# Car 54

####
© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 18:
Use Extreme Caution - Congested Traffic

For several seconds, Carissa, Corinna and I simply stood there, staring at the group standing by the car in frustrated surprise.

"Party time? In the middle of the week?" I finally questioned Beth.

"Yeah, party time," Tom hollered loudly. "My birthday party. I'm sixteen and I got my driver's license today."

"I thought your birthday was in August?"

"No, Chris, but then you've always mixed my birthday up with Dad's," he laughed. "I've learned to expect my present from you to be a month late. Except this year, George and I consider the car our birthday gift from you, so we got our birthday present early."

"You guys are going to have to go easy on Grampa Bender's hard stuff to celebrate though, Tom's got to be sober enough to drive us home," Beth laughed. "Didn't you warn Chris that we'd be coming Corinna?"

"I forgot," Corinna sighed. "There were other things that sort of occupied my mind."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Sorry," Beth shrugged that off as if it wasn't important, but I knew that she was doing that intentionally. "We've been talking about this for days. That's one of the reasons Jean and Jess are here. They're staying with me for a while and they like Tom."

"Hey! Not fair," Jean squealed, blushing a bright pink.

"Everyone likes Tom," Jess added, her face just as flushed as her twin's.

"It's okay, you two," Tom laughed. "I like you both just as much. At least I like you when you aren't driving me nuts by tearing a sentence apart and taking turns to speak, but only two words at a time."

"These two used to do that," I laughed.

"They sure did," Beth giggled. "I have too many friends who are identical twins and they all do that. I've learned to expect it though, so it doesn't bother me."

"We don't do it any more," Carissa said firmly. "Chris didn't like it much, so we stopped."

"Hey, don't just blame me," I protested. "I think it was driving everyone nuts."

"Yeah, you told us that," Corinna snapped as she went down the steps toward the car.

I glanced at Beth who was unloading things out of the back of the car and saw her roll her eyes, then Carissa leaned close to my side.

"Corinna is going to be darn touchy for a while," she whispered.

"I know," I nodded. "We'll have to work on that, but I guess we'll have to watch what we say too."

So we had a party with all the fixings. Beth and the McAdam twins had baked a cake and brought a few other goodies. I think both Beth and I would have been just as happy to have had no alcohol involved and George didn't seem to care, but Tom and both sets of twins seemed set on tasting Grampa Bender's hooch. Finally, I went down into the cellar under the cabin and brought up a small jug of his latest brew, just large enough so everyone had a decent taste. I really didn't want to have everyone drunk enough that they'd have to spend the night.

It was shortly after I'd given everyone a small glass of hooch that Beth and I had a chance to talk for a few minutes. I congratulated her on winning the barrel race, but that wasn't what seemed to be exciting her. Once I mentioned horses she was off, telling me about the man who wanted to buy her Appaloosa herd and started asking me about Quarter Horses. Since she wanted to know so much, I suggested that she and Mom have a look in my room for the papers I had for my stallion. That, along with the other pamphlets and letters I had about Quarter Horses, would give her a good idea of which animals and which breeders she should keep an eye out for, if she was going to buy any of them. That seemed to make her almost delirious and I got a big hug, which suited me just fine.

Other than Corinna everyone soon appeared to have a lot of fun, but no matter what we did she seemed to be right on the edge of losing her temper during the party. Actually once the cake was cut the party broke into groups. Beth and George sat slightly away from everyone else. Tom was sitting between Jess and Jean while Carissa and I sat on either side of Corinna, trying our best to draw her into a party mood.

Tom seemed to enjoy being pampered by Jess and Jean, but I think they managed to sneak the majority of their share of the 'fixins' into his glass. However it happened he was feeling quite high when they went to leave a couple of hours later. Beth and I managed to talk Tom into getting into the back seat of the car between the McAdam twins and George got behind the wheel. I felt that was the safest option since George had his learner's permit and hadn't had much to drink, but as well as that they were driving on back roads for most of the way home.

It was as their car was driving up the hill and Corinna was pouring me another drink that I realized she was pouring it from a second jar of Grampa Bender's brew. I only noticed that because there was an empty one sitting against the railing on the edge of the front porch.

"Hey, where did that come from?" I demanded.

"I dunno," Carissa snorted. "I thought you brought it up."

"I think Tom did," Corinna chuckled. "He was trying to get Jess and Jean drunk, but they were onto him and it backfired."

"Well George didn't drink much, did he?"

"Nah. He was just high on being along with Beth. Neither of them had to drink to start feeling good," Carissa snuggled against my side. "You've been drinking a fair bit though."

"I've been drinking root beer all evening," I argued. "I only had a small glass of the hard stuff before Tom cut the cake, then I switched."

"Yeah, but Jess and Jean were serving you and spiking your root beer. I helped," Corinna giggled, obviously feeling no pain herself.

I was surprised that her mood had changed so much. I looked at Carissa and she winked at me.

"After what happened yesterday and today I thought we needed to relax, so I didn't say anything either," she said quietly.

"I sure relaxed," Corinna offered, then sat on my lap and wrapped an arm around both Carissa's and my neck. "Their timing sucked. We were almost ready to have some fun ... before they broke it up."

"Unh, yeah," I sighed. "Well, I think having them show up right then was probably a good thing."

"Hey, what do you mean?" Corinna sighed. "We were just going to have some fun."

"That's the problem. A little bit of fun like that could have long term complications. What would Wil think?"

"Huh. Beth and the others didn't tell you about him then?" she sat up and glared at me.

"I didn't really get a chance to talk to her at all. It was almost like she was avoiding me."

"Maybe she was," Carissa frowned. "After all, all three of the McAdam girls came out to stay with her today. I suppose she invited them."

"Oh shit! It probably wasn't her; it was probably Mom. She wanted to talk to all of them about guys and things, but do you think Wil and Sandy might get together somehow?"

"Well, they were both there when the others left to come up here and neither of them wanted to come," she answered. "Besides, Jess told me that Sandy likes Wil a lot and spent as much time as she could with him."

"You know what's going to happen if they're spending time together, don't you?" Corinna sniffed. "Sandy's pants are on fire and Wil is on the rebound."

"Both of them are on the rebound," Carissa sighed. "I'd say they were both on a hair trigger and I doubt if Sandy will hesitate if Wil wants to do anything."

"Oh fuck."

"That's probably a good description of just what they're doing right now," Corinna laughed bitterly as she got to her feet. "I really don't care. The silly bitch can have him. They deserve each other."

Carissa and I watched as she flounced down the steps and headed around the cabin, obviously on her way toward the biff. I started to say something, but Carissa touched my lips with a finger, shaking her head.

"Just let it slide," she whispered. "I think we should let her get drunk, then let her sleep it off."

"Getting drunk doesn't help," I sighed. "I know that much."

"Hah, you made out okay when you got drunk," she chortled as she snuggled close again. "It eventually got you into bed with me."

"Mmm," I murmured softly and grinned at her. "Then you think that was a good thing?"

"Oh you!" she slapped my shoulder and laughed. "I don't know about you, but I've sure enjoyed it."

"Okay, I guess it was a good thing," I hugged her tight to my side and brushed my lips over hers in a light kiss. "But, what do we do about Corinna?"

"Well she seems to want to get drunk, so why don't we let her? Then we can just put her to bed and let her sleep it off. We could do like last night, slip away and do our thing, then join her in the big bed afterward," she grinned at me. "If she was drunk enough she'd never know the difference. That way when she wakes up tomorrow morning we can just tell her she fell asleep on us. Hopefully by tomorrow night we might have a better handle on things."

"Do you think that will work?"

"I don't see why not," she shrugged. "Honestly, I'm rather glad everyone showed up when they did."

"Me too," I sighed. "I think things are complicated enough as it is."

"Not feeling up to handling two Coulter women?" she grinned at me as she plopped herself in my lap.

"Physically, no, not both at once. What one man could?" I grinned and hugged her.

"Oh, I think you could do a pretty fair job, but then we might wear you out a bit. We'd probably have to do all the fencing tomorrow, while you lay in the shade of a tree and told us what to do," she laughed, then brushed her lips across mine in a quick kiss. "I'm almost sorry in a way that things have come out the way they have."

"Huh," I grunted softly. "I think the only way I'd have any chance of making the two of you happy would be if I was sober as a judge and both of you were spiflicated."

Carissa was laughing gaily as Corinna came back up the steps.

"What's so funny?" she asked, grabbing up her glass again and having a quick sip.

"Oh, I was just teasing him," Carissa laughed again. "He's being shy, as usual."

"Well that's why we like him so much, isn't it?" Corinna snorted. She walked over to us and slapped Carissa's leg. "He's got two knees you know."

"Oh, did you want to sit down on one?" Carissa grinned up at her.

"Now just a minute, one of those legs is still in a cast," I started to protest, but I shouldn't have bothered. In seconds I had them both on my lap.

Looking back on that evening I think that was the point where Carissa's and my plan to get Corinna drunk while staying relatively sober ourselves fell off the rails. I do know that it wasn't long before I needed both arms to hold them from falling off my lap. Then there was the fact that if either one of them had a drink, they insisted on sharing with me by letting me have a sip from their glass. As we all absorbed more alcohol all of us lost inhibitions and our hands started to wander. Then too as the girls drank more their clothes seemed to evaporate again and they seemed to become even more amorous than ever. It was almost as if the two of them were competing with each other to see who could get the most reaction from me.

At some point things grew fuzzy and I lost track of exactly what happened next. I do remember helping Carissa to guide her very drunk sister to bed at some point. And I do remember slipping into bed and feeling the two of them shift over to snuggle against me. Gosh that felt good.

When I awoke I knew it was very early in the morning because there wasn't a lot of light coming in the window. I was lying on my back, once again in the big bed. The two of them were again snuggled on each side of me, almost as if I was a book between two bookends. Carissa's head lay on my right shoulder; my right hand on her butt and her right leg thrown over mine. I could feel the soft down of her pussy on my hip and a sticky moist feeling beneath it, giving me a clue to what had happened between us. Corinna duplicated her position on my left, an almost perfect match in every way, right down to the moist patch on my hip. That sticky moistness was the part that worried me.

Amazingly I didn't seem to have much of a hangover other than a minor headache. What surprised me was that I wasn't feeling the immediate need to run to the can. That was probably a good thing, because the way I was pinned down I couldn't have moved without awakening the twins, but that was a mixed blessing. Since I couldn't move and because I wasn't hung over I could think, which meant I could worry.

Had I been involved with both of them as deeply as I suspected. Had I screwed them ... both of them? Or, had I been a real shit and gotten both of them wound up enough that they were extremely wet and ready for sex, then passed out? Or almost as bad, had I had sex with one while the other lay there in frustration? No matter where my mind rambled I couldn't think of any way that what had happened last night could possibly have left us on the same basis as we had been. Somehow I worried that I was now as deeply involved with Corinna as I was with Carissa.

I suppose I worried myself back to sleep again.

This time my sleep was filled with dreams, or were they nightmares?

No they weren't really nightmares since they weren't fearful dreams, instead they were definitely pleasurable.

Perhaps they were memories of the night before, yet if they were memories, what then?

It was dark, so dark I could see nothing. I was in bed, but I wasn't alone. With me were two women, almost identical bodies, yet subtly different in many ways. My hands wandered, theirs reciprocated. My fingers felt curves, declivities, mounds, clefts and more. My mouth met lips, cheeks, necks, breasts, nipples. My tongue tasted each, delved softly, explored thoroughly. Then I felt their bodies shift. One lifted herself, then shifted over me, suddenly we were connected. I was absorbed, imbibed, then buried deeply. Reason was abandoned, panting with desire, gasping with pleasure, we two achieved release, succumbed to lethargy. Then somehow, astonishingly, involvement changed, bodies switched, minor differences were noted, then forgotten. Once more passion surmounted common sense, our bodies duplicated desires, duplicated pleasures, duplicated satisfaction. I slept once more.

I awakened again, but this time to a gentle touch on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Corinna's subdued smile.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," I managed to mumble weakly, unsure what to do or say.

"My head hurts," she moaned. "And my tummy doesn't feel good either. My cheeks hurt too. You need to shave; your face is like sandpaper."

"Sorry."

"Are you okay?"

"Not bad. Where's Carissa?"

"Gone for a walk," Corinna moaned. "She says she feels okay."

"Lucky her."

"Yeah, that stuff was wicked. I've never felt this bad."

"Sorry, Tom did warn you to go easy."

"I think you did too. I didn't listen."

"I noticed."

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"In the mood you were in, I'd have had a fat chance, wouldn't I?"

"Probably," she moaned softly. "I didn't even get a chance to do what I wanted so bad either."

"What was that?"

"I was going to bounce your bones," she managed a lopsided grin. "Then I passed out. Thank you for putting me to bed and cuddling me though."

"Oh, no problem," I think I managed to sound casual, but inside I was sighing with relief because it had been a dream after all. "I guess I'd better get up."

"Yeah, go find that crazy sister of mine, would you? She's been gone a while. I'm just going to lie here for a bit longer. Maybe I can sleep off this headache."

I slowly sat up and realised that my headache wasn't that bad. After finding clean clothes and going out in the kitchen, I found Carissa had made coffee, so I grabbed a cup, then went outside. At least I hadn't slept in as late as the day before. It was just after eight in the morning and there was still dew on the grass, so I should have worn my boot for my trip to the john. Setting the coffee cup on a fence post well away from the 'fly zone' near the biffy, I took care of morning essentials and once more made a mental note to pick up a bag of quicklime the next time I was in town.

Outside once more and with my coffee in hand, I walked slowly past the cabin, wondering where Carissa had gone. Since I heard the chickens stirring up a ruckus, I walked toward the barnyard. The door to the coop was open and I could see Carissa gathering eggs.

"Good morning," I called to let her know I was there.

"Oh. Hi," she answered quietly, sounding dejected.

"What's wrong?"

"We have to talk," she sighed, then came out of the chicken coop carrying a small bucket of eggs. "Let me take these to the cabin and grab a cup of that coffee, then we need to go somewhere and sit down, okay?"

"Sure, whatever you say," I agreed, wondering what was bothering her. "I'll go let out the young stock while I'm waiting for you."

Ten minutes later we were sitting on the creek bank, overlooking the clear water of a small pool. For some reason she was sitting a short distance away from me and I realised that I hadn't even had a hug from her that morning. Over and above that she'd been practically silent, other than the few words we'd interchanged at the chicken coop. I was slowly getting an idea that perhaps I hadn't been dreaming last night. Finally with a deep sigh, she looked at me directly.

"You know I fucked up, don't you?" she sighed.

"No, I don't know for sure what you mean."

"Last night, don't you remember what happened? Didn't Corinna tell you either?"

"Well, I was pretty drunk myself and really all I'm sure I did was help you and Corinna to bed. All she said this morning was that she had a hangover and that she was sorry she passed out so we had to carry her to bed. Well, she did bitch about not getting to seduce me and she was complaining about her headache."

"She doesn't remember what happened and neither do you?"

"I guess she doesn't. All I remember after we went to bed are some weird dreams."

"Huh. What sort of dreams?"

"Well, I dreamt that both of you had sex with me."

"That wasn't a dream," she snapped. "And it was all my fault."

"Oh shit," I sighed. "But, your fault? Why?"

"Yeah, I fucked up. I didn't really want Corinna to sleep with you, but when it started I thought I'd be okay with it because she's my twin and everything," she burst into tears and began to sob. "But, it isn't okay. It's not okay at all."

I slid over and wrapped an arm around her, not knowing what to say. Instead I just held her gently, wondering what I could do or say, then realizing that anything I said could make things worse. Instead I simply held her gently and tried to think of something that would make her feel better. After a moment I gave up on the idea of talking and simply held her so she could cry on my shoulder and yet feel safe.

This wasn't something I was ready for. I think I was having almost as much trouble with what had happened as Carissa was. I felt like a real shit. Not only was I feeling that I'd betrayed her, but I'd betrayed Wil as well. Suddenly I felt that I was the rotten prick who'd screwed my brother's girlfriend. Oh sure, she'd had a huge fight with him and somehow I felt that they weren't going to get back together, but that still wasn't a good excuse. Nor was the fact that Carissa said she'd gone along with the idea, perhaps implying that she'd even encouraged the two of us.

The whole episode went against the grain of everything I'd been raised to believe.

As I sat there thinking deeply, I slowly realized that Carissa was now slumping against me, her breathing slow and easy. A quick check showed me that her eyes were closed and it dawned on me that she'd fallen asleep. I thought that was probably a good thing because I was certain that she hadn't rested well, especially if she'd been thinking about what had happened all night. I slowly eased back until instead of sitting on the bank of the creek, we were lying there. Carissa was still snuggled in my arms, but now I could take the time to really think about things.

Why had I stepped into this trap? What had changed? Where had I gone wrong?

The last few weeks of my life had changed a lot from normal, but was that a cause? Or was this brought on by something deeper, something I hadn't previously realized about myself?

Oh I could slide the blame onto the alcohol, or I could blame the fact that I was young and easy to influence, but neither of those was a good excuse. Since I liked to understand my reasons for what I did and what I felt I was cudgelling my brain, looking for stronger reasons than the ones I'd already thought about.

Laying there in the bright sunlight an extraneous thought crept into my mind; in the past I'd often put myself to sleep at nights by trying to understand the reasons for other people's actions. Now I was hunting for changes in my own life that could have brought about this sort of action.

Only a few weeks before I knew I hadn't felt this way, thinking of Sandy as an example. She'd openly offered me sex, but I'd turned her down. As I thought about that though, I realized there was little comparison in my mind between Sandy and either Carissa or Corinna. Mom had even ... whoa, wait a minute. What had Mom said again?

Mom hadn't seemed to like Sandy much. Actually, Mom had told me about going out with Sandy's father and not liking his pushiness or his somewhat rude attentions. Perhaps she'd prejudged Sandy on that basis? But no, she'd been warning me to take my time and get to know Sandy before I got too involved with her. It was only after I'd broken up with Sandy that she'd mentioned Sandy's father.

Mom had liked Carissa and Corinna though, in fact she'd told me that they were much like she had been when she first met Dad. Was I tying my actions to that thought? Was that the reason I liked Carissa so much and why I'd gone along with the girl's actions last night? Unfortunately there was a lot more to my feelings than that. After all, I'd known them through most of my school years, although up until recently they'd hardly deigned to admit that I existed.

Now that was another thought! Up until the episode with the pictures neither of the twins had wanted to be anywhere near me, but now they seemed to feel I was a combination of 'Prince Charming' and 'The White Knight.' They were treating me so much differently it was scarcely believable. That had to be influencing my thoughts about them as well. I had to admit to myself that I was still feeling as if they were doing me a favour by just being around me. After all, they were two years older than I was and on top of that they were beautiful, smart and sexy. In fact I'd started out feeling really uncomfortable when they'd tried to show me any appreciation for anything I'd done for them, almost as if I didn't deserve their praise.

Was I still letting that kind of feeling affect my thinking? Perhaps, at least to some extent, but as well as that I had grown to like Carissa so much more. She was kind. She was considerate. She was smart. And, she was the first woman I'd ever had sex with. On top of that I'd come to realize that she trusted me and she valued my opinions just because they were mine. I think that was the first time that I felt certain that I was falling in love with her and I was almost as certain that the feeling was reciprocated.

That was the point where I sighed and relaxed slightly, feeling that we could get past this problem if we faced it head on, then joined forces to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. Only I knew I had to think about the causes of the immediate problem too, just so I'd know what to watch out for in the future. Then I'd have to find a way to let Carissa know each time it started to happen and she could help to derail the problem. I was positive that by working together we could defuse the situation before it overwhelmed us.

Somehow in the last couple of days I'd let the sheer sexuality of the twins get to me and I couldn't let that happen again. I couldn't even blame that on the alcohol we'd drunk last night because we'd almost ended up in bed before we'd drunk a drop of Grampa Bender's white lightning. I knew that part of my problem was my own inexperience, combined with the twin's blatant sexual charms. To make it worse right now I was being affected by both of them at once and it wasn't just sexual. That was partially because they were so similar in many ways, but it was also because they seemed to allow their emotions to feed off of each other's. In a way they were so alike that it was as if they had only one brain, but two bodies. They not only influenced each other, but they influenced the people near them as well. I probably felt that more than most because I'd grown to feel astoundingly close to Carissa, especially considering the short time we'd actually spent in each others company.

I knew that I'd let all of those things get to me the day before, but so had Carissa and in a way so did Corinna. After all she had come to see us when she was angry and frustrated with Wil. Then too I felt she might be slightly jealous of Carissa - Carissa and I had been getting along so well, while she and Wil had fought.

"Damn, this is complicated!" I thought, then had to chuckle at myself because I knew most relations between people were complex.

Perhaps I shouldn't have chuckled, that awakened Carissa.

"Just what the hell do you find so funny?" she snapped. "Maybe you should tell me, I could use a damn good joke about now."

"Sorry it wasn't a funny joke, it was a reaction," I sighed. "I was laughing at myself because I'd been laying here thinking about us and our relationship. When I added Corinna to the mix it got so complicated that I had to either laugh or cry."

"Maybe you should tell me what you've decided has happened to us?" she sighed as well.

So I did. It took a while and when I was done I could see tears in her eyes, then she sat up and leaned over me.

"How can a sixteen-year-old, smart ass kid be so fucking smart?" she smiled weakly, then she was kissing me.

There was something different about that kiss. We'd kissed a lot before, but somehow that kiss was more sensual than any other kiss had ever been. It wasn't as if it was more passionate, or anything of that sort. Instead, it was as if both of us yielded and blended with the other in some way. There is no way to explain it, except to say that it felt like an expression of pure love and care for each other.

Afterward we lay there gently hugging and snuggling.

Then Carissa sighed. "Okay Mr. Genius, what do we say to Corinna?"

"Why say anything? She said she didn't remember a thing, so why make her feel guilty?"

"But, we know different."

"You do, I guess. I only remember having a very pleasant dream, but then having nightmares about what people would do if they found out."

"Oh! Yeah I never thought of that."

"Well if we don't tell Corinna, then only the two of us know anything and I think the less people who know the better."

"Mmm, I suppose," she snuggled. "I really wouldn't like Mom and Dad to find out that we've both had sex with you. They'd be livid."

"Ditto," I snorted.

She bit her lip and sighed then. "Dammit I have to ask you, since you've screwed both Corinna and me, which one of us was best?"

"Oh no question about it, you were," I managed to snap back almost instantly although I really didn't know, after all I could only remember my dream. "There's just something about you and the way you care that changes everything about whatever we do together."

That made her cry again, but at least this time they were happy tears.

A short while later, as Carissa and I were making ourselves breakfast and trying to get Corinna up and moving, Mom called on the CB. She wanted to remind me that I had a doctor's appointment with Dr. McGraths at 1:30 in the afternoon. That, along with the fact that we'd spent part of the morning talking about our situation meant there wasn't much sense in trying to work on the fences that day.

Over and above that Corinna was still feeling pretty darn sick, but Carissa wasn't very sympathetic to her sister's plight. She felt Corinna was suffering from a self induced problem and the last thing she was going to do was waste time and sympathy on that sort of thing. I was reminded of Mom's attitude toward Dad if he complained of a hangover, or her reaction if either Wil or I had overindulged in any way.

I got a kick out of that reminder. I'd read a psychology book and remembered that guys often looked for similarities to their mother in the women they chose to be around, especially those they grew close to or eventually married. For some reason it delighted me enough that I couldn't keep it to myself and had to share that tidbit with Carissa. I think it surprised her at first, but as I described the things that were similar between her and Mom she saw what I meant. So while we ate our breakfast we began to joke about it.

We were finished our breakfast and had gone out on the porch to think about what we wanted to do that day besides going to the doctor's when she turned to me.

"If I remind you of your Mom, who does Corinna remind you of?" she smiled, quizzically.

"Hmm?" I frowned. "Sort of like Aunt Alice, Tom's mom, but Corinna has an edge to her personality that I can't compare to anyone I know."

"Yeah, I can understand that. You may not have noticed it, but she's got a mean streak a mile wide," Carissa practically whispered and looked over her shoulder as if checking that Corinna couldn't hear her. "I don't know where she gets her temper from, but sometimes she gets very angry over trivial things. And you have to watch out if that happens. She gets vindictive too."

"I've never really noticed that, well except for her sudden mood swing over Wil and her anger over that."

"It's not Wil that I'm really worried about," Carissa sighed. "Let's go for a walk to see the horses or something."

"Why not go down to the creek, then I can show you that den in the bank where I think the pup went?"

"Oh yeah! Please!" she smiled. "I'd like that."

So we finished our coffee and left the mugs on the edge of the porch, then walked toward the creek, hand in hand. When we were about a hundred yards from the house, she squeezed my hand, but when I glanced at her she was frowning.

"I'd like to convince Corinna to go back to town if I could, but I'm worried she'll argue against it. And, when she's in town, I'm wondering if she can hold her temper about Sandy. Like I said, she's vindictive. Even if Sandy and Wil didn't do anything, she's going to be convinced they did."

"Even with no proof?"

"Unh huh, sometimes I get the feeling that Corinna and I are perfectly alike," she sighed. "However at other times, it's almost as if a switch had been thrown and I have a witch for a sister. I get that feeling about her when she mentions Sandy's name now."

"That sounds weird," I commented, then held up my hand. "Let's not talk for a bit while we sneak close to the creek. Maybe we can see something going on at that den I saw."

She smiled and squeezed my hand to agree, and we crept forward, slowly and carefully, moving as quietly as we could. Getting down on our hands and knees we crawled forward while using the bushes along the banks to hide ourselves. We were downstream and downwind as well so we were fairly close when I noticed movement and grasped Carissa's hand gently to warn her.

Duke was laying on a trampled down area not far from the den and the little pup was crawling over him and chewing on his ear once in a while. The old dog seemed to take a lot and not react and I heard Carissa suppress a giggle at the pup's actions. I squeezed her hand once more because I saw more movement even closer to us, but almost hidden by a clump of weeds. Shifting over slightly we could see a small tawny female dog who was chewing on the carcass of a dead rabbit.

One glance told me she wasn't a coyote. Instead, she looked almost like a standard Collie, very much like Lassie. The most noticeable thing to me was the fact that she was quite small and had very short hair for a Collie. Size wise, she looked to be about half way between a regular Collie and a Sheltie, but I'd never seen a Collie with hair as short as hers.

I studied her for a moment and although she had an obvious wound on her right rear hip, she was moving easily and wasn't limping. Since the wound wasn't bleeding now and didn't appear to be bothering her, I felt a surge of relief. I certainly wouldn't want to have to try to find a way to catch her if she had an infection, but I knew it was too soon to tell since the wound looked so fresh.

Reaching out and touching Carissa's arm, I signalled that we should pull back and move away. She frowned at me, but did as I asked.

When we were a short distance away, she turned to me. "Shouldn't we do something about her leg? Won't that get infected since she's got a huge cut?"

"Well I don't know how we could do anything," I sighed. "First we'd have to catch her and I think that would be a real pain in the butt, because I think she's gone wild. Then what could we do, take her into town to the vet? Being penned up and put in a car for that long trip would be extremely upsetting for her. In fact she'd probably be in danger of having a heart attack from fear alone. I think all we can do is keep an eye on her and hope. Don't forget, it looks like she's gone completely wild, totally feral. Right now, that is a wild dog and by rights I should probably shoot her. As it is, she's more danger to the animals on the farm than the wolves or coyotes are."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, wolves run in packs, coyotes usually run in pairs or loose hunting groups of close family members, that way they can team up to hunt. With her, it's different, she's a dog that ran away from someone and now she's injured and alone. She has a little pup to feed. On top of that, she doesn't have as much fear of humans as wolves or coyotes do. Later on when it gets warmer and game gets more scarce, the chickens are going to be a huge temptation for her, then it won't be long before the sow farrows and has little piglets. Right now I really don't know what to do, especially since Old Duke seems to be friendly toward her. I'd hate to have him spoiled by being around her and perhaps start hunting with her because he's always been great old dog."

"Oh," she looked concerned. "I never thought of the situation in that way."

"You're not a farmer, not yet," I chuckled, then laughed at the surprised look that came over her face.

Then I was really surprised because her face changed again. Suddenly she looked extremely determined.

"What's up?"

"Well, that comment about being a farmer reminded me why I came here and I just made up my mind about a couple of things," she said flatly. "Number one; Corinna is leaving. I just can't see her being much help to us and we don't need her here to add any extra problems or complications to our lives. So when we go to town today she's coming along and we're dropping her off at home. Number two; while you're at the doctor's office I'm going to try to find a chance talk to the vet. Perhaps he has some idea how we can handle the pup's mother. Number three; we're going to the hospital afterward to talk to Grampa Bender about dogs and horses, perhaps he has some ideas to help us out. Then if we have time I think we should go talk to both Daddy and Uncle Frank. At one time both of them were really into buying and selling horses so they know the ropes and might be able to help you establish a herd."

"Umm, what brought this all on?"

"Well, I came out here because I like you and I wanted to get to know you better while helping you look after this place. Then too I'd like to know where you and I are going with everything, at least a little clearer than I do now, but Corinna is screwing that up. With her here we're not able to relax because she's influencing both of us. All the rest is because of the dog and because of you and your dreams. "Then she smiled at me. "Besides since I've been here I've found out that I really do like animals, even chickens."

I grinned at that because I remembered how disgusted she had been about chickens and chicken manure after she'd helped to clean out the chicken coop at home. I teased her about that a little and we did have a short laugh over it, which was probably a good thing because it was the last laugh we had for several hours.

As soon as we were back at the cabin she went in the bedroom to speak to Corinna. Which is when the argument broke out. Carissa managed to keep her temper down and her voice low. Corinna didn't try. If I had ever felt they were identical before, then the short time during which that argument raged would have disabused me of that idea. Actually since the bedroom door was closed and I was outside of the cabin on the front porch when it started, I didn't really hear what either one said. I do know that Carissa's voice was quiet, while Corinna was screaming loudly. Considering that she had been complaining about a hangover earlier I was astounded that she could stand the volume of her own voice.

Somehow I was reminded of the rare clashes of will between Mom and Beth and I did the same thing as I would have done if they had been arguing. I headed for somewhere else to give the air a chance to clear.

I was down near the barn, adjusting the length of a latch wire loop on one of the gates, when I heard the horn of the Jeep sound and knew Carissa wanted me back at the cabin. Even while I was walking back to the house, I saw her making trip after trip out of the cabin to the back of my car. I knew then that whether Corinna wanted to or not she was going to town, or at least she wasn't going to be staying with us for the next while. I pitched in and helped Carissa store all of Corinna's boxes and bags in the trunk of my car, then both of us went inside to clean up for our trip to town.

It took a while to load everything and then get ready, but even though I thought we were running a bit late we eventually set off to go to town, Carissa and I were in the front seat and Corinna in the back. No one spoke much. I think the two of them were both still seething with anger toward each other and I didn't want to take a chance on saying anything since I was worried that I'd set them off again. We were a bit late getting to town so I drove directly to the doctor's office. I gave Carissa a quick kiss, arranged to meet her at the Chinese cafe across the street from the doctor's office, then stepped out of the car. She slid behind the wheel and drove off without giving me a chance to say 'So long' to Corinna.

I was surprised that after the long wait to get in to see Dr. McGraths I was out so fast. He really did very little. He asked me about pain, checked that the casts were standing up to the use I was giving them, warned me not to do too much because I might hurt myself, then told me to make an appointment with his receptionist to come back in three weeks. That was it. I was free to go.

As I walked out of his office, I couldn't help feeling that rushing to get there for the appointment had all been a waste of time, but then I glanced around the waiting room. The room was packed so I decided Dr. McGraths wouldn't waste his time seeing me if he didn't feel it was necessary, he was too busy to do that. I grinned at the receptionist and told her I needed an appointment in three weeks.

"Hmm, no new meds, no prescriptions for pain, and no need to have your cast replaced? Are you sure?" she looked up at me with a guestioning glance. "Aren't you a farm kid?"

"Yeah I live on a farm, but while I'm there I try to follow the doctor's orders," I grinned again.

"Well wonders will never cease. A farm kid who didn't use his cast as a hammer or some other damn fool stunt," she shook her head and handed me an apointment slip, then smiled. "Keep that up and you'll be free of that thing soon."

"Thanks," I winked. "That's better news than the doc gave me."

As I left the doctor's office I knew the appointment hadn't been a waste of time. Instead Dr. McGraths had been practising a bit of caution and knew how impatient any farmer would feel about the cast. The condition of my cast and leg had probably taken him by surprise, but then that was probably because I was wearing a fibreglass cast not a plaster one. Still, I was feeling fairly chipper as I left, knowing that I'd at least astonished the receptionist, if not the doctor.

When I stepped outside the doctor's office there was no sign of Carissa or my car, so I jaywalked over to the cafe. When I walked in I noticed two of the local RCMP officers sitting quietly in a back booth. One of them must have remembered me from the incident at the school because he waved a hand. I just waved back and chose a seat near the front of the cafe so I could look out the window. Then I ordered a cup of coffee while I waited for Carissa. I was sitting there quietly, sipping my coffee and thinking about the happenings of the last day or two when I heard someone else come in and speak to the waitress.

I suppose I wasn't really paying attention to whatever was going on because I'd heard male voices and knew it wasn't Carissa. Seconds later, someone snarled my first name and I looked up to see 'Slimy' Sid and 'Rotten' Ray standing in the aisle next to the booth. I hadn't seen them approach so they'd taken me by surprise. Trying to ignore them, I just glanced their way then turned back to look out the window hoping that Carissa would come by soon.

"Oh my, the local cowboy who can't stay on a horse is trying to ignore us, Ray," Sid snarled through a sneer.

"Oh, Mr. White Knight is just in here stocking up on his courage again," Raymond responded snidely. "What are you ordering, Sir Galahad, a hero sandwich?"

"Actually if he saw you two coming, he probably ordered an antacid. That way he might be able to stomach your stupidity, but I suppose I should thank you. After all, I imagine you've been entertaining him with your dumb remarks while he was waiting for me," Carissa said loudly from near the door, completely surprising both the idiots and me. "However we shouldn't waste a lot of time, Boss. Are you almost done your coffee? We've still got supplies to pick up and some fencing to do."

"Boss? Him, what the hell does he do, tell you how to spread your legs?" Sid laughed raucously.

"Actually no! Since he has a broken leg he hired me to help him manage the crew on a five-thousand-acre ranch where we're both working this summer," Carissa snapped.

"Hah, who would hire a gimped up geek to look after anything?" Ray sneered. "I'll bet it's some imaginary job that your daddy got for you and he's paying through the nose to keep the two of you out of trouble."

"Yeah Bitch, just where is this fantastic fucking ranch anyway? Maybe Ray and I will just drop around one evening and have a little party with you."

"As if I'd tell you anything like that. That would be pretty darn dumb! Especially after all the bragging you did a few months ago about trashing someone's house while they were away for the weekend," Carissa fired back, then turned to me. "Chris, could we please go? At least we could be working and accomplishing something, not hanging around here while these two idiots take turns flapping the jawbone of an ass."

"Flapping what?" Ray practically screamed as if he guessed that he'd been insulted, but not really understanding how.

"The jawbone of an ass, but I guess you aren't really flapping it are you? That would be rather hard to do since it's still hanging on your ugly face."

"You fucking whore, I'll ..." Ray brought his fist up and took a swing at Carissa.

She ducked that swing easily, but Ray was still going after her so tried to I move to stop him. Unfortunately Sid was in my way and shoved me back as I tried to get to my feet. However he did grab Ray's arm before he could swing again and before either Carissa or I could react in any other way.

"Easy Ray, this isn't the time to lose your cool," he coaxed. "The chinks would be witnesses if you did anything here. Instead, we'll just follow these two geeks. When we find out where they're going. We'll wait for dark, then we can drop in on them and have that party I was talkin' about."

Just then I heard boots scrape at the back of the cafe and when Carissa looked past Sid and Ray, her eyes got huge.

"Uh oh. I don't think you should have said that, Sid," she said quietly.

Almost at the same time as Carissa spoke, one of the cops bellowed. "Hold it! That'll be enough!"

About then, all hell broke out, but all I could do was watch it happen.

### Chapter 19