Chapter Nineteen
- Caution - Sharp Curves and Switchbacks . . .
While Carissa had been quiet for a long period on the way into town, now she was bright and bubbly, waving at people we saw as we drove by, calling out to friends and talking a blue streak to me. It was as if she'd become a completely different person and it took me by surprise. The only time I had seen her in a similar mood was when she and Corinna had been bubbling over about Beth's horses. When we came to her house, she whipped into the driveway and almost dove out of the jeep, then ran up the front steps to unlock the door.
"Come on in." She called to me as I took my time following her.
"What's the rush?" I asked as I finally caught up to her.
"I don't know. I just want to get going." She grinned and dashed ahead of me as we went inside.
The Coulter house was a split level bungalow and she ran up the stairs, then turned at the top and waited impatiently for me to follow her.
"Come on, hurry up." She giggled. "I want to grab some of my things and get back to the ranch, but first I want to do something special with you while I've got you here."
"Okay, I'm here. Now what's so darn important?" I asked as I got to the top step and reached for her hand.
"This way." She grasped my hand tightly in hers, dragging me along the short hallway. "The last time you were up here we didn't finish what we started, this time we can."
She led me through a door and into her parents' bedroom, then swung an arm around in a wide circle.
"Remember this room? This time there's no one to bug us and take our pictures. We're not drunk out of our skulls so we know what we're doing too, but I'm not about to let you run off on me again either." Carissa's grin was huge and her eyes were dancing. "So what do you say, Cowboy? Do you want to make up for the fun time you missed a few weeks ago?"
All I could do was to stare at her and slowly shake my head. That brought a frown to her face as she stared back at me in surprise.
"But why?"
"Well, I don't know for sure." I managed to find my tongue. "It just doesn't feel right in some way; I'm not positive why though. Maybe it's because my being a nice guy to you brought us together. On top of that, I'm not sure, but the idea of shagging you on your parent's bed seems rather disrespectful to them."
"Would you do it in my bed?"
"Probably, but not right now." I sighed and sat on the edge of her parents' bed, pulling her onto my lap.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, obviously surprised. "Did I do something you don't like?"
"No, not really. It's a combination of things." I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm feeling that pressure thing again. It's almost the same sort of pressure I was under before we started finals, you know, when I exploded at Wil. Only this time it seems more important somehow. I really don't understand it myself, so I don't think I can explain what I'm feeling."
"Okay, what do you want to do?"
"Well, you said you wanted to pick up some things and write a note to your folks, then I thought we were heading for the ranch? I'd like that 'cause I'd like to do some thinking and talk things out."
"Is that what you want? You still want me to be there with you?"
"Well, yeah. I do like you with me, but I do want to talk about it too." I looked at her in astonishment. "You didn't think I was rejecting you, did you?"
"I guess maybe I did." She sighed so softly I could hardly hear her even with her head resting on my shoulder. "I thought maybe you were upset with me over something."
"Oh you nut." I responded by hugging her tight. "If I'm ever upset with you, I'll be sure to let you know about it and I'll explain why I'm upset too."
"Promise?" She lifted her head and looked me in the eye.
"I promise." I smiled, then I kissed her.
Okay, so we didn't leave as quickly as I expected. After all I had to reassure her that I really was neither angry nor annoyed with her first, and of course that led to other things. Then her bed was in such a mess when I'd succeeded in reassuring her that she insisted we had to change the sheets before we left. After we'd finished doing that, it took a while to pack up the things that she wanted to take to the cabin. Finally she had to write a note to her parents, that little task took the longest time of all. By the time she was finished, I'd packed everything in the jeep and was waiting for her, trying my best to remain patient.
When we finally got into the jeep for the drive out of town, she started the engine and backed out into the street, then she paused. She looked around, then heaved a great sigh as if what she'd done gave her a huge amount of relief. I looked at her and wondered if I should ask for an explanation, but hesitated.
"If you were wondering what the sigh was for, I'm just feeling that I've taken my first step of independence, Chris." Carissa said quietly with a slight smile on her face.
"I don't think I understand."
"Well basically, the note I left told Mom and Dad where I was going to be and why, but I didn't ask permission. Instead, I told them what I was going to do. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I ever did anything like that and it feels great."
I didn't comment, but she must have seen my slight frown and raised eyebrows. I didn't really understand what she meant.
"You don't get it, do you?" She sighed again as she put the jeep in gear and began to drive slowly away.
"I don't think so."
"It's simple really. I've made up my mind that I'm old enough to make decisions on my own." She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm trying to be independent and grownup, so I'm telling them what I'm going to do, not asking them for permission. You probably wouldn't notice as much because your folks seem to let you make decisions all the time, but for me, this is a big deal."
I sat quietly for a few minutes, wondering how I should respond, but she didn't seem to notice my silence. In fact she was humming quietly to a tune on the radio, then abruptly she looked over at me, then sighed and switched the radio off.
"You're awfully quiet."
"Sorry, Carissa, I was wondering just what you wrote in the note." I admitted. "I suppose I was being selfish and wondering if anything you wrote was going to affect me."
"Oh, yes it will, but I don't think it will be bad in any way. Really, I just wrote that I wanted to stay with you for a while because I want to be certain that you'll have someone with you to lend a hand if you need it. On top of that, I feel I'm just getting to know you and I really like what I'm learning."
"I hope you're right. I wouldn't want your folks upset with us. The thing is I really didn't plan on anything like this, so I'm feeling my way as things happen. Maybe in the future we should talk before we make earth shattering decisions. After all, this sort of adds to the pressure we're both feeling." I said seriously.
"Well, I did mention it to you earlier and you didn't argue with me or anything." She sounded slightly hurt.
"I guess I was thinking about it, but not talking aloud about it." I sighed. "You see, like you said, I'm used to making decisions for myself, but I do it after I've talked to people that might be affected by what I plan to do. This decision of yours sort of snuck up on me and although you'd mentioned it, so many things have happened that I really haven't taken the time to consider all the implications."
We were both quiet for several minutes, then just before the turnoff toward Grampa Bender's ranch, she pulled over to the side of the road.
"Is something wrong?" I asked as I turned to look at her.
"Perhaps." She sniffed as if she was trying to hide tears. "I thought you'd be happy to have me staying with you."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to have you with me." I answered quickly. "We were just talking about having things like this putting pressure on us though and this is a perfect example. Then I said if I was ever annoyed with you, I'd tell you, right away. Well, this is like that, only I'm not really annoyed, I'm just looking at the situation for hidden complications, okay?"
"What hidden complications could there be?"
"Well, to start with your folks could decide I was being a bastard and influencing their daughter to do things they felt were wrong. I sure don't want that. If they felt that way your mom could go to your uncle Frank and influence him. Since he's becoming a good friend, I wouldn't like that either. On top of that your living with me is going to influence my family and my close friends. I don't know what effect that might have." I sighed slightly. "I just think we might have taken a little longer to think about this sort of thing before jumping in with both feet."
"Oh, I wasn't thinking of things like that." She whispered.
"Well, it's like you said I guess, I do make decisions, but I try to think of what it might mean to others before I do anything. Then too, I try to talk it out first before I go ahead with stuff. I hate it when I surprise people by doing something different than usual. I never know what to expect then. Instead I try to plan things so I can at least guess what's around the next corner. If the two of us make decisions without talking them out, we're going to both have surprises coming at us from all sides. I don't really think that's a good thing for us to go through."
She bit her lip and nodded her head. "I can see that."
I reached out and took her right hand in my left and smiled at her. "Look, I'm not suggesting that you don't come and stay with me, and I'm not really implying that you've made the wrong decision, because I don't know that. What I am saying is that if we're going to be a couple, then I think we need to talk things out before either one of us makes a major decision, that way we both have a better idea of what to expect will happen, okay?"
"Okay." She sniffed again, then leaned toward me and I knew she wanted another cuddle.
When we started out toward the ranch again, she asked me to drive. I was taking my time as we drove along the dirt road toward the ranch when I noticed a dust cloud in my rear view mirror and in only a few moments a car was overtaking us. Since we weren't in a rush, I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped to let it pass, mostly I wanted to see who would be coming up the road since it was relatively unused.
I was surprise to see that it was Tom. Actually it was Tom and George. When he saw it was us, Tom pulled to a stop behind me, then he and George hopped out and came up to the jeep. We could see that they had Corinna with them in the back seat, but Wil wasn't there.
"Hi, guys. What's going on?" I asked.
"Well, Corinna is with us. She wanted to talk to Carissa." Tom sounded hesitant.
"I'll go talk to her." Carissa volunteered instantly and I could see Tom and George's tension ease instantly.
I raised my eyebrows as if I was going to ask a question, but Tom lifted a hand as if to silence me, waiting until Carissa was opening the back door to his car and slipping in to sit beside Corinna.
"Corinna and Wil had a big argument." Tom said quietly and George nodded.
"Oh shit!" I sighed deeply. "It's a bad day today; Carissa and I had a bit of a discussion ourselves."
"Oh, this was more than a discussion." George snorted. "We were out in the barn, helping with the milking when we first heard them."
"Yeah, it sounded rough. They were screaming at each other." Tom agreed.
"Oh great, do you know what it was about?"
"Only that Corinna was telling Wil he needs to grow up and develop some balls." Tom shook his head. "I think it might have been about her staying on the farm with Wil, but I'm not sure."
"Oh boy!" I shook my head, then snorted. "In a way that's what Carissa and I discussed too."
Both Tom and George's eyebrows lifted questioningly.
"That's why we're not at the cabin already. She wanted to get some things from town and we had that gas tank to drop off, so we went there first. She left a note telling her folks that she wants to stay up at the cabin with me for a while."
"Oh, I see. By the way, did you see anyone at Mr. Dolens' garage when you dropped off the tank. Is there any chance it would be done soon?" Tom asked immediately.
"Yeah, Frank was there himself and he said he'd get one of his guys on the tank as soon as he could." I nodded. "Actually, he made another offer about the stock car that I wanted to talk to you guys about."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, you know that before he offered to be a sponsor for the car, providing us tires and things like that, as well as having one of his boys haul the car back and forth to the races, didn't you?"
"Unh huh, that's what Wil told us he'd said." George nodded.
"What did he offer this time?" Tom asked.
"Well, he offered to trade the stock car for this jeep, That way he'd own the stock car and would cover all the repair costs for parts of any kind, not just tires and things. The problem is that while I'd still be the driver, he'd keep the car at his shop and he'd want you two to work on it there."
"Oh man! I don't know how I'd do that." Tom shook his head. "There's just too much work on the farm to waste time driving into town to work on the car. It's not bad now, but I think that would eat up much time, just travelling back and forth."
"Yeah, I know I'd have a hard time with that." George agreed. "As it is, we can get a few minutes now and then, when things are slack, but that would be a pain in the butt."
"That's about what I told him, but he didn't want to take no for an answer. He wanted me to talk to you two first because he's offering to train you guys, probably to become mechanics, I guess. At least I think that's what he was implying. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure, but he did say he wanted his mechanic working with you, if he owned the car."
"Well, right now it is your car, not ours, but I'd rather work on it if you own it, not him." Tom frowned. "Besides, if I want to become a mechanic, I'd like to take a proper automotive course at a college or technical school."
"Me too." George nodded. "Screw being a mechanic though. I don't know what I want to be yet, but I'm darn sure I want something where my hands aren't greasy all the time. I mean, I like working with you guys and all, but I hate having to spend an hour every night trying to get my hands clean."
"Aww, you poor guy." Tom laughed at him, then grabbed George in a headlock and rubbed a slightly grimy looking hand on George's face. "There, now your face matches your hands."
Of course that led to a short tussle. Tom won handily, but George managed to wipe a hand across Tom's face before he gave up because he was collapsing in laughter. I just sat in the jeep and chuckled at the two of them until they'd quit fooling around.
"So, do you two want to tell Frank what you think, or should I do that the next time I see him?" I asked.
"Well, he made you the offer." Tom shrugged. "I really don't think it's our business."
"Hey, I think of that car as ours, not just mine so it's just as much your business." I argued.
"Unh uh, on paper, it's your car, Buddy." George shook his head. "By the way, if you got the jeep from him, you'd have to buy a license and insurance for it. Did you think of that?"
"Actually I don't think I'd insure it if I took him up on the deal. I'd leave it up at Grampa Bender's place to use there. As it is, I'm trying to come up with another trade he might take me up on because I think it would be handy to have it up there."
"You know. That's not too bad an idea." Tom nodded. "That way you could get around the steep grades. Besides, even if this back road gets torn up and muddy, anyone who was up there would have a way to drive down to the farm if they had to."
"Yeah, the cops don't check this road much to see if the cars that drive up here have a license and insurance." I grinned at him because I knew neither he nor George had their driver's license yet.
"Hey, the car has got a license and insurance, and even if I don't have my full license, I've got a learner's permit. That means since I've got Corinna along, and she has her license, I'm legal." Tom grinned right back.
We might have carried on teasing and kidding each other, but Carissa came back to the jeep just then.
"I'm sorry guys, but do you think I could talk to Chris privately for a bit?" She asked.
"No problem, we'll go keep Corinna company while you do." Tom offered as he and George walked away toward the car.
"Well, what did they fight about?" I asked quietly. "More important, is their fight serious?"
"I'm not sure that Corinna even knows for sure what the argument started over." Carissa sighed. "I know she must have pissed off Wil by comparing him to you though."
"Oh, friggin' great! That's just wonderful! Just what I need right now." I shook my head. "First I piss Wil off by chewing him out in front of the whole family about his actions with Corinna and my car, then she tries to compare the two of us and manages to make him feel upset again. What's she trying to do, get Wil and me fighting or something?"
"I don't think she meant to do that at all." Carissa sighed. "I don't know if she even knew what she was doing."
"Well, what does she want to do now?"
"What she'd like to do is to come up and spend the night with us."
"Cripes, with of us? In that tiny cabin?"
"Oh come on, the cabin isn't that small and there is a roll-away foldout bed that she can sleep on."
"Oh man! All I wanted to do tonight was talk to you, just to try to get my own head screwed on right." I sighed, then smiled sadly at Carissa. "However, if you think having her there will help her feel better, I guess I'll say okay."
"Well, it's either that, or I take her back to town tonight and stay there with her. I really don't want to do that, but I don't think she should be alone either." Carissa sighed as well. "This whole deal is too complicated for words."
"Yeah." I laughed sardonically. "I thought life couldn't get much more complex right now, but I was wrong."
"I think life can always get more complex." She smiled at me. "I promise that I'll do my best not to add any more complications to your life without doing my best to warn you first though."
"Thanks." I grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Really, I think we can help each other reduce the complications in our own lives, it's the outside influences that we might have to worry about."
"Well, I'd have to say that I can't see Corinna as an outside influence. She's my twin sister, so she's like a part of me."
"Sort of, love you, love your sister, huh?" I squeezed her hand again.
"Unh uh, not in your case, for you it's more like love me, respect my sister." She grinned and squeezed my hand in return. "She can sleep in the foldout bed, but you get to cuddle me."
"Aww, gee, no threesomes?" I couldn't help grinning at her, more to let her know I was teasing than anything else.
"You wish." She snorted with a smile, then grew serious. "So, is it okay for her to stay overnight? I can always run her to town tomorrow. If I time it right, I can get rid of that note I left for Mom and Dad, then talk to them in person."
"Yeah, I guess she can stay, and I think the idea of talking to your folks in person is a good one." I nodded. "That's another case of reducing complications."
"I thought you'd think that." She leaned over and snuggled for a second, then pulled away again. "I guess we'd better get my dear sister, huh?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
With that we hopped out of the jeep to go talk to Tom and Corinna.
Instead of having Corinna ride with us, Tom decided he wanted to come up and look over Grampa Bender's place since he hadn't been there for a while. He wasn't worried about driving back, the chances of getting stopped by the police and checked for his drivers license was negligible since this was such a seldom used dirt road. George insisted that he could talk the cops out of giving Tom a ticket in any case. I'll admit I had a suspicion he was right.
In only minutes we were underway again. Carissa and I were in the jeep, leading the way, while the others followed in the guy's car.
We crested the hill overlooking Grampa Bender's valley just as the sun was setting. That meant once we arrived at the cabin, I had to hurry to shut in the chickens, the pig and the cows with young calves before dark. Then I had to feed everything. By the time I finished the evening chores, all of Carissa's things from the jeep and anything Corinna had brought with her in the other car had been moved inside.
When I walked in, I saw Carissa had set the coffee pot on to perk, but she and everyone else were out in the back porch of the cabin. They were talking about setting up the roll-away folding bed out there because it would give Corinna some privacy.
I should explain that the cabin was 'L' shaped with the kitchen/ livingroom taking up the long leg of the 'L' and the bedroom being the short leg, however, the roof was square. The overhang of the section of roof next to the bedroom had long ago been turned into a fully screened back porch and was as big as the bedroom. That back porch gave Grampa Bender a place to store a few days' firewood and his old gasoline powered washing machine, as well as a cool place to sit on a hot summer day.
It had also been a place to keep a bucket that he used for nighttime 'emergencies,' since the house didn't have an indoor bathroom. At Grampa Bender's age walking across the yard at night was no picnic, so that bucket got used a lot. That was one of the first things I'd changed when I had come to stay and look after the place. The bucket now hung upside down on a fence post in the back yard, but first it had been emptied, then refilled with clean water, and soaked. Actually that had been done several times before the bucket had been well washed and left to air out. In my opinion it could hang on that fence post until the day Grampa Bender came home and needed it again.
That evening though, the three of us guys soon had all the firewood and the old washing machine shifted into one corner of the porch, then we swept the floor. Next I showed Carissa how the windows swung down on hinges from where they hung against the ceiling while Tom and George brought the folding bed out and opened it. After that the twins shooed us out, telling us to go have a coffee out on the front porch while they finished the job.
"Gosh, Chris, are you going to be safe with the two of them here tonight?" Tom teased as we plopped on the benches on the front porch of the cabin with our cups of coffee.
I just snorted in response, not bothering to say a thing.
"Man, I would love to see Sid and Ray's faces when they hear about this and realise that you're here, spending a night all alone with the 'Ice Cubes' because they tried to frame you." George snorted in suppressed laughter.
"Yeah, it won't matter what the truth is, in their minds they'll turn it into an orgy and envy you forever." Tom chuckled. "It was bad enough before, when they heard that the twins were staying at your house."
"Huh, did you guys say something to them about that?" I frowned at him.
"Oh, not directly." George tried to look innocent. "We just happened to be talking to each other about you being wracked up by your horse and having the girls in tears. They just might have overheard us though."
"The funny part was that a couple of days later you were sporting Sandy on your arm at a baseball game and the twins were still out on the farm, living in your house." Tom laughed aloud. "In the last month or so, that Mr. Innocent reputation you had sure got shot all to blazes."
"Just what are you guys talking about." Carissa said as she came out the door to confront the guys. "Whatever it is, could you make sure it won't upset Corinna?"
"Oops, sorry." George seemed to shrink. "I wasn't thinking of that. We were just kidding Chris about things."
"It's okay, Corinna needed the biff and went out the back way, so I don't think she heard anything, but could you change the topic for now, maybe?"
"Sure." George nodded.
"Corinna is using the outhouse? I sure hope Grampa Bender hasn't used all the black and white pages out of the Simpsons Sear catalogue. Those coloured pages hurt if you get a fold in the wrong place." Tom looked askance.
"She'll be fine." I chuckled. "I brought along several rolls of the good stuff when I came up here."
"And I brought more today." Carissa giggled. "I just hope the flies don't bother her too much. They're vicious in there."
"Oh man, that's what I forgot when I got groceries the other day. I was going to go to the lumberyard and get some quicklime. Would you remind me to put that on the list, Carissa?"
"Quicklime? What does that do?" She asked.
"Well, when you have a . . . unh, when you have a dump, you should spread a bit down the hole. It helps hold down the smell and the flies." I think I actually blushed. "There's a bucket of white powder in the corner and a big wooden spoon that you use. That powder is quicklime and it can burn if it gets on you, so don't get it on your hands. Oh, and for gosh sakes if you happen to spill any on the seat, get a bucket of water and wash it away."
"Oh yeah." George nodded. "Otherwise the next person in there will get an awful hot seat."
"Are you talking from experience, George?" Carissa couldn't help grinning a bit.
"No, I've just heard stories." He shook his head. "Mom used to tell me about a girl she knew at a country school when she was a kid that got an awful burn from that stuff."
Just then we heard a small noise from inside and Carissa excused herself to go back in. A moment later, Corinna came out to thank the guys for the ride from the farm, but she was only there for a few seconds, then she was gone again.
Since it was getting dark, the guys left only a few minutes later. I sat on the front porch petting the old dog and watching the lights of the car climb the hill, then disappear over the crest.
That's when it really sank in that I was alone with the twins in an isolated cabin. I couldn't help but grin because I was reminded of George's thought that 'Rotten Ray' was actually responsible for the situation in one way or another. I decided that one day I was going to have to thank him, but perhaps it might be best to wait a while.
After all, life had been throwing me curve balls lately and I really didn't know what to expect next. With that thought in mind, I got to my feet, gathered up the three coffee cups, then went to the door. I let out a little sigh as I opened it to go inside, readying myself to face whatever new surprise life and the twins had in store for me.