Last week, Marshall and Lee had a rather steamy scene, so let's cool down a bit this week with a little bit of information about where they live and such. Don't worry, more sex is ahead, I promise! Warning: This story is for mature audiences only and contains adult themes that some people might find disturbing. Don't forget to see what the other Briefers are up to. Their links follow my tale. Enjoy!
Burnham, Texas wasn’t much to look at, at least not from an
outsider’s perspective. It wasn’t exactly located on the road to anywhere, and
it held no locations of cultural or other kind of interest that might draw a
tourist’s attention. No gourmet restaurants, no museums. Not even a single
famous grave.
The entire population of the community hovered somewhere
right around the hundred person mark, living in convenient proximity to one
another. There was a small business district, if you wanted to call it that,
consisting of a diner, a gas station that also rented videos, a small grocery
store, and a hair salon that cared for the tonsorial needs of all—men and women
alike.
Most of the residents worked outside of Burnham in nearby
Tucker Falls, which boasted a population of almost ten thousand people, and
offered way more than Burnham ever could in the way of nightlife. Whatever your
pleasure might be, you could find it there somewhere. Some of it less out in
the open than others.
Burnham also had a resident sheriff but not a jail. The
budget only stretched so far, and everyone figured having a sheriff was a good
thing, no need to house the criminal element too. Besides, the office was a
fairly recent development. Prior to the arrival of Roy Landry some seven years
before, they’d done without, and suffered at the hands of unruly teens and
thrill-seeking miscreants who got lost heading down to Mexico and ended up in
Burnham instead.
Roy Landry put an end to all that nonsense. Before he’d even
taken office, he put his foot down, all over the lawbreakers that dared to
trespass on his territory. Word quickly spread that this guy was no one to mess
with, and life in Burnham turned right peaceable, and the people were quick to
show their appreciation with an offer of employment and a house to call his
own. Roy accepted both.
Marshall and Lee lived on the outskirts of Burnham, in what
was once a working farmhouse. Originally white, the exterior had weathered down
to bare wood, and the barn had fallen down long ago, the unused fields filled
with wildflowers and snakes instead of crops. But it was home, their home. It
also housed their business—LMC Industries. The name was an amalgamation of
their first names, Lee and Marshall, along with their surname of Clinton.
Lee had early on discovered an affinity for computer repair.
He could fix any system that was ever made. No matter what condition he got it
in, he could put it together as good as new. And he could assemble brand new
components to any specification that was called for. Marshall took after him,
except his specialty was software and programming. Together, they were an unbeatable
combination. Lee did the warranty repair for several large computer companies.
They sent him their more hopeless cases and he made them right. Marshall created
games that were the delight of hard-core gamers across the country, as well as
less fun applications in various fields. He loved the freedom it gave them to
be able to work at home, together.
Life was good.
Marshall’s computer had been built by Lee, and had
everything he could possibly want—fastest co-processors, largest RAM, and most
incredible graphics, which was essential for the games he created, which tended
to be graphic intense. Two 30” flat screen monitors sat side by side on his
desk. Lee had a long state of the art work bench, with a multitude of drawers,
that sat in the same room. They spent hours together, working in companionable
silence, content not to speak.
They never actually saw any of the customers they serviced. Drop-offs
and pick-ups were handled through delivery services, and it wasn’t unusual for them
to receive multiple deliveries in a single day.
They only had a couple of “immediate” neighbors—immediate being a
relative term—Joe Garcia, the retired postman, a widower whose land abutted
theirs to the east, and the Fergusons,
Craig and Sarah, the childless married couple who owned the house across the
road. Lee and Marshall were on good terms with both neighbors. On occasions
when they weren’t home, their neighbors would sign for any packages and hold
them for the pair.
Night life in Burnham was pretty well non-existent. There
was no central gathering area, unless you counted the diner—Milly’s Place—and
people did meet there, but that was mostly for eating purposes. Folks met
socially in one another’s homes to watch football, in season, arguing the
merits of their favorite teams. There were a fair number of Cowboy fans in
Burnham, but there were a few who rooted for the Broncos. Led to rather lively
discussions at times, and an occasional fistfight. Card games were not
uncommon—mostly poker, but some folks were into bridge or canasta.
For anything more than that, the residents drove the
distance to Tucker Falls. Marshall and Lee were among that number. There was a certain
club where they would go to unwind, called Partners, and it catered to a particular
sort of clientele—mostly men. The music was largely County-Western, but not
exclusively so. There were over fifty types of cold beer to choose from, a
decent-sized dance floor, plenty of tables of varying sizes to fit every social
need, and assorted games from darts to table bowling to fussball.
At Partners, Marshall and Lee could relax together and cut
loose—dance, drink, hang out with other men. No one to censure or pass
judgment. They were accepted at face value for who they were.
On those rare occasions when even Tucker Falls couldn’t satisfy
a particular itch, they’d close the shop for a couple of days and head up to
San Antonio. That served a double purpose—besides being able to unwind, they
could search some of the electronics wholesalers for spare parts. You never
knew what you might find at a good price.
to be continued
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