Saturday morning Lou, Jerry and Rob were in Rob's garage looking at his car. It wouldn't start and they figured between the three of them they could surely figure it out. Never mind none of them knew the first thing about cars. Laura and Millie came in the front door from the grocery store. Mary had wanted to go with them but since this barbeque was partly in their honor they steadfastly refused to let her do any cooking for it. Millie and Laura were unpacking the groceries when Mary knocked on the back door.
"Come on in, Mary." Laura said
"Hi, how's it going?" She asked closing the door behind her
"Fine," Laura told her, "But if you came to help just forget it, we have everything under control."
Mary walked over to the counter, "Well, then you might want to do something about what's going on in your garage."
"Oh boy, what are they up to now?" Millie asked knowing Jerry was involved somehow
"Did you know Rob has recruited Jerry and Lou to help him fix the car." Mary informed them taking a seat at the table
"Oh no, Rob doesn't know anything about cars." Laura said chopping up the lettuce, "Mary, help yourself to some coffee if you want."
"Neither does Jerry." Millie said putting the ice cream in the freezer
Mary walked over to the coffee pot and poured a cup, "Neither does Lou but that doesn't stop my darling grease monkey from getting under the hood every time there's a problem."
"I wonder why they like they have to do things like that." Laura mused as she made the hamburger patties
"Simple," Mary said pausing to take a drink of coffee, "They're men."
Laura and Millie laughed, "The only thing my Jerry can do with his hands is fill a tooth." Millie said
"Should we go out there and see what's going on?" Laura asked
"Oh yeah." Mary said smiling
They went to the garage to find the hood of the car up and Jerry and Lou just staring intently as if they were deep in thought.
"Fellas, how's it going?" Laura asked
"Fine, Honey." Rob called from underneath the car
"Uh huh, we can see that." Mary said, "Lou, my love, you are many things, but a mechanic isn't one of them."
"Hey, we've almost got this baby running." Lou insisted wiping his hands on a rag
"Jerry, you don't know anything about cars. You'll probably just blow it up." Millie said sarcastically
"Millie, if you don't knock it off, I'll blow you up." Jerry said through gritted teeth
Laura squatted down by Rob, "Honey, you really should have a real mechanic look at it. You don't know anything about cars either."
"Yes, I do doggonit." Rob said, "Ouch!"
"Are you alright?" Laura asked
Rob came out from under the car and sat up, rubbing his head, "No, I hit my head."
Laura kissed his cheek, "I'm sorry, Darling."
"I hurt my hand, Millie." Jerry said hoping to get the same sympathy from Millie
"Oh yeah?" She asked, "Put some ice on it." Millie said
"Alright," Lou said, "Quit your whining. We're men, we walk off the pain."
Mary laughed, "Like you walked off the pain when we went skiing and you broke your leg?
Lou looked down, "Well, a broken bone is different."
"Well, if you macho men insist on working on this car, just remember we're having dinner tonight and Rob invited his coworkers to join us and they will be here about six." Laura informed them
"Oh, we'll be done way before then." Rob assured them
"Alright then," Laura said, "Ladies shall we retire to the kitchen and finish the preparations for the meal, you know, women's work."
Mary and Millie followed Laura out of the garage
LATER THAT DAY
Buddy and Sally arrived at Rob and Laura's curious about these new neighbors they would meet. The two of them had active imaginations, as writers it's essential, so every possible scenario had gone through their head. They knocked on the door.
Inside Millie and Laura were taking the food out back, "Mary would you mind getting the door, it's probably Buddy and Sally."
"Sure," Mary said thinking, "Um, do they know about me?"
"I don't think so." Laura said, "It's okay, go ahead and answer it."
Mary smiled, this should be fun, she thought as she walked into the living room to the door. She opened it and smiled
"Hi Laura, hope we're not late." Sally said walking right past her into the living room toward the kitchen
"Yeah, the drive was kind of crazy." Buddy said following Sally
Mary smiled again, "No, you're not late."
As they almost reached the kitchen Laura walked through the door, "Hi."
"Laura." They exclaimed in stereo
Laura smiled, "I see you met our neighbor."
"Neighbor?" Sally asked looking back to Mary then to Laura again, "Laura is this some kind of joke Rob is pulling on us?"
"No, it's not." Laura assured them
"Ahem." Mary said
"Buddy, Sally, this is our new neighbor, Mary Grant." Laura said
"Wow." Buddy said
"Yeah, wow is right." Sally echoed
Mary approached them and extended her hand, "It's nice to meet you both."
The evening was fun and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Buddy and Sally were still amazed at the resemblance between Mary and Laura but about halfway through dinner finally stopped staring. As they were leaving they apologized profusely.
"Mary, I'm sorry. We had no idea." Sally said looking at Rob, "You just had to let us make fools of ourselves."
"Well, I must admit we've had some fun with this." Rob said
"It's alright, you don't have anything to apologize for." Mary said smiling
"Well, lucky for us, she's as nice as you are too, Laura." Buddy said kissing Mary's hand
TBC…Laura's mother comes for a visit