It was a very hot spring day when the entire Smith family was at home; each doing their own thing.
Debby was slaving away in the large kitchen, preparing the barbecue dinner for that afternoon, while Frank was in the garage to free the large grill from its winter hide-out. He cursed as a large dumbbell rolled from a shelf above the grill, hitting the concrete floor leaving a crack. He accidentally hit the shelf as he was trying to move the heavy barbecue. It was hidden behind a new weight bench his oldest son had managed to score cheap at work; it was a shame that he hardly used it though. Frank tried to pick up the 30lbs dumbbell, but it was a lot heavier than he thought. “Maybe I should start using the weight bench” he joked as he managed to put the dumbbell back on the shelf with two hands.
Meanwhile, Debby was cutting some onions when her eyes went all watery. She tried to rub the water out of her eyes with her sleeve, but it didn’t help much. The onions were too strong. She looked up at the window and through her tears she could see a faint silhouette of her neighbor from across the street: Joe Daniels. He was in his late twenties, single and had recently moved in. Debby dried her eyes once more, and blinked to adjust focus. Across the street, her hunky neighbor was mowing his front lawn…shirtless! She could hardly believe what she saw; Joe obviously took good care of his body. As she was reminding herself to bake a nice apple pie and go over to introduce herself, Joe spotted her gaze. He waved at her as he wiped his sweat off of his face and torso. Debby, broken out of her day dream, waved back with red cheeks and continued mincing her onions.
In the backyard the twins Dylan and Davy were enjoying the sun, each in their own way: Dylan was practicing cartwheels, while Davy read his favorite comic.
Inside the house, on the first floor, oldest son Justin was changing out of his work costume. He just came back from Wal-Mart, where he works at the sports section. He was about to put on something more casual for dinner. His best buddy and co-worker Jerome was also in the room, wearing a wife beater. He was playing with Justin’s football on the edge of the bed, when Justin unbuttoned his shirt.
“Dude! You have GOT to start working out if you want to have ANY success with the ladies…” Jerome said as he saw Justin’s shirtless body.
“Shut up!” Justin responded a bit agitated “You start to sound like Coach Graham!”
“Well sorry…but I’m just saying…” Jerome approached Justin “…this is just more what the ladies like!” He flexed his sleeveless arm next to Justin’s; the contrast in both size as well as skin color was amusing. Jerome, being Afro-American, had the darkest skin tone you could imagine; while Justin’s milky white skin was the exact opposite.
Justin placed his free hand on Jerome’s flexed biceps, squeezed slightly and then pushed him away. From any other person with arms like Jerome’s, he would be jealous as hell, but he couldn’t be jealous of his best buddy. He smirked. “I see! And tell me again how much luck those arms have given you with the ladies…?”
Jerome started laughing. Both boys told each other everything, even the juicy bits concerning girl, and Justin knew Jerome hadn’t had much luck with the girl he had a crush on. “Touché buddy! You’ve got me!”
Justin quickly threw on a shirt and both boys went downstairs. As they passed the front door, Amber, Justin’s little sister, came home from a long day at school. Just as she opened the door, Jerome passed by it. He looked Amber straight in the eyes and smiled. “Hi!” he said softly as he followed Justin to the kitchen. Amber blushed; her brother’s hot friend just said hi to her. She put aside her bag and followed everyone else into the kitchen.
Debby welcomed her only daughter with a kiss on her forehead, much to Amber’s embarrassment as Jerome was in the same room. She quickly looked if Jerome had spotted the kiss, but he was pre-occupied with talking to Justin. They were discussing girl friend material, and Amber couldn’t help but overhear Jerome talking about Priscilla from down the road.
Amber knew Priscilla as the tall, bitchy former-captain of the cheerleading squad at her school. Now that she is at college, she has similar classes as Justin and Jerome. She was gorgeous, yet a bit terrifying, with her full 6 feet ripped physique. Her arms rivaled most college boys; in fact Amber thinks her biceps might be bigger than Justin’s.
“Priscilla Newton? From down the road? The girl with the freaky arms; you dig her?”
“Yeah, she’s hot! I like my girl to have a bit of muscle…means they’re great in bed!”
“Dude! You’re sick! She looks like a man!”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. Her body is hot! I can’t help it she’s got bigger arms than you!” Jerome said as he squeezed Justin’s upper arm. He wasn’t expecting that at all, causing him to almost drop the glass of coke on the floor.
“Hey, watch out!” he laughed “Oh mom, that reminds me, is it OK if Jerome stays for dinner?”
“It’s fine by me, if his mom is OK with it….”
“Yeah, I just phoned her up, it was no problem” Jerome intervened.
“Well then, be my guest!” Debby said. “Could you boys go check on your dad; he should be firing up the grill by now, but I haven’t seen him leave the garage at all….”
“Sure thing mom!” Justin said as he signed his buddy to follow him outside.
“And could you give me a hand with these peppers, Amber?” Debby asked Amber who was gazing at Jerome’s body. “Amber? Hello, earth to Amber!”
Her eyes were fixated on the dark brown arms that escaped the black wife beater as Jerome walked out the kitchen. She imagined how those strong arms could hold her close to his body; how she would be safe and protected. And then his ass; round and protruding, she would be more than happy to pinch it…if only once.
“Amber?!” her mother yelled one final time. She snapped out of her daydream.
“What? Oh sorry mom! What is it?”
Debby smiled. She knew exactly what her little girl was doing. “Could you please help me cut these peppers in small bits?” she said as she turned around and directed her stare outside at Joe, who was still mowing the lawn shirtless. She sighed.
Meanwhile in the garage, Frank was sweating like a pig. He had just managed to move the weight bench over to the side, making room for the grill to go through, but he had not calculated in its weight. As he did the best he could pushing the grill towards the door leading to the backyard, he didn’t hear his son and Jerome enter.
“Woah dad, take it easy, you’re turning red!” Justin said as he padded his dad on the back. “Do you need a hand?”
“Oh hi boys! Man, this thing is heavier than I remembered! I could sure use two strapping young boys like yourselves; especially you Jerome!” Frank said as he took a good look at Jerome’s sleeveless arms.
Jerome laughed. “Thanks Mr Smith!”
“Hey!” Justin yelled “Don’t underestimate me…dad!”
Jerome laughed even harder. Justin threw him a nasty look.
“Well…nevermind, just help me out, will you!” Frank directed the boys each to a side of the grill. “On three; one...two...THREE!”
With the help of the two boys, the grill was easily lifted several inches off the ground. It was still extremely heavy, even when the weight was supported by three grown men, but they managed to carry it outside and install it on the deck.
Not much later the grill was heating up and as the entire family, plus Jerome, was enjoying a nice meal, the doorbell suddenly rang.
“Who could that be?” Frank asked Debby.
“I don’t know, I’m not expecting anyone…”
“I’ll go!” Justin said as he left the table.
Not a minute later he came back with a large box in his hands. It had a large red bow and an envelope attached to it, which he had opened and started reading.
“Who is Vanessa, dad?” Justin asked as he approached the entire family.
Frank’s head turned red. “Oh, just a colleague of mine…”
Debby looked at her husband suspiciously.
“Well, she obviously likes you a lot. This is what she wrote: Dear Frank, when I saw this little device, I had to think of you instantly. It will fix your problems and make you irresistible! Use it wisely! Love, Vanessa”
Now Debby looked at her husband furiously. “’Love, Vanessa’?!? Frank…Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No honey, there is nothing!”, he lied, “she’s just a good colleague. I bet she just send me over a bottle of perfume or something like that…she’s like that!”
“Well, it’s no perfume!” Justin said as he had opened the box and looked inside. With one hand he reached into the box and pulled out a toy gun; or at least it looked like one.
“What’s that? A toy gun?” Amber remarked as everyone else around the table was surprised by the little gift. “What is she, like 6?”
Justin started laughing. “Dad, this is ridiculous. Is she playing a prank on you or something?” He held the gun in his hand like you would hold a normal gun and started pointing it at different members of the family. He even imitated space-age noises as he shot his family and friend.
Then, when pointing at one specific member of the family, he accidentally pulled the trigger and a blue beam shot out of the barrel of the gun, engulfing the person in a blue haze. It was…
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