# Car 54

####
© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 10:
Caution - Slippery Sections Ahead

We met Beth and George on the tractor just at the gate to the big pasture. Beth held the gate open for us, waved us through abruptly, then shut the gate and climbed back onto the tractor with George without so much as a smile for us.

"Why is she so p'd off with you" Carissa asked.

"Oh, her nose gets out of joint whenever she isn't included in anything, no matter what it is," I sighed. "Sometimes she can be a real pain in the butt for the whole family, even though we know her heart is in the right place."

"Oh, I see," Carissa smiled. "Actually, I suppose that's how I felt this morning. My nose was out of joint with Corinna. I wonder if perhaps that's what you're feeling toward Will as well?"

"No, I really don't want to know their business," I sighed again, but deeper this time. "Actually, I just want them to leave me completely out of the mess they seem to be getting themselves into. I don't understand their reasoning. I don't understand what Mom and Dad are doing. Heck, I'm not even sure I understand my own feelings right now."

"So, what are you feeling right now?" she smiled like a Cheshire cat as I pulled the car up near the house and came to a stop.

"I'm not sure I can put it in words," I admitted, then smiled at her as she reached back into the back seat to grab my crutches.

"Well, why don't you go sit on the front porch, put your foot up and think about that while I use the hose to rinse the mud off the car. When I'm done, maybe we can talk about how we both feel?"

So I hobbled to the porch and sat there watching her for a moment, then to my surprise I felt a hand on my shoulder which almost made me jump.

"Oop's sorry to surprise you," Mom chuckled as I turned to see her smiling at me. "I take it you went out and found our two runaway lovers?"

"Yeah," I snorted, then sighed. "I'm afraid I've washed my hands of that mess though. I haven't got much patience for stupidity right now."

"Oh, Chris, it's time you learned that others don't always do things that make sense to you," Mom's face had a sad, sweet smile. "What did Carissa think?"

"She seems to agree with me," I sighed. "And that bothers me, because I feel like this isn't just between Wil and me right now. Carissa and Corinna are part of the whole darn mess and I really don't like the idea of them being at odds with each other."

"Chris, you can't prevent that, just like I can't stop you from being annoyed with Wil. The two of them are bound to take sides and there isn't one thing you can do to prevent it. My problem is trying to stay somewhat neutral or at least nonjudgmental."

"But, Mom, the two girls are so much alike and yet so different. It's just ... I don't know, all of this is so confusing. Wil is being an idiot and yet I guess I'm not much better," I sighed heavily. "I'm just so darn confused, it isn't even funny."

She chuckled softly, then hugged me from over my shoulder and afterward, she stood up and put both of her hands on my shoulders as she stood behind me.

"I think today, you and Wil need space from each other and I think Carissa and Corinna might benefit by it too. So I have a suggestion, since you have a car, why don't you and Carissa go for a picnic for a while," she suggested. "I'm not chasing you away, but your Dad and I need to talk to Will and Corinna before her folks show up for dinner this evening. If you two disappear, I'm sure I can find an errand for Beth to run and George will happily tag along with her, which will make buttonholing the other two much easier."

"Aren't you putting the cat in with the canary that way?" I turned and looked at her with a silly grin on my face. "Off by ourselves for an afternoon? You do realise that Carissa and I could get into trouble so easily it's not funny, don't you?"

"Hah, I trust that you two will at least try to be safe," she snorted, slapping my shoulder with one hand, while gently squeezing the other shoulder with her other hand, all the while grinning back at me. "I'm not so sure about either Wil or Corinna though."

"What do you trust us to be safe about?" Carissa said from close by her side, making both Mom and me jump in surprise.

She must have finished rinsing off the car, taken off her shoes at the back door, then come through the house and out on the front porch, still barefoot.

"Jeez, you're as bad as Mom for making me jump," I said, but had to grin to let her know I wasn't angry. "Both of you sneak up from behind me, then make me jump half out of my skin."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, she got me too," Mom still kept a hand on my shoulder, but reached out to Carissa with her other hand. "I was telling Chris that for some reason I feel you two are in less danger of getting yourselves in trouble than your sister and Wil are."

"Mm, probably," Carissa smiled enigmatically. "At least Chris seems to have both of his feet still planted solidly on the ground. I'm sort of floating on cloud number nine."

"Oh, I think you're fairly stable as well," Mom chuckled. "But, all that aside, I have a favour to ask you two."

"Oh, what's that, Mom?" I asked as Carissa came around the bench and perched her soft bottom on the knee of my good leg.

"Well, no one has been up to see Uncle Toby for a while and he's not answering the calls on his CB either. Chris is about the only one I dare to send up there, at least in the state everyone is in right now," Mom sighed. "I think your car could make it up his roads, especially the way you seem to be able to drive through just about anything. You can make it up to his place, can't you Chris?"

"Whoa, you want us to go up to see Grampa Bender?" I chuckled. "Today? I thought you just said that Carissa's folks were coming to dinner? If we get into any sort of trouble at all, or if Grampa Bender wants to talk for long, we could be late getting back."

"That's why I want you to do it," Mom smiled knowingly. "I want you to have a darn good excuse to be late."

"You want us to be late?" Carissa questioned, her tone registering her total disbelief.

"Unh huh, I'd like that," Mom smiled again. "Your Mom is fit to be tied right now and your Dad isn't much better, but at least he's calm enough to be somewhat realistic. As you said, Corinna and Wil are off somewhere in a world of their own. Willard and I think we're going to have our hands full just calming things down and making everyone see reality. So we need some time without any distractions around to see if we can't manage to get everyone to think calmly."

"I don't get it, wouldn't we be able to help you?" Carissa questioned.

Mom just shook her head from side to side very slowly and frowned deeply.

"No, I think you two are simply complications as far as this situation is concerned," she spoke slowly. "You're both so emotionally close to this that you can't help but react, which stirs up both Corinna and Wil. Willard and I have a hard enough time staying on an even keel. You two being involved might just make it impossible."

"What about Beth?" I asked bluntly. "She's not much better."

"Ah, that's taken care of," Mom smiled. "I'm going to send her on an errand this afternoon, then George's parents have asked her to eat over there tonight. Then I plan to send John out along with Willard and Wil to do the chores, which will let me have a quiet chat with Corrina and your mom before we sit down to eat."

"So, how late do you want us to be?" Carissa asked.

"Oh, an hour after we normally eat should do, more would be okay though," Mom smiled at her as if she knew that with Carissa on her side of the discussion, I was bound to give in.

"But, with us gone, are you going to be able to convince Carissa's folks that we're away because we have to do this today?" I asked in a last ditch effort to get out of the trip.

"Oh, I'm sure Willard and I can convince everyone else that a trip to see Uncle Toby had been arranged long ago and it was simply circumstance that led to my sending you two on the errand," Mom answered.

She paused for a moment and her eyebrows lifted in an unspoken question. I looked over at Carissa and her eyes twinkled as if she was delighted with the idea. I simply spread my hands apart, palms upward and nodded to signify that I was giving in. I knew enough not to try to fight the two of them, besides I really didn't want to be there to share in the blame of 'corrupting' either one of the two twins.

"Okay, you just sit here," Mom dictated to me as her hand gently squeezed my shoulder in thanks. "Carissa can help me to pack a picnic lunch as well as some supplies for you to take to Uncle Toby. We'll get it all in the car and then call you, okay?"

"I guess," I sighed, knowing that I was whipped, but not really certain if I was up to the task. "I think going up there at this time of year in my car is nuts though. What if we get stuck in one of the creek crossings or something? My car isn't a darn Jeep."

"Oh for cripes sake," Mom snapped, then she grinned almost wickedly. "You aren't going to get stuck, but if you want, we could throw your tent and your sleeping bag in the trunk of your car. I'm sure Carissa wouldn't mind roughing it for one night."

I stared at her, not knowing what to say about the idea of spending a night alone with Carissa, meanwhile Mom and Carissa both broke into laughter. Well actually, Carissa giggled and shook her head to signify she wouldn't mind at all, but Mom was laughing, probably at my blushing face. I just shook my head; there was no way I was going to win against the two of them. Somehow they had both decided that they were going to tease me and no matter what I did, it wasn't going to help my cause. Once more I simply gave up and threw my hands in the air.

I really didn't sit there long before Carissa came back and handed me my crutches.

"Come on, Mr. Man. Time to go, that car is all packed up and ready to go. Your Mom would rather we got away from here before either Beth and George, or your Dad and the two lovers get back to ask a bunch of questions," she grinned at me.

"Why?" I asked, but I was getting up as I spoke.

"Because, Beth and George might want to go along and Will and Corinna definitely would," she laughed. "I think your mom has everyone figured out pretty darn well."

"So, has she got you figured out too?" I had to ask, but I was grinning. I was already certain that she did, but I wanted Carissa to admit it.

"Oh yeah. She's got me pegged," Carissa giggled. "Probably better than you do."

"That wouldn't take much," I admitted and smiled at her as I hobbled at her side, or rather as she dithered along at my pace. "I haven't got you figured out at all."

"Oh, you'll figure me out, I'm not really all that complicated," Carissa grinned at me.

As we came around the house, Mom was just closing the back door of the car and she paused to give me a hug and a kiss, then did the same to Carissa.

"Have a good time and I'll see you two later," she said, then turned to head inside the house, but I thought I caught her winking at Carissa.

"See you, Mom," I said, wondering what the wink could be about.

"Bye for now," Carissa called, grabbing my crutches as I leaned against the car and opened the driver's door.

She slid in and stood the crutches on the passenger's side of the front seat, which placed her right next to me as I slid in behind the wheel. Mom waved to us from the back door of the kitchen as I started the car and waved back as I set out. Just as I turned onto the road from our driveway, I glanced back and saw the tractor pulling into the yard.

"Wow, I guess we barely left in time," I commented.

"Unh huh," Carissa snuggled even closer, lifting my arm in it's cast and ducking under it so it was resting on her shoulder. "You can drive one handed for a while; I want to snuggle."

"I'll need both hands in only a few moments, especially when I get on the rough road," I laughed, gently pulling her body against mine.

"Mm, I know, your Mom warned me what the road would be like," she sighed softly. "She even told me where she thought I should get you to stop for our picnic."

"You two sure seem to get along well," I said without thinking.

"Oh yeah," Carissa agreed, then chortled softly, if anything snuggling even closer. "I told you, she's got me pegged."

"What do you mean?"

"Mmm, she knows I'm out to seduce you," she laughed softly and I could feel her twist to look up at me face. "And she knows that you'll fight it, but that you'll eventually give in."

"Hmmph," I snorted, not wanting to either agree or disagree with her, but I shifted my hand for a few seconds and gave her breast a light caress with my finger tips before lifting my arm and swinging it back on the wheel.

"That's not fair, teasing me like that," she laughed.

"Sorry, but I need both hands now," I gestured ahead.

She could see we were coming up on a 'T' with a dirt road so she shifted away from me slightly. As I turned onto the old dirt road that I'd need to follow to go up to Grampa Bender's place I happened to glance in the rear view mirror, then did a double take; it seemed to me that there was an awful lot of stuff in the back seat. Once we were on the dirt road, I actually turned my head and looked back to check what was packed back there and I frowned.

"Wow, is all of that pile just supplies for Grampa Bender?" I wondered aloud.

"A lot of it is," Carissa laughed and snuggled against me again. "But there's also a picnic lunch for us and some other stuff as well."

"Other stuff?" I questioned.

"Other stuff!" she laughed again. "Your mom and I looked at both of our test schedules for next week."

"Umm, yeah, so what?"

"Neither one of us has to take a test tomorrow," she chortled.

"Meaning what?" I slowed the car and glanced at her.

"Meaning that if we get stuck in the mud along the way, we have lots of time to get unstuck before your family will worry much," her face was twisted into a wide grin.

"Just what are you saying?" I asked.

"I guess I'm saying that she took you at your word that the road might be bad," she laughed aloud. "She called your bluff and threw your tent and your sleeping bag in the back seat, along with some of your camping gear."

"You're kidding me?"

"Unh uh," she snorted. "I'm not kidding. I told you; your mom has me pegged. But then, she and I had a talk this morning while your Dad was talking to you."

"Oh?"

"Unh huh," she grunted then shifted close for a second. "She knows what I want and I think she liked what I told her. On top of that, I think she likes me just because I was honest with her about how I feel."

"Well, how would you like to be honest with me and tell me what you want then," I almost growled.

"I thought I had, last night, but I might have been a little bit vague I guess," she said quietly. "Or maybe I didn't say everything, I don't know. Things are a bit muddled from last night."

"You just handed me your panties and told me they were a promise of more in the future, then you ran off. Right now you're being vague," I was starting to get really impatient with her for beating around the bush.

"Unh, could you stop for a few moments, please," she said and as I glanced at her, she looked at me strangely.

"Are you telling me that I've been talking to you all day as if you knew about my feelings and I didn't really talk to you about them last night?" she whispered as I pulled the car to the side and parked.

"You never said much," I told her.

"Really?" she sighed. "Oh my! You must really think I'm weird then, because I must have dreamed about telling you about everything I want to do."

I couldn't help but laugh because she still wasn't telling me anything. Instead I leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose, then held her back when she wanted to cuddle.

"Talk first," I growled in a fake sound of anger. "Then maybe we can cuddle."

She broke into laughter for a second or two, then she took a deep breath.

"Okay, I want you for a boyfriend and a lover, but I also want to become a nurse," she rattled off in a hurry. "So, we need to be careful when we make love, because I don't want to have to get married right away, okay? That's everything in a nutshell."

"Damn you are one forward wench," I had to laugh as I hugged her tightly. "But, why me?"

"Just because I think you're what I want in the long run," she mumbled, her head buried in my shoulder. "I have to be forward because you're too darn shy and I'm grabbing onto you now before anyone else realizes just what kind of guy you really are."

I didn't move the car for almost half an hour. We spent that time kissing, cuddling and talking. Actually I found out that we were a lot more alike than I would have believed possible. Although I'd always felt like a loner, she had always felt alone as well, even though she was a twin. She felt that being a twin had set Corinna and her apart from everyone else and while both of them had been alike in so many ways, they'd been very different as well. For one thing, Corinna wanted a husband and a family right away, but Carissa wanted a career. She wanted to be a nurse and she wanted a lot of time to grow and change, not an instant family of kids.

When I did start the car again, it felt a lot more comfortable to me to have her snuggled at my side. That short talk and the cuddling session had really helped and I could understand how she and Mom had gotten along so well. Unfortunately the rest of the road up to Grampa Benders was so rough that it wasn't long before she had to let me have more space to drive. Then we came to a little area that had a stand of Poplar trees on a knoll and a seasonal creek running on the far side of the knoll from the road.

"Oh, stop here," she suddenly sat up and put her hand on mine as it rested on the steering wheel. "I'm sure this is the place your Mom said we should have our picnic or are there any other places like this on the way, with the trees and the creek?"

"This is the only one with Poplar trees and a creek, but it only runs in the early spring," I grinned as I pulled over. "Do you know the history of this spot?"

"What do you know about it?" she grinned right back at me."Your Mom told me that Beth was conceived under those Poplar trees while you and Wil slept in the back seat of an old car."

"Oh," I laughed. "It's also where Wil lost his virginity."

"Hmmph, I didn't know that, but it's where your Dad and his first wife, Kate, first made love too. She told your mom about it and your mom told me," she giggled. "Maybe we should wait and set up camp here this evening instead of having a picnic here now?"

"What?"

"You heard me," she laughed. "This seems to be the spot where your family gets lucky and I wouldn't want to spoil the perfect record, but I really don't want to meet your Grampa Bender when I smell as if I've just had sex."

I had shut the car off because I'd thought we were going to get out and have a picnic, but after that statement, I just stared at her in astonishment. I didn't have a clue what to say or do. This girl, no, make that this woman had just told me in so many words that she wanted to have sex with me and from the sounds of it, she'd even told my Mother what she planned on doing. It even seemed that Mom had gone along with the idea to the point of setting me up.

Carissa simply sat there and smiled at me. It was as if she was waiting patiently for me to catch up to her in some way. My mind went flashing back through all the years I had known her and I couldn't help but remember the incident involving the two twins and the Valentines. In all honesty, other than that day, the two of them had only been guilty of ignoring me. That was the only day that I felt either of them had actually been cruel toward me.

I felt that I had to bring it up because it was something that had bothered me for years.

"Do you remember when we were in grade seven or eight and I gave you and Corinna each a Valentine? You both crumbled them up and threw them in the garbage pail while I was standing right there watching," I said bluntly. "I've never felt that I could really trust either of you since then."

"But I didn't throw away that Valentine," Carissa protested, her eyes huge as she stared at me in surprise. "I remember that one because it was special. It was the first Valentine that I ever got that cost more than a few pennies, so to me it was really a big deal. I've still got it; it's mounted in one of my scrap books. I might have thrown away the envelope that it came in, but I would never have thrown that card away. I remember it did take us both by surprise. Then when you never did anything else, like talking to us or anything, I know we were both a little bit ticked off with you for teasing us."

"But you both ignored me, like I didn't exist," I protested.

"Well, you ignored us," she snapped, then she stared at me in surprise. Suddenly she broke into a grin. "You ignored us, because we ignored you and we ignored you, because you ignored us, right?"

"It would seem like that's what happened," I managed to smile somewhat weakly.

"So, what are we going to do about it? It's not as if we can go back and live that period of our lives over. So how do we get over the hurt we've both felt because we were both damn fools," she laughed aloud, then grew serious.

"Just what's going on in that devious mind of yours?" I asked.

"Well, we could sit over there and have a picnic under the trees, but we could pretend we were back there in time," she smiled. "This could be like our first date."

"It is sort of our first date," I chuckled. "And I'm sorry, but one look at you and all pretense about you being like you were then goes right out the window."

"What do you mean, I haven't really changed that much?" she protested.

That made me laugh and I leaned her way, kissing her nose lightly.

"BS on the pump handle, no water for six weeks," I chuckled, repeating one of the sayings I'd heard from Grampa Bender.

"What do you mean by that?" she giggled. "That doesn't make any sense at all."

"Oh yes it does, if you take the time to think about it," I grinned. "I suppose you'd have to understand how the saying came into being though."

"So? Explain it then."

"Well, when Grampa Bender's Dad and Mom first homesteaded down in the States, the only wells they had were hand dug, so they weren't very deep. They had to be really careful about surface water contaminating them, because if the water got contaminated, they couldn't drink it without boiling it. So, they fenced all the wells they used for drinking. If the cattle broke through the fences and crapped near the well, they had to get their water from somewhere else."

"Are you telling me they knew about fecal coliform bacteria even then?"

"Well, I doubt if they knew what caused it, but they did know that if they drank the water, it made them sick," I grinned. "If you ask him, Grampa Bender will tell you all about dumping quicklime and Epsom salts down the well because the cows got in through the fence, then having to carry drinking water half a mile or more. But, I'll warn you, if you get him started on telling tales about when he was a kid, he won't shut up for hours. We'd be stuck there all night just listening to him reminisce about the old days."

She got a far away look in her eyes and smiled at me.

"You know, it might be worth it, but maybe not today. It sounds to me like there's a lot of local history and a lot of common sense information in his stories," she sighed. "Say, I've got another question, Why do you call him Grampa Bender and yet your mother was calling him Uncle Toby?"

"Ah, that's easy. You see, to Tom and Will, probably even to Dad, he is Grampa Bender. That's because to Dad's first wife and Wil's mother, Mama Kate, Grampa Bender really was her grandfather, but Mom was Mama Kate's cousin, so to Mom he's Uncle Toby," I smiled as I ran a finger through Carissa's hair, gently shifting a long curl from her forehead. "I suppose I call him Grampa Bender out of habit more than anything."

"I see," she snuggled, then suddenly she sat up straight and turned to stare deep into my eyes. "Damn, I suddenly understand a whole bunch about your family dynamics that I didn't get before. Wil is your half brother, but in a way, he's also your cousin. He's a farmer at heart, so what are you?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Not a flatland farmer though, there's no way I want to be stuck plowing and cultivating a farm for the rest of my life. Right now I want to move to a city, not a really big one, but somewhere where I can explore the world a bit. I want to study electronics, but who knows what I'm going to want to do in five years? I sure don't, not yet anyway."

"That actually makes sense to me," she sighed. "It's like me, I want to be a nurse, but I want to work with kids if I can. Corinna just wants to have a husband and raise kids. I think she and Wil suit each other to a 'T.'"

"So what about you and me?" I asked.

"Umm, we suit each other too, at least for now," she kissed me quickly, then just snuggled back into my arms. "I think you and I are going to be wonderful lovers, but I'm not sure that I'll ever marry you and have your kids."

"So, what are you saying? Do you mean lovers with no strings attached?"

"Oh, no, there will be lots of strings, just no ropes, at least not for now," she sighed and almost melted into my chest. "I promise to be your lover and not to play around on you, but if there comes a day when we decide we want to split up and go our separate ways ..."

Her voice drifted off and she fell silent for several seconds.

"... well, if that ever happens, I hope we can still be friends," she sighed again. "Is that asking too much?"

"Nope, not for now anyway," I smiled, realising that what she was offering suited me perfectly.

I really wasn't ready to be completely committed to any one person, yet I did want more than just friendship. I shifted and felt her shift her position as well until I could kiss her and she could kiss me back. For several minutes we simply smooched, then just as my hands began to wander over her lovely body, I felt her pulling back, so I let her move away slightly and watched her face as she grinned at me.

"We have three choices right now," she announced firmly, her face twisted into the broadest grin I'd ever seen on her face. "Number one is that we carry on like we were a minute ago, which will probably end up with us screwing each other silly. Number two is to haul out that picnic basket and go eat, but then we'd probably screw each other silly after we'd eaten. Or, we can carry on and visit Grampa Bender, then leave him early enough to get back here and camp for the night, before we screw each other silly. The thing is, we need to make up our minds right now."

"Umm, all three of them sound good to me," I growled, attempting to sound like some sort of horny animal. "Why don't we combine them all?"

"No way," she giggled. "Remember, I'm a virgin, I want to be able to walk tomorrow. I've seen what girls walk like after they've had a really wild night with a horny animal like you."

"So, let's be honest, it's your choice," I grinned. "But then if we were really honest, it's always the woman's choice, isn't it?"

"Okay then, let's go see Grampa Bender," she whispered. "I think I want to meet him while I still can walk without being bowlegged."

I really didn't want to, but I started the car and we set out again. As we crested the next knoll, I slowed the car to a crawl and gestured at the bottom of the grade to a creek we had to ford at that point.

"This is where the road starts to get really rough," I explained. "I hate to ask you to slide over, but right now I need lots of elbow room."

Carissa didn't ask any questions at all, she simply slid over and I eased down the grade, then slowly drove across the creek, hoping that the early spring floods hadn't eroded away the ford. There were a couple of bumps, and a few holes, but we made it across without any apparent trouble. After that, we were able to follow the old wagon road that had lead through this part of the foothills and I had to drive quite slowly, so it took a while before we crested the hill that overlooked Grampa Bender's log cabin. Since I wanted Carissa to see the whole layout of the ranch, I pulled to a stop.

"Oh, my goodness, this is beautiful," Carissa sighed.

"Unh huh," I agreed. "I've always thought that if I had my druthers, this is where I'd like to live, but I want to get an education first."

"Wow. I can't blame you for wanting to live here. Is all of this your Grampa Bender's land?"

"The section of land in the valley below us right now is his. He and his wife homesteaded it because of that little lake over there. The part we just drove through is owned by the government. Grampa Bender and our family holds a lease on it and we sublease it to a rancher friend of ours."

"So, are you guys rich, or what?"

"No, far from it," I smiled as we gazed down the hill. "We don't make much money on any of this land and what we do make is split up amongst the whole family. This section is Grampa Bender's and he only makes enough money from leasing it out to keep him happy. The whole land ownership and leasing arrangement is actually a tangled mess."

"Oh, I guess I sort of understand."

"Hmmph, I'm glad you do, I don't," I laughed softly. "You see, the lake is Grampa Bender's and it's fed by an artesian well that Grampa Bender dug and that artesian well is what feeds the lake and the creek. In the long run, Grampa Bender owns the water rights on the lake and because of that, through some government rigamarole or other, he controls the water on all the land we just crossed, as well as the land between here and our farm. The government owns most of that land, but Grampa Bender owns the water rights. He's a crotchety old coot who isn't going to give the government a darn thing they don't deserve, so the family ends up being able to control the lease arrangement."

"I think I understand that part, but why doesn't your family keep up the ranch part as well as the farms you live on?" Carissa frowned. "Wouldn't that make more sense?"

"Hmmph, family politics and capital too, I guess," I snorted. "You see, Dad and Mama Kate bought out one of Grampa Bender's brothers and Tom's family bought the land they farm from my grandparents. But, none of us have ever had enough money to expand into taking over the lease. Meanwhile the rest of the family are all city folks who fight and squabble over stupid things. Just take it from me; everything about the leased land is a mess."

I'd been looking at the scene below me and something about it suddenly had me worried. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something wrong. Carissa must have noticed my frowning face.

"What's wrong, Chris?" she asked. "You look like you just swallowed a lemon."

"Something is wrong down there," I said shortly, then threw the car into gear and started down the steep grade.

Both of us were quiet for that last short drive, but my eyes were dancing from one place to another, trying to see what was wrong. No matter where I looked, nothing seemed to be that abnormal, but the whole scene just seemed wrong in some way. There was no smoke from the chimney. There was no dog in the yard. All the doors and windows of the house looked to be closed. Even the barn was closed up tightly and no animals were in the barnyard. It looked like even the chickens were locked inside the henhouse.

I'd finally added it all together. The whole place looked like it was abandoned, or at least closed up for the night, which simply wasn't normal, not this late in the day. Grampa Bender always got up fairly early and 'opened up shop' not much later, so the abandoned look seemed ominous to me.

I wheeled into the yard and slammed on the brakes, forgetting my crutches as I dove out of the car after it had barely come to a stop. Carissa wasn't about to let me forget those damn crutches though, she was suddenly there in front of me, handing them to me and accompanying the motion with a 'don't argue' look in her eyes.

I don't know how I did it, but I beat Carissa to the steps even though I did use the darn crutches, then I was at the door of Grandpa Bender's little house. Since he didn't answer my frantic knock, but I heard his old dog bark, so I tried the knob and as usual, the door was unlocked. We found Grandpa Bender lying flat on his back in bed, and he opened his eyes as soon as I walked in the door of his bedroom.

"Och, yer a sight ... fer sore eyes," he slurred painfully. "I bin hopin' ... that sumun'd come see me. I can't seem ... ta git the energy ta git outta bed."

From the twisted look of his face and the fact that his left eye wouldn't open completely, I guessed he'd had a stroke of some sort. Luckily I had Carissa along and she'd worked in the hospital, but there wasn't really much she could do other than to give him some water and couple of aspirin, then reassure me that she thought he was relatively stable at the moment.

We couldn't get Grampa Bender's darn cheap CB to work no matter what we did though. So, in the long run we decided that the best thing to do was to load Grandpa Bender into the back seat of my car and rush him to the hospital as quickly as we could. Since I was in casts, I really didn't feel that I was much help, but by conveniently forgetting my right crutch and perhaps using my left foot a bit more than I should have, Carissa and I somehow got him out to the car. Once we had him there, we managed to manoeuvre him into the back seat and get him wrapped in a couple of his blankets.

Even then Grampa Bender insisted that I had to let the animals out into the barnyard so they could at least fend for themselves in case he wasn't back for a day or two. I not only let the animals out into the barnyard, but I took the time to engage the pump on the windmill, that way any passing breeze would pump more water into the big water trough and any extra would just spill over and run away. Then I threw a couple of bales of hay over the fence, just in case they were outside long enough to eat all the grass that was available. After that I threw a couple of buckets of feed to Grampa's old sow and tossed in a couple of old turnips, then filled her trough with water. Next I opened the door of the chicken coop to let them into their run, tossed them a small bucket of feed and filled their waterer to the brim. After that I went to the car and assured Grampa Bender that his live stock would be fine for a few days but I'd make sure they were looked after even if he was away longer than that. Finally I had Carissa sit in the back with him so she could steady the old man as I drove over the rough patches in the road.

Everything we'd done seemed to take far too long, but at last we started out on what I later felt was one of the longest drives of my life. I didn't dare go too fast because I didn't want to throw Grampa Bender or Carissa around much by hitting any bad bumps, but I didn't want to take too long either. There were several miles of rough trail, then more miles of dirt road just to get to the gravel road that led to town. Once I was on that I could either turn right and drive five miles back to our house where we could call an ambulance, or turn the other way and drive the sixteen miles into town. I chose to head for town and the hospital because I knew that it would be a lot faster than driving home and waiting for the ambulance to come to us.

I think we were about three miles from town and doing about eighty miles an hour when we met Mr. and Mrs. Coulter, Carissa's parents. I'll be honest, I never even slowed down, but long before I got to them I'd turned on my headlights and started to flash the high beams on and off as a warning signal. That's when I realised that the cast on my foot had taken a beating. Okay, so I'd gotten it damp at the farm and had 'forgotten' to use my crutches all the time, but dammit, Grampa Bender's life was more important than any darn cast. As I was stomping on the dimmer switch with that foot I could feel the cast crumpling every time my foot pressed down and my foot started to hurt, but I chose to ignore it.

It seemed to take forever before I was headed through the lower end of town at about forty miles an hour, blowing my horn loud and long before I got to each intersection or met any car. At the same time I was still stomping on that dimmer switch as if my life depended on it. I saw a local RCMP car swing in behind us on the outskirts of town, but I ignored him until we got to the hospital, even ignoring him when he turned on his siren and pulled in right behind me. As I boiled out of the car, everything happened at once. The RCMP officer was beside the car in seconds and started to berate me for speeding, Carissa grabbed me to prevent me from running off without my crutches, then screamed at the cop to get a wheelchair and to call an orderly. Just about that time my foot began to hurt a lot more and I moaned in pain.

I'll swear to this day that Grampa Bender laughed then, but when I turned to look at him, his face showed no sign of a smile. At least the cop listened to Carissa, which meant that we soon had help and in the long run I was able to go inside with Grampa Bender and Carissa.

As far as I was concerned the next while was total confusion. I remember phoning home and talking to Mom. Then I had to fill out the admission papers for Grampa Bender. While I was standing at the counter trying to remember details about him and his life, someone noticed that I was leaving a trail of plaster from my cast on the clean tile of the hospital's floor. In only a moment or two I was being seated in a wheelchair myself and being chewed out by one of the nurses for ruining my cast, but at the same time she was wheeling me down the hall to the waiting room. Then it felt like half the staff at the hospital were asking me questions or chewing me out for something, so it seemed like a very short time before Mom and Dad were there, but so were Beth, Corinna and Wil, along with Mr. and Mrs. Coulter.

It seemed that everyone was asking questions and demanding answers of Carissa and me, but we really weren't that much help since we were almost as much in the dark as everyone else. Thankfully it wasn't long before an orderly came to get me to have my cast repaired. Carissa simply tagged along at my side, but I wasn't about to argue with her. It wasn't long before we were in the room where they made up the casts and the orderly was asking what I'd done to ruin the one I'd had, which was when Carissa first spoke up. First off she gave him a piece of her mind for giving me a rough time, explaining that I was trying to save someone's life. Then she got into explaining to him the type of cast she thought I needed. It was through her insistence that I ended up having a new type of walking cast made for my foot, as well as a new cast made for my hand.

Both of the casts used brand-new techniques as far as the orderly was concerned. The only reason that Carissa even knew about them was the fact that she'd been on duty as a candy striper when the salesman had convinced the matron to have the material on hand in case it was needed in a special instance. Of course the matron had to be called in to get permission to try the new types of casts. Then since I wasn't eighteen yet, I had to get Mom and Dad to give their okay as well, because the new cast cost slightly more than the old ones. Of course after they talked about it for a moment and realised that one expensive cast that lasted well would cost less than several of the cheaper ones, they agreed to let me try both new types of casts.

Finally, with Carissa helping the orderly, they cut off my old casts, starting with my foot. Once the old cast was removed, they very gently washed my foot, then they coated my skin with a greasy ointment and after that they slipped on a sleeve or a sock of sorts made of fine gauze. Over that went a protective layer made of thin plastic sheeting, then they began to use a different kind of gauze that had been dipped in a liquid of some kind. It went on in layers, then each layer was coated with a thin paste of some sort. As they worked, the orderly explained that the new cast was actually made of fibreglass. The first thing I noticed was that it stank to high heaven, then it got hot and it felt darned uncomfortable until it cooled down again.

The cast on my hand was the next operation. Once more, the old one was cut off, my hand was washed, then the cast itself was made. That one was moulded from plastic by heating a flat sheet in hot water and then bending it around my hand. It was extremely hot when it was put against my skin, then it cooled down and became exceptionally hard.

Once they were done, I thought the casts were wonderful. Both casts were relatively waterproof and both of them were tough enough that I was going to have a lot more freedom of movement. As far as I was concerned the new cast on my foot was the best thing possible. I wasn't going to be hampered by crutches now because it was actually a 'walking' cast with a solid base that I could stand on. On top of that a little bit of tape and a big plastic bag meant that I could have a shower again, all I had to do was to prevent the water from saturating the gauze layer inside the cast.

The cast on my hand was even better since it was completely waterproof. The orderly took the time to show me how to hold my hand in a particular way so I could slide the plastic cast off to dry my hand if it got wet. He even explained that I had to gently wash that hand once or twice a day. He did warn me not to try to do anything when I had the cast removed and not to do anything with that hand that was strenuous even when the cast was in place.

While Carissa and I had been involved with the replacement of my casts, the hospital staff had evaluated Grampa Bender's condition. He had definitely suffered a stroke and they wanted to keep him in the hospital for observation so they could see what they could do to prevent a recurrence of the problem. All of us breathed a sigh of relief at that.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Alice had shown up while I was having my casts done and since they found out that Mom and Dad had planned to have the Coulters over at our house for a meal and a discussion, they suggested that Beth could stay with them, then they'd bring her home later.

Instantly Corinna and Wil wanted to ride back to the farm with Carissa and me. I was surprised when Mom and Dad agreed with them, then I was astounded when Mr. and Mrs. Coulter went along with the idea. Mom even took me aside and suggested that I drive home slowly, explaining that she wanted a while alone with the Coulters for a while.

I simply I went along with the idea. Heck, at that point of the day I was wiped out, I didn't want an argument or even a discussion with anyone. Instead I just wanted to go somewhere and sit down, with no one bothering me and no more problems cropping up. At the moment I didn't think I could handle any more crap.

Unfortunately life had other ideas concerning what was left of my day.

### Chapter 11