# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 46:
Caution - Signal Operation Changed

Even though Christmas Day had been so long and hectic for me, I still awoke early on Boxing Day. In fact I was awake in time to hear Matt get up and go out to do the chores, but I wasn't the only one who awoke then. The pair of red haired, green eyed nymphs who had rocked me to sleep the night before were awake as well. I was awakened to grins, giggles and explorations, then almost worn out by their mutual gymnastics. As we lay there puffing and panting after our morning tussle, I couldn't help worrying that I'd just had two more women added to my growing list of occasional lovers, and I decided that I needed to say something.

"Darn it girls, does this mean that Tom has missed out on a good thing?" I blurted out.

"Unh uh!" Jess giggled. "You're an available playmate for now ..."

"... well, not just a playmate, not really, more of a teacher," Jean chuckled.

"But, you were virgins before and surely he'll notice that."

"Chris, didn't you notice that we didn't bleed the other night?"

"Technically, we were still virgins, but ..."

"Our hymens have been gone for years ..."

"Tom already knew that ..."

"We told him the first time he touched us down there ..."

"All you did was stretch us out and open us up a bit ..."

"And make us feel wonderful ..."

"While showing us how much fun sex could be ..."

"So we think you're a marvelous guy ..."

"Which means that if Tom doesn't do anything soon ..."

"We might visit once in a while ..."

"But, don't count on it!"

"We really do want a guy of our own ..."

"Or maybe two, if one isn't enough ..."

"We can share ..."

"But only with each other ..."

"Except for you ..."

"But then you're special."

Then with a giggle, they both dove out of bed, racing out the door and down the hall to the other upstairs bathroom.

I certainly wasn't that energetic. I did manage to wander to the bathroom that opened onto the main bedroom and took care of essentials, even having a shower, but I made the mistake of lying down on the bed when I was done and dozed off again. I did manage to get up, get dressed and wander downstairs to grab a coffee and a bit of breakfast about nine in the morning.

Actually, Boxing Day was much more relaxed than Christmas Day had been. I spent part of the morning in my new office, trying to set it up the way I wanted it, but Sandy and Lucille wouldn't let me stay there long. Instead they wanted to go out for a ride on the snowmobiles. We couldn't stay out long though, because Lucille was on duty at four in the afternoon. That meant that since she wanted to do some errands before work, she had to leave shortly after lunch. Just after she left, Matt and the twins took the snowmobiles out for a ride.

Once we were alone, Sandy grabbed my hand and led me to the living room, pushing me back into the recliner and sitting on my lap.

When she was comfortable and had made sure that I was okay, she sighed then spoke quietly. "You're going to be alone here with the twins for at least two days."

"What?"

"I said that you're going to be alone here with the twins for at least two days," she snorted. "Matt and I are going to go spend the night with his brothers at our house in town, which is where they'll be staying for a few days."

"I thought the boys were staying with the Coulters."

"They only stayed there on Christmas Eve and last night. Anyway, for the next couple of nights you and the girls are going to be alone in the house. I'm guessing that Jess and Jean want to sleep with you."

"Why don't they go along with you?"

"Because the boys are going to sleep in the girls' beds. The twins refuse to kick them out and make them sleep on the floor," she grinned. "Is having my sisters stay with you for a couple of days really such a chore?"

"You know damn well it isn't," I had to laugh at the suggestion, but my laugh ended in a frown. "My problem is that it feels as if I'm being manipulated into being in a situation where Tom might accuse me of having sex with your sisters, which would break them up."

"Well, in a way, I suppose I am expecting that you'd want to have sex with them, especially after last night," she sighed. "Besides, Tom is being an ass. Jess and Jean want to get him into bed, but he refuses to be with both of them and won't choose between them."

"And what the hell does this have to do with me?"

"Well, you're the guy that got the twins involved with sex and showed them how good it felt," she snickered and then kissed my cheek. "And, before you say anything, I know that was at least partly my fault. I know that if Lucille and I hadn't gotten so involved and so noisy, the twins tell me nothing would have happened. Then of course last night put the candles on the cake."

I sighed deeply. "Dammit! What the hell am I, the local stud?"

"Yes, at least Jess and Jean seem to think so," she giggled and bent her head to nibble my earlobe.

"Hey, what are you doing, trying to get me wound up?"

"Just getting you going. Then while Matt and I do the chores, the girls can handle the rest. By bedtime tonight they feel they'll have you wound up enough not to be worried about anything."

"This has to be the worst idea that you've had in a long time," I sighed deeply. "As it is, I've got too many women around me. I don't need more. And, on top of that, if Tom ever finds out that I have fooled around with the twins, he'll drop them like hot potatoes. Besides, once they get going, the time you'd take doing the chores wouldn't be enough."

"That's why they want you to sleep with one of them tonight," she giggled. "Since you have sex with your cousin, why would having sex with my sisters be such a chore?"

"You know damn well it wouldn't be a chore, but you also know that Lucille isn't really related to me," I frowned. "My problem is that sex with your sisters feels wrong, and each time it has happened I've felt that I was tricked into it. On top of all the other complications, I've felt that I was double crossing both Tom and you, not to mention Lucille, Carissa and Jackie."

"Well, you aren't double crossing me or the others, and although Tom dropped around today, he left in a huff. He even suggested to them that since you'd already slept with several women, two more wouldn't bother you," she sighed deeply. "I don't understand him at all."

"What? When was Tom here?" I frowned at her.

"He was here while we were out on the snowmobiles, but when Jess and Jean suggested that he could spend the next few days here with them, he got angry and left."

"That might be because his family has plans for the next few days that involve him. When they were here last night, they were talking about the whole family going to visit Tom's Uncle Charlie, Aunt Alice's brother. Do you think the twins even asked him what he had planned?"

"Oh, I never thought that he might be committed to something else already. I don't suppose they did either."

"Well, Tom was probably torn between what he wanted to do and what he had to do, which probably means that they misjudged his reaction when they put pressure on him to do what they wanted. That would mean they got him annoyed and he spoke out without thinking about what he was saying. Since I believe that's the case, I'm not about to act as a sexual safety valve for their frustrations when they brought them on themselves," I frowned and looked her in the eye. "It also sounds to me like the twins asked you to approach me, so I think you'd better warn them that I'm not going to be cooperative. As well as that, I think you should talk to them about discussing things with Tom. He's not too good at accepting other people telling him what to do, and trying to pressure him, just makes him annoyed. In fact, he's about twice as independent as I am, so if they want to get along with him, they'd better learn to be cooperative and talk things out before doing things that simply piss him off."

She looked at me for a moment with a slight frown, then sighed. Slipping off my lap, she walked over near the tree before turning to face me.

"So, you want me to tell them about Tom?"

"Well, they did come to you first, not me, and you were the one who decided that you were leaving them here with me while you went off to town and spent some time there," I sighed softly. "I wish you'd spoken to me about that before making up your mind. At least I'd have had a chance to discuss my view of the situation. I told you before that I want to be the one who makes decisions about my personal life from now on. From now on that's especially true of deciding who I'm going to invite to sleep in my bed with me."

"Ouch. I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'll talk to the girls and to Matt."

With that, she walked away and left me, so I went back to the office and fiddled for the a while longer. However, she must have talked to Jess and Jean, because it wasn't long before I was standing on the porch and waving as Sandy, Matt and both of the twins left for town. I don't think the twins were extremely happy, but I felt I'd made the right decision.

I went for a short walk after that, just to check the animals, but I was back in the office about an hour later, in time to get a phone call from Lucille.

"Hi. What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you thank you," she said quietly.

"Now what did I do?" I laughed.

"I think you know. You might call Tom and let him know what's going on. I'll see you on New Years Eve," she said, then she hung up the phone.

"Damn, she would suggest that!" I sighed to myself, then dialled the phone.

Aunt Alice answered and when I asked for Tom, she laughed and told me that he was on his way up to the ranch to talk to me, so I thanked her and went back to work in the office. It wasn't long before I saw Tom's car cross the bridge and I met him at the front door.

"Hi Tom. What's up?"

"I came for some advice," he smiled as he got out of the car. "Jess and Jean are driving me nuts."

"Oh, is that all, that's just a case of 'situation normal, all fucked up' for any women I know and that family in particular. Come on in, let's have a coffee and we can talk."

I didn't want to give him any advice. Instead I talked about my summer and about all the different girls that I'd been involved with, but I didn't mention that I'd slept with the twins. I found it really strange because, only six months before, I knew that he'd been far more experienced with girls than I was. Now he seemed to feel that I was talking about things as if I was an expert, so I disclaimed that completely. I even admitted that I'd made many mistakes and that if I had things to do over, I'd try to do many things differently.

"So, what do you think I should do?" he asked quietly.

"I can't tell you that. It's your life and I'm not about to advise you on how to live it," I said quietly. "Is it a matter of choosing between them or are you worried about people seeing that you're involved with both of them?"

"Hell! I don't know. To be honest, most of the time I can't even tell the two of them apart, so choosing between them would be impossible," he snorted.

"Ah, I can help you there," I laughed. "Not long after meeting them I noticed that they are mirror images of one another. Jess has a dimple on one cheek and she's left handed, while Jean has the same sort of dimple, but on the other cheek and she's right handed. The same goes for their eyebrows, one is higher than the other and if you do see them nude, they each have one breast slightly larger than the other and the larger on is on the opposite side to each girl's dimple."

"Are you telling me that you've seen them nude?" he asked.

"Around this nut house? Of course I have. They aren't skin-shy. In fact they like to show off, especially since their bodies have filled out in the last while," I snorted. "Actually, they delight in teasing me, and probably you too."

"Yeah, me too," he snorted, then laughed uneasily. "I still don't know what to do though."

"Well, I'm not going to advise you on that," I snorted. "I will tell you that things have calmed down for me since I told everyone else to butt out of making decisions that affect my life."

"Yeah, but you live up here and you've been declared an adult."

"Well, what do your parents say?"

"Mom just shakes her head and grins at me. Dad seems to think that I should have fun and play around. Mostly, it seems to me that he thinks I'm the one who has to make any decision, just like you. It's almost as if they've given me free rein, but I don't know what to do."

"Well, you could always ask your folks if you could have the twins spend a few nights with you. Make sure you specify that you mean having the twins spend time in your bedroom, and watch their reactions," I grinned. "That would tell you a lot."

"Mom already suggested that, but I'm not sure if she was joking or not. Besides, I've only got a small bed, so I'd have to choose between them and I don't know which one to ask first."

"Well, I don't think your mom would joke about that. So, either have the girls flip a coin to decide who joins you, or if you're brave, invite them both and let the chips fall where they may," I laughed aloud.

"Oh, you're a great fucking help!" he snorted.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, you have to do something. Otherwise, I'm going to have to fight them off and I have too many females around here now. Your girlfriends should not be my problem. If you want to get to know them better, but don't want to do it at home, you can always go along with their idea and all of you can come up here for a few days."

"That's not really a problem," he sighed. "It's not like I have to go to Uncle Charlie's with the folks. Dad did suggest that if I stayed home, the twins could visit for several days instead of one or two. I mean the idea of going for a visit was so that Dad could help Uncle Charlie for a few days. They wouldn't have to be back until the end of Christmas break. If I stay home, that would make life easier for your Dad and Wil too, since they wouldn't have to do our chores."

"And are you going to cook for yourself for a week? Do you want to die of food poisoning?" I kidded. "Of course you could always invite the twins to cook for you, then what you did at night would be your business."

"You're as bad as Dad, absolutely no help at all," he sighed.

"Well, I think both of your Dad and I agree that you have to make up your own mind and make your own choice. We can't do it for you."

We talked a while longer, but when he left I noticed that he looked resolute, so I was fairly certain that he'd made up his mind what he wanted to do.

I didn't hear anything further about his situation for three days, not until late on the Sunday night. That's when Lucille wakened me by slipping into my bed and trying to warm her cold feet on my legs. Of course I almost leapt out of bed, while she broke into giggles. Then, once I came fully awake and realized what had happened, I decided to retaliate by tickling her. That led to a delightful response and predictable results.

Later as we relaxed, she told me that the twins had only spent one night in town. After that they'd left with Tom, supposedly in order to cook and clean for him while his parents were away on their visit to relatives. She also let me know that Tom had talked to her and Grampa Bender before contacting the girls, so she knew that Tom had talked to me. When I wouldn't say anything about what I'd told Tom, she just laughed.

It was the next morning when I awoke that I realised it was New Years Eve and that I was expecting guests that night. Of course, Lucille was in a bit of a tizzy about food. She wasn't used to cooking for large groups and really didn't know what to do, but by the time I'd done the morning chores, Sandy had called. She'd told Lucille what she needed to have taken out of the freezer and that she and Jackie were on the way out to do the cooking. All Sandy wanted Lucille to do was help by getting things out and defrosting things that were frozen, so Lucille had calmed appreciably by the time I came back inside.

By noon, Sandy, Jackie and Carissa were there and the kitchen soon seemed like a war zone to me as the cousins argued about methods and recipes. Lucille, Carissa and I escaped the battle by becoming busy with cleaning up, vacuuming, dusting and doing what little laundry there was. Then an hour or two after lunch, Matt and his brothers arrived on the scene, driving an extended cab pickup truck.

"Well, that looks like quite a rig," I commented as they trooped inside.

"It's just about perfect for us," Mark grinned at me. "There's room in the cab for five if we squeeze in tight, but that still leaves the box empty for all our tools. Since we'll be back to building log cabins and corrals next year, we decided to get it from your friend, Frank Dolens. Another couple of weeks work for him and it'll be paid for too. Then all we need is a cover for the box and we'll have a great work truck."

"You've been working for Frank?"

"Unh huh, we rebuilt his spray booth," Luke grinned. "Next week we're gonna start on some changes in the mechanical shop. He wants an office for his head mechanic in order to keep all the bills and paperwork from getting covered in grease and oil."

"Because of what's happened this last week, we kinda wanted to talk to you about a few things," Matt smiled at me then. "We were wondering just how much of the property up on the plateau was yours. You know that cabin John Coulter was suggesting that you have built? Would there be room to build a big cabin and a decent size storage building up there on the flat land, instead of down here? We'd like a place that was closer to a decent road."

"Well, once you turn off the municipal road, the road you drive in on is all on my family's lease and it's a mile wide strip, so there's certainly enough room for a cabin. Then there are both power and telephone lines running right close, so you could tap into them easily enough. The problem might be getting water though. You'd probably have to get a well drilled and I don't know what you'd find or how deep it would have to be. Other than that, I don't see a problem with building a cabin up there," I frowned as I thought about the idea. "I can't really make that decision on my own though. We'd have to talk to the whole family, but I can't see why we couldn't lease you a chunk of land, then you could do what you want. After all, Grampa Bender just leased that land in order to have an access road to the ranch. What put the bug in your bonnet that you want to live up there?"

"Well, in the first place, it's closer to town and you were mentioning the idea of having a place up on the flatland to store a vehicle in the winter. But mostly, it's because there's so darn much small construction work around this area," Matt smiled and waved a hand toward town. "We figure that in the winter we can look after your chores, but still make a bundle doing small renovation jobs for folks. Since we're all taking correspondence courses, it doesn't even interfere with our schooling. That way Mark and Luke can still finish their carpentry apprenticeships with Clarence in the summer months, while both John and I can be around here to work for you or your family."

We jawed about the idea for an hour or more and the longer they talked, the more sense the idea made to me. Then Tom showed up with Jasmine and the McAdam twins, followed by Wil and Corinna, who brought along George and Beth. So, we drew Tom, Jasmine, Wil and Beth into the discussion. That led to phone calls to both Mom and Dad, then to Uncle Tom and Aunt Alice. By the time supper was ready, we'd come to a verbal agreement with the McAdam brothers to lease them ten acres of land on the upper plateau. All we had left to do was make it legal by having our lawyer draw up a contract.

From the way Matt and his brothers acted, you would have thought we had given them the keys to Fort Knox. They were celebrating long before midnight and their mood was contagious. It affected most of us, but I noticed that for some reason Carissa and Jackie were more sober than everyone else. When I got the chance, I asked them if I could talk to them upstairs and away from the party.

When we got up there, I pulled a chair near the bed and waved a hand at the bed, inviting them to sit down.

"What's making you two so sober tonight?" I asked quietly. "Is there something I can do to help?"

"Oh, you bugger," Carissa sighed deeply, and slipped over to hug me tightly for a few seconds, before sitting back on the bed and pulling Jackie close to her side. "We have a problem alright."

"And what's your problem?"

"Well, we love each other," Jackie said flatly.

"So, is that supposed to be news?" I grinned. "You haven't exactly made a secret of it."

"You don't mind?" Jackie looked astonished.

"Why should I mind?" I laughed aloud. "It's not as if it's a surprise to me and I'm sure Sandy and Lucille will be happy with the idea that they don't have to share this bed with you."

"She didn't say that, or at least not completely," Carissa snapped. "Both of us would still like to have an option to come visit you once in a while. Our real problem is living in the same house with my Mom."

"Your Mom?" I looked at her in astonishment.

"Unh huh. She's been acting more homophobic every day," Carissa sighed. "She keeps doing little things like setting the table for dinner, but 'forgetting' to set a place at the table for Jackie and stuff like that. She hasn't said anything, but after talking to Lucille and Dr. McGraths, we think it's a psychological thing. It's almost as if she wants to ask Jackie to leave, but can't bring herself say it aloud."

"So, why not offer to move out? I'll bet your dad or your Uncle Frank would help you to find a place. They'd probably help you to pay the rent until you can find something to do."

"Chris, there just aren't that many places around town that are vacant and rentable, besides, whether we like it or not, both of us are still recovering from the accident," Jackie sighed very deeply. "On top of that, I'm about to start school next week, so we can't even ask you if we could come out here to stay for a couple of months."

"Hmm. Wait here," I told them, then hurried back downstairs to find Sandy and Lucille.

Coming back with Sandy and Lucille, I had Carissa and Jackie explain their problem, then suggested that perhaps, while I was off to Olds, Carissa and Jackie could stay at the ranch and help Matt look after the place.

Sandy frowned for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. "What happens on the weekends when you come back home?"

"Then I could pick you and Lucille up in town, that is, if Lucille isn't working. Otherwise, she can join us later in the day," I shrugged. "That way you can feel safe that Carissa and Jackie won't attack me without your permission."

In the discussion that followed, my idea got trashed. I was literally chased out and sent downstairs to spend time with the guys while the gals talked over the problem. Actually, I'd gotten what I wanted, but I wasn't about to admit it aloud. Now Sandy and Lucille were involved in the problem and my ideas had been dismissed, which meant I had an excuse to walk away from the discussion. A few minutes later, I noticed Jasmine head upstairs, then come back down to get Jess, Jean and Beth. That split the party in half, but at the time, all of the guys were discussing sports so they really didn't notice that anything was going on.

To keep them going, I offered the rather contentious opinion about that year's upcoming NHL playoffs. I suggested that the Montreal Canadiens would face the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup again that year, but that St. Louis would win this time. I knew that would get a discussion going. Let's face it, I've never seen any group of more than three guys in Canada that didn't have at least one rabid Montreal fan and at least one other guy who was just as vehemently opposed to the Habs. An argument was virtually guaranteed.

Perhaps you could say that I loaded the dice in a way that let the girls discuss ideas for a solution with Carissa and Jackie while the guys' attention was centred on a sports discussion. Actually, that's almost exactly what happened. Inside of half an hour, all the gals came trooping down the stairs. Jackie and Carissa took the four McAdam brothers out to the kitchen for a private discussion, while Lucille and Sandy steered me into my office to talk to me.

The idea that they'd come up with was to build either two cabins or one large house on the lease that the guys had arranged to rent from my family earlier. That way Jackie and Carissa could live there and do the cooking, answer the phone and even do the books for the guys. The only difference was that Carissa wanted to have a few horses, so they'd need a barn, corrals and fences.

"Hey, you'll have to ask Matt and the guys. If you can talk them into it, I don't see what business it is of ours," I shrugged. "Once that lease is signed, as long as no one is doing anything illegal, I don't care what they do or who they have living with them on that acreage."

"Just like that?" Sandy asked.

"Well, unless they bring out 'Rotten Ray' or someone like him to live there. I'd stick my nose into their business then," I grinned. "I'm sure as heck not going to argue if they want their sister to live there, and if Carissa wants to live with her, that's their business, not mine."

Sandy cocked her head off toward one shoulder and grinned a twisted grin at me. "Lucille, somehow, I get the idea that we've been snowed."

"Pardon me? What do you mean?" Lucille frowned at her.

"This whole thing just comes out too damn pat. Matt and the guys get a place to live and enough room to keep tools and construction material, Carissa and Jackie get a place to live and Chris is going to get a place to store a vehicle in the winter. Not only that, but he's suddenly got new neighbours and a ready work force, all close at hand too," Sandy shook her head. "I don't know how he did it, but I think Chris had this all planned out before anyone said one damn word."

"Now how would I do that? Of course, now that you point them all out, the advantages are rather obvious, aren't they?" I said, but with a big grin. "Now, I think as hosts at this party we should be out there with our guests."

With that I left them still wondering and went back into the livingroom. From the look on Matt's face, I knew he'd been deputised to talk to me about the changed plan, so I gave him a quiet thumbs-up sign and nodded my head toward Carissa. A quick look of surprise crossed his face and then he grinned shyly. I could tell he hadn't wanted the job of asking me and was glad to pass the buck. On top of that, I'd let a smile show for an instant, giving him a hint of what my answer would be.

Actually that's when the party really got started.

Sandy had started the music, brought in the punch and the twins brought some snacks from the kitchen. So when Carissa approached me and I told her that I didn't care one way or another if the McAdams built another cabin on their lease, she grabbed me in a hug and didn't seem to want to let go. I decided that I'd try to get her dancing, so I began to move to the beat of the music.

At first, because they'd been raised as Mormons, none of the 'Calgary' McAdams knew how to dance, so they stood around talking, drinking punch and eating snacks. Since we took into consideration the McAdams' beliefs and everyone's ages, Sandy and I had agreed that the punch would be non-alcoholic. However what Sandy and I didn't know was that Wil had slipped down to the cellar portion under the old cabin and brought up a quart of Grampa Bender's 'squeezins' to spike the punch. Thankfully he hadn't used a lot, but we still ended up with five very 'happy' celebrants on our hands.

In fact, the only relatively sober people in the cabin were Lucille, Tom and I. Wil, George, Beth, Jasmine, Sandy, Carissa, Corinna, Jess and Jean were all 'very happy' and feeling no pain. Jackie and her brothers were sozzled.

As soon as Lucille and I realized what had happened, we dumped the punch and started serving coffee. That annoyed Wil and he threatened to leave with Corinna, but Tom had snuck out and collected the keys out of all the vehicles. Just in case Wil or Matt had a spare set of keys in their pockets, he made sure their vehicles were blocked in by his car and my old Jeep. It took a while to get Wil calmed down, but I let Tom handle that. Actually I was too annoyed with him to do it myself.

In order to calm everyone down, Lucille decided to get each person to tell everyone else about what had happened to them during the last year. So from about eleven o'clock on, each person was asked to tell about the highlights of their past year.

It wasn't long before I was feeling darned embarrassed. It seemed that the highlights of everyone's year had centred around something I had said or done. They all seemed to forget about the times I'd screwed up or had lost my temper, and each one glossed over the sad or unhappy things that had happened to them as well. Instead, they mentioned the times I'd been there to help or influence what had happened.

Jackie topped everyone though and what she said wasn't about me.

"I sink I'm t' luckies' one o'all," she slurred loudly. "I got a lover whose gonna like the nex' year, cause ever'time anybody mentions th' date, she's gonna think 'bout sex an' songs, cuz tha's her fave'rit way ta duet."

Everyone in the cabin was laughing as the old mantle clock struck twelve and the new year began.

Sandy was still giggling when we kissed and Lucille was chuckling. Even Carissa had a grin on her face before she grabbed me and laid a killer kiss on my lips. Then of course Jackie decided to go into tonsil research, or at least exploration of the nearby territory. Jess and Jean were quite tame in comparison, their kisses very little more than the 'family type' pecks that I got from Beth and Jasmine. However of all the girl's hugs, Jess and Jean's had to be the most energetic and Jackie's wasn't far behind them.

For some reason all the guys had to shake my hand then. for some reason that bothered me, because these were friends and I really couldn't see that there was any reason for handshakes between us, after all, we were just buds. It wouldn't have been so strange if they'd been shaking each other's hands, but they were only shaking mine. It just seemed strange to me.

From the very first hour, 1969 turned out to be a strange year for me, and in many ways, it was a year that was to hold many events that I would gladly have forgotten. However, 1969 was also a year of very memorable events, which made forgetting anything that happened during its passage impossible. From the first day of the year, life seemed to pick up speed for me. In fact, there were times when I felt I was riding a runaway amusement park ride with no attendant, no brakes and no governor. Time simply flew and circumstances shot up to complicate my life at every turn.

Everything started shortly after all the New Year's kisses, hugs and handshakes were over as people began to disappear from the living room, headed for bed, or at least somewhere to sleep. Many simply fell asleep where they happened to be, so we let them lie where they were, draping spare blankets over their slumbering forms. Inside of an hour, the only people still up and around were Lucille, Sandy and I, but all we were doing was cleaning up all the dirty dishes and salvaging what food was left out after the party. We were in the kitchen, putting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher, when Matt staggered out of his bedroom, then rushed outside to be sick as he leaned over the porch railing.

"It looks like Wil's addition to the punch didn't sit well with Matt," Sandy sighed. "I wonder how many of the others are going to get sick."

"I'd better check that Matt's okay before I go to bed," Lucille sighed. "Maybe I'll stay up a while to see if anyone else gets sick as well, but right now, I'm not happy with Wil."

"Wil should be the one looking after Matt," I growled.

"Matt will be okay," Lucille sighed. "I'm the nurse here and I've had more rest that you two guys. You two look wasted, so go to bed. I'll take care of Matt and get to bed later. If I need help, I'll call you."

Since I knew that someone had to get up in the morning to do the chores, I didn't argue with her, but Sandy tried. She lost the argument though, and shortly after I got to bed, she joined me. Neither of us was feeling particularly amorous, so after a quick kiss and cuddle we both rolled over, then it wasn't long before I fell asleep.

I was feeling rather lazy and really didn't want to get out of bed the next morning, but I knew I had to get up. Someone had to get mobile to do the chores and I knew that no one else was going to be in shape to work early that morning. It was while I was in the bathroom that I realized Lucille hadn't joined us in bed. I didn't think much of it, other than that she wasn't there. I thought she'd probably decided not to disturb us, then I wondered how she'd found somewhere to sleep, since we had so many guests. Every bed, sofa and comfortable chair in the house must have been put to use after the party. Splashing cold water on my face didn't seem to make me feel any better, so I downed an aspirin to help with my minor headache, then went back to the bedroom to get dressed.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Sandy was awake and smiled weakly in my direction.

"Morning, Chris," she yawned, rolling out of bed and grabbing her bathrobe as she spoke. "Lucille must have had a rough night. I wonder how many of the boys got sick."

"I dunno, but if she doesn't kick Wil's butt, I'm gonna," I growled.

"Hmmph, the line for that job forms right behind me," Sandy growled, her pleasant mood snapping instantly. "Spiking the punch with a bunch of nondrinkers in the crowd was a damn dumb stunt, and I intend to let him know what I think about it too. I doubt if we'll be the only ones to tell him off either."

"Well, at least Tom had the presence of mind to collect all the car keys, so no one tried to drive and got into trouble that way," I sighed. "It isn't like we're anywhere that folks could get into fights with the neighbours or anything."

Sandy snorted at that, then disappeared into the bathroom, so I finished dressing and decided that I might as well face the world. I paused outside the door to the bathroom to tell Sandy I was off to grab a coffee, then do the chores, before I started down the stairs. As soon as I opened the bedroom door, I smelled the coffee and sighed in relief since I wouldn't have to wait long to jump start my morning. I had a brief thought then that perhaps the day wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Of course, when I neared the bottom of the stairs and saw several somnolent bodies lying scattered on chairs and sofas around the room, I had second thoughts about that idea. Having had a hangover from Grampa Bender's hooch before, and knowing what my head had felt like when I awoke, I tiptoed to the kitchen. As soon as I could see the kitchen table, I realized that Lucille was sitting there, staring out the window with a coffee mug in her hands.

"Morning, Lucille. Haven't you gone to bed yet?"

"Huh, oh, are you up already? I couldn't sleep," she mumbled, as she glanced at me.

I was surprised that her face was very sober and her eyes looked bloodshot. In fact, she looked like she'd been crying.

"Is something wrong?" I asked as I turned to pour a cup of coffee for myself.

"You could say that," she snapped, then to my astonishment, she leapt to her feet and turned away.

As I stared after her, she raced away, then I could hear her run up the stairs. Hearing a moan from the living room, I knew that the noise of her footsteps had disturbed someone. Sighing, I sat down at the table to have my coffee.

"I guess I shouldn't have asked that question," I sighed, wondering who had been awakened as Lucille ran upstairs.

That's when I heard a thud, and wondered what was going to go wrong next. It didn't seem to me that the first day of the year was starting out with a great morning.

"Damn, I hate morning after crap and the minor catastrophes stirred up by party pranks and misunderstandings," I muttered, just as Sandy came into the room.

"Don't worry about the thud," she chuckled. "That was just Wil, tripping over his own coat when he tried to stand up. He's okay and it looks like everyone else in the room is still dead to the world."

"Well, if Wil is up, he can help me with chores."

"I don't think he'd be much help to you this morning," she sighed. "He must have had more of Grampa Bender's fixins. He's in the can, barking at the white throne."

"You know, there are times that I think he's got an alcohol problem," I grouched as I finished my coffee in one swallow, then stood up. "I've got animals to care for though. Will you be okay? This place may be a bit of a mad house for a while."

"I'll be fine," she slipped to my side and gave me a quick hug. "Just so I know, what did you say to upset Lucille."

"All I did was ask if she had gone to bed at all last night. Oh, and then I asked if she was okay. That's when she ran off," I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't remember saying anything else."

"I'll talk to her," Sandy sighed. "Something must have happened after we went upstairs last night."

I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. I had a job to do that couldn't be put off. I had to look after the animals. After all, someone had to do it, and it certainly didn't look like anyone else was capable of doing the chores that morning. So, pulling on my coat and boots, then grabbing my hat and gloves, I went outside to find that we'd had six inches of fresh snow fall overnight.

"Oh great, more problems. Just what I need," I grouched, stomping off toward the barn.

### Chapter 47