# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 4:
Construction Zone - Equipment at work

When I woke up in the morning I lay there for a moment, trying to remember if I'd had a dream last night ... or if I had really kissed Sandy? Had she come in to visit me before she went home and had she leaned over close to me, almost as if she was going to kiss my cheek? Had I actually wrapped an arm around her, pulled her even closer, then kissed her on the lips? Had she moaned softly and kissed me back?

Or had it all been a dream?

I'm not sure what the hospital fed me for breakfast, mush of some sort, something that I think was supposed to be masquerading as oatmeal porridge. Anyway, it was something in a bowl, which came along with a tiny glass of milk, cold, soggy toast, and watery, almost tasteless orange juice. I don't recall getting a cup of coffee or even any tea, but then I wasn't really thinking about that. I was still puzzling about last night, still wondering if I had just dreamed that scenario, or if the kiss had been real.

My doctor came to see me before nine in the morning and told me I could go home. He also told me that he'd let my mother know right away, but I couldn't even get dressed before she got there. Oh, I could have put on my underwear and my shirt, even if they were quite dirty, but there was no way I could wear my blue jeans, I couldn't even get the leg half way up and over my cast. So I hobbled to the lobby on my crutches, and yes, I was wearing a stupid hospital gown with my butt hanging out. All of that, just to phone home in order to make sure Mom brought me something to wear that I could get over the cast. Then I sat on the edge of my hospital bed, waiting impatiently for her to arrive.

Mom was in a great mood when she showed up almost half an hour later. She gave me a hug and said "Hi." Then handed me a paper bag with my clothes in it and pulled the curtain around my bed. I heard her shift a chair and sit down outside.

"We almost had a mutiny on our hands this morning," she announced.

"Oh, what happened?" I said as I yanked on my clean underwear and then my shorts.

"Well, Beth and the twins started to work in the chicken coop. First they pulled out the roosts and got mites all over them, just like you expected. Beth had warned the girls, but I guess they thought she was just kidding. You should have seen them dance and squirm."

"And that was the mutiny?" I grinned, pulling on my shirt, but having trouble putting it on with my lower arm and hand in the cast.

"Unh uh that was minor, Beth thought she'd be nice to the girls, so she said they could take turns wheeling the manure out in the wheelbarrow while she and the other twin would load them up. I guess she thought that would give each girl some time in the fresh air."

"And... ?" I said waiting for her to continue.

"Well, last winter must have been a good year for manure, at least if smell means anything," Mum chuckled. "Are you decent yet?"

"I'm having trouble with these small buttons on my shirt, since I only have one good hand," I complained, hopping out through the curtain on my good foot. "Could you help?"

"Sure, but back to the story, now that I can see your face," Mom grinned. "Beth got about three or four good fork fulls of chicken dung into a wheelbarrow and all three of the girls came running outside, almost green. Your Dad almost hurt himself, he was laughing so hard. I'll admit I wasn't much better."

"Oh boy," I grinned and then I thought for a minute and I sighed. "I bet they're mad at me huh?"

"I don't think so, you see your Dad didn't tell them that cleaning out under the chicken roosts was your idea. I think he put across the idea that the three of us felt that as a punishment for swiping your car for a joy ride they should do the next job on your job list and that just happened to be what they drew. Actually, Carissa held the jar, Corinna drew the slip, and Beth read it aloud to everyone. You should have seen her face," Mom grinned.

"Huh, out of all the jobs in my jar, how did you arrange that?"

"Last night I and your dad stayed up a bit late," she chuckled. "I poured all the old job slips out of the jar and we wrote up an equal number of new slips."

"And all of them were cleaning out the chicken coop, right?" I grinned.

"Unh huh, we sort of cheated," she nodded as she did up my last button. "Ready to go home?"

"And how! I'm starved."

"Not to mention that you want to taunt your new slaves huh?" she laughed as we left the hospital.

"Actually, no," I grinned. "I'm going to tell them how to do it and not get quite so woozy from the stink."

"Your Dad already showed them that, just to get them back on the job. He has your homemade fan installed, so it's blowing fresh air in the front window and he added another fan inside the chicken coop, which is blowing the stench out the door."

"You mean you guys knew about that?" I laughed. "Can't a guy get away with anything?"

"Not much," she snorted, as she walked slowly so I could keep up with her as I hobbled along on my crutches. "I brought your car, I thought you'd want to see if you could drive it safely. Since your car is an automatic, and you broke your left foot, your Dad and I thought it should be okay."

"Do you guys read my mind?" I laughed.

"Well, your Dad told me about the valentine, and about the red-headed nurse, so we thought you might want to get around a little bit."

"Not one secret! It's gotten so that I don't have one darn secret in the whole world," I mumbled as I got into my car.

Mom just laughed as she got into her side. I took it easy driving home because I was feeling out what I could do and what I shouldn't do. My foot was okay, because it was just sitting still. It was my hand that bothered me, since it hurt when I tried to use it to do anything that required me to close my fingers tightly. On the way home I told Mom that I had a date for the afternoon and she snorted with laughter.

"Your Dad was right huh?" she grinned.

"Sorta," I grinned back at her. "Only the red head isn't a nurse, not yet, but I think she wants to become one."

"And what's her name? Is this the same one who found you when you were so sick and did all the right things? What was it Beth said her name was? Sandra something or other and she's Scottish?"

"Yes, it's Sandy, Sandy McAdam," I sighed. "The trouble with small towns is that everyone knows everyone else's business."

"That's not really a bad thing," Mom said. "By the way, if you're going out with Sandra, you'll be around the town's other set of twin girls. She has twin sisters. That's how Beth knows Sandra, her twin sisters, Jean and Jess McAdam are in Beth's class at school."

"Small town again, I find a nice girl and her sisters are in the same class as my sister is," I sighed.

Mom just chuckled and since we were just turning into the farm, she pointed. One of the twins was just wheeling a load of chicken dung out of the chicken house and dumping it in a pile outside.

"We need a camera," I grinned at Mom. "We need a permanent record of what they look like."

"That would be mean," Mom said.

It would have been perfect though. There was Corinna, her hair done up in a red polka-dot bandanna, wearing a sloppy red chequered shirt, blue bib overalls, black gum boots, and wheeling a wheelbarrow load of chicken manure. She noticed me and called out to the other girls inside the coop, so in a moment the other two came out, then all of them came toward us.

"No fair getting that stink on either Chris or me," Mom said when they were all about twenty feet away. "I don't want to shower right now and Chris can't shower often in those casts."

"Aww, Mom," Beth protested. "He could at least share the stink with us, especially since we got stuck doing his dirtiest job."

"Well, if someone hadn't been so darn anxious to swipe his car for a joy ride, maybe they wouldn't have been doing it and could have pinched their noses as he went by instead," Mom smiled her 'told ya so' smile.

"Actually it goes back further than that," Corinna sighed.

"Yeah," Carissa added. "If we hadn't wanted to ride the horses so much, he wouldn't have got hurt."

"We're sorry about that," Beth said emphatically. "And we're sorry about the car too."

"Well, I'll forgive you for both things ... when the chicken coop is cleaned out and the manure from it is spread," I grinned. "Now, I'm starved and Mom said I can have a snack."

"And we don't even get a dang hug," I heard one twin grumble as I turned and maneuvered toward the house on my crutches.

"Well, you stink," The other twin answered.

"By now, we all do," Beth added, giggling loudly. "We just can't smell it because our noses are burned out by the stronger stench inside the poop coop."

I didn't really pay much attention for a minute or two, I was too busy trying to get around on those darn crutches and into the house, but Mom noticed what was going on. The girls had decided I wanted to be left alone and they had gone back to the job at hand.

"You know if those girls had to, they'd do okay on a farm," she announced as we went into the house.

"Yeah, if they had a babysitter like Beth to show them the ropes."

"Oh come now, Chris, don't you think you're being awfully hard on them?"

"Mom, they'd have to learn so much," I sighed as I plopped onto a kitchen chair.

"Well, I did too," she laughed. "After all, I was hired as a baby sitter, cum nurse, cum housemaid when I came to live here."

"Yeah, but that was different," I sighed deeply. "I mean ..."

"Hah," she interrupted, and surprised me by laughing. "Not all that different. Will waffles do for something to eat?"

"Sure Mom, as long as there are bacon and eggs to go with them. I'm starved and need protein," I grinned. "Actually toast would be easier than waffles and probably faster, wouldn't it?"

"Mmmph," she growled. "Here I wanted to give you a special breakfast and all you want is bacon and eggs."

"Mom, your bacon and eggs are special," I grinned, "and you're changing the subject on me. You started to tell me what happened when you first came to the farm."

Mom got a distant look in her eyes and she smiled, but her face had a tinge of sadness in it, I knew the subject was dredging up memories of Kate, Dad's first wife. So Mom sighed deeply as she began to cook.

"If anyone deserves to know the whole story, I guess you do," she said in a quiet voice. "Wil's mother Kate was a wonderful woman and I loved her like my sister, in fact perhaps even more than a sister in many ways. After all we were almost the same age, as well as cousins who'd grown up close, something like you and Tom. When she got sick after Wil was born, I volunteered to come and look after her. What I didn't realise was that I was taking a step that would change my life forever."

She paused and I think the image of her standing there at the stove with a sad, sweet smile on her face will be etched in my memory until the day I die. She might have stood there for one minute, or ten, I don't know, time seemed to stop for me, then she seemed to quiver and she shook her head slightly.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming," she said shortly.

Then as she began to slip bacon strips into the skillet, she began to talk in a quiet, nostalgic tone. "When I came here, I was the ultimate town kid, the complete city slicker. I knew nothing about a farm, but I desperately wanted to make Kate's life easier. She was never really in a lot of pain, thank goodness, but she was so terribly weak and lethargic that I had to help her with everything. At first I only stayed in the house and looked after Kate and the household chores, but as time passed that changed."

"At the same time, your Dad was such a wonderful husband to her. He would work himself almost to the point of exhaustion all day, trying to get all the things around the farm done. But, the moment he walked into that bedroom to be with Kate, you could see his shoulders lift and his face change. He never let her see the struggles he was facing, trying to salvage this farm from years of neglect. He asked me not to let her know how hard he was working either, but I think she knew."

"Kate used to encourage me to help him a bit when I was done the things around the house. I think she asked him to take the time to show me how to do things too, but to let me try on my own first," she paused and looked at me with a smile.

"I must have tried his patience to the max. Goodness, when I came here, I didn't know how eggs were laid or how to milk a cow. In fact it used to embarrass me terribly to see someone actually milking a cow. For some reason the idea of sitting down and squeezing milk out a cow's teat was enough to set me off into a state of giggles like you wouldn't believe," she laughed. "Somehow it was embarrassing and yet tantalising at the same time. I knew that the sexual connotation was just in my head, but it still got to me."

"Sexual connotation? I don't get it?" I questioned.

"Typical farm boy," she snorted. "Think about it. A cow's teats correspond to a woman's nipples and her udder corresponds to her breasts. Actually if it wasn't for my weird hangup about milking cows, you might never have been born."

"What?" I said in surprise, staring at her.

"Just wait," she held up her hand. "I need to explain a few other things before I get to that part of the story."

"Okay," I just shrugged my shoulders, watching her flip the bacon to one side of the pan and drain off most of the bacon fat as she talked.

"So, back to my memories of first getting involved with the farm and all the chores," she smiled again. "Before I first came here, I'd bought everything at a store, even vegetables. When I came here and had to actually look after a garden as well as try to look after Kate and the baby, along with the cooking, and the cleaning, and the laundry, and everything else, I felt completely overloaded. Then to have Kate suggest that in my 'spare' time I'd really be helping your Dad if I did a few of the easier chores, I think I was almost at the point of giving up. I know now that Kate had no idea how much extra work a baby and an invalid can add, actually neither she nor I did then. Looking back on it, I haven't a clue how I did all that I did, but somehow I managed."

"Toward the end of that year, I was looking after everything in the house and doing most of the barnyard chores too. Then at the very last, Kate had to go into the hospital and I still did all those things, but on top of that I made sure I had the time to drive into town to see her once a day."

Mom paused then, since she was putting my eggs and bacon on a plate and setting them in front of me. As she handed me toast and a cup of coffee, I saw tears in her eyes, but she sat down and continued her story.

"One morning, I talked your Dad into taking me in to see Kate. When we got there, she looked so tiny and frail that I knew she wasn't going to last long, but then she saw your Dad and me. Her eyes lit up and she smiled, then she almost floored me. She said: 'Hey, it's my whole family at once for a change; my son, my hubby, and my hubby's next wife too.' I was carrying Wil and I darn near dropped him," Mom chuckled and it seemed strange because her eyes were still brimming with tears. "Your Dad's and my reaction must have been classic. I mean, I'd been trying to fight off my attraction to him for months and I found out afterward that he had been fighting the same feelings for me. Now you have to understand we hadn't let it out in the open at all, not even to each other, but Kate realised what was going on."

I had stopped eating and was staring at her. "You mean she ..."

Mom smiled and nodded slowly. "Yes, she pushed us together at the last. She never said anything more about it, but after she had said that, it was on both Willard's and my mind. Actually, when we got back here, it seemed to me that every time I looked his direction he was just turning away from looking at me."

"We still had the farm to look after as well as everything else, but with Kate in the hospital there actually was less for me to do. Even after taking the time to go see Kate in the hospital that day, we were done the chores earlier than usual that night. We only had the milking left, but you know cows, they have a schedule of their own, so we actually came inside to have a coffee break before milking. Well it was going to be a coffee break," she chuckled.

"Actually, your Dad poured himself a glass of your Grampa Bender's 'home squeezins' and offered me one too. For once I took him up on it and I had a little glass, but I thinned it down with water. To make a long story short, it didn't take long before I got up the nerve to say something about what Kate had alluded to, about us getting together and it was a trigger. What each of us felt came pouring out and, before either of us realised what was going on, suddenly we were in each other's arms. Later when we were milking the cows, I actually got the giggles and when he asked me why, I told him about my hang-up about milking cows. I guess the combination of that and the drink we'd had, in addition to Kate's opening the subject earlier ... he'd been standing right behind me and his hands came to rest on my shoulders, then ..." she sighed and paused, her face a study of contrasts. "We did finish milking the cows, but we never ate supper that night."

"It was strange, but the fact that we'd revealed that we cared for each other made life both easier and harder for the next while. You see Kate only lived for a few days after that, her last words to me were that she loved me and that she wanted me to 'look after Wil and Willard.' There I was, feeling guilty about having made love to your father and not daring to admit it to her, while she was telling me in her own way to do exactly what bothered me the most."

"After she died, I just fell apart. I admit it. In a couple of days I was a mess and your Dad wasn't much better. By the time the funeral was over, we were walking zombies. Your Granny and your Uncle Leonard came over to spend a few days in order to help us out. That meant both your Dad and I had even more time on our hands. They stayed for about two weeks which sort of let us get our feet back on the ground, but you couldn't say we were back to normal, not in any way. For the next while, it was almost as if we blamed ourselves for Kate's death. Or you could turn that around, we were blaming her death on the fact that we cared for each other. We both were walking around in a cloud of guilt."

"To make matters worse, my period didn't come and it didn't come. Finally, when I was about a month late, I went over and talked to your Aunt Alice and told her the whole story. There I was feeling guilty and she started to grin like a darn Cheshire cat. In short order she had Wil and me in the car and we were on the way to see a doctor. Even if the doctor wasn't busy, I still don't know how she got me in to see him so fast," Mom laughed almost sadly.

"Not two hours later, I knew I was pregnant with you and I knew that I had to come home and tell your Dad that I was pregnant, but I didn't really want to have to do that. Your Aunt Alice knew what kind of problem I was going to have, so when she drove me home, she walked right up to your Dad, looked him in the eye and said 'All right, you've gotten this sweet innocent little gal pregnant, now what are you going to do about it?' I just stared at the two of them and your Dad didn't know what to do or what to say. He just stood there gawking back at the two of us with his mouth wide open," Mom sighed. "Twenty minutes later Alice had half of your Dad's family and half of my family sitting around the kitchen table making marriage plans. Two months after that we got married."

"You know, I just had a thought; at that time I wasn't much older than the twins are now," she smiled. "So, I think your assumption that the twins would be lost on a farm has holes in it. In fact after these few days that they've had with us now, they'd have a big advantage if they had to go through what I went through."

"Maybe," I sighed as I polished my plate clean with the last bit of toast. "But somehow, I don't think they'll ever end up on a farm."

"That may be, but I think that's going to be a matter of who they decide to marry rather than anything else. You do realise that both of them think you're the best thing since sliced bread, don't you?"

"Oh Mom," I just sighed softly.

Mom held up a hand and grinned at me. "Your father told me about the Valentine and about your Empire State Building analogy. Do me a favour and forget both of those ideas as best you can. I know that you've met another girl too, so that complicates things, but I'd like you to at least let the twins become friends."

"Mom, their idea of friendship right now ..." I fell silent and she just grinned even wider.

"They do seem rather physical, don't they?" she laughed. "You do realise that's partially because of their biological age don't you?"

"Biological age?" I frowned.

"Their bodies are primed and ready for motherhood," she smiled. "Unfortunately, I think their parents have sheltered them from reality far too much. You should have heard the questions they asked late yesterday afternoon and you'd understand what I mean. In actual fact I'm extremely glad they came out here to the farm when they did."

"What happened yesterday?" I asked.

"Oh, one of Beth's mares was in season and Beth let your stallion cover her," Mom actually giggled. "I'm glad no men were around, Beth and I had our hands full trying to explain everything to the twins."

"I'm glad I wasn't there," I said emphatically. "That would have embarrassed the heck out of me."

"Well, it sure made the twins embarrassed. Beth and I thought it was funny at first, then we realised that the twins really didn't know much and both of us felt we had to explain. I let Beth do most of the talking and I think that blew the twins away."

"Was Beth in one of her 'biology teacher' moods?" I grinned.

"No, not really, but I think the twins were astounded at just how much she did know. I know that they've been treating her with a lot more respect since then. She started out just answering their questions, but then after a bit, she began to volunteer information too. She did it so smoothly that I was impressed."

"So is this a warning to me, or what?"

"I suppose in a way," Mom sighed. "I just wanted you to know that although they have bodies of almost grown women, their knowledge of sexual matters was about what you had when you were ... oh, perhaps eight, maybe nine? I imagine working with Beth all day today after that talk last night; they'll be up to speed soon. At least I imagine that they'll be asking her more questions and getting some solid answers."

"Eight? Eight years old?" I stared at her, my mind still not able to get past that idea.

"Yes, eight years old, but remember, you're a farm kid. I think they've been extremely sheltered all their lives and have heard a lot of misinformation from school chums and so forth. I'm glad they don't have any brothers and sisters who need to be educated too, but it worries me that two young women could grow to their age and be so thoroughly unschooled about their own bodies."

"Maybe it's a good thing they weren't heavily involved with a lot of guys then," I said quietly, then I smiled. "I guess what I'm saying is that it's a good thing that they were 'Ice Cubes' and not hot tamales."

"Oh Chris, sometimes I wonder about you," Mom sighed, shaking her head gently. "But talking about running around, what time is the date you were mentioning?"

"Oh my," I glanced at the clock and then grabbed for my crutches. "I'd better get ready or I'm going to be late."

I learned something then, you should never try to hurry too much when you're stuck in casts. I think I bumped into more corners in the next ten minutes than in the previous four years of my life, but all I was trying to do was to clean up a bit and put on a different shirt. At least I managed to fasten the buttons on the shirt by myself this time.

Mom stopped me as I was heading for the door, adjusting my collar a bit as she advised me not to speed, even if I thought I might be late.

"I know Mom," I grinned, giving her a little hug and knowing that my collar really didn't need to be adjusted. "I'll be careful."

As I hobbled out to my car I glanced over at the chicken coop and saw Beth come out with a wheelbarrow load of chicken manure, so I waved. "See you, Squirt," I called.

"Hey, where are you off to?" she called.

"Got a date. See you tonight," I called back, as I threw my crutches into the back seat and got behind the wheel.

"Who with?" she called.

I wasn't really trying to ignore her, but I didn't want to stick around and be grilled either. So, pretending I didn't hear her, I started my car and drove away. Since I wasn't really confident about driving while stuck in the casts, I didn't speed.

It was about two minutes to twelve when I pulled up in front of the school. That meant that although I was feeling a bit lacking in self confidence, I didn't really have the time to work myself into my usual state of apprehension before the buzzer sounded announcing lunch time. Then I was too busy trying to guess which door Sandy would be coming out of to spend much time worrying.

I didn't realise that I was the center of attention for several other people until about six of my classmates who hardly ever spoke to me came walking over to my car.

"Chris? What are you doing here?" A tall blonde girl that I hardly knew asked. "I heard you were in the hospital."

"Yeah man," A guy, who usually wouldn't even acknowledge that I was alive, spoke up. "We were going to drop up and visit you. I heard a horse stomped you and they didn't know if you were gonna live. What happened man?"

There must have been five or six people all asking me questions at once. I was actually feeling pressured, so I held up my hands and to my surprise they quieted.

"As you can see, I've got a busted hand," I waved the cast slightly. "I've got a busted foot too, but I'm not dying. I was just extremely allergic to one of the pain killers they gave me. If Sandy hadn't acted fast, I don't know what would have happened."

"Sandy?" the blonde asked in astonishment.

"Yes Janet, Sandy McAdam," I answered the blonde, having remembered her name. "She was acting as night nurse and probably saved my life. To be honest I'm here to meet her, because we have a date."

There was dead silence for about twenty seconds. Then I think every one of them tried to speak at once.

"But what about ..." "SANDY? The shy little redhead?" "But I thought you and the 'Ice Cubes' ..." "Holy Smokes, she's a nurse?" "Oh man, what about Carissa and ..."

I wasn't really paying attention, I had just seen Sandy standing back and to one side, along with two younger girls who were obviously her sisters.

"Excuse me," I held up a hand to those around me. "I'll answer you guys later, okay? I think having all of you crowding around is intimidating my date. I don't want to be rude, but I can't really focus on your questions because I want to talk to her."

To my surprise they moved back, telling me they'd see me later, but I noticed they didn't move all that far away. The fact that they moved to let Sandy and her sisters come over without bothering them earned them a smile from me though.

"Hi," Sandy whispered, blushing deeply. "I didn't realise you were so popular."

"Hi, neither did I," I grinned, starting to open my door in order to get out.

"Wait," Sandy said quickly, stepping close so I'd have to push her out of the way to open the door.

She looked like she was almost ready to cry. To my surprise her two sisters moved up beside her, one on each side.

"Hi, I'm Jean," the one on the left said.

"And I'm Jess," the sister on the right added.

"Daddy is being a goof ..."

"He's heard rumours about you ..."

"And about the Coulter twins ..."

"And he thinks that you're just too ..."

They were doing that darn twin seesaw and I frowned as raised my hand again to stop them.

"Whoa, one person at a time," I said firmly. "Sandy?"

"Oh boy," she whispered. "Okay, I'll try, but if I start crying ..."

"Then I'll wait, and if I can I'll try to help you feel better, but I'd like to know what's wrong," I looked at first one and then the other twin. "And I'd like to hear Sandy speak please, with no darn twin seesaw in the background."

Sandy grinned for a fleeting instant, then got really sober again. She took a deep breath, then she spoke quickly.

"Daddy thinks you might be too wild for me to go out with you," she blurted out, as tears showed in her eyes. "Jean and Jess helped, they talked Daddy into at least letting me get a ride home, but he only agreed if they could ride home too ... in the back seat."

I just stared at her for a moment as what she'd said sank in, then I couldn't help breaking into a grin, "So, instead of dating one of his daughters, he's going to insist that I have to date all three?"

Jean and Jess started to giggle at that and it only took a second before Sandy was grinning and giggling too.

"Fuck Daddy," she snorted and to my surprise, she leaned in my window, grabbed my head between her hands and kissed me.

It was a short, hard kiss, but to my astonishment her tongue was trying to crawl down my throat, then she was pulling back and running around the car to the other door. The twins were suddenly scrambling to get into the back seat and I was surprised to hear a cheer from the bunch of kids who'd been talking to me before. They'd managed to slip back fairly close to try to hear what was going on. I was still dazed from Sandy's kiss when she slid inside, slipped all the way across the bench seat of my car and snuggled against me.

"Well?" she whispered. "Shall we go?"

I glanced over my shoulder at her two sisters who were fighting about where to put my crutches, then I leaned over and brushed my lips across Sandy's before dropping my car into gear and driving away. Sandy actually blushed as the kids from school hooted and cheered again.

"Daddy said I can't invite you inside, but maybe we can talk in the car for a few minutes," Sandy whispered.

"That depends on if Daddy is home for lunch or not," one of the twins said from the back.

"If he isn't, Mom said one of the two of us could invite you inside," the other twin giggled.

"She said that way we were still sticking to Daddy's rules."

"Because he never said, we couldn't invite you in."

"And anyway, Mom said she wanted to meet you."

"Okay, okay, we get the idea," Sandy giggled, "and thank you."

"Yeah, thanks," I managed to mutter.

"I wish I lived twenty miles away from school instead of just a few blocks," Sandy sighed snuggling even tighter to my side.

I did too, but with the cast on my arm I couldn't really cuddle her and with the twins in the back seat I didn't know if I even dared try. Besides, if I drove up to the house with my arm around Sandy's shoulder and Sam McAdam was there ... I drove slowly, because even if it was a short distance I was enjoying the idea of having Sandy at my side.

Unfortunately as we turned the corner onto the street where they lived, all three girls saw the same thing I did. Sam McAdam's car was parked in his driveway and he was leaning against the trunk, arms crossed over his belly and his one foot resting on his rear bumper. Sandy instantly slid across the seat to be near the passenger's door.

At that instant I realised that Sam McAdam not only didn't trust me, he didn't even seem to trust his wife or his daughters. Something in me snapped. I was annoyed, but not angry, so instead of just pulling up and parking on the street, I actually turned into his driveway. Then I opened my door and swung the leg in the cast out of the car, then swivelled to get my other foot on the ground too.

By the time he had recovered from his surprise at my pulling into his driveway and was coming toward me, I was standing up, but leaning the arm with a cast over the door to maintain my balance. I don't know how, but I even managed to smile at him as he came forward.

"Hi, Mr. McAdam," I hopped away from the car and held out my right arm in it's cast, as if I wanted to shake his hand. "I figured after your daughter saved my life the other day, the least I could do was give her a ride home and tell you how great I think she is."

"Uh, hello," he managed to mumble and somehow look as if I had just punched him in the belly. "Uh ... well ... uh ... it is lunch time and sometimes I come home. You're lucky you caught me today."

"Right and I don't want to impose," I answered, then turned so I could face Sandy who'd gotten out of the car and was staring at her Dad and me. "Look Sandy, I'd like to say thank you by taking you out to dinner some night if it's okay with your folks," I winked, but making sure it was with the eye that her Dad couldn't see. "Right now I'll bet your Mom has lunch ready for you guys, so I'll call you sometime, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. If it's okay with Daddy," she managed to say, looking at me like I was from Mars and blushing profusely.

"Great," I grinned at her and turned back to Mr. McAdam. "Would it be okay? Sometime after school lets out for the summer? I'm supposed to go work in the city for job training, but I don't know if I can. After getting busted up this way, I guess I might be recuperating for a little while."

When I turned back to Mr. McAdam he had a strange look on his face, like he had just swallowed a pickle or something.

Before he could say anything, one of the twins, I think it was Jean piped up. "Daddy, couldn't we invite Chris in for lunch?"

"Yeah Daddy, remember Beth, the girl who stayed here and was talking about her horses? Chris is her older brother."

"It's one of her darn horses that caused this," I laughed, waving my broken hand.

"I thought it was your horse, that's what Beth said," Sandy interjected.

"It was, but he was under the impression that ..." I paused, realising that these were 'town folk' "... well, he thought that he was going to get a chance to ..." I paused again. "... well, he's a guy horse and she's a gal horse and ..."

By then my face was bright red and the girls were giggling. In fact even Mr. McAdam was smiling. I just threw my hands up into the air and sighed deeply.

"Darn, some things just can't be sugar coated," I grunted. "One of Beth's mares was coming into season and we didn't realise it. When I went to ride my stallion, he had other plans. Since horses can't control their urges like people can ... well, he bucked me off. To put it plainly, I wasn't expecting him to be so uncooperative and I fell badly. Then when I was in the hospital, the doctor tried to poison me and Sandy caught on. In a way she's responsible for saving my life."

"He did not try to poison you," Sandy snapped. "How was he to know you were allergic to Codeine?"

I don't know how long the discussion would have gone on, but Mrs. McAdam had come to the door and interrupted at that point.

"Excuse me, but I have lunch ready and if we don't eat soon everyone will be late," she called. "Chris, I've set a place for you too."

"But ..." I started to protest, looking at Mr. McAdam who looked slightly uneasy, then he smiled slightly while shaking his head.

"Jessica, get the boy's crutches for him would you please?" he said and turned toward the house.

"Way to go, Mr. Smoothy," Jess whispered as she handed me my crutches and hurried after her Dad and Jean.

"Wow," Sandy giggled softly, patiently waiting for me. "Nice going."

"But I didn't do anything," I protested.

"Oh no, nothing at all," she snickered as we moved up the walk, but going slowly since I was still having a bit of trouble with the crutches.

Her mother was waiting at the door. Even she smiled and winked at me.

"Hi Chris. Be prepared to get grilled," she whispered, then stepped back inside, leading the way to their dining room.

Mr. McAdam was sitting at the head of the table and the two twins on one side, Sandy slid into the chair next to her Dad, and motioned to the chair beside her as her mother sat down opposite Mr. McAdam. Everyone bowed their head for a few seconds and I followed their lead, respecting their actions. It must have been a silent grace since no one spoke aloud.

Then Mr. McAdam cleared his throat and looked directly at me. "So Chris, you've cleared up how my daughter met you; would you care to refute the rumours about you and the Coulter twins?"

I just stared at him for a second and then smiled wryly and shook my head. "I haven't heard the rumours, so I can't do much to refute them, but I can tell you what happened from my point of view."

I paused and took a bite of sandwich, knowing that chewing and swallowing would give me time to get my thoughts together.

"Well?" Mr. McAdam asked as I swallowed.

"Okay, the night of my grad I took my date home early because she had an early curfew, but I didn't want to go back to the dance all by myself. I was just driving around quietly when I met some guys from my class who had left the dance too," I shrugged. "They invited me to a party and I went."

"I guess I should explain, I've never really accepted by some of the kids in the class because I'm a couple years younger than them. I guess I'm a bit different than they are about studying and stuff like that too, so it was a pleasant surprise to be invited to one of their parties. I thought maybe that they were willing to bury the hatchet sort of thing," I paused.

"I asked the school, dear, and while Chris is two years younger than most of his classmates, he has the highest GPA in his grade," Mrs. McAdam interjected. "It's really not surprising that some of his classmates were jealous."

"Thank you Ann, so what happened, Chris?"

"I was stupid!" I sighed. "I went to the party and let them get me drunk. Well, to be honest, I relaxed and trusted them enough to drink what they gave me, which was just as stupid."

Mr. McAdam snorted. "I wouldn't call that stupid, other than the fact that you're underage. I might say it was somewhat gullible however."

"How about childishly naive?" I snorted right back. "I mean when I think about who was there at the party. Most of the people there were kids that I suppose felt I'd made them look foolish, even if I really hadn't meant to do that. They just don't seem to think before they act and ..."

"And you do?" Mrs. McAdam smiled.

"I usually try to Ma'am. Sometimes I don't do so well, but I do try," I sighed. "Anyway, they got me drunk and they got the Coulter girls drunk, then tried to strip us and after that they took a bunch of pictures of us in bed together."

"Suggestive pictures, from what I heard," Mr. McAdam said shortly.

"Suggestive maybe, but there was no truth to them. Heck, they didn't even get my shorts off."

"And you were drunk?"

"I guess, but they'd been drinking too. I suppose I probably fought back to keep my shorts on."

"Weren't they more sober than you and weren't you outnumbered?" It was Mrs. McAdam again.

"Ma'am, I've been fighting with my brothers and cousins since I could walk. When I get desperate about protecting myself or my friends, I think I just might fight a little, tiny bit dirty."

Mr. McAdam snorted and Mrs. McAdam laughed aloud.

"So then what happened?" one of the twins asked quietly.

"I don't know, but when I woke up and saw where I was I got so embarrassed that I just jumped out of bed, threw my clothes on and went home. I didn't know anything about the pictures until the Tuesday."

"You must have known something was up," Sandy said firmly. "I saw all those girls around you on Monday."

"I still don't know exactly what that was about," I sighed. "I don't really understand girls at all."

"You and me both," Mr. McAdam snorted. "But what did happen on Tuesday?"

"Well, someone slipped a picture of the Coulter girls and me into my locker and ... well, it was suggestive like you said and I didn't know what to do. I guess I should have called Mom and Dad to tell them I had a problem, and to the Coulter twins to warn them. Then I suppose I should have gone to the Principal, but it shook me so badly that I was flustered."

"I can understand that, now that I've talked to you," Mr. McAdam stated flatly. "From what I heard though, the pictures appeared all over the school."

"Only one picture, but many copies of it," I nodded. "I was there when a little kid gave a couple of envelopes to the Coulter girls and I saw their reaction. As soon as I saw their faces, I just knew what had been in the envelopes. I sorta lost my temper then, I mean it was one thing to send me a picture making it look like I was in bed with two girls, but ..."

"I believe what you are trying to tell me is that while a young man's reputation isn't badly damaged by him having appeared to have slept around, the young ladies in question couldn't afford to have their reputations tarnished in the same way," Mr. McAdam sounded slightly different somehow.

I looked at him and frowned, taking a few seconds and thinking deeply.

"Not really ..." I hesitated "... it's more that I knew that I hadn't done anything wrong, so it didn't matter, but when the picture got spread around it was hurting the girls and ..."

"Thank you, Chris," he said as he stood up. "Now, I have to go back to work. Could I impose on you to give Jean and Jessica a ride back to school as soon as you've finished your lunch?"

"Huh? Unh, sure," I said in surprise, not really understanding what was going on.

"Fine," he smiled, then looked over at Sandy. "Sandra, I understand that you are committed to being at the hospital this evening?"

"Yes Daddy," she answered immediately.

He turned back to me and looked at me sternly. "Sandra will need to be at the hospital no later than six forty five this evening and she will need a ride home at eleven. If she is not here in this house by midnight she will be grounded for the next week. The same goes for tomorrow evening, she will be home by midnight and there will be no dating on Sundays, is that clear?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"Fine," he growled and he walked out, then we heard him get into his car and drive off.

He was hardly gone when Sandy was asking her Mom; "Did he mean we could date, if we want to?"

"It certainly sounded that way to me," Mrs. McAdam smiled at her.

Sandy's squeal of delight was almost ear piercing. All I could do was grin as I was suddenly being hugged by an enthusiastic young woman while her mother looked on and smiled.

### Chapter 5