A Pleasant Story

Chapter Twenty-One

Don's Termination




When Nina and Dina came home from Brandi's memorial, Nina looked worriedly toward Don’s house, which was dark.

“I’d better go check on him,” she said. “He was supposed to go to the memorial with me.”

Dina asked, “Are you sure he’s not just being a rat, as usual?”






Nina shook her head. “I don’t think so—he really seemed sad and like he wanted to come when we talked about it. I'm really worried--he's not answering his phone. I'm going over there to make sure he's okay."





Dina watched as Nina left for Don’s, then went upstairs to collapse in her bed.






The house was dark as Nina approached. She knocked on the door and waited. Nothing.







She moved around to the kitchen window and peered in, then screamed “Don!” as she saw his still form on the floor, illuminated by the dim light coming from his computer.







Nina ran back to the front door and bashed against it until it sprang open. She yelled for him as she ran in.







"Don? Don! Are you okay?" she cried.

Don groaned and began to climb to his feet. "Oh, hey Nina. Is it time to go to the memorial?"

Nina grabbed him and hugged him. "No!" she said, "You missed it! What happened?"


"Gosh," he said, "I'm not sure. I was working out really hard and I was really tired. I got up to take a shower and I guess I just passed out. Were you worried?" he asked, winking at her.

"Of course I was worried, you dimwit! I just got back from Brandi's memorial! She was murdered, in case you forgot!" Nina spoke more angrily than she really felt; truly she was very relieved he was fine. And she was still very fond of him.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm all right. Just almost had a heart attack, that's all," she said. She hugged him again. "You big doofus. Don't scare me like that again!"

Don returned her hug, thinking of how much he loved Nina. She was so like him!








Nina looked around at the mess in the apartment and said, “What is going on here? I thought you got a maid.”

Don replied, “I did, but I decided I don’t like male maids. I’ll call them tomorrow to send over a girl.”

Nina snorted. “Or maybe you could act like a grownup and clean up your own messes, eh? You’re unemployed, you know. Might save you a bit of money.”





Don smiled at her, “Okay MA, I’ll clean up after myself. Do you want to come upstairs with me?" He asked. "It's been a while."


Nina smiled back, then stepped close to him, took a sniff, and stepped away. “Maybe you get that shower first, though. I’ll wait for you upstairs.”







Nina and Don snuggled comfortably together and Nina told him about Brandi’s memorial.

“It was really sad,” she said. “Dustin especially seemed to be taking it really hard. He’s seen himself as the man of the house since Skip died, and now he feels it even more. If you felt like being a decent guy, you could maybe hang out with him a little. Oh, and Beau! He turned into a teenager during it!”

Don was quiet for a moment then said, “Yeah, maybe. I remember what it was like to be a teenager. But how about we think about other things now?”

He pulled her closer.






They had a great woohoo session, then snuggled together to sleep, both of them feeling warm and comfortable.






The next morning, Nina asked Don if he wanted to come to the mall with her. "I have to look for a dress for Dina's wedding, and then we could go have lunch."







Don said, "I'd really like to, but I've got other plans this morning. How about tomorrow?”

Nina said, “I’ll let you know. I think I have to work. And I don’t want to wear you out too much!”

Don looked at her, sweet and caring about him—she had been his first kiss--and he said, "Nina, do you want to marry me?"

Nina laughed and hugged him. "Of course not, you doofus! And you don't want to marry me, either! We're all about the romance, Don--it would be a disaster! How about we just be nice to each other?"






“But what are these other plans? Job interview?” she asked.


“I’ve got a delivery to make, and I need to drop it off this morning," he said.


Nina asked, "What kind of delivery?"

Don explained about Samael Abbadon giving him a package to deliver as Nina got dressed. Then she turned to him and exclaimed, "I got one too! I delivered it the other day! But listen Don, I think these people are criminals. I heard Dustin was doing deliveries, too, and now his mom is dead. I'm not going to work for them anymore, and I don't think you should either!"






Don replied, "You're probably right, but I can't just keep the package. I'll only deliver this one, then get paid and never do another one."

"Okay," Nina said. "Just be careful!"

She nudged him playfully and said, “Now go clean up your house! And don't hit on my friends in front of me!"






After Nina left, Don went downstairs to clean up. It wasn;t too hard, he thought. He could probably keep up with it.




He jumped as he felt something scurry over his foot and turned around in horror to find roaches crawling all over the floor.

“Argh!” he yelled, and ran to the phone to call the exterminator.






He got dressed and headed for the address where he was supposed to deliver the package. It was on the outskirts of town, but he didn't mind the long walk. It gave him time to think about his muscles.

When he approached the house, he paused and looked at it.

"Kind of creepy," he said to himself.






As he walked toward the front door, he saw the gate was being watched by two large dogs.

He said nervously, "Nice doggies. Good doggies. I'm just going to the door, now."

The dogs watched him closely, but let him pass.








Don climbed to the front door and knocked, and waited. No one answered. He knocked and waited again. He hadn't been instructed on what to do if no one was home, so he waited a while more, but all was quiet.








Don wasn't sure if he should just leave the package on the porch unattended, but he wanted to get rid of it, so he knocked one last time, then left the package in front of the door.

As he turned to leave, he found he wasn't alone.







"Oh, hi good doggies," he said. "I'm just going to leave now. Will you just let me leave now?"

They wouldn't.






The dogs snarled and punched him repeatedly.






Don gathered his strength to punch the dogs back, and that seemed to work.






One more punch and the dogs flipped backwards away from him.






He tried to run away toward the gate, but his way was blocked.








Don turned and ran quickly around to the back side of the house, hoping the dogs wouldn't follow him. He thought he'd seen another set of stairs in the back, so maybe he could get out that way.

As he ran, he noticed many graves in the backyard.

"I've got to get out of here!" He panted.

He ran as fast as he could, but noticed that the dirt around the graves seemed to be . . . fresh.







He reached the walkway on the other side of the house and stopped suddenly. His way out was completely blocked!







He leapt over the iron fence into the driveway and sprinted past the front gate. He suddenly felt cold, and stopped and looked up at the house.

There was a woman watching him from a second-floor window. She was pale like a ghost.






He shivered as he looked at her, then ran home as rain began to fall.





As he entered his house, the phone was ringing. When he picked it up, a woman's voice said, "Don Lothario. You did not complete your delivery. You hurt my babies."






"Babies?" Don exclaimed, "What babies? I got attacked by your dogs!"

"They hurt their teeth on your thick skull," she said. "So this is it, Don. You won't work for us anymore, and you won't get paid." She paused for a moment. "Consider yourself lucky."

Click.







Don hung up the phone and shook his head. He DID feel lucky. He was glad Nina wasn't mixed up with them anymore, too.

"Well," he sighed. "Guess I need to get a real job. Maybe I could work in the slacker career with Nina. That might be fun."