# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 9:
Beware of Pot Holes

With Mom and Dad gone, I was left alone with Beth and Carrissa, but no one said anything for a moment. Instead, we all looked at each other in wonder and I'm not sure about the others, but I was feeling somewhat shaken by the morning's happenings.

"Oh, by the way, Beth, George said he'd like to talk to you sometime today," I broke the silence.

"He called," Beth grinned. "From Tom's house. He didn't even wait to get home after doing our chores."

"You're not mad at me for telling him not to come in?"

"No, from what he said about his timing, he'd have gotten told off for disturbing me right then," she grinned. "You did good to warn him off - that time."

"Whew," I mocked wiping my brow.

"But, he said he was going to watch for the pickup truck to go by and then he's going to come over," she grinned.

"Umm, so Carissa and I are chaperoning you two, I guess."

"I guess," Beth winked at Carissa. "But then he and I can return the favour, in spades."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well, first Carissa and I are going to cook you and George brunch, after that we'll see what happens," Beth grinned and hopped to her feet. "Come on, Princess, we need to cook for our princes."

"First things first," Carissa laughed and suddenly she was crawling into my lap.

While we were kissing and cuddling, George came to the door. When Beth let him in, he wrapped Beth in his arms after calling a good morning to Carissa. I think perhaps she waved hello, but she certainly didn't speak, we were too busy. I soon decided that kissing was almost as good an idea as brunch, maybe better.

When I realised in a few minutes just how much my body was enjoying the idea of necking and petting Carissa, I came to my senses somewhat and pulled back.

"Sorry everyone, but I think we'd better take a break," I announced. "Besides, I'm starving, how about you George? Could you eat something?"

"Mmmmph," he mumbled first, then managed to break away from my little sister.

"I could eat a horse," he announced.

"George, you couldn't even ride one," I laughed. "And if you want to eat anything that Beth cooks, you'd better forget about eating her horses."

"He sure had," she snorted. "What a guy I pick for a fellow, he can't even ride a darn horse."

"That's why they made cars, right Carissa?" he laughed.

"Oh, they both have their good points," Carissa already knew better than to get into that argument.

"So Beth, are you and Carissa cooking, or are Chris and I burning something?" George demanded.

"Oh God, I don't want to die of ptomaine poisoning, that means Chris isn't touching the food," Beth declared, heading for the fridge.

"Is he that bad?" Carissa asked as she slipped off of my lap after giving me one final peck on the lips.

"Worse," Beth declared. "He can burn water, without the pot ever touching the stove."

Carissa giggled as she moved to join Beth. About then George nodded his head toward the porch, so I grabbed my crutches and joined him out there.

"Damn it, Chris, what's going on with you and Carissa? Or is it Corinna?" he asked quietly.

"It's Carissa and without Corinna, she's neat," I smiled.

"But are you and Sandy kaput? Already? Or are you ..."

"Long story, which I thought I explained earlier," I sighed. "The short version is that we fought and I don't see us going out any more. I guess you haven't heard about Corinna and Wil either then?"

"No! Are they together too?" his eyes were the size of saucers.

"Yeah, that's where Mom and Dad went. Wil swiped my car this morning without asking me. It seems that he and Corinna decided they liked watching sunrises together."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"They want to get hitched. So they rushed to town to ask Mr. Coulter if they could get married and they were in a rush, since they wanted to catch him before his Sunday morning golf game," I grinned.

"Holy Shit! Married?" he gasped.

"Yeah, I came home last night after the fight with Sandy to find Wil and the twins sitting here on the porch. They'd been drinking Grampa Bender's hooch for a while. So, since I'd just fought with Sandy, I was in the mood to get a bit drunk and I joined the party. Corinna and Wil had paired off and Carissa decided that I had to be cheered up after breaking up with Sandy. After a while, she and I called it off. Well, at least we stopped before we got too carried away. The two of us went our separate ways and got some sleep, but Wil and Corinna stayed up all night."

"Oh wow. So are you and Carissa a couple or what?"

"I don't know," I laughed softly. "All I can say for sure is that I'm learning to like her more and more."

"Wow. And you're the guy that we all figured was going to live his life as a bachelor."

"Yeah? Well, how about you and my little sister?" I grinned.

"Unh, you know she asked me out, don't you?" George asked quietly.

"Yes George," I chuckled. "I'm not about to kick your butt."

"Even if I tell you that I've wanted to take her out for the past year?"

"Even then, George. I do trust you enough to believe you wouldn't hurt her intentionally and you do know her quite well, so you know what would hurt her."

"You know I'd never do that," George sighed. "When she got upset last night she almost had me crying. I didn't know what to do, not at first anyway."

I didn't know what he meant, so I just waited.

"On the way home, I remembered that I've got an aunt who lives in the town that the other team came from. I told my folks about what happened and how Beth was so upset, then I asked Dad if he knew any of the people from there. Dad called my aunt and she had somebody call him back. I guess they called Beth because when I phoned Beth from Tom's, she said the coach of the other team had called her this morning."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he asked her if she'd play for their team since she wasn't one of the regulars here," he grinned. "None of the girls on the other team were badly upset, but they do think our team snuck a ringer in on them and that the game shouldn't count."

"I'll bet Beth would like that," I laughed.

"Unh unh. Instead, she suggested that the next game they play here, they come with one player short and she'd play one game for them," he chuckled. "You've gotta admit, she's fair."

"Huh, wait until she plays against you in a game sometime," I snorted.

"Well I ..."

"Hey, did you guys want to eat, or do we have to throw this stuff to the pigs?" Beth interrupted as she stuck her head outside.

"We want to eat," George laughed as he ran toward her, but she broke into a giggle and ran inside.

By the time I hobbled to the table, George had two of the waffles that the girls had cooked on his plate and was slathering them with butter and maple syrup. Carissa was still cooking though and by the time I'd sat down, she'd dropped two fresh ones on my plate in return for a quick kiss.

Those two girls could cook. Both George and I ate our fill of waffles for once and both Beth and Carissa had as many as they wanted. There were still a few left on a plate in the warming oven when the door opened and Mom walked in.

Wil was right behind her and he looked like he hadn't slept in a week. He was carrying my clothes in his hand and he looked sheepish as he held them out toward me.

"Look, Chris, I wasn't thinking too clearly this morning ..." his voice trailed off as he saw my face twist into a frown.

My mood had changed instantly. I really hadn't thought about what I wanted to say to him, but I waited for a moment to see if he was going to say anything more. I suppose the pause was almost like the one Dad took when he was really going to rake you over the coals. Instead of speaking loudly, I almost whispered when I finally spoke and I made sure that I looked him right in the eyes.

"I don't mind so much that you took the car, other than that it annoys me that you didn't ask my permission. But, I am pissed off that you took my clothes without asking me first, particularly since my wallet, with my ID in it, was still in the pocket of my shorts. On top of that, I'm absolutely furious that you drove my car, or any car for that matter, after you'd been awake all night and had been drinking. That was just plain stupid."

Then I shut up. I didn't say another word. He looked like he wanted to apologise, but I wasn't going to help him. Everyone in the room was staring at me and I swear Wil looked as if he was about to break into tears.

"But we didn't drink any more after you left," Wil's voice was almost a whimper. "Really, I wasn't drunk."

I decided that if that was his idea of an apology, he needed to think about things a bit more. I managed to get to my feet and onto my crutches, then grabbed my clothes from his hand and hobbled away, close to tears myself. I expected someone to say something, but no one did. Instead the only sound in the house was the clumping of my crutches as I struggled up the stairs then down the hall to my room.

By the time I got inside my room, I was more angry with myself than I was with Wil. I slammed the door behind me, tossing the clothes Will had returned to one side and my crutches to another, then flopped down on my bed. Grabbing a history book, I lay there, trying to study for my final exam, but I found that I wasn't able to concentrate, instead I was in a blue funk. Too many things had happened to me and my family in too short a time period. I knew that my emotions were stretched far enough that I'd reached my limit.

At other times when I'd felt like this, I'd simply gotten on a horse that hadn't been ridden in a several days and let my emotions get washed away as I'd fought to stay in the saddle. Then usually after the horse had worn himself down, I'd gone for a ride and hadn't come back until I felt in control of both the horse and myself. This time, with a cast on one leg and another on my hand, I wasn't going to be able to take my frustrations out by forcing my will on a horse.

Someone knocked, then opened my door and came in, but I ignored whoever it was, trying to pretend I was reading my book until I felt the weight of someone sitting beside me on the bed. I just knew it was going to be Mom and I really didn't want to try to explain my outburst to her.

"Chris, Wil is really upset," Dad's voice surprised me, since I was sure it would be Mom who would come to make peace in the family. "He didn't expect you to be so angry with him and I think it's the first time you've ever walked away from him without letting him explain why he did something."

"Dad, I'm sorry, but I'm just about stressed out and my emotions are going through the roof. I've had a week or so that's ranged from heaven to hell and so have the rest of you. Just look at everything that's happened to us," I exploded. "I got kicked out of school for a week. I even got all of us saddled with two girls invading our home and that's throwing the family into still more turmoil. They aren't acting like the same two girls that I've known for years. Then I fall off a stupid horse and end up in the hospital with a broken leg and a screwed up hand. I damn near die because I'm allergic to a bloody pain killer. My life is saved by another girl who turns out to be a nutcase and her father is even worse. My sister goes bananas over one of my best friends, then turns into a weirdo over a stupid baseball game. At the same time Wil reappears and adds about a ton more crap on the top of the pile. How do you expect me to be calm?"

"Oh, I know Chris," he chuckled. "Your mother and I have had to deal with all of that and more."

"I know dad, but you have years of experience to fall back on," I sighed. "You two have already dealt with all the crap of growing up and the crud that goes with it. It's the first time around for me and for the Wil and Beth too."

"Oh, you kids are going through a lot of different things than your mother and I did. All of you are years ahead in experiences compared to where we were at your age," he said emphatically. "Look at Wil. He and Corinna want to get married for cripes sake and they're only eighteen years old."

"Dad, how old were you when you got married the first time?"

"I was twenty-two, but that's different. First off, I'd already taken over the farm and secondly ... well, we pretty well had to get married. We thought Wil was already on the way."

"Do you want to run that by me again? I know you and Mama Kate were married for at least a year before Wil as born," I frowned at him. "How could you think that you had to get married?"

"Well, Kate missed two periods in a row, so we planned a quick wedding and we managed to keep a secret about Kate being late. The only people who knew were our folks. We had a small wedding, then drove to Banff that night. After two nights there, we went on to Jasper for a couple of days and then around by way of Edmonton for our honeymoon. In all it only took a week, but it was wonderful, except for the last night."

"We were in Edmonton and we were planning to do some shopping the next day. We'd made love that night, then we'd both fallen asleep. However, Kate woke me up in the middle of the night. At two in the morning she sent me out to see if I could find somewhere to get sanitary napkins since her periods had restarted," he smiled sadly. "You can imagine what I felt like, embarrassed to be asking at a little store for something like that and at the same time feeling upset because I'd really been looking forward to having a kid."

"Were you annoyed that you'd married Kate and then found out she wasn't pregnant?" I asked quietly.

"Oh no, never!" he shook his head emphatically. "Actually, we thought she had aborted. In fact we drove straight home from Edmonton so she could go to the doctor the next day. The doctor felt that she had been so worried about being pregnant that she'd had a false pregnancy. I told her that her body had collaborated with my desires to make sure she married me. Of course inside of a few months she was really pregnant and later she had Wil."

He sighed deeply. "That's when we found out that she should never have gotten pregnant at all. Her body simply couldn't take the strain."

"But Mom's first pregnancy was a surprise too, wasn't it?" I asked and then wished I'd kept my mouth shut because I remembered what Mom had told me about it.

"Yeah, it sure was," he gave a rueful chuckle and he got a far away look in his eyes. "I've been a very lucky man. I've been married to two wonderful women and to this day, I think that Kate arranged for your mother and I to fall in love with each other."

"Mom said something about that," I sighed, then rolled onto my side and looked up at him. "Did Kate really say something about you and Mom being a family when she was lying in a hospital bed?"

"Not just your mother and me, but Wil too," Dad sighed and I could see the tears in his eyes. "I don't know how long your mother and I would have fought off our love for each other if Kate hadn't said anything."

I didn't know what to say, so I just waited quietly, wondering if he'd say anything more. Finally he sighed and grinned at me.

"You're a very rare person, you know."

"What?" I squawked in surprise.

"You're the only person I know of whose parents know exactly what day he was conceived, almost down to the minute," he laughed softly. "Your mother and I only made love that one time on that one night, then we both pulled back until weeks after Kate died. We didn't really plan on getting married, not that I didn't consider it, but it turned out that your Mom was carrying you and I wasn't about to let an unmarried woman carry my child and bear that stigma."

"You mean that you didn't want any bastard sons walking around," I said.

Then I realised that what I'd said sounded quite brutal and was almost condemning him. I opened my mouth to apologise, but he held up a hand to stop me.

"Now that sounds bitter and while I know it's not what you meant, it still hurts," he said very quietly, almost a whisper. "Your mother and I love each other very much and we did then, but because of what others would have said about our rushing into marriage so soon after Kate's passing, we tried to deny our love for each other."

He paused for a second, then sighed. "There are people who still condemn us for marrying so soon after Kate died, but most people have forgiven us for that, even if it does tramp all over a lot of society's taboos. Liz and I have simply ignored the suggestion that she came here and jumped into our bed with Kate and me, but that's what some of them seem to think, even after all these years."

"You know that's not what I think, Dad. I am sorry for making it sound like I did," I apologised. "I know you and Mom love each other a lot. Actually, I hope I can end up with a woman who I can get along with half as well as you get along with Mom and if I do I'll be very happy. If I can find someone that I love as much as you obviously love Mom, I'll be ecstatic and if I can find one who loves me as much as Mom loves you, I'll be delirious."

"Oh, my, and here I thought George was the politician in your group of friends," Dad looked at me and grinned, then sobered. "However, this isn't helping any with the problem between you and Wil. I know you're annoyed with him, but I think you've left him feeling like a complete heel right now and I'm not sure he deserves that."

"I suppose not," I sighed. "I just wish people would think ahead a little bit. I get tired of seeing people get themselves into trouble for no real reason."

He chuckled softly. "That's another difference between the two of you, Wil reacts to situations far too quickly and you may think a bit more than most people, so you seem slow. Yet put the two of you on horses and while Wil seems to wait and reacts too late to save himself from being bucked off, you seem to anticipate what the horse will do, which is exactly the opposite of what anyone would expect to happen. It just isn't reasonable. There are times when it seems to me that the two of you must have swapped some nerve cells somewhere along the line."

I just looked at him and finally managed a weak smile, not sure what either he or I wanted right then. I think he was in about the same state.

"Do you want to be alone for a while or would you like some company? I think Carissa would love to spend some time with you. I think she wants to talk about what's happened and to try to explain why Corinna and Wil thought it was so important to talk to Corinna's father so early in the morning."

"Does she really understand? I wish I did. It doesn't make sense to me."

"If anyone does, I'd say she would," Dad smiled at me. "After all, she and Corinna are twins and they probably react much the same way in any situation. At least that's what I'd expect."

I sighed, then just nodded my head, thinking that at least I could have someone to listen to instead of having the same thoughts running around and around in my mind. Dad opened the door, then paused, looking back at me as if he wanted to say something else. He didn't, instead he sighed, shook his head, and closed the door quietly behind him.

When the door opened again, Carissa slipped inside, but she wasn't alone, both Corinna and Beth followed behind her. Corinna walked over to me and hung her head as if in shame for what she had done.

"It's really my fault, you know. Wil wanted to wait, but I insisted," she held out her hand hesitantly. "I really wanted to tell someone how I felt about Wil and Daddy seemed to me to be the natural person to know first. I insisted that Daddy had to know right away, but then I've always told Daddy about things first, even before talking to Mom. I don't know why, but that's the way I am. And this was so important."

She lifted her head and looked me in the eyes. "I'm sorry I rushed him so much that we reacted like we did, but at the time I was just so excited. I don't think that I really thought things through, in fact, I guess I didn't think much at all. I just reacted and I'm not really proud of what I did."

"Oh, I think Wil might have been a little excited too. What worried me is the fact that both of you had been drinking and then he drove my car. On top of that you were carrying my ID with you. The idea that a bad accident could have happened so easily and then to have Wil's and my ID found on the scene gives me the shivers."

"Oh, I never even thought of that," Corinna whispered.

"That's where Chris and Wil differ," Beth spoke firmly.

Carissa had moved over and sat on the edge of my bed, almost instantly grasping one of my hands in hers, then she looked up at the other two and frowned. "I thought you two agreed that you were going to let me talk to Chris first?"

Her voice was quiet, but there was an edge to it that sounded almost dangerous. When I started to open my mouth, she lifted a hand as if telling me to be quiet.

"But we thought ..." Beth said quietly.

"Think again," Carissa barked. "I want to talk to Chris for a few moments. Alone!"

Corinna stared at her for a second, then grabbed Beth's hand and they went out, closing the door behind them. Carissa sighed deeply and slowly turned to face me.

"I'm sorry about that," she whispered. "I really got taken by surprise when they came in with me."

"Oh, I wasn't, not really," I sighed. "Everyone's emotions are all screwed up."

She looked at me and smiled, shaking her head. "How do you do that?"

"What did I do now?"

"I'm the one who is supposed to be calming you down," she sighed.

"Oh, I've been calm all along," I shrugged. "I'm angry at myself for losing my temper and I'm pissed off at my brother for driving when he'd been drinking. On top of that, he's probably gone without any sleep for who knows how long. Both things mean his judgement is shot all to hell, but I'm completely calm. I hate to be judgmental, but what they did was stupid."

I slid over in the bed and patted the pillow beside me.

"Snuggle?" I whispered. "I need a hug and someone to talk to, please."

Almost instantly she was stretched out at my side and her head was on my shoulder, her eyes scant inches from mine.

"Hmm, I kinda like this," she sighed. "But, what are you going to do?"

"About Wil? I don't know, got any ideas?"

"No," she smiled. "I've never had a brother and your walking away without waiting for him to argue simply blew me away. I think it blew your whole family away too."

"Mmm, not Dad. He understood," I sighed. "I think Wil did too."

"Could you explain to me what went on then?"

"Sure, I lost my cool. By walking away I let him know that I was thoroughly annoyed. Taking the car wasn't important, but driving when he'd been drinking was. By not letting him say anything, I didn't allow him to try to justify himself to me instantly. If I had stood there, he would have argued, but I didn't let him. I've made him feel guilty and he's having to think about why he's feeling guilty."

"Isn't that sort of dirty pool?"

"Nope, I don't think so. The problem is that I'm younger than he is, but at times it almost feels like our ages should be reversed. That's because I take a few seconds to think before I do anything. In the same sort of situation, he reacts almost instantly and doesn't think things through until later. By doing something like this, I suppose I'm making him realize that he was damn foolish and nobody likes to feel like a fool. The problem is I did it in front of everyone, that's why I feel guilty now."

"Hah! It's no wonder you did it though. After all the things that have happened to you in such a short time, how do you manage to stay as calm and cool as you do?" she asked. "I get all wound up and so does everyone else, but you don't seem to do that."

"Hah! That's what you think," I sighed. "I was just thinking about that earlier and I even mentioned it to Dad. I've had so many things happen around me and to me in the last few days that I wish I had a way to either turn back the clock or work out my frustrations in some other way. I was thinking about that earlier and if I weren't all busted up right now, I'd probably be out on a horse that was 'feeling his oats' about now. That would mean I'd have something to do while I fought him to a stand still, at least I'd be letting my body work out my frustrations."

"Well, I can think of a way to do that, busted up or not," she grinned almost wickedly. "You and I could lock the door and take our frustrations out of each other! In the mood we're in, it would probably help us both a lot."

"Now, wait a minute," I stared at her. "I'm not sure either of us is ready for that."

"You may not be, but I sure am," she sighed, then snuggled even closer. "I don't think you understand either Corinna or me; in a lot of ways we're almost absolutely identical, but in other ways we're so different it's not funny. I act on things when I realize that they're inevitable, while she'll run to Daddy and let him talk her out of doing things, then weep and moan about it."

"So, if you had hit it off with Will instead of Corinna, the results would have been a lot different, I take it?"

"Unh huh, it sure would have," she snuggled and gave a bit of a chuckle that was almost a giggle. "The funny thing is that I think your Mom understands, but the strange thing is she's happier with you and me being together then she is about Wil and Corinna. I don't really understand that."

"I think that goes back to what I said before and has to do with Wil's personality traits compared to mine," I sighed. "She knows us, so she knows that I think about the consequences of what I do, while Wil simply reacts, then has to deal with the fallout later."

"You mean like the fallout you're dealing with now?" she looked at me sympathetically.

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed even deeper.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," I shrugged my shoulders. "Talk to him, I suppose. I don't know exactly what to say though. I mean look at us, we're in almost the same sort of quandary, but we haven't gone off the deep end."

"Yet!" she laughed softly.

"Okay, yet," I grinned at her, then kissed her nose and hugged her tight for a moment before pulling back and sitting up. "And you just gave me the answer I needed to have. Now I need to go find Wil and talk to him before he and Corinna get themselves into very deep doo doo."

"Do you think they'd do something stupid at this time of day?"

"What in heck does the time of day have to do with anything?" I snorted as I managed to scoot past her so that I could grab my crutches.

"Well, it's almost noon, they hadn't slept all night, they're probably both in bed and passed out, sleeping like logs."

"Perhaps," I shrugged, getting to my feet. "Why don't you get Corinna and I'll get Wil and we'll talk to them?"

"The two of us?" she stared at me. "Like together?"

"Yeah. Like, the two of us and the two of them, all four of us, together," I grinned. "We'll compare notes."

While she went off the spare bedroom to see if Corinna was there, I moved to Wil's door and knocked on it. There was no answer, but I cracked the door and peeked in. There was a lump under the bedclothes, but it looked wrong somehow. I hobbled over and reached out to touch it only to find that it was a decoy, a pile of his dirty laundry jammed under the covers.

"Crap!" I growled, spinning on the one crutch and throwing the door open wide as I got to it.

One look at Carissa's face as she came out of the spare bedroom told me that Corinna was gone too. I went down the stairs as quickly as I could manage, avoiding Mom and Dad as they sat at the kitchen table and heading for the living room to find Beth who was supposedly studying as she lay on the couch.

"All right, where are they?" I demanded.

"Who?" she looked up at me, attempting to look innocent.

"Wil and Corinna."

"How would I know? They both said they were tired and went to lie down."

"Well, maybe they went to lie down, but it wasn't in bed and it wasn't alone, it was together," I growled softly. "And you know it. Where did they go? Out to the barn? Or did they take a blanket and go somewhere else? I think we had better find them before they do something stupid and irrevocable."

Carissa was standing beside me. Her face looked like a thunder cloud and I suppose I didn't look much better. Beth must have had second thoughts because she scrambled to her feet and dashed out the back door.

"What's going on?" Dad asked from the doorway.

"I'm not sure, Dad," I sighed.

"Have you spoken to Wil yet?"

"I will in a few minutes. Something has come up," I answered offhandedly, hobbling away on my crutches, letting Carissa hold the back door open for me.

"Can we do anything?" Dad called.

"Nah. We'll take care of it," I tried to sound nonchalant as Carissa closed the door behind us.

By the time we'd gotten out the door, Beth was on one of her ponies and pounding off down the pasture toward the creek, her hair flying wildly in the wind of her hurried ride. If she was heading that direction, I was fairly certain I knew where Wil and Corinna had gone.

"I'll bet they went down to the swimming hole," I said quietly to Carissa. "Here's the keys to my car, I'll open the gate if you bring the car down and drive through. You'll have to close it though and I'll have to drive once the car is in the pasture. I can't close the gate with one hand and I think you might get stuck if you tried to drive through the mud in the lower pasture. If we hurry, we can catch those silly twits before they do anything stupid."

She never questioned me at all, which both surprised and pleased me. Instead, she grabbed the keys and ran for my car. I managed to get the gate open before she got there and I managed to scare the horses off before they came crowding through. However I knew that I could never close the gate with only one effective hand and one foot, in fact I had to hold it for Carissa as she latched it. At the car I tossed the crutches into the back seat and warned Carissa.

"Hang on. This might get a bit rough. There's a couple of damp spots on the way and I'll have to cross them at fairly high speed," I snapped as I started to drive after Beth's horse's flying hooves.

We passed Beth sometime during the first mile and I actually slowed down for the first wet spot, but I still felt the shock of hydroplaning across it and having to correct as we hit the solid ground on the other side. To my amazement, Carissa squealed like she was on a Ferris wheel ride and she wore a grin that stretched almost from ear to ear when we hit the second one.

"Yep, I'd have gotten us stuck," she jabbered like a jaybird as we skidded around a bit, but came out the other side in a controlled slide. "You have to show me how to do that one day."

I just laughed shortly. "I don't think I can, it's all reflexes, so it's never the same twice."

Seeing her reaction changed my view of her again.

I had to swing off the normal trail because of a clump of willows, but I managed to swing back and cut off Wil and Corinna before they entered the last willow thicket on the way down to the creek. Wil had a blanket slung over his shoulder and they were walking hand in hand. They simply stared at us as we skidded to a halt, right across their path.

"Just what the hell do you two plan on doing?" I demanded through the open window of the car.

Carissa wasn't as patient with them. She dove out of the car almost before I had gotten stopped and was in Wil's face like a mother hen protecting her chick. When Corinna tried to speak up in their defence, Carissa turned on her. An instant later Corinna was flat on her butt with Carissa standing over her, demanding to know if she'd lost her mind.

I managed to get my crutches, then managed to get one arm around Carissa and started to calm her down just as Beth came riding up. She was riding at a full gallop and her horse skidded to a stop in an imitation of what my car had done only moments before. Then she started screaming at Wil about getting her in trouble, so I had to try to calm her down too. That's when she started yelling at me about scaring her half to death because she'd seen the car slip and slide when I hit the first on the wet spots. She said she'd been afraid I was going to roll over.

Of course Carissa had to come to my defence, shouting that she'd been there and that I was in complete control of the car at all times.

"Everyone shut up," I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

To my astonishment, everyone did. Suddenly you could hear the mud wasps already investigating the fresh mud on the car and the bumble bees who were buzzing around the clover flowers.

"Now," I said loudly. "Beth, get up on your horse and get out of here, this is between Will and me as well as between Carissa and Corinna. I'll talk to you when we get home."

"But I ..." she protested.

"Beth, go! Everyone else, be quiet for now," I growled. "There are things that need to be said that you don't have any business hearing."

Beth pouted as she looked at me, then got on her horse and rode off slowly, but she did ride away without any further protest.

When she'd gotten a decent distance away, I turned to face Wil and sighed heavily.

"Wil, I know you think I came down on you like a ton of bricks this morning. But, from my point of view, I don't know what the hell is coming at me or even which direction the next problem is coming from in the last little while. I know you got a great kick out of teasing me about the time the guys and I were putting into my old cars when we were working on the Model A's, but that was nothing compared to the ribbing we got for driving them to school every day."

"Yes, but nobody realized they were worth so much," Carissa protested.

"Not until your uncle came along," I grinned at her. "So as Carissa pointed out, I got this car as an even trade with a few bits and pieces tossed into the bargain. Of course I still think Mr. Dolens is soft in the head, but that's beside the point."

"Uncle Frank is anything but soft in the head," Corinna protested.

"That's as it may be," I sighed, carrying on. "However it came about, those old Model A's are what started all of this crap rolling in on us. On grad night I was the only guy in our grad class with a car of my own, but I ended up with a date who had to be home early and a bunch of sore-head losers who wanted to get even with me for 'showing them up,' both in and out of school."

"Hey, I think we just got slandered," Corinna protested.

"If the shoe fits, wear it, Sis," Carissa laughed softly. "That night we were sore-head losers and we deserved everything we got."

"Whatever," I shrugged my shoulders. "Anyway, just over a week ago a group of kids decided to get me drunk and teach me a lesson."

"Only he simply stayed sober too damn long," Corinna said softly. "He drinks like a damn fish. We got drunk instead, and we weren't drinking half as much as he was."

"Well in truth your drinks were spiked as much as mine were," I admitted. "So since I have a little more experience with alcohol than you did, I had a bit of an advantage. But, I had no experience at all with waking up in someone else's parents' bed along with two of the local dream girls who happened to be completely nude."

"Yours truly and my dear sister," Carissa grinned. "Whose first action by the way was to check that she was still a virgin."

"Did not," Corinna flushed bright red.

"Okay, second action," Carissa laughed. "Whatever."

"Which is neither here nor there as far as I was concerned, because by that time I was long gone," I shrugged. "Instead of staying there and acting like a normal teenaged guy would have, I bailed out and came home."

"Mmm, that's probably a good thing," Carissa giggled. "I'm not exactly sure about how my sister feels, but just thinking back on the way I felt that morning, I think if you'd stuck around, none of us would have left that bedroom as virgins. I know I wouldn't have argued about anything you wanted to do."

"Now you tell me," I tried to tease her.

"The invitation is still open, but there are conditions on it now that weren't there that morning," she teased right back.

"You see what I mean, Wil? My whole world is upside down to what it was. I was the laughingstock, the nerd, then suddenly I became some sort of local folk hero for doing what I've been taught all my life was right. I haven't changed any, but the whole darn world has swapped ends on me."

"Well, until this morning I thought you were taking it pretty darn calmly," Wil finally said something. "But instead you came down on me like a ton of bricks."

"I came down on you like a ton of bricks? I wonder why? Maybe it's because I'm not myself because I've been getting kicked around, up, down and sideways," I snapped as my mood went from trying to be teasing to totally annoyed. "You've already heard about how I tried to help these two out, got kicked out of school for a week, then got saddled with having them invade my home and having both of them act totally different than I was expecting. Nothing is normal. I even fell off a stupid horse and ended up in hospital with a broken leg and a busted up hand. Which, by the way, might mean that I've lost my summer job."

"Oh, I never thought of that," he almost whispered.

"It just never came up before," I shrugged. "Anyway, while I was in the hospital, I damn near died from a stupid allergy to a damn painkiller they gave me. However, I had my life saved by Sandy, who I decided was worth getting to know better. I found out later that she was supposedly off limits to any guy, but instead her father threw her at me, which threw me for another loop. So I ended up on a first date with her yesterday afternoon. Only our date got screwed up by Mr. Dolens giving me a damn race car, then you came home and complicated matters even more. On top of that, last night Sandy and I got our first date screwed up for a second time by Beth going bananas over George, then a third time by her losing it after something she did while playing a stupid softball game. After we get Beth home and calmed down, I got pretty much kicked in the balls for not making out with Sandy, who turned into a fruitcake and told me tales about her father which left me wondering if he's even nuttier than she is. I came home to find you with these two, all of you drunk and acting stupid. Then Carissa whipped off her clothes and came onto me like a ton of bricks. And after all of that, you have the balls to tell me I'm calm? Cripes man. I'm a raving lunatic. No, come to think about it, you're the raving lunatic, but I'm on my way and you aren't helping any by adding more crap to the pile."

"Shit man, I'm sorry," Will almost whispered. "But really guy, it's our life and today we just wanted to talk things out."

"Oh sure!" I grouched. "Since you snuck away from the house like a pair of ten-year-old kids, I think you had something other than talk on your mind. You're both over eighteen and I can't tell you what to do, but don't do it in a way that implicates me and this bloody well does. I noticed when I got my clothes back that the two condoms I had in my wallet aren't there any more and I see you took the blanket out of the back seat of my car. Right now you can damn well put the blanket back in my car and since you've told everyone you haven't used them, give me back my condoms. If the two of you want to make out, go for it, but don't get me involved in any way! From now on, you can damn well ask before you take my car or anything out of it or anything out of my room. Just for once, I wish you would remember that you're the older of the two of us and use a bit of judgement."

He looked at me with a shameful glance and then stared at Corinna. She blushed and dug in her pocket to pull out three condoms, separating two of them and handing them to Carissa who frowned as she reached out a hand to accept them. Then Carissa grabbed the blanket from Wil and turned to me, raising an eyebrow. I simply motioned my head toward the car and turned away to get in it myself.

When Wil and Corinna moved toward the car to get in, I shook my head.

"Unh uh, Carissa and I need some time to ourselves as well," I shook my head at them. "You guys walked out here to 'talk' and be alone. You can 'talk,' or do whatever you want to do, but since you walked out here, you can damn well walk back. From now on you know my basic opinion. As far as I'm concerned I'm washing my hands of your actions. That is unless you come to me and actually ask for my advice or my help ... and please do that before you screw things up."

With that I started the car and drove away from them, swinging it around to head back toward the house. I kept my eye on them in the rear view mirror and they did start trudging homeward, which made me feel somewhat relieved. I noticed that Carissa had glanced back as well, then settled back and slid over close to me as we topped the first rise and they were no longer visible.

"You know, I feel a bit at a loss," she sounded upset. "Corinna is acting really strange again, but then there are times when we aren't as much alike as everyone thinks we are."

"I've noticed the difference between you increase even in the short time she's been involved with Wil and you've been around me," I admitted with a nod of my head then began to build up speed to cross the first of the wet areas, choosing a slightly different path than before.

I noticed her turn her head and frown slightly after we had slithered and skidded our way across, but she didn't say anything. She didn't even say anything as we topped the rise between the first wet spot and the second one. Dad and the pickup truck were stopped right in the middle of the ruts I'd cut when I'd crossed before, but I crossed easily, choosing a path that was well away from him, then swung around and pulled to a stop near where he'd hit the mud. Leaning out the window, I asked if he thought I could help in any way.

"Nope, I'm in pretty deep. I think the tractor is the only answer, so Beth has gone to get it and I told her to call either Tom or George to help. I thought that since you'd made it, I could too. I even tried to follow your tracks, but that didn't help a darn bit," he shook his head. "I just don't understand how you do things like this and make them look so darn easy."

"First, you have to be going just the right speed, fast enough to hydroplane, but not fast enough to lose control. Second, never, ever follow fresh ruts if you can avoid them, they just throw you off and give you trouble because the surface of the mud is still disturbed," I grinned.

"Now you tell me," he actually laughed at himself. "Anyway, did you settle things with Wil? Beth said you caught up to him."

"I don't know about settling things, Dad. I tried, but I'm not sure he wants to listen."

"I think perhaps Corinna understood Chris's viewpoint," Carissa broke in. "At least I hope so. The last I saw of them they were walking back this direction, but it was pretty slowly."

"Thanks guys," Dad managed a bit of a smile. "At least you caught them and did make an effort, that's the most you could do, but I wish I'd been there."

"You might not have liked it, Dad. Wil set me off and I ragged on him about responsibility again," I sighed. "There are times I'd swear up and down that he acts younger than I do."

"Only about nine times out of ten," Dad laughed. "Ever since you were little the only times I've seen you relax and act like a kid is around little babies, your best buddies, certain horses and some cars. Speaking of which, you'd better go rinse that car off before the mud sets, then your Mom wants to talk to you both. I'll wait here to give Wil and Corinna a ride the rest of the way home after I get pulled out, that way I can talk to them too."

"Okay, Dad. I'll see you later then," I dropped the car into gear and set off toward the house.

"I wonder what Mom wants?" I asked aloud, but didn't really expect an answer.

Carissa just smiled enigmatically, not saying anything. I should have realised that while Dad had talked to me earlier, Mom had talked to Carissa, but I never suspected a thing.

### Chapter 10