon.”

“Yes,” Thomas said. “Hopefully.” I noticed that he was much quicker with the handshakes this time. I leaned forward and shook hands with both Barbara and Thomas.

“Sorry,” Nancy mouthed as she shook my hand. I smiled and raised my eyebrows again.

“Good luck, with the whole house buying thing,” Landen called after them as they walked down to 1630. He turned and looked at me. I could tell that within his mouth he was twirling his tongue over his teeth. “They seemed nice.”

“We need a taller fence.”