17 Learning Curve

By the time Claire told Arnold that it was time to take a break for lunch, they were quite drenched in sweat and both the front and back lawns had been mowed. The edges of the lawn were cleaned around the sidewalk, the deck, and the pool. The excess grass that the bag on the lawnmower hadn't caught was raked up and bagged, then the machines were tended to and cleaned as much as possible without touching or exposing the dangerous blades.

Claire led Arnold into the house through the back door, which led to the kitchen, and she had him sit down as she took out a plate of prepared sandwiches from the refrigerator. She took the plastic wrap off of the plate and put it on the counter. She leaned against the edge of the counter in her best 'look at me' pose and took a sandwich for herself.

“Help yourself.” Claire said and Arnold took a sandwich. She expected him to comment that it was made from the same pork roast that he had eaten yesterday, and he just sat there and ate it. She had buttered the bread and added some mayonnaise for taste with a thin layer of lettuce. It was actually quite tasty, even if it was leftovers, and he ate it like he was eating a piece of cardboard.

“We did a lot of work this morning.” Claire commented to see if he would look at her, and he didn't even flinch. She stopped herself from smiling as she thought about teasing him a little to try and get his attention. She had watched him work all morning and now she had an eighteen year old man, sweat covered and with quite a bit of muscle definition sitting in her kitchen, and it had her worked up a little.

Claire finished her sandwich and went back to the refrigerator and grabbed an ice cube from the freezer. She went back to the counter and resumed her pose, then she untied her ponytail and let her dirty blonde hair drop over her shoulders and shook it out.

“Whew, I think I'm overheating a little.” Claire said and used a hand to pull on the bottom of her t-shirt, which eased the neck hole down just enough to show off some of her cleavage, then she slowly rubbed the ice cube on her neck, down past her clavicle, and over the tops of her breasts. The ice left a long wet trail across her skin and goosebumps spread out from where it touched her skin.

Arnold didn't even look at her as he picked up another sandwich and kept eating.

To say that Claire was disappointed that Arnold wasn't enjoying his visual reward for working so hard that morning, was an understatement. She sighed, let the bottom her t-shirt go and the top mostly went back to its original shape and covered her chest, then she tossed the half-melted ice cube into the sink.

“I think we can get to weeding the flowerbeds now.” Claire said.

Arnold shoved the last of the sandwich he was eating into his mouth as Claire covered the last two sandwiches and put them back into the refrigerator. She gathered her hair back up into a ponytail automatically, as if she had done it thousands of times, then led him back out through the back door of the house and over to the side where the flower beds were. They ran the entire length of the driveway on both sides.

“We're going to need some tools to handle a few of the weeds.” Claire said and walked over to the shed. Arnold perked up at her words and followed her. Claire wasn't looking at him and had missed his reaction, so she didn't realize what having access to new tools meant to him.

At the back of the shed was a small rack of some of the oddest things Arnold had seen so far. One thing looked like a small three clawed rake, one was a miniature shovel and he almost laughed at the size, one looked like a tiny pitchfork, and one looked like a really thin shovel and another that was a shovel but was bent at a ninety degree angle.

Claire told him the names of all the different tools and what they were used for. There was a small set of shears that could be used with one hand, a slightly bigger pair, and then a huge pair. Then there were the normal sized versions of the smaller tools and they hung on the wall at the side of the shack. Some of those he was familiar with and had never used.

Claire handed him several different small tools. “You'll need to put on your work gloves for this.”

Arnold nodded and did so, then she handed him a set of knee pads and he followed her back out to the flower beds.

“Now we get on our hands and knees and start digging out the weeds.” Claire said and knelt down, then used a small spade to churn the dirt and pulled out something that looked like a flower. Arnold knelt beside her and watched what she was doing, then couldn't understand what was happening.

“Which ones are the weeds?” Arnold asked.

“The ones that don't belong.” Claire said and pulled out another scraggly one by the roots.

Arnold knelt there and couldn't make sense of what she said and what she was doing.

Claire worked for a few minutes before she noticed that Arnold wasn't helping at all. “Well, don't just stare at it. Start working.”

Arnold looked from her face to the flowers and back at her face. “I don't know what to do.”

“Haven't you been watching me?” Claire asked, a little exasperated. “You pick a weed, use the tool to dig it up, and pull it out. It's easy.”

“But...” Arnold looked at the flower she had just dislodged from the dirt and back at the flower bed. “I don't understand. They are all flowers. How do you decide what ones to take out and what ones to leave?”

Claire looked at him like he was speaking nonsense. “Arnold.” She said and straightened up. “Are you seriously telling me that you can't tell the difference between a weed...” She held up a yellow flower in her hand. “...and a flower?” She pointed to another yellow flower that was almost the same, except it didn't have the same number of petals on it.

Arnold looked at the two flowers and knew that if it was the petals that made the difference, then half of the flowers were weeds and needed to be removed. That would have been easy for him. The problem was that they weren't all yellow flowers and were all different colors. Did he compare the colors and take the ones that the petals didn't match, or only compare them to the petals that matched the yellow flower? His mind raced as he tried very hard to figure it out.

I can figure it out. I can figure it out. I can figure it out. I can figure it out.

Claire sat back on her heels and watched Arnold's face contort slightly and his eyes flicked over the flowers in the flowerbed faster and faster. She could see the signs of panic start to build in him as his eyes started to move even faster and his breathing sped up. She dropped the weed that her brain could very easily pick out of the beautiful flowers, pulled off her gloves, and cupped the sides of his face.

“ARNOLD! STOP!” Claire yelled and turned his face towards hers.

Arnold's shifting eyes started to slow down and his breathing evened out. After a few moments, his eyes focused entirely on the face in front of him. Claire had to stop herself from gasping as the handsome and stoic young man gave her the sweetest and sincerest puppy-dog eyes she had ever seen. Her motherly instincts went into overdrive because he looked so lost and forlorn.

“I want you to ignore the flowers.” Claire said. “You don't even have to look at them anymore, okay?”

Arnold nodded and the lost look in his eyes faded away and his face became what she thought was its normal stoic facade.

Claire fought her urge to hug him, mainly because they were both covered in sweat and a little bit of dirt. Her resolve only lasted a few seconds and then she put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She held him against her chest for nearly thirty seconds before she eased her grip and let him go.

“Let's go do something a little simpler.” Claire said as she stood up and held a hand out to him. Arnold took the hand and stood up, then he was led back over to the shed. “Normally, we would start with the small hand-held clippers to trim the outer branches on the smaller bushes; but, we're going to skip that and go right to trimming the hedges.”

Arnold nodded and listened to her as she described using the large two-handed shears, then she pointed to an odd-shaped gas powered tool that looked like a chainsaw, except it had huge teeth instead of a chain.

“We won't be using that today.” Claire said. “I've always been wary of something like that, since all of the blade is completely exposed and it cuts bushes and branches as if they were nothing.”

Arnold nodded again and Claire took the large shears and led him over to the side of her yard where a large row of slightly unkept hedges separated her property from the neighbours. She had held his hand the whole time and only now let it go, so she could demonstrate how to use the shears.

“I know it looks like a lot to handle; but, it's very simple. You only need to square it up.” Claire said and used the large shears to trim off the top of the hedge and made it flat. She had cut and cleared away about two feet of it and then did the side. “See? Only two flat edges. One on top and one on the side.”

Arnold easily saw the squared off shape and nodded, so Claire handed him the shears and waved at the hedge. Arnold copied her movements and did the next two foot section on top and on the side and cleared the cut parts away and dropped them by the hedge.

“You can go all along the top towards the street and make it flat first, clean it off, then come back and do the sides.” Claire said. “I'll go along and follow you with the wheelbarrow and we can dump the trimmings at the back of the property.”

Arnold handed her the shears and ran over to the shed and lifted down the wheelbarrow from the hook it hung from and carried it out to her.

Claire held in her laugh at the sight. “Put it down and I'll show you how it's supposed to work.”

Arnold put it down and she showed him. He took over and walked several turns around her and then brought it over to the hedge and tossed in all of the things they had trimmed. He left and came back with the fan rake and gathered the small leaves as well and put them into the wheelbarrow. He went back to her and handed her the rake and took the shears, then went to the hedge and trimmed and cleared about ten feet and tossed all of the branches into the wheelbarrow.

He stopped and moved the wheelbarrow almost twenty feet away from where it just was, then handed her the shears and took the fan rake to clean up the leaves and added them to the wheelbarrow. Clare walked over to the wheelbarrow and exchanged tools with him, then stood there as Arnold cleared a twenty foot section and every single branch and twig was tossed into the wheelbarrow. When he switched tools and raked up the leaves, the wheelbarrow was full and needed to be dumped.

“Be careful of the balance, or you'll be cleaning up everything you just cleaned up again.” Claire said.

Arnold nodded and picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow, moved forward and back to feel out the weight, then nodded again.

“All right. Follow me.” Claire said and walked at a normal pace, like she had shown him while mowing the lawn, and led Arnold all the way to the back of the property.

Arnold dumped the wheelbarrow where she pointed and Claire kept speaking as they walked back to where they had just worked on the hedges.

“Once all the hedges are done, I'll rent a wood chipper and we can feed all of this into it and make some nice mulch to spread around to the base of the trees, the bushes by the house, and put some under the hedges to keep them healthy.”

Arnold parked the wheelbarrow at the next section and cleared the top of the hedge completely, then went all the way back where they had started and did all along the side of the hedge and squared it off. It took several trips with the wheelbarrow to clean up the mess and then Arnold worked in the other direction and went all the way to the back of the property.

“Arnold, I need to go grab a quick shower and then I need to pick Heather up at school.” Claire said as she looked at her watch.

“Okay.” Arnold said and kept working.

I don't think I should leave him here by himself. Claire thought. “Maybe you should stop working and come inside with me.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and finished a cut, cleaned up the leaves, then went to the large pile of hedge trimmings and added to the pile. He brought the tools and the wheelbarrow back to the shed, used the cloth he had and wiped off everything he had used, including the wheelbarrow, then hung everything up.

“I didn't mean... never mind.” Claire said. She had been a bit too stunned at how quickly he had done it to stop him before he had finished putting everything away. “Come on.”

Claire walked over to the back door and went into the house, kicked off her old shoes that she always wore when working around the house, then walked through the kitchen and down the hallway. She went up the stairs and entered her bedroom, then let out a long sigh as she pulled off her t-shirt and tossed it into the dirty clothes hamper inside the door.

Annie was right. You need to tell him and show him exactly what to do or he might get confused about it. Claire thought as she peeled off her jeans and tossed them into the hamper, then slipped off her panties and tossed them in, too. She walked over to the bathroom and remembered Arnold almost freaking out about weeding the flowers. I almost broke my promise to Annie.

Claire sighed again and unhooked her bra and hung it up on the hanger behind the bathroom door to let it air out, then she turned on the shower and waited for the hot water to kick in. She turned to the mirror to check the condition of her hair to decide if it needed to be washed or just brushed, then she caught sight of someone in the bathroom doorway.

“AHHH!” Claire yelled and whirled around as she covered herself with her hands, then she saw who it was. “ARNOLD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?”

“You told me to come inside with you.” Arnold said.

“I... I didn't...” Claire started to deny it, then she closed her eyes as she once again remembered what Annie had told her about him. Or warned me about. She thought and opened her eyes to look at him. He listened to me and did just as I said and followed me, then I undressed in front of him because I assumed he would have stayed downstairs on his own. “O-out.” She said, her voice a little shaky. “Wait downstairs for me.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and turned around and left.

At least he didn't undress like I did and try to join me in the shower. Claire thought in relief as she walked over to the bathroom door and shut it.

Of course, once she thought that, her mind created the entire scenario and she saw herself inviting him in with her to help 'wash her back'. She let out a nervous laugh and looked at herself in the mirror. She was a bit older and a bit plumper than she was as a teenager; but, that was understandable, since she had Heather and her body had changed quite a lot during pregnancy.

Claire's hips had gotten a little wider and gave her some nice and dangerous curves, her breasts had increased by two cup sizes, that she had kept for the most part afterwards, even if they did sag a little more because of it, and her thighs... well, they were nice before having a baby and now they were spectacular. She finished her introspection as she turned around and looked at her own ass.

Claire used her fingers to flick the flesh to gauge how much flab had worked into the cheeks and they only shook as much as they had the last time she checked. She smiled and nodded, because her lunges and squats had kept up their promise of keeping her ass firm. She climbed into the shower and started to wash herself and had forgotten to cover her hair.

She sighed, because she had intended to only take a quick shower and now she would have to shampoo her hair. As she washed the rest of her body, her fingers discovered that the spot between her legs was a bit more sensitive for some reason. She wouldn't admit to herself that it was because of the little forbidden shower fantasy she had imagined, even though she used that imagery to create a tall faceless man that had a recognizable blonde buzz-cut, and he made passionate and frantic love to her in the shower.

Arnold stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited for twenty minutes for Heather's mother to come down. He heard hurried footsteps as they came over to the top of the stairs and he looked up to see Claire as she pulled on a thin turtleneck sweater that matched the skirt she wore. She ran down the stairs and stopped by the front door and put on her nice shoes.

“Arnold, we need to have a talk about what happened.” Claire said. “I'm running late, so it has to wait.” She grabbed her keys from the rack by the door and grabbed the door handle, then turned to give him a good firm stare. “Do not talk about seeing me naked with anyone except me and only when we are alone.”

“Okay.” Arnold said.

“I'll be back with Heather soon, so go upstairs into the spare room and use the shower there. Dry off, put on your clean change of clothes and put your dirty clothes into the bag, then come downstairs and wait for us in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and watched as Claire left, then he did as she said. He had a shower, changed into clean clothes, then waited for them in the kitchen.