The Special Gift and Invitation

Part 3

Rachel was admiring the deck work that John Domingo had taken on. It was amazing how much damage two years of sun and rain could do to a deck. John first sprayed deck cleaner on the wooden deck and let it sit for half an hour.  It worked a little like the paint remover John had used on the chest of drawers they’d inherited from Grandma.  The chest was painted and the remover made the paint bubble-up so he could putty knife it off.  Here the deck cleaner loosened the dirt and mildew so that the power washer could strip the grime away. John was working hard and sweat was dripping down his shirt. Just then the doorbell rang.  Rachel cried, “I’ll get it!”

It was UPS and it was a package for John and Rachel. John took a break from his power washing and came in.  He opened the package and discovered it was from Mike Milligan in Seattle. Each year about this time, they took turns sending something exotic to the other. They had been good friends ever since serving in the Army Reserves together.  Each year Mike and his wife invited John and Rachel or John and Rachel invited Mike and Beverly to a weekend together and the invitation was always included with a dessert to share.  This time the invitation was to a long ski weekend and inside the box was a Mail Order Cheesecake.

John loved strawberries and the cheesecake inside the box was a gourmet, 9-inch strawberry cheesecake. The picture sent John’s mind to some selfish places Rachel reminded him it was to be shared with the other couple.