The Call -Part I

[Cappy50]

First post. Seeking critiques on characters, dialog, introductory paragraphs, and writing advice related to muscle stories. Thanks,

---

 
 

"Who is this again, please?"   This was Lenny Hause's telephone response to someone he didn't recognize.   While the caller repeated their information he had time to write down their name and affiliation.

 

“It’s Frank, Frank Mancuso.   Don’t you remember Lenny?   From high school.”

 

“Frank.   Oh my God, is that really you? ”  Lenny stopped writing.
 

“Yeah.   I’m fine, how are you? ”
 

“I’m good.   Wow!  How long has it been?   Fourteen, fifteen years? ”
 

“Twenty years, seven months, nine days. ”
 

“What!   That’s some memory. ”
 

“Not really. I was searching Facebook related to high school classmates and your name popped up.   The last time we met had been at our twenty-fifth high school reunion, and my last. We relived our glory days, well mine.   You went on to bigger and better. ”
 

Frank’s research had revealed Lenny retired from the Kennedy Space Center after thirty-five years as a space scientist.   In asking Lenny about it, Frank learned his friend’s early retirement at sixty had been for health reasons.   Frank commiserated.   He too had had taken early retirement, at forty-six, but didn’t explain.
 

Lenny recalled Frank’s raspy voice at the reunion, the only detail he remembered because he had been concerned it was a sign of throat cancer from Frank’s early smoking years.   Was that his reason for taking early retirement?   Yet, the person on the other end of the receiver sounded different —vigorous. Lenny didn’t have time for more thoughts as Frank proceeded with rapid-fire questions.
 

Frank summarized his life: he had moved to More to Life Living Facility in St. Augustine about a fifteen-years ago.   If only he’d known how close they were, he’d have visited Lenny at Cape Canaveral.   Just as quickly as the banter had started, it stopped.   Frank explained this wasn’t only a catch-up call, but also a recruitment call for Frank’s retirement facility.  
 

“I’d love to visit, Frank, but I’m not into group living. I like where I live. ”  Lenny meant his home for the last thirty years on Cape Canaveral Island. “I’d be wasting your time. ”
 

“No pressure, Lenny. If nothing else, we’d be old friends reuniting, I promise.   But maybe you’ll be surprised. ”  Frank’s voice trailed off.
 

“As long as you are prepared for my thanks but no thanks.   By the way, Frank, you sound…uh, I don’t know, different.   What kind of cell phone do you have? ”
 

“I’ll tell you when you get here. And plan to stay overnight as my guest.   That’ll give us more time.   Go to the reception center and May will call me when you arrive.”
 

****

Staring as May offered him a beverage, Lenny blushed.   May was a knockout, in her late twenties.   Lenny thought the expression appropriate given May’s fortified breasts could do serious damage if anyone ran into them.   May didn’t appear to notice his staring, yet Lenny lowered his head and quickly walked to the waiting lounge.

 

Sitting in the armchair, Lenny thought everyone was young.   He had anticipated the More to Life Living Facilities to be a standard retirement village, gathering no information from his Google search.   This seemed a mixed community.  
 

A hand shook Lenny’s shoulder and he swiveled to see a stranger.
 

“Hi Lenny, I hope I haven’t kept you waiting long? ”
 

“Frank?   Geez, is that you? ” Lenny stammered, looking at the man in a loose windsurfer jacket, baseball cap, light tan, and big grin with shinning teeth.
Frank steadied Lenny by his elbow as he rose from the chair.
 

“Yup, it's me. Great to see you and thanks for coming. ”  They shook hands and Lenny grimaced as his knuckle cartilage cracked.
 

“Ouch. ”
 

“Oh, sorry, I get a little exuberant sometimes. “  Releasing Lenny’s hand, Frank stepped forward to give him a hug; Lenny grunted.
 

“Geez, Frank.   Have you been working out?   Weren’t you concerned about your large waist at the reunion?  You look younger. “

 

Frank smiled.   “Let’s take a walk to the club house. ”  Frank helped Lenny put on his Kennedy Space Center anorak that was needed for the late January chill.
 

****

 

Disorientated, Lenny noted again the youthful, robust people power-walking along the pathway.   Frank explained this was the outer circular drive, a favorite for walkers and joggers, with the club house a start and end point.   Two trim young women jogged past, waving to Frank and called out, “Welcome, Lenny. ”

 

“How do they know my name? ”

 

“Everyone does.   I spread the word an old high school buddy would be visiting.   It’s part of our recruitment process. ”
 

Aren’t they a bit young for you?
 

Frank smiled, no teeth this time, but his lips thinned as they spread to each ear.
 

“Come on Frank, what gives? ”
 

****
 

Inside the clubhouse, Lenny sat at a table while Frank carried over their drinks.   A coffee with cream and sugar for Lenny, and a glass of cloudy, pink substance for himself, which Lenny guessed was a strawberry frappe.

 

“So, what’s up? ”
 

Before answering, Frank removed his jacket, sat adjacent to Lenny, and placed his hands behind his neck, as if relaxing on a beach chair.
 

Lenny’s eyes widened. Two biceps ballooned Frank’s short-sleeve shirt, his lats stretching the mixed cotton-nylon fabric.
 

“Yeah, pretty big, huh?   That’s what I want to talk to you about.   Look, feel this. ”  Frank placed an arm on the table, then flexed.
 

Lenny stared.
 

“Touch it.   It won’t hurt. ”
 

Lenny extended two fingers to the top of Frank’s arm, lightly skimming across a vein on the rock-hard surface.
 

“No, Lenny, not like that.   Don’t you remember how we did it in high school?   You put your entire hand over the bicep and squeeze, like you want to make juice from an orange.   ‘Crush the muscle,’ that’s what we’d said. ”
 

Lenny’s hand spread across the mound.   He made no dent in the hardened mass. Crushing was not an option.   Lenny’s mouth gaped, his eyes fixed on the mini-boulder arm.
 

“Now I’ll explain. ”
 

 

****

 

The explanation was unbelievable, a fantasy story.   Lenny was a Ph. D. rocket scientist, not MD, but he knew enough.   This wasn’t possible.   Frank’s explanation of a miracle solution, a strength and youth enhance was too far-fetched.   And why didn’t everyone know about it?   Why the secrecy? 

 

“Not a secret, Lenny, just not approved by FDA or anyone else.   The inventor, Doctor Richter, a biochemist with degrees from Harvard and Stamford, worked this out.   He had worked at a big pharmaceutical in California when he discovered this formula, an accidental discovery.   He presented his finding to the project leader and was told it didn’t fit their product line, shorthand to say they didn’t see insurance or Medicaid paying for youth enhancing supplements. There would not be enough private patients who could afforded the hundred-thousand a year either, the estimated price tag to cover the government required testing and approval process plus profit.   So Doc Richter left the company and perfected the formula using both animals then volunteers, but not under FDA protocol.”

 

Lenny’s gasped.

 

“Lenny, you could expose us, but what would you gain?   Besides, I know you’re not that kind of person, which is why I invited you and not others. ”
 

A yarn was a yarn, thought Lenny.   He looked at the young people walking by, then at his super fit friend. This had to be staged.   Frank’s waist reduction was probably from liposuction, his youthful eyes and face from plastic surgery, and basic weight lifting, maybe steroids, and a personal trainer gave Frank his physique.   No modern-day elixir was needed to explain Frank’s musculature. With Lenny’s last thought, a shadow blocked the sunlight behind his back.
 

“Hi Jon, just in time,” said Frank.   “Join us. ”
 

The shadow moved, turned into a mountain, and sat next to Lenny.
 

“Lenny, let me introduce you to Jon Gravinore.   Jon, this is my old high school friend Lenny. ”
 

Jon extended his hand to Lenny.   If Frank’s handshake had been a nutcracker, Jon’s was a vice.   Tears formed in Lenny’s eyes.
 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Lenny.   I forget myself. ”
 

Frank nodded at Jon.   “Me too. That’s Lenny’s second dose.   I think I’ll tell everyone to avoid the handshaking formality. ”
 

Like Frank had done, Jon put one arm on the table.
 

“Lenny, I know this will seem weird, but I want to show you something. ”  Jon flexed his arm, and if Frank’s had formed a small bulb this was bowling ball.   Jon lowered his arm then raised it again, the muscle rising higher.   He did this once more, this time Jon grimaced as he strained.   On top of the first bicep mounded a smaller that split with a crevice down the center.
 

Jon was holding his breath, so Frank spoke for him.   “Lenny, that’s twenty-one inches.   Feel it. ” 
 

This was getting too much for Lenny.   Twice in a half-hour he’d been asked to feel another man’s muscle.   Who were these people?   Lenny hesitated.

 

“Go ahead,” Frank said with a harsh tone.   “Jon can’t hold it much longer. ”
 

Recalling Frank’s earlier instruction, Lenny placed his entire hand over Jon’s top peak, barely covering one-third of the bicep.   This wasn’t Frank’s rock hard muscle, this was titanium, like the rockets Lenny had helped launch.
 

Exhaling, Jon released his arm.   “Now, let me feel yours. ”  Jon’s large hand surrounded Lenny’s relaxed arm.   He squeezed until he touched bone.   Lenny tried to flex, but all he could produce was loose flour in a burlap sack.
 

“How old are you Lenny? ” asked Jon.
 

“Sixty-two next month. ”
 

“I’m sixty-eight. ”  Jon produced his wallet and fished out his driver’s license.
Numbers didn’t lie.
 

Frank took out his too.   Showed him sixty-three, older than Lenny; in high school Lenny had teased Frank for being seven months older, calling him the “old man. ”
 

Lenny shook his head.   Frank said, “They’re not fakes, if that’s what you’re thinking.   We really are the ages printed.   You know mine’s true.   This is real, Lenny, as real as it gets. ”
 

During Franks’ explanation, Jon produced another license, with the imprint Jon Wainwright, age thirty-seven.
 

“Yes, we have fakes too, for when we are on the outside. “ Jon curled two fingers of both hands as he spoke.
Lenny’s head tilted.
 

Jon explained going outside meant leaving More to Life grounds.   People thought the real ID’s faked, and became suspicious.   But more important, should the FDA or another agency visit More to Life they were covered. Lenny didn’t see how they could do this.
 

“Simple, Lenny,” said Frank, taking over from Jon.   “All this is possible because Doc Richter had close friends in high-tech, the original hackers back at the start of the Internet. In particular, two wiz-kid that later became millionaires from a now famous software company.   They had helped fund the original More to Life Living Facility, along with a select handful of older people.   More to Life started modest, nothing like it resembles today. ”
 

The rest of the story revealed the transition from old-school hacking into records to use identities of people no longer in need of an identity that was reassigned to one of the residents.   Lenny noted Jon’s ID had his first name and thought that the chances of matching every resident's first name slim.
 

With a trill in his voice, Frank patted Lenny’s arm.   “Oh, Lenny, we’re more sophisticated now —our modern techies give birth, so to speak.   We invent new people with social security numbers, bank accounts, and work history.   Then we assign a resident’s real first name to minimize slip-ups.   But its still based on the original hackers protocol.   You’ll have a chance to meet William, one of the surviving techies, who’s still around at ninety, although he hardly looks over fifty. ”
 

The discussion turned to the past.   Jon gave a recap of his life, but the gist was More to Life prevented him from dying a lonely, broken-down old man.   As he rose to leave, he leaned over giving Lenny’s arm a small squeeze. “It’s never too late. We’ll build these up in no time. ”
 

Lenny stared at Frank, who shrugged.
 

No sooner had Jon left then May from the front desk took his place at the table.   She sat down like a dancer, which it turns out she had been in her youth.   Lenny learned May was sixty-six, not twenty-six.   May was no pushover, displaying her sinewy arms.   Yet her creamy skin, saucer eyes, and golden smile made any man do anything she asked, no power necessary; and she did have Wonder Woman tits.
 

“Look honey, It's not politically correct, but stare at them.   I know you did at the desk.   I won’t fault you for it.   A girl’s got to take flattery when she can.   And, Lenny, they are real.   I never needed to go silicone.   But now they stand up all on their own.   I’m toned all over, but you’re not ready for that, not yet. ”  May laughed.
 

“Here, feel this. ”  And like Jon, May flexed her arm, producing an egg bubble.   By now Lenny knew the drill, so he squeezed, confident he’d make some impact, which turned out to be overconfidence.
 

“My turn now, Lenny.   Rather than take Lenny’s arm, she leaned over, took hold of the back of his neck, pulled him forward and gave him a kiss on his lips, her tongue sliding forward. ”
 

“Cut it out, May.   Lenny’s my guest. ”
 

“Hey, you bring a newbie onto the dance floor we’ve got to tango.   And I like Lenny’s moves. ” 
 

As May walked away, swiveling her hips, Lenny took deep breaths, massaged his hand, and shuffled his jaw.   Did he have the stamina to last through the rest of the day?   And what was in store for the night? He needed his medicine.

[Ro20316]

interesting set up and that alst line made me lol

[Cappy50]

interesting set up and that alst line made me lol

Thanks.  Hope you'll  read the next part, which I should post in another day. 

[middleman]

Great set up, thanks for sharing!

[Cappy50]

Great set up, thanks for sharing!

Thanks.  I uploaded part II, which I intended to carry the theme further.  Part III and IV (end), need work.  I'll try to have them uploaded in a week.  I hope you'll continue to read.  Any feedback on characters, dialogue or what doesn't work would be appreciated.