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From: Daphne Xu <daphneXU@PSEUDOnym.mixTUREminIATURE.netMUNIST>
Subject: {ASSM} "A Bikini Beach Summer" (18/21) {Daphne Xu}   (tg,magic,mc,off-screen sex,teens,young)
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Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 03:10:03 -0400
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    A Bikini Beach Summer
    by Daphne Xu

    Part 18

Thanks to ElrodW, Bikini Beach's creator, for invaluable comments
on this story.  The Bikini Beach universe and its principal
characters are copyright 2001 by him.

Any comments about Bikini Beach, how it works, what it does, by
characters other than Anya or Grandmother are potentially
non-canonical and wrong.  As this story is told from a particular
point of view by the protagonist, this includes comments by the
narrator.  The protagonist, and thus the narrative, are what the
protagonist believes or interprets from what he is experiencing.
Thus some of the mechanics of BB are biased by the protagonist's
view and experiences.  Furthermore, because of the particular
viewpoint of the story, those errors often won't be corrected. 
When the errors are corrected, the correction will often be
disbelieved and rejected.

         Monday, July 21

I awoke the next morning, feeling utterly depressed and wondering
why. Running over yesterday's events, I realized I felt sorry for
Ma.  I kept thinking over and over, how hard Ma worked for us at
home -- the feast she made yesterday, for example.

Then at Bikini Beach, when she finally remembered what she'd done
to Peter/Ruth, even Bikini Beach admitted that they had horribly
wronged Peter -- Bikini Beach, which had actually done the job. 
Ma had taken several heart-rending blows.  Ruth had even
renounced Ma as her Ma.

I found myself weeping, when Ruth knocked at the door.  "Come in,
Ruth."

She entered and sat on my bed.  "We were horrible to Ma," she
said somberly.

"Yeah.  Everyone was, except Mrs. Winstead.  And Pa," I added as
an afterthought.

"We were horrible to Mrs. Winstead, too," said Ruth.

"Yeah, although I'm not feeling very sorry for her.  If anyone
was the villain, she was."

"The police interrogators were," she corrected me.

I didn't want to get into any dispute with Ruth about meaning
villains at the conference, so I simply agreed, "Of course."

We sat for a moment, then Ruth said, "I'm so grateful to Anya for
what she did to my memories of the interrogation.  It seems like
only a bad dream now.  I don't think I could live with the
memories."

I couldn't help crying at that, and couldn't say or do anything
other than pull Ruth against me for a hug.  I felt myself getting
sleepy, and said as much.  Ruth grabbed the covers and pulled
them over both of us, and we lay down and slept for another
couple hours.

We awoke to a soft knocking on the door.  The door was slowly
opening, and Daisy peeked from behind the door.

"Hi Daisy," I greeted her.  "Come on in and join us.  I have to
go to the bathroom first."  I slipped out of bed, did the job,
and returned and sat on the bed.

"I want to go to the library," said Ruth.  "I want to really see
how much of Peter's skills I've retained.  It's not just
knowledge; one can look up facts.  I mean like math -- algebra,
the ability to do problems.  I'm afraid this would bore you,
Daisy.  I'm sorry."

"That's Peter in you," said Daisy.  "What you learned in high
school."

"I hope I haven't lost too much," said Ruth.  "You'll probably be
bored with it."

"Oh, I'll be fine.  I'll go to the usual area, and maybe get the
next Tamora Pierce book."

We finally got up and went downstairs.  It was rather late, and
Pa had apparently left for work.  Ma was in her bedroom, but came
out to warm up breakfast for us.  She reached for the cassette
player to turn on the Mental Work, but Ruth grabbed it first.

"We've all heard it," she said.  "Many times.  At the one
critical issue where success was most essential, the Mental Work
utterly failed."

Ma stood there, limp, obviously trying to hold in her tears. 
Even though it was one of the hardest and most embarrassing
things to do -- for me as Luke (it would have been different as
Lucy, thinking I was always Lucy) -- I got up and hugged Ma.  She
cried on my shoulder, and both Ruth and Daisy went around to hug
her as well.

After a while, she pulled away and conceded, "Very well, I won't
require you to listen to the Mental Work, or the Lesson anymore."
 She sounded resigned.

"Ma, I still have ballet today, and Luke still has piano lessons
and Taekwondo.  May we go to the library?"  Ruth asked.

"Yes, you may."

We went upstairs, and changed into our uniforms -- my white TKD
uniform and Ruth's leotard with the wrap-around skirt.

On the way to the library, I asked Ruth, "Are you okay with
ballet?  I mean, now as Peter?"

"Sure, no problem.  I'll admit that, as Peter, the notion of
wearing a leotard and doing ballet would have mortified me had it
ever occurred to me.  But I got over it rather quickly once I
became Ruth.  And as I said yesterday, Taekwondo and ballet make
a lethal combination."

"For me, the notion of being a girl mortified me, when I found
out, that is.  It must have been double for you, turning into a
little girl," I said.

"Embarrassing, mortifying, and really really creepy, utterly
strange. Seeing you changed as well reduced the embarrassment. 
But then you started talking strange, and acting strange."

"As if I were always Lucy, and you were always Ruth," I said. 
"That must have been... must have driven you crazy."

"And how!  Then Ma appeared, and you left me to her tender
mercies."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, remembered how Ma viewed Peter
at the time.  I reached down to hug her.

"Wasn't your fault," she said.  "Ma practically taunted me that
you wouldn't remember anything.  She was almost Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde to me."

"Who are they?" asked Daisy.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" asked Ruth.  "It's an old story, one I
didn't actually read, although I saw an old movie of it. 
Basically, Dr. Jekyll is a doctor and an inventor He invents a
potion that separates a person's bad side from his good side.

"When he drinks the potion, he turns into a psychopathic killer
named Mr. Hyde.  Mr. Hyde gradually takes over Dr. Jekyll.  Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have become the metaphor for someone who's
nice and friendly with (say) your parents, but then turns into a
witch with you.  She could be a teacher."

"Oh," said Daisy.

Carol was at the library again.  We saw that she was reading a
magazine. She jumped and ran toward us.  "Hi, guys!" she said
breathlessly, hugging first me and then Ruth and Daisy.  I
noticed she seemed a bit flushed.

"There's so much I have to tell you, Carol!" I said, hugging her
again.  "A lot happened yesterday."

"Luke," said Ruth.  "Don't worry about getting me to ballet. 
I'll make it on my own.  Go ahead and do your own things."

I leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Is it okay if I tell
Carol about yesterday?"

Ruth said out loud, "Go ahead.  She knows most of it already."

"Let's go outside," said Carol.  "That way, we don't have to keep
our voices down."

As we walked out, I glanced back at Ruth and Daisy.  They were at
the table Carol was sitting at, and I saw Daisy peek under the
magazine.  It was just a glance; I couldn't make out if anything
really was underneath.

Once we were outside, Carol said, "I couldn't help it; the
temptation was too great.  I had to read 'Forbidden Flowers'
again."  She took a deep, deep breath.  "I really have to get Mom
to put me on birth control."

Yikes!  I wasn't sure which scared me more, the shocking exciting
prospect that Carol might actually have sex with me, or that
Carol might actually ask her Mom about such things.  I grabbed
Carol and pulled her into a tight embrace, and she pressed her
mouth up hard against mine.  We kissed and made out for several
minutes, before I had to come up for air.  I was red-faced, and
even Carol had a tinge of red.

To change the subject -- and to get back to what I'd wanted to
tell her in the first place -- I said, "A lot happened.  Um, you
still remember me as Lucy, right?"

"Yeah.  It's so weird!" she answered.  "I mean, Saturday was the
first time I saw you as Lucy, but remembered Luke.  And now I
remember Lucy.  There's a whole world of difference between
figuring out and knowing intellectually that you were a girl, and
actually remembering it.  Then seeing you as Lucy and remembering
Luke.

"The closest I came before was when I joined Vernon and you
together in line for Bikini Beach.  I'm not even sure now,
whether I remembered Vernon or Vanessa before seeing you guys. 
But during that half-hour at least, my memories of Vanessa were
retconned into memories of Vernon.  I only consciously remembered
a few things, but overall I remembered Vernon at Bikini Beach."

"That was when Mrs. King got us the two-week passes, and we
turned into Vanessa and Lucy."

"Yeah.  Then bizarrely, I remembered being with Vernon and Lucy
in line."

"While I remembered only Vanessa, once she changed."

"Yeah," she said.  "I continued to remember Vernon, while you
remembered purely Vanessa.  But all three of us remembered only
Lucy."

"That was Ma's doing," I answered.  "She and Mrs. Winstead
arranged the whole cursed thing."

"Well, to continue my story, my memories of Vanessa reverted to
the proper memories once she changed.  I still remembered, during
that half- hour of Vernon, remembering Vanessa as Vernon -- vague
memories except for a few that I consciously went over.  For
example, I still remember remembering the false memory of meeting
Vernon the first time at Bikini Beach.  Boy, that sounded
convoluted, didn't it?"

"No, not at all," I said.  "I have a lot of that myself. 
Embarrassing case in point -- not that the whole thing about
being a girl with Pa isn't embarrassing enough --" Carol laughed.
 "But anyways.  Remember that time I was terrified of going home
and being caught by Pa in a bikini?"

She nodded.  "You got a one-piece swimsuit."

"Yeah, I wised up.  Having Pa see me in that was embarrassing
enough, but at least he grudgingly accepted those for swimming. 
But then I became Luke, and memories changed.  Luke went home
wearing a tight girl's one-piece swimsuit."

Carol squeaked, suppressing her obvious laughter.  "Sorry.  I
can't help laughing every time I think of it, even though I know
it didn't happen."

"Yeah," I agreed.  "Utterly silly-looking.  Pa began chewing me
out, and our confrontation almost got violent.  It didn't happen.
 I no longer remember it happening, but I remember remembering it
and repeatedly going over it.  And Saturday, I brought that
swimsuit with me to Bikini Beach, firmly deciding to wear it
again -- just to say, `Up yours!' to Pa."

"Yeah, that's what I was talking about.  I only saw Vernon that
half-hour in line.  But with you, I'm remembering a whole slew of
false memories of you as Luke, false memories of you as Lucy,
genuine -- I hope -- memories of both."  She laughed and said, "A
very hot, very handsome guy.  A very hot, very pretty girl."  She
grabbed me in a hug, and we kissed and made out again.

I looked her up and down.  "And my memories of you: all girl,
very pretty, whose smile lights up the world."  I blushed while
saying that, and we kissed some more.

"Say, Luke.  Is it time for piano yet?"

"Yikes!"  I glanced at my watch.  "Still half an hour to go. 
Ruth has all of Peter's memories now -- I haven't told you that
story yet.  Let's get my stuff, and I'll tell you on the way."

We returned to the library's front desk and I retrieved my
knapsack with my piano music.

"Going home, meeting Ma and Pa as Lucy, was a frightening and
embarrassing thing Saturday," I said.  "They had no memories of
Lucy -- only Daisy did. They were easily persuaded that I was
Luke, even though I was, in Pa's words, `a very pretty young
teenage girl.'  They said I looked both like an older version of
Ruth and a very young version of Ma."

Carol giggled.  "I can imagine it, a boy being seen as a very
pretty young girl -- by one's parents no less.  Becky expressed
the same sentiments."

"My bedroom, or Lucy's, clinched it for them, I think."

"Anyways, I persuaded Ma to make up with Mrs. Winstead, and
invite her for Sunday dinner.  I had the idea of having Mrs.
Winstead come clean about Bikini Beach.  At the same time, I
proposed to Pa that Daisy and her parents come for Sunday dinner.
 Oh, I'm so sorry.  I should have invited you, too."

"Oh. that's quite all right."  She smiled and put her hand on my
shoulder.

I forgot for a moment what I was going to say.  Then, "Yesterday
morning, we got to talking a bit.  Mainly to confirm to Pa that
he wasn't dreaming the day before when he saw me.  We told him
about Bikini Beach transformations.  I'm not sure he believed me,
since he remembered only Luke except for the day before
yesterday.

"We went to church.  Then after church, we had Sunday Dinner with
Mrs. Winstead and Daisy and her parents.  It took a while, but
then I managed to bring up Bikini Beach."

"How did that go over?" asked Carol.

"Mrs. Winstead confirmed that Ruth was indeed formerly my big
brother Peter, seventeen at the time, and accused of the rape and
murder.  We got into quite an argument in spots, with Mrs.
Winstead being fundamentally clueless about the very notion of
someone being falsely accused.  Oh, and Pa has forbidden us from
going to Bikini Beach, because of what it does to our minds.  I
can't go tomorrow, or any more."

"Oh, I'm so sorry.  The girls'll miss you."

"I'll miss them as well.  At least I'll continue to see you,
Carol. Anyway, ironically, we all went to Bikini Beach yesterday
to discuss Ruth and Peter.  Everyone except Mrs. Matsumoto and
Daisy.  I met Grandmother for the first time."

"Oh?  How did it go?" asked Carol.

"She wasn't stern in the least with me or Ruth.  In fact, one
glance at Ruth, and she freaked out with guilt.  She restored
everyone's memories of us, and what happened, including the
criminal case.  I don't know about Mrs. Winstead, but Ma was
finally convinced that she did Peter wrong. Peter was no
murderer."  I continued, wondering whether I should really say
this.  "I don't know if I told you this before, but," I was
really shaking with fear.  "The murder case was Alice's cousin's
murder."  There.  I got it out.

"I don't think you told me, but I pretty much knew it.  At least
Ruth, Peter didn't do it."

"We also learned that the day before Ma took us to Bikini Beach,
the actual murderer was arrested based on the DNA testing.  He's
not the current suspect.  Bikini Beach wiped that out when they
changed Peter to Ruth.  The current suspect is someone
different."

The subject was depressing, and we remained silent after this
until we reached Mrs. Prudence's house.

Carol waited outside while I had a piano lesson worse than usual
-- far from the worst, but still worse than usual.  Then we went
to the mall for Taekwondo, and then to meet Ruth and Daisy again
at the ballet studio.

I remembered doing ballet as Lucy.  I tried a few leaps and spins
on the way.  My mind remembered, although my body was overly
stiff.  Nevertheless, I managed them without total clumsiness. 
Muscle-memory, I figured, must not be really muscle memory, but
some level of mind-memory.

Carol applauded, and then hugged me.  "Not bad!  Not bad at all!"

We reached the studio just as Daisy and Ruth emerged with other
kids.  One of them said, "They're here for you again, Ruth.  Hi,
guys!"

"Hi, guys!"  I responded.

Ruth whispered in Daisy's ear, then said, "See-ya, guys," to the
others. Ruth and Daisy both ran up and jumped on us, Daisy on me
and Ruth on Carol.

I lifted Daisy up for a good hug, and Carol hoisted Ruth with
some trouble. "Ooof!" she exclaimed.  "I'm not used to carrying
kids like this."

"This has been only a fairly recent development for me as well,"
I said while adjusting one hand under Daisy's bottom and the
other around her back to hold her firmly against me.  She wrapped
her legs and arms around me. "But one gets accustomed to it
quickly, especially when one discovers how wonderful it is.  But
don't expect us to carry you all the way home like this," I
added.  "I'm not quite up to that."

We were slowly making our way to the stairs, as the other girls
and boys from Ruth's ballet class rushed past us to get home,
many saying goodbye to Ruth.

"Carol, I never realized until now how pretty you are," said
Ruth.

"Geez, thanks, Ruth," Carol said.

"Pretty... hot... sexy," Ruth continued, in a husky voice,
sounding almost lecherous.  "If Luke had brought you home while I
was still Peter... well, it's very uncool to hit on one's kid
brother's girlfriend.  Nevertheless, I would have had a hard time
restraining myself from hitting on you-- " Carol emitted an
embarrassed laugh.  "Especially after getting to know you, even
risking making an enemy of my kid brother."  Ruth looked over at
me.  "You have excellent taste in girlfriends, Luke."

I blushed before I came up with an appropriate come-back.  "I
would simply have to console myself with Daisy."  I held her
tighter to me, and she kissed my cheek, as both Ruth and Carol
laughed.

Carol and I let down the girls when we reached the stairs down,
and we walked the mile walk home, talking about random things.

We spent the afternoon playing outside with other friends of
Daisy and Ruth until dinner time.

It was during dinner that the call from Mr. Matsumoto came. 
Daisy was momentarily scared that she should have gone home or
called at the very least, but his call was about something
completely different.  Pa spoke with him for a while, then hung
up and told us the news:

"Timothy Anderson, the suspect in the Denison murder has been
released on bail."

"Grandmother worked fast," commented Ruth.

"He's been released into his older brother's custody.  His bail
conditions are basically house arrest except for court
appearances and church attendance -- pretty much the same as
Peter's were over a month ago."

"I'm really frightened about his mental state," said Ruth.  "I
mean, I was enraged, imagining all sorts of vengeance against the
police, with a hair-trigger temper.  And he's been in jail more
than a month longer than me.  I hope he can manage to stay home,
holding to his bail conditions, and avoid ripping his house
apart.  Or maybe Grandmother softened his memories."

"I understand he lives in town in an apartment with his brother,"
said Pa. The rest of his family lives in a small town quite a
ways away.  He was here originally to attend a better high
school, and he just graduated this past spring."

"This is getting scary," I said.  I was afraid of learning
that...  "He's black, right?"

"Yes," said Pa.

"What was his name again?"

"Timothy Anderson."

"Also called Tim?  And he lives with his older brother in a
downtown apartment?"

"I don't know where it is, but yes, with his older brother,"
answered Pa.

"It sounds as if he could be..." I couldn't say it.

"Jen's friend Tim," said Carol.  "I've known it.  I never
mentioned it, because I didn't want to poison our friendships."

"At least we know he didn't do it," I said.  "The real killer was
arrested the day before Peter and I first went to Bikini Beach. 
When Peter became Ruth, Peter's arrest and the DNA testing that
acquitted Peter and got the real killer were wiped out, and Tim
was next in line after Peter for whatever motivated those cops."

"Excuse me," said Ma.  I glanced over at her, and saw her trying
to hold in her tears as she got up and left the room.

"Oh, oh, oh!" I said, distressed with guilt.

"I wish you hadn't discussed that in Ma's presence," said Pa.

"Oh, I know.  I know."  I was about to cry myself.  I moved the
plate out of the way, and lowered my head into my arms.  Carol
pulled herself against me, and both Daisy and Ruth came around
and squeezed in to hug me.  "I think Ma needs the comforting," I
said.

"Your Pa's gone to do it," murmured Carol next to me.

We didn't do much of anything that evening.  I practiced a little
piano and clarinet.  Carol had to go home, but before she left,
we talked with Pa about my going to Bikini Beach the next day.  I
didn't say anything about that "very pretty, young teenage girl."
 Things were too serious.

Pa was very sympathetic, but overall, very much avoiding a stern
tone, he reiterated the prohibition against Bikini Beach.  "Even
though Grandmother and -- what was her name?"

"Anya," I answered, quite sure who he was referring to.

"Yes, Anya.  They seem like very reasonable persons, but we still
don't know what they might do with our minds.  Sorry, Luke."

Carol then asked if I would be disappointed if she went to Bikini
Beach to join the other girls, instead of staying with me.  "No,
not at all," I lied.  Fortunately, I promptly came up with an
excuse that made me feel all the better.  "I don't want to lose
them.  You can keep me connected with them, when I can't see
them."

I walked her out to the bus stop, reaching it when the bus was
still visible several blocks away.  We made out until the bus
stopped and she boarded.  Then I returned home.

I practiced a little more piano, and then Ruth accosted me and
showed me an algebra problem.  "Luke, do you think this is right?
 Or did I merely do gibberish?"

I couldn't really tell from looking it over.  It was always
easier for me to do a problem myself, than to read and go over
someone else's work.  "I don't know.  Give me the problem itself,
and see if I can do it.  That's easier for me.

She gave me the problem, and I went to the kitchen table to do
it.  It was actually rather straight-forward, although it took me
a little time.  I eventually got the same answer as Ruth, and saw
that Ruth did pretty much the same as me.

"Looks like you did it right -- or roughly the way I did it," I
told her.

"Good," she said.  "It looks like I have at least some of Peter's
skills back.  I didn't just do random gibberish here."

Daisy, who'd been sitting in silence, glanced at the papers, and
said. "I don't understand a bit of this."

"Well," I said.  "The basic idea is that we would like to find
out what a number is.  We don't know what it is, but if we call
it a letter, then we can write down equations using it.  We solve
the equations for the letter.

"Here's a problem.  A class has 25 students.  There are five more
girls than boys.  How many boys and girls are there?"

"You mean, like ten boys and fifteen girls?"  Daisy asked.

"Yeah, very good, Daisy!  That was fast!" I said.  "We have a
procedure to follow, for when we encounter much harder problems.
For this problem, we might let G equal the number of girls, and B
equal the number of boys."  I wrote the problem down, and an
abbreviation for the definitions of B and G. "We know these two
facts: B+G=25, and G=B+5."  I wrote them down.

"Then we substitute for G its expression and get: B+B+5=25. We
subtract 5 from both sides of the equation and get 2B=20.  Divide
both sides of the equation by 2, and get B=10.  So we have 10
boys.  Substitute that number into G=B+5, and we get 15 girls."

Ruth said, "I remember, we were allowed to solve the problem in
our head, like you did, Daisy.  But we had to show that the
conditions of the problem were satisfied.  Like, fifteen is five
more than ten, or 15=10+5, and also 15+10=25.  Sometimes, there
might be a second solution.  The procedure allows us to conclude
that ten boys and fifteen girls is the only solution. Uniqueness,
they call it."

"This is tough," Daisy said.  "Hard."

"Ah, well," said Ruth.  "You don't have to do anything like this
for another few years."

"I took algebra last year, in eighth grade," I said.  "Funny,
when I was Lucy, I didn't remember taking algebra.  I thought I'd
taken different classes."

"Bikini Beach does that to you," Ruth said.

Eventually, it was Ruth's bedtime, and I went to bed at the same
time.

    Tuesday and Wednesday, July 22 and 23

I woke up the next morning.  My first thought was, "Yay!  It's
Tuesday! Bikini Beach any my friends!"  Then depression hit me as
I remembered, no more Bikini Beach.

I got up and used the bathroom, then returned to bed and lay in
bed awake for another hour.

Pa had already left for work by the time I got downstairs for
breakfast.  I saw no sign of Ruth and Daisy.  As I made myself a
breakfast of milk, orange juice, and cereal, Ma indicated the
cassette player with the Mental Work, but didn't actually turn it
on.  I didn't want to hear it.

"I should call Mrs. King, and tell her not to come pick us up," I
said to Ma, going over to the phone.

"I'll let you go to Bikini Beach if you want.  We don't have to
tell Pa."

"No, Ma.  Pa prohibited us from going, for good reason.  I have
no reason to go against Pa.  Anyway, he'd find out as soon as
Lucy returned home."

I got to the phone, and managed to reach them before they left. 
As soon as I identified myself as Luke, Mrs. King called for
Vanessa.

"Hey, Luke!  What's up?"

"Pa has forbidden us from going to Bikini Beach."

"He doesn't like you being Lucy?  Or he doesn't like the Bikini
part of Bikini Beach?" asked Vanessa.

"He's always tolerated the Bikini part, and my being Lucy merely
embarrasses him now.  What he's mad about, and firm about, is
what Bikini Beach might do to our minds.  He doesn't like it.  He
has absolutely forbidden us from going.  He remembers everything
now -- Ruth as Peter, the criminal case, the whole shebang."

Vanessa sighed audibly.  "We'll miss you, Luke.  And we'll miss
Lucy, too." I heard Helen in the background, and Vanessa talking
with her.  "Helen will miss Ruth, too."  More talk in the
background.  "She just asked about Daisy.  I think she wants to
see her again."

"Ruth and Daisy would be happy to see Helen as well.  She's
certainly welcome," I said.

We talked some more.  I thought of mentioning that Tim had been
let out of jail.  However, I decided against it.  Jen would no
doubt tell them at Bikini Beach.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes, and hung up, me with a sigh.  I
was going to miss them.  The day loomed empty and boring now.

I practiced a half-hour of piano and a half-hour of clarinet,
then got out a book to read and settled down in the living room.

Ma was doing chores, and I was feeling guilty sitting about when
she was working.  When she started vacuuming the living room, I
got up and went to her.  "Ma, may I take over from you?  You
might want a little rest."

"Why thank you, Luke!"  I took the vacuum cleaner and tried to
vacuum the living room properly.  Ma didn't sit down to relax,
though.  She found another thing to do while I vacuumed.

After the living room, I decided to vacuum the stairs, and then
my bedroom. I had to neaten my room just a bit, in order to get
everywhere.  I didn't go in anyone else's bedroom or the
bathroom.  Instead I went to the stairs down to the basement, and
then the basement playroom itself.

I came back upstairs, ready to put the vacuum cleaner away, when
the front door opened and in stumbled a very tearful Carol, arms
around Daisy and Ruth holding her tight on either side.

I left the vacuum cleaner and ran to Carol, who burst into tears
as my arms went around her and she pressed against me.  It seemed
that any remaining jealousy Daisy had of Carol had disappeared.

What happened?

Carol started talking.  "We've broken up!" she said in a burst of
new tears.  "Tim was freed from jail.  Jen was so happy and
excited.  Then Alice came, furious that the suspect in her
cousin's murder was released on bail.

"Vanessa took Jen's side, and Becky took Alice's," Carol said. 
"I was on Jen's side, of course, and I tried to explain that Tim
was innocent of the murder.  I mangled it, I know."  She cried
some more.  "I don't know what I said wrong, but Jen and Vanessa
turned against me as well!  I finally ran off, left Bikini Beach,
and came here."

We found a seat and sat down, with Carol on my lap.

"You were vacuuming, when I got here," said Carol.

"I'd just finished up," I said.  "I've been feeling really sorry
for Ma about everything Ma did for the family."

"That's very nice of you," said Carol.  "Most guys don't notice.
Or they're too lazy.  Or they think it's all women's work."

"Sunday at Bikini Beach hit Ma hard.  After she made the big
Sunday Dinner for us."

We spent the rest of the afternoon together, doing various
things.  Carol stayed for dinner, and told Ma and Pa about what
happened at Bikini Beach.

"I take it you want Luke to return to Bikini Beach Thursday?"
said Pa.

"If that's okay with you," said Carol.

Pa pause a minute, obviously thinking.  I thought of saying that
he would see that "very pretty, young teenage girl" again, but
decided against it. Now was not a time to joke, or to torment Pa.

He finally said, "Okay Luke, you may go."

"What about--" began Ruth.

"Yes?" said Pa.

"Nothing," she said, looking at Daisy, sounding depressed.

Ma came up with correct explanation.  "Ruth wants to see her
friends at Bikini Beach, but doesn't want to leave Daisy behind."

"I've managed.  I play with other friends when Ruth isn't
around," said Daisy.  "However."  She jumped up and ran to the
phone.  She came back a moment later and said, "Dad says I can go
Thursday if Ruth and Luke go!"

"Yippee!" exclaimed Ruth, jumping up to hug Daisy.

This evening was more or less routine.  Ma went to her Tuesday
Firmlove meeting.  Carol had to go home, Daisy stayed the night,
and I practiced some on piano and clarinet.

Wednesday was routine, but quiet.  We went to the Library and met
Carol.  I had Taekwondo and Ruth had ballet.  We had church that
evening. 

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