The scaffolding was very disconcerting. Huck Flynn was wrestling with the company accounts but could not concentrate, not only for the noise but for the Huggy Bear of a fellow in a yellow hard hat who kept winking at him. Every time Huck glanced in the mirror, Huggy would tap his hat in a mock salute, toss a salacious wink and cause the frustrated accountant to screw up his sums...no mean feat in bikini briefs.
Eventually, he could stand it no more but leapt to his feet, went to the window and struggled to open it. "I can't get it up," he mouthed to Huggy Hard Hat.
"Let me help you," Huggy mouthed back at him.
Together, they huffed and puffed and finally got it up.
"I can't concentrate with all this going on," Huck complained over the noise of an electric drill just above their heads.
Huggy shrugged. "What do you expect me to do about it?"
"Surely, you can do something?"
"I can do lots," Huggy winked, "I'm putting my hand to this and that all the time, me."
"I can imagine," retorted Huck stiffly.
"Can I come in?" Huck's jaw dropped. "The window..."
"Oh, yes, I suppose so," Huck agreed since, obviously, he wasn't going to get any work done.
Every muscle straining, Huggy heaved himself inside. Huck was impressed. Huggy was big, the gap narrow. Once inside, Huggy did not relax but remained tense, like the bear he was, sniffing at the air as if smelling danger. Not for the first time, Huck regretted his choice of aftershave.
"So, here we are," commented Huggy.
"Here we are," Huck agreed, "I'm Huck by the way."
"I'm Gordon but all my friends call me Flash."
"Would you like a drink?"
"What are you offering?"
"Tea, coffee?"
"Oh!" Flash's face fell. Huck vowed to change his aftershave. "A coffee would go down a treat."
"With cream? I have plenty."
"I bet you have," Flash licked his lips. A bemused Huck went to a small fridge in one corner of the room and bent down. He was quite unprepared for the hefty slap on his rump, which sent coffee and cream spilling across the carpet. He sprung ro his feet and turned on the workman, incandescent with rage. The grapes of wrath stuck in his throat, however as he perceived another bunch, in the workman's jeans.
"A sight for sore eyes, eh?" Flash followed the accountant's look and uttered a throaty chuckle. "A good worker, me, and a good worker will always have the right tool to hand for the right job. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well, that's my motto."
"Absolutely," the accountant agreed, playing with his tie to mask his confusion.
"The heat getting to you, is it? Here, let me..."
Before Huck could move away, grubby fingers were at his throat and a tie bearing the crest of a prestigious cricketing fraternity dropped ignominiously to the floor. Huck tried to protest but the other's hot breath smothered his mouth, intoxicating his lungs. A forefinger caked in plaster brushed his neck. Full, sensual lips set in a wicked grin were too close for comfort but Huck's pin-stripe legs stubbornly refused to budge a centimetre. The bear's eyes, a deep brown, nuzzled at him and his entire body broke out in goose bumps.
"How dare you slap my backside like that?" Huck croaked feebly.
"Oh, I dare," the bear wagged a claw, "Never could resist a juicy rump. Mind you, you can't beat a slice of topside. Couldn't believe my luck, your inviting me to come in..."
"I only wanted to..." Huck stammered.
"I know what you want. I could tell the first time I saw you bent over that desk. There's a man who needs to be straightened out, I said to myself. Take away the chair and make a few adjustments and - hey, presto! - the neatest box of tricks you ever did see...
"I don't follow..."
"No problem. Flash will do all the hard work, so you don't have to."
Huck gulped as fat, meaty fingers began tugging at his clothes. "You can't do this!" he wailed, "It's only half past two in the afternoon, damn it."
"Time waits for no man," observed Flash philosophically, tugging at Huck's belt.
"My secretary," Huck wailed, "she's likely to come through that door at any moment."
"That's okay, I'm bisexual. The more the merrier," the bear began to chuckle then roared with laughter at the sight of Huck's Mickey Mouse boxer shorts, a birthday present from an elderly auntie who had lost all track of time and thought her favourite nephew was still in short trousers. Huck's face glowed red with embarrassment before turning a shade crimson as Mickey Mouse was grabbed by the ears and left dangling at Huck's ankles. At this point, his legs gave way and he sank on his knees to the floor.
"You can't, you mustn't, I won't let you...." Huck stammered, staring wide-eyed at the bunch of grapes being paraded under his nose. Huggy's words came back to haunt him - The right tool for the right job. He opened his mouth to protest. Alas, too late. Hard Hat Huggy Bear - Flash to his friends - was already on the job.
"One good turn deserves another," said Flash later, having failed to live up to his name and taken ages, "Now, let's see what you're made of..."
Huck, finally, had to admit; it sure beat being accountable to accounts.
Much later, Huggy Hard Hat climbed back through the window and resumed working. The office phone rang. The accountant staggered to his desk to take the call. He did not hear Flash call up to a mate, "Hey, man, I just had the best Huck of my goddam life..."
the end