By Crystal Arbogast

-----Charlie Schaeffer cursed as the wrench slipped from his greasy fingers and fell behind the radiator. "Hell," he mumbled to himself. "Hey Randy! When is this Caprice being picked up?"
-----"Tuesday," came the reply.
-----"That's it then," Charlie sighed, as he stood up and stretched. Reaching for his cleaning rag, he eyed the clock above the entrance to the small office on the other side of the garage. -----"Ten to six, boys. Let's clean up and clear the hell out for the weekend."
-----Charlie grinned at the accelerated movements of his mechanics. They sure came alive at quitting time.
-----"So, Stevie boy, any big plans for the weekend?" Charlie looked on in amusement as Large Marvin, as he was called, jabbed at the newest hire.
-----"Bigger ones than you, you old fart."
-----"Oh yeah?"
-----"Yeah. You'll be home, mowing the lawn, watching the kiddies, and doing whatever your old lady tells you to. I'll be out partying all weekend and grabbing as much pussy as I can."
-----"You little shit. You talk big and that's all it is; talk. I'll bet you've never dipped your wick yet." Marvin grinned down at Steve, rolling the tobacco wad in his mouth over to the opposite side.
-----"Shit too!" Steve's face reddened with his anger. Charlie just smiled.
-----"You're going to have to get used to old Marv here, Steve. Besides, we've all had our day at being young studs. Don't get me wrong, though. Us old married farts still have it better in some ways."
-----Steve turned to Charlie with a smirk on his face. "Name one."
-----Charlie glanced at Marvin and both men smiled. "There ain't a night that we can't just reach over and pat it."
-----Still smirking, Steve proceeded to clean up his area.
-----"Quite a smart ass you hired there, Charlie." Marvin looked down at his longtime friend and boss.
-----"Yeah, but we all were at his age."
-----"Hey Charlie!"
-----Charlie looked over at Dave. Dave Simms was one of his best mechanics, second to Marvin. "Yeah Dave?"
-----"End of the month, bossman! Miss March needs to make room for Miss April!"
-----"You bet! I'll take care of that tonight."
-----Dave reached up and gently peeled the tape from the edges of the centerfold. "Can I have this one, Charlie? She has some of the best tits I've ever seen!"
-----"Sure Dave, but what'll Cheryl say? I thought you said that she threw a fit when she came across your collection."
-----"Yeah, but she was pregnant and big as a house, then. You know how pregnant women are."
-----Later on, Charlie sat in the office checking over the weekly books. While wrapping up the cash and stuffing it into the deposit bag, Marvin stepped inside and made his way to the restroom in back. Upon hearing the flush and the opening of the door, Charlie looked up and peered at his friend's face. The familiar bulge in his cheek was gone. Marvin answered his friend's unspoken question.
-----"Well, Lori told me in so many words last night that I can't be around her with tobacco anymore. She said she wouldn't let me in the house unless I got rid of it before I left work."
Charlie smiled and then opened his mouth in a wide yawn. "Women have their hang-ups, old buddy. All we men can do is grin and bare it, and keep as much from them as we can."
Chuckling at this remark, Marvin reached over for his cap. Walking toward the door, he turned and said, "See you Monday. Got any plans?"
-----"Not really, just sitting around waiting for Debbie to call."
-----"Oh yeah? How's she doing?" Marvin stood in the doorway, holding it open halfway with his foot.
-----"Doing just fine. One more year to go and my little girl will have her degree. She should be in for a couple of weeks this summer, though."
-----"I suppose it's hard to tear her away from the beach. Southern California is a far cry from Illinois." Marvin studied Charlie's face.
-----"Yeah, but she and Alice have something cooked up. They've been on the phone every weekend this month. I'm not looking forward to the next telephone bill."
-----Saying good-bye, Marvin left and Charlie finished wrapping up the day's deposits. After locking up, he got into his car and proceeded to the bank's night deposit. With this task completed, he hummed an old song from memory, and drove in the direction of his neighborhood's convenience store. Here, he would pick up the usual six-pack of beer. Since it was the end of the month, he would also purchase the incoming month's nudie magazine. It had been his idea to part with the centerfold each month to the boys at the garage. Pasted above the grime and grease, each day they could capture a bit of inspiration. Some were legmen. Others, like Dave, loved big tits. Real or fake, it didn't matter to him.
-----Charlie, on the other hand, had a fetish for butts, nice firm behinds. That was something Alice hadn't had for years. Most women didn't after having babies. Although Debbie was their only child, Alice had lost two in miscarriages. More kids would have been nice, but after being exposed to the cost of college for Debbie, he figured that it was just as well.
-----He smiled as he thought of his daughter. She had always been the object of his pride. Not only was she beautiful, but smart, too. She didn't make Homecoming Queen in high school, but Charlie felt in his heart that she should have been. Anyway, that was all past. His baby had just turned twenty-one and was in her junior year of college. He was a proud man.
-----"Now, where the hell..... Hey Jack! Where are the new issues?" Charlie stood by the magazine counter leafing through leftover copies of the previous month.
-----"Sorry about that, Charlie. I just got them in today. I haven't put them out yet. Here, I'll get it for you."
-----"Thanks, Jack." Charlie tossed a twenty on the counter and waited for the latest issue, which was covered in the usual way with only the name of the magazine showing.
-----After receiving his change, Charlie said good-bye to the clerk and returned to his car. Placing his beer on the passenger seat, he slid behind the steering wheel and put the key into the ignition. Pausing before shifting into gear, he tore away the wrapper from the magazine and felt for the familiar middle area.
-----"Let's see what the boys will be slobbering over this month," he said to himself. He turned on the switch so that the overhead light would reveal April's beauty to his eyes. Peeling down the bottom half revealed a pair of luscious legs, against a red velvet background. As his eyes traveled upward, he discovered what he deemed to be the best butt he had seen in a longtime. There it was, smooth and silky. A dainty hand was covering, ever so slightly, the dark blond feminine fur. Lifting up the remainder of the page, two full, taut breasts burst forth onto the paper. "Dave'll sure be pleased," he said aloud.
-----"What the..... What!" Charlie sat with his mouth open. Shock waves tumulted through his body. He felt nauseous, for staring back at him with her full lips in a sensuous pout was his baby girl. Turning to the cover, he looked and read in horror, "Meet Debbie Schaeffer, April's Playmate Of The Month."
-----Charlie sat in the car, unable to move. The magazine fell from his hands, and still he sat motionless.
-----Endless moments went by, and then a spark ignited inside of him. A flame grew and consumed his trancelike state. Starting the engine and gripping the steering wheel, he slammed the car in gear and screeched out of the parking lot. Charlie was angry.
The drive home was a blur and the sound of squealing tires turning in the driveway caused shadows to appear in neighboring windows. Eyes, which peered through parted curtains, witnessed an agitated man, slamming the door of his car shut, fumbling a six-pack of beer and practically tripping all the way to his front porch.
-----"Alice!" Charlie's voice thundered through the house. His wife emerged from the kitchen with a dishtowel draped over one shoulder, her eyes searching his face.
-----"Hi hon. Jeez, you look pissed! Is everything all right?"
-----"All right? Everything's just great! I waltz into the corner store, get my beer and some reading material, and what do you think I find? This!"
-----Charlie threw the magazine on the coffeetable where it managed to slide smoothly to the other end and stop as it touched Alice's knee. After looking down at their daughter's smiling face, his wife raised her eyes to him in dismay.
-----"Oh Charlie! You ruined it for me! I bought a copy earlier and was going to surprise you."
-----"Surprise me! What the hell are you talking about?"
-----Alice's face beamed as she opened the magazine to the centerfold and unfolded its contents. "Isn't she beautiful! You know, I do believe she has my legs. Come to think of it, she has my breasts, too."
-----Charlie could only stare dumbfounded at the woman he thought he knew. "Alice, for Christ's sake, you knew about this?"
-----"Of course. Debbie and I have been talking about it for months."
-----"For months? How could you let her display herself like this? What the hell are you doing giving the okay for my daughter...."
-----"Just a minute, Charlie. Our daughter is twenty-one and perfectly capable of making her own decisions. A photographer from the magazine approached her on campus and offered to pay her good money just for some trial photo shoots. As it turned out, she did extremely well, and now she's Miss April. I thought you'd be proud to add your daughter to your collection."
-----Charlie continued to stare stupidly at the woman in front of him. This couldn't be his wife. Then, suspicion, followed by denial crept into his brain.
-----"Collection? What collection?"
-----"You know, babe. The magazines you keep out in the garage. As a matter of fact, I looked through some of them in order to give Debbie some ideas as to which poses and stuff she should try. I put them all back just as neatly as you had them. When I saw that all of the centerfolds were gone; I decided to get April's issue for myself. By the way, what do you do with the centerfolds?"
-----Charlie slumped down on the sofa, shaking his head dejectedly. This was absolutely too much for him to bear. His weekend was shot, hell, and his entire life. He was sure of one thing, though. There would be no picture of his daughter hanging in the garage for those animals to salivate over.
-----"Charlie! Are you listening?" Alice's voice crashed through his thoughts like a wrecking ball.
-----"Alice, why didn't she ask if she needed more money?"
-----"Charlie, one reason she did this was because of us. Apparently, now she can cover all of next year's tuition and expenses, and still have plenty left over. She won't need any money from us and wants us to have a real vacation this year. You had better come to grips with this Charlie. I don't want you hurting our baby's feelings when she comes home this summer."
-----After supper, and four of the beers he had bought earlier, Charlie went upstairs and paused by his daughter's bedroom. Turning the doorknob, he opened the door and surveyed the room and its contents. Photographs displaying all stages of her life dotted the furniture, from diapers to high school. The scene blurred and was replaced by her naked body on a background of red. Underneath this vision was a caption, which read, "I enjoy men who like to have fun." Shaking his head as if to rid himself of the tortuous vision, he shut the door. He ran down the stairs and into the garage. Reaching up, he lowered a cardboard box from a shelf that was used to store various tools and cleaners.
-----Standing alone in the silence, he pondered on the contents and reality jabbed at his heart. Contained in his collection were other men's daughters. He wondered how many felt as he did inside. He also wondered how they had dealt with their own situations. The thought of Debbie's photo hanging in the garage seemed obscene to him now, not an inspiration.
-----Opening the garage door, Charlie carried his collection to the refuse bin and dropped the entire box inside. He decided he would have a long talk with Alice.
He realized that Debbie was old enough to make her own decisions, but he needed to make both of the women in his life understand how this had affected him.
Walking back to the house, the thought of a vacation sounded better and better. A cruise just might be the thing he and Alice needed. An Alaskan cruise. The last thing he wanted to see was a bikini.
-----On Monday morning, Schaeffer's Garage opened as usual for business. The sun rose, tossing golden spears of light across the sky and thrusting any hint of rain aside. Marvin greeted all employees at the desk. Here, they learned that he would be in charge for a while. The boss and his wife were on vacation for three long weeks. As the men entered the garage, their eyes turned upward to the designated spot for each month's beauty.
-----"What the hell is this?"
-----Marvin stepped through the door and was bombarded by questioning eyes. Hanging on the wall was a print of abstract art. The piece was entitled, "Nude".
-----"Well boys, it's like this." Marvin placed a piece of tobacco into his mouth and slowly savored it before speaking again. "Charlie says that there's enough woman in that one picture to satisfy anyone of you. You just have to be man enough to figure her out."
Marvin grinned at the bewildered faces before him and turned toward the Caprice. Amid the grumbling of a few, he overheard a comment from Steve. "I'll bet his old lady found his collection."
-----Work resumed as usual. The sliding doors of the garage were lifted so that all could enjoy the warm spring day. Birdsong filled the air and the low drone of a radio hummed in a corner. As lunchtime approached, Marvin closed the hood of the Caprice and turned to discover Dave staring intently at the print. "You know fellas, I think I see a great pair of tits!"