# Car 54

####
© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 11:
Caution Ahead - Traffic Pattern Modified

I didn't know it, but circumstance was about to destroy any chance of my walking out of the hospital without a confrontation happening. First the matron wanted to speak to me because she wanted to ask me to keep notes on any problems or any benefits of any kind that I happened to notice with either of the new casts. Of course Carissa seemed to be glued to my arm about then and since Corinna stayed with her twin, Will was along as well. All of our parents had left before the matron seemed satisfied that I knew what she wanted and she finally decided that we were free to leave.

That meant all of us were heading for the door as a group. Carissa and I were holding hands and we were being followed by Corinna and Wil. Then I felt Carissa tense and her hand clasp mine even tighter than it had been. That's when I noticed Sandy McAdam coming through the outer door toward us. I think if looks could have killed, Carissa and I might both have died about then.

I will never understand people in some instances. This was the young woman that less than twenty-four hours ago had insisted I was some kind of freak, but now she was reacting as if I and Carissa had insulted her in some way. I fully admit that I was confused, but her reaction floored me. At first I thought the look on her face was all we were going to have to deal with, but then she stepped into our path and stood there with her hands on her hips as if she was confronting someone who had done something terrible. I held my tongue and thankfully, so did Will and the twins. Sandy seemed to be trying to get her breath for a moment and she simply stood there, taking one deep breath after the other.

Then she simply crumpled. I never moved and neither did Wil, but Carissa and Corinna both did. I still don't know how it was possible, but they had caught her before she hit the floor and eased her into a chair. Then Carissa was up and running to get the matron while Corinna held Sandy's hand and supported her to stop her from sliding out of her seat. I didn't know what to do and I doubt if Wil did either, but the decision was out of our hands. Corinna simply ordered us to go outside, telling us that she and Carissa would catch up with us in a few minutes.

The idea of getting out of the hospital wasn't something I was going to argue about right then. I was out that door as fast as I could hobble on my new cast and Wil was on my heels. Once I was outside, I took a deep breath of the late spring air and without speaking to Wil, I headed for my car. That's when I found out the world wasn't done throwing shit at me for the day.

Under my windshield wiper, I found a ticket for speeding and another for parking in the emergency zone of the hospital. I was completely speechless.

Will wasn't speechless though. He howled with rage, in fact I've never seen him so angry. I think if the cop had been there Wil would have eaten him alive. I was just too wiped out to even comment. I'd been through too much and my emotions were simply unable to keep up to the roller coaster they'd been on. I simply opened the driver's door of the car, got behind the wheel, put the key in the ignition and drove the twenty or thirty feet to a parking spot. Then I shut off the car, put my head on my hands as they rested on the steering wheel and broke into silent tears.

I'd had it. I was an emotional wreck and felt that life was unfair. I was only sixteen years old, but in the last few weeks I'd dealt with more problems and more triumphs than at any previous time in my life. In fact, in the last week or so, my life had gone from one extreme to another and I simply didn't feel capable of coping with all the changes that had happened to me and to those around me. Emotionally, I was totally overloaded and needed some sort of relief.

I'm not sure how long I sat there, quietly crying, but it couldn't have been that long; however, that brief interlude was what I needed. When I lifted my head and dashed the tears from my face, I found that I was still alone, still sitting in my car, but I'd gained a feeling of resolve that I'd never felt before. Previously I'd simply reacted to everything around me and while everyone had thought I was planning my life and my actions, I realized that instead I had only been reacting, letting what others did govern how I behaved.

In those few moments, I'd made up my mind to act on things happening around me instead of simply reacting to them and taking the consequences as they came. Perhaps I grew in some way, I don't know, but I did know that from that moment things were darn well going to change as far as I was concerned.

The first thing I did was to go back inside the hospital. Wil was standing off to one side talking to Corinna while Carissa and the matron were talking to Sandy, who was still sitting in the same chair and quietly staring at them. Then Sandy looked over at me and her eyes dropped to the floor, that's when I cleared my throat and everyone else seemed to realise I was standing there.

"Excuse me, but I need to talk to Sandy for a few moments and I'd like to be alone, if everyone doesn't mind," I said insistently.

Carissa must have seen something in my face because she stood and moved toward Corinna and Wil, then they went outside. The matron was another matter. She looked like she was about to argue with me.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but this is a problem that needs to remain between Sandy and me. I'd like to talk to her and I really think it should be just between the two of us. If you want to be nearby, that's fine, but I do want to speak to her privately."

The matron looked at me as if she was still willing to argue, but she didn't say anything. After a few seconds though, she turned and looked at Sandy who nodded her head as if in agreement with me.

When we were alone, I really wasn't feeling as positive as I had a moment before, but I knew I had to say something and all I could really say was to explain what I felt and what I had noticed about Sandy and her family. In order to stall for time and prepare what I wanted to say, I took the time to pull over a chair and sit down at Sandy's side. Then I began by explaining my feelings about the way I viewed women and the world.

In order to do that I found myself explaining about my childhood, my experiences in school, my experiences at home and simply about my life in general, then I found I was asking her about her life and about her family.

Our lives were quite similar in a lot of ways, but very different in others. While we were both from two parent families, our parents were much different. My Mom and Dad discussed and decided issues, but in her family her father tried to overrule every decision. We were both from three child families, but while I was the middle child with an older brother and a younger sister, she was the oldest child with two younger sisters. The similarities and differences went on and on, but the biggest difference was the fact that in my family we discussed and decided things as a family, while in her family, she'd always been taught that men ruled and women served their wishes.

I did manage to convince her to talk to someone about the way she'd been raised and about her feelings, then I paused to talk to the matron before I left. All I did with her was to explain that Sandy and I had a difference in our outlook on life and on relationships, leaving it at that.

I'm not sure why, but when I walked back out to the car I felt like I'd left a huge load of rubbish behind me. Wil and the girls were sitting in the car, talking quietly when I came out. Of course they were curious about what had happened, but I felt that I'd already said enough to them about the situation. I just shrugged my shoulders and said that I didn't think there would be any more problems. Needless to say none of them seemed happy with my decision to remain silent, but I remained adamant in spite of their entreaties to get me to speak.

I picked up the traffic ticket from the seat and tossed it on the dash, then started for home. I hadn't driven more than a couple of blocks before I noticed that I was being followed by the RCMP car again. I made certain that I stayed within all the traffic laws, but drove as quickly as I could to the local RCMP detachment, grabbed the ticket in my hand, got out of the car and went to the door. Since it was Sunday afternoon, I had to wait for someone to open the door to my ring. I was just entering the door as the cop who'd been following me pulled into the parking lot and parked beside my car. I ignored him, entering the door and closing it behind me.

"Could I speak to whoever is in charge?" I asked.

"That would be me," the constable who'd opened the door said quietly.

"Fine," I smiled and held up the ticket I'd gotten earlier. "I found this ticket on the window of my car not long ago and although there are extenuating circumstances behind my actions, what is written here is true. I will be fighting this in court, but that isn't the reason I'm here. You see after being in the hospital for nearly two hours, I find that rather strangely the moment I pulled out of the hospital parking lot, I was followed by the same car and the same RCMP officer who had given me ticket."

Almost as if it was scripted, the door opened again, this time it had been unlocked from the outside.

"Ah, here he is now," I turned and smiled.

The look on the young officer's face was worth the time I'd taken to set him up.

"I should explain that I'm normally a very law abiding driver. I happen to own a dirt track stock car and I like the idea of winning races, but I like my races to be at the stock car track where I can feel safe."

"You were driving down a public street, exceeding the speed limit, then you abandoned your car parked in an emergency zone," the young officer snapped almost as if he was responding with a memorized speech.

"I had found a man who had suffered a heart attack and he was in an area where emergency services were unavailable, so I transported him in my car," I spoke slowly and quietly. "I admit that I was doing forty miles an hour in a thirty mile an hour zone, but at that time I was flashing my lights and sounding my horn to warn pedestrians and oncoming drivers. At that time I was driving with a cast on my left foot, which I happened to destroy by hitting my dimmer switch in order to flash my lights. When I arrived at the hospital, I was not allowed to leave the hospital to move my car until I had a new cast in place."

There was a brief silence.

"Ummph umm," The constable who had opened the door for me cleared his throat. "Constable Samuels, I wish to speak to you in my office. Mr. Crawford, I will be speaking to the authorities at the hospital, if I find the circumstances are as you explained them, you'll find that when you go to court a plea of innocence due to extenuating circumstances will not be opposed."

I suppose I should have explained what I was doing before bolting out of the car and hurrying inside the RCMP station, but I hadn't taken the time to do that, so when I went back outside I found Wil arguing with the girls. He wanted to see what I was up to. I explained as I started to drive home and I think I surprised everyone. Just the idea that I might go out of my way to say something like I had seemed to be outrageous to all of them, in fact they expected that I'd be targeted by the young cop in the future.

I shrugged my shoulders, then laughingly said that my family let me drive like a nut on our own property, so I didn't feel that I had to drive like a nut on public roads. At least Carissa thought it was funny, but the other two seemed more subdued. When I asked about it, Wil explained that he felt he was going to be tarred by the same brush in the future, in other words he was worried that he'd be targeted by that cop just because he was my brother.

I suppose I wasn't very sympathetic, whatever the reason, most of the drive home passed with almost no conversation.

When we drove in the yard Dad and Mr. Coulter were sitting on the front porch and as I pulled to a stop, Dad got to his feet.

"We were about to send a search party out for you," he said as I slid out of the car.

"Sorry about that," I answered him, then quickly explained about Sandy and about the cop.

Both Dad and Mr. Coulter just shook their heads as I talked about the cop as if they agreed with Wil and Corinna. Of course the discussion carried over to the dinner table. To my surprise I found both Mom and Mrs. Coulter agreed with Carissa and me, but I watched and listened to the conversation, Dad slowly changed his mind as well. Before too long I had the feeling that even Wil knew that any argument he came up with was going to be shot down by someone.

Of course that wasn't the reason for this meal or meeting or whatever it was.

What surprised me was that nothing was being said about the twins having grown to be involved with the Wil and me, yet there was no way that I could think of to bring it out without causing a ruckus of some sort. Carissa finally opened the can of worms.

"Well Dad, since Beth isn't here to take her share of our thanks, I suppose Corinna and I only have you to thank for setting us up with our two guys do we?" she spoke softly.

The old saying that 'You could have heard a pin drop.' described the silence that followed. I waited a moment, then winked at her.

"Oh, I don't know about that," I drawled. "I remember the looks on Mom and Dad's faces when I first brought you two here. Don't you think they deserve some thanks as well?"

"But they weren't counting on all the things that could change," Corinna grinned at me. "Like you getting hurt or the idea that we might feel responsible for that and try so hard to take your place and please everyone."

"I don't think they counted on my coming home early either," Wil added.

"Now just a darn minute..." Dad started to say, but he looked at Mom and saw that she had a silly grin on her face, whatever he'd started to say seemed to die right there.

In fact the whole table grew silent for a moment, then to my surprise Mr. Coulter was the first one to laugh.

"Okay you smart alecks, so we're hoisted on our own petards; that doesn't mean we want to see any of you making silly decisions that could end up hurting your futures," Then he looked directly at me. "By the way, I thought you told me that you were extremely shy?"

"I was, but your daughters beat that out of me in a hurry," I winked at him.

"Chris!" Carissa squawked like she'd been poked with something, then she turned toward her dad. "Daddy, Chris was never really shy, he's just reserved until he gets to know you, but he won't agree with that. He believes that he's shy."

"Actually I think Chris has changed a fair amount in the last few weeks," Mom said quietly. "But then, Carissa, I think you've changed a fair amount in the last few days as well."

I simply smiled at that, because I agreed with Mom. I wasn't going to say that though, in fact I managed to sit back and let the conversation flow around me for a while. I was actually marvelling at the way Mom kept managing to turn the conversation whenever it seemed about to drift toward an extremely controversial or more or less taboo subject.

Of course before too long the conversation drifted to Grampa Bender and what we were going to do about his place up in the hills. I'd been thinking about that myself and I had some ideas I wanted to promote, but I waited for just the right opportunity to bring them up.

I'd always had the dream in the back of my mind that I'd like to live up there on the edge of the foothills and raise horses, however I didn't know if I was really cut out for that kind of life. What I wanted to suggest was that if Grampa Bender had to remain in the hospital for long, I wanted to stay at his place and look after it until he was well enough to live there on his own again.

That evening though, I knew I was in for an argument before I even started to speak.

I suppose the fright everyone had received about Grampa Bender's heart attack had put everything into a different perspective and also calmed everyone down a lot, at least in respect to Corinna and Wil's actions. All of us were feeling our mortality and I think Mr. and Mrs. Coulter had been impressed by the prompt action that Carissa and I had taken when we'd found Grampa Bender in such bad shape. In some way Corinna and Wil may well have gained some 'reflected' respect from our actions as well, at least no one was bearing down on them as hard as I had expected.

Actually I think it helped that Mom and Dad took the time to discuss all the happenings of the last few days, then to answer any questions that Mr. and Mrs. Coulter had about anything that had happened. In fact I felt they laid it on just a bit thick, but at one point all of Mom and Dad's work almost went down the drain.

"I was very impressed with how Carissa and Corinna pitched in to help around the farm, particularly after Chris was injured," Mom smiled at Mrs. Coulter. "Actually we owe your two girls a huge thank you for all the work they've done while they've been here."

"Well, we sort of felt responsible for Chris getting hurt, so we were trying to make up for it," Corinna shrugged.

"Yeah, if we hadn't been so eager to ride the horses, he wouldn't have been hurt at all," Carissa added.

"You certainly don't owe us anything, in fact we owe you," Corinna smiled at Mom, then turned her head toward Wil.

I felt Carissa's leg move at my side and suspected that she'd kicked Corinna's leg under the table. At least Corinna jumped slightly, but also shifted her gaze to Carissa almost instantly.

"We certainly do," Carissa said. "I've learned a tremendous amount about farming and raising animals. For instance, I never, ever want to be involved with raising chickens!"

"Oh my, that reminds me, you should see those pictures your uncle took of the two of you," Mr. Coulter chuckled. "I think they're priceless."

"Oh, Daddy! You would!" Corinna grumbled. "Why would anyone want a picture of us with no makeup, grungy clothes, messed up hair and both of us dripping wet from sweat because we'd been working so hard."

"That's the whole point," Carissa said and I could feel her relax, as if the dangerous subject had been bypassed for a moment. "Daddy likes the pictures because they're proof that we're not the totally spoiled little bitches that some people seem to think we are."

"Oh, I see," Corinna actually smiled at her twin. "Then I think we owe the whole Crawford family a gigantic thank you for taking a chance on us, don't we?"

"I think everyone should call it even," I chuckled. "It was another of those deals that Dad calls a fair trade. Everyone got some benefit out of the process."

"Well seeing that you're the only one who seems to have been injured in any way, I suppose your opinion should be our guide," Mr. Coulter said quietly. "I must admit that when I heard you were in the hospital I was worried. Since the rumour I heard made it sound as if the twins had been involved in some way with your injury, I felt somewhat responsible myself."

"Well, I think it was really Beth's idea for them to be stuck here," I suggested.

"Oh no, her idea was to have them come to spend a full day with you, or at least to stay overnight. I was the one who extended the time limit," he jumped in to correct me. "Then when you got hurt, it became a different ball game. I'm afraid I didn't exactly foresee the results that have happened because of my interference."

"Well, John, since you admit it was your idea and since everyone else, but you seems satisfied with what's going on, with some reservations, what are you complaining about?" Mrs. Coulter put in her two cents. "I'll be honest, when we returned from the hospital and I saw the girls join in with everyone else to do all the chores so quickly, I was rather impressed at the change in our daughters."

Mr. Coulter simply stared at her for a moment as if she had suddenly become a stranger. "But, you were the one who was so upset this morning?" he protested.

"Not so much upset as unprepared," Mrs. Coulter corrected him. "I've been accustomed to thinking of our daughters as girls, not as young women. Between their words and actions, on top of the discussions I've had with Liz, I've had a slight change of heart. I've come to realise that they are old enough that they have minds of their own and I'm rather proud of them too."

"But ..." Mr. Coulter started to protest again, only to have Mrs. Coulter reach out and touch his lower lip with a finger.

"I'm not done speaking, John," she said firmly, then she turned to look at Corinna and Wil. "The pair of you need to think long and hard about where you are headed and about what you want to do in the long run. I'm simply not old enough to accept the idea of being a grandmother yet."

"Yes Mom," Corinna whispered. "Actually, I don't want to be a mommy yet either and Wil has two more years of school to finish, but we do want to be together as much as we can."

"Hmmph, well, since John and I weren't that much older than you are when we started dating each other, I suppose I can understand," Mrs. Coulter sighed. "However, since I hope you two have a fairly long engagement, I think you and I will be going to see Dr. McGraths as soon as I can get an appointment. I understand that they have a pill on the market now which can prevent pregnancy."

"Count me in on that appointment," Carissa surprised everyone but me. "Chris and I aren't getting engaged, but accidents can happen."

Mr. and Mrs. Coulter simply stared at her.

"Well, Daddy, you did set me up," Carissa grinned. "I mean he threw both Corinna and me at Chris. I was the lucky one. Corinna tripped and fell for his older brother."

"Hey!" Corinna yelped, then grinned after a second and grabbed Wil's arm. "Well, I guess when you think about it, you're right. I did fall for Wil."

Carissa stuck her tongue out at Corinna, then turned back to her parents. "Chris and I are just dating, so don't get your shirts all in a knot, but like I said, accidents can happen. In any event I want to be prepared, just in case."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Coulter looked shocked. In fact, there was a moment of complete silence, then Dad spoke up and changed the subject completely.

"Well, it's a good thing Will did come home early," Dad sighed deeply. "With Chris partially laid up, we can use his help. Now as well, we're going to have to think of a way to work in a trip up to Grampa Bender's place every day or two. We can't just abandon his animals to the elements."

Now was my chance to speak up and I hoped I had a decent argument ready.

"Well, Dad, I only have a few exams at school, and then as you know I was originally planning to go to the city to work for the summer. The problem is that with my casts, I don't think I can drive as well as I'd need to in the city, after all the traffic there is darn heavy," I said quickly. "I was thinking that perhaps I could go look after Grampa Bender's place for him. There isn't really that much work to do and I can easily handle it."

Carissa surprised me, by jumping in then.

"I can understand what Chris is talking about," she smiled at me and grabbed my hand in hers. "Grampa Bender has a beautiful place up there in that valley and someone should be there to look after everything, just in case. The road isn't that bad and if some of the more 'rangutang kids from town hear that there isn't anyone living there, they could go up there and make an awful mess."

"Wait a minute," Mom jumped in. "Are you suggesting that you stay up there, Chris?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so," I was caught off balance because although I was going to suggest that eventually, I wasn't planning to mention it until I'd made the trip a few times, just to illustrate how much time was wasted in driving back and forth. Since Carissa had blown my plan away, I had to adapt quickly. "I was originally going to suggest that I only make the trip each day, but Carissa is right. It makes sense for someone to live there, especially at night, just in case there are any prowlers who come around after dark."

I think the next few moments were a surprise for Mr. and Mrs. Coulter. At first none of the rest of my family seemed to be in favour of the idea, then slowly, one at a time, they all seemed to come around to my way of thinking.

The capitulation had started when I'd looked at Dad and made a gesture of tipping a glass to my mouth. Almost instantly I could see his mind racing as he thought about the idea of anyone finding Grampa Bender's 'home brew' stash, but from that point on I felt I had his support. Wil caught on next. In the long run even Mom gave the idea her grudging support, but she had a few reservations. In fact, she insisted on a couple of security measures to be more assured of my safety. As well as that, she was insistent about my finishing the school year and writing my final exams.

I think Mom had high hopes that Grampa Bender would be out of the hospital by the time that my exams at school were done, but I'd overheard the doctor who had first seen Grampa Bender when he had been admitted. The doctor was discussing the case with the head nurse and the two of them had mentioned making sure that they had a long term bed available, which meant that I wasn't as hopeful as Mom was.

In reality, what I was doing was establishing the fact that I cared about Grampa Bender and about what he had done for the family. I'll admit I wanted to try living away from home, but mostly I wanted to protect Grampa Bender's ranch.

I suppose I should explain that desire. When his family had moved into this area to homestead, his father and brothers had all set up homesteads on the lowlands. Instead of taking the easy route and homesteading next door, Grampa Bender had followed the local creek upstream and had found that the creek which provided water to a large part of the local area flowed from a spring fed lake on the edge of the foothills. He reasoned that if he controlled the water, he could have a say in the way the land was used, so he homesteaded the area around the lake. Once he'd established his homestead there, he'd file for water rights with the government and had established a lease on the valley from the upper edge of his homestead to the point where the stream flowing out of the lake had joined with another creek. Since that lower point just happened to be at the edge of the property that his father had homesteaded, and since his brothers had homesteads across the width of the lower end of the valley, it meant Grampa Bender's family had control of the whole valley.

The whole family had benefited from Grampa Bender's foresight because of those water rights. While the lease from the government was in his name, he'd allowed some control to slip into the hands of the family as a whole by giving them a sublease. He kept the upper valley as a ranch and subleased the lower valley to Great-Granddad and Grampa Bender's brothers. The original lease formed a roughly triangular area which was one mile wide at the top end and three miles wide at the lower end. However, that area stretched for eighteen miles between the upper and lower edges, so in essence my family had almost a full township of land under our control. In other words, we farmed, ranched, and subleased an area of approximately 20,000 acres and it was all because of Grampa Bender.

Our family had almost lost some control of that lease at one point though. When my Great-Granddad had died, the farm which we now lived on had almost been sold out of the family because Great-Granddad had been very ill and very cantankerous for years before his death. He'd been unable to keep up the farm himself, but at the same time, he'd been unwilling to accept much help from the family. After his death the farm was badly run down and no one in the family had wanted to tackle bringing it back to shape. As well as that, the family had changed. Most of our extended family members had moved to the city since they weren't interested in farming or ranching. They only seemed interested in the rental money that the sublease brought in, so in my opinion, they were nothing more than leaches. The whole thing was a complicated mess because the sublease had been written quite badly in the first place, not only giving all members of the family some rights, but also tying the sublease to the property titles. In fact after Great-Granddad's death, a magistrate had told the family that whoever controlled his land would also have some rights to the subleased area. That threw a huge monkey wrench into the idea of selling Great-Granddad's section of land to an outsider.

It was about that time when Dad and Mama Kate entered the picture. In fact they fell in love with each other, but to complicate matters while Mama Kate was a Bender, Dad was her second cousin. While legally they could marry, there were several people in the family who opposed the idea. However since they both felt strongly about living on the farm, Grampa Bender and Uncle Tom backed their decision and even lent them money to get started. In fact that's how my family ended up living where we did and part of the reason we were at odds with our citified cousins.

As you can see, everything about our family and about the farm was quite involved or rather complicated. The fact that my Mom came along to help Dad after Mama Kate got ill, then had married Dad after Mama Kate died added another bump in the road. However, Grampa Bender, Uncle Tom and Aunt Alice supported Mom and Dad once again. I'm sure you can understand why I and my family had a special bond to Grampa Bender. In the long run the lease and the sublease were still in the hands of family, even if the people who were directly involved in living on the land had changed.

I had a bit of further insight into the whole legal situation about the lease and the sublease that most people didn't, because of the time that I'd spent going to see Grampa Bender and talking to him over the last few years.

I knew he was upset with the sublease in several ways. In fact I remember his words about the situation exactly.

"Them city slickers ain't never added a dang thing to the place; they just suck money out'n it. Us folks that actually live here, gotta change that!" he had said profoundly one day as he looked out over his farm from the front porch of his cabin. Then he had looked at Tom and me and he had winked. "You boys has done more dang work in the last couple'a years than that useless bunch of clock punchers has done in their whole lives. I figure on rattlin' things around a bit real soon, danged if I don't."

On top of remembering that speech, I knew that while the title of the property he lived on was in his name and that he had a ninety-nine-year lease on the valley, the sublease had only been made out for sixty years. Since both the lease and the sublease had been made out almost sixty years ago, there was only a year or so left on the sublease. I didn't know what Grampa Bender planned to do and I'd never seen his will, but I felt sure things were going to change in the near future. If I could make my family's position a little more secure by spending some time looking after his place while he was in the hospital, I intended to do it. Besides, I still had that dream of raising horses in the back of my mind, and Grampa Bender's ranch in the upper valley was a perfect place for that.

Of course while I'd been daydreaming about Grampa Bender, leases and other family matters, the conversation around the dinner table had carried on. I was brought back to reality by a poke in the ribs from Carissa.

"Hey, are you still with us?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I was thinking. What did I miss?"

"Well, Mom and Dad want to go home, but with all the fuss and bother that has happened here today, Corinna and I aren't packed and ready to leave yet. We were wondering if you could either run us into town once we're packed up or if we could just catch a ride to town tomorrow morning with you? After all, we all have to go in for the first of our finals then anyway and neither Corinna nor I really want to rush away."

"Oh, sure, whatever you want," I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well!" Mom said sharply, as if I'd insulted someone. "You could be a bit more decisive."

"Oops, sorry," I apologized, then looked at Mr. and Mrs. Coulter and couldn't help grinning. "What would you like me to do with your headstrong daughter and her twin sister?"

The look of surprise on their faces was priceless, but it was the gasp from Carissa that really made my day.

"Headstrong? Me?" she squawked as if I'd really insulted her. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Well, it seems to me that you insist on getting your way, no matter what," I grinned at her, then turned my head and winked at her parents. "For instance, just over a week ago, weren't you one of the girls who phoned here, almost demanding that I spend some time with you?"

"Well, yeah, but you never called back and then you gave me some wild story about having to study hard to pass your finals and I backed off."

"Oh sure you backed off, but all the time since then you've been plugging away on the periphery of things, making sure you were impressing me or at least making sure you were on my mind in some way or another," I reached over and took her hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze. "It seems to me that all of your actions illustrate that you're headstrong, or stubborn, or at least single minded, wouldn't you agree?"

"I, unh ..." she started to say something, then fell silent and actually blushed.

I don't know why, but right then I glanced around the table at everyone else and I realized that all of them had a smile of some sort on their face, even Mr. and Mrs. Coulter. In fact, Mr. Coulter winked at me.

"Like mother, like daughter. When I met Wilma, she did almost the same thing to me, so I know what you mean," he laughed. "I couldn't seem to turn around, but I was tripping over her."

"Me?" Mrs. Coulter squeaked. "You were the one who was always showing up wherever I went."

While they were telling us about the way they had met and had grown to like each other, the center of attention had changed and I squeezed Carissa's hand lightly once more, then winked at her.

"What do you really want to do?" I managed to whisper.

"Spend the night here," she whispered back. "So does Corinna. I'm sure your folks don't mind."

I just nodded at that. Since I happened to be watching Mom out of the corner of my eye, I saw her smile and knew it really was okay with her.

We were outside, after saying goodnight to Mr. and Mrs. Coulter, when Uncle Tom and Aunt Alice brought Beth back from town. They only stayed long enough to tell us that Grampa Bender seemed to be resting comfortably, then my family and the twins turned to go back inside. I wasn't surprised when Mom came over to Carissa and me, then nodded her head at the seats on the front porch.

"I'd like to talk to you two alone for a moment," she suggested.

"Sure," I answered, then found that Carissa was suddenly holding my hand.

When we were sitting down, Mom seemed to stare off into the sunset for a moment, then sighed deeply. She turned her head and looked into my eyes, then reached out to touch Carissa's and my joined hands.

"I really don't understand the dynamics of the two of you toward each other, but what I can say for sure is that Wil and Beth seem to look to you in the way of a guide, Chris," she spoke very quietly. "Whatever you two do, I want you to realise that both of them will be influenced by it, especially Corinna."

"I don't think I understand, Mom," I frowned slightly at her.

"Oh, Chris," Mom sounded a bit peeved. "Do I have to come right out with it and ask you two not to have sex tonight?"

"What?" I stared at her in surprise.

Carissa had gasped in surprise as well, then she giggled slightly.

"Oh Mrs. Crawford, you even surprised me that time," she said softly. "I'll be the first one to admit that I'd be willing to sleep with Chris, but tonight isn't right in any way for that sort of thing. We have talked about sex and I've teased Chris about it, but I think we need to learn a lot more about each other first, at least before we do anything of that sort. On top of that, today has been about as romantic as a trip to the grocery store, so I'm just not in the mood for sex. I think instead I need a nice long cuddle and then a warm bed. I'm not about to sneak around the house and climb into Chris's bed with him, if that's what you're worried about."

"Thank you," Mom actually sounded relieved. "There have been so many changes in the last few weeks ..."

Her voice drifted off and she was quiet for a moment, then she seemed to realize she had been talking to us.

"I'm sorry. I'm a bit wrought up today after everything that's happened," she apologised. "I'll leave you two alone to have that cuddle, but before I go, I just wanted to ask if you're both ready for your first exam tomorrow."

"I think I am, Mom, and if I'm not, studying at this late hour will simply confuse me."

"I'm confident that I'll do okay, thanks," Carissa added as she leaned toward me. "I promise that we won't be too long."

Carissa was wrong though. We were still there, cuddling and talking until midnight. It wasn't until I heard the old clock in the hall strike twelve that I realized how late it was. That's when I insisted that we both needed some sleep if we were going to be able to stay awake and write a history test in the morning.

After one final kiss we slipped inside and quietly sought out our individual beds. I think I was asleep ten seconds after crawling into mine.

### Chapter 12