Storiesonline.net ------- Beth 3 by Svengali's Ghost Copyright© 2010 by Svengali's Ghost ------- Description: Beth and Tommy's Senior year. As high school draws to a close, the pair look forward to what's next. (If you haven't already, I suggest you read Beth and Beth 2 first.) Codes: mf rom ------- ------- Chapter 1 "They're moving, Tommy!" Kevin sat on the couch looking like somebody had just punched him in the gut. "They? Are you talking about Gail?" All I got was a dejected nod. According to the big brother's owner's manual I should now offer my younger sibling the benefit of my vast experience on how to handle losing a girl. The problem was my experience bucket on that particular subject was empty. Beth was my first real girlfriend and when I tried to imagine losing her, my mind immediately skittered away from the subject—I didn't even want to THINK of life without my lady, and that gave me little insight into what Kevin was going through. I suppose I could tell him he was too young to know what love was, but all I had to do was look at him to know platitudes weren't going to help. Besides I hope I never become that big a hypocrite. I took a deep breath, "Kev, I wish I knew what to say, but I can't think of anything that'll help. Where are they moving to?" I hoped it was somewhere within driving distance. I mean, my brother could be a pest, but if I could drive him to see her once in a while... "Tommy, they're moving to California! I-I'll never see her again!" He just sort of collapsed in on himself, holding his sides as he rocked back and forth on the couch. What could I say? "When are they leaving?" "Today!" he wailed. "Her folks didn't even tell her about it until they'd sold the house and everything. The moving van is there now! Oh, god, I'll never see her again!" He climbed off the couch and stumbled toward his room. Damn, I wish I could think of something that would help. Just then there was a knock on the front door and Beth walked in, "Hi, Tommy, what's up? Let's do something on our last day before... "Tommy, what's wrong?" I told her what Kevin had said. "Oh, no. Poor guy. What did you say to him? I hope you didn't tell him first loves never work out!" "No, I didn't say that, because I won't, I can't, believe that's true." I looked at Beth. It took a couple of seconds before she realized what she'd suggested, "Oh, Tommy, no, not us!" I took Beth in my arms, "Not if I have anything to say about it. Now what can I say or do to help my brother?" Beth just shook her head. So much for the last night of vacation. ------- Monday morning dawned promising a beautiful day—and we were going to be stuck in school. Life just isn't fair sometimes. I picked up Beth and aimed my beater toward what was to be our prison for the next six hours. "You ready for this?" I asked my lady. "Tommy, why do you always do this? You know you like school. Why sound like you'd rather be getting a root canal without anesthetic?" "It's not school, just the transition FROM vacation TO school that sucks." By the time we got there the parking lot was full of kids looking about as enthusiastic as we did. Greg and Cindy were already there and were walking over to meet us as we exited my Slobovian limo. "Hey, guys!" Greg was trying to sound excited to be here, but it wasn't working. "You ready for some more of those educational opportunities they're always talking about?" "Oh, yeah, just thrilled," I responded. Beth just looked at Cindy and grinned. We joined the parade of the depressed marching toward the building. "Well, hello, Bethany, still slumming, I see." Oh, great, the year was off to a stellar beginning, five feet inside the building and already the hassles had started. We turned around to find Jason Williamson—the III, no less—sneering at me. He was one of those self-proclaimed members of the Elite, the kind who acted like his father's money—inherited, of course—entitled him to look with disdain on the rest of humanity. "Oh, Jason," Beth gushed, "How I've missed you this summer! I've had an absolutely boring time without your stimulating presence!" The sarcasm just dripped from every word, but III didn't seem to catch it. "Well, Bethany, now that we are back in school, I'll be more than pleased to allow you to accompany me." Allow Beth to do anything? Allow? I glanced at Greg and Cindy. Cindy had a look like she was just waiting for the explosion. Greg glanced at me and mimed putting his fingers in his ears. I looked back at my lady just in time to see her pull Jason toward her by the shoulders and whisper in his ear. He slowly went pale and tried to pull away but Beth had a tight grip that seemed to be getting tighter. As her knuckles turned white, so did his face. Finally she released him, turned back to me, grabbed the sides of my head and tried to devour my face, leaving JWIII rubbing his arms trying to get his circulation—and his dignity—back before he stumbled off. "Wow!" Greg whispered. "Remind me to NEVER get her pissed at me!" "What did you say to him?" I wanted to know. "Who, little old me? I just made a comment about his parents' wedding date." Cindy started giggling as Greg and I looked at each other. What would the date of his parents' marriage have anything to do with it? Then it connected. "How long?" I asked. "Only about four months," Beth replied. "Hmm, doesn't it usually take nine?" I grinned. "Well," Cindy chuckled, "maybe when you're rich..." That broke us all up. Maybe today would turn out okay after all. Greg and Cindy headed for their lockers as Beth and I turned off to find ours. My lady managed to get us assigned to adjacent lockers somehow. I didn't know how and I wasn't going to ask. After we dropped our stuff, we started down the hall toward our homerooms. As we got to Beth's, she pulled me out of traffic for a quick kiss. "Mr. Randahl, did you not learn your lesson last year?" I knew that voice and I didn't like it. "Hello, Mr. Adams. Did I do something wrong?" I knew the answer, but maybe... "We've talked before about groping young ladies. Haven't we Mr. Randahl?' "But, Mr. Adams," Beth interrupted, "Tommy wasn't groping me!" "Miss Jones, are you trying to tell me I don't know groping when I see it? Perhaps it's time we get your parents involved, both of you, to the office!" Beautiful, haven't been to a single class and already I'm on Adams' shit-list. Great way to start your senior year, Tommy. And so we sat in the office until our respective parental units could rescue us. Beth's folks got there first. "Well, dear daughter, what mischief have you gotten into this time? And, Tommy, are you leading our daughter astray?" Beth's dad was grinning as he looked at me. "No, sir ... At least not this time, Beth was leading," I grinned back. Adams came out of his office, "Are you Miss Jones' parents?" When they nodded, he motioned them into his office. "And you two, go back to class," he said as he closed the door. My mom walked in about then and looked at me, shaking her head. "I thought I told you not to get caught again." "I know. Neither of us saw Adams. I swear he just materializes at the wrong time." Mom motioned toward the closed door. "Is someone in his office now?" "Yeah, Beth's folks just went in." "And what do they think of all the fuss?" "Well," Beth answered, "Dad was grinning before they went in, so I don't think they think this is much of a problem. Um, how about you?" "Tommy," she looked at me. "Life would be a lot easier of you could make it through a whole school year without getting me called away from work." I just nodded as Beth and I headed to our first-hour classes. We were sitting in our first CAD drawing class when "Bethany Jones and Thomas Randahl please come to the office," blared from the PA. Beth and I looked at each other, shrugged and grabbed our books. "So what do you think His Honor's going to hit us with?" "Tommy, why do you have such a problem with Adams?" "Maybe because he seems to like singling me out. I mean there were at least three other couples lip-locking out in that hallway. So why did he pick on us?" Beth just shrugged. We got to the office and, as usual, Adams kept us waiting, I guess that's his petty way of trying to prove who's in charge. "Miss Jones, Mr. Randahl, come in here," our master speaks. So which of us was supposed to be Nipper? We entered the sanctum and faced our tormentor. "What am I going to do with the two of you? After talking to your parents it's obvious where your disrespect comes from. Do you realize your parents did not believe me when I said behavior such as yours leads to teen pregnancy?" I glanced at Beth and almost lost it. She was trying to keep a serious expression on her face and not succeeding. "Well, Mr. Randahl, what do you have to say for yourself?" "Nothing, sir." Might as well be polite to the reactionary old fossil. Kissing leads to teen pregnancy? Boy, are we in trouble! "Nothing? You've always had an opinion in the past. Surely you have something to say!" "Yes. Sir. I do, but I'm not going to, sir." "And why not?" "I'll tell you why!" Beth erupted. "Because you don't really want to listen to him. You're just hoping he'll incriminate himself!" "Miss Jones! I did not speak to you! Now Mr. Randahl, you will explain yourself. You have been a troublemaker for long enough!" "Sir, there is no explanation that will satisfy you so I choose not to speak." "Perhaps a suspension will loosen you tongue." Suspended for grabbing a quick kiss in the hall? I wonder what Mr. Williams, the principal, would say to that? "No, sir, it wouldn't. However if you really want me to speak, please let me use the phone first." "No, I will not. Your mother has already been here. Who would you call?" "My parents' attorney, of course." "Attorney?" Suddenly Adams didn't seem so sure of himself. "Listen. The two of you get out of here and I don't want to hear of any more trouble from either of you!" We got. "What's going on with Mr. Adams?" Beth asked. "I don't know He seems more hyped than usual with kids and sex. You don't suppose he's turning into a dirty old man, do you?" Beth just shuddered. ------- Lunch that first day back was interesting. The lunch room looked subtly different and it took me a while to figure out what it was—during the summer break someone had replaced half of the eat your veggies posters with better living through abstinence ones. Adams' influence? Wasn't it bad enough that the school district was forced to teach abstinence-only in Sex Ed without pushing it down our throats everywhere else? I mean, kids our age always had sex on our minds and telling us "no" wasn't going to stop it. But between the new posters and Adams' almost foaming at the mouth over a simple hallway kiss I had a feeling something was up. Our usual gang, and most of last year's "mice," were already sitting in our usual spot. This year they'd pulled another table over because group had grown with the addition of a bunch of new guys, mostly more music and theater geeks and a couple of science nerds. We sat down next to each other and spent a few minutes catching up on everybody's summer. Beth had turned to answer a question from one of the girls when I got deluged by the guys. "Um, Tommy, how do you meet a girl?" "Tommy, how do you talk to a girl?" "Tommy, where do you get condoms?" The last one generated a bunch of hoots and comments, "What do you need condoms for anyway?" "Kind of expensive water balloons aren't they?" and several others along the same lines. Suddenly I found myself cast as a male Dear Abby! I heard Beth snicker next to me. "Guys, listen, I'll tell you the same thing I told my brother: get to know the girl, ask her some questions—things like what did you think of lunch, how's your English class going, things to get them talking. Remember, if the GIRL is talking, YOU don't have to. And pay attention to what they say! Nothing will turn off a girl faster than having to answer the same question over and over. "And here's the biggie! Assuming you do find someone to date, never, never, never tell anybody what you did, are planning to do or what you want to do with a girl. Like I told my brother, it'll always get back to the girl and you'll never see her, or anybody she knows, again. Keep it to yourself! No bragging! "As far as condoms go: every drugstore carries them or go ask the school nurse." "Yeah, but Tommy, where do you find a girl?" This from one of the new guys. "Joey, Right?" The kid in question nodded. "Joey, there's a whole tableful of girls right here—probably asking Beth the same questions." I pointed out the table with most of Beth's 'mice.' "Come on, Tommy, I mean just look at them! Who'd want them?" "Joey, you weren't around last year so I'll cut you a break. You never saw Beth or Shelly Thomas or Chris Hanson before the changes they went through. Get to know a girl and watch the change." "Are you saying those girls can look like Beth? I don't believe it!" exclaimed Joey. "I'm not promising anything, but get to know a few of those girls and see if I'm not right." "Welll," Joey mumbled. "I suppose it won't hurt to try..." "Look," I offered, "do you have a car?" "Well, not my own, but I can drive." "Then why don't you stop over at the coffee shop on Friday night? There's usually some unattached girls there and it's a nice, neutral place. "If you haven't connected with anyone by the end of the night, offer a ride for anyone who needs it. That's how I met Beth." Just then the bell rang so we got up and headed back to class. ------- As we were driving home after school Beth looked at me with that little grin I first saw the Friday night that started this glorious relationship. "So how does it feel?" "Feel? What feel?" "To be the expert?" She grinned. I just snorted, "Expert? If I'm an expert those guys are in a world of hurt." "C'mon, Tommy, I heard what you were telling them—even if you were just recycling what you told Kevin last year." Kevin! What, if anything, was I going to do about my brother? "You're thinking about Kevin and Gail, aren't you?" "Yeah." I'd given up trying to figure out how Beth does that, that ESP thing of hers, I just accept it as something man—or at least this particular man— is not supposed to know. "Too bad we don't know anybody at the middle school," Beth mused. "Both Greg and Cindy have sisters over there. Maybe they'd know someone." "Tommy, are you trying to set up your brother?" "Hey! You brought it up!" "Oh, yeah, I guess I did. Would Kevin thank you for sticking your nose in?" "Right now I honestly don't know. All I know is having him mope around the house all the time is going to drive me nuts." "Let me talk to Cindy, see what her sister knows." I was more than happy to leave things in my lady's capable hands. I got home to find Mom waiting. "Tommy, how do you always manage to get into these messes? Didn't last year teach you anything? Mr. Adams chewed me out for ten minutes about your lack of self-control. Just what were you and Beth up to?" "Mom, that was the thing, we weren't doing anything. It was just going to be a little kiss and all of a sudden Adams was standing there foaming at the mouth. We didn't even see him coming." "That preoccupied, huh?" Mom grinned. "I know how that works." "No, that's the thing. Beth had just pulled me away from everybody else. We didn't have a chance to kiss or anything!" "Well, all I know is he was convinced the two of you were all set to procreate right there on the hall floor. Look, just try to cool it when he's around, okay?" ------- "Tommy, Beth! How's you senior year going?" Mr. Franks, our theatre instructor, met us in the hall. It was the second week of school and things were settling into a routine. "Oh, pretty good," I answered. "At least Mr. Adams hasn't found a reason to kick me out ... yet." Beth just shook her head. "Having problems with our esteemed vice-principal, eh? Well, you're not alone. He cut our budget for the theater this year, instead of a three act play, the one act and a musical, we've been cut back to only two shows." "What are we going to be doing?" Beth asked, sounding very interested. "The decision was to do a musical revue this fall and a full musical in the spring." "What are they going to be?" I asked. Mr. Franks got a sly little grin on his face. "Ah, for that you're going to have to come to a group meeting tomorrow after school." "Oh, come on, Mr. Franks," Beth vamped, "you can tell us." He just chuckled, "Beth, save it for Tommy, I'm not going to tell you 'til tomorrow. "And quit pouting, it's not going to work, sorry." He turned with a grin and walked down the hall. Beth spent the afternoon in shock. I don't think anyone had ever resisted her pout before—I know I hadn't. ------- The next afternoon we all gathered in the theatre to get the news. Beth and I hadn't told anyone what we knew. Not that it was much. Mr. Franks got up on stage and looked over the group, "Welcome back to those of you from last year and greetings to the new crop of victims ... er ... volunteers." After the laughter died down, he gave everyone the news of the cuts. After the groans died Beth stood up, "Mr. Franks, what will the shows be?" I could tell the suspense was eating her up. "Well, a lot of you won't recognize either one, but this fall we'll be doing Side By Side By Sondheim. It's a musical revue. Then next spring we'll be doing Fiorello." "We're going to do an OPERA?!" One of the guys wailed. "No," Mr. Franks laughed. "I think you're thinking of Fidelio, which IS an opera. No, Fiorello is a musical about Fiorello LaGuardia, the mayor of New York way back in the Twenties. You might recognize the name—one of New York's airports is named for him. The original cast of the show starred Tom Bosley, the father from the Happy Days TV show, as Fiorello." I'd heard of the show, but wasn't familiar with it. I'd have to check Dad's LP collection when we got home. He had a lot of original cast albums for shows NOBODY knew. Mr. Franks finished up with the audition dates for Side By Side—the following Thursday. I glanced at my lady and I could see the gleam in her eye—what a change from last year. ------- I got home that afternoon after "studying" at Beth's for a couple of hours. My brother was camped in front of the TV watching some old sitcom. "Hey, Kev. How's school?" "Oh, okay, I guess." "Meet anyone new?" "Oh, some kids, nobody special." I wanted to ask him how he was doing without Gail, He'd been a little less preoccupied over her lately, but I didn't know how to bring up the subject without setting him off on one of his misery trips. So I chickened out and headed for my room to spend some time trying to figure out Photoshop. I should have paid more attention. ------- Saturday Beth and I met Cindy and Greg at the farm for a picnic and some swimming. It was in the upper seventies and the water was still warm enough for swimming. Greg and I had chickened out and worn our suits, but after lunch the girls just stripped down and headed for the pond. Greg and I looked at each other, shrugged and decided what was good for the goose... I had pretty much gotten over my little twitch about anybody else seeing Beth naked so watching Greg trying not to get caught ogling my lady had Cindy and me in stitches. Beth just seemed to take the attention as her due, not posing or teasing, just enjoying the water and a nice fall afternoon. Later Beth and I were stretched out on our blanket while the other two had gone for a "walk" in the woods. I was propped up on one elbow using a long blade of grass to trace my way along all of Beth's interesting points. She lay on her back just relaxing in the afternoon sun with only a twitch now and then when I found a sensitive spot. "Tommy, are you going to do that all day?" "Why, am I disturbing you?" "No I just want you to lose the grass!" I always do what I'm told. I tossed the grass and ran my hand up her side then over onto her right breast, paying special attention to the nipple that was just begging to be tweaked. As I lowered my face and licked its mate, Beth stretched like a cat, "Tommy, do you know how GOOD you make me feel?" "Well, I know how good it makes ME feel," I said as I poked her in the hip with my other "finger." "That's not where that goes, you know," she purred. "I know. I'm just playing blind man's bluff," I kidded her. "You better NOT be bluffing!" she said as she rolled over, forcing me onto my back. As she straddled me, she looked down, "Do you remember the first time we did this?" "Oh, yeah! The time I tried to pull out because I didn't have any protection?" "That's the one," my lady replied as she guided me into her. "Is it still as good?" "Mmm, oh yeah. Just not as surprising," I replied as I remembered that first night and how thrilled I was when she'd said she thought it was time. Beth looked at me. "So you were surprised too," she whispered as she started to move over me. ------- We were back in the pond trying to clean up when Greg and Cindy came around the bushes both wearing very satisfied grins. "Are you two STILL swimming?" Cindy asked. "Not still—again," Beth responded. As Cindy waded in, Greg picked her up and carried her to the middle of the pond. "Greg! If you drop me I'll, I'll..." "I'm not going to drop you, I'm just going to help," he said as he put her down and reached around her to "help" wash her breasts. "Yeah ... help yourself!" She replied as she snuggled back into him, enjoying the sensation. Seeing them together like that reminded me again of the height difference. Greg was almost a foot taller but it didn't seem to bother them. Like Cindy said once, "Yeah, but horizontally we're the same size!" After we dried off, we decided pizza sounded good. Twenty minutes later and we were at the Palace, waiting for our food. "So how's school, kids?" Jeanie asked after she put our order in. "Oh, not so bad, now that we're seniors," Greg answered. "Even though we thought Tommy was going to get booted out before he even started!" "There's got to be a story behind that!" Jeanie responded with a chuckle. The place wasn't very busy yet, and she didn't seem to be in a hurry, so we told her about our encounter with Adams. "There's a reason behind his attitude, you know." We all looked at her, "There is?" Jeanie pulled up a chair from an adjoining table. "You probably didn't hear about this, but his only niece died last spring. She was about your age and got herself pregnant. There were complications and they lost both her and the baby." We sat there and just looked at each other in stunned silence as Jeanie got up to get our pizza. Finally Beth looked at me. "Oh, Tommy, no wonder he's been so nuts about kids fooling around!" I sat there with a whole raft of different emotions running through me. I mean the guy's been a pain in the ass for as long as I've been in high school, but how can you hate a guy who's been through something like that? That was probably the quietest meal we'd ever had together. ------- Chapter 2 The following Thursday found us in the theatre waiting for auditions to start. My dad had a copy of Side By Side and we listened to it one afternoon. One thing was obvious: Stephen Sondheim doesn't write typical "boy meets girl" musicals. Mr. Franks came in and looked around. "Well, I hope you're all ready for a wild ride. I'll warn you up front that Sondheim's music is probably the most challenging you'll run into—at least in a Broadway show. Those of you who are cast will work like you've never worked before. Just fair warning for anyone who wants to bolt for the door now." There was a nervous chuckle, but no one left. "Are you ready for a challenge like this?" I asked Beth. She looked at me with that little grin. "Tommy, I've been challenged ever since I met you. Remember that first Saturday?" she said as she snuggled next to me. "Okay, break it up you two!" Greg leaned over the seat and grinned. Two hours later we were on our way home. Results of the auditions wouldn't be posted until the following Tuesday, so everybody had the weekend to sweat. Of course, one person's sweat is another person's sweet... "Tommy, I think it's time for a trip to the farm," Beth said as she ran her hand up my leg. I love auditions. ------- School was over Friday afternoon and I was at my locker dumping my books when Cindy walked up, "Tommy, can I talk to you?" "Sure, what's up?" "Can we take a walk? I don't want to talk around a lot of people." "Okay, can we wait for Beth? She wanted to talk to Mr. Franks. I think she's trying to con the audition results out of him." "Think she'll have any luck?" Cindy asked. Since she'd auditioned, too, I was sure she'd want to know who got in. "I doubt it, at least if their last encounter is any indication." "Indication of what?" Guess who had snuck up behind me? "Oh, nothing. Cindy and I were just waiting for you, that's all." Tap-dance a little faster, why don't you, Tommy? "Uh huh. You just stick with that, Tommy." We walked out into the yard area between the buildings. "Okay, Cindy. What's the big secret?" I jokingly asked. "Tommy, I don't think you're going to be laughing after you hear this. "I talked to my sister and it sounds like Kevin is getting a little wild at school." Cindy sounded like that was the last thing she wanted to tell me. "Kevin? My quiet little brother? What do you mean wild?" "Well, it seems he's been after every girl he can and, if the rumors are right, scoring with a bunch of them." "Kevin? That doesn't sound like him," Beth said. "Hey, I'm just passing along what I heard, but I thought you'd want to know, Tommy." "Thanks, Cindy. Sounds like it's time for a brother-to-brother discussion." Greg walked up to us. "So here's where you're hiding. You trying to start a harem, Tommy?" Cindy draped herself over me, "Yeah, Tommy, you want to take me home?" Beth slipped her arms around Greg, "Looks like I've been abandoned. You want to take home a stray?" "Looks like our bluff's being called," Cindy said as she unwound herself and moved over to Greg. Beth just sighed and walked over to me, "Well, I guess, if I have to take second best..." As we drove home, Beth and I talked about my brother. "Tommy, what do you think is going on with Kevin? It just doesn't sound like the shy kid I met last fall." "I don't know. But after I drop you off I'm going to have a talk with him. Maybe it's nothing—just an exaggerated rumor." "I hope so. Kev seems like a nice guy, I'd hate to think he's turning into one of those bastards that try to score just to keep score." So did I. ------- Kevin was on the couch in front of the idiot box when I walked in. "Hi, Kev. How goes it?" "Oh, okay, I guess." "How's school going? Meeting anybody interesting?" "Nah." "Nobody special? Not even any girls?" I hated to lead him like this, but I wasn't ready to just come out and accuse him of anything. "Nah, nobody." "Funny, I heard you've been pretty busy." He turned to look at me. "What do you mean by that?" "Kev, I heard you've been going through a lot of girls over there." "Yeah, so?" "But nobody special?" "No!" He started to get up until I nudged him back down. "Kevin, what's going on?" "What do you mean? Besides it's none of your business!" "It IS my business when my friends start asking me what you're doing." "Okay, so I've been fucking some girls, big deal!" "Fucking some girls? Kevin, it IS a big deal, or at least it should be. Haven't you tried to find one girl? Because if you are trying, you're going about it wrong." "I don't want to find just one girl! Look what happened last time! I didn't even get to see Gail before she moved! Her folks just packed up and moved two thousand miles away and didn't even tell her until they were ready to leave! "I don't EVER want to feel like that again!" He jumped up from the couch and bolted for his room, leaving me sitting there wondering what to say next and wishing I'd brought Beth home with me. Maybe she'd have some idea how to handle this. I sat there for a few minutes then walked upstairs and tapped on his door. "Go away! Leave me alone!" I opened his door and saw him lying on his bed, face buried in the pillow. "Listen Squirt..." "DON'T CALL ME THAT! YOU PROMISED TO STOP THAT!" "Kevin, I promised to stop calling you that when you stopped acting like a kid. Sounds to me like you've slipped." I nudged him over and sat down on the bed. "Look, going through girls like you're keeping score isn't going to help the hurt. What you're doing is nothing better than selfish masturbation—it feels good when you're doing it, but it doesn't fix anything. Have you ever thought about how the girls feel when you're done with them? Have you?" "I don't care! Just leave me alone!" He tried to get up. "Kev, you're not going anywhere until we've talked about this. Okay, I can understand you're hurting since Gail left, but taking it out on other girls isn't going to fix anything." "Okay, mister expert, what am I supposed to do? I don't EVER want to feel that bad again." "I can understand that, but if you don't try to find somebody else you're never going to feel good either. "Look, Kev, I can't imagine what I'd feel like if Beth disappeared, but I know bouncing from girl to girl wouldn't help. On top of that, if you get a rep as a guy who's just carving notches, you're going to find it hard to find anybody to even talk to you. Wise up and start treating the girls the way you want to be treated, not like some points in a game nobody can win." With that I got up and walked out, closing the door behind me, wondering if I did any good. ------- My phone rang as I pulled into the driveway Saturday afternoon. "Tommy, my name is Jim Moore, I understand you're a photographer." "Yes, how can I help you?" "Do you do aerial photography? I've got a couple of buildings and I'd like some pictures of them from the air. Can you help me?" "Well, I've never done any aerial photography before. Do you mind if I take some time to check to make sure my equipment will work?" And spend some time boning up on the subject of shooting from the air, I thought. "Oh, that's no problem, and I've got my own plane and I assume that you'd want me to fly for you." "That sounds good. Oh, one question—can a window be taken out or opened so I don't have to shoot through the glass?" Jim just chuckled, "Oh, that won't be a problem, believe me!" We talked for a few more minutes and made tentative arrangements to meet at the local airport on Wednesday afternoon. Aerial photography! This sounds like it's going to be fun! ------- Saturday night Beth and I met Steve and Sherry for a movie and pizza. We were sitting in "our" booth at the Palace when Sherry giggled. "Do you guys know what they call this booth? I was talking to my mom and she said they called it the snuggle booth! Can you believe it? Mom said she and Dad used to come here all the time!" Beth and I exchanged glances. "I wonder why they called it that?" Beth said with a straight face. "Well, duh! I mean it's off in this corner all by itself!" "Oh, yeah, that'd probably explain it," Beth replied. Steve looked at me and just shrugged. "So Steve, who do you think you'll get cast for Side By Side? You auditioned, didn't you?" "Yeah, but I don't think I've got the voice to carry some of those songs. I picked up the CD and that stuff's tough! I don't think Beth will have any problem, but Mr. Franks wasn't kidding about working our tails off. It would be fun, though..." We finished up our pizza and headed home. We'd been in the car for maybe five minutes when Beth couldn't hold it any more. "The snuggle booth! I can't believe it! Sherry thought it was a big secret. Cheerleaders!" "Hey, come on, she's not that bad. She just thought she had a juicy piece of news, that's all." "Well, I suppose. I wonder what she would have said if we told her about the parking lot!" Beth spent the rest of the trip home chuckling to herself. "Tommy, my folks are gone tonight and I'm afraid to go in the house by myself. Will you come in with me?" Now how could a gentleman refuse a request like that? Especially when I remembered the last time she didn't want to be in an empty house alone. When we got in the family room, I snuggled up behind Beth. "I wonder if there's a Sherlock Holmes movie on tonight?" I whispered in her ear. "If not, I've got the DVD," she responded as she wiggled her butt into my growing erection. "Do you have a sore back, too?" I said as I started rubbing her neck and shoulders. "You wouldn't take advantage of a poor defenseless girl, would you?" She purred. "That all depends on who the girl is," I replied as I reached under her sweater. We both started laughing, remembering our first Friday night. The laughter didn't last too long, though. It was replaced by some more interesting sounds. ------- Sunday I spent the day reading up on aerial photography. It looked like my camera would work as long as I used a fast shutter speed and, to cut down vibration, made sure to not brace myself against the plane. Fortified with my new knowledge, I called Jim on Monday and told him I could get his pictures. ------- Tuesday afternoon all the theatre-types gathered outside Mr. Franks' office waiting for him to post the audition results. He came out with a look of mock surprise. "Well, what are all of you waiting for?" "C'mon, Mr. Franks! We want to know who's in the show!" "Oh, yeah, I was going to post the results today, wasn't I? Now what did I do with those," he said as he started rummaging through his briefcase ... accompanied by crowd sounds usually associated with pitchforks and torches. "Ah, here they are!" He waved a sheet of paper over his head, turned, tacked it to the board and quickly backed away. Smart man. Beth's and Cindy's names were both on the list, as was... "What! Me! How'd that happen? I just auditioned for the fun of it! I didn't think I'd make it!" "Hey, Steve, better talk to Beth about what happens when you audition just for grins," I gave him a nudge. "Yeahbut..." "Mr. Watkins, do you think I made a mistake?" Mr. Franks has a nasty grin when he wants to. "Um, do you really think I can do it?" Steve sounded like he wanted to be convinced. "As I told Miss Jones last year, I wouldn't have cast you if I didn't." Steve looked at Beth and got nothing back but a nod and a grin. As we walked to my car, Beth started giggling, "Did you see the look on Steve's face!" "Yeah, he kind of looked like somebody else I know." Damn, forgot the elbow again! ------- Wednesday after school I met Jim Moore at the airport. "Hi, Jim? I'm Tommy." "Hi, Tommy, great to meet you. You ready to take some pictures?" "You bet. Ah, where's the plane?" "Right over here," he pointed to a bright yellow plane with large main landing gear and just a small wheel in back. "That looks like an old Piper Cub!" "It is, a J3 model Cub to be exact." "Is that the plane we'll be using? It doesn't look like the windows open," I asked as we walked to the plane. Jim just chuckled as he opened the whole right side of the plane! Or at least that's what it looked like. The window was hinged on the top and clipped open to the wing and the panel below hinged down against the fuselage, leaving a top to bottom opening. Well, so much for anything getting in the way of the photos! "Will this do?" He grinned. "Oh, yeah." "Let me preflight my baby and we'll be ready to go." As Jim worked on the plane I tried to calm my nerves. Along with my first try at aerial photography it would also be my first time in a small plane and I didn't want to screw anything up—or lose my lunch all over the inside of the plane! Ten minutes later with the fuel, oil and all the controls checked, Jim said, "Let's go before the light goes." I started to get in the rear seat. "Oh, no you don't. Unless you want to fly it!" "Huh? You mean I get in front? But that means you fly it from the rear seat?" "Yup. Cub pilots are real back seat drivers!" He chuckled. I climbed in the front and fastened the seat belt—tight, and made sure my camera and lenses were secure. If we were going to be flying with what looked like a barn door-sized hole right next to me I wanted to make sure I was going to stay put! As we taxied toward the runway, Jim kept swinging the plane left and right just so he could see where we were going. With a "tail-dragger" as he called it you can't see over the engine when the plane's on the ground! When we got to the end of the runway, Jim firewalled the throttle and the little plane jumped forward. Almost immediately the tail-wheel came off the ground as the Cub picked up speed and soon we were climbing into a perfect blue sky. We flew along a familiar road for a few minutes when I asked Jim if we could take a short detour. He agreed and followed my directions. I took a couple of pictures of the area I was interested in and then we were on our way again and soon got to the industrial park. "The buildings I want are the last two on the right. Can we get shots from several angles?" "No problem. Can we get a little lower for one pass?" "Sure. You want me to land in the parking lot?" Just what I needed—a pilot with a sense of humor! I chuckled, "Not quite THAT low. Just enough so I can get both the faces of the buildings and the roofs in the same shot." After shooting for about a half-hour the wind had really picked up, so Jim turned us into the headwind and started back for the airport. "Watch the ground, Tommy," he said as he throttled back the Cub. "Hey! We're going backwards!" "Uh huh. The J3 stalls at less than forty MPH, so with a strong enough headwind we can actually be moving backward relative to the ground." Weird. After we landed I took a couple of pictures of the plane just for grins then headed home. I went through the aerial shots of Jim's buildings, ending up with six good images out of seventy-five or so. I saved them to a separate directory and then started in on my special pictures from our detour. I was just finishing up when my bedroom door flew open and my princess came bounding in. "Hey Tommy, look what I've got for you ... What are you working on?" I just had time to close the last image as Beth came over and dropped into my lap. "And what are you hiding?" You better tell me, or you won't get your present," she taunted me, holding a bag from my favorite book store over my head. "Nothing to see here, just move along," I responded. "Present? What did I do to earn a present?" "Just because you're such a nice guy, but now..." she said with a mock pout. "Aw. Well, I guess I'll never know what it was then." "That's okay, because it wasn't really a present anyway," grinned the imp wiggling on my lap. Beth doesn't have a lot of ticklish spots—but I know where they are. "T-Tommy, quit that! Okay, okay, here's your present!" She gave me the bag. I looked inside and found a copy of Gowland's Guide To Glamour Photography. Peter Gowland was one of the world's best known glamour photographers. He's written almost forty books, designed and built his own line of cameras, and, despite being in his nineties, he's still working. I'd met a guy online who mentioned Gowland's books and how he used Gowland's techniques to help him photograph girls he'd met. Dave would use Peter's methods to make the girls look good by emphasizing their best points. Maybe there would be something in the book that would help me with a project I saw coming my way. I pulled out the book and started thumbing through it. "Is this a hint?" I leered. "No, not really. Actually, I remembered something you said about taking pictures of my mice and I thought..." "And you thought maybe I could perform the same magic with them that I did with you?" "Well, yeah. Probably not with a bikini, but get some pictures that would make them look good." "Oh, ho, so this is a project, huh?" "Well, you did say you'd help me." She had me there: I had offered to help her girls gain some confidence and fix their self-image. "Okay, when do we start?" "Oh, I thought I'd give you a chance to read the book first, so I didn't set anything up until tomorrow night." "Tomorrow? Well, at least there's no pressure. Who's our first vic ... er, subject?" "I asked Gracie Wilson to come over tomorrow after supper." "You realize this is going to require special duty pay," I said as I nuzzled her neck. ------- Thursday afternoon we grabbed all my lighting equipment and got to Beth's just in time to unload before Gracie pulled up. Gracie was a girl with a beautiful face on too big a body—not fat, just big. She got out of her car with a bag full of clothes and a look like she'd rather be facing a firing squad. "Hi, Gracie," Beth greeted the girl. "Relax, Tommy doesn't bite ... well, not often," she grinned. "Hi, Tommy. I don't know why you're doing this, but I hope it works." "Well," I replied with a grin, "it worked for somebody else I know." Beth took Gracie into the bathroom off the family room as I set up my equipment. When they came out Gracie already looked better. Beth had applied just a little makeup and had her change into a sweater with a V-neck that showed her cleavage. I had her sit on a low stool and adjusted the strobes to emphasize her face and long neck, leaving her lower body in shadows. I took several shots, then Beth took her back to change. After an hour, a couple more clothing changes, and several poses I thought we had enough pictures to show a new Gracie. "Are you going to be at the coffee shop tomorrow night?" "Um, I guess I'll be there, Tommy." "Good, that'll give me time to get these ready. I'll bring along a set of prints tomorrow." "I hope this works," she said as she got in her car. "Gracie, if anyone can do it, it's my Tommy," Beth reassured the girl. As Gracie pulled out of the driveway she looked like she really wanted to believe. We loaded up all the equipment and headed over to my house. Once there I loaded all the images onto my PC and started going through them on the monitor. "Tommy, some of these really look good!" I almost hated to admit it, but there were some great-looking images that really brought out Gracie at her best. A little touching up with Photoshop and we'd see a new Gracie. ------- Friday at lunch our usual group was sitting together with the usual arrangement: girls at one end, guys on the other, and couples in the middle. Joey was looking down at the other end of the tables trying to figure out which of Beth's mice might be dating material. I almost wished I'd brought along one of Gracie's prints just to surprise him, but that wouldn't have been fair to her. Better to make sure he was going to be there tonight. I did notice that Gracie left half her lunch uneaten, pushing it away with a determined look on her face. I glanced at Beth and saw that little smile flit across her face. Friday afternoon after school I e-mailed the aerial shots to Jim along with a note to let me know how many prints he needed and what sizes. Then I grabbed the eight-by-tens I'd made up from Gracie's session, got in my beatermobile and aimed it toward Beth's house. We got to the coffee shop and headed back to our usual corner. I saw Joey was there along with a couple of other guys from our lunch group and several of Beth's mice—including Gracie. After we sat down I snuck the envelope with the prints to Gracie and winked at her. With a blush she opened the envelope and slid the first eight-by-ten out and gasped. She quickly went through the rest of the stack with trembling hands. I glanced up and caught Beth's ear-to-ear grin. Gracie left the prints at her table and rushed over to our side of the table. "Oh, Tommy, I can't believe how good they are! They don't even look like me!" "Of course they do. The camera never lies." Joey had spotted the prints and picked one up. I saw him look at the print, then at Gracie, then back at the print—several times. He seemed to be looking at her in a whole new way. "Gracie," he said, "you look great!" She turned around and saw Joey with the prints. With her face a bright crimson, she looked at him. "Thanks. Tommy's a great photographer isn't he?" The stunned boy just nodded, still staring at the girl he'd never seen. Later that night I heard him ask if she needed a ride home. I knew she had driven over herself but, after taking a deep breath, she nodded and they walked out together. Beth looked at me. "I think this requires a celebration! How about a quick trip to the farm?" Who was I to argue? ------- "Tommy, these pictures look great! They're exactly what I wanted!" I'd answered my phone Saturday morning to find Jim Moore on the other end. "Great, Jim. Do you know what sizes you need?" "Well. I'm not sure. Do you have any samples of the different sizes you can show me?" "Sure, when can we meet? Oh, and do you want any copies for a website?" "I don't know about web pages. I mean the company's got a site, but I don't know anything about it, I'm not even sure if anybody's done any work on it since it was first finished. I'll find out, though." We set up a time to meet after school on Monday. After I hung up I walked downstairs and found Kevin sitting in the family room talking on the phone. "Yeah, but Carol I'm not really like that! No I didn't. Well ... yeah, but ... no, really! Oh, okay." He hung up the phone with a heavy sigh. "You okay, Kev?" He looked up at me and snarled, "Go ahead and gloat. You were right, nobody wants anything to do with me! Now what am I supposed to do?" I sat down next to him. "Kevin, you're going to have to bust your balls to show the girls you've learned your lesson, and that's going to take a lot of work." "Yeah, but how do I start?" "Well, I'm not sure. I'd say you're going to have to spend a lot of time just talking to the girls. Prove to them that you're not trying to get them in bed, you just want to be friends. Maybe if you can do that you may find someone who'd be willing to take a chance on you." Kevin looked at me. "I really fucked up, didn't I?" "Yeah, little brother, you sure did. I hope you can fix it." ------- Chapter 3 "Tommy, why don't you ever talk about your grandparents?" Beth and I were sitting on one of the benches outside the main building just before lunch was over on Monday. "Well, there isn't much to tell. I never knew either of my grandfathers—they both died before I was born—so did my dad's mom. My mom's mother I barely remember as a little old lady in a nursing home. She died when I was about seven or eight. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much when your grandparents were here this summer. "Joan and Hank are really special people and they seemed almost like they were treating me as one of their grandkids." "Tommy, they both said they'd be proud to have you as their grandson," Beth said quietly, then realized what that implied. "Oh, Tommy, I didn't ... I wasn't ... I didn't mean ... oh, shit. I think I just put my foot in it." She was looking at me as if she was waiting for me to jump up and run. "I know what you were trying to say, but you know, being officially one of their grandkids doesn't sound like such a bad thing either," I replied, taking one of her hands in mine. "But don't you think we should wait until we're out of school first?" "Oh, Tommy," she said as she threw her arms around my neck. "What did I ever do to deserve a guy like you?" I saw the glint of a tear in her eye. "Well, as I remember, you conned me out of a ride," I kidded her. "Oh, you goof!" Just then the bell rang and it was back to class. After school we walked over to the theatre building for the first rehearsal. Greg and Cindy were already there, talking to Steve Watkins. Mr. Franks came in and looked at all of us standing around. "Okay, grab seats everybody." After we were sitting down he looked at us. "Well, enjoy your last minutes of freedom, because from now on I'm going to make you think you're in a slave pit." "Ooh, sounds kinky!" Greg quipped. "You think so, Mr. Kendall? Good, because the only part I didn't cast is waiting just for you!" Greg looked like he got hit by a bus as Cindy almost rolled out of her seat laughing. "Yeahbut, I can't sing!" "No singing required. YOU are going to be our narrator!" Mr. Franks looked like he was enjoying this entirely too much. "B-But I've got to run lights!" "I've already considered that. Since a musical revue doesn't require much in the way of lighting, I think Mr. Randahl can handle it. Besides, I've heard he's got a couple of new recruits to help him out." It was true, two freshmen, Phil and Bob, had caught me at lunch one day and asked if there was anything they could do with lighting. Looks like they'd get their wish. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with going over schedules, finding out who was going to sing which songs and all the other details that go with a show. Beth and I were driving home when I remembered our conversation at lunch. "Beth, you never talk about your paternal grandparents. What about your dad's folks?" "Oh ... well, we just don't talk about them much. Dad's father was a doctor and wanted him to be a doctor, too, but Dad was always a gadget freak and wanted to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I guess there was a big fight and Dad moved out and worked his way through school on his own. Even after he and Mom were married and successful enough to start their own business his dad wouldn't speak to them. Mom said Grandma is pretty quiet and won't fight him." I heard a quiet sniffle. "I've never even seen them." We drove in silence for a while, then Beth sat up. "Enough of that. "Tommy, I hope you don't think I was hinting this morning. I mean when we were talking about Grandma Joan and Grandpa Hank, I didn't mean ... well, about making you an official grandkid, I mean..." I pulled over and took her hand. "Beth, breathe. I know you weren't hinting. And like I said this morning, I'd be proud to be one of Joan's and Hank's grandkids. After all, their current one is pretty nice." Beth just put her head on my shoulder and after a few seconds I realized she was crying. "Damn it, Tommy, just when I think you're going to get mad at me you turn all noble. What am I going to do with you?" She sat up and wiped her eyes. "Do you know you're the only guy who's ever made me cry?" What could I say to that? I just moved over and kissed my princess. ------- After school I met Jim Moore at his office. The buildings we'd photographed turned out to be warehouses for the distribution company he worked for. "Hello, Tommy. What have you got for me?" "Well, you asked for samples to show the different standard print sizes so I brought some along." I opened my portfolio, took out most of the prints and laid them on his desk. "I'm not sure what you're going to use the pictures for, so I brought everything from five-by-sevens to a sixteen-by-twenty." Jim started going through the prints, arranging them by size. "My boss is thinking of framing one or two of them and hanging them in our reception area so probably the larger sizes would work the best." I reached back into the portfolio and took out prints from some shots I'd taken at Beth's folk's shop showing the framed pictures and how we'd hung them in their office. "Something like this?" "That's it exactly! How big are those?" "These are sixteen-by-twenties. With the matting they're more like twenty-four-by-thirty or so." "Would you mind if I took these in to show my boss?" "No, go ahead." I spent a few minutes thumbing through magazines and product fliers for machine tools. I wondered if Jim's company supplied the Joneses with anything. Jim came back. "Tommy, do you have a few minutes? I'd like to show you around and maybe pick your brain for some ideas for pictures of the rest of our operation." We spent some time walking around the warehouse, its huge interior filled with row after row of floor-to-ceiling racks full of machine parts and supplies. While we walked I asked Jim about the business and what made them stand out from other companies. As we talked, I pointed out some things that struck me as interesting, including the bar coding on each box or part and the scanners each lift operator carried. In place of the usual forklifts, the ones they used had a platform. The operator rode on the platform rather than on the back of the machine like a normal forklift. Each operator had a small laptop with a pick list of what had been ordered and map of the warehouse loaded on it. The operators would follow the map and scan each piece as they took it off the shelf. This would update the list in the computer and point out the next item's location. Jim was very proud of the operation and spent some time talking about how much time it saved and how much more accurate it was over the old manual system they'd used before. "My boss was thinking some pictures in here would look good on the wall, too," he said as we walked back to the office. "Jim, how about advertising and the company web site? You seem pretty proud of your system, maybe using some of the pictures to get the word out would work." I was being a little sneaky here—I'd looked at the company's web site and it was not much more than a list of the companies they represented. Jim looked at me. "Tommy, that's a good idea. It turns out our web site was put together by a guy who used to work here and was just to get something out on the web. Nobody here has any idea how to change it or anything. Do you know of anybody that does stuff like that?" "As a matter of fact, I do," I said as I pulled out a business card for my two friends from school. "Give Jim or Dan a call and they can probably help you out." We talked for a few more minutes and as I was getting ready to leave, I remembered the last print I still had with me. I reached in my portfolio and pulled out a print of Jim's plane. "I almost forgot, this is a sample of an eleven-by-fourteen." I handed him the photo and it took a second before he realized it was his plane. "Wow! Is this my plane? I've never seen a picture of it this big. This is beautiful! "Tommy, how much do I owe you for this?" "No charge. Let's just call it payment for the detour I talked you into," I replied. "Tommy, are you sure? I mean I didn't expect anything like this." "I'm sure. Like I said, it's payment for your favor the other day." "Well, I'm not going to argue. Thanks, thanks a lot." I could see Jim thinking about where he was going to hang the picture of his baby. Before I left we set up a schedule of when I could come back and take some more pictures. ------- I was sitting at my desk that night when my brother walked in. "Can I bother you, Tommy?" "Sure, what's up?" "Well, I was talking to one of the girls at school today and she asked me if I even knew what love meant and I couldn't think of an answer. What do you think it is?" Leave it to a little brother to ask the tough ones. "Oh, boy, why don't you ask me something simple—like how to cure cancer or something? "Kevin, people have been trying to define love forever, but I remember one definition that I read in one of Dad's old books. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was something like love is when you can't be happy unless the other person is." Kevin looked at me like I was joking. "That's all? Are you kidding me? That doesn't make any sense." "That's what I thought when I first read it until I talked to Dad about it. "For instance, when you and Gail were together did you ever skip an action movie you really wanted to see because you knew she wanted to see the latest chick-flick?" "Yeah, so?" "Did it make you feel good when you gave in?" "Well, yeah, it did. So you mean love means always doing what the other person wants?" "No ... at least I don't think so. It's more an attitude, I guess. You just feel better when the other person's happy." He considered that for a while. "Well that seems pretty easy." "Kev, you really should talk to Dad about this. I'm afraid I'm just confusing things, but if you think it's easy think about this—what if the person you love would be better off with somebody else? Would you be willing to let her go with no hard feelings?" My brother sat there for a long time before he got up. When he got to the door he turned and looked at me. "Could you?" Like I said: leave it to a little brother to ask the tough ones. ------- Tuesday afternoon we were in the theatre as the cast started going over their songs. The show starts with the upbeat Comedy Tonight. I can't think of another Sondheim number that would be better to set the tone for the evening. The entire cast had a ball with the song most people would recognize as coming from A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum. Beth's first solo was I Remember. It's sung by a girl raised in a department store who's trying to recall things like trees and sky but can only refer to them in terms of what's in the store. So sky is "blue as ink" while trees are "bare as coat racks" and "spread like broken umbrellas." Cindy had one of the toughest numbers, The Boy From... It was written as a parody of the song The Girl From Ipanema except the boy is from "Tacarembo La Tumbe Del Fuego Santa Malipas Zatatecas La Junta Del Sol Y Cruz." The first time Cindy tried the song I thought she was going to bite her tongue off just trying to get through it. While the cast was on stage, I sat in the light booth doodling on a pad trying to figure out how to make an adapter for my tripod. I wanted to make some kind of mount where I could use my camera close to the ground. I'd filled half a dozen pages and still couldn't figure out the best way to do it. I thought using conduit to extend the center column out to the side was what I was looking for, but couldn't quite come up with a way to attach it to the tripod itself. "You going to build a bridge?" Guess who had snuck up behind me? "Don't do that!" "Do what?" My lady asked with a grin. As if she didn't know. "So what ARE you going to build?" I explained what I was trying to do and, as usual, Beth had the answer. "Tommy, why use steel conduit? Wouldn't aluminum work better? And why not use two horizontal pieces, sort of a parallelogram?" She grabbed my pencil and started drawing as she spoke. As her drawing took shape, I could visualize what she was thinking. "Well, I like your idea, but I don't have any way to weld aluminum, that's why I was planning on using the conduit. Besides, I can get that at Home Depot, I'd have to order aluminum." "Welding aluminum isn't a problem, just use a MIG welder." "Oh, sure, and where will I find one of those?" "How about in our garage right behind the Healey?" "You have a MIG welding machine?" "Well, I don't ... but Dad does." My princess has this little smirk she saves just for occasions like this. I should probably resent it, but somehow I just couldn't. "That's great, but I'd still have to order the aluminum." The smirk hadn't gone anywhere. "You've never been to any of the surplus metal yards along the river, have you? Are we going to have fun on Saturday!" "You mean all those places north of downtown? I thought they just handled old scrap steel." "Well, some do, but there's at least one that handles all sorts of aluminum. They're only open until noon on Saturdays, though." "Noon Saturday, huh? I suppose that means I'll have to get up early when I could be sleeping in." "Well ... you could sleep in longer if you stayed with me Friday night." Now THAT was an idea! Now all I had to do was get through the next three days. ------- When Beth and I grabbed our usual seats in the lunch room Wednesday, I noticed Joey and Gracie were sitting together. Beth elbowed me in the ribs. "Cut that out!" That's when I realized I was humming Matchmaker, Matchmaker. "What? It's true, just look!" Sitting there were Greg and Cindy; Joey and Gracie; and Shelly Thomas and Chris Hanson with their two band-buddies—four couples we were responsible for. Responsible for? Now there was a philosophical question—were we responsible for couples we'd introduced? Like the idea of being responsible for someone who's life you saved? Kind of scary, that. Especially when I saw some of the looks passing between the "girls" and "boys" ends of our tables. Was this contagious? "Cut it out!" Beth hissed in my ear. "We're not responsible for all of them! Just us." Spooky how she does that. I had stopped at my locker before going to the theatre when Jason Williamson and two of his buddies walked up. "You just don't know your place, do you?" Jason said as his two companions pushed me back against my locker. "My place? Which place would that be?" I responded. "If you don't know, we'll just have to teach you," he replied as he buried his fist in my gut. "Mr. Randahl, you again? You cause more trouble than anyone else in this school." As I tried to catch my breath, I looked up to see Adams wearing his patented "more in sorrow than in anger" look. Somehow this was going to turn out to be my fault ... again. "But Mr. Adams, I..." I gasped out. "Did I ask you to speak? Mr. Williamson, I can handle this from here. Thank you. "As for you, it's time to visit the office ... again." Why me? I mean, how had I screwed up my karma enough to deserve this? Adams led me into his office and closed the door. "Mr. Randahl, for a change you're not in trouble." "What? Then why am I here? They started it!" Dammit, Tommy, you know that old excuse doesn't work! Adams sighed. "Unfortunately, Mr. Randahl, you've managed to earn the enmity of the son of a very rich and powerful family. I know Jason and his associates were responsible for what happened, but if I brought him down here his father would show up with a high-priced attorney and nothing would be accomplished. All I could do was get you out of there. I'm sorry, but that's the way things work sometimes. You spend enough time with Miss Jones, surely you know how those with money are." Those with money? Well, yeah, Beth's parents were pretty well off, but I'd never seen them try to use their money as a club or to assume they were better than anyone else. Obviously, not everyone with money acted the same way. Something to remember. "Where were you, Tommy?" Beth asked when I finally got to the theatre. "Well, I was in Mr. Adams' office." "How did that happen? Were you kissing somebody else," she said with a grin. I explained the meeting with Jason and his goons. "That lousy, stuck-up son of a bitch! What does he think he's doing? If he thinks this is going to break us up, I'll ... I'll ... oh, I don't know what I'll do, but if he ever tries to talk to me again, he'll be singing soprano by the time I'm done!" I'd never seen Beth so worked up before and, frankly, it scared the shit out of me. "Beth, Beth, settle down! He's just blowing hot air. He's not going to do anything to me. I'll just have to keep my eye out for him." "Tommy, you don't know what he's like. I've heard his whole family is nasty and vindictive. Don't mess with him!" "Okay, okay, I'll stay out of his way. I don't know what else I can do." "Just make sure of that. I want you around for a long, long time!" ------- I was almost ready to leave for school Friday morning when I remembered Beth's invitation to spend the night. I ran back to my room and threw a change of socks, a clean t-shirt, and underwear into a gym bag and got back downstairs just as Mom came out of the kitchen. "Planning on staying somewhere tonight?" she asked. "Um, yeah. Beth asked if I'd like to stay over there tonight. She's going to take me down to the scrap yard tomorrow." "Trading you in already?" Mom said with a big grin. "What? No," I said as I realized what I'd said. "She's taking me down there to get some aluminum for a project I'm working on." 'I wonder how many kids would admit to planning an overnight with their girlfriends?" Mom mused. "You could probably count them on the fingers of one hand," I replied. "And they'd have to have very special parents." "Oh, is it getting thick in here! Go on, get to school!" I got. ------- As lunch was ending on Friday Gracie walked up to me. "Um, Tommy, can I, er, um, well, can I ask you a question?" "Sure. What do you need?" "Well, it isn't for me exactly. I, er, was, ah, just wondering how well you know Billy Jenkins." I was going to kid Gracie about getting tired of Joey already until I realized how nervous she was. "Gracie, relax. I know Billy. Why do you ask?" "Um, well, it's actually Christa. She, um, well." "Gracie, are you trying to get them together?" Christa was one of Beth's mice. A very thin girl with a nice personality but a face ravaged by acne. "Oh no!" Gracie was bright red and looked ready to bolt. "Christa has just talked a lot about him and I was thinking..." "Gracie, relax. Why don't I talk to Billy and maybe just drop a hint or something." "Oh, thanks, Tommy!" Gracie almost ran out of the lunch room. Beth walked up as I watched Gracie make her escape. "What was that all about?" I told her what Gracie said. Beth looked at me. "Are you going to talk to him?" "Yeah, but I don't think it's going to take much talking." I'd seen Billy looking down to the "girls" end of our tables. "Oh, like that, eh?" We grinned at each other as we headed back to class. After school Beth and I were standing in the hallway when Jason and his goons walked toward us, obviously aiming for a confrontation. At least they were until Beth turned to stare at them. The expression on her face reminded me of nothing less than a Valkyrie. Suddenly Jason decided he had somewhere else to be. "Remind me to never get you mad at me," I told her as we walked to my car. "He just pisses me off!" "Yeah, I noticed." As we were driving home, Beth looked over at me. "Tommy, I'm sorry." "Sorry? Sorry for what?" "I didn't mean to take over when Jason came up." "Take over? Beth, you can take over like that any time you want. All you needed was a spear and a shield to go on stage and beat Wagner into submission! You were beautiful, although I doubt Jason would agree." "Tommy, you're unbelievable. Most guys would be honked off being upstaged by a girl." "Maybe I just don't feel like I have anything to prove." ------- "Are we turning into an old couple?" Beth asked as we walked into her room. "Why, because we didn't tear each other's clothes off before we got to the top of the stairs? I don't think so. Maybe we just don't feel the urgency we did originally." Beth looked at me. "So I'm not exciting any more, huh?" She turned away from me, a mock look of despair on her face "I didn't say that," I said as I came up behind her and reached around to cup her breasts. "You want me to prove it?" I ran my hands down her flanks and nuzzled her neck. She leaned back against me and purred. "We've got some time before my folks get home." I pulled her back against the growing lump in my jeans. "So, do you want me to do things like this?" I whispered in her ear as I slipped my hands under her t-shirt. Suddenly I found myself on my back on the bed with a wildcat ripping my clothes off. Obviously I had no option other than to reciprocate. I flipped Beth on her back and slid off the end of the bed, pulling her jeans and panties with me as she pulled off her shirt and bra. As I started kissing my way back toward her center I heard that familiar purring that just turned me on all the more. Then the purring turned into a whine as I kissed around her mound before concentrating on that special spot that drove my lady crazy. "Oh, Tommyyy!" was all I heard as her legs clamped around my head. After driving her over the edge twice more she released my head and collapsed. I slid up until I was lying next to her and cuddled her to me as she relaxed until her shaking stopped and she drifted off. Some time later, I awoke to feel that special tingling in my groin—Beth is a firm believer in turnabout being fair play. She's also a believer in one-upmanship as she proved by climbing up until she could slide onto my suddenly-revived favorite extremity. As she slowly moved up and down over me I reached up to hold her perfect breasts. Soon my princess was moving faster. She obviously saw that look in my eye that meant I wasn't going to last much longer and she wanted to enjoy one last explosion with me. At the same time I was trying my damnedest to hold back, but my self-control was quickly losing the battle. I slid a hand down to see if I could help her along. "Oh, Tommy, I'm so close!" Beth panted as she started to tighten up on me. "Ung," was the closest I could get to a coherent answer. My hips came off the bed for the last time as I tried to bury myself as deep in her as I could. Beth collapsed on me as she whined her final release. We must have drifted off because the next thing I remembered was a knock on the door. "Tommy, it sounds like you worked up an appetite. You want to stay for dinner?" Beth's mom asked though the door. "Um, ah, sure, sounds good, thanks," I answered as I looked at Beth's bemused grin. You'd think by now we'd be used to our parents' relaxed attitude toward their kids' sexual encounters, but there's just something odd about the whole thing. I mean, aren't parents supposed to try to prevent things like this? That's what it says in my How to Live With Parents handbook. "I suppose that means we should move, huh?" Beth chuckled as she rolled off me and started toward her bathroom. "Hey, wait for me. I want my back scrubbed!" "Only if you'll do mine. Tit for tat, you know." She grinned. "Well, I suppose. But you're going to have to hunt for my tat, I think it's hiding." That earned me a playful elbow in the ribs. After dinner we were back in Beth's room. "So how are rehearsals going? Things sounded pretty good yesterday." "Well, until yesterday they were. Mr. Franks asked me to sing another song, I'm Still Here. The song has all sorts of references to people I didn't recognize and I asked Mr. Franks what some of them were. He just grinned and said 'Oh, let's consider that, what do they call it, an exercise for the student?" "You mean he wants you to figure out what or who all these things are?" "Uh huh, and you're going to help me." "And here I thought you wanted me just for my body," I sighed. "That comes later." "And that was a bad pun," I replied. "So what am I supposed to decode for you?" "Well, 'Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover' are pretty obvious, but what or who are 'Abie's Irish Rose, five Dionne babies and Major Bowes'?" "The first sounds like an off-brand whiskey. Could 'five Dionne babies' refer to a set of quintuplets, maybe? 'Major Bowes' must be somebody in the military. What's the song from?" It's from Follies, a show about a reunion of a group of people who had performed in the same theater. They're having a reunion just before the theater is demolished." "When had they been in the shows?" I had a idea... "I think it was back in the Twenties or Thirties," Beth responded. "Why?" "Well, if we know what time she's singing about it might make it easier to find out who." I sat down at Beth's computer and asked the all-seeing oracle of Google for answers. "'Abie's Irish Rose' is a reference to a show that was on Broadway for a long time in the Twenties and on radio during World War Two. "'Five Dionne babies' must be the Dionne quintuplets. They were born in 1934 and were the first set of quints that all survived." "How about Major Bowes?" Beth asked. "I dunno, let's see ... Oh, he started the Original Amateur Hour on radio! But what do all those have to do with somebody who had been a chorus girl?" Beth thought about it for a while. "I think it's just her reflecting on what she's been through in her life, some of the things that would mean something to a performer. After all, the song's title is I'm Still Here." "Yeah, but what do the Dionnes have to do with performing?" "I don't know. Did you read the whole article?" "No, just the first part," I admitted. "Oh, I see," I said when I pulled the Wikipedia entry back up and read further. "Jeez, the Canadian government took the kids away from their parents and made a tourist attraction out of them. Yeah, I guess I could see how somebody who spent her life on display would connect with those kids." "Sondheim doesn't make it easy, does he?" Beth said. "Well, it's not like you weren't warned," I kidded her. "So, is there anything else you want to know?" "Yeah. How come you're still dressed?" ------- Saturday morning Beth rolled me out of bed. Literally. One second I was snoozing away and the next I was on the floor with a pair of dancing blue eyes sparkling above me. "Was that some kind of hint?" I groaned as I rubbed my sore ass. With a grin and a giggle, Beth bounded out of bed. "C'mon, lazybones, get up and get your clothes on if you want to get to the scrap yard before it closes!" I looked at my watch. It was ten-thirty! Where had the morning gone? Oh, yeah. I seemed to remember being attacked about the time the sun came up. I guess I dozed off after expending all my energy defending myself. Without even stopping for breakfast Beth loaded me into the Jeep and away we went after she made sure I brought the drawing along to get the right size pieces. I'd redone my squiggles in AutoCAD, all dimensioned and everything. Ring one up for drafting class! The yard we stopped at advertised aluminum as well as steel and some other metals. We parked in the lot and walked into the yard itself to find we were surrounded by rack after rack of various metals in all sorts of sizes and shapes. We found some inch-and-a-half aluminum tubing that would work for the horizontal sections and a couple of pieces of solid bar stock for the end parts. "How do you get this stuff cut?" I asked Beth as I looked around for some help. "You don't. We'll need the whole piece." "Beth, these are ten foot sections. I only need maybe three or four feet!" "How are you going to learn to MIG weld if you don't have any scrap to work on?" "What, me weld?" "Yup, Alfred E. You." My lady was wearing her patented smirk again. Oh, boy. My turn in the barrel—again. I paid for the metal and after we strapped it on the roof rack Beth aimed the Jeep toward the nearest restaurant. I guess my rumbling stomach gave her a hint or something. After we were seated I looked across the table... "Okay," I asked, "what's this about me learning how to weld? "Oh, it's not just welding. You're going to learn how to run a lathe and the mill you saw me use and just about every other tool downstairs at the shop." "Um, just when did I sign up for all this?" "When you said you liked my idea for your bracket. You didn't think I was going to build it for you. Did you?" "Well..." "Oh, so now I know why you keep me around—just so I can build things for you!" Beth really looked pissed. "Beth how can you say that! You know I love you!" "Oh, sure, you say that now." She was sitting across the table, arms crossed and the mother of all scowls on her face. "Now that you need my help! Maybe I should have listened to Jason!" Jason? What the hell was going on here? Was Beth getting ready to dump me for that over-moneyed sociopathic slug? Then I saw that little grin ghost across her face. I'd been set up. By a master. I also noticed that, like several other occasions since I met my lady, normally automatic functions such as respiration ... weren't. "Gotcha! Oh you should have seen the look on your face!" Beth was ready to roll right off the bench. Now, instead of her arms crossed over her chest, she was holding her sides, grinning from ear to ear as she cackled like all three of Macbeth's witches. "Okay, okay, I've been got. You scared the shit out of me, lady!" "I-I'm s-sorry, T-Tommy" Beth said as she started hiccupping. "B-but I AM going to teach you how to work with metal. I've got a funny feeling this isn't the only project you're going to come up with and, if nothing else, it'll keep you from designing something that can't be built." I was saved from sticking my size twelves down my throat by the arrival of our breakfast. As I ate I looked in wonder at the special creature sitting across the table from me and again realized what a lucky SOB I was. After breakfast we drove to the shop and went downstairs. I'd thought the big Atlas mill was the only tool down there, but when Beth turned on all the lights I saw a complete shop—the mill, a metal lathe, drill press, band saw, and several other machines I didn't recognize. It occurred to me that I had a lot of learning to do. By the time we cleaned up and left I'd learned at least the basics of machining aluminum. "Not too bad, Tommy. All the pieces ready to weld and no blood." Back at Beth's house we pulled the Healey out of its bay so we could get to the MIG welder. Beth's dad came out to see what we were up to and spent the next hour teaching me how to weld—picking the right electrode wire and the proper settings for the machine, making sure the argon shield gas was flowing properly, clamping the pieces together securely, making sure the electrical cable from the machine to the pieces was connected properly, etc. etc. etc. I'd like to say my finished adapter was all my work, but Mr. Jones took pity on me and did the final welds for me. I was just happy I was able to get a good weld on ONE of my scrap pieces—out of a dozen tries! ------- Beth had an appointment during lunch, so I drove the beatermobile to school on Monday. When I got in the building I saw Billy Jenkins in the hall and walked over to him. "Hi, Billy, how's it going?" "Oh, hi, Tommy. Well okay, I guess." We talked for a couple of minutes and I dropped a couple of hints about Christa. He looked surprised that she'd shown any interest in him and started asking questions about how to talk to her. I gave him the same advice I'd given my brother and Joey and crossed my fingers as I walked down the hall toward my locker. ------- Beth was wearing her little grin when I saw her leaning against her locker after school. "Okay, what's up? I've seen that look before." "Oh, nothing really." Her grin promised a surprise for someone. I just hoped it wasn't me for a change. We walked over to the theatre and waited until Mr. Franks came in. Beth walked over to him. "Mr. Franks, you remember the exercise you gave me?" "Exercise?" "Yes, you told me to look up the references in I'm Still Here? Well, here they are." With that Beth pulled out a twenty-five-page paper and handed it to him. "Right down to Beebe's Bathysphere." I wish I'd had the Nikon with me. Mr. Franks expression would have looked great in the yearbook. ------- The rest of the week was pretty much business as usual—class, rehearsals, studying—all the things that make up a normal school week. Until Friday night. I picked up Beth about seven. I noticed she made sure the front door was locked and remembered her parents were out of town on business. As we drove over to our usual Friday night hangout I noticed a certain unease in my lady. I tried to keep my expression as neutral as I could since I knew what had her on edge—she thought I'd forgotten what this weekend was. As we walked into the café Beth dead-stopped when she saw all our regular gang and most of the theatre people we'd worked with for the last year. Even Tony Thomas and Jay Stevens were there! As everyone started to applaud Beth turned, launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around my neck in a strangle hold that had me turning blue. "You son-of-a-bitch! You didn't forget!" "Forget that tomorrow is one year since that fateful Friday night? Now what would my life be worth if I'd done that?" "Oh, god, Tommy, I love you so much! And I'm going to kill you!" "Kill me?" "Yeah, just wait 'til later," she purred. I hoped this party didn't last too long. ------- We got back to Beth's empty house about eleven. "So, you want to watch a movie?" I asked. "Not tonight," she purred as she backed me toward the stairs. "Watching movies with you just leads to trouble." We made it to her bedroom, a trail of clothes leading the way up the stairs. Without even turning on a light, she led me to the bed. The full moon was shining in the window, illuminating a path across the bed and up the wall to Beth's photo, making the whole scene look almost like an altar—one used for human sacrifice, and I had a sneaky feeling who the ritual victim was going to be. I was right. Beth pushed me back onto the bed and crawled on top of me, her purr turning into more of a growl as she licked her way up the inside of my thigh. Morituri te salutamus flitted through my head as she reached my other head and began to devour me. She was relentless, unforgiving, ravenous, as she slowly, ever so slowly toyed with her meal. The torture was horrible. I tried to defend myself, but it was no use. I was doomed, my only option was to face my demise like a man. I tried to fight back, and soon the altar was strewn with the remnants of its coverings. Our ferocious battle lasted throughout the night and by morning nothing was left except two bodies. "Not bad for an 'old couple, ' " I whispered in my lady's ear. All I got in response was a mumble and a cuddle as we drifted off. ------- Chapter 4 It was Monday of show week and all was madness. In other words everything was normal. After school I walked into the theatre just in time to catch Beth and Cindy doing their duet of A Boy Like That/I Have a Love. Hearing the two girls singing the song from West Side Story was an interesting study in contrasts—Cindy as Anita, the fiery lover of the recently-stabbed Bernardo, and Beth as the sweet, innocent Maria. Phil and Bob, the two new freshmen, turned out to be quick studies. They'd both been able to learn the ins and outs of running our board, how to patch the lights to the right channels on the board, and how to program the lighting changes so everything was ready to go for opening night. Once we got the board set up, I'd been taking them through the show. I'd made up two extra copies of the script with the notes on the lighting cues Mr. Franks and I had decided on. They both were able to hit all the cues with no problem and that gave me more time to just watch the show, er, check for last minute lighting problems. Yeah, that's what I meant. The rest of the week was more of the same, with last minute costume alterations, sound checks and all the rest of the details that go into a show. Then it was Friday, opening night and Beth had her usual case of pre-show jitters. "Oh, God, Tommy, why do I let you talk me into these things?" "Who, me? It seems to me that you're the one who first mentioned auditions." "Well, yeah, but you put the idea there." "I did? How?" "You used your ESP on me. I know you did!" Me? ESP? I didn't have any ESP abilities. If anyone did it was... Eventually even I can figure out when my chain's being pulled—and my lady's an expert at pulling things. "Beth, I'm going to tell you the same thing I've told you before: get into your costume and spend some time with the rest of the cast. Warm up and go out there and break a leg. Unless you want a spanking instead?" I dodged her elbow, gave her a big kiss, and walked back to the light booth to check on Phil and Bob. "You guys ready to go?" "Yeah!" They both answered with big grins. Let's see how long those last, I thought, evilly "Have you decided yet?" "Decided what?" Phil asked. "Which one of you is going to run the board tonight." "Who, us?" Bob looked ready to panic and head for the door. "Yeah. There are four performances so that gives each of you two shows, but who's going first?" I was being just a little bit nasty springing this on them, but they'd both handled the board during rehearsals and I knew they could do it. They fumbled around and finally Bob pulled a quarter out of his pocket. Phil won the toss and decided to get it out of the way and run tonight and Sunday's matinee and Bob would take both shows tomorrow. As Bob left to get on the follow spot I assured Phil that I'd be in the booth with him in case something went wrong. I thought back to the exploding lamp during last season's Music Man. We did one final headset check and then the stage manager told Phil to take down the house lights and we were off. This was the first time since my freshman year that I wasn't involved in actually handling the lights in some way and it gave me the opportunity to sit back and just watch the show. Beth and Cindy were perfect. Beth's version of I Remember was even more moving than it had been in rehearsals, Cindy got through The Boy From... without a hitch and the crowd loved it. Even Greg was on his game, making it through the show without stammering or dropping any lines. All in all, a great opening night, even if some of the audience looked like they hadn't understood what was going on. Backstage after the show Beth came running up. "Tommy, I did it!" "Of course you did! Never a doubt!" I reassured her. "So why don't you change out of your costume and we'll hit the cast party." She leaned closer and nibbled on my ear. "After a trip to the farm, right?" Who was I to argue? I always do what I'm told. It was a little too cold for a blanket out in the meadow, but seeing Beth on the back seat of the beatermobile wearing nothing but a leer convinced me that staying in the car wasn't a problem. When we finally got to the cast party we got a few knowing looks from our friends. The farm and Beth's special way of celebrating opening nights was threatening to become a legend with our little theatre community. ------- The rest of the run was as flawless as opening night. We even had some audience members come back to see it a second time. Sondheim is someone whose work almost demands repeated exposure to really get it. At the final cast party I cornered Greg. "So what was it like, being in the spotlight instead of behind it?" With a huge grin he looked at me. "Not bad. At least not as bad as I thought it would be. But then, you're going to find out for yourself." "Huh?" "Don't forget there's one more show this spring." He was getting WAY too much fun out of this! "Yeah, but it's a musical and I can't sing!" "Hey, buddy, remember—so was this show and I can't sing either," Greg laughed as he walked off to find Cindy. Oh shit, what was I in for? Just then my lady walked up. "Tommy, what's wrong? You look like a ghost!" I told her what Greg had suggested my fate would be. I was hurt when an ear-to-ear grin appeared on her face—growing slowly like the rising sun—and just about as bright. "There IS justice in this world!" she chortled. "Too bad you don't have anyone in a mirror to talk to!" It was obvious there'd be no sympathy from that corner. ------- Monday I met Jim Moore after school and spent the rest of the afternoon shooting pictures throughout the warehouse and offices. Since he was so proud of his inventory system I spent a lot of time riding one of the lifts, getting shots from every angle I could think of. When we were done Jim and I went back to his office. "Tommy, you really worked out there today. You were taking pictures that I would never have thought of. Do you think we got some good ones?" "Well, I'll know as soon as I can run off some proofs. Will you be available Wednesday afternoon? I should have something to show you by then." "That'd be great! I've got to tell you, the boss was thrilled by the pictures you did for our office." "I'm glad he was happy. Hopefully, he'll be as happy with these. "By the way, did you contact my friends about your web site?" "I sure did! They came up with some great ideas! I hope we can use some of your pictures, too. I didn't realize how dull our site was until I checked out some of our competitors' sites. I think your friends can really turn things around." "I'm sure they will. I've seen several sites they've done and I can't believe the improvements. Did you look at their site? Just click on the Examples tab and take a look at what they've done for other companies." I shook Jim's hand and left for Beth's house. I'd been invited over for dinner. ------- Beth's dad answered the door. "Hi, Tommy, how are you doing? By the way, how'd that tripod adapter work that I welded up for you?" "It works great, Mr. Jones. As a matter of fact, I used it today and it was perfect! Thanks again for the welding lessons." "I understand you're going to learn how to use all the equipment in the basement?" "That's what Beth told me. She said knowing how to use the tools would keep me from designing something that couldn't be built, so I guess I'm stuck." Beth's dad started chuckling. "I wish everyone would do that. I remember a few projects that looked good on paper but there was no way you could build 'em! "Listen to what Beth says, Tommy. She's been working with those machines since she was about eight. I remember her first experience with that big beast of a mill—she needed to stand on a stool to see what she was doing!" I could just imagine my lady, probably wearing braces and pigtails, standing on a stool, horsing that big mill around. The mental picture put a huge grin on my face. "What's so funny?" Speaking of my love, I'd been snuck up on again. "Oh, your dad was just telling me stories," I said as innocently as I could. Beth gave her dad a nasty look. "I deny them all, I didn't do it. Whatever it was." Her dad grinned at her. "Oh yeah? I've got pictures, I do." Just about then Beth's mom came around the corner. "Hi, Tommy. Did you get stuck as referee between these two?" "Oh, no. I learned long ago never to argue with your daughter." That earned me an elbow—but just a playful one. Mrs. Jones chuckled. "Well, I just came in here to tell everyone dinner's ready. So shall we?" Dinner at the Jones house seemed pretty normal to me by now. The family and work conversations sounded like those at any other family meal, except... "Are you staying tonight, Tommy?" Luckily I wasn't drinking anything—this time. "Ah, no. I've got a ton of homework to catch up on." Dammit, why couldn't I get used to the idea that Beth's parents knew about us and didn't seem to mind that we were—what was the term?—oh, yeah, humping like bunnies. There's just something unnatural about sitting around the dinner table at my girl's house having her mother ask, basically, if I was going to sleep with their daughter that night. Luckily, Beth's dad changed the subject. "Tommy, you should have seen the expression on my face when I came home from work one night and there was Beth, oh, maybe five at the time, with my expensive boxed set of Starrett micrometers spread out on her bed, measuring everything in sight! I didn't know whether to beam with fatherly pride or scream seeing my daughter measuring the fingers on one of her dolls with a very expensive precision tool. She'd measure something and then write down every measurement. Oh, she had no idea how to actually read the mic, but that didn't stop her—she'd made up her own method! I tried to show her how to read the scale on the mic and then had to back up and explain decimal fractions. Within a month she could read that micrometer as well as I could. "I think that's when I first realized just how bright she was and that the engineering gene had carried on for another generation." I saw the glow of fatherly pride in his face and I swear I could feel the heat radiating from his daughter's. "I'm afraid I'm going to need a lot of training," I sighed. "I think I inherited my dad's klutz gene. I remember Mom telling the story of my dad's first—and only—attempt to fix a leaky faucet. I understand it took three hours to clean up all the water." Beth's dad went into a coughing fit. Something about drinking and laughing at the same time. I was curious about something. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you decide to start your own business and how'd you do it?" Beth's dad got a far-away look. "I'd been working for an engineering company for a few years when I had a chance to buy all the equipment you saw in the shop basement from a company that was going out of business. Beth was only a few months old and we knew things would be tight, but we talked it over—a lot. He looked at Beth's mom, "Bev, remember some of those late night conversations?" He looked back at me. "She'd be nursing Beth and I'd be wearing a path in the carpet. I'll bet I walked ten miles during those late-night talks until we finally decided we'd never have a better chance to get out on our own. So I put us into hock and borrowed enough to close the deal and lease a small building. The first couple of years were pretty tough, but eventually we got on top of things, paid off the original loan, got a couple of good breaks and here we are." I wondered if I'd have the guts to do something like that. "Just out of curiosity, Tommy, why'd you ask? You thinking of making your part-time job a full-time one?" "Not until I finish school. After I graduate next spring, I'm going to enroll in the Art Institute's BA program. I need to learn more of the artistic and business side of photography before I even think of going out on my own full-time." Beth's dad looked at me, then at his daughter. "You've got a winner here, honey." I looked at my lady and wondered if my face looked like hers. After dinner Beth and I went up to her room, she wanted to see the pictures I'd taken earlier. "Tommy, these look great! Are they going to use them on their web site?" "I think so. I hope so. Jim Moore has talked to Jim Wilson from school about redesigning their whole site, so I'm pretty sure some of these pictures will be on there." "Well, they should be, they look great." With that Beth stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck. That pretty much ended the conversation. Well, the verbal conversation. Well, the verbal conversation using words, anyway. ------- As I was leaving, Beth's parents came to say goodbye. "Tommy," Beth's mom said, "it was so nice having you over tonight." "Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Jones." Beth's dad chuckled, "Tommy, you've known us long enough now. It's Chuck and Bev, not Mr. and Mrs. Jones, okay?" "Okay, er, Chuck. And thank you for dinner, Bev." That was going to take some getting used to. ------- I spent Tuesday afternoon going over the pictures from Monday's shoot and discovering again that just because you think a picture looks good when you take it doesn't mean it'll look good once you really study it. That was one of the big advantages of shooting digitally rather than using film—the extra shots didn't cost anything. Another thing I'd learned—NEVER show a client everything you've got. I know Jim would have loved to see the stuff I'd shot right away and there wasn't any technical reason I couldn't have shown them to him. But... Inevitably, somebody's going to think the worst image you've got is exactly what they want. You can explain what's wrong with the pic, how it won't look good and STILL some putz, er, client will want THAT picture. It's better to not let them see it in the first place. I'd been down at my favorite camera store talking to Joe, the manager, and the conversation had come around to the subject of what a client should get from a shoot. I'd told him about my recent discovery of culling out the clinkers before showing anything to the client and Joe just chuckled. "Ah, the beginnings of wisdom, grasshopper!" He went on to tell me some horror stories of other photographers whose clients managed to grab the worst shot of the lot, so at least it wasn't just me! ------- After school on Wednesday I grabbed my portfolio and headed over to Jim's office. He was waiting at the door as I pulled up. I felt a little conspicuous driving my fifteen-year-old beater, but I guess if clients like the pictures the delivery method doesn't matter much. Jim looked like a kid at Christmas when he saw the portfolio in my hand. "Looks like you brought my pictures, Tommy," he exclaimed as he ushered me into his office. We spent almost an hour going through the proofs I'd run off. "Tommy, these all look great! How do you do it? I mean, there's not a bad picture in the whole lot." "A lot of it is due to careful editing, Jim," I fudged. There was no way I was going to tell him the forty images he was holding were the best of the almost three hundred I'd started with. "Jim, I assume you'd like to discuss these with your boss and Jim Wilson to decide which pictures you want to use on your web site and any other use you can think of. "Why don't you go through these and give me a call when you've decided?" We talked for another few minutes and then I headed home. Time for some more homework. ------- The gang's Halloween party was the next Friday and, for a change, Beth and I were a little more coordinated in our costumes than last year. Beth was going as Helen of Troy and I wore a toga, not very original on my part, but better than last year's caveman. I stopped to pick up Beth and had to whistle at her costume. While technically covering everything, it suggested a whole lot. "I can see why you could launch all those ships," I commented with a leer. "Do you think it's too much?" "Too much? No definitely not too much. Er, you're not going commando are you?" With a pretty blush, she shook her head. "Nope, I haven't changed that much. Are you?" "With you dressed like that? Not hardly—I wouldn't dare! "Now grab your coat, if it keeps raining like this we're gonna have to figure out what a cubit is." We got to the party and started checking out the other costumes and who was wearing what. Steve and Sherry were there as Raggedy Ann and Andy, Greg and Cindy were Dorothy and the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. It was a typical theatre party with a lot of music from various cast albums and individual party-goers singing along. The costumes just added to the fun—like watching Cherie Jenkins, our costumer for the show, dressed as a clown singing I Feel Pretty from West Side Story, or Sherry, Steve's girl, dressed as Raggedy Ann doing Dance: Ten; Looks: Three from A Chorus Line. Surprisingly, she had a very good voice and I made a mental note to ask Steve about dragging her along for the Fiorello auditions next spring. As the party wore on the music got slower and the lights lower as couples paired off for some quiet dancing. Cindy popped up next to me and looked at Beth. "I'm borrowing your noble Roman!" she said as she dragged me toward the area set up as a dance floor. As we walked through a dark spot, Cindy did a quick-stop, wrapped herself around me and looked up. "Sure was sneaky of you to show up with your own mistletoe!" She giggled as she pulled my face down to hers. A few months ago I would have been very uncomfortable with this, but I'd learned that Cindy was just a very outgoing person, especially with her friends. Some time later, I pulled myself clear, caught my breath, and looked down at my friend's girl. "Um, Cindy, this is supposed to be a laurel wreath on my head, not mistletoe," I said as I shuffled around, trying to adjust my toga to cover her obvious effect on me. "Oops! Does that mean I'll have to take my kiss back?" The look on her face reminded me of nothing less than a hungry she-wolf on the prowl. I thought about what a lucky guy Greg was and I looked around only to find him trying to play Paris to my lady's Helen. He was dancing with Beth, both hands cradling her perfect derrière. Beth grinned at me over his shoulder—just fun, nothing serious. I guess our skinny-dipping session at the farm had released any tension between the four of us. Not that I was planning to share Beth! ------- We left the party about midnight and drove back to my house in a driving rain. My folks were at an all-night party and Kevin was out at a friend's place ... at least I HOPED he was still out. I had some definite plans for the rest of the evening. "Whew!" Beth exclaimed as she collapsed on the living room couch. "A fun evening, but I'm ready to snuggle with my guy." I had no problem with that! I was just about to test Ilium's ramparts when the doorbell rang. Who in hell is trick-or-treating at midnight? I wondered as I got up and walked over to open the door. What I saw on our front step was a soaking wet waif, shivering from the cold. She looked up at me. "Gail?!" ------- Chapter 5 Both Mark, my editor, and I feel this chapter requires some warning. The subject matter turns very serious with codes of abuse and non-consensual appropriate for what some may find to be disturbing material. "Gail?!" Kevin's girlfriend looked startled when I answered the door. Beth looked up, saw the expression on the younger girl's face, jumped up and bumped me out of the way to let her in. "Gail, what are you doing here? I thought your family moved to California." At the mention of her family the girl flinched. What was going on here? I looked at the wet, miserable-looking waif dripping all over our entryway. "Gail, are you here with your parents?" I asked. As I spoke she ducked behind Beth and only shook her head. "Gail! What are you doing here?" Kevin walked into the living room. I didn't even realize he was in the house, not at his party. As he came over to embrace her, Gail gave a little whimper, ducked further behind Beth and shook her head as if to shake off a bad dream. I didn't know what was going on, but Gail was clearly scared of both of Kevin and me. I put out my arm to stop my brother. "Kev, why don't we let Beth take Gail upstairs and let her clean up a little." I glanced at Beth and saw her nod. She turned to the younger girl. "Come on, Gail, let's get you out of those wet clothes." As the two of them started for the stairs I noticed Gail kept Beth between herself and the two of us. What was going on here? I stopped Kevin as he started to follow them. "Kevin, stay here. I think we need to talk about something." "But I want to help Gail," he said as he tried to shrug off my arm. "I know you do, but right now I think the best thing you can do for her is just leave the two of them alone." "Tommy, that's my girlfriend and I'm going up there!" I grabbed his arm. "Kev, don't. Something is wrong here and I think it's better if you let Beth talk to Gail for a while. Did you notice how she was hiding behind Beth when you came in the room?" "Well, yeah, but what of it?" "I don't know, but if anybody can get answers it's my lady." ------- Half an hour later Beth came down. "Kevin, do you have anything you've outgrown—some jeans or something, and a t-shirt? Gail's stuff is all wet. She needs something dry." As Kev started up the stairs, I followed him. We'd been brothers too long for me not to recognize when he was planning something. He'd grabbed some of his old clothes and was just ready to knock on the bathroom door when I put my hand on his shoulder. "Kevin, give her a chance. There'll be plenty of time to talk later. Don't rush her." He looked ready to argue, then his shoulders slumped. "Tommy, what's going on? Why is she scared of me?" "I don't know, but crowding her now isn't going to help. C'mon back downstairs, maybe Beth can tell us something." He gave the clothes to Beth and waited until she came back downstairs. "Beth, what's going on? Why doesn't Gail want to see me?" Beth sat down next to my brother and looked at him. "Kevin, this isn't easy. Gail ran away because, well, because of her father." I'd never seen Beth so nervous and unsure of herself. "What do you mean? What about her father?" "Kevin, Gail's father has been abusing her. She told her mother about it and finally convinced her what was happening. Her mother was going to ask him to explain what was going on and Gail said the next day her mother had a bunch of fresh bruises—her dad had beaten her when she confronted him. "Gail said she ran away that day while her parents were at work." I looked at Beth. "So what now?" "I don't know. I'm going to call my folks and see what they think." As Beth walked out of the room I thought about how much I'd looked forward to a weekend with my folks out of town. And how much I wished they were here now. "Tommy, I'm going to go up and talk to Gail. I don't care what her dad did, I know Gail loves me!" "Kevin, wait for a second. Do you remember our conversation about love?" "Yeah. So?" "Okay, let me ask you—do you want to see Gail to make her happy or to make you happy? Think about it." "But what's the difference? I love her and I'm going to be with her!" "So you don't love her, you're just selfish." "I AM NOT! I LOVE HER!" Kevin shouted. "It doesn't sound like it to me. You want to go up there because it'll make YOU feel good, even though you've seen how she tried to hide from us. Kevin, you're going to have to back off until SHE'S ready. You've got to think of what she's going through, not just what'll make you feel good. Can you see that?" "Well..." "C'mon, little brother, look at it from Gail's side. I mean she traveled two thousand miles to get here and she came to our house, not anyone else she knows around here, but yet she's scared to let us get close. Does that sound like somebody who's got problems? It does to me." "But I want to help her!" "I know you do. But I guess sometimes helping means backing off, even if it hurts." "Tommy, if this is what growing up is about, I don't want to." "You just said a mouthful, Pest." I saw him bristle a bit when I used my old nickname for him, then he grinned a little. Beth came back in the room. "So what did your folks say?" I asked. "They think Gail should call and let her mother know where she is." "Is she going to be willing to do that? I mean, isn't that like inviting the same trouble all over again?" "Yeah, but if she doesn't call and stays here your folks could get in trouble." Beth turned and started back up the stairs. Leaving the two of us looking at each other. "How could her dad do something like that? I thought parents were supposed to love their kids." Kevin looked like a lost six-year-old who'd just found the Easter Bunny dead on the front yard. "I don't know, Kev. I just don't know." A few minutes later Beth and Gail came downstairs. Gail looked lost in Kev's clothes and still had a haunted look in her eyes. When they sat down on the couch, she made sure Beth was between us. Kevin started to stand up until I grabbed his arm. He relaxed back into his seat and looked at his erstwhile girlfriend. "Hi Gail. How are you?" he asked quietly. Gail just shook her head. "I don't know, Kevin. I just had to get out of there and I couldn't think of anywhere else to go! "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here," she said with a sob. "Gail," my brother whispered, "I just want to help. I'll do whatever you want." Suddenly they were both in tears. I looked at Beth and saw she was as worried about the situation as I was. "Tommy," Beth asked, "can you get a hold of your folks? I think they should be here." I hated to disturb my parents on one of their few weekends alone, but Beth was right—they had to be in on this as quickly as possible. I checked the kitchen note board and found the number for the hotel. As I waited for someone to answer, I wondered what my folks could do. It was obvious that Gail wouldn't be willing to go back to her parents, or at least not her father, but I didn't know what other options she had. Finally Mom picked up. "Mom? I had to call. Gail showed up here tonight. She's run away from home. I'm sorry I had to call you but..." "Tommy, is she there now?" My mother sounded worried. "Yeah, Beth is here too." "We'll be there as soon as we can. How'd she get here?" "Mom, I don't have any details. Beth's spent more time with her than Kevin or I have." "Okay, Tommy, I'll grab your dad and we'll be there as quickly as we can." "I'm sorry to break up your weekend." "Don't worry about it. You did the right thing calling us," she said as she hung up. I walked back into the living room. Gail had just started to tell Beth and Kev what happened. "I-I just had to get out of there and I d-didn't know where else to go!" "Gail," Beth asked as she tried to calm the younger girl down. "How did you get here? I mean, it's two thousand miles!" "I had some money saved so I went down to the bus station and got a ticket here. But that took all my money!" "What'd you do when you got here? I mean the bus station is downtown, that's at least ten miles." Kevin asked quietly. Even so, Gail flinched as she tried to look at him. "I-I hitchhiked, until a guy picked me up and t-tried to-to ... I jumped out of the car when he stopped at a light. I lost my suitcase and everything! So I just walked." The young girl just collapsed, face in her hands and tears streaming everywhere. Kevin started to get up but Beth motioned him back. "Come on, Gail. Let's go upstairs so you can rest." As she helped the sobbing girl upstairs I glanced over at my brother only to see tears streaming down his face. I moved over and put my arm around him. "Oh, God, Tommy, what am I gonna do? I can't just sit here!" "Kev, it's exactly what we're both going to have to do. Mom and Dad will be back soon. We'll have to wait for them. I know it's tough sitting here doing nothing but I don't think there's anything else we can do right now." My stomach was knotted up just thinking of what Gail had been through and how frustrating it must be for my brother to sit and wait. I thought back to the emergency room and how utterly helpless I'd felt while I waited to hear how Beth was after the accident last winter. Our parents got home about a half hour later. Kevin had gone up to his room after promising to stay out of our parents' room. "Tommy, what's going on?" Dad asked while Mom headed right upstairs. I explained what Gail had told us, and saw his mouth tighten when I told him about Gail's father. "That son of a bitch," I heard him mumble. He started to go upstairs but I stopped him. "Dad, I think we should leave this to Mom." He looked at me like he wanted to argue, then stopped. "Is she spooked around men now?" I nodded. "Then why did she come here?" "I don't know. I think half of her is spooked by Kevin because he's a guy, but the other half thinks he'll protect her. I can't think of any other reason she'd come here out of everybody she knows in town." "Oh, that poor kid," Dad whispered. I wondered if he was thinking of Gail or Kevin. Mom came down a while later. "Oh, that poor girl," she said as she plopped down in a chair. "I can't imagine a parent acting like that. Why didn't her mother stop it?" "I think her mom is pretty quiet," I said. "Gail's dad probably had her cowed." "Do you know if Kevin has their phone number?" Dad asked. "We're going to have to call them." Beth came down just about then. "How's she doing?" I asked. "Tired, confused, worried, scared. About what you'd expect." "How is she going to react to having us call her parents?" Dad wondered. "I don't know. Right now she's jumpy about everything." "Do we have to call them right away?" I asked. My folks looked at each other. "I don't think we can stretch it past tomorrow," Mom said. Beth stood up and looked at them. "I'm going to call dad and ask him to contact our lawyer for advice. Is that okay with you?" "That sounds good, although I hate to have to get your parents involved," Dad said. Beth grabbed her phone. "Since Gail kind of took to me like I was her older sister, I don't see how we can stay out of it." Dad thought about it for a second. "Well, we've either got to contact her parents or the child protection people here." "Oh, no." Beth looked worried. "Right now, I think if Gail saw any authority types, she'd panic." Beth talked to her father and he said he'd contact the family's attorney first thing tomorrow. Then our conversation turned to arrangements for tonight. It would have been funny, if not for the situation. I said I was already resigned to sleeping on the couch, so Gail could have my room. Then my Mom said it was ridiculous to have Gail move when she was already asleep in their room so they'd take the couches, then Beth suggested SHE would sleep on the couch and... "I'm sorry I'm causing so much trouble." We turned around and there was Gail, looking lost in Kevin's oversized clothes. "I shouldn't have come here and caused all this trouble. I-I just couldn't think of anywhere else to go." Mom and Beth rushed over to the girl, reassuring her that she wasn't any trouble and that everything was going to work out. Once they got her calmed down, I looked at my watch and stood up. "It's three in the morning. I'm going to grab some stuff out of my room and hit the couch. It's too late for me." I went to my room and grabbed clean underwear and socks. When I walked back into the living room Beth looked at me. "Going to wear the same stuff tomorrow, huh?" "Yeah, why not?" Then I noticed she was wearing her big grin ... and her Helen of Troy costume. I looked down, only to see my toga. Oops. Back upstairs to chuckles from everyone. Even Gail was grinning—I took that as a good sign. After everyone was settled—Gail in my room and my parents back in theirs, Beth sat down on the edge of the couch. "Tommy, are you all right with this—with me staying with Gail tonight?" "And where else should an older sister be at a time like this?" I responded quietly. Beth look at me. "Dammit, Tommy, don't you ever get mad?" "Not with you, my princess. Not with you," I whispered as I pulled her closer for a kiss. ------- The phone woke me the next morning. I'd fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and then woke up and spent most of the rest of the night—morning?—thinking about Gail and what she'd been through. As I lay on the couch, I heard Mom talking but couldn't catch what she was saying. After she hung up she walked into the family room. "Tommy, that was Gail's mother calling from California. I told her Gail was here and she asked me to have her call when she was ready. I'm going to see if the girls are up yet. It's time for a family conference. I guess this is going to be more like an extended family conference." Beth came down dressed in a pair of my jeans and one of my t-shirts, looking sexy as hell. All sorts of thoughts started playing erotic ping-pong through my head until I saw Gail behind her and somehow I suddenly was ashamed of myself. "Tommy, why don't you and Kevin go out for breakfast?" mom suggested. "But I want to—" "Kev, let's go," I said as I grabbed his arm. He started to pull away until I looked at him. "Remember our talk last night? We're just going to have to give Gail some room to work things out." "Okay," he agreed, but he didn't sound very happy about it. "Tommy, it isn't fair!" he started after we were in the car. "You're right. Something like this should never happen to a nice girl like Gail," I said, purposely misunderstanding what he'd said. "No. I mean why can't I be there to help her?" There's my little brother and his impossible questions again. I thought back to one of those "the only good sex is after you're married" classes the government forced down our throats. One of the girls in school had been raped and we'd spent several class sessions talking about rape—what it was and wasn't, what happened to the victim, and what now. It started with a lot of the guys saying things like it was just sex, what's the big deal or words to that effect. That brought down a storm of protest from the girls in the class—to the point that at least two couples broke up over it. "Kevin, this isn't going to be easy, but think of what happened to Gail. I mean her father is supposed to love and protect her, instead he forces her into having sex with him. Then he probably blamed her for it." "What?! Why would it be her fault?!" "Kev, remember when you were small? When you got caught doing something wrong, what was your first answer? 'He did it, not me!' right? Well I guess in a lot of cases that's what the guy says. Something like 'She asked for it. Dressing like that and listening to that music!' It's an excuse for what he did." Kevin thought about that for a while. "But why is she scared of me? I love her!" Oh, boy, this was going to be tough. "Think about what just happened. I mean the guy that's supposed to love and protect her does something like this, don't you think in some little corner of her mind she's going to think that maybe you'd do the same thing?" "I'd never hurt her!" Kevin looked ready to slug me for even saying something like that. "Kev, I know that and you know that, but try to see it from Gail's side." By that time we were at the restaurant. We sat down and ordered, then continued our conversation. I tried to remember what we'd talked about in that class. About what the victim went through and what she was thinking and feeling. "Kevin, right now Gail's head is full of all sorts of feelings. Her father raped her and probably blamed her for starting it. Then there's the shame of it all. It's not fair, but a lot of people still have that 'She must have been asking for it' attitude. Then there's her feelings about you. Half of her sees you as her knight in shining armor and the other half as a dirty old man. Can you see why she's mixed up right now? You're going to have to cut her a lot of slack if you really want to help her." I looked at my brother sitting across the table from me. "What can I do, Tommy? I just want to help her. I don't want her scared of me!" "Kevin, just give her time. And talk to Mom and Dad." "What do they know about it? Mom is just a secretary and Dad writes programs all day. What could they know?" "Well, since Mom works in a doctor's office, I'm sure she's learned something about problems like this, and Dad's not just a programmer, he's smarter than you think. Don't sell the folks short. I know it doesn't seem like it a lot of the time, but we're pretty lucky in the parent department." "But why is Gail afraid of me? I mean she's gotta know I wouldn't hurt her!" "Kev, part of it may be she's ashamed. Did you ever think of that?" "Ashamed? Why?" "Well, if her father blamed her for it all, maybe some little part of her believes it and she thinks she betrayed you." Kevin just sort of folded. He wrapped his arms around himself and just rocked back and forth in the booth. I really felt sorry for my brother. This was a heavy load for a not-quite-fourteen-year-old. ------- When we got back to the house, Beth met me at the front door. "Tommy, can you give me a ride home? Gail's coming too." "Ah, sure. What's going on? How's Gail doing?" "It took a lot of talking, but your mom convinced her to call her mother. She was spooked about talking to her and still guilty about barging in on you and your folks. I don't think she really knows HOW she feels about your brother and it's really tearing her up. "Her mom called the cops the same day Gail took off and had her father arrested, so he's out of the picture, at least until his hearing. Mrs. Hanson is planning on divorcing him and wants to move back here, but until everything is over with the legal workings she's kind of stuck out there. She agreed to let Gail stay here until can she can pack up and move back here. "Tommy, Gail wants to stay with me and her mom agreed. We've got more room and, well, with you and Kevin here..." "That's probably the best, but Kevin's not going to be happy about it. I know I wouldn't be." "Tommy, I'm sorry things didn't work out this weekend." "Beth, a spoiled weekend is nothing compared to what Gail's going through and it's not like you planned this. Sometimes things just happen." When we got in the house Kevin was sitting in the living room. Gail was no place to be seen. While Beth went up to get her, I sat down next to my brother. "Kev, Gail's going to be staying at Beth's for a while. You want to ride along when I drop them off?" Kevin jumped up. "Why is she going to Beth's? Did you have something to do with this? I want her here, even if she, she, well, you know..." "Kevin, that's part of the reason she's going to Beth's." "So I scared her away." Kevin made it sound like a death sentence. "Look, it's not your fault. She just needs some time to get things settled and Beth is like a big sister to her—you know, someone she can talk to, who knows what's going on in her life. Besides, they have more room—unless you want to take up residence on the couch." "I can do that. I won't mind!" Oh, shit, I just gave my brother an out. Or at least that's the way he was obviously looking at it. "Kev, that's not going to happen. Look, I'm not going to pretend I understand what Gail's going through, but it's going to take a while before she's going to feel comfortable around us. So we're just going to have to give her the room and time she needs. I know it's tough, but don't you want the best for her?" "Tommy, will she ever, you know, get back to the way she used to be?" I saw the pathetic plea in his eyes and I wished I had an answer for him. "Kevin, I just don't know. I suppose I could blow smoke up your butt and say in a month this will all be a bad memory, but I just don't know. I'm sorry." He looked ready to argue with me, but he just slumped back on the couch and looked miserable. Beth and Gail came down a few minutes later. As Kevin and I stood up I saw Gail edge a little closer to Beth. Not behind her like she did last night, but just a little closer. I glanced over at Kevin and from his expression he took that as a good sign. When we walked out to the car Kevin opened the back door and looked at Gail. "Do you and Beth want to ride back here, I'll take shotgun up front." I saw what that question cost him and I looked at him with a new respect. My little brother was growing up. Gail gave him a little smile and ducked into the car. Kevin waited until Beth got in then closed the door. When we got to Beth's house I got out and opened the door to let the girls out. As Gail slid across the seat Kevin looked over the back of the seat. "Gail, please call me when you feel you can." It was a quiet ride home. ------- Chapter 6 Monday I drove to school by myself. Beth and her folks were going to take Gail back to school to get her registered again. Since her mom was planning on moving back here, she and Beth's folks thought getting Gail back into a regular routine as soon as possible would help. I was a little surprised she wanted to go back into so public a venue so quickly but I knew Beth's parents wouldn't allow her to get into anything if they felt she wasn't ready. Kevin came down just as I was heading for the door. "Hey, Kev, did you hear Gail's going to start back at school today?" I saw his eyes light up. "No. Thanks for the word, Tommy!" "Remember, give her some room." A little reinforcement never hurts, right? "I will, and I'll make sure everybody else does too!" "Just don't push it or you could come off as a stalker and she doesn't need that," I cautioned my impetuous sibling. "Tommy, just trust me, okay?" "Sure, Kev. Good luck." Kevin's birthday was coming up and I made a note to do something special for him. As I walked in to the building I ran into Greg and Cindy. "Hey, Tommy, how was your weekend?" Cindy asked with a little leer. Obviously she had an idea what Beth had planned after the party and just as obvious was the fact that they hadn't talked since the party. "Gail showed up at our door Friday night." "Gail? Has her family moved back?" Cindy asked. I spent a few minutes telling my friends what happened over the weekend. I DIDN'T mention Gail's father, I figured that was private. If Gail wanted people to know, she could tell them. "Oh that poor kid," Greg whispered. Beth wasn't at lunch so I waited by our lockers after school, but she didn't show up, so I plodded out to the beatermobile and drove home alone. Later that night I called her and had a short and frustrating conversation. "Oh, hi, Tommy. How was school today? I'm sorry I wasn't there." "Oh, nothing special. Cindy wanted to talk about what happened after the party and I told them Gail showed up." "Tommy! How could you! Blabbing to all our friends about Gail!" "Hey! I didn't..." "I thought I could trust you and now you do something like that!" What just happened? I'd never heard Beth use that tone, even when she was chewing out Jason the slug. Had I said something wrong? What? I spent the evening doing homework and snapping at anyone who darkened my bedroom doorway. Eventually, Dad figured it was time to find out what was up. "Okay, Tommy, what's going on?" Dad didn't sound happy. I told him about the call. "But I didn't tell Greg and Cindy about Gail's father, just that she was back here. Beth didn't even listen!" "Tommy, I heard what you told Kevin about cutting Gail some slack. Did you ever think that Beth might need some too?" "Yeah, but nothing like that happened to Beth! Why won't she listen to me?" "Tommy, Beth's trying to help Gail get over all this. Don't you think that would be a little stressful?" That dead-stopped me. Was I being unfair to Beth? I thought about what it must be like trying to be like a big sister to someone in Gail's spot. "I guess I am being a little unfair, aren't I." Dad just looked at me and nodded. "Tommy, I know it's tough, but Gail is going through a tough time and I'm sure she's relying on Beth to help her get through it. Just give Beth some time." Maybe I was overreacting a little. Now how to fix things? I called Beth. "Beth, please let me explain about..." "Oh, Tommy, I'm sorry I yelled at you, but everything with Gail is driving me nuts. I'll talk to you later. Okay?" "Sure, call me when you can." Well, at least she didn't hang up on me. ------- Beth wasn't in school the rest of the week and didn't call. I wanted to give her the space she seemed to need, but I was getting nervous. It didn't help that everybody at school wanted to know where she was and why we weren't together. The next Monday morning I looked for Cindy. I figured if Beth wanted to vent it would be to her oldest friend. "Cindy, have you talked to Beth." "Tommy, I called her last night and we talked. "It's going to take some time before things get back to what they were. Gail only lasted half the day in school that first day. She just couldn't take all the boys around her. They just wanted to welcome her back, but it freaked her out. Beth's folks called Gail's mother and they decided to transfer her to a girls-only private school for a while and Beth said she'd transfer too, just so she could stay close to Gail." "Will she be coming back here?" "Tommy, she's just trying to do what she can for Gail. That's her first priority now." "Yeah, but what am I supposed to do?" "Just wait, I guess." I got home that night and there was an e-mail from my lady. Just a quick note explaining that she wouldn't be in school for a while and that she missed me. ------- As the week wore on I noticed a change in how people acted around me. In that uncanny way of all schools, word of Beth's transfer quickly became common knowledge, and with it came all the rumors about what caused it and whose fault it was. I tried to stomp on the rumors that we had split, but school being school, most people were more than willing to believe the worst. It was curious to watch Beth's mice at lunch. Some gave me dirty looks while a couple of them started eyeing me almost like they were hunting. The rest of the week dragged on. I went to school every day. Somehow my homework didn't suffer although my classroom work was nothing like it should have been. I was so preoccupied that Thursday afternoon I literally bumped into Jason Williamson and ignored his nasty comment about Beth having finally dumped me. Friday night I was sitting in my room when Kevin looked in. "What are you doing tonight, Tommy?" "Homework I guess. What are you doing tonight?" "I'm going to wait for Gail to call." "Kev, you do realize she might not want to see you any more? I mean, talking on the phone is one thing, but actually being with you might be too much." "Yeah, I know. But somehow I just know she still wants to see me." It must be nice to be that sure of things. ------- I made it through the weekend and the next week with no word from Beth, but I'm not sure how. A couple of short e-mails just wasn't the same as seeing her every day. I was doing homework one afternoon when Mom looked in on me. "Tommy, you didn't forget your brother's birthday, did you?" "Um, no, I was going to go out and get his present tomorrow." "Okay, I just didn't want you to forget." Since my brother had taken up skiing last year I decided to get him a season pass to one of the local ski areas. When I told Dad he looked surprised. "Are you sure you want to spend that much, Tommy?" I told him that Kevin really seemed to mature in the last year, especially since Gail reappeared, and that he deserved something special. Dad looked at me. "I'd say he's not the only one." ------- Mom fixed a nice dinner for Kevin's birthday. After we ate Dad handed my brother a box. "Happy birthday, son." Kev opened the box and pulled out a new laptop. "Wow! Thanks Dad! And Mom!" he added. After he spent a few minutes trying out his new toy, Dad looked at him. "You realize this means we expect some better grades, don't you?" Kevin's crestfallen look was priceless. When he recovered I handed him an envelope. He opened it, thinking it was just a card. When he opened the card and saw the season pass he looked at me. "WOW! Thanks, Tommy! I-I don't know what to say!" "That's okay, Kev. Your look pretty much covers it!" "Wow, this is the best birthday ever!" he exclaimed. "I only wish..." He wasn't the only one. ------- Here it was, the week of Thanksgiving, and I was having a hard time finding anything to be thankful for. I knew I HAD a lot to be thankful for, I just couldn't build up a lot of enthusiasm for the holiday. I kept thinking back to last year and being able to invite Beth over. Well, that and her great pumpkin pie. I was doing homework Tuesday night when my phone rang. I pulled out one of the ear buds for my MP3 player and picked up my phone. "Tommy?" a timid voice asked. I hit the pause button on my player. "Beth? Is that you?!" Could it be? "N-no, this is Gail." My heart hit the floor. "Oh, hi, Gail. How are you doing? I suppose you want to talk to Kevin?" "Maybe later," she said. "Tommy, please call Beth. She's been so busy helping me that she's ignoring everything else. I know she misses you so much and I-I feel like it's all my fault that you two aren't, aren't..." "Gail, is she there now?" "Y-yes, she's in her room. Do you want to talk to her?" "Oh, yes! But please don't tell her it's me. Just tell her she's got a call. Can you do that for me?" "Okay, let me go get her." I heard the phone hit the table. I think I died three times in the thirty seconds before I heard the sweetest sound in the world. "Hello?" "Hello, my princess," I said quietly, holding my breath. "T-Tommy, is that really you." I could hear the catch in her voice. "Yes. I'm sorry, but I just had to hear your voice." "Tommy, Tommy, don't apologize! I'm so sorry." "Beth," I could hardly talk, "there's nothing to forgive. I just want to know you're all right." "Oh, Tommy, it's been, it's been ... Oh, I can't describe what the last month has been." "I know, it's felt like a year to me." "Tommy, can I see you tonight? Can you come over for a while? Please." "I'll be right there. Um, would Gail like to see Kev?" Oh, shit. I really wanted to see Beth by myself, but Kev was hurting just as much as I was. "Oh, yes. Tommy, she's gotten so much better. She's been spending a lot of time talking to the counselors at the rape crisis center and it really seems to have helped. Don't tell Kev to expect much, but she's getting better all the time." "Okay, I'll see if he'd like to come along." Beth just snorted. As if my brother would turn down a chance to see HIS lady! I knocked on his door. "Hey, Kev. Let's take a ride." "I don't want to go anywhere," he mumbled, looking up from his homework. "Oh, I think you'll want to make this trip ... I'm going over to Beth's." His face looked like the sun coming out on a cloudy day. He slammed his book shut, grabbed his coat and was down the stairs before I could grab my jacket. When we got to the car I felt I should warn him not to expect his old Gail. Not yet, anyway. "Kev, Beth said Gail's doing better, but she's not back to her old self, so remember—" "I'm not going to push, Tommy." "Sorry, I should have known that." Beth and Gail were both waiting on the front porch when we pulled up. As I got out of the car I was almost bowled over as Beth took a running jump into my arms. "Oh, God, Tommy, I've missed you so much!" she said, tears running down her face. I couldn't speak. Having my lady back in my arms left me speechless. I just hugged her to me and listened to my heart thudding in my chest. When we finally came back to Earth, I looked over and saw Kevin standing on the sidewalk looking up at Gail. I knew they'd exchanged phone calls but this was the first time they had seen each other since that fateful Halloween weekend. Neither of them were saying anything, they just looked at each other. I was encouraged to see Gail standing there by herself without any sign of the panic I remembered. My brother looked as if he was mesmerized. Beth and I walked up the sidewalk, hips locked together. NEVER again did I want to be any further from my lady than I was right now! "Come on, you two, let's get inside!" Beth said. I saw Kevin shake his head as if he were coming out of a trance. He waited until Gail was at the door and we were next to him before he moved. It was obvious that he was consciously trying not to give Gail any reason to panic. When we got to the family room Gail sat down at one end of the loveseat and curled up with a big throw pillow. Kevin sat at the other end. I saw him put his hand, palm down, on the seat between them, and I could hear his sigh of relief as Gail laid her hand on top of his. This first physical contact between them was a big step. Kevin looked as if he'd be perfectly content to stay there forever with Gail's hand on his. Beth and I both opted for the couch with my lady nestled cozily on my lap. "Oh, Tommy, it's so good to see you! I know I haven't been very communicative since this all started. I'm surprised you even want to talk to me! "But I'm glad you do!' She said as she snuggled closer. As we talked quietly I glanced over at Kevin and Gail. They were just staring at each other, as if trying to memorize every feature of the other. Gail had put the pillow down, almost like a Joan of Arc taking off her armor. Kevin's hand was still covered by hers and neither seemed inclined to move. I really wished I had brought the Nikon. The two of them sitting there would have made a beautiful portrait. "Tommy, I was so happy you called tonight!" "Um, Beth, I, er, well, I didn't call, Gail called me." "Gail? But why?" "I guess she figured a little push was what we needed." "Remind me to thank my little sister," she murmured as she smiled at Gail. "And now to celebrate!" Beth hopped off my lap. "We're going out for ice cream and I'm buying!" THAT got Gail and Kev off the couch! As we got to the car, Kevin opened the back door and stepped back. After Gail got in, he closed the door and walked around and opened the other door and looked at Beth, expecting her to get in next to Gail. Beth just shook her head and slid in the front seat, moving over just far enough for me to get in. Kev looked confused at first, then glanced in at Gail. The tentative smile he got in return was all it took to convince him to get in the back seat, although he kept his distance. At the ice cream shop Beth and I held back and watched as Kevin and Gail ordered then walked over to a small round table with only two chairs. I heard Beth's breath catch as Gail took Kevin's hand. "Tommy! Look at that!" she whispered as she gripped my hand. I ordered for the two of us and turned to see Beth had taken a table at the other side of the almost-empty shop. She was obviously giving Gail and Kevin as much room as she could. As we enjoyed our sundaes, Beth kept up a running monologue about how much she'd missed me and what she'd like to do to and with me. I noticed my jeans were getting tighter as her patter became more suggestive. If she didn't stop soon, there was going to be more than whipped cream spilled on our table. Kevin and Gail glanced over at us and whispered something to each other that had both turning red. "Um, Beth, please stop. Not that I don't like your ideas, but if you don't I'm going to have a mess to clean up!" "Oh," she purred, "like that first Saturday?" "Uh-huh. Exactly like that Saturday," I whimpered. "Oh, well, if you insist. But don't think I'm done with you!" she growled. I certainly hoped not! After the sundaes were gone we drove back to Beth's. Kevin and I walked the girls up to the door where Gail surprised us all by giving Kevin a hug. Beth wrapped herself around me and chewed on my ear. "Are you sure you can't stay?" she pleaded. "Oh, I wish I could!" I responded through a mouth gone dry at what she was suggesting. "Kevin's going skiing Friday. Would the invitation extend that far?" I hope, I hope, I hope! "Mmmm. You realize there'll be a penalty for late delivery." Her chuckle was downright rude, crude and obscene. "I'll try to make all deliveries as late as possible, but no promises," I panted, my head reeling at the thought of having my lady in my arms for a whole day. I finally pulled myself away and looked at Kevin. He and Gail were standing head-to-head talking quietly. I was saved having to break up a good thing when Kev leaned over and whispered something in Gail's ear. As she giggled and turned a delicious shade of pink, he backed away. "Can I call you tomorrow?" he asked. Gail just nodded. As soon as we pulled out of the driveway my brother looked at me. "Tommy, what does it mean when you feel dizzy and you can't breathe right?" "Well, either you've got a terminal case of Borneo Jungle Fungus or you're in love," I answered with a chuckle. "And since I don't see any parrots flying around, I'd guess it's the second one." "That's what I thought," he said with a sigh. He spent the rest of the trip home staring out the window with the silliest grin on his face. ------- Thanksgiving Day started with a beautiful sunrise. I took that as an omen of things to come and bounced out of bed only to be faced with some fool wearing a silly grin—and it wasn't my little brother, just my mirror. Mom fixed a traditional Thanksgiving feast—turkey, dressing, both mashed and sweet potatoes, and all the rest of the fixin's that go with it. The only thing missing was Beth and her pumpkin pie. Mom tried, but it just wasn't the same. After dinner we all pitched in to clean up and then participated in that quintessential American holiday pastime—falling asleep in front of the tube while a football game played out, unnoticed. Later in the afternoon we did it all over again, polishing off a fair chunk of the leftovers in the process. Kevin disappeared after we ate and I assumed from the look on his face when he came back he'd been talking to Gail. I called Beth later that evening. "Hi, there, Beautiful." "Oh, Tommy, I wish you were here. Are you sure you can't come over? I'll be real nice to you." "Oh, God, Beth, don't do that! I'm going to have enough trouble getting to sleep tonight without that!" "So I've got to suffer until tomorrow morning? How can you be so cruel?" She moaned. "You're suffering? You should be on this end!" "Oh, I'd love to be on your end," she purred. "I can think of something that would help you sleep, but you'd better not! I want you in top shape tomorrow." Top, bottom, doggie-style, I didn't care! ------- Chapter 7 Friday morning I drove Kevin over to his friend's house. A bunch of his school buddies were heading to the slopes for a day of sweating off yesterday's gluttony. I was happy he had something to keep his mind off his girl for the day. Having Gail in the house while Beth and I celebrated our reunion was going to be awkward enough without having my brother there. Selfish of me, I know, but that's the way it was. Beth was sitting on the front steps when I pulled up. As I got out of the car she unwound from her perch and oozed toward me. The look on her face was pure feral lust. "It's about time you got here," she growled. "Hey! I said nine and it's only eight-thirty! What's the rush?" Like I wasn't ready to tear her clothes off right on the front yard! Clothes? That's when I realized she was wearing the same jeans and T shirt she'd swiped from my closet the night Gail reappeared. There's something about seeing a beautiful girl in men's clothes that's sexy as hell. Somehow we made it into the house before the neighbors had a reason to call the cops. The only thing that kept me from ripping her clothes off as soon as the front door was closed was the thought Gail might catch us humping like bunnies on the stairs. Once in her room, Beth turned to face me and reached for the bottom of her—my!—shirt. I reached up and took her hands in mine. "No." I whispered. "Let me." I stepped behind her, reached around, and slowly pulled the shirt over her head ... slowly ... inching the hem up, sliding my hands over her soft, smooth skin, all the time whispering suggestive nothings in her ear. By the time I had the shirt up to her shoulders my princess was vibrating with excitement. "Tommyyyy! Hurry up!" As I slipped my shirt over her head I noticed she was wearing the bra she bought that first Saturday—a real traditionalist, my lady. I unhooked it and slipped it down her arms then slid my hands up her flanks to cup her breasts. Her whine told me I was succeeding in my aim to drive her slowly over the edge. And to pay her back for giving me a sleepless night after our phone call. After toying with her nipples until they stood out like two hard points, I slid my hands down and unbuckled her belt. My jeans were large enough I didn't even have to unsnap the button to slide them slowly over her hips and down to the floor where she stepped out of them, turned around, and almost ripped the buttons off my shirt. Her face was flushed as she unbuckled my jeans and pulled them off. We fell back on her bed, hands roaming over each other as if we were exploring each other for the first time. I finally rolled Beth onto her back and, starting at her ear, nibbled my way down her body, with my hand leading the way. Just as my lips and tongue reached her navel, my hand slid over her lacy panties and down to that magical spot where her perfect legs joined. Suddenly she levitated off the bed, propelled by an ear-splitting scream. I moved my hand up and started to rub her stomach, trying to get her settled down. I expected the scream to bring Gail running into the room and was puzzled when she didn't appear. After my lady got her breath back I looked at her. "How much did it cost?" "Cost? What cost?" She panted. "How much did it cost to buy off Gail? I mean what kept her from charging in here after that scream?" "Scream? What scream?" I looked at her, thinking she was just kidding around, then I saw a look of true confusion on her face. "Beth, you don't remember screaming? "I did?" She said, a cute little blush chasing across her cheeks. "If I did it must have been your fault!" Now just how was I supposed to take that? "Beth, you really don't remember screaming like you'd just seen a dinner-plate-sized spider hanging over your head, or levitating off the bed like a magician's assistant?" "Really? I did that?" "You sure did." "I really levitated? I guess you ARE a magician." She grinned as she hugged me. "Oh, God it feels good to do this. Remember that first Friday night? The night you came in here holding your clothes in front of you?" "Oh, yeah." I blushed. "Or Saturday morning when you asked if I was gay?" "I guess I was wrong, huh? Although I should have guessed when you kept poking me in the back all night!" And here I thought I'd been careful to keep my distance. Oh, well. "So how did you convince Gail to leave us alone? Or is she sitting outside with her ear to the door?" "Nope. Mom took her along to work today. They're going out for lunch and then shopping this afternoon." Beth looked at me with a leer. "So I've got you all to myself. All alone and no one to hear YOU scream." Suddenly living long enough to graduate didn't seem all that important. Beth pushed me over on my back and started nibbling her way down my chest. As she got to my boxers she slid a hand under the waistband and grabbed me. "Look at what I found! Is it ready for a workout?" She whispered as she started stroking me. Oh, well. Clean underwear is overrated anyway. "Oops! Looks like I've got a mess on my hands!" Beth giggled as she pulled her hand out of my shorts. If I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to keep up with her, the sight of my lady licking her fingers as if each one was a favorite ice cream cone took care of that! I slipped off my sticky shorts and then slid her lacy panties slowly down her legs. After I slid them off, I climbed up between those beautiful appendages and slid into heaven. I remembered wondering if our reunion coupling would be a frantic race, but it wasn't. If anything it was more like we wanted it to last the whole day. As we slowly moved against each other I again wondered what I had done to deserve such a treasure as the beautiful creature beneath me. Unfortunately, all good things must end, and mine came when Beth twitched her internal muscles and pushed her hips up to meet mine. From then on it was a frantic race to see who got to the finish line first. I won, or lost, depending on how you look at it. We were curled together, waiting for our heart rates to drop down into three digits, when Beth looked at me. "Tommy, why do you put up with me? I mean besides this." "You mean the fantastic sex isn't enough?" I said, trying to keep a straight face. "Beth, haven't you figured out yet that I love you, tantrums and all?" "I know, but why?" I thought back to my conversations with my brother about love. "I don't think I can answer that except to say you're the one person in this world I HAVE to make happy." "Is that how you define love?" "Can you come up with a better one?" Now I was curious. Beth was quiet for a long time. "Um, I'm going to have to think about that. But until I come up with an answer I guess the sex will have to do." "Do what?" I asked with a grin. "Something like this?" I licked one of her nipples. "Or this?" I slid my hand down until my finger separated her lips, searching for that special spot. "Oh, yeah!" My lady panted as I varied my actions—sometimes my licking was synchronized with my rubbing, sometimes one was in counterpoint to the other. It didn't seem to matter to Beth as her hips started bouncing off the bed until finally she grabbed my head and held it on her breast while her legs snapped together, trapping my hand, her speech incoherent as she tossed her head from side to side. Finally she released my head and pulled my hand away as she tried to catch her breath. "Tommy, you're going to kill me!" She didn't seem particularly upset by the idea. ------- "Tommy, I've got to talk to you. About the way I treated you." We were drifting in and out after we'd spent time in the shower scrubbing each others' backs, and fronts, and all the parts in between. "Beth, you don't have to explain anything." "But I want to. I want to explain what it was like that first day Gail went back to school. "I'd gone with my folks to the middle school to get Gail registered, then drove home. I was planning on coming back to school at noon after we got Gail settled and was almost ready to leave the house when the school nurse called and said Gail was in hysterics and someone should pick her up. It was easier for me to do it than call my folks and have them drive all the way over. I got to school and Gail was huddled in one corner of the nurse's office shaking like a leaf. Kevin was sitting out in the main office looking almost as bad. Apparently she'd lost it in the hallway between classes and Kevin ran to get the nurse, then followed them back to the office to see how she was doing. "After I talked to her for a while and told her repeatedly that we were going home and she wouldn't have to go back to school there, she finally quieted down enough so I could get her out to the car. Luckily, Kevin realized what had happened and didn't try to talk to Gail as we left. That had to be tough for him. "I had called my folks from school, and when I got home they were already there and had Gail's mom on the phone. They decided to transfer her to one of the girls-only schools and I asked if it would help if I went with her. "Tommy, you remember what she was like at your house. Well for the next two days I was the only one she'd even talk to. She stayed in my room and wouldn't even come downstairs for meals. I was afraid we'd have to take her to a psychiatrist, but then she quieted down when she realized she'd be in a girls-only school and I'd be there with her. "I'm really sorry I didn't talk to you more, but with everything going on..." "Beth, don't beat yourself up over what happened. It took a few days, but eventually I figured out more-or-less what was happening and knew you'd want to look after your "little sister." "Besides, I was busy putting out the fires at school. I never realized how nasty some kids can be. "Do you know how long are you going to stay at the other school?" "You saw how much better Gail's doing so I'll be able to transfer back after the holidays. I've been talking with my teachers and keeping up with my work and they don't see any problems with me coming back, but I'm pretty sure Gail will stay at the other school for the rest of the school year." I pulled my lady back against me. "I'm glad to hear that. Your mice have been missing you." "Only my mice?" "Oh, no. Cindy and Greg, too." Damn elbow! After tickling her into submission, I started giving her a backrub. I began by running my fingers through her hair and down her neck, onto her shoulders and down her arms—it's interesting how goose bumps feel when they're someone else's—then up to her shoulder blades and down her back, ending at the base of her spine. I ran slow circles around the twin dimples just above her perfect derrière and felt her shiver from the attention. I leaned over and ran a line of feather-light kisses down her spine and heard the purr I loved so much. As I moved down to place a kiss on each perfect cheek, I ran the back of my hand down the back of her leg, my nails barely touching her skin. When I reached her knee I reversed course, sliding my hand up between her legs until I felt the slipperiness at her center, and was rewarded as her purr turned into a pant. I continued nibbling on her butt as I worked my fingers toward my ultimate target, then concentrated on taking my lady on a journey that would leave her quivering, almost unconscious... "Oh, Tommy, I-I can't believe how you make me feel! I could die now and be happy." I moved up until I could nuzzle her ear. "You better not. I want to be able to do this for a long time." "Mmmm..." I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remembered was a hand slowly moving up the inside of my thigh—nails lightly raking my skin, just barely touching me, until they reached the top. Then those same nails dragged slowly over my most prized possessions and up until thumb and forefinger encircled me, moving slowly up ... and ... down. Then I felt a warm breeze, as a tongue circled my crown, and I felt every fiber of my being drawn toward it. Eventually—ever so slowly—I felt the pressure build, and I remembered that while turnabout was fair play ... it was also a bitch. Eventually, I couldn't take it any more and I felt my entire being exit my body—drawn by magical lips up, up, and out. As I lay there, half asleep, I remembered the myth about man's origin as one being—two halves of a complete person—until the gods, in their arrogance and fear over the power of this being, tore humanity apart—each ever to wander in search of its perfect other half. Oh, any two halves could join together, but only as an incomplete shadow of their former glory—unless, in defiance of all the deities from Olympus to Hades—they found their exact other half—the half they'd been searching for, the half that makes us truly whole. As I lay there, I realized I was one of those few who had defied the odds and the gods and had succeeded. With that thought, I drifted off—spooned with my perfect other half... ------- A knock on the door woke us up. "Tommy, are you going to stay for dinner?" "Sure, Mrs.—er—Bev." Beth rolled over and looked at me. "I suppose that means we're going to have to move," she said as she yawned and stretched. An interesting process. I'd never noticed before just how many different—and erotic—movements are involved. As my mind wandered down that path, remembering all the things we'd done that day—and those we hadn't had time to get to—my lady jumped out of bed and headed for her bathroom and a shower. With a moan, I followed. During dinner, Gail kept up a constant chatter about everything she and Beth's mom had done that day. I was happy to see a lot of the vivacious girl that had enraptured my brother reappearing. Of all the foul and nasty things her father had done, stealing her personality had to be one of the worst and I was glad to see the old Gail coming back. Unfortunately, every good thing must come to an end, and I had to get home. With a promise to call first thing tomorrow morning, Beth let me go. But only after a kiss that ensured I wouldn't forget. I got home and noticed a message waiting for me. Jim Moore, my favorite pilot, wanted me to call him on Monday. I wonder what he wanted? ------- Monday after school, I called Jim. Apparently his boss wanted to discuss some additional pictures for their website and I arranged to drive out, grabbing my camera gear, just in case. I'd barely gotten a foot into the door when Jim came up. "Tommy, have you had a chance to look at our web site? I can't believe the difference since your friends redid it. Those guys are wizards! We've even had clients notice the change!" I wished Jim Wilson and Dan Dierdorf could have been there to hear this. "Anyway, Tommy, my boss wants to talk to you. He's got some ideas for more pictures." We walked back to his boss's office. "Tommy, this is Matt Phillips. Matt owns the company." I shook hands with Jim's boss, an older man with a ring of white hair circling his head, then glanced around his office, only to see a couple of pictures on the wall. Pictures of a catamaran. Catamaran? Matt? "Is that Matt's Helm?" I blurted out, only to be met with a laugh. "So you like the Caribbean, eh, Tommy?" "I didn't have any idea, I mean when Mr. Jones offered us the trip, he said it was from one of his suppliers, but I didn't know..." I finally ran down. "Tommy, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. I talked to Bob and Sue Webber and they mentioned meeting the two of you and how you seemed to be enjoying yourselves. "I have to tell you, when Chuck asked if it would be a problem for his daughter and her boyfriend to take their place I almost said no. I was close to the point of not offering the house to anyone any more. It's amazing what thoughtless pigs some people can be. "Bob and Sue are sort of my caretakers down there. They watch over the place and do minor maintenance for me. I've heard from them that some of my guests have left the house a mess, the food all gone, garbage all over, and the fuel tanks empty on the boat. So imagine how happy I was when I talked to them after you'd been there—the house immaculate, cash to cover the groceries. Hell, you even filled the tanks on the boat and Bob said they were only half empty to start with! "So, do you have any plans for your next Spring Break?" "Um, no. We haven't even talked about it." "Well, if you'd like to use my place again..." "Wow! Thanks, Mr. Phillips! Beth will be thrilled. I know I am!" Now, how to break the news to Beth. Hmmm... We talked about some additional shots of the warehouse area and set up a time for the following week. As I drove home I tried to come up with a suitably sneaky way to let my lady know we were headed back to the land of SPF50. ------- Knowing that Beth would be coming back to school after break, the weeks before Christmas seemed to drag. For once going back to school after the holidays didn't seem like such a bad thing. I told Cindy and Greg that she'd be back after Winter Break and they both were thrilled that the Four Musketeers would be back together. The big excitement was Gail's mother moving back. Gail was torn over the move—she wanted to see her mother, but at the same time, she was a little leery over how her mom was going to react. Would she blame Gail for the breakup of her marriage? Only time would tell. Despite Gail's fears their reunion went well, with lots of tears and hugs on both sides. Mrs. Hanson spent a lot of time talking to Beth's folks and she agreed to having Gail stay with Beth and her parents until she found an apartment and got settled. A lot of the talk centered on Gail and Kevin's relationship. The end result, after discussing things with my folks, was everyone agreeing to have a three-family Christmas Day celebration at Beth's house. Our family celebrated with our usual Christmas Eve dinner and then gathered round the tree to open gifts. I'd gotten my folks a gift certificate for a nice restaurant—the same one we'd been to for the prom. I'm not usually a fan of gift cards, but I knew my parents rarely indulged in their love of a nice meal and elegant surroundings so I gave in this time. I got Kevin the goggles and ski gloves I knew he'd been eyeing. Kev got me a Photoshop manual and my parents bought me a new computer—exactly the one I'd been looking for, which explained my dad's sudden interest in hardware. Sneaky people, parents. My present for Beth would wait for tomorrow. Christmas Day we drove over to Beth's. Mrs. Hanson greeted us at the door and I was surprised by her appearance—she was wearing slacks and a bright green holiday sweater. I thought back to the woman I'd first met at the Pizza Palace dressed in a long dress with a high collar and somber, dark colors. What a change. I wondered again what Gail's father was like. After stuffing ourselves—again!—Beth and I snuck downstairs. While she went to the downstairs kitchen to get us a couple of Atlanta's finest, I sat down on one of the couches. Just as I got settled, Gail came down and sat down right next to me. I was amazed by her resiliency--was this the same girl who, only two months ago, could barely stand to be in the same room with a male, let alone sit next to one? "I've been waiting to thank you, Tommy." "Thank me? For what?" "Well, for putting up with me that first night. I treated you so badly. Both you a-and Kevin. I knew you wouldn't hurt me, but, but..." "Gail," I said as I took one of her hands to see how she'd react—not a twitch. "You don't have anything to apologize for. What happened to you would have shaken anybody." She looked up at me. "I wanted to thank you for making Kevin understand, too. He said everything he's learned about how to treat girls he learned from you, so thanks for that, too!" She then startled me by throwing her arms around my neck. I looked up and saw Beth standing in the doorway, tears running down her cheeks. She ran over, dropped to her knees and hugged both of us. "Hey! What are you up to down there?" Beth's mom hollered down the stairs. "We're ready to open presents!" "Oops," Beth said. "Looks like we got caught." We got off the couch and went up the stairs just as everyone adjourned to the family room. Beth gave me a set of lens filters for the Nikon, then gave me one of her patented looks when she saw the big box with her name on it. "Tommy, is this a repeat of last year?" I just grinned. She unwrapped and opened the box, only to find a small box on top of all the packing. Opening it she found a pair of earrings to match the necklace from last year. "Thanks, Tommy! They're perfect!" She took them out of the box and replaced the ones she was wearing. Looking at all of the paper wadded in the box, she sighed. "Should I keep digging?" I just nodded. Under all of the paper there was another, larger, box. Opening it, she pulled out a black bikini—a very small black string bikini—a bottle of SPF50 sunscreen, and a calendar with Spring Break circled in red. It took all of two seconds to add it all up. "Tommy! Are we going back to the island?" I nodded and then tried to catch my breath as she attacked me. After she let go I glanced over at Gail's mother and saw an interesting expression. I couldn't quite tell if it was embarrassment at our antics or a wistful yearning for what she hadn't had as a girl. I suddenly felt sorry for her. I had a feeling her marriage wasn't what every girl dreams of. Beth looked at her dad. "Daddy, did you have anything to do with this?" I glanced at Chuck and saw him shake his head--he was as surprised as his daughter. I did see a little grin as he looked in my direction. He may not have known anything about it, but it didn't take him long to figure out what happened. Kevin and Gail were sitting together on "their" loveseat. Ever since the day before Thanksgiving they gravitated toward that same piece of furniture whenever they were together, sitting a little closer each time, until tonight when they were hip-to-hip as if nothing had ever come between them. I glanced over at Gail's mom and saw a different combination of expressions. This time she looked disturbed that the two youngsters were so close, both physically and emotionally, and at the same time thankful that her daughter was obviously getting over the trauma that had so changed the bright, extroverted girl my brother had fallen for. Gail opened her present from Kev first and burst into tears when she saw the sweater he'd bought her. She immediately went upstairs to try it on—it fit perfectly. My sneaky brother—where'd he get that from?—had called Beth's mom to make sure he got the right size. I was getting more and more impressed with my "little" brother's maturity. When I was fourteen my only interest in a girl's sweater was what was inside. Well, that and how to get her out of it. Kev unwrapped his present and found the latest flight simulator for his new laptop. As he hugged Gail Beth snuggled a little closer to me. I glanced over at my lady and saw a single tear glistening on her eyelash. ------- As we were getting ready to leave, Gail's mom came up to Beth and me. "Tommy, I haven't had much time to talk to you. I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for Gail. Well, Gail and your brother." I was lost. What did I do? "Mrs. Hanson, I don't know what to say. I mean, Beth's the one that really helped Gail. I don't think I had anything to do with it." "Tommy, Gail has talked a lot about you and Kevin and how you've done things for them. Although as a mother I should probably resent the condoms." "I, er, ah, well..." "Tommy, it's okay! I'm not real thrilled to find out Gail is sexually active at fourteen, but thanks to you she's not pregnant or infected with some disease and I'm glad her first experience was with someone nice like your brother. I understand he's been learning from you how to treat a girl right ... some of us weren't that lucky." Beth snuggled up to me. "I can tell you, Tommy knows how to treat a girl right. His mother taught him well." "Actually, I learned from Dad." "Learned what?" My father was almost as sneaky and stealthy as my lady. "Oh, we were just talking about learning how to treat girls right," I replied. "And you learned from me? I don't remember about teaching you anything except how to use tools. Well, that and The Talk." "Dad, I learned just by watching how you treat Mom." "Hmm. Come to think of it, that's how I learned—from my dad," he mused. "Well, however you learned it," Mrs. Hanson replied, "that's three generations who've figured it out." Kevin and I were on our way home when he looked over at me. "Um, Tommy, did Gail's mom talk to you?" "Yeah, why?" "Did she mention the condoms? I couldn't believe Gail told her!" "Yeah, she did." "How pissed was she?" "Oh, Kevin, you wouldn't believe it." Yeah, I was pulling my brother's chain, but what else are little brothers for? "Oh, God, what if she won't let me see Gail anymore? Tommy, what can I do?!" Oops, better let him off the hook. "Kev, Kev, relax. Yeah she mentioned it. Then she said she was glad Gail's first experience was with someone nice like you." Kevin looked at me like I was trying to mess with his head. "Tommy! I'm serious. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Gail again." "Kev, don't worry. I don't think Gail's mom is going to give you any grief. As a matter of fact, she mentioned how impressed she was with the way you treat Gail. She sure didn't sound like somebody who was going to stop you from seeing her." If Kevin's relieved sigh had been any bigger I'd probably have had to replace a window in the beatermobile. ------- Beth's folks were going to another all-night New Year's Eve party so it looked like our night was going to be a repeat of last year, with one addition. Greg and Cindy were coming over again and since Gail was still at Beth's, I asked Kevin if he'd like to come along. Silly me for even thinking I had to ask! Beth's mom had fixed enough munchies to feed three times the people so food was no problem. Of course, that didn't stop us from ordering pizzas while we watched a couple of movies on the sixty-inch TV Beth's folks had installed downstairs. Cindy and Greg were cuddled up on one of the couches along with Beth and me. Kevin had grabbed one of the oversized recliners and had Gail curled up on his lap. As the six of us sat around and waited for the ball drop to welcome in the new year I thought back through the last year—almost losing Beth in the blizzard, doing the shows together, Spring Break in the Caribbean, our summer together—and could only shake my head in amazement. How my life had changed! After the midnight celebration—including the bottle of bubbly that Beth's dad had given us!—we sat around and talked about what we thought the new year would bring. About one Gail yawned, whispered something in Kevin's ear that had him blushing just a little, and then announced she was going to bed. She hugged each of us and started up the stairs, leaving Kev squirming in the chair all by himself. He lasted another ten minutes or so then gave a theatrical yawn of his own and announced he was going to bed too. Beth had made up one of the couches in the living room for him, assuming Gail wasn't quite ready for all-night company. The four of us talked until about two then Beth and I got up, leaving Greg and Cindy alone to share one of the big couches downstairs. Cindy made it very clear that she was going to hide their clothes so Beth couldn't pull a stunt like last year. With a grumble my lady and I headed for her room to cuddle until some civilized hour, say noon or so. It was closer to one when we finally rolled out of bed and got ready for the day. I made a quick stop in the living room to see if my brother was awake yet and found his "bed" on the couch unused. Hmmm... I walked into the kitchen just in time to see Greg and Cindy stumble up the stairs. Beth had fixed a pot of coffee, assuming we'd all need it. As the four of us sat around the table Kevin and Gail walked in, looking like they were still half asleep. Beth's comment of "Well, look who's moving! Did you sleep well?" was greeted by two very red faces. I looked at Gail to see her reaction, worried that my brother might have pushed her too fast, but she looked like she was doing fine. We all helped out in the kitchen so it only took three times as long as it should have to fix breakfast. As we sat around the table the conversation turned to "what after graduation." "You know, I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up," Greg said. "So I'm just going to the "U" and start getting my general classes out of the way. Maybe after that I'll have a better idea. It's just that my dad is always grumbling about being stuck as an accountant because that's what he got his degree in and I don't want that to happen to me." Cindy looked up with a big grin. "I'm going to be a geologist!" Beth and I looked at each other as if she was kidding. As much as we liked Cindy, she acted like a blond airhead so often I guess both of us tended to underestimate our friend. I looked at Greg and saw a smirk. He knew how smart she really was and wasn't surprised at all. Beth just shrugged. "I'm going to get my Mechanical Engineering degree. After all, I can't take over when my folks decide to retire unless I know what I'm doing. Besides, it seems to run in our family, so I guess it's fate." "I'm all set to go to the Art Institute to get my degree in photography," I said. "Yeah, but, Tommy, you're already a great photographer. You going just to get the degree?" Cindy asked. "Nope. There's a lot I don't know about composition and lighting and a bunch of other stuff. And I want to take some business classes on the side. If I'm going to run my own business, I'm going to have to learn how." I glanced at Kev and Gail, figuring they'd be bored stiff by now, after all, it was going to be four years before they had to worry about what to do after high school, but both were watching us. "I think I want to be a therapist of some kind," Gail said. "Maybe I can help somebody like they've helped me." I saw my brother's hand sneak into hers. "I don't know," he said. "I figure I've got a couple of years to decide." After we ate and got the dishwasher loaded Greg and Cindy had to leave. So with hugs all around we said goodbye to our friends. "Kev, you about ready?" "Un, yeah. Can you give us a couple of minutes?" He looked at Gail and saw a little grin. "Sure, no rush." ------- On the way home, I decided to have a brother-to-brother talk. "Kev, I noticed you didn't spend the night on the couch." "Um, yeah. I went up to say goodnight to Gail and well ... Oh, hell, I slept with her! Okay?" I pulled the car into a lot. This wasn't a conversation I wanted to have while I was driving. "Kev, you didn't rush her, did you?" I was thinking of what could happen to Gail if my brother pushed too fast. "Tommy, we just slept together, that's all. No sex, just sleeping. I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I thought you knew that!" "Kev, I'm sorry. I know how you feel about Gail and I should have known better." "That's right, you should have. Look, I just went up there to say goodnight and she asked if I could stay with her, that she didn't want to be alone." Hmmm ... where did that sound familiar from? I got the feeling that our ladies had been exchanging notes. "So," he continued, "I started to crawl into bed and she said I should take my clothes off. So I got out of my pants and shirt and got in next to her. We talked about, well, never mind, and when we couldn't stay awake she cuddled up and pulled my arm over her and then, then she took my hand and put it on her boob. Honest, Tommy, I didn't start any of it! All we did was sleep!" "Kev, I believe you! I should have known you wouldn't do anything to hurt Gail." As I pulled back into traffic I made a mental note to remind Beth what a wonderful, sneaky person she was. A day later and it was time to get back to school. Only half a year left! ------- Chapter 8 Mondays, ugh! First day back, double ugh! Walking back into school with my lady on my arm for the first time since Halloween, anything but ugh! I picked up Beth Monday morning, all set to deliver her back to her friends. I'd even run the beatermobile through the carwash—the same wash I'd worked at—and cleaned out, err, up ... the inside. Just how long had that half a sandwich been under the seat? "You excited to be back?" I asked her after we got in the car. "Excited doesn't cover it, Tommy. God, I've missed seeing you every day, you and Cindy and Greg and, well, everybody!" "Everybody? Including Adams?" I kidded her. "Well, maybe not him. Or that snob Jason either, I guess, but just about everybody else." We walked into the building and I thought half the school was waiting for us, well, for Beth anyway. Obviously the school's faster-than-light, underground messaging system must have been working overtime. Cindy ran up and hugged her oldest friend while Greg stood back with a big grin. Beth's mice were gathered around looking like a bunch of cheerleaders, all they'd need were pompoms and short skirts. I saw Jason and a couple of his goons standing against the back wall. I could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears at seeing the two of us together again. The nasty little creature that occupies a part of me—the part I try to keep locked up—was reveling in the look on his face. I'd probably pay for it later, but right now... Eventually things quieted down and we were able to get to our lockers, drop our coats, and head for our classes. As we stopped outside Beth's homeroom I glanced around to make sure Adams wasn't going to bust us. Today was too special to put up with his mickey mouse. As I pulled Beth to me I saw a big grin. "Tommy, this is what I missed at the other school. Can you imagine being in a school with only girls?" I grinned back at her. "You want to think about that before you threaten me with that particular briar patch?" "Okay, wise ass. How about an all-boys school?" "Augh! Not that! Anything but that!" I said as I pulled my lady close for a kiss. "Oh, Tommy, I'm so happy to be back here. I just wish Gail..." "Yeah, I know. I hope she keeps getting better." "Well, she must be better if Kevin stayed where I think he did New Year's Eve." "Yeah, I've got to talk to you about that. But after school, okay?" All I got in response was one of her cute little grins. My lady was back! Lunch that first day was as if Beth had never been gone. Her remaining mice were at one end of our line of tables and my, what, rats?, were at the other, with all the couples in the middle. Something about Beth's tutelage must have been working—the solo ends seem to be shrinking, while there were more pairs in the middle. I saw a lot of grins when we walked in. I just sat back and watched Beth surrounded by her mice as she talked about her months at the other school. "I wouldn't want to go to an all-girls school! Then I wouldn't have any chance!" one of the girls wailed. "I wouldn't mind!" one of my rats piped up. I just chuckled. After lunch I made a quick stop at the theatre. The audition notice for Fiorello! was on the bulletin board. Thursday afternoon was when I would find out if Greg had been kidding me last Fall or if my life as I knew it was over. We were on our way home when I looked over at Beth. "Just how much have you told Gail about how the two of us met?" "Oh, not too much, why?" "When I asked Kevin about New Year's night he told me a story that reminded me of something—something about going to someone's room and being asked to stay. Snuggling up to him and dragging his hand onto her boob to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. Sound familiar?" I glanced over to see an interesting shade of pink touch Beth's cheeks. "Umm. Maybe I told her more than I thought?" she said when I finished "Gee, ya' think? Well, we know one thing." "W-what's that?" My lady was trying to keep a straight face ... and failing miserably. "Apparently Randahl men don't mind sharing a little bodily warmth." ------- OOOF! It was Wednesday after school. I had gone over to the theatre building to get some stuff out of the light booth when I found my back slammed against the wall by two of Jason's goons. "Randahl, you just don't take a hint, do you? Don't you realize she's too good for you?" J the Third was trying to look menacing. Well, either that or he was seriously constipated. Personally, I was thinking option two since almost everyone outside his elite mafia knew he was full of it. I'd been feeling lousy all afternoon, my gut felt like it was on fire and having Jason hassle me wasn't helping. "Oh, I realize she's too good for me," I replied. That wasn't the response he was expecting. "Then why are you still pestering her?" "Jason, you seem to think I have some choice in the matter." "What are you talking about? I know Beth broke up with you, but you just won't leave her alone." Obviously the elite grapevine wasn't as good as they thought. "I don't have choice because Beth chose me, not the other way around." "YOU'RE LYING!" Jason screamed as he started to hit me. It wasn't anything like a coordinated attack, more like he was just going ballistic. Either way, it HURT! "What's going on here?!" I looked up and saw Mr. Franks had come around the corner just in time to see the attack. It took Jason a second to realize he suddenly had a witness. "Oh, we were just fooling around," he said as he backed off. I didn't realize how much I was hurt until his two animals let go and backed away. I grabbed my stomach as I slid to the floor. "Oh, just fooling around, huh?" Mr. Franks said as he knelt down next to me. "Tommy, are you okay?" I sat up. "Y-yeah, I think so." Fuck that hurt! "Jason, you and your ... friends get out of here. We'll talk about this later." "C'mon, Tommy, let's see if the nurse is still here." He helped me stand up—or as up as I could get. Damn! I hurt all over, but my gut was screaming! We got to the office just as the school's nurse was locking her door. "What happened to you?" she asked. I just groaned. Talking was too painful. I was having enough trouble just taking a breath. The nurse unlocked her office and had me get up on the exam table—an experience I wasn't sure I'd survive. "How did this happen?" she demanded. Before I could respond Mr. Franks looked at her. "It involved three other students. I'll handle it." That got him a scowl from the nurse but no comment. She turned back to me. "Where does it hurt?" "A-all over but mainly my gut," I managed to gasp. She started probing and hit paydirt to the right of my navel—the whole world exploded and I almost passed out. "Have you had your appendix out?" I shook my head. "Looks like it'll be coming out now. I'm calling for an ambulance." Mr. Franks looked at me as the nurse walked out. "Tommy, I'll call your folks, don't worry." Just as he left the hallway door flew open and Beth charged in. "Tommy! What's wrong? Cindy said she saw Mr. Franks bring you in here!" "Appendix ... Going to hosp-hospital." "I'm going with you." Not an offer or a question just a statement of fact. I was certainly not in any position to argue. The nurse came back in and said, "The EMTs are on the way." Then she saw Beth. "What are you doing in here, young lady?" "I'm going to the hospital with Tommy." The nurse looked ready to argue but changed her mind when she saw Beth's face. There are certain things in this world that are forces of nature and the smart person doesn't try to fight them. I must have zoned out for a while because the next thing I heard was, "Tommy? What are you doing here?" I looked up and saw Ron Quigley, my favorite EMT, looking down at me. "Sensitivity around McBurney's point, probably his appendix," the nurse said. "Okay. Tommy, looks like you're getting a ride," Ron said. He noticed Beth standing there. It took him a second to recognize her. "Ah, you're with him, right?" Beth nodded and that settled that. They loaded me on the gurney and rolled me out to the meat wagon. After they got me loaded Ron looked at Beth. "After you," he said with a flourish that earned him a huge grin from my lady. He looked like he'd been knighted. I knew the feeling. Beth was sitting next to me as the ambulance started for the hospital. "Tommy, what happened? You seemed all right at lunch." I wasn't in any mood to explain everything so I just looked up at her. "Later," I managed to croak out. She looked at Ron. "Is he going to be all right?" "He should be. I don't think it's burst, but he's lucky he didn't wait any longer." Beth was sitting there looking like she wanted to do something but had no idea what. I didn't think she was grinding her teeth, but I wouldn't have bet on it. When we got to the hospital they wheeled me into the emergency room where a doctor was already waiting for me. "Well, Thomas, I understand you've got some serious stomach pain." I just nodded. "Let's see what we can find," he said as he pressed on the spot marked "X" to the side of my navel. The pain exploded, it felt worse than when the nurse checked it earlier. "We'll run a couple of tests, but in the meantime let's get you set up with some meds to take the edge off the pain." I liked this doctor! "Oh, and your fiancée is waiting to see you." One of the nurses came in and started an IV. I don't know what they gave me, but the pain eased off so I could take a deep breath. Better living through chemistry, indeed! Wait ... My fiancée? "Oh, God, Tommy! Are you all right? What happened? I saw you in the nurse's office and flashed back to that day with Gail!" Beth was shaking and close to tears. "Hey, I'm going to be all right. They think it's my appendix. It looks like I'll get it pulled tomorrow." "But I heard you ran into Jason! Did he do that?" "Um, I don't think getting punched causes appendicitis." "No, I mean your eye!" My eye? Beth grabbed a mirror off the table and held it up so I could see my face. Whoa! That little slug must have hit me harder than I thought. My left eye was already turning black and blue. What my gut looked like I didn't want to consider. "Oh, I didn't know about that. Jason and a couple of his hench-critters caught me outside the theatre and were working me over. He just went nuts when I told him I wasn't bothering you, that you chose me! "I don't know what would have happened if Mr. Franks hadn't walked in." "If I ever see that little rat-bastard I'm going to kill him!" Beth was in full Valkyrie mode and I almost felt sorry for Jason. Almost. "By the way," I said as I looked up at her, "I'm not complaining or anything, but these drugs must really be something. When did you become my fiancée?" "Oh, Tommy! I didn't, I mean it was just that, oh shit! I told them that so I could see you right away. Please don't be mad!" "Beth, Beth, I'd only be mad if you'd say 'no.'" "Tommy. How are you doing?" I opened my eye to see Mom and Dad looking down at me. I must have drifted off. Beth wasn't in the room. "Okay, I guess. It doesn't hurt as much as it did." "That could have something to do with the meds you're getting. We talked to the doctor and they're going to take your appendix out tomorrow. "By the way, I've never heard of appendicitis causing a black eye." Dad had a funny little glint in his eye. "Um, well, I guess the two are sort of connected." "Were you fighting?" my mother asked. "Nope. I was getting beat up." "Who did this to you?" she demanded. "Can we talk about this later? Please?" Mom backed off. I could tell she wasn't happy but was willing to wait. Just then Kevin stuck his head in. "Hey, Tommy! Whoa, somebody worked you over!" I just nodded. I wasn't in the mood for explanations right then. A tech came in to take me down for a CT scan and some other tests, so my parents and brother decided to take a break for dinner. Later that evening they transferred me to a regular room. With a big window all to myself. With a great view ... of a brick wall. I was trying to find something on the tube to take my mind off what was happening when Beth walked in. "Tommy, I went back to the emergency room and they said you'd been moved up here. What's happening?" "Well, they did a CT scan, somebody from the vampire squad took enough blood for a slasher movie, and it looks like I'm all set for the chopping block tomorrow morning." "Oh God! How can you joke about that!" Beth looked ready to be sick. "Beth, if I don't joke about it I start thinking about what they're going to do and it scares the shit out of me!" She leaned over to hug me. "Tommy you're shaking! What's wrong?" "Like I said, I've never had an operation before and I'm s-scared about what's going to happen." Beth just held me until the shakes went away. "Do you want me to call anybody? Greg or Cindy or anybody?" "Yeah, or just tell them tomorrow." "Can't do that. I'm going to be here tomorrow. Waiting for you." Suddenly the thought of surgery wasn't so bad. My family came back about then and I had to go through the whole explanation again—minus my fears. We all talked until about eight when my folks and Kevin decided to give me some time with Beth. Visiting hours were over at eight but the nurses just assumed Beth was family and didn't say anything. I made a mental note to do something nice for them when I got out of there. I'd like to give you all the gory details of my ordeal, but I really don't remember most of it. I remember waking up early and getting prepped, then they took me down to Surgery and the next thing I remember is waking up in the ICU, everything over. I drifted in and out until the surgeon came in about noon and told me the operation went as planned, they popped my appendix out and all I had was four little slits in my abdomen. He said they'd keep me overnight and, assuming no complications, I'd be going home tomorrow. About one that afternoon they rolled me back into my room where Beth was snoozing in one of the visitor's chairs. She must have really been out of it because she didn't move while they transferred me back into my bed. After I got settled I just watched her as she slept. She looked so peaceful and relaxed... "Tommy? Tommy are you awake?" A sweet voice drifted softly into my dream. "No. I'm back on the island watching Venus rising from the sea—the setting sun turning your skin gold as the water sparkles on your naked body." I heard a giggle. "Um, Tommy, maybe you'd better open your eyes." "Nope. If I do that the dream will disappear." I heard another giggle and a snort. Why would Beth laugh at my dream? I pried one eye open and saw Gail standing next to my bed, a big grin on her face—a face looking like it was being illuminated by a setting sun—a nice bright red setting sun. My brother was right behind her, a phony scowl decorating his mug. "Jeez, Tommy, isn't having one beautiful girl enough for you? You've got to dream about mine, too." That got him a special look from Gail. By that time I was awake enough to notice Beth curled up on her chair, a little smile chasing itself around the corners of her beautiful mouth. "Tommy, I've seen that picture and I only wish I looked like that." How could she have seen it? It was on the reverse side of the Caribbean sunset picture I had hanging in my room. By that time my lady had come over to stand behind the other two. She must have seen my confused look. "Tommy, I showed Gail the copy of the picture you left on my computer, remember?" Ah, that explained it. Kev had that I'm missing something look. I might—might!—have to show him the picture some day. Gail and my brother left when they brought my dinner in. Beth ran down to the cafeteria, brought back a burger and dragged a chair next to my bed to join me. We'd just finished eating when Cindy and Greg came in. "Hey there sicko, how you doin'?" "Hey, Greg, I'm doing okay. What's new? Anything interesting at school?" Cindy just giggled. "Tommy, you won't believe it!" Greg had pulled up a chair for Cindy but he was bouncing around too much to sit down himself. "Jason's gone! After Mr. Franks talked to his father and told him he'd be willing to press charges, Jason's old man said it was time to move Jason to a prep school!" "How about his goons?" "Don't worry about them. They both got expelled!" Then I remembered today was Thursday—Audition Day—and Beth had missed it so she could be with me. "Beth, I'm sorry! I forgot all about this afternoon. You missed the auditions." I felt like a real putz. "Tommy, I didn't forget. I just prioritized. You're more important than a show. After all, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been involved at all!" "Who said you're not in the show?" We turned around and saw Mr. Franks leaning against the door frame. "Yeah, but..." "Beth, I don't cast just from auditions any more than a Broadway producer does. Auditions are to complete the cast and to see what new talent is out there. "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to have Tommy on stage by himself." I could see him struggling to keep a straight face. There goes my out. When I realized Beth had missed the auditions I selfishly thought if she wasn't in the show I'd have a good reason to bow out myself. "Beth, I've cast you as Thea, one of the leads. I should tell you up front that you don't make it through the show. You die in the second act. "Tommy, you're going to be one of the gamblers. It's mainly a chorus part with just a few lines." "But I can't sing!" What was I getting Shanghaied into? "Don't worry about it," Mr. Franks said with a grin. "It's nothing you can't handle." How did HE know? And why was Greg grinning from ear-to-ear? The five of us talked for a few more minutes before Greg and Cindy had to leave. When they were out of the room Mr. Franks looked at me. "Tommy, I should probably bring you up to speed on what's happened while you were taking your vacation here at Club Med." After the groans he glanced at Beth. "Maybe I should wait outside," she said. "If you want to stay, it's okay with me," I said, thinking two sets of ears beat one, especially when the one set was still a little woozy from being knocked out not too long ago. "Okay, I called your parents before the EMTs got there and told them you were being taken to the hospital for a suspected case of appendicitis. I didn't mention Jason's attack until I met them in the ER waiting room after they'd seen you. "Your father and I talked about calling the police and filing charges against Jason, but decided, all things considered, that probably wouldn't accomplish much. "Then we both talked to Mr. Williamson and reached a compromise—we wouldn't report the attack if he agreed to transfer Jason to another school. Just to make sure he doesn't renege on the agreement, I told him I'd talked to a friend who is a police detective, so there's an unofficial record of what happened. "Jason's two cronies had a meeting with Principal Williams today and he convinced them coming back to school was probably not a good idea, so you shouldn't have any problems when you get back." Even though Greg had already told me what happened it was nice to get confirmation from Mr. Franks, although I felt there was something he wasn't telling me. By the time he was finished it was eight and visiting hours were over. "Beth, you take good care of him, okay?" "Oh, I will. After all, he needs to be in good shape for the show, right?" Treacherous woman, turning on me like that. ------- The next morning the surgeon came in and pronounced me fit to be released. Dad was going to pick me up, so as soon as I got the news I called him. By the time I was dressed he called and said he was waiting out front. One of the staff insisted on pushing me in a wheel chair. I think they do that just to remind you you're not healthy yet. I talked the attendant into stopping at the florist's shop in the lobby so I could order some flowers to be delivered to the nursing station to thank them for everything. On the way home I looked over at Dad. "Mr. Franks mentioned you two had a talk with Jason's father and Jason was going to switch schools?" "Yeah. At first he tried to push it all off on you, but when Mr. Franks said he'd seen the whole thing Mr. Williamson backed off. The funny thing was it was almost like he wanted an excuse to transfer his son to the other school. I think it was Jason's mother who originally set it up for him to go to public school. He made it sound almost like she wanted her son to get acclimated to the proles. His dad said that moving Jason to a private school would be better for him, to 'be with people of his own class, ' as he put it. I got the feeling the whole Williamson clan has a real status thing going." I couldn't argue with that. I spent the rest of Friday and the weekend taking it easy, and by Monday I was ready to get back to school. I pulled up in front of Beth's and walked up to get her. Her dad answered the door. "Tommy! How are you feeling? It sounds like you had a tough time." I told him I was doing okay and most of the black-and-blue marks were fading or already gone. "Sorry we didn't get over to see you. I hope our designated visitor was able to cheer you up?" I assured him that Beth had done her job well—even though secretly I wished I'd been in shape to enjoy her company more. Speaking of ... My lady came bounding down the stairs and grinned at me. "Hey! You're taller than I remember from yesterday!" "Yeah, being on my feet does that." We got to school just as Cindy and Greg pulled into the lot. "Hey, guy! Lookin' better!" "Thanks, Greg. I'm sure feeling better." The four of us walked into the main building only to be greeted by our friends, all ready for me. Someone had found a rolling table and draped a white sheet over it. Cherie Jenkins, our show costumer, was dressed in white with a funny little white cap, obviously trying to look like a nurse. Greg and a couple of the other theatre guys grabbed me, plopped me on the table and rolled me down the hall with Beth and Cindy following us laughing so hard they both had hiccups by the time the parade reached our lockers. Damn, it felt good to be back! The only people who didn't seem to be celebrating were the gang that used to hang with Jason. As a matter of fact, they all seemed very quiet, almost like without their leader they didn't know what to do. That made me wonder what would make a group follow someone like Jason. During the day I heard a few comments from Jason's friends about how he'd hit me so hard they had to take me to the hospital. I didn't say anything, figuring that arguing with them wasn't going to change anything. I had asked the surgeon the same thing. He said that, from the way I described the way I felt before meeting up with Jason, I probably would have ended up in the hospital that night anyway. I WAS a little surprised when I got some of the same sort of comments during lunch and had to explain that a punch in the gut doesn't cause appendicitis—at most it might have just sped things up a little. That afternoon was our first read-through for the show. And so the fun was set to start again. ------- Chapter 9 After school we had our first read-through for the show. It turned out my part wasn't as big as I'd feared and there were only three songs I'd be doing—all chorus parts with the other guys. All three were parodies on the political and legal system of the time in New York City. I'd been in a couple of shows before, but just in speaking parts, no singing. As rehearsals went on I discovered that I could SING! Well, sort of. I knew I'd never be as good as Beth and maybe it was just the kind of songs I was doing, but I didn't think I sounded too bad! Reading through the script I was intrigued with the main character. Up to then the only thing I knew about La Guardia was that he was some politician they named a New York airport after. Looked like it was time to do some outside reading. As the rehearsals progressed both Beth and I kept busy. She was helping the stage crew build and paint sets when she wasn't on stage rehearsing and when I wasn't up I was helping Greg, Phil, and Bob with the lighting. When I got home after rehearsal one night I found my brother sitting on my bed with that look that only comes from girl trouble. "What's the problem, Kev?" "It's Gail, Tommy. All of a sudden she's, I don't know, just weird. I rode my bike over to their new apartment after school and she ... oh shit!" "Kev, what happened?" "She let me in and took me up to her room and lay down on her bed and patted the spot next to her, I thought she just wanted to cuddle but then she told me to take my clothes off and she took hers off. At first, we just lay there then she asked why I didn't do anything else. When I tried to tell her I didn't want to rush her, she said it was because I just didn't want to get dirty. I told her I didn't understand, then she said I wouldn't do anything because she was a slut! When I said 'no' and tried to talk to her, she threw my clothes at me and screamed at me to get out! Tommy, what am I gonna do?" What was I supposed to say? Think, Tommy, think! "Kev, it sounds like she's still reacting to what happened with her father. Remember what I said about her feeling ashamed because of what he did? Well, maybe some of that's still bugging her. Let me talk to Beth and see if she can talk to Gail." "Oh, God, I hope so. I can't stand seeing her acting like this. I want my old Gail back!" He got up and shuffled out of my room. I grabbed my phone and called Beth. After I told her what had happened she said she'd talk to Gail. She called me back later and said Gail told her she wasn't worth worrying about and to just leave her alone. "Tommy, I'm glad Kevin talked to you. I'm going to call the Crisis Center and see what they say." "Thanks. I hope somebody can do something for her. Kev is really torn up by this." I went to Kev's room and told him what Beth said. He just nodded, not even looking up. When I picked Beth up the next morning she said she'd talked to Gail's mom and called the Center and they set up an appointment for that afternoon after school. Beth and Mrs. Hanson were going with Gail and Beth would call me when they got home. I talked to Mr. Franks and explained that Beth wasn't at rehearsal because of a doctor's appointment, not exactly the truth, but close enough. Beth called after dinner. "Oh, Tommy, Gail's so messed up right now! The staff at the center say it may take a long time to get her straightened out." "What happened? She seemed to be getting along pretty well." "I was talking to one of the counselors, she said it might be because Gail's back with her mother." 'Yeah, but why would that cause something like this?" Beth went on to explain that the counselor thought moving back with her mom might have made Gail fear, unconsciously, that her father might be coming back too, and that caused her to relive the shame brought on by what he'd done to her. If he had convinced her that she'd been responsible for everything it could cause her to react to Kevin the way she did. "So what now?" I knew Kevin would be asking me and I wanted to get everything straight before I talked to him. "I guess she'll be spending a lot of time with the counselors. They wouldn't commit to anything until they've had more time with her." As I went to give Kev the news I thought again of what I'd like to do to the slimy son-of-a-bitch that caused all this misery. "Kev, I just talked to Beth." I went on to tell him what the counselors said. "Tommy, what am I going to do?" "I don't know. You might just have to face up to the idea that you and Gail are through." I didn't want to tell him that but if worst came to worst I didn't want it to hit him blind. "NO!" I've seen my brother's stubbornness many times but the look he gave me was something beyond just stubborn. "I lost her once and it's NOT going to happen again. I don't care how long it takes or what I have to do, but I'm going to get her back." I hoped he was right. ------- The next afternoon I stopped at the photo shop to talk to Joe and try to find a swivel head for my tripod adapter. I walked in and saw him behind the counter. "Hi, Tommy! How are you doing?" "Pretty good. I just stopped over to see if I could find a head for my 'pod extension." I put my homemade adapter on the counter. Joe looked at it. "You made this? Looks pretty good. Will it fit any tripod?" "Should fit most of them. I've only tried a couple." "You know, I'll bet you could sell a bunch of these. Can you make them in black?" "I don't know ... but I know who can tell me. You really think people would want them?" "Tommy, you should know by now photographers are gadget freaks. If you can get a few made up, I'll sell them on consignment for you." "Joe, let me do some checking and I'll let you know." My extension for sale in a pro photo shop? I'd never considered selling them, I just made up the one to use myself. We talked for a few more minutes. I described the head I was looking for and he said he'd never seen one. "Looks like you're going to have to build one yourself," he said with a grin. As I was driving home I thought about my tripod extension. Was it something other photographers would want? Looks like it was time to talk to Beth's dad to see if there was a good way to make a number of them. Oh, and how to make them in black. After rehearsals the next day Beth invited me over for dinner. Well, dinner and other nibbling. After dinner I talked to Beth's dad about my tripod project. "Tommy, I've been thinking about this gadget of yours. Is there anything you'd change if you had the chance to start over?" "Yeah, there is. I'd like to make it adjustable, instead of welding the pieces together. Make it with some kind of hinge arrangement so the camera could move up and down without having to move the whole thing. I've been trying to figure it out for a month. The problem is I can't come up with something that can be locked in place. Oh, and Joe suggested I make them in black." "Oh, black is no problem. Let me give you the name of a guy who runs a metal finishing company, I'm sure he can help you. As far as making it adjustable—have you talked to Beth about this?" "No, I've mumbled about what I'd like to change but we haven't talked about it." I saw a little grin and figured I'd missed something. "Maybe you should." ------- "Did you talk to Dad?" my lady asked. "Yeah, he said I should ask you for some ideas." When I saw the clouds appear I could feel the ground slowly slide out from under me. "But you didn't think a girl could know anything about building things, didn't you." Not a question, an indictment that stopped me cold. Had I been ignoring Beth's mechanical abilities because of her gender? Yeah, I had been. After all our time together, and all the times she'd shown she could do designs as well as work with machine tools, I hadn't even considered asking for her help, all I'd done was gripe. All of a sudden I didn't like myself very much. "Oh shit, Beth. You're right. I know you're going to be an engineer but I just ... well ... oh, hell, I'm sorry!" "I expected to run into that attitude once I started school, but I never expected it from you." Beth was really upset and the worst part was, I couldn't blame her. I really screwed up this time. "Beth, I'm sorry. I know better, I just..." I ran down. "Tommy, maybe you should just go!" "Okay." I felt like I could have walked out without even opening the door—I could just walk under it. Driving home, I tried to figure out how I could have been so stupid. So insensitive. Such a ... a ... a God-damned chauvinist! Mom was sitting in the living room when I came stomping through. "Whoa! Looks like you had a bad night. What happened, Tommy?" I plopped down on the couch and told her what I'd done—or hadn't done, depending how you looked at it. "Oh, Tommy. I can't believe you did that! After everything Beth's taught you about that stuff, you didn't even ask her if she could help?" "I know, Mom. I really screwed up this time." I trudged up to my room, muttering under my breath. The next morning my phone rang as I was getting ready for school. The caller ID showed it was Beth. "I'm sorry," I answered. "Oh, Tommy, I shouldn't have unloaded on you like that. I've just been so upset about Gail that, well..." "Why don't we just call it a draw," I responded. "Should I come over and pick you up?" "Tommy, I'm going to drive this morning." Oh, oh, it looked like my place of residence was still in the canine domicile. "Okay," I sighed. "Maybe I'll see you at school." "Don't you want a ride?" "Oh, um, yeah. I thought ... So I'll see you soon?" Bach? Beethoven? Brubeck? None of them wrote anything that approached the sound of my lady's laugh. "I'll be there soon." I was waiting on the front step when she came around the corner. By the time I stood up Beth had swung into the driveway, squealed to a stop, popped out and met me in front of the Jeep. "Tommy, I'm so—" "Beth, I'm so—" "Sorry!" we said in unison. I swept her into my arms as we both broke into laughter. "So how is Gail doing? It's got to be better than Kevin." "She's making progress, but her father really screwed up her head. She seems to accept that it wasn't her fault, but now she's afraid to face Kevin because of the way she acted." "Is it time to get the two of them together?" I ventured. "Maybe we should wait for a while yet." The next couple of weeks were tough on Kevin. Beth sat down and talked to him one night and explained Gail was getting better, but she didn't want to see Kev yet. "But she's getting better, Kev. I think now it's more a matter of her being embarrassed by what she said and did the last time you saw her. Give her a little more time and I think she'll be okay." ------- A couple of weeks before opening night it was Beth's eighteenth birthday. She had insisted she didn't want any kind of a party or gift so I took her out for dinner to the same place Greg and I had taken the girls before the Prom last year. Since it was the end of February the trout pond was frozen over which meant Beth didn't have to fish for her supper. That Friday we made our usual stop at our coffee shop and since Beth's birthday was exactly a month before mine she took a lot of ribbing over being the "older woman" and the trouble she could be in for chasing "jail bait." I sat back, amazed at how well she handled being the center of attention. No more scared little mouse there. "Hey, Tommy, how are you going to get through the next thirty days? Or are you going to make Beth a felon?" one of the guys asked. "A felon?" Beth and I looked at each other. "How?" "Technically, anything you do could be considered statutory rape. After all, for the next month you're still a kid." Beth and I looked at each other. A month? No visit to the farm after opening night? Damn! Saturday Beth came over and we spent part of the morning reworking the design for my tripod extension. After a few minutes of talking at cross purposes she fired up Sketchup on my PC, and started drawing the parts she'd been trying to describe. I'm obviously a visual person because as soon as I saw what she was doing it all made sense. "So those four pieces will fit in the end of the tubes and connect to the vertical pieces?" I wanted to make sure I was following what Beth was doing. "You've got it. All the joints will be bolted together and allow the end piece to move so you can set the camera at any height." "Yeah, but what's going to lock it in place?" "Three of the joints will just be bolted together. We'll use nylon lock nuts to keep them from loosening up, the other one of the joints will have a threaded knob. Just tighten it down and you're locked solid." "You are a genius! That's exactly what I need!" I lifted her from the chair and started nuzzling all my favorite spots. "Do we have enough time to get to the scrap yard and pick up the aluminum?" "Sure. If you'll let me go!" Decisions, decisions. After picking up the tubing and other aluminum pieces we'd need, we drove to the shop and I got to play with the big toys again. Beth showed me some quick ways to mill out the parts and we made a couple of changes as we went. She made me swear that as soon as I got home I'd convert her quick drawing, including our on-the-fly changes, into a finished drawing in AutoCAD. I'd picked up enough stock for half a dozen finished extensions but only made enough parts for one. I wanted to make sure the new design would work before I made any more and once we did know it was right I wanted a final drawing so making more wouldn't be a hassle. After cleaning up the machines and locking up the shop we drove to the Pizza Palace and joined Greg and Cindy for lunch. On the way back to Beth's we stopped at a hardware store to pick up the nuts and bolts we needed to tie everything together. Once we had all the parts the assembly was pretty easy and it worked! Now to get it painted. Monday I didn't have a rehearsal so I had a chance to go to the metal finishing company Beth's dad mentioned. It was a small shop, not too far from our house. When I walked in a guy came up to the counter. From the look of his clothes, he worked in the shop, not the office. "Can I help you?" he asked. "I've got some aluminum I need painted." I shook the pieces of the extension out on the counter. "My name is Tommy Randahl. Chuck Jones mentioned you might be able to help me." "Hi, Tommy, I'm Scott. Lets see what you've got here." He looked over the pile of aluminum, stopping to fit the pieces together. "What is this for?" I explained how it would be used and that I'd like it painted black. "Hmmm. I'd suggest powder coating rather than paint. It's tougher and the cost is about the same." We talked for a few more minutes and Scott quoted me a price that was less than I expected. He asked if there was a rush and I asked him if I could have them back by Friday. "No problem, Tommy. Oh, and say hello to Chuck next time you see him." The rest of the week was taken up with school—both classes and rehearsals. At least it took my mind off what my gizmo would look like when it was finished. Friday after school Beth and I stopped by the finishing shop to pick up my parts. "Hi, Scott. My stuff ready?" "You bet, Tommy." He looked at Beth. "You must be Chuck and Bev's daughter, right?" I did the introductions. Beth gave Scott a little grin. Scott reached under the counter and brought out a neatly wrapped package. "Here you go!" I ripped the wrapping off and saw my parts all finished in a semi-gloss black that looked beautiful. "Tommy, I masked off the areas where the end pieces fit inside the tubing. I hope that's okay?" "You bet, Scott. I hadn't even thought of that, thanks for catching it." I realized there was a lot about designing things I still had to learn! I glanced at Beth just in time to catch a smug grin flash across her face. As I paid him I mentioned I'd have at least five more sets. "If you can bring them in all at once I'll only have to do the setup once. It'll save you some cash." I thanked Scott and told him I'd bring everything in as soon as we got them ready. Once we were back at Beth's the assembly took just a few minutes and then I was looking at my finished extension. It looked like a commercial piece of "photomongery," as Beth put it. "Photomongery? Where'd you come up with that?" "Well, ironmongery is an old term for things made of iron so I just ... well, it sounded good to me!" "It sounds good to me, too. Mind if I use it?" "Well, we'll have to arrange royalty payments of some sort..." I'd seen that look before and I loved it. "I'll warn you, I'm a hard negotiator," I said with a grin. "Oh, I hope so!" I had just wrapped my arms around her when the garage door for the empty stall started to open. Beth's parents coming home from work. Gotta talk to them about their timing. Beth's mom walked up. "Hi, Tommy, what's up?" She looked at my completed unit sitting on the bench. "That must be your tripod gadget, right? Looks pretty good." "It certainly does." Beth's dad walked up behind me. "That looks like a professional piece. Nice job." "I can't take too much credit. Most of it is Beth's design." I saw a proud look on Chuck's face. "I told you to talk to her." ------- It was the last week of rehearsals. The show opened Thursday night and everything was chaos. In other words it was business as usual. Cherie Jenkins, our costumer, was busy with last minute changes, Greg was putting the final touches on the lighting and the cast was trying to get through a full run with no flubs. Monday after rehearsal Beth and I took off for the Pizza Palace. We both needed some quiet time and food and couldn't think of a better spot than our snuggle booth. Jeanie met us at the door. "I figured you two were due." Beth and I just stared at our favorite waitress. "Jeanie, how did you know we'd be here?" "It's the last week before your show, isn't it. You always come in with that harassed look just before a show. I've even steered a couple of others away from your booth," she said with a grin. After she brought a couple of Cokes and took our order we just sat back and relaxed. "How's Gail doing?" I knew Kevin would ask me when I got home. "Pretty good. I think she's still a little embarrassed over that day with Kev, but she's working through it. As a matter of fact I think maybe it's time to get the two of them back together." "Maybe get them both to the show. It'll give them something to talk about anyway." "I hope so. Your brother is the one thing that's kept her going all this time. I think that's why she's having so much trouble with the way she treated him. And why she's so worried about what his reaction's going to be." About that time out pizza showed up and I was being spoiled—no onions! We had to cut dinner short since I had a portrait to shoot that evening. My photo sideline was keeping me busy and adding nicely to my bank account. With tuition, books, and everything else associated with school I was trying to stash as much cash as I could. I wasn't thrilled doing portraits and would much rather do commercial work. In commercial shoots the clients usually had a better idea of what they wanted and the subjects rarely fussed and cried. Portraits, on the other hand, involved a lot of personal feelings and occasionally unreasonable requests, not to mention screaming kids who were afraid of being in the same room as a stranger with a lot of strange stuff that created bright flashes. I'd resigned myself to doing them as part of the job and treated them as a learning experience, but I didn't have to like doing them. ------- My brother knocked on my door Tuesday night. I'd mentioned having tickets to the show Friday night and that Gail would be there. "Tommy, how should I treat Gail?" "How would you like to be treated if you'd really embarrassed yourself in front of somebody?" "I mean should I tell her it's okay or just not even say anything? I don't want to blow this, Tommy." I thought about his situation for a bit. "I guess I'd just act like everything was normal and wait for her to bring it up. Don't say anything until she does." "Yeah, but what then?" "Well, I don't think you should tell her to forget it, because she's not going to be able to do that. Maybe tell her it doesn't make any difference? I honestly don't have an answer for you. I'm sorry." I knew he was looking at me for a definite answer but I just didn't know. ------- Wednesday afternoon was our final dress rehearsal and it looked like we finally had a show! The orchestra sounded good, nobody dropped any lines, the set changes were smooth, and all the little things that make up a show worked. Now just to get through opening night! ------- Thursday Beth and I stopped for a quick burger before the show. It's been a long-standing unwritten theatre rule to either not eat or just have a light meal before a performance, especially on opening night. The combination of excitement and nerves make for a lot of tipsy tummies—to the point where a smart stage manager makes sure to have a wastepaper basket or bucket handy! The funny thing was that I've been on stage before but tonight I was the one suffering from opening night jitters, not Beth. Maybe because it would be my first time singing in front of an audience. "Oh, just get into your costume and spend some time with the rest of the cast. Everything will be just fine," Beth grinned at me as she parroted my advice to her. "Okay, okay. I can smell the sarcasm, I don't have to taste it," I said with a grin. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the advice worked. When I got to the men's dressing room the rest of the guys were standing around kidding each other and passing lines from the show back and forth as they changed into their costumes. As I joined in I realized my nerves were gone. I walked out of the dressing room just as Beth came out in her costume. "Hey, big guy, you ready to go?" "Mmm, I am now. Your advice worked!" "Of course, I got it from a very wise man ... Too bad you don't have a mirror to go to for advice!" I made a note for later. Something about revenge being a dish best served cold. Mr. Franks walked up. "Okay, everybody, let's get warmed up before they open the house!" As we gathered on stage to stretch and do our vocal warm-ups Greg walked up. "You sure I can't have one of the guys hit you with a follow spot during one of your songs?" "Not if you want to be able keep Cindy happy," I growled. He chuckled as he left to do a final light check. Ken, our stage manager, ran onto the stage just as we finished warming up. "Okay, gang, they're going to open the house so let's keep it quiet!" Beth and I walked off into the wings. "This is what I hate," she grumbled. "Why does it seem to take three lifetimes before the overture starts?" "Because time is relative?" I kidded her. A couple of the other cast members walked up and we started ribbing each other, then suddenly the orchestra started playing. Showtime! Beth was on stage with the rest of the girls singing about how unfair their bosses were and then it was my turn ... to sing my heart out with a bunch of disreputable poker players and political shysters. ------- As the show drew to a close the entire cast was on stage singing about how La Guardia was going to be their next mayor. Then it was over. We'd made it through opening night. That's when it hit me: this was our last opening night. After this we'd all be going our separate ways, the camaraderie of high school blown to the four winds. I was musing over that thought when Beth came up, face flushed with the excitement of making it through another show. Well, that and all the applause. "Tommy, you sounded great out there! And you told everybody you couldn't sing!" She was interrupted as the flood of family and friends arrived back stage. As our families congratulated us I watched Kevin. He was standing with his arm around Gail's shoulder as if to make sure she didn't disappear. I was happy to see the two of them together, apparently Gail was working through her problems and looked happy to be back with my brother. Gail's mom was standing behind Beth's folks as if she was keeping an eye on her daughter but at the same time trying not to intrude. I saw that same expression I'd seen at Christmas: a wary acceptance of Gail's relationship with my brother crossed with a melancholy look as she also accepted that her little girl was growing up. After talking with everybody I walked up behind Beth and whispered in her ear, "Take me to the farm." With a chuckle she announced we'd see everybody at the cast party. We grabbed our coats and were out the door. As we were driving to the farm I mentioned this was our last opening night. Beth was suddenly very quiet. She'd been in only three shows but the theatre bug had obviously bitten, hard. Our lovemaking that night wasn't the fast, excitement-filled romp of other opening nights. Instead we took it slow, almost as if we didn't want it to end. When we finally got to the party, we were met at the door by Steve Watkins, who played Floyd, a cop in the show, and Cindy, who was Dora, his girlfriend. "Okay, miss, you're under arrest," Steve announced as he clicked a handcuff on Beth's wrist "Arrested? What for?" she said with a confused look. "Contributing to the delinquency of a minor—the young boy next to you," Steve replied with a big grin. "The court has decided to be lenient and has ordered that you be released to your parole officer." With that he clapped the other cuff on my wrist. We spent the rest of the party shackled together. With punishment like that I'd have to be delinquent more often! After the party I dropped Beth off, drove home and stumbled into the house about one-thirty in the morning. I was pulling my clothes off when Kevin knocked on my door. "Hey, Kev, how's it going? I saw you back stage with Gail. Are you back together again?" "Yeah, I guess we are. Tommy, how can I convince Gail that she shouldn't worry about what happened that afternoon?" "I don't know, Kev. I guess just act like it didn't happen. Give her a chance to put it behind her. You two looked good together tonight." "It just felt so good to be able to hold her again. Thanks, Tommy. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't around," he said as he walked out my door. ------- Friday night's show was another great performance, with the packed house stopping the show twice with their applause. ------- I picked up Beth early on Saturday so I could make up the rest of my tripod extensions. With a little luck I'd have them ready for finishing by Monday. Working with Beth in the basement shop was a real learning experience for me. When I was learning to use tools as a kid it was all hand tools. The only power tool my dad had was an electric drill, but the basement of the Jones' shop offered me the chance to learn how to handle big stationary machines—lathes, mills, surface grinders, power hacksaws—the whole range of machine tools. Having Beth as a teacher was just an added bonus. Since I had followed Beth's advice—read "order"—to do my final design in AutoCAD, it made cutting and machining the parts that much easier and quicker; we had our own little assembly line going for a while. As a matter of fact, we finished so quickly I had the opportunity to try my first design for the new tripod head I'd come up with. It was amazing how easy it seemed, especially with Beth there to nudge me in the right direction when I ran into trouble. When we finished up I had all the parts for the extensions and one of my new tripod heads ready to drop off at Scott's on Monday for powder coating. After we cleaned up it was food time. In other words a trip to the Palace was in order. As we walked in Jeanie was wearing that little grin of hers. She led us back to the snuggle booth and there sat Kevin and Gail. "Sit down, guys. We don't mind sharing," my brother said, an almost serious look on his face. After Jeanie left to get our drinks I asked if they'd ordered yet. "No, we just got here. What do you guys want?" Kev asked. I figured Gail for a "no onions" kind of girl so I suggested ordering two pizzas, that way everybody'd be happy. I was wrong. "Oh, do you like onions? I love onions!" my brother's traitorous girl friend asked. I glanced over at Beth and saw a little smirk. Sigh. After Jeanie dropped off the food Gail looked at us and then Kevin. "Go ahead," he said. Gail took a deep breath. "You both have been so good to me through everything, I think it's time to tell you just what's happened. "My father's job had a lot of, well, I guess crooks, for customers and when he owed some of them money he couldn't pay back he decided to move to California. "The whole thing happened so quick that when I got home that last day he'd already moved most of our stuff into storage and had a U-Haul trailer packed and ready to go." I saw her reach under the table to grab Kevin's hand. "I didn't even have time to come over and say goodbye. All he'd let me do was call you!" She looked ready to cry. Kev moved closer and put his arm around her shoulder. "When we got to California it was kind of like having a stranger for a father. That's when he started ... started..." I could see the tears start. My brother pulled her head down on his shoulder. "That's okay, you don't have to tell us everything," he said. "B-but I treated you all so bad, a-and everything!" "Gail," Kevin said. "You don't have to do this. It's okay, we understand." He looked at Beth and me. Beth reached across the table and took Gail's hand. "Gail, don't do this to yourself. We know it wasn't really you that caused all this, really." Gail looked up with a relieved expression. "Oh, thank you! I thought I was ready to talk about everything, but I guess not." With a sigh, she grabbed a slice of pizza and that was the end of the conversation as the food took priority. After we ate, Kevin glanced at me with kind of a guilty look. "Uh, Tommy, can you give us a ride home?" "Sure, you're just lucky we've got my car and not the Healey." The thought of squeezing all four of us in the little two-seater wasn't appealing. I never did think to ask how they'd gotten over there. Saturday's show was a repeat of Friday's. Considering Fiorello! isn't a real well-known musical we were sure packing the house! Only three more performances and our high school theatre experience would be over. That made me think about next year. How different would college be? ------- Chapter 10 So here I was, sitting at the controls of Matt's Helm as the cat loafed along under just enough sail to leave a little wake. I looked up and saw Beth sunning herself forward, a most distracting sight since she had shed her bikini as soon as we got underway. After a year and a half I still marveled at the glorious creature who graced my life. As I watched my lady enjoy the beautiful Caribbean day, I thought back to the previous weeks... Theatre was done. I'd been involved with school productions since my freshman year and now it was all over. The second week of Fiorello! came off without a hitch, the cast and crew were flawless and the audiences seemed to love the show. After the last performance Beth and I went to the closing night cast party. After a couple of hours at the party I noticed Beth sitting in a big overstuffed chair, feet tucked up under her, looking as if she was the only person in the room. I walked over and plopped down on one arm of the chair. "What's up? You don't look like you're very happy." "I'm mad, Tommy." Oh, oh. What had I done now? "Who are you mad at?" I said, with fingers crossed. "Myself." Huh? "Um, why?" "Tommy, I wasted two and a half years! I didn't know! If I'd had the guts to accept a ride from you our freshman year I could have had two more years of this. And now it's over!" I slid down into the chair and wrapped my arms around her. I didn't know what to say. I certainly wasn't going to point out I wasn't even driving when I was a freshman! As we sat there watching our friends enjoy the evening a melancholy feeling crept up on me. A big chapter of our lives was drawing to a close and whatever came next was going to involve a lot of changes. Cindy and Greg walked over, looking about the same as we did. "Well," Greg said, "it's done. No more late nights and weekends spent backstage while all our friends are out having fun." Was he trying to convince himself of something? Sounded like it to me. ------- Monday I took the rest of my parts over to Scott's for powder coating. Along with the extender parts, I brought along the pieces for my new tripod head. While I was there he showed me some black nuts and bolts. "Would these look better since everything else is black? I got these from a plating shop for another job and I thought of you." They did look better than the bright hardware I used for my first "improved" extension. I got the name of the plating company, called them and made arrangements to pick up what I needed. Damn, my little project was looking better all the time. I told Scott to take his time since Beth and I would be spending the following week down in the islands. ------- We got off the plane in Nassau, collected our luggage, and were walking toward the exit when I heard, "Hey! Tommy!" I looked around and saw Bob and Sue Webber, our island-mates from last year, waving at us. "Hi! What are you doing in Nassau?" I asked as Sue gave me a big hug. "Well, we needed to do a grocery run and when Matt let us know you were coming down, we figured combining errands just made sense," Bob said as he hugged Beth. We took a taxi to the marina where Bob led us to a beautiful classic Chris-Craft cruiser, the Lady Suzanne. After we loaded the groceries and our luggage and got underway Sue pulled off her t-shirt and shorts and stood on deck in a very skimpy, bright orange bikini. Beth took one look at her and ducked into the cabin only to come up a couple of minutes later in a bikini of her own—the black string I'd given her for Christmas. Bob and I just looked at each other with our tongues hanging out. Beth and Sue went forward and stretched out on the deckhouse to enjoy the sun as Bob maneuvered us through a narrow channel and then got the boat up on plane for the rest of the trip to the island. "Bob, I've got to ask you about this boat. It's beautiful!" "Thanks, Tommy. This is a fifty-two foot Chris-Craft Constellation from the Sixties. I found her rotting away in an out-of-the-way marina in Florida and had her restored. My baby." "Whoever did the restoration did a beautiful job." "Thanks. It took a lot of time and money but I think it was worth it. "By the way, Tommy, I'm glad to see Matt made an exception to his new rule not to offer his house to anyone. You must have really impressed him. I know he was happy when we told him how nice the place looked after you were here last year. You wouldn't believe what slobs some people can be. Oh, and don't worry about filling the tanks on the cat this time. That was a nice gesture on your part, but Matt's planning on having the boat pulled for maintenance after you leave and the less fuel, the better." I realized my ears were warm. I thought we'd just done what any considerate guest would do. I guess all those lessons from my parents paid off. We cruised along in companionable silence for a few minutes when Bob looked at our ladies stretched out in the sun. "God, we're a couple of lucky SOBs," he said quietly. I wasn't going to argue. When we got to the island, Bob pulled up to Matt's dock. "How would you like to get together for a day of fishing and food, like last time, except this time we'll supply the boat?" Sue asked. I glanced at Beth and got an affirmative nod. "Any time this week sounds great. Well, except for today. I don't know about Beth, but I want some time to relax after the flight." Bob nodded and after some more welcoming hugs from the two of them he backed the boat away from the dock leaving us with our luggage, my camera case, and our bag full of books. As I stood there just enjoying a light Caribbean breeze and the warm sun on my face, Beth snuggled up behind me and put her arms around me. "I think I'm ready to change citizenship now," she murmured. We'd left in one of our infamous March blizzards and I was more than willing to agree. Once we got unpacked we both hopped in for a shower—a nice, long, playful shower. As we lazed on the bed afterward I looked over at Beth. "You think we'll ever have a place like this?" "Mmmm, I hope so." My lady sounded like she was almost asleep. I rolled over to use her as a pillow and soon joined her in dreamland. After our nap we grabbed towels, our books, and the sunscreen, and walked down to the beach. As I covered Beth in SPF50 I wondered what it would be like to live down here all the time. I loved the area and its slow pace as a spot to relax but I wasn't sure I could take it full-time. Now, if we owned a private jet and enough of the island to cut a runway down the middle... "I know what you're thinking," Beth sing-songed. "You do, huh? Well, what do you think I'm thinking?" Let's hear her get herself out of this one! "I don't think the island is long enough to land a jet." Howinhell does she do that?! "Well, we could have a slip for the cat in Nassau, land the jet at the airport there and cruise out here." "Oh, we're going to have a catamaran, huh?" 'You bet! Maybe like the one your big toe is pointing at right now." Beth looked at Matt's Helm and got a far-away look in her eye. "So when does all this happen?" "Well ... I suppose we'll have to finish school first, then at least one of us would have to get a pilot's license with a jet rating, and then buy the plane, and a place here ... Oh, give it a coupe of years after we graduate." "Tommy, you are an incurable optimist. I'm thinking at least five years after we finish school." And I'm the incurable optimist? But then, it never hurts to dream. ------- The next day we got together with Bob and Sue for a day on the Lady Suzanne. While our ladies talked and sunned themselves Bob and I concentrated on catching lunch. Well, that and enjoying some of the great local beer. Neither Beth nor I were big drinkers, but sitting on a boat tickling fish under the warm Caribbean sun just seemed to require a good beer ... or two. After we'd caught enough fish for lunch, Bob set up a table on the deck. "And now for your first surgery lesson," he said as he pulled out a long, thin knife. Beth and Sue worked their way back as Bob was teaching me the finer points of filleting our catch. One look at what we were doing and they decided to hide in the galley to fix the rest of the food. After we ate and cleaned up the four of us stretched out on the two couches on the aft deck and tried to catch up on the last year. Both girls had pulled t-shirts over their suits. Although Sue had the deep, rich tan you'd expect from a local, Beth still sported a Midwestern winter pallor and didn't want to burn. "How long before you two graduate?" Sue asked. Beth shot me a quick grin. "We'll be done in June." "Already, huh? Have you found jobs yet?" "Oh, we've got a few more years, we'll just be starting college," Beth said. "But, we thought you were already in college! How old are you?" Bob looked a little confused. Beth chuckled. "I'm eighteen, and so is Tommy. Ever since midnight anyway!" Hey, that's right, today was my birthday! No more jail-bait jokes! "Congratulations!" Sue jumped up and gave me a hug and a kiss. Even wearing her t-shirt she still felt good. "So what are your majors?" Bob asked. "Tommy's going to get a BFA in photography and I'm aiming for a degree in mechanical engineering. "How about you two? How did you end up down here?" Beth asked. They exchanged glances. "Well," Sue started after getting a nod from Bob. "We're both writers and after vacationing down here for several years we decided to take the plunge. With e-mail and the web we can do our work almost anywhere, so here we are." I'd never met a writer before and was curious. "What kind of writing do you do, articles, books, inflammatory political pamphlets?" Bob chuckled. "We both write books, but under pen names. I think our noms de plume are better known than our real names and we like it like that." That sounded like a hint not to spill the beans, and when he mentioned what the names were I could see why. Under his pen-name, Bob had written a series of very successful mysteries and Sue's pseudonym was a household name in romances. "I can see how you can afford your house down here!" "We like our own little Goldeneye," Sue laughed. "Speaking of houses, what's the story with the other properties on the island?" "Well, of the six houses, we're the only permanent residents. That boarded up place next to ours was owned for years by an older couple. He's been dead for about fifteen years and his wife died seven or eight years ago. The family's had it hung up in probate ever since. There're four or five kids and they can't agree on anything, so instead of enjoying the place it's boarded up and nobody gets to use it. "The house on the north shore nobody seems to know anything about. It's been abandoned as long as we've been down here." Sue grinned. "Local legend says it's haunted so it's been a perfect setting for some of my books. "The house on the point is owned by a guy who's so busy making money he doesn't have time to enjoy it. His wife comes down a couple of times a year but spends most of her time in Nassau. "The last place is owned by a couple with a bunch of kids. They show up during the summer when the kids are out of school. "And that leaves Matt's place and you know about that!" After a few minutes just enjoying the day, Sue looked at me. "Tommy, did you bring your camera along?" "And what kind of photographer would I be if I hadn't?" "Would you be willing to take a picture of the two of us?" Bob asked. "Sure. If you don't mind, can we wait until sunset?" "Why wait 'til then?" Sue wanted to know. "Oh, I just like the light better, that's all." I thought back to the pictures I'd done of Beth last year. I looked at her and saw that special smile as she remembered posing in nothing but baby oil. Although I didn't plan on doing any nudes of our hosts it just seemed the golden twilight added to the tropical feel. The rest of the afternoon and evening Bob just cruised around the local islands, stopping often so we could enjoy snorkeling along the reefs. As the sun got close to setting I grabbed the Nikon and started posing Bob and Sue in various positions on the boat. After I'd taken several pictures I remembered Bob had talked about a non-fiction book about the Caribbean he was writing under his real name, and when I asked if he was going to put his picture on the back cover he looked at me. "You know, Tommy, I hadn't even thought about a picture. Since my other books are out under my pen-name I never considered a picture. It adds a little to the mystery too," he added with a grin. "But for this one ... yeah, a picture sounds good!" With that, he reached under the console and pulled out a yachting hat and a pipe and struck a pose—one hand on the wheel, the other on the throttles and a damn the torpedoes look on his face. I managed to snap a couple of quick shots before he broke out laughing. Once he regained control I got some additional images using the island we were near for the background. By the time the sun had set I had several pictures of both Bob and Sue together and both separately I thought would be keepers. Since Beth had brought her laptop I'd have a chance to check my work when we got back to Matt's place. Eventually our day together ended. After the Webbers dropped us off Beth and I made our way up to the house. As we got to the door Beth snickered. "Okay, what's so funny?" I asked. "When we were lying in the sun Sue was asking about your photography and I mentioned the sunset shot you took last year. The funny thing was I think she'd like something like that for Bob. Would you be willing to do some pictures for her?" Let's see ... the chance to take some pictures of a beautiful woman nude? "Sure!" "God, you're a dirty old man!" Beth tried to sound angry but wasn't very convincing. "So why do you stick with me?" "I guess I'm just a sucker for dirty old men," she sighed. "I take it this could turn into another double-sided special?" I said, referring to the picture Beth had done for me and the one we'd made up for Cindy. Beth nodded. "Sue said she'd check with us tomorrow." "So much for running around naked all day," I grumbled. "Oh, I don't think she'd mind." By that time we were in the house and headed for the shower. As I slipped my trunks off I heard a snicker as my lady noticed my rather pointed reaction to the idea of spending time in the altogether with our beautiful island neighbor. ------- "So will you do it?" Sue had walked over the next morning and had caught both of us stretched out on the beach. I just sighed and accepted the fact that we weren't on a beach at home. I caught Sue giving me an appraising look as I stood up. Beth put her book down and joined me. "Why do I feel over-dressed?" Sue asked as she stood there in the brief orange bikini she'd worn yesterday. "Oh, well, nobody here but us chickens," she said as she started pulling the ties of her suit. Soon our thirty-something neighbor was as bare as we were and looking fine. Of course, that was my professional opinion as a photographer. At least I tried to convince myself that was the case. Beth just snickered at my discomfort. "Sue, I'd be glad to take some special pictures for you. Did Beth mention the double picture she'd done for me after our trip last year?" "Yeah, and I can't wait to see Bob's face when he pulls the backing paper off his!" We made arrangements to do the pictures that evening. "Bob likes to write at night, so I shouldn't have a problem sneaking away around sunset," she said as she picked up the pieces of her suit and walked down the sand, disappearing around the big rock that reached almost to the water at the end of the beach. "You just hate working on vacation don't you?" "Well sometimes you have to suffer for your art, you know." I should have expected the elbow. Sue was back a half hour before the sun went down. As she appeared around the big rock it was obvious she was already in costume for her pictures. Beth had a bottle of baby oil with her and Sue accepted her offer to help slather it on. What I wasn't expecting was my lady's comment. "You don't expect me to do this all by myself, do you?" Somehow we all ended up covered in baby oil and almost missed the sunset. As I cleaned the oil off my hands and grabbed the camera I was amazed that I hadn't embarrassed myself. Then Beth leaned over. "Almost had a mess on your hands, didn't you?" she snickered. I was glad the sky was turning red—it helped camouflage my reaction. As I posed Sue in the surf I again marveled at how similar in appearance she and Beth were. They were almost identical in height and build and other than the difference in hair color could almost have passed as twins despite a better than ten year difference in age. By the time the sun was gone I was sure I had several great images and I'd even talked Beth into joining Sue for a couple of shots. I'd also relaxed to the fact that all three of us were bare as the day we were born. I'd heard the expression often seen but never noticed in regards to people in nudist colonies, I guess it's true. Or almost true. "You want to catch a shower before you walk back?" Beth asked. Sue looked straight at me. "Only if you'll both join me." I looked at Beth, not knowing what to expect. "Sounds good!" was her reply. If I live to be ninety, I'll never understand women. The three of us had been together long enough that evening that there was no embarrassment as we showered. There were a few grabs and tickles as we washed off the oil but nothing too extreme. Oh, and there's something about having a beautiful woman washing your back that's surpassed only by having a second beauty simultaneously washing your front. We went through a lot of hot water as we made sure we were all totally clean. Later, as we lay in bed, Beth rolled over. "Tommy, what's wrong?" she asked. "You seem uncomfortable all of a sudden." "I was a little surprised by tonight," I said. "I mean I knew we'd be taking the pictures, but the shower just..." "Let me guess, you're thinking of Bob, aren't you." "Well ... yeah," I admitted. "Tommy. Sue and I talked about this when we were on the boat and she said Bob wouldn't have a problem with it. It's not like we really did anything." I had to think about that—how would I feel if things had been reversed? The thought of Beth with another couple gave me the shivers. "Tommy, think of it like being at the farm swimming with Cindy and Greg." I remembered how uncomfortable I'd been that first time at the pond and how it seemed normal now. But Bob and Sue weren't really close friends, and Bob hadn't been there, and... I sighed. "I guess I'll just have to accept that every couple's relationship is different. Not wrong, just different." Beth looked at me with that little grin just brushing the corners of her mouth. "It seemed strange to me, too," she admitted. "But it doesn't bother me now." I stopped and considered what had happened. "I guess I was just surprised that you went for it. There're times I still think of you as the shy little mouse I first met." "I kind of surprised myself too. If someone had described what happened I think my first thought would have been about sex. But that's not what it seemed like." "Yeah, it was more like three friends just sharing. Nothing sexual about it. "Or almost nothing," I amended. "You poor guys. I know it's an automatic reaction and you don't do it on purpose, but it's funny watching you trying to hide it sometimes." "I'm not trying to hide anything now," I said as I pulled her closer. "And which one of us will you be thinking of?" "Can I plead the Fifth?" As Beth chuckled she rolled me onto my back and crawled over me. "Just remember who's who," she purred as she started to move over me. ------- Thursday the four of us got together for one more lazy afternoon on the water before we had to leave. It was funny, but with all the lakes around home I don't think it would have felt normal to spend at least half our time on the water, but down here it seemed natural. There wasn't a day that week when we weren't on the water, either on Matt's Helm or with the Webbers on the Lady Suzanne. As we cruised between islands Bob and I had been talking about photography. He grumbled about carrying a tripod all the time. "It just doesn't seem fair to have to schlep all that stuff just on the off chance I'll need it. But what else can I do?" I reached into my camera bag and pulled out my string-pod. "Try this next time," I commented as I tossed it to him. "What's this and how is it supposed to replace my tripod?" I understood his confusion. I'd felt the same way the first time I'd seen one. The whole gadget was nothing more than a short eye-bolt with about six feet of light rope fastened to it. "Screw the bolt into the bottom of your camera, drop the end of the rope on the ground, step on it, and pull your camera up until the rope is taut. It's not as good as a tripod, but it'll help steady the camera for a lot of shots and it's easy to carry—just roll it up and stick it in your pocket." "Hey! That's a great idea! Did you come up with this?" "Nope. Can't claim that one. Another photographer showed it to me and I made one up just to try it. Now I always carry it." "Thanks, Tommy! I can see this helping a lot! But I don't want to take the only one you've got." "Don't worry about it," I said as I pulled another out of my bag. "I always carry a spare!" As we got off the boat that night we made arrangements to meet Saturday morning for the trip back to Nassau. Our second Caribbean adventure was almost over. Friday we took Matt's Helm out for one last cruise. As we sailed past the abandoned house on the north side of the island Beth snuggled a little closer. "What's the matter, afraid of ghosts?" I kidded her. "No ... well ... maybe a little. "Tommy, I hate to admit it, but I've read a couple of Sue's books and one of them took place over there. Scared the hell out of me!" "Can you imagine sailing by here on a dark, moonless night?" I kidded her. "Tommy, don't do that!" I could feel her shivering. She was really spooked. "I'm sorry. "I'm also shocked to find out you read romances. I thought you were a classics kind of girl." I could see the red creeping up her neck. "You remember what I used to be like? What's a shy girl supposed to do but dream and read romances?" I didn't have an answer for that. ------- Saturday morning we made one last check to make sure we were leaving Matt's place looking as good as when we got there. "You know, I could get used to this," Beth said "Yeah. Maybe someday..." We were waiting on the dock as Bob pulled up for our final trip on the Lady Suzanne. When we reached Nassau we said our goodbyes, but only after I promised Bob to e-mail their pictures and a bill for the cost as soon as we got home. Bob and I disagreed over paying for the pics—he wanted to know what my normal charge would be and I wanted to give them the pictures. We compromised at the actual cost of the prints but only after I got a look from Beth reminding me of my past experiences with not wanting to charge friends. Beth and Sue traded a look. Little did Bob know that several other pictures would be going to Sue's e-mail! ------- Monday we were back in school, getting envious looks from our friends. "Boy, I'd love to spend a week like that," Cindy said. "Just think of not having to wear clothes at all!" I looked at Greg and saw the gears turning. "I hope being exposed to a week of decadence didn't give you any ideas, Mr. Randahl." I didn't even have to turn around to know Adams had walked up behind me. "No, sir," I responded. "We'll see about that. I'll be keeping a special eye on you," he said as he turned toward his office. Great. Only two months until graduation and Adams was going to make me watch my every step. Beth watched him go. "So much for sex in the middle of the hallway, I guess." Luckily we had other options! Monday afternoon I stopped at Scott's shop and picked up my finished parts, then Beth and I spent a couple of hours putting the extenders together. I'd printed up some labels with Photomongery and the URL for my web site. Jim and Dan had put together a quick site for me using some of the pictures I'd taken of the second prototype extender so I now had a web presence! Now to just wait until the money rolled in, right? I hoped I wasn't that naïve! Tuesday after school I took the finished extenders over to Joe's shop. "Hi, Tommy. What have you got for me?" I set the box of extenders on the counter and pulled one out for him. "Damn, these look great!" he exclaimed. "Can you make up some more?" "Sure, but don't you think we should see how this batch sells first?" "I suppose, but don't be too surprised if I call you later this week!" We talked about pricing for a while. I'd checked some photo web sites for similar pieces and talked with Beth's dad to figure out what a reasonable price should be and Joe seemed to think my figure was reasonable. "By the way, did you ever find the swivel head you were looking for?" "Nope. I ended up making one myself," I said. "Do you have it with you?" "Yeah, it's in the car, why?" "Bring it in. You never know if somebody else might be looking for the same thing." Joe looked over my invention. "Tommy, I don't know where you get your ideas but this is great! Um, any plans to make more of them?" I hadn't really thought much about it. "I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet!" "Well, get with it, son. I think you've got another winner here." Another winner? Joe hadn't even sold one of my extensions and he's already talking about making something else? "Joe, let's see if the extenders sell before you turn me into the next Manfrotto!" He just laughed. After my trip to Joe's I picked up Beth for dinner. Neither of us were in the mood for pizza so we just stopped at one of the local mom and pop diners. After we were seated and had our Cokes, I mentioned Joe's comment on my new tripod head. "So is that our next 'downstairs' project?" Beth asked. "It just might be, but I told Joe I wasn't going to start building anything new until I saw how my first idea worked out." Back at my house we started through the pictures I'd taken of Bob and Sue. After culling out the obvious lemons we ended up with fifteen good shots of our friends plus four possibles for Bob's new book, and seven of the "specials" for Sue. Those I put in a separate directory—no sense in taking a chance of spoiling her surprise. After I finished doing a quick cleanup on the proofs, I e-mailed the one set to Bob and the "specials" to Sue. Now just to wait for a response. ------- Two days later I got an e-mail from Bob. Along with some prints of the two of them he wanted to know what it would cost to use one of the pictures for his book jacket. I was happy he didn't want one of the "I am the captain of my destiny" joke shots I'd first done. One of my pictures on a book jacket by a popular author? Wow! I was going to have to talk to Beth's dad about what to charge for the rights to the picture. I didn't have any idea what was reasonable but I figured Chuck had catalogs and fliers made up for the shop so he'd probably have some idea. I didn't want to overcharge Bob, but at the same time past experience told me offering the shot for free wasn't the way to go either. I had just e-mailed the files to the shop I used for prints when an e-mail from Sue landed in my inbox. She had chosen the pictures she wanted for her "twofer" and asked if I could have them printed as sixteen-by-twenties and sent to a gallery in Nassau. She knew the gallery owner, who'd agreed to quietly frame and mat the pictures. That made life easier for me—all I had to do was get the prints, put them in a shipping tube and visit the post office. My only regret was not being there when Bob saw the result. I had just e-mailed Sue's choices to my print shop when Beth walked into my room. "I'm hungry, so hungry I won't even make you order onions." To the Palace we went. After Jeanie brought our drinks my lady looked at me. "So have you got your tux yet?" "I sure do. It's reserved for Prom next Saturday. How about you? Got your dress yet?" Beth just grinned. ------- Chapter 11 "Mr. Randahl, I'd like to speak to you." Oh, shit. What did Adams think I'd done now? "Yes, sir?" "In my office, Mr. Randahl." Oops, this was serious. Once in Adams' office, he sat down behind his desk and just stared at me. He was trying to psych me out, but I'd been through this enough times to be able to just stand there and stare back at him. Eventually he must have realized intimidation wasn't working. "Mr. Randahl, I thought I'd warned you about your behavior but you chose to ignore me and continue to attempt to disrupt the order of this school." I had? I knew from past experience not to comment until Adams asked for a reply so I just stood there. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?" How do you politely say WTF? "Um, I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What did I do?" "You know very well you've been telling all your classmates all about the disgusting things you did during vacation and I'm not going to let you continue to disrupt the morals of this school. I'm surprised Miss Jones is willing to tell anyone of your sordid carrying on." Sordid? Who, us? "Consider this a warning Mr. Randahl. I don't want to hear any more bragging about what happened while you were gone. Now get back to class." I got. As we walked into the lunchroom I told Beth what Adams said. "He said WHAT?" "I know. It didn't make any sense to me either. I think he's losing it." As our usual gang joined us for lunch I noticed Adams staring at me from across the room. I nudged Beth and looked in Adam's direction and then had to put my hand on her arm as she started to get up. I'd seen that look too often and it didn't make any sense to have both of us on Adams' shit list. "Just leave it alone. It's too close to graduation." "But how can you sit there and let him bad-mouth us?" Beth was really steamed. "I'm just counting the days until I can ignore him and his hang-ups." Beth just growled. I probably shouldn't have told her what he said, but I wanted her to know she was in his sights too. "I wonder what 'disgusting things' he was talking about? The only thing I can think of that we told the gang was about getting an all-over tan and that certainly wasn't disgusting!" My lady snickered. "What do you think he'd do if he knew about showering with Sue?" "Probably stroke out ... You want to tell him or should I?" We made it through the rest of the week without incurring any more of Adams' wrath and then it was Saturday. Prom night here we come! This year wasn't going to be a repeat of last year's weekend-long celebration. Beth's dad said he wouldn't be supplying the transportation and lodging this year. "I figure by now Beth has you pretty well hooked, no more bait needed!" I was about ready to unload on him about having to bribe me when I saw the smirk. I was beginning to see where Beth got her sense of humor. Greg and I tossed for who was driving Saturday night and I lost. Time to clean out and wash the beast again. Saturday evening I drove to Beth's and spent a few minute talking to her folks. Turned out they were going on a weekend vacation and wouldn't be back until Monday. Convenient or planned? I wasn't going to ask! Beth came down the stairs dressed in a strapless blue dress that left me speechless. As I got up, her dad said, "Have fun kids and don't do anything we wouldn't!" Having known Beth and her folks for over a year I'd heard a lot of stories of Chuck and Bev's youth—including things like what happened in the back parking lot at the Pizza Palace—so I didn't think following Chuck's instructions would be a problem! I escorted Beth out to the beatermobile. "Sorry it's not a BMW," I said. "Tommy, stop it! You know I don't care about stuff like that!" It was true, for someone who had the advantages she had Beth didn't seem to think possessions meant that much. After we picked up Greg we drove to Cindy's and Greg got out to walk up to her front door. Just as he got to the steps Cindy came rushing out and almost knocked him over with her greeting kiss. I'm sure the amount of cleavage exposed by her strapless dress had nothing to do with his stunned expression. We got to the hotel and turned the car over to a valet whose sneer was an almost palpable thing. We found our table, and while the girls dissected what everyone was wearing, Greg and I grabbed Cokes for the four of us. As usual we sat out the fast stuff, but the first slow dance found me with my arms around my lady, swaying to the music, and there wasn't anybody else in the room. Then the music was over and suddenly the dance floor was crowded. How does that work anyway? After a few more turns around the floor Greg cut in, leaving me no choice but to dance with Cindy. Ah, the sacrifices we make. After our dance I started looking around to see how many of our lunch table gang were there. I saw Sharon Thomas and Chris Hanson. Sharon was with Phil, the same guy from the school band she'd been seeing since last summer, but Chris was with a guy I didn't recognize. Later I found out he was a freshman at one of the local private colleges. Chris took a lot of ribbing from our little gang over a senior dating a "freshman." I had a chance to dance with both girls while my lady shared the floor with Phil and Jim, Chris's freshman. The evening was pretty much like last year's dance, except for one surprise. The band had just started a slow song and I stood up to take my lady out on the floor when a husky voice behind me said, "Beth, can I borrow your guy?" I turned around and at first didn't recognize the girl standing behind me. Then it hit me. "Gracie! You look great!" And she did. Gracie was the first of Beth's mice I'd done pictures for. She had been a girl with a beautiful face on the body of a Russian lady wrestler. I'd noticed she had started eating smaller lunches and her clothes were starting to look a bit baggy, but I had no idea just how much she'd lost until I saw her in her dress. The white strapless dress fit her like it was sprayed on and she looked wonderful. I saw Joey standing behind her looking like he was dreaming. Beth stood up. "Sure, why don't we trade for a dance?" She moved to Joey and I was afraid she was going to have to stamp on his foot to get his attention. Joey obviously had a serious case of Miss Wilson. Gracie flowed into my arms where she fit very nicely. "You look great in that dress." With a blush, she said, "It's all your doing, you know." "Huh? Er, I mean, well, what do you mean?" "It was the pictures you took. You showed me what I could ... should look like and I'll never be able to thank you enough!" "I'm glad I could help. So how are you and Joey getting along?" Her blush deepened which was answer enough. "Tommy, Joey's been great to me. Sex with him is unbelievable! I just can't stop coming when he ... oops. Um, we're getting along fine!" She stuttered to a stop. "It's great isn't it?" I grinned at her. She just looked down at her feet and nodded. "MR. RANDAHL! GET YOUR HANDS OFF THAT YOUNG LADY!" What the ... I turned around to see Adams bearing down on me. What was he doing here? I knew Mr. Franks, Mrs. Anderson, and a couple of other teachers had volunteered to chaperone, but Adams wasn't on the list. "You've defiled your last young lady! Get out of here NOW!" The look in his eye scared me. He looked ready to start foaming at the mouth and I didn't want to be the one to push him over the edge. "Mr. Adams, what are you doing here?" I looked over to see Mr. Williams, our principal, walk up with a concerned look on his face. "I didn't see you on the list as a chaperone for tonight." "I came here tonight to stop this, this sex maniac from defiling another innocent girl! It's bad enough what he's done to Miss Jones, but now he's moving on to other poor girls!" Mr. Williams was motioning to Mr. Franks to call someone, the police I hoped, while Mrs. Anderson was trying to keep the thundering herd away from ground zero. "Donald," Mr. Williams said in a very non-confrontational voice. "I'll make sure Tommy doesn't do anything to anyone. Why don't you go home and relax." "I'm not leaving here! He's obviously got you conned into thinking he's harmless, but I know better!" About then two cops came into the ballroom. Mr. Williams motioned them over and pointed to Adams. When Adams saw them he pointed to me, "Arrest this pervert before he mauls another innocent girl!" The cops started toward me when Mr. Williams stepped between us. "Officers, Tommy hasn't done anything, but Mr. Adams isn't feeling well and should probably be taken home." Taken TO a home was more like it! One of the cops started talking to Adams and quickly motioned to his partner to call for backup. Adams was getting more and more agitated and I think the cop realized he was going to need help. Suddenly Adams just collapsed. One second he was yelling at the cops and the next he was on the floor curled up, rocking back and forth, mumbling to himself. I looked across the room and saw Ron Quigley, my favorite EMT, standing in the doorway and waved him over. One look at Adams and he was on his radio. A few seconds later his partner came in rolling a gurney. As they loaded him up, I heard mumbles. "Bastard," "Christine," "Couldn't help," and some others I couldn't catch. Most of the prom-goers were gathered in groups talking and doing a lot of pointing, some of it at me. I wasn't looking forward to Monday. Maybe I'd be lucky and catch beriberi or a three-day plague or something. By the time everything was done the EMTs had taken Adams away. Where to we didn't know, but the whole incident had pretty much put an end to the evening. I was talking to Greg and a couple of the other guys when a pair of hands slipped around me and a familiar chin rested on my shoulder. "Tommy, can we go?" Beth asked. I glanced at Greg and got a nod so we started making the rounds to say goodbye to our friends. Soon we were on our way to Beth's house. "Tommy, did you tip that snob of a valet?" Cindy asked. I just nodded. He really didn't deserve it, but I guess one of my hang-ups was having people think I was cheap. I've been known to over-tip in restaurants too. Once at Beth's we sat around and talked about the evening and Adams' behavior. "What happened tonight?" Greg asked. "Why does he keep picking on you? I mean, he's always been a control freak, but this year he's gone over the edge. And tonight..." "Yeah," Cindy added. "And who's Christine?" "I wonder if that was his niece's name?" Beth mused. "And maybe Beth reminds him of his niece. That may be why he's always coming down on you," Cindy said looking at me. We continued the conversation for a while until Cindy yawned, stood up and motioned to Greg. Beth had set up the guest room for them and after they'd gone upstairs I helped Beth clean up until she looked at me. "Tommy, can we just cuddle tonight?" I took her hand as we went up the stairs. Somehow it seemed a good night for some shared bodily warmth. I woke up the next morning spooned behind Beth, arm around her, my hand cradling one of her breasts. There's a lot to be said for tradition. "I wonder what's going to happen to Mr. Adams?" Beth said as we sat around the table, amid the remains of breakfast. "I don't know, but I don't think we'll be seeing him for the rest of the year," I said. "You think they'll lock him up?" Greg asked. "I don't know, but as touchy as the school is, I don't think the school board would be too happy having him around kids." "Poor man," Beth said. "Poor man?" Cindy looked at Beth. "After everything he's done to you and Tommy? Well, I guess maybe we should feel sorry for him. I mean losing your only niece has to hit someone pretty hard." "Just the same, I don't think anybody's going to miss having him around," Greg said. Greg and Cindy left in the early afternoon and Beth and I just sat around talking about the prom. By the time I got home Sunday night my folks had heard about what had happened so I had to go through the whole story. Monday was as bad as I thought. The kids who hadn't been at the dance had heard about it from those who were and everybody knew, absolutely KNEW what had happened. So why was every story different? And why did everybody think I knew anything—just because Adams seemed to have it in for me? Beth was standing at my locker before lunch. "Are you going to tell me what happened Saturday night, too?" I growled. "Whoa! You've had a good morning." "I'm sorry, it's been a long day. How can so many people see the same thing and NOT see the same thing?" I'd been hearing everything from Adams had a gun to I attacked him. "Have you told anyone about Mr. Adams' niece?" "No. And that makes explaining things tough, but, I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to pass along gossip." At least our lunch bunch didn't ask a lot of questions. A lot of them had been at the prom and had already talked about it. As we were finishing lunch Gracie walked over. "How you doing, Tommy? I couldn't believe the way Mr. Adams unloaded on you. He's got some real problems. "But I wanted to thank you for the dance ... and everything else!" She reached down and gave me a quick kiss. As she walked away I noticed her wardrobe had changed. No more outgrown—outshrunk?— clothes, just a t-shirt and jeans like everybody else. As we walked out of school something that had been running around the back of my mind all day at school finally popped to the front: There had been no announcement about Adams! The one thing that was on everybody's mind and part of every conversation might never have happened for all the official notice it got. The lack of an announcement was such a null item it took me the whole day before I realized nothing had been said; nothing from the office, even the teachers had ignored it. Spooky. Since Beth had invited me over for dinner I drove us directly to her house. As we walked in the door she turned and put her arms around me. "Tommy have I told you lately how much I love you?" "No. But that's okay, I've seen it in your eyes enough times to know you do. If anyone's been bad when it comes to saying it, it's me. I do love you even if I forget to say it some times." "Show me," she said quietly as she led me up the stairs. After dinner we sat in the living room talking with her folks; surprisingly, nothing was mentioned about Saturday night, but we talked a lot about my photography. Just before I got ready to leave Beth's dad asked, "Tommy, have you considered filing a patent application?" Patent application? "Uh, why would I need one of those?" "Are you planning on making more of your tripod adapters?" "I don't know. Joe at the photo shop just said he thought he could sell some of them. What does that have to do with a patent application?" "If your adapter is a new idea you can patent it. With a patent it would be harder for someone to take your idea and profit from it." "I haven't really thought about it. Do you think I could sell enough to make it worth the effort? I thought patents were just for big things." "No. You can file a application for any new idea or design. "Tommy, get me a set of drawings and I'll talk to a lawyer who's done some patent work for us." "You have some patents?" "Yeah, and they're not for 'big' things either." "Um, sure, I'll run a set off when I get home." "Something else, do you know about model releases and contracts? If you're going to have a business you're going to have to make sure you get all the documentation you need." "I've got some blank releases, but I'm not sure of the other stuff. I know I'll be taking business courses in school, would they cover that sort of stuff?" "Yes, I'm sure they will, but if you have any questions just ask me. If I don't know, I can put you in touch with someone who does." "Thanks, Chuck. I knew photography was more than just taking pictures but I'm learning there's a lot more stuff I'm going to have to learn." Beth walked out to the car with me. "Tommy, why don't I drive tomorrow? I think it's time to get the Healey out for a run." How could I argue with that? I was waiting in the driveway when Beth came around the corner the next morning. "'ello, 'ello, 'ello," I said in my best fake-British accent as I got in the car. It was warm enough to have the top down and I wished we could have just kept going instead of pulling into the school parking lot. "Tommy, do you realize we've got less than a month of school left?" "Yeah, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand I want to be through with high school, but on the other hand..." "Yeah, me too. We've got a lot of changes coming up." At least every conversation that day didn't involve what had happened at the prom. As we walked out to the lot after school Beth handed me the keys. "Tommy," I heard that little-girl tone in my lady's voice. "Can we drive out to the farm? Please? I've even got a blanket in the boot." As we pulled into the farm Beth leaned over and started whispering in my ear. I think I set a record getting the gate open. I drove the Healey to our favorite spot and shut off the engine as Beth got out and pulled the blanket out of the trunk, er, boot. I walked up behind her as she was bent over spreading the blanket, her perfect derrière an inviting target. I dropped to my knees, grabbed her hips and nipped at a cheek. "Eek! Damn the bugs are getting bad around here!" My lady giggled as she pushed herself back into me until I over-balanced and fell to the ground, taking her with me. As we rolled together in the grass she looked at me. "Guess what!" "What?" "We missed the blanket!" she giggled. "Easily fixed," I said as I rolled us over until we were where we belonged. "Tommy? Please hurry!" "Why? We've got all afternoon," I said as I ran a hand under her t-shirt. "Yeah, but I've always wondered what it would be like to make love to a college guy. And I'm tired of waiting!" Suddenly I was on my back with my shirt up around my armpits and my pants down around my knees. "Hmm, they taste the same as high school guys. I wonder if there are any other similarities ... ooh, yeah!" she said as she began energetically bouncing on me. As we lay on the blanket catching our breaths I looked at Beth, "Well?" "Well what?" "Are college guys better?" "Hmm, I'm not sure I can tell from only one test." "That's easily fixed," I said as I started running my tongue over her body. ------- The next couple of weeks seemed to fly by as graduation neared: pick up our yearbooks one day, order robes for graduation another, and of course finals. Then it was graduation week. "Cindy, you are a devious, sneaky, conniving person," I said. The four of us were standing in the hallway next to the office. "What do you mean, Tommy?" Cindy was wearing her dumb blonde look, trying to look innocent and confused at the same time. Greg was trying to hide a smirk. They'd posted the class standings that morning. Barbra Jenkins was at the top of the list. No surprise there, Barb was scary smart and was sometimes referred to as the curve wrecker. My special lady was number three, but number two? Cynthia Kowalski! "Cindy, why do you act like such a ditz?" "Oh, call it protective misdirection," she grinned. "If people want to think of me as a dumb blonde without even getting to know me it's their loss. Sometimes being underestimated has its advantages." There was a lesson there and I wasn't going to forget it. And then it was the big day. Since the weather was nice, the graduation ceremony was being held outside. Our folks took us to dinner and spent most of the time reminiscing about their time in school and what their graduation ceremonies were like. After we got into our robes we marched over to the football field and took our places on folding chairs set up on the field. Our friends and families were filling the stands waiting for the fun to start. I saw my folks and Beth's. Kevin and Gail were even there. Our principal, Mr. Williams, was the first to speak. "Students, parents, friends, and alumni, welcome to commencement for the latest graduates of Central High School. As we gather here this evening to celebrate the future of our great country..." Mr. Williams was a pretty good guy, for a principal, but I could tell this was the same speech I'd heard for the last three years. As I zoned him out I looked around at my classmates. Even when dressed in identical robes, it was easy to pick out particular people. Some friends, some not, some just popular. I saw a lot of my theatre friends and kids I'd shared classes with and I started to think back to my four years at Central and remembered my first graduation ceremony, sitting in the bleachers watching the graduating seniors, how much older they seemed... The polite applause for Mr. Williams brought me back to the present. As he stepped away from the podium Barbra Jenkins moved up to take his place. Her speech as valedictorian was almost a carbon copy of Mr. Williams'. And then it was Cindy's turn at the mic. "Now that Mr. Williams and Barbra have stolen most of what I was going to say," Cindy grinned as she tore up her prepared speech. I saw Mr. Williams frown and remembered all the speeches had to be okayed by his office first. "I'll just have to wing it," Cindy said with a grin. This brought a roar from all the seniors. Most of us had heard graduation speeches from previous years and they all seemed to be variations on the same theme. Cindy continued, "So I'm not going to try to tell you that you are the future of this nation so study hard and apply yourself, because you've already heard that. "I'm going to tell you something different. Remember these school days. "Soon enough we are going to have responsibilities far beyond any we've had in the past. So remember these days, the fun, the friendships, even the bad times—the lost loves, all the things we've wished we could have done differently, all the things that helped make us what we are, because you never know when you'll run into something out there might just be like what you ran into here. "I'm sure we've all heard our parents reminiscing about when they were in school and I'm sure we're going to do the same thing when it's our turn with the next generation. Let's remember what these years were really like. I'm not saying we should live in the past, just try to remember ... hmm, sounds like a good title for a song." That brought a groan from our theatre gang and a few others. Cindy continued for a few more minutes before stepping away from the mic to applause and whistles from most of the senior class. And a relieved look from Mr. Williams. Our class was 574 students and each of us marched up to get our diplomas as our names were called—in alphabetical order, or course. Most of the jocks and the popular crowd got applause as they got their diplomas. As I mounted the platform there was a smattering of applause. I figured it was our theatre gang until it kept building. I looked around and saw some of the kids standing. There were even some people in the bleachers standing, I mean besides Mom, Dad, my brother, Gail, and Beth's folks. I stood there until Mr. Williams pushed my diploma at me and reminded me there were others in line behind me. I'd been standing there trying to figure out what was going on. It wasn't until I sat down and Jim Ramsey, who'd been in front of me in the line, leaned over. "About time a non-jock got some recognition around here!" Recognition? What ... Oh, God, was this for "rescuing" Beth and Cindy last year? As the crowd quieted down I felt my face ready to combust. Then suddenly it was over. Jerry Zilwiki got his diploma and we were done. Twelve years of our young lives over in one ceremony. Beth and I were standing around talking to some of our friends with the usual promises to keep in touch and who was going where for school in the fall. We'd already given Cindy a hard time over her "unauthorized" speech and promised to see her tomorrow. We'd invited a bunch of kids to the farm for a no-more-school party the next day and Cindy and Greg were going to be there. I turned around and saw our parents walking up. My folks had funny looks on their faces, like they were plotting something, Beth's were grinning like they were waiting for something to happen and my princess was almost bouncing from foot to foot. Something was up. The six of us walked to the school lot where I discovered my car was gone! "Beth, my car's not here!" "Are you sure Tommy? I know you parked it around here somewhere." "Yes I'm sure! The only car left is that Jeep!" "Well, try your key, maybe it'll work." I looked at Beth only to see a glint in her eye. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure the key for a sixteen-year-old Chevy is going to fit an almost-new Jeep," I grumped as I pulled my keys from my pocket. Along with my house key and a couple of other keys was my car key. A new key! "What ... How did..." I looked up to see a huge grin on my dad's face. "Happy graduation, Tommy!" Mom gave me a big hug. "Didn't you even feel Beth sneak your keys out of your pocket? Not very observant, son!" I turned to see Beth trying to keep a straight face. "And you ... you sneaky little..." I said as I pulled her to me. "Oh, Tommy, you should have seen the look on your face!" I put the key in the lock and presto! the lock clicked. Damn, this was better than Overhaulin'! "Wow! I can hardly wait to graduate!" I heard my brother say quietly. I walked around to open the passenger door. As my lady settled in her seat I hugged my folks. "Thanks! This is just ... well, I didn't expect anything like this! I mean..." "Tommy, just go enjoy it!" Dad said. I always do what I'm told. We drove out to the farm and just sat there with the top down, enjoying the sky and the breeze. "Tommy, I put the blanket in the back..." ------- The next morning Beth and I loaded my! Jeep with everything we needed for the party. As we were driving to the farm I asked Beth what she got from her folks for graduation. "Oh, something special. It was a combination gift from my folks and grandparents but you're going to have to wait for a couple of weeks to find out what it is!" "Not even a hint?" "Welll ... how about something that goes click and clack." "I know! We're going to Boston to see Tom and Ray!" "Nope." Damned mysterious females! When we got to the farm we found Greg and Cindy already there, with the tables set up and ear-to-ear grins. "Hey! Nice wheels, Tommy!" Greg laughed. "Did everybody know about this but me?" I grumped. "The staff at McMurdo Sound in Antarctica might not have gotten the word yet," Cindy giggled. "Speaking of not getting the word, that was a pretty good ad-libbed speech last night," I said. Cindy batted her bright blue eyes. "What made you think it was ad-libbed? The paper I tore up was blank. I knew Mr. Williams' speech and I'd talked to Barbra so I knew what she was going to say. So I just figured..." "But I thought the school had to okay everything ahead of time?" "Oh, I just cooked up a couple of pages to keep them happy, but I never planned on using them." "So you wrote TWO speeches?" "Sure. Don't you think it was worth it?" Note to self: NEVER underestimate cute blondes! Kids started showing up just after we got everything unloaded. Soon there were about forty of our classmates chowing down on burgers and brats and sharing stories about what they were going to do this summer and what their plans were for the future. Steve Watkins and Sherry Wilson were there with Sherry sporting an engagement ring. "So you two are going to do it, huh?" I kidded Steve. He just grinned while Sherry turned an interesting shade of red at my double entendre. "Yeah, we are—getting married, that is. Sherry's promised to wait for me. I'm going to UCLA this fall but Sherry's going to stay here and go to the U." We talked for a few more minutes when I saw Sharon Thomas and Chris Hanson walking toward us. "Hey, you two! What's up?" "Oh, not much," Chris said. "I see you're by yourselves. Where are the guys?" I asked. Sharon looked ready to cry. Chris looked pretty unhappy herself. "Sharon and Phil broke up and Jim found somebody else at school to see, so we're both by ourselves now." I knew Sharon and Phil had been together since the Fourth of July party last year. I wondered if being back here was part of why she was so down. I ran into Gracie a little later. "Uh, Tommy. I was wondering, well, that is, Beth told me about some pictures you took and I was wondering..." "Do you want something special for Joey?" I asked the very nervous girl. She looked at her feet and just nodded. "Call me and we'll set something up," I told her. "Ah, Tommy, I, well, will it be just the two of us?" Poor Gracie looked like she wanted to sink into the ground. When I assured her Beth would be there too she relaxed. I wonder how many girls my lady had told about my special double pictures? To top everything else, Sherry came over just before things broke up. Steve was talking to a bunch of the guys from the football team and Sherry kept glancing over toward them, almost as if she didn't want Steve to catch her talking to me. "What's up, Sherry?" "Tommy, Beth was talking about what a good photographer you are and..." She stopped and looked at her feet for a second. "Could you do a picture for me?" she blurted out. What was this? Had Beth run an ad? Time to act obtuse. I didn't want to assume too much. "You want a portrait for Steve?" Sherry looked up, "Yeah, but can you do, well, something a little ... well..." I was intrigued with the way she was acting. I mean, Sherry was the captain of the cheerleaders. Surely she couldn't be this shy. Could she? "Sherry, did Beth mention having two pictures together?" "Yeah. Could you do that for me?" "Sure, Beth and I would be happy to do something special. You want something Steve can take with him. Just to make sure he doesn't forget you?" She just nodded. About then Steve walked up. "You trying to swipe my fiancée, Randahl?" I checked to make sure he was smiling. "Nope, one lady is my limit. No harems for this kid." After Steve and Sherry walked off Beth came up behind me and put her arms around me. "Having fun?" she asked. "Yeah. But did you start advertising my work? Both Gracie and Sherry asked me about taking some 'special' pictures. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Her answer was a snicker and a grin. Shortly after sunset most of the gang had left, leaving Greg, Cindy, Beth, and me to finish cleaning up. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised how little garbage was scattered around. I guess our friends were raised better than most people. As I closed the gate behind the Jeep I wondered how often I'd see any of my friends again. ------- "Tommy, Tommy, wake up." "Wha ... Where?" I opened my eyes. I was curled up on Beth's bed, fully clothed, with Beth spooned behind me, the sun was shining, but I had no idea how had I gotten there. "Tommy, what happened last night? You just kept repeating 'Sally, Sally.' Who's Sally?" I could hear some of the old Beth in her voice. Last night? What was it about last night? Then it hit me. Last night was when I met Sally. A couple of days after our graduation party I'd gotten a call to do a family portrait. When I got to the house I met Sally for the first time—a bright six year old girl who happened to be in a wheelchair. I spent an hour or so doing formal poses of her—alone and with her parents, trying to use poses and angles that minimized the chair. After the formals were done I sat down and just started talking to Sally, grabbing a few candid shots as we talked. I usually had trouble keeping up a conversation with kids that young but Sally was an extraordinary girl; bright, easy to talk to, a very special young lady. She was going to break a lot of hearts in a few years. Little did I know. After I packed up, her father helped me carry stuff out to the Jeep. "Tommy, thank you for tonight." "You're welcome and thank you for calling me." "You don't understand, I was thanking you for treating Sally like any other little girl, not like a cripple." Then he went on to explain that his daughter had a rare neuromuscular disease and probably wouldn't see her seventh birthday. I couldn't believe what I was hearing—that sweet, intelligent girl? I didn't know what to say. When I got in the car I called Beth and invited myself over. "Tommy, what's wrong?" Beth asked when she saw my face. I tried to explain and just lost it. I started shaking and pulled Beth to me. That's the last thing I remembered until Beth woke me. I told her what had happened. "Oh, God. That poor little girl. Isn't there anything they can do?" "According to her father they've tried specialists all over the country and they've run out of options." I'm not a religious person, but if there's a supreme being he, she, it, or they better have a damn good reason why a sweet young girl like Sally won't see her next birthday while rat bastards like Jason Williamson and his ilk seem to thrive. Beth and I got up and moving. Just as I was going to get in the Jeep she gave me an extra-tight hug to go with a tender kiss. ------- "Tommy, how attached are you to this room?" Beth was stretched out on my bed watching me put the final touches on the last of a series of photos. "Tommy! Are you asleep over there?" Beth's voice brought me back to the present. "Huh? What?" "I asked how attached are you to this room?" "Attached to my room? I've never really thought about it. Why?" What was my lady up to now? "Well, my folks have a duplex near the campus. It was their first house. They've been renting it out to college kids every year and, well, now that I'll be going to school over there Dad asked if I wanted to live in the house. It'd sure cut down on travel and, well, since the Art Institute is on the same side of town, I thought that maybe..." I scooted my chair over to the bed. I'd rarely seen my lady so nervous and I wanted to look her in the eye while I pulled her chain. "Are you asking me to live with you?" I feigned shock. "Tommy! Don't tease on me. I'm serious! Dad doesn't want the hassle of renting to college kids anymore. He's getting tired of having to have it cleaned out every spring—old furniture, spoiled food left in the refrigerator, closets full of dirty clothes, ugh. So either I use it or they're going to sell it. I thought since Greg and Cindy were going to the "U" this fall, well, maybe we could keep the Four Musketeers together." Beth's question settled something for me. I rolled back to my desk, rummaged around in one of the drawers, then rolled back to the bed. "So how big is this place?" "It's a regular two-story duplex. We can live downstairs and Cindy and Greg can live upstairs." "So it's not a cracker box." "No, there's plenty of room, even a room you can use for a studio." "Is it bigger than this?" I said as I held out my hand. Sitting on my palm was a small velvet-covered box. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2010-01-06 Last Modified: 2010-05-17 / 11:49:15 pm ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------