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From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} A Different Sort Of Lifestyle 23 (MF, rom)
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Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 12:10:05 -0500
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Lazlo Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
 
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<1st attachment, "Life01-23.txt" begin>

A Different Sort Of Lifestyle
Chapter 23: Thorns in the Rose Garden
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2006

The women were in the kitchen preparing some snacks for their 
quiet hour around the pool. Greg and Harry were waiting for them 
sitting in lawn chairs beside the pool. Greg stared at Harry 
wondering why his son was acting so edgy. In a way, it was as if 
he was angry about something. It was hard to keep from wondering 
if this was another test of his fitness as a parent. Rather than ignore 
the problem like he had in the past, Greg asked, "What is it, 
Harry?"

"Nothing," Harry said. His answer was almost violent in its refusal 
to admit that something was on his mind.

"Oh," Greg said resisting the urge to shrug his shoulders. There 
were occasions when Harry seemed to slip back into a resentful 
state of mind. Usually, there was something that triggered it, but it 
was understandable. Greg had ignored his son's problems in the 
past; a fact that still made him feel guilty. He said, "Last time 
nothing bothered me so much, it turned out to be something."

Harry stared at his father and shook his head as if to let his father 
know that he didn't understand the problems faced by a teenage 
boy. He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. It was the 
universal teenage position that screamed, `Don't talk to me.'

Greg ignored the body language and said, "Last time I said nothing 
was bothering me, I was positive that I was heading towards a 
divorce. In hind sight, I'd have to say that was something."

The little bombshell had the desired effect. Harry blurted out, 
"Ted's parents are fighting. He thinks they are going to get a 
divorce."

"Why does that bother you?" Greg asked surprised that the 
problem wasn't a little more personal for Harry.

The question was so unexpected that Harry stared at his father 
unable to answer it. At first he wondered if his father was telling 
him that he was shallow and couldn't care about other people. A 
burst of anger flooded over him and he rose from his chair. In a 
tightly controlled voice, he asked, "Why shouldn't it bother me? If 
you hadn't noticed, I can care about people."

Before Harry had a chance to say anything more, Greg said, "You 
don't even know Ted that well. I mean, he's not your best friend or 
anything, is he?"

Harry didn't know how to respond. It was an accurate statement. 
He and Ted had gotten together three times since the attempted 
attack. The first time had been when Ted's parents had brought 
him over to the house. The second time had been the next morning 
when Ted had called out of the blue and ended up coming over for 
a swim. The third time was this morning when Ted told him that 
his father was now sleeping in the guest room. It didn't matter; 
Harry still felt angry at the perceived suggestion that he couldn't 
care. Frowning, he asked, "So what? Is that any reason not to 
care?"

Greg studied Harry for a minute without answering. When he 
decided that Harry wasn't going to calm down, he tried to figure 
out the source of his son's anger. The answer came in a flash of 
inspiration, he said, "You feel responsible for his life."

Automatically and without thought, Harry said, "No I don't."

"A kid that you don't know from Adam calls up and invites 
himself over to the house. You drop everything and entertain him 
all morning. You do that a couple of times. Now you're all worked 
up about his parent's marriage. It sounds to me that there's 
something there. If you hadn't disagreed with me, I'd have sworn 
that you felt responsible for his life," Greg said watching Harry 
carefully. 

"Why would I feel responsible for his life?" Harry asked. His 
father's comments struck too close to the truth. Why was he so 
upset about Ted's parents? 

"There's nothing more significant in a person's life than a brush 
with death. Folks that share that kind of experience tend to feel a 
bond that's difficult to break. You saved his life. Let's be honest 
about that. You did save his life. It is natural for you to feel a little 
responsible for his life. Otherwise, what good did you accomplish 
by saving him?"

Stunned by his father's statements, Harry thought about his 
reaction to Ted and his problems. Although his father's question 
was rhetorical, he felt as if he had to answer it. In a soft voice, he 
said, "Maybe you're right."

"So what do you want to do about it?" Greg asked thinking about 
the responsibility that Harry was taking upon himself.

"About what?" Harry asked thinking that the question could be 
interpreted several different ways. Was his father asking him what 
he wanted to do about his relationship with Ted? Was his father 
asking him what he wanted to do about the divorce? Either 
question didn't seem to have a good answer.

Greg looked at his son for several long seconds wondering why he 
was ducking the question. Then he realized the source of Harry's 
confusion. He said, "Let me restate that question. What do you 
want to do?"

"I'm just a teenager, there's nothing I can do to help his parents. I 
actually like Ted. Don't ask me why, but I do," Harry answered. 
He sat back down in his chair feeling defeated and asked, "So what 
should I do?"

"I have no idea. I don't have any advice for you," Greg said.

"What do you mean you don't have any advice? Isn't that your job 
as a parent?"

"If you haven't guessed by now, I pretty much suck at being a 
parent," Greg answered with a slight grin. 

"I wouldn't say that," Harry said. The past few months had been 
much better than he expected. 

Seeing the expression of surprise on Harry's face at the fact that he 
would admit it, Greg was also pleased that Harry suggested that he 
didn't suck at being a parent. He said, "I mean, up until recently I 
wasn't doing a very good job of being a parent."

"True," Harry said. 

"The fact is that you are facing issues that didn't exist for me. I 
never saved anyone's life. When I was a kid, none of my friends' 
parents got a divorce. I'm totally clueless about what you can do," 
Greg said, admitting that he didn't know what to do. The honest 
response felt rather liberating in the sense that he wasn't taking 
responsibility for trite answers.

"Oh," Harry said feeling a little disappointed. He looked down at 
the ground and said, "That sucks."

"Sure does," Greg admitted. He wished that he had some piece of 
wisdom to bestow upon his son that would fix the problem, but he 
didn't. He looked over at Harry and said, "That doesn't mean that I 
can't help you find a solution."

"You just said you didn't know what to do."

"True. That doesn't mean that we can't talk about it and figure out 
what you can try," Harry said. 

Sharon and Cathy came out of the house and noticed the males in a 
deep discussion. It looked like a very intense exchange. Still, it 
didn't look like they were angry at each other. Sharon looked over 
at Cathy and asked, "Do you think we should interrupt them?"

"I don't know. The appetizers will get cold if we don't serve them 
now," she answered looking at the tray of egg rolls she was 
carrying. 

"How about we pass the tray by them and go off to talk by 
ourselves," Sharon suggested. 

Cathy wondered what they would talk about, but she nodded her 
head in agreement. Passing the tray in front of Harry and Greg, 
they barely acknowledged her while removing a handful of the egg 
rolls. She followed her mother over to the patio and put the tray 
down on the table. She looked back at her father and brother 
wondering what they were discussing. Sighing, she sat down and 
said, "It's kind of rude to ignore us like that."

"We could see that they were involved in a discussion. It's kind of 
rude for us to interrupt it," Sharon said.

"I guess," Cathy commented. She said, "I know that things are 
better now, but there's something missing."

"What?"

"I don't know," Cathy answered. She sighed and looked at her 
father. The day when Harry had been attacked, her father had said 
that he loved them. He hadn't said anything like that since then. 

"You've never been very close to your father," Sharon said 
watching her daughter and thinking that it was a shame they 
weren't closer. She had always been very close to her father. Some 
of her fondest memories of her childhood were of sitting on her 
father's lap while he read stories to her when she was a little girl. 
He used to call her `Princess.'

"I guess," Cathy said with a sigh.

"We're still trying to work things out. Our lives were a real mess 
and we can't expect miracles. Your father is trying to patch things 
up with you kids the best he can," Sharon said.

"I know. I just wish that he'd give me half the attention that he 
gives Harry. He's taken him out driving all of the time. He bought 
him that new jeep. He's over there helping him with his problems," 
Cathy said.

Smiling at the sibling rivalry, Sharon said, "And it was his idea 
that you be allowed to have your boyfriend in your room. He's 
driven you on most of your dates."

"It was his idea?" Cathy asked surprised to learn that. She had 
always figured it was her mother's idea and that her father was 
forced into letting it happen.

"Sure. After Harry took on the serial killer, your father came to me 
and said that he didn't want you sneaking off into the woods like 
that with your boyfriend. We discussed the matter and he proposed 
that your room was probably the safest place for you two to make 
out," Sharon said.

"I didn't know that."

"Your father loves you very much."

"He doesn't say it," Cathy said. She sighed and said, "Sam says it 
all of the time."

"He does, does he?" 

"Yes, he does," Cathy answered with a dreamy look on her face. 
She really liked Sam. Sure he was a goofball at times, but he was 
fun and attentive to her. She was really enjoying the attention, 
particularly the physical attention. Things were really heating up in 
her bedroom. She suspected that they'd be doing it soon. The idea 
excited her while terrifying her at the same time.

"I'm too young to be a grandmother," Sharon said recognizing the 
look on her daughter's face. It wasn't going to be long before her 
little girl wasn't a little girl any more. She'd be a woman.

"We haven't done anything," Cathy replied defensively.

"Yet," Sharon said. The young woman crossed her arms and sat 
back in her chair. Seeing the result of her words, Sharon said, "Just 
be careful, honey. You've got your whole life ahead of you. 
There's plenty of time to experience everything."

Cathy looked over at her mother and thought, `You have no idea 
how long I've waited for this. Why should I wait any more?' 

As if she could read minds, Sharon sighed and said, "I guess I'll 
have to buy you some condoms. I should probably get some for 
Harry, too. I'm just too young to be a grandmother."

"You keep saying that! Do you think I'm a slut or something?" 
Cathy asked angrily. Once the words were out of her mouth, the 
rest of her feelings followed. "Do you think I'm so stupid that I'm 
going to go out and get pregnant? Jesus, give me a little credit! I'm 
not dumb. I've had sex ed in school. I know all about where babies 
come from. I know all about STDs."

The anger in her voice was impossible to ignore. Sharon wondered 
what she had said that was so wrong. Having sex for the first time 
was moving into dangerous territory. The emotions that it would 
provoke could be the best or the worst. If Sam was a jerk, then 
Cathy could be headed for a disaster. Shaking her head, Sharon 
said, "I'm just worried about you. My first time wasn't good. The 
guy I was head over heels about turned out to be a real bastard."

 "I'm not you," Cathy said. She stood up and stormed into the 
house. 

Unable to think of anything to say, Sharon watched her daughter 
leave. This wasn't the first time that a discussion ended in that 
manner. It just seemed to hurt a lot more this time than in the past. 
She wondered why and then realized that it was the first major 
blowup since they had changed their lifestyle. It hurt more because 
she felt closer to her daughter than ever before. 

Greg wandered over to Sharon and sat down in the chair that had 
been occupied by Cathy. Harry had gone into the house to think 
about his situation. Looking at his wife, Greg asked, "What 
happened?"

"Our little girl wants to be a woman," Sharon answered knowing 
that was the last thing that Greg wanted to hear.

Collapsing into himself, Greg said, "I don't want to hear that."

"I know. I didn't really want to hear that either," Sharon said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to buy the kids some condoms."

About to go off into a rant about how kids needed to be a little 
more responsible in their lives, he recalled that he had lost his 
virginity when he was about the same age as Cathy. The girl he 
had been with was the same age as Cathy. At the time he didn't 
think there was anything strange about having sex at that age. He 
sighed and said, "Talk to her mother before you do that. I'd hate 
for Jack to get pissed at Harry."

"You're worried about Jack?"

"Of course I'm worried about Jack. I know how he feels. He feels 
the same way that I do. I want to throttle that Sam kid," Greg 
answered. Just the thought of that boy touching his daughter made 
his blood boil. 

Sharon felt her stomach tightening. This was supposed to be their 
quiet time and it had been anything except quiet. She asked, "Are 
we headed back to the way things were?"

"Huh?" The question caught Greg by surprise.

"It just seems to me that we're all tense again. I thought things 
were going to be a little more tranquil as a result of the changes 
that we made," Sharon said.

Greg shrugged his shoulders and said, "I think that we have a lot of 
old feelings to take care of before things get tranquil around here. 
The kids are growing up and have problems. We have to deal with 
those problems."

"I guess," Sharon said. 

"I'm kind of surprised at how smooth things have been going. I 
figured that Harry would have blown up at me by now. We've got 
a lot of old habits that we fall back into at times. At least we are 
dealing with the issues now rather than ignoring each other," Greg 
said. 

Sitting back in her chair, Sharon thought about where their 
marriage had been headed and how it was now. There had been 
changes and most of them were good. At least now they were 
talking to each other. Their sex life had improved significantly 
despite their age. Sure there were times when the spirit was willing 
but the body wasn't. That wasn't all that bad. She asked, "Are you 
happy with how things have changed?"

"Yes," Greg answered automatically. He wasn't about to let any 
residual disappointments ruin what was turning out to be better 
than he had anticipated. 

"You answered that too quickly. I really want to know if you are 
happy," Sharon said.

"Things are better than I thought they would ever be."

"I think we are replacing some bad old habits with some not quite 
so bad new habits," Sharon said voicing a thought that had come to 
her while she had been in the kitchen preparing the appetizers. 

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we are trying to reproduce what the Greens have, 
but I'm not sure that is really us," Sharon said hoping that he 
wouldn't get upset.

The great experiment was only three months old and it seemed to 
Greg that things were already starting to fall apart. Images of 
returning to the bar to have a beer flashed in his mind. It was as if 
the bloated feeling of beer and stale popcorn was returning. 
Frowning, he asked, "Do you want to give up?"

"No, but I think we need to make some changes. Maybe every 
night is too much," Sharon said shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't get it. Is everyone in a bad mood tonight? Harry was all 
upset about Ted's parents maybe getting a divorce, Cathy wants to 
... Oh God, I can't say it ..., and you want to give up. What's 
going on?" Greg asked feeling sick to his stomach. He had been in 
a good mood when he had come home. 

"I don't want to give up," Sharon replied feeling angry that her 
words were being misrepresented.

"So what do you want?" he asked feeling confused by the direction 
of the conversation.

"I want things to be better," she answered. It was hard to believe 
how close she was to tears. 

"I thought things were pretty good. We're talking to each other 
now. That's an improvement. We weren't doing that before. 
Today's a little bump in the road. Big deal. We'll deal with it and 
get on with our lives," Greg said. Even while he said it, he realized 
that there were things that he didn't want to know. There were too 
many things that he didn't want to know. 

"I know," she replied. 

"Let's take a break and have a swim before dinner," Greg 
suggested.

"What about our problems?"

"I think it would be good to put a little distance between us and our 
problems for a bit before we tackle them," Greg said. 

"You mean pretend they aren't there," she said. The accusation in 
her voice was that he was suggesting that they ignore their 
problems in the hope that they would go away. That was how their 
marriage had been. 

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying that if we try to deal with them 
while we are all emotional then all that's going to happen is that 
we'll argue," Greg said. He had found that sometimes by working 
on something totally different than some critical problem that he 
would get inspired with something that would solve his problem. 

"That's the same thing," she accused. Her voice had taken on an 
angry tone. She didn't understand what his problem was. They 
needed to talk things out, but he was trying to avoid the issues. 

"No it's not," he said wondering why she was suddenly getting so 
angry. 

"Yes it is."

"All I'm trying to say is that we're too close to the problem to 
solve it right now," he said.

"I want to talk about it," Sharon said. Her fists had clenched and 
her eyes had narrowed.

"I don't understand. How do you expect to solve the problem when 
you're so emotional?"

"How do you expect to understand if you won't talk about it?"

"Huh? I think I understand the problem," Greg answered staring at 
his wife. He was beginning to get angry at her stubborn refusal to 
examine their problems rationally. 

Sharon stood up and left the patio without saying another word. 
She was too angry to talk. Greg watched her leave wondering what 
had happened. Alone, he looked around the backyard and threw his 
arms up in the air. With confusion evident on his face, he said, "I 
thought things were going well. What happened?"

Rising from his chair, he slipped off his robe and went to the edge 
of the pool. Taking his time, he lowered himself into the water and 
began swimming. It felt good to move around. The water was the 
perfect temperature and the chlorine levels were just right. 

While swimming, he thought about his conversation with Harry. 
The two of them had come up with the idea of having the Browns 
over to see how they had changed their lives for the better. Harry 
hoped that by having them here, they would see a way to save their 
marriage. It was about that time, that Greg realized that he hadn't 
told Sharon about having suggested they invite Ted and his parents 
over for a barbecue on the weekend.  He stopped swimming and 
said, "Oh, now Harry's going to be mad at me."
<1st attachment end>


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