# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 13:
Beware - Livestock on Roadway

The next two weeks passed so quickly that I felt they must have grown wings and flew away.

It was during that two weeks that I really learned to prioritize the tasks of my life. Most week days I had to go to school and write at least one final exam, in fact one day I had to write two, but I had three other days when I wrote no tests at all. Each day I visited Grampa Bender in the hospital, looked after the animals on his farm and still managed to spend some time with Carissa. On top of that I was able to spend an evening with George's dad repairing that pesky CB radio. Another evening was spent with Tom making a special stirrup that fit over my cast. As well, I even spent some time with Mom and Beth getting lessons about cooking simple meals.

In actual fact I'm not sure where the time went during those two weeks. I'd never been so busy in all my life.

The first weekend during the exams was just as hectic. Saturday morning I woke early and made breakfast for the whole family as Mom and Beth supervised. After that we caught my two horses, saddled the Thoroughbred gelding and Beth set off for Grampa Bender's, riding the gelding and leading the Quarter Horse stud. Once she was on the way I drove into town planning to see Grampa Bender, then picking up Carissa so she could spend the day with me. Corinna was going to catch a ride back home with us so she could spend time with Wil, but I was planning on driving back home anyway since I wanted to pick up George and Tom, who were going to come up and help me at Grampa Bender's place for the day.

At the hospital I found Grampa Bender in a ward room with several other older men and I was shocked at how old he looked. However this was the first time that I really had a chance to talk to him since we'd rushed him to the hospital. When I told him that I was going to be looking after his place until he could go home it seemed as if a weight had lifted from his shoulders. He'd been worried about his animals and I'd just relieved him of that concern. I was astounded that he hadn't realized that his place was being cared for before then, since at least one or two of my family had been in to see him each day. So I spent nearly an hour with him, explaining how I was planning to look after the place and telling him about the things that we'd already done.

When I finally had to leave, I was stopped in the hallway by one of the nurses who had seen us talking. I was surprised to find that she had noticed how he had perked up as I'd been talking with him and even more surprised when she suggested that my involvement was probably the best medicine that he could have. She explained to me that the stroke he had suffered was affecting his short term memory. She also told me that if I or my family kept on reminding him of what was going on each day, eventually he'd accept the fact that we were caring for his farm. She suggested that I should talk to his doctor, saying that since I was directly involved I should know more of Grampa Bender's prognosis for the future. Her words and tone left me in a very sober mood, in fact I was somewhat worried when I left the hospital.

Carissa and Corinna managed to restore my mood somewhat when I picked them up, but as soon as I got home I managed to get Mom alone and buttonholed her to see if she knew more about Grampa Bender's condition.

"Well, he is a very old man, Chris," she said with a frown and a deep sigh. "I don't think the nurse should have dropped that on your shoulders though."

"Unlike you, I think I should know what's going on," I answered firmly.

"Unfortunately we're not certain how long his recovery will take and neither is his doctor," she said firmly. "It's not something you need to worry about right now."

"But Mom, I want to plan for the future."

"Chris, you're doing far more than we ever expected, all of you kids are, but you're the one who is leading the pack as usual," she put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. "Right now even the doctor is uncertain how soon he's going to recover, or how complete his recovery will be. I promise though if we find out anything for certain, Willard and I will pass it on to you. For now, we all have to simply hope and pray that things will work out for the best."

With that statement she pulled me into a hug and I had a clue that Grampa Bender was in far worse shape than I had suspected, simply because of the depth of feeling that she was expressing. I was actually quite shaken by the dawning realization that Grampa Bender might never live in his cabin again. At the same time I knew that I was going to have to conceal that possibility from some of the members of my family if I could.

Somehow I realized that I'd gone a step further into adulthood than I had planned and I was being given as much responsibility as I could handle. Mom and Dad were there to support me, but they were also encouraging me to go as far as I could on my own. That was a rather sobering thought.

I was still in a rather sober mood as Carissa, Tom, and George climbed into my car. However their moods were all bright and lively, so it wasn't long before my mood lifted. Because she rode across country while we had to go around by the road, Beth was already at the cabin when we got there. In fact she had the coffee pot on the stove and as soon as we got there she and Carissa insisted that we eat the lunch that Beth and Mom had fixed for us.

While they were setting it out on the table and I was doing a quick check of the animals, Tom and George brought all the laundry that Mom and Aunt Alice had done inside and emptied the trunk of my car. Then as we ate lunch I laid out the tasks I wanted to try to do that day. The next few hours were extremely busy and I was astonished at how much we accomplished.

The two girls had taken over the jobs in the house and had put away all the laundry, then had rehung the curtains and made the bed. Next they'd restocked the cupboards with groceries that Mom had bought during the week. After that they joined the guys outside.

Around the farmyard we had repaired some weak points in the fences, replaced the shakes on the bare spots on the barn roof and fixed any obvious leaks that we could see. Then we cleaned out the stalls in the barn and the worst of the manure in the chicken coop. As well I'd started the old tractor and spread the load of manure on one of the lower pastures. After I'd done that, Tom rigged the mower onto the back of the tractor in order to cut some of the long grass near the vegetable garden. Meanwhile, the rest of us started weeding and cleaning up the weeds in between the rows of vegetables. Even with the time it took to do all that, we left by four in the afternoon so the guys could be home in time to do chores.

After we'd eaten that evening I was going to go back and spend the night and Wil was going to use the pickup to run the twins back to town. At least that was the plan until Corinna suggested that she thought Wil should drive her up to Grampa Bender's so she could see the place. Carissa seemed to think that was a great idea and Wil didn't mind, so Carissa and I drove back in my car while Corinna and Will followed in the pickup.

Because it was near the end of June, the sun didn't set until late that evening, which meant that Corinna had a good chance to see the whole setup with Wil acting as her guide. I didn't feel like doing much more walking that evening, in fact my leg was a bit sore. Using my sore leg as an excuse Carissa and I stayed around the cabin. One benefit of that as far as we were concerned was that we could finally be alone together for a while. In fact, kissing, hugging, and petting almost got too serious, but we managed to break it off before we got completely carried away.

Instead we made coffee, then sat on the front porch and talked as we drank it. Carissa wanted to know what I would do if the place were mine, so I shared my pipe dream of raising horses and turning the place into a working ranch. We were still talking when Wil and Corinna came back from their walk. Of course they teased us about sitting on the front porch drinking coffee like an old married couple, but a moment later they joined us and we talked until quite late. Since I wouldn't see Carissa again until Monday at school, we managed to sneak in a nice long goodbye hug and kiss before they left.

I expected to have a hard time going to sleep because I'd never spent a night in the cabin, but I suppose all that I'd done during the day had tired me out. I fell asleep almost a soon as I'd gotten into bed.

The next morning I was up bright and early. After frying myself some eggs and bacon and having a couple of cups of coffee, I went outside and looked after the animals then began to putter around the place doing small jobs. In fact the whole morning and part of the afternoon were spent doing little fixups. However, by four in the afternoon I was beat and decided I was done for the day. After one final check around the place, I drove home to have Sunday supper with my family. I even managed to get in an hour or two of review for the exam I had the next day.

The following week was as hectic as the prior week had been, but at least I only had three exams that week. One of the high points of the week for me came when I was able to tell Grampa Bender about all the work we'd been doing on the farm, another was when I brought Carissa into the hospital and introduced them to each other. However, circumstances seemed to conspire to keep Carissa and me apart most of the week. Because none of our exams coincided and since I was so busy outside of school, we only had a few brief minutes together each day.

My last exam was on Thursday, then I was done. I was hoping to be able to spend some time with Carissa that evening, but she had a tough exam on Friday so we didn't get a chance to be together for long. Instead she spent Thursday evening studying and I spent the evening at home with my family. That weekend Mom, Dad and Beth were going off to a gymkhana. Beth was going to show her horses and Wil was going to stay home to look after the farm. I was planning on spending the whole weekend up at Grampa Bender's cabin, with the exception of one quick trip to town.

Friday was an extremely busy day for me. My day started with helping the family to load Beth's two best horses into the horse trailer, then packing the pickup with the gear my family would need over the weekend. Once they had gotten away that was followed by hurried trip to town. After a quick stop at Frank Dolens' service station to pick up some gas and oil for the old tractor, I went directly to the hospital and visited with Grampa Bender for a short while. Following that I'd planned on visiting the grocery store, then I wanted to be at the school to pick up Carissa after she finished her last exam.

Everything went well until I was finished at the grocery store, that's when I found my car was blocked in by a delivery truck. Of course that made me late getting to the school and after looking all over the school for her I found out that Carissa had already left. Expecting that she might be annoyed with me for being late, I drove to her house, but it seemed that there was no one home, at least no one was answering the door.

Then my world fell in around me. One of the neighbours saw me at the door and came over to tell me that the Coulter's had gone away for the First of July weekend just like my family had.

I was stunned. Carissa hadn't mentioned that she was going away. Of course I assumed the worst since I was still something of a neophyte concerning romance. On top of that I was slightly pessimistic about my luck with women so I jumped to the conclusion that she'd decided to break up with me.

I made a beeline for my car and drove directly out to Grampa Bender's place. At first I planned on going down to the cellar under the cabin and opening a quart of Grampa Bender's hooch so that I could drink my sorrows away. However when I got to the cabin I decided to look after the animals first and get drunk later. Of course one little job seemed to lead right into another and before realised it, I had worked the whole day away. When I finally stopped looking for small jobs that had to be done, it was late in the evening. That's when I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and I was extremely hungry.

While my meal was cooking, I turned on the CB and called home to let Wil know I was okay. Since I didn't want to talk long, I used my hunger and the fact that I had food cooking on the stove as an excuse to sign off after only a moment or two.

I've heard it said that after a breakup, people either eat too little or too much. I suppose I fall into the latter class. At least that night I certainly put away a huge meal. Expecting that I was going to have trouble getting to sleep, I made myself a cup of hot chocolate and went out on the porch to sip it as the sun went down.

As I sat there my mind was wheeling and whirling about the tough luck I had with women, but the combination of a hard afternoons work, a heavy meal and the hot chocolate combined to make me quite sleepy. I decided to go in and go to bed.

I had stripped down to my shorts when the dog started to bark. I pulled my jeans back on, then rushed outside to see what was the matter. In the fading daylight an old Jeep was coming across the bridge over the creek and since I didn't recognise it, I wondered if it was some form of trouble that I hadn't anticipated.

One of the things I had worried about was the idea that some of the rougher elements from town might have heard that Grampa Bender was in the hospital and decided that the place might be abandoned. I'd heard of them going out to various outlying farms that had been unoccupied for a few weeks and trashing those places while having wild parties. Since this was the last Friday evening of the school year, that possibility seemed quite probable. So, just in case that was what was happening, I stepped back inside the cabin and grabbed Grampa Bender's old twelve gauge pump shotgun from the pegs it hung on near the door. I even jacked a shell into the chamber as I stepped back onto the front porch, not that I was planning on shooting anyone, but having that old scattergun in my hands as a deterrent was very reassuring.

Although the light was failing, as the Jeep got closer I could make out the fact that there was only one person in it. Seeing that, I relaxed enough to pop the shell out of the shotgun and stood it against the wall. Then the Jeep was coming toward me across the flats and pulled up beside my car. I stared in astonishment as the driver stepped out.

"Hi, I thought you might get awfully lonely up here by yourself this weekend, so I borrowed Uncle Frank's Jeep and came to visit you," Carissa grinned at me.

I was shocked and totally speechless for several seconds.

"You aren't going to make me drive all the way back home tonight are you?" she asked with a slight quaver in her voice.

"Unh, uh," I managed to grunt and shook my head, still trying to adjust to the implications of her being there, but at the same time very happy that she was.

I'm not certain how long we stood there staring at each other, but at some point I realised that she was probably as uncertain of herself as I was. I took one hesitant step toward her, then suddenly she was rushing into my arms.

"What about your folks?" I asked, my face buried in her sweet-smelling hair as we hugged tightly. "Your neighbour told me that your whole family went on a holiday."

"The neighbour is a nosy parker and an idiot. Mom and Dad took the weekend off," she sighed. "Corinna is spending it with Wil and I'm here with you. Now, do I finally get a kiss or not?"

She didn't just get a kiss. Actually, she almost got eaten alive, but she was as enthusiastic as I was, so it was a fair trade.

I'm not sure if she expected to be scooped into my arms, carried inside the cabin and into the bedroom, but she certainly didn't argue. In fact she was completely cooperative, or rather she was as impatient as I was. Only moments later neither of us were virgins. Neither of us may have had any experience, but we must have made up for that with our sheer enthusiasm, or else we simply had a surplus of natural talent. Perhaps the days and weeks prior to our finally getting into bed had served as foreplay or else Carissa was extremely easy to get aroused. Anyway, she certainly disproved the old wives' tale that virgins never climax during their first session of intercourse. As for me, I was almost euphoric.

I couldn't seem to get close enough to her, and I fell asleep holding her gently in my arms.

When I awakened in the morning and found myself in Grampa Bender's bed, I was literally lost and didn't know where I was for several seconds. Actually since I had a morning woody which was tucked between the soft, but firm globes of Carissa's bare bottom as I cuddled to her back, I was shocked and somewhat alarmed as well. It took at least a couple of minutes for the happenings of the previous night to sink into my thick skull. Until that happened and I realized that she and I had both wanted to make love I was almost afraid to move. Of course by then the hydraulic pressure in my bladder had reached the danger level and I knew I had to either move or I'd suffer an accident.

Untangling my arms from around her delightful body so that I could manage to get out of bed without awakening Carissa seemed to take forever, but I finally managed to slip out of bed and make a mad dash outside. It wasn't until I was standing there relieving myself into the bushes off the end of the front porch of the cabin that the true implications of what had happened interrupted my thought processes.

I'd had sex with one of the Coulter twins and of course I remembered the rumour that all guys my age had heard about the twins and about their father. John Coulter had supposedly threatened to use a rusty tin can lid to nut any guy who took the virginity of one of those twins. The two of them were the delight of his life and he'd spent eighteen years guarding them from the world. Now in one rampant moment I had destroyed one of those precious bits of flesh that he'd spent so many years protecting.

It didn't matter that Carissa had been a willing and eager participant in our actions, for some reason I still saw her as an innocent participant that I had drawn into my version of depravity. I was the guilty guy whose undisciplined actions had disgraced one of the two stars of John Coulter's universe. I was the damn fool who had picked her up and carried her inside the house, then taken her to bed. I was going to have to face the music, not only with John Coulter, but with my parents as well. All I could do was hope that they wouldn't be too hard on me.

With a deep sigh of resignation at my fate, I crossed the front porch in an attitude of surrender to the world. I was guilty and I knew that I had to face the music. In my weakness, I had given in to the temptation of having sex and now I knew I had to suffer the consequences for my actions.

On top of that I had to find some way to face Carissa and apologise for being such a weakling. I resolved that in some way I was going to treat her so wonderfully that it would make up for the disgrace I had brought upon her. Then as I was preparing the coffee pot for the morning brew and thinking about how to apologise to Carissa, I remembered that she'd driven out here and had been the one to tempt me, not the other way around. Perhaps an apology wasn't called for? After all, she was literally as guilty of our actions as I was. I paused as my mind whirled around and around while I had an argument with myself.

Then my rebellious memory recalled the delight of being involved in the act of sex and my libido clamped down on my reason. Some twisted and perverse tendril of thought intruded itself into my brain, insistently pointing out that now that Carissa was no longer a virgin, no one would be able to tell if we'd only had sex once or if we had enjoyed the act of making love a dozen times.

The hormones in my body must have been waiting on standby and instantly leaped into action. Almost instantaneously I had another erection and without any thought of the consequences I was suddenly moving back toward the bedroom. It didn't help that Carissa was awake and smiling at me as I came through the bedroom doorway; nor did it help that she had thrown off the covers on the bed so that my rebellious libido was further stimulated by the sight of her delightful body.

"Well, look at you," she purred softly and I could almost feel the weight of her gaze as it singled out the swollen flesh that waggled at my groin. "Is that for me?"

Something suddenly switched in my brain and once more reason intruded. Abruptly I was again the shy kid who had worshipped this young woman from afar. I felt the blood rushing to my face and one of my hands attempted to cover the shocking display of swollen flesh at my crotch.

"I'm sorry, I ..." my voice failed me as she wriggled provocatively.

"Oh, you're not going to go all shy on me again, are you?"

Her voice was like a siren song, drawing me forward, one reluctant step at a time.

"That's my guy! Come to Mama," she coached softly, one hand reaching out beseechingly as the other patted the bed at her side.

My feet seemed to be drawn step by step, closer and closer to her influence. Our hands touched and I knew I was completely seduced, but somehow it felt so good, so right.

"I need a good morning cuddle," she purred and I was drawn to her, enveloped in the raw lust that she seemed to radiate.

I don't recall slipping back into the bed, but somehow she was wrapped in my arms and we were kissing.

Then we were doing more, so much more!

Once more she was soft and wonderful and very, very cooperative. The delight I felt at being with her simply overwhelmed all the sensations of guilt and fear. Once more she reacted in a way that drew me to feats of raw lust that I could hardly imagine. Then once more we were surging together to a plateau of ecstasy that I'd never suspected was possible, not until being with her.

Unfortunately I was like many men, once my body had achieved release it simply insisted on rest, but at least I managed to shift so I wasn't crushing her beneath me before I dozed in relaxation.

It wasn't until I was again wide awake, simply laying beside her and gently stroking the smooth skin of one of her breasts with my fingertips, that another of the consequences of what I had done truly sank into my thick skull.

"Oh shit!" I sat up and stared at her in shock.

"What's wrong?" her voice was filled with concern.

"I forgot to use a damn French safe last night when we made love and I just did the same bloody thing again," I whispered.

"A French safe?"

"A condom, dammit."

"Oh, I knew that. I very carefully didn't warn you so that it would slip past your memory," she smiled like the cat who had just eaten the canary.

"But what will we do if ..." my voice failed me with the question only partially spoken.

"Then we'll deal with it, but there really isn't much chance of anything happening," she laughed softly and sat up to stare me in the eye as her face grew more serious. "Haven't you ever heard of the pill?"

"What pill?"

"The birth control pill that came onto the market just a few months ago. A pill a day is supposed to stop any chance of a pregnancy," she was sounding like a teacher who was lecturing a class. "I started taking it a month before the graduation party, but the doctor warned me that it might not do much until after my first period and wasn't foolproof until after the second one."

I didn't say anything, instead, I was starting to feel upset for some reason. I suppose it was because I felt let down at being left out of the loop and not knowing what was going on.

"Remember last week, when Will gave Corinna and me a ride to town after we came up here?"

I nodded my head to let her know that I remembered, but almost opened my mouth and told her about my injured feelings.

"Well, the only reason that I didn't take you to bed then was that I was having my period. That was the second one after I started on my pill."

"Oh," I answered shortly, then saw her face twist into a frown at my annoyed tone so I thought I'd best explain. "Look, I'm glad you're protected, but I wish you'd let me know. I was left feeling like a bastard because I didn't respect you enough to protect you. After all I'm supposed to be just as responsible as you are."

"Oh, you sweetheart," she smiled and suddenly she was pressing me back onto the bed, then with her face scant inches from mine she spoke slowly and deliberately. "I am sorry for upsetting you and making you feel bad, and I admit that I didn't think of how you might feel. I was only trying to give you a treat."

"A treat? What do you mean?" I was still trying to talk as her lips were grazing across my face, teasing me.

"Well, I thought our first time should be skin to skin," Carissa lifted her head and grinned at me. "I wanted to make sure you were a good bareback rider. Besides, I know you don't have enough condoms to last for four days, so we'd end up doing it this way in the long run anyway."

"Wait a minute, are you planning on spending all four days here?"

"Unh huh, I'm gonna be here the whole weekend," she giggled. "By the time our folks get back from their holidays, I imagine that I'll be walking bowlegged and pigeon toed from clamping my legs around your back as you poke that wonderful tool of yours deep inside me."

"Oh damn. Don't remind me of that," I heaved a huge sigh. "I'm going to have to face both your dad and my folks about this."

"Don't worry about it," she laughed softly. "By now I imagine both of our Dads have been told what Corinna and I had planned."

"What?" I stared at her. "Who would tell them?"

"Our Moms of course," she giggled softly and poked me in the ribs. "Who do you suppose arranged for Corinna and me to get you and Wil alone while our families were out of town?"

"But, what about ..."

She lifted a finger and laid in on my lips to silence me.

"Shh," she whispered. "You and Wil were set up, but I can explain if you want me to, only you'll have to be patient and not interrupt."

I managed to nod my head and she drew a deep breath.

"First off you need to know that puberty caught up with Corinna and me very early and my folks knew about it right away, because they'd been expecting it."

I must have looked slightly confused because she grinned and chuckled.

"Oh quit looking so surprised," Carissa chortled. "Remember that Valentine that you gave me, the one that you thought I threw away?"

I nodded my head again, but still kept quiet.

"Well, Mom caught me laying in bed holding that in one hand and playing with myself with the other," she giggled then her face went through a sudden change and she became very serious. "That was when she talked to Daddy and he laid down the law to us about boys. You see he and Mom were sort of precocious when it came to sex and they didn't want us to go through the same sort of thing they'd had to put up with when they were young."

"I don't understand," I sighed softly.

Her face was twisted into a frown as she sighed deeply.

"Don't ever tell them that I told you, but Daddy got Mom pregnant when she was only fourteen. She had a miscarriage and the baby was stillborn or I'd have had either an older brother or sister," she looked like she was almost in tears as she talked about it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I sighed and hugged her gently as she snuggled against me.

It was a few minutes before she began to speak again and somehow I had the sense to keep quiet and wait for her to continue.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, Mom and Dad didn't want that sort of thing to happen to us, so they laid down the law. First they told Corinna and me exactly what had happened to them. Then they made the idea that if we fiddled around with boys sound so scary that we were terrified of getting pregnant. We were still fascinated by guys, but we wouldn't even let them touch us out of fear. So we became the 'Ice Cubes', otherwise known as the world's worst cock teases," Carissa snorted then and moved so I could see her face again.

"Then a few weeks ago, just a few days before our eighteenth birthday, Corinna and I heard Mom and Daddy having a loud argument. Anyway, the next day Mom tried to talk to us about sex, but I guess after so many years of trying to make sex seem so unpalatable to us, she did a terrible job of it. All she really did get across was the idea that she really thought that sex was wonderful. Then she told us she was worried because once we were eighteen, she and Daddy couldn't legally stop us from screwing our butts off if we ever found out how great sex really was."

She snorted in reaction to the thought and I was going to say something, but instead she looked at me seriously and sighed softly. "I think Mom really expected us to go nuts about sex because inside of a few days she took us both down to see Dr. McGraths. She asked him to give us a talk about the pitfalls of unprotected sex, especially with guys who slept around. That talk of his was a lot scarier than the sex ed class we had in school, but at the same time he also told us about the birth control pill and that made it worthwhile."

"So this pill stops you from getting pregnant?" I asked in wonder since I'd never heard of it before.

"Unh huh and I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it 'cause it's fairly new," she nodded. "Of course when Mom heard that both Corinna and I had gotten a prescription for the pill, that almost shut down our chances of having the grad party we had planned on having at our house. She'd heard the stories about so many of the girls who went to grad parties and about them having sex for the first time that night. I suppose she was afraid we'd be right in there like pigs in the mud. Somehow Daddy calmed her down and insisted that we should still have the party," she smiled, then her face changed and she shrugged.

"You know what happened then. Of course Mom heard about the big bollix after the party, but she also heard how both Corinna and I thought you were the nicest guy around. That really threw her for a loop. I think she was afraid that both of us were going to compete with each other to win you over or something."

"But the thing about the pictures didn't happen until the next week," I protested.

"Oh that wasn't the first thing, not for Mom," Carissa snorted. "First off she and Daddy were supposed to be away until Monday and the party was on Friday night, so we thought we'd have all weekend to clean up. She came home early and caught us still cleaning up on Sunday morning. Then to make it worse, both of us were prattling on about how you could have had sex with us, but you'd been such a gentleman and so on and so forth. She was positive that you were setting us both up for a threesome or something."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'Oh.' is right. So we started out the week in crap with Mom, then the shit hit the fan with the pictures. I mean when we opened that damn envelope, I knew right then that my life was over. All I could think of was to get out of there and hide somehow or somewhere. So the next thing I remember, Corinna and I were running down the street toward home, knowing that Mom and Daddy were going to skin us alive. Then suddenly Daddy's car was pulling in front of us and Daddy was ordering us to get in the back seat. I guess Beth had phoned your dad and he'd phoned my Dad. I think he was planning on going to the school to take it apart when he saw us on the street and decided we should be with him," Carissa's attempt at a laugh was closer to a bark. "Anyway, Daddy was pissed! I mean he was livid, ranting and raving like a maniac about what he was going to do to whoever had taken those pictures."

"I know. Remember, I was there when he came in, but he was calm compared to my Dad," I nodded and grinned at her.

"Well, to be honest none of us were exactly calm as cucumbers.' she grinned back at me. "You did a pretty fair job of imitating a wild man yourself."

"Hah, I wasn't the one who tore out the girls' hair and blackened their eyes."

"That's only because someone held you back," she giggled. "Anyway, after everything had settled down and we got sent home, you and Beth showed up at our house. Daddy got the wild idea from Beth about us helping out on the farm for a few days, which is when our real sex education began, from your little sister of all people."

"Well, from what I heard, Mom stuck her oar in the water once in a while too," I grinned at her.

"Yes, she did, but mostly to confirm what Beth had told us beforehand. Your little sister should be teaching the sex ed class at school instead of those old fogeys they have teaching it now."

I just grinned at her, not wanting her to know that I was wondering if Beth knew more about sex than I did.

"Anyway, after we got that crash course in sex education, along came your brother Wil. Corinna went bananas over him, then you broke up with Sandy and I let you know about my feelings for you. Suddenly we each had a guy and we started thinking that we wanted to find a way to practise all the things we'd learned. So, when you took us back into town on the following Monday, we talked to Mom. To be honest, we gave her a warning about the way we were feeling and for once she listened to what we said. She arranged it so that all three of us talked to your Mom. Since we insisted we were going to seduce you two in some way, come hell or high water, they decided that they might as well try to make it uncomplicated for us. So here we are. Corinna has Wil over at your house for three days and four nights, while I have you here for the same time."

She was beaming at me now as she sat up and stretched slowly. As for me, I was astounded that our Moms would do anything like that. For several seconds I didn't do or say anything as I thought out the implications of what she had said.

"Unh, Carissa?" I finally found my voice.

"Yes, Lover," she sighed as she wriggled herself closer and leaned down toward me.

I decided suddenly that even if she didn't like what I said, I had to be honest with her. I tried my best to put my feelings of lust on the back burner while I talked to her seriously.

"Look, I really like you, but I think I'm too young to get too serious about getting involved with anyone, even you. I want to do so many things in my life and ..."

"Oh, I know that," she answered quickly, again silencing me with a fingertip on my lips; her face was suddenly very serious. "I'm not asking for you to get engaged or anything; I just want to be your girlfriend for now. I have plans too, you know. In September I'm going to be moving to Calgary in order to study nursing, in fact I'm already enrolled in the course. Now that you're so involved with this place, I don't know what you're planning and I sure don't want to screw you up in any way; actually I'd like to help you do what you want instead. All I'm asking is for us to be together for the next two months. Okay?"

"Well I think we can do that," I answered her. "The thing is that I feel sort of lost about this whole thing."

I sighed deeply as I saw her frown and it was my turn to reach out a hand and touch her lips as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Wait please," I sighed again as I saw a strange play of emotions cross her face. "Don't get upset, but I have to try to explain and right now I'm having a hard time just thinking straight. Okay?"

"Okay," she smiled slightly, then she sighed softly and shifted uneasily. "Can I go use the bathroom though?"

I smiled and nodded, realizing that I'd have a moment to collect my thoughts. She slipped out of bed and rushed out of the room and I had to grin as I watched her round 'bubble butt' disappear. A second later I was feeling serious again and I knew somehow that I was going to have to get the idea of my confused feelings across to her.

When she came back, I was still thinking deeply, but at least I had a basic idea of what I wanted to say.

"That's an awfully deep frown," she whispered.

"Sorry, but I've been having some deep thoughts and the only thing that I've really decided is that I'm not sure I like the idea of growing up so fast," I sighed as I patted the bed in an invitation for her to sit at my side again.

"What do you mean?" she leaned toward me and kissed me on the forehead as she sat down, then sat back and looked down at me with a slight frown on her face.

"Well, I'm only sixteen and already I'm sort of on my own."

"I don't understand?"

"Okay, I guess I need to explain that," I sighed again. "This place is Grampa Bender's, but my family has literally given me control of the whole thing. I'm responsible for anything that happens here and that's scary as heck. What if I screw up?"

"Oh come on, you might be only sixteen years old, but I've gone out with guys who are in their twenties who aren't half as old as you are, at least not mentally," she snapped. "Jeez, you think too darn much at times. Don't worry. You'll do just great at looking after this place. Besides, what does that have to do with us?"

"Well, right now I'm laying in bed when I should be out working," I managed a weak smile then waved my hand as she looked like she was about to speak. "That scares me as well."

"What? My wanting to make love with you?"

"Unh huh," I nodded. "I'm a kid compared to you, like I said I'm only sixteen and you ..."

"Oh for cripes sake!" she snapped and stood up again. "I've known you since you were eight or nine years old and you've never acted like a sixteen-year-old. Actually, you act like a grownup most of the time. I've never seen you hurt anyone unless they've hurt somebody else first, then you're there to defend the one being hurt. Look at what you did for Corinna and me."

"Well, that was a bit different. I knew the truth, so the lies and faked photos would've ..."

"They would have hurt us and so you stepped in. That's my point. You never go looking for a fight, but holy shit, if you do get forced into having one, you clear the decks and clean the clocks of anyone who is screwing up, yet at the same time you make sure you protect any innocent bystanders," she paused for a second and waved her hand in a gesture that seemed to include both of us as well as everything around us. "Look at you now, you've got a cast on one hand and another on your leg, but you're up here looking after a whole damn farm on your own because one of your relatives is in the hospital."

"But that's got nothing to do with you and me," I protested.

"Perhaps it doesn't, at least not directly, but it sure as hell impresses me and that's what I'm talking about," she sighed. "You've always impressed me, right from the first time I met you and I've always thought you were a great guy. To start with, you've always gotten the best grades of any kid in the darn school and yet you've never acted like you were special. You've always been willing to help out anyone else that wasn't doing as well as you, but at the same time you were always so darn shy. Now that you seem to be coming out of that shy stage, I can see even better what a great guy you are and I wanted to spend time with you, which is really why I'm here."

"But we've known each other for years," I frowned at her. "And what has that got to do with our folks? I mean, why would our Moms set things up so that we could spend a long weekend together?"

"They didn't, not really. They simply left the door open for the two of us to get together if we really felt it was what we wanted," she smiled. "I'm the one who pushed and prodded, well, along with Corinna. Mom realised that we were serious very quickly, but your mom took some major convincing. Corinna and I must have argued for about two hours."

"I still don't understand why they cooperated at all."

She sighed deeply. "They went along with us because we promised to be totally honest with you and with Wil. Your mom insisted on that. That's why I'm talking to you right now. I want you to know that I'm here because I fought to be here. I want you to find out exactly what I'm like while I discover things about you that I didn't know before. On top of that, I guess I'm hoping that you and I will really hit it off. Maybe we can become a couple for the next while, but I'm not going to push you into that in any way. First I want to see what happens when we work together and live together with no one else around."

"So this is like a trial period or a test of some kind?"

"I suppose so," she laughed disparagingly as she shook her head. "I'd rather think of it as a bonus of sorts. Maybe you could call it a trial honeymoon if you'd like?"

"Umm, there is a small problem," I smiled at her. "I really need to do some work and ..."

"So, that's another reason I'm here," she grinned at me. "Your mom wasn't really happy about either you or Wil being alone on either farm, especially you, since you're all the way up here and already injured. She knows how easy it is for an accident to happen and she wanted you to have some backup, just in case something did happen. Besides, I want to work with you and help out that way I can learn even more about you."

"Well, if that's so, I guess we should really get out of bed and do something," I suggested.

"I suppose," she sighed. "So what's on the agenda for today?"

I couldn't have stopped the grin that came to my face at her reaction, but I did manage to hide it to some extent as I rolled over and stood up to scoop her into my arms for a hug and kiss.

### Chapter 14