I woke up around quarter to nine and took a hot shower. After throwing on some casual wear, I went over to the Coffee Shop that was connected to the motel. Similar to every other unremarkable diner in countless cities across the country, I was really only looking for “industrial strength” coffee rather than a big gourmet breakfast; I still felt bloated and wasn’t interested in a big meal. The place was busier than I expected and with the counter being full, the waitress led me to the last booth even as a line began to form just inside the door. “Coffee, oatmeal, and a fruit bowl” I told the waitress in response to her quip, “What will it be sir?” To my delight, she brought a full carafe of steaming coffee and then quickly brought the rest of the order; no wonder this place was busy: the service was great.

I began to sip my coffee and recalled the surreal sounds and conversations that I had eavesdropped on last night when two women came through the door and got in line to be seated; they were told that there was a 20 minute wait. The older woman was in her late 50s or early sixties and the younger one looked to be late 20s or early 30’s. The old girl remarked to no one in particular, “Crap; a 20 minute wait in a greasy spoon!” The younger one turned to her and said “Try to be patient Aunt Meg, this won’t take that long”. The old girl just scowled.

I immediately realized that these were my “roommates” from last night and on a lark I got up and strolled over to them and said “Ladies I see that you may have some wait time ahead of you. Would you care to share my booth?” Old Meg’s eyes lit up and she said “well that is very kind of you, are you sure?” I said “Please join me; no sense letting the booth go to waste.” I looked at her niece with a smile and said “would you like the inside or the outside” as I gestured at the booth, conscious that old Meg was big enough that she would dominate one side. “My name is Jim Hunter” I said, and added “What’s yours?”“Anise Rollins”, she demurred, adding “I’d like the window seat”, meaning the inside and as I beckoned, she began to slide into the booth.

Although I had been stealthily checking Anise out, I was careful not to stare, but as old Meg struggled to get her girth into the other side of the booth I got a good eyeful of Anise. She was about 5’-7” or so and definitely plump, although certainly not obese like old Meg. Anise was not unattractive, but certainly not striking; there was almost no symmetry to any of her features. Her mouth was too wide for her face, her shoulder length hair was a natural auburn that needed some style and some body and she had a good many small freckles on her face, neck, and her bare arms. She was more pear-shaped than I ever remember seeing any woman in my life and by far her most prominent physical feature was her butt, certainly over 40 inches. Her personality was shy but she had a wide disarming smile that displayed perfect dazzlingly white teeth and even her eyes sparkled. I sucked in a breath as she began to slide into the booth because the sight of those big twin cheeks working against and off one another in a loose fitting pair of thin black pants made my heart pound a bit…’what a magnificent ass’, I thought!

Anise looked back at me as she got settled, even as old Meg was still trying to get herself situated, and she patted the seat next her and gave me another wide demurred smile, lowered her eyes for a second and then looked up at me with her mouth parted and with a slight grin she said “Thank you for inviting me…I mean us.” I gave her a genuine smile and said, “I needed some company anyway, here’s a couple of menus. Get what you want, I’m buying you ladies breakfast” Old Meg’s head shot up as she finally got herself together and said “Well thank you Mr. Hunter, but can you really afford it?” She had a passive-aggressive posture and tone that grated on my sense of what social decorum should be. I thought ‘you nasty old bitch, you don’t even know me and already you’re condescending’, but instead I said, “You know ma’am, I’ve been fortunate. I have worked hard both before I went to college and after I graduated. I also happened to be in the right place a couple of times and I was in a position to capitalize on some stock options that I cashed out and invested in Real Estate. I’m… shall we say, very comfortable and it would be my pleasure this morning to treat you both as my guests”.

The slovenly old bat looked at me with a frown and said accusingly, “Then you must have lost everything in this recession, Real Estate is almost worthless these days!” I glanced at Anise who had a shell-shocked look on her face as she cocked her head questioningly at her Aunt and then I said to both of them “I own all my properties free and clear, so I can’t lose any money on anything that I own, unless I actually sell something at a loss. The rental market is pretty strong right now, as I think it will be for the foreseeable future, so I am currently in the process of developing some apartment buildings.” Anise looked at me with an aura of awe and asked if I was married; she had a smile that was less of the demure that she displayed earlier and looked more hopeful. I told her that I had not married and that I was still looking for the right girl. I don’t really know if I really was looking for any gal in particular but I still enjoyed meeting women. Not that I thought this was going anywhere, but I had nothing ventured so I had little to lose at this point.

I took the initiative to change what passed for conversation so far to a more positive direction. I looked at Anise and said “what do you like to do for fun Anise?” “You can call me Ann, Jim. I live with Aunt Meg on her place near Red Bluff. I help out with the livestock and I help her with keeping house and other chores. I…don’t know, Jim, If I actually have ‘fun’ like I was a kid or something but I usually watch TV.” I said “I know the Red Bluff area and there is a lot to do around there”. Ann looked at me as though she was searching for something that she couldn’t define and said “Well sometimes I go for a walk and just think to myself. I like those times”.

Old Meg piped up and said “She don’t have a driver’s license. I can’t drive her around every time she gets a notion to go somewhere. One’st her old man died and left her nothin’, she’s been a work’en fer me for her room and board ever since.” “How long has that been Ann?” I asked. She had a blank look on her face and was staring at Meg, so Meg spoke, “Her mom was my sister and killed when she drove off drunk into the river when Anise was 8 and her Dad died when she was a freshman in high school. She dropped out of school right after her dad died and came to live with me. I don’t mind telling you she was a real handful, me being a widower and all.” Meg was shoveling a stack of hotcakes into her mouth and half chewed as she talked with her mouth full. I thought ‘What a piece of work!’

I said “What brings you to Sacramento?” Looking at Ann, who looked back at me and said “My Aunt has severe type 2 diabetes and we’re down here to see a specialist, she’s not supposed to eat so much syrup and hotcakes because it just makes her worse.” Old Meg grunted and tried to wriggle herself out of the booth at the same time she growled at the waitress going by, “Where’s the women restroom?” After getting directions, the old girl grunted as she struggled to haul her bulk erect and waddled off.

Ann confided, “I don’t understand why she won’t do what her doctor tells her; He says she won’t live out another year unless she changes her life style and loses a bunch of weight.” There was obvious worry in her voice. Then she looked at me with anticipation and said, “So what do you like to do for fun, Jim?” To which I replied “Ann, I work hard and I play hard! Life is an E-ticket ride for me. In the winter I ski when I can get away during the week, so I don’t have to put up with crowds on the weekends. In the spring, when the winds are really blowing, I sail. I also travel quite a bit. I enjoy scuba diving and many of my destinations are some of the world’s best dive spots.” She looked at me with the kind of admiration that most men find they can’t resist and said, “Wow that sounds exciting, Jim. What’s an E-Ticket ride?” I said “before they went to all day passes, Disneyland used to issue ticket books for the rides. The best ones were the E-tickets”.