The New Home - Allen Meets Ellie

"Is this one of the places?" Allen asked Emil. They had come to a stop in front of an old mansion that immediately intrigued Allen. It was a very large house with a circular column extending from the ground to the top on the right of the side they were facing. "Is that what they used to call a '˜turret'?"

Emil nodded. "It's one of the places I wanted you to see and, yes, that's what's called a turret. Interesting, isn't it? Up on this hill, the house has a great view of the city and of the river, especially in those rooms."

"I'll bet it does. Let's take a look," he said, closing the car door.

"This place is owned by the daughter of an old friend. He's dead now but I keep in touch with her, make sure she's okay. She's always okay and probably doesn't need an old fart like me hanging around. Her father made a great deal of money but he spent most of it on places like this. I'm kind of hoping that she can get some tenants that'll stay around for a while. Mostly, she just gets students and they're hard on rooms. Maybe she'll get lucky and you'll like what you see," he smiled at Allen as they walked up the steps to the porch. Emil rang the bell.

"Uncle Emil! How are you?" a very pretty woman answered the door. "What brings you here?" she asked him, glancing at Allen.

"I'm good, Ellie. This is Allen Kessler and I'm helping him look for a place to live. You do have apartments available, don't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know I do!" Stepping forward, she extended her hand. "I'm Ellie Watson. It's nice to meet you, Allen. What are you looking for, exactly?" she asked him. Allen was suddenly tongue-tied. The woman standing in front of him was quite attractive with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was a perfectly formed oval with brown eyebrows, a small nose that was rounded slightly on the end. Ellie's lips were full but the mouth was small with smile lines on either side of the mouth asking Allen what he wanted in an apartment. She was tall and slender; the jeans she wore seemed to go on forever from her waist to the running shoes on her feet. Above the small waist, she was covered by a University of Iowa tee-shirt that told any interested party that Ellie Watson was very female, stretching across her chest in a most complimentary manner. Allen swallowed hard. He took her hand and smiled at the lovely face.

"I'm Allen," and he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I know and it's very nice that you want to look at an apartment. Let's not stand out here. It's cold. Come on inside." Allen nodded slowly, still feeling her hand's tactile impression against his own. They stepped into a foyer which had an open doorway on one side and a wooden stair case leading upward on the other. She motioned toward the open doorway and Allen followed Emil through it. "Can I get you anything to drink, Pepsi, coffee, beer?"

"I'll take you up on the coffee," Emil told her. Allen cleared his head of the sudden infatuation he'd just experienced and told her that a Pepsi would be very nice. As she turned to go a different direction, his eyes followed the lovely form of her legs and butt. He swallowed hard, again. Emil noticed and grinned.

"She's very good-looking even to a guy that's never been in jail but I can't imagine what you're going through. She's single, too. I'll leave the rest to your imagination," he laughed quietly.

"She really is," Allen murmured, "She really is."

He stood in the middle of the turret and gazed out toward the Illinois side of the Mississippi; he could see forever. "I want to thank you, Emil. It's been a very long time since anyone has taken an interest in me," he said, turning to face his employer. "I like the view this place has. Last night I sat here for hours just taking in everything. Prison didn't -- let's just say there isn't much to look at."

"Everyone deserves a second chance. I don't know what all happened in your past but I know you were young and, God knows, prison will make you grow up. So how did you sleep? That mattress is old but I suspect that it was probably better than what you were used to sleeping on." Allen nodded.

"I didn't sleep very well. Even at night there's noise in the prison. They tell you to shut up but there's always conversation going on somewhere, noise from machinery in the shops. The shops run 24 hours a day so the noise is strangely comforting. It was so quiet that I heard every creak in the place. I think it'll change when I get used to it."

"You'll adjust. I'm going to have some guys that work at the warehouse, bring the rest of the stuff you picked out. They're down at the warehouse, now, so we'll get you set up to entertain." Emil Krol looked at him, smile on his face. "You'll entertain and I hope that it's a pretty young woman I know. Did she affect your sleep?"

"Not really. I thought about her but I just tried to get used to the quiet and the fact that I'm a free man. I was still pretty wired when I did turn in. It's strange not to be told to hit the rack that the lights were going out. I remember freedom and it's nice but I'll have to get used to it, again."

"You will. It's Saturday so enjoy your time. I do want you to be at work on Monday a little early and ready to go. There's a lot going on since its tax season but we really do mostly corporate filings and that's never over but we do some personal stuff. I have things that I need to explain before I head out. I have some clients I need to see. I'll give you some work to do so you can get acquainted with what you're here for. I don't think that you'll be bored. That's the worst, not having anything to do and being bored. What did you do in the Fort?"

"I lifted weights a lot but since you have to keep your eyes open all the time, you aren't really ever bored. Speaking of lifting, is there a place around that I can go to work out? I don't want to get out of the habit in case I have to go back in for whatever reason," he looked at Emil. "Not that I'm planning to go back but it takes a lot of time to get respect in the Fort. Muscle is a good way to get respect. Everyone lifts so you have to be stronger." Allen quit talking.

"I understand." He looked at his watch. "Nearly 9:30; the guys will be here around 10. You do what you want, enjoy yourself. I'm going to have you over to the house sometime next week so we can talk and you can get to know Gretchen. I'll see you, Monday, Allen," and he left the apartment.

Allen frowned. He wanted to go lift weights but Emil hadn't told him of any places that were close; then he smiled. "I've got a phone book. I can look up places." Freedom was a wonderful thing. As he was enjoying the moment, there was a knock on his door. He smiled. Allen was thirty years old and he had never had his own apartment or a guest before, other than Emil who didn't count, and even though he had experienced hard times with few exhilarating moments, this was exciting. Opening it, he found himself staring at Ellie Watson. "Hello," he said, very surprised.

"I wanted to see how you were this morning, how the apartment was working out for you," Ellie smiled. "I try to welcome my tenants, make them feel at home. How was your night?"

"My night was good but I did have trouble getting to sleep," he stopped. He had started to tell her that it was much quieter than prison but decided she didn't need to know he'd just been released. He ad-libbed, "but that was just because it's a new place. I like it here, though." She was looking directly at him and Allen found himself uneasy. He suddenly felt like he had nearly 17 years before when he'd gotten his first kiss from Julie Erickson, not knowing what to do or say; then his long lost courtesy returned. Smiling, he asked her if she'd like to come in and was very happy when she accepted.

"This is the nicest apartment I have other than my own. Curtain rods aren't easy to find for the turret but I have some extras if you need." She stopped, looking directly at him, again. "Allen, Emil told me your circumstances. Now, don't get angry with him for telling me but he felt it was only fair, that he wanted me to decide if I would take a tenant that, well, if I was concerned about you having been in prison. If I was, he was going to look at some other places but I'm not too worried." She was smiling nicely at him. "I'd like to think that we can help each other out; I need tenants and you need a place to stay so if we get along then this will be great. If we don't then we can co-exist, peacefully I hope."

He'd been stabbed and beaten in prison, had experienced the fear of nearly being raped yet he had never felt the nervousness and internal tension that now had him very unsure of himself with this lovely creature before him. He smiled back at her, unable to speak. He was a big man but it was of no help to him struggling to find his tongue and his manners with Ellie Watson who might be 5'9 or so but slender; not a heavyweight by any means. Finally, he put coherent thoughts together. "I'd offer you something to drink but I don't have anything. Emil told you about me?" She nodded. "You're not afraid of me?"

She shook her head and quietly told him, "I don't think I have anything to fear from you. If I did, you wouldn't have gotten the place and I wouldn't have come in here. I wanted to come up and see how things were for you and to tell you that I'd be happy to drive you around to places if you need anything. I liked you the moment I saw you and decided that I would help you out for as long as you needed, until you got a car or decided that I'd been enough of a pest. Emil's a good man and if he trusts you, I'll trust you. He's almost like my second father so I think that I'll help him help you."

It sounded like a speech but Allen knew it wasn't. "I just think that everyone needs help from time to time and since Emil brought you here to both help you and to help me, I can help you, too. It's early but when it gets to be about lunch, I'd like to invite you down to my apartment to eat. You don't have much money and I have a lot of food. Sound like a deal?" Allen nodded his head, unable to take his eyes from Ellie. She was gorgeous and very nice. She patted his arm and walked to the door. "I'll be eating at noon so come on down about 11:30 and we can talk while I fix something." Smiling, Ellie left the apartment.

He paced the apartment floor as he had paced his cell when upset or agitated or confused. He was now confused. In prison, he'd been confident of himself, knew what to do in situations and how to act. Intellectually, Allen had been superior to most of his fellow inmates. He was very strong and not easily intimidated, physically. He didn't know how to act with the pretty woman that had just left the apartment. She was pretty and Allen was intimidated by her physical presence. Allen stopped pacing and headed to the bathroom. He was dressed in prison issued jeans and shirt. His shoes were also prison issued and he was suddenly aware that he looked like someone that had just been released. Twenty four hours earlier, Allen hadn't cared about his appearance or how he acted toward other people. Ellie was not something he'd been prepared for and was dominating his thoughts, making him antsy and unsure of himself. He stared into the mirror, examining his face and running his hand over it, checking to see if he needed to shave.

Allen wanted to be presentable to the woman that had taken him off guard, creating the panic in which he was now immersed. A slow smile crossed his face and that surprised him. Allen did not smile often but the smile etching itself onto his face was one of recollection. During the thirteen years as a prisoner, he had been attacked and stabbed, had attacked and stabbed fellow inmates but never had he dealt with anyone Ellie's size without absolute certainty; Ellie was female and he wasn't sure of what to do. The smile was also one of absolute consternation. Allen straightened up and decided that he would react calmly to any situation that presented itself, would not have a plan in place because he had nothing to fear. He hoped he didn't have anything to fear.