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Get Tucky Tonight -*- Copyright 2001 by Ellen Hayes.

Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual
persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when
used for satirical purposes.

This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish,
state, and country.

All rights reserved.  See the bottom for distribution rights.


Get Tucky Tonight


***
20:34 15 Jul

     Travis laughed, and then added, "And then, remember..."
     His words faded as something caught me and scared the crap out of
me even before I remembered what it was.
     "Um, Travis?"  He looked down at me.  "I, uh, I gotta go the
bathroom for a bit, can you go out and wait by the truck?"
     "Well-"
     "Please?"  *Please, don't argue,* I wished as hard as I could.
     "Okay... I'll see you in a few minutes?"
     I nodded, and smiled for him, and then turned and ducked into the
crowd as quick as I could, checking the straps on my pack in case I had
to run for it, crouching down a little bit to reduce my height, and
starting to look around as fast as I could without looking conspicuous,
because I could smell it...
     Her.
     Debbie.
     "Valerie," came her voice from behind me.

***
20:35 15 Jul

     I spun around.
     There she was, in jeans and a shirt, looking cool and calm and
styled, like she almost always did, with a smile on her face I did not
trust.  She looked down my front as I paused, then back up at my face.
"I guess you really were that stupid," she said without losing her
smile.  "I didn't believe it, but there it is."
     I had no idea for a few seconds, until I realized that I was in a
sundress and she was probably referring to the tan lines.  At least,
that seemed the thing I'd done this summer universally described as
'stupid' by everyone that knew me.
     "Debbie," I smiled back.  "You've gained weight."  She had, too; at
least ten pounds, I guessed.  Enough to see, at least.
     Her face fell, and I was shifting into second gear, thinking of
nastier things to say at the same time I was side-scanning the crowd in
case she came at me again, when I heard Kathy declaim, "Val, you were
just leaving.  Debbie, you were going to the bathroom."
     We both turned, and Kathy was setting down a bucket of popcorn on
the floor and flexing her entire body at us.  And not smiling.
     The message was clear: I'm telling you both what to do, because I
can take both of you, right here and right now.
     I'd gotten that message before, from other people, and the only
thing to do was fade, and maybe settle things later.  If the person has
enough oomph to tell you something like that and make you obey, there's
nothing else you can do to save any face, except maybe kill them right
there...  So I faded, without looking back.
     I guess if I'd had moveable ears they would have been folded back,
though, because I was listening intently behind me.
     And I heard Debbie complaining, which I didn't think she was quite
clever enough to do as camouflage if she was following me; not now, at
least, when she was already pissed off.  I think I'd shaken her with
that weight comment, too.
     I did some circles in the parking lot, though, to make sure she
wasn't behind me, which she wasn't, and that no one else I knew was
coming at me either, which they weren't.  I finally made it to Travis'
truck, where he was standing and waiting.  And looking irritated, too.
*Great.*
     "Hi, ready to go?" I asked, putting a smile on and trying to look
happy.
     "What were you doing?" he asked directly, not sounding pleased
either.  "Who was that?"
     "Someone who doesn't like me, Travis.  Can we leave?  Like, now?
Please?" I asked him.
     He wasn't pleased, but he unlocked the door, and I made one last
survey of the parking lot - nothing unusual or familiar; either one
would have been potential trouble - before I climbed in.

***
20:47 15 Jul

     I had told him - shamelessly, insanely, I guess - that I would tell
him who it was if he bought me ice cream.  Moments later I was about to
retract my request with a begged 'please don't hurt me' but he had
agreed already.
     Weird.
     So, not being a fool, I waited until we'd gotten ice cream.  Not
being completely amoral, on the gripping hand, I paid for my own.
     "That was my ex-friend Debbie," I said.
     I was about to go into a long-winded explanation of how we'd been
friends until we got into a bad argument in a hotel room in L.A., which
was pretty close to the truth, when he said, "Lisa's girlfriend?"
     Long, long pause while my brain ran around in circles barking.
     About the time I had finally come to grips with the fact that I
wasn't the only one that knew Lisa and Debbie were, so to speak,
consummating a forbidden relationship, he fired the booster charge.
"Did you used to date her too?"
     And the bastard was looking at his ice cream when I looked up at
him.
     There really wasn't anything else to say except, "Yeah."

***
20:51 15 Jul

     I looked up at him, feeling stupid like I always did when I started
crying.  "I'm sorry, I just, I-"
     He stroked my hair, and I stopped trying to talk and just pressed
my face into his chest.

***
20:53 15 Jul

     "Come on, want your ice cream?" he rumbled.
     I looked up, suddenly realizing that I'd left everything inside
when I fled-
     But he'd brought both of ours out to his truck, which is where I'd
stopped, and both cups were sitting on the tailgate, waiting for me to
get done having a spasm.

***
21:00 15 Jul

     "So, I dunno..."  I shrugged, and shifted where I was sitting on
the tailgate.  "She liked me, I thought, but I guess she never trusted
me."  That still hurt.
     "That's rough," he agreed.
     Pause.
     "Can we talk about something else?" I asked.
     "Sure," he agreed.
     Pause.
     I sighed, then mentioned, "Travis, you have to come up with
something to talk about."
     "Me?  Why me?"
     "Because it's your turn?" I reminded him.
     He thought about it, ingesting some ice cream to help him think,
which looked like a good idea to me so I did it too.  Finally, he said,
"Can I pick something that's not upsetting to either of us?"
     "Yeah, I hope so," I told him.
     He smiled at me, and then pointed his spoon at my cup.  "You like
fudge ripple?  WITH chocolate syrup on top?"
     I had to admit, as I smiled, that this was probably not a
psychologically touchy subject for either of us.

***
22:18 15 Jul

     "I just, just, I like being around you," I said.  "So I don't want
to leave.  I hate working."  Because it kept me busy for far too long
every day, it seemed like.
     "Me too," he said.  "But, Val, I don't want you getting in trouble
for staying out too late-"
     "I know, I know... what are you doing tomorrow?"
     He sighed deeply.  "I, I've got to do some stuff with my mom, she
insisted.  I probably won't get free until Friday."
     "Can we-" he said at the same time I asked "Can we-"
     We chuckled, and I hugged him again.  "Page me?" I asked.
     "Since you gave me your number again," he sighed.  "I feel so
stupid-"
     "It's okay," I said.

***
23:49 15 Jul

     Incoming email with an X-Tucker-Important tag came through my
routing, so I got up to look because, well, it wouldn't have flashed and
beeped like that if it wasn't X-Tucker-Important.
     It was email from Mike, saying that he wasn't actually going to
make me and Amy metal nunchaku, because he'd almost broken his elbow
twice, and he'd messed up an elbow pad permanently - which took some
work; they made those things tough for a reason - with his, and so wood,
the Okinawan choice for a thousand years, was probably one of the better
materials for construction.  However, he had this other idea...
     I went back to bed at that point; it'd wait.

***
01:10 16 Jul

     I checked myself over, and I didn't feel anything especially
broken, just kind of bruised and scraped, so I headed towards the front
door.  *At least I sleep in something decent,* I had time to think as I
scrabbled over the fence.  Not like a T shirt and boxers were haute
coture, especially without shoes, but it would do for warm nights.
Much, much better than 'naked', anyway.
     It took a while for Dad to open the front door, and when he did,
his eyebrows were already up.
     "Dad, go check my room," I asked, and walked past him into his
office and found a blank index card.  "Here's the code," I told him as I
scribbled it down.
     He started slowly, "Wwwweren't you in bed?"
     "I was, until Debbie was in my room with something that smelled
like steel.  But then I was out the window and falling off the roof, so
I dunno if it's real or if I was dreaming it."
     He looked at me.
     I looked back at him.
     "You want me to back you up?" I asked him.
     "No.  I'll get Brian," he decided.  "You stay here."
     "Aye aye, staying here," I repeated, and handed him the card.

***
01:14 16 Jul

     "Challenge, four," said my brother.
     I had to think a moment, but I'd seen this week's pair on the
refrigerator several times today alone, so-  "Eight," I said back.
"Clear."
     "Clear."  Dad and Brian came into view, holding some expensive
hardware.  I let go of some more, and shut the drawer with my foot.
     Dad explained, "Your window's open, but there's no one there,
unless it's buried in the stuff," which I would have heard, "which you
would have heard," Dad said.  "And get out of my chair."
     "Well, I farted in it already, just like you like it," I said as I
got up, to show him I wasn't freaking out.
     You're not very humorous if it's serious, so if you're humorous,
it's not serious.  Though maybe we weren't that humorous, objectively
speaking, it was the effort that counted.
     "What the hell did you dream, anyway?" Brian asked me.
     "I was in my room, asleep, and then Debbie was in there somehow and
I could smell steel, like oiled steel, like a good knife or something?
You know that smell?"  He nodded.  "And then, right after that, like no
change at all, I was going out the window.  I jumped over the bushes and
landed right," 'right' being 'significantly unbroken afterwards', "and
then I came and got Dad."
     Brian asked, "Is she fucking with you, Tuck?"  Dad glanced at him
and then decided not to say anything.
     "Not really, I just ran into her tonight, while I was out," I said.
"Accidentally," I added for Dad's benefit, so he wouldn't think I'd gone
out hunting her and bungled it.  "Coincidence, I think.  We just
exchanged an insult or two, and then a friend of hers- Kathy, the BIG
one, remem-"  They were both nodding.  "She told me to get lost and
Debbie to go do something else, and so I got, and the last I could tell,
Debbie was arguing with her."
     "Sounds," Dad informed us, "like Kathy is your friend, too,
Eugene."
     "I hope so," I said sincerely.
     But I was going to start packing a few sharp friends of my own
anyway.

***
01:19 16 Jul

     "Someone has to," Susan said as I got out of the bathroom.
     "Well, you like sleeping with him more than I do," Brian said back.
She raised a finger at him and he protested, "Hey, I MEANT that!" and
she lowered it.
     "I'd rather sleep with Susan than you, Brian, too," I mentioned.
     Susan reminded us, "If you mention this, I'll call you liars and
beat the crap out of you," which we both were quite familiar with.
     We'd already had the one and only official inquiry into this
subject that any of us needed in our lifetimes, when I mentioned to my
third grade teacher that my older sister slept with me some nights, and
very soon after we were all pulled into strange offices for some WEIRD
questioning.
     They hadn't been too amused by all of us repeating, "I refuse to
answer that question on the grounds it may incriminate me," to every
question, but Dad's training had been thorough.  And Dad had been highly
pleased with us, and so he bought us some neat stuff as a reward after
we got loose.

***
01:26 16 Jul

     "'Night," Susan grumbled as she rolled over.
     "G'night," I said back, and wriggled against her.  She wriggled a
little more, and then we stopped moving.

***
05:59 16 Jul

     I was very very unhappy that Debbie was my teacher this year, and I
was adamant about not going - they were trying to pry me loose from the
pole - when Susan and Amy and Brian showed up, claiming to be my mother
and my aunt and my uncle, and took me away, and we went to get ice
cream, but the car horn-

***
06:00 16 Jul

     I hated my alarm, I decided.  I'd have to kill it.  As a warning to
all other alarms...

***
06:08 16 Jul

     "Tuck?"
     I sniffed deeply, and detected wet just-cleaned Susan.  "Mnn?"
     "If you get up now, the water's hot and your alarm won't go off
again."
     "Mmm," I agreed, and sat up.  "Thng," I expelled in gratitude.
     "Sure," she agreed, and went to her room.

***
07:44 16 Jul

     "Are you better today?" Miz Parker asked me.
     "Sort of," I said agreeably.
     "You don't look it," she said, rather unkindly.
     "I fell-"  That would not be a clever thing to say.  "Last night,
and had a nightmare, and I don't feel that good.  However, Travis is
busy tonight, so I ought to get some more sleep."  I smiled at her, and
she smiled in return, but I don't think hers was real.

***
14:17 16 Jul

     I thought about Travis as I was changing Stella's diaper, and then
when she was done, I called his phone number, and when the answering
machine picked up, I waited through the message and then said, "It's me,
I was just thinking of you, that's all.  Talk to you later," and hung
up.

***
18:08 16 Jul

     My pager buzzed, and I hauled it out and looked - and all it had
was Travis' phone number and '88' on it.

***
18:37 16 Jul

     "Tuck!" exclaimed Mike and Amy as I came in the door.
     "I didn't do it," I said instantly.
     "Well, you're going to," Mike stated ominously as he got up.
     "Like hell," I said, and ran for it.

***
18:40 16 Jul

     I'd evaded the two of them for a lot longer than I thought I could,
but Amy finally threw herself on the lawn in front of me and tripped me
and then the two of them were tangled with me on the ground and I was
Caught.  No question about it.
     "I didn't DO IT!" I insisted.
     "Shut up Tuck," Mike grunted.
     "You're mmph coming with us, bud," Amy added.  "It's the bookstore
for you!"  I stopped struggling, mostly.
     "She missed you, and she wanted to see you tonight," Mike claimed.
     "Can I eat first?" I asked.
     "I thought you were on a diet," Mike said in a mock-surprised
voice, and as Amy let go I managed to slither around Mike and get an arm
around his neck.  I choked him lightly for a while, until Amy got an arm
around my neck and started choking me lightly.

***
18:44 16 Jul

     "Because exercise makes everyone not-hungry, at least right after
they get done with doing it!" I protested.  "What are you, stupid or
something?"
     Mike pointed a warning finger at me.

***
19:02 16 Jul

     Even though I still wasn't hungry, I decided to choke down my
dinner anyway, since they were waiting on me.

***
19:52 16 Jul

     "It's not like I have that much time to read any more," I pointed
out.  "I don't have a job where I just hang around hoping I don't get
caught sleeping by a caller-OW!" I complained as Mike and Amy started
abusing me.

***
21:18 16 Jul

     "Oh," I said as I looked up '88' in the online dictionary.  Then I
smiled, realizing that Travis had sent that message to ME.
     Then I looked around to make sure Amy or Mike wasn't watching me,
which luckily they weren't.

***
21:26 16 Jul

     "Sleep well, Tucker," Amy said as she bent down and kissed me on
the cheek.
     "G'night," I said agreeably, my eyes closing again.

***
09:28 17 Jul

     "I was thinking of you again," I said into the phone.  "Can't wait
'til Friday, bye," and I hung up.
     "See?" I told the phone.  "I can too hang up like normal people!"

***
09:29 17 Jul

     "See?" I said into the phone.  "I can too hang up like normal
people!" and hung up, twice in a row.  *Travis needs to know I can do
this,* I grinned to myself.

***
10:18 17 Jul

     "Another day in paradise," I said to Stella.  She laughed, like she
was in paradise herself but I wasn't and she knew it.  Then she grabbed
at my bra again.

***
18:02 17 Jul

     I looked at my buzzing pager, and it was Travis again, saying
'88*88'.  "Aw, man," I sighed happily.  Then I hugged my pager, which
was rather stupid I knew but it was as close as I could get until
tomorrow night.

***
18:41 17 Jul

     I opened the door, and something was badly wrong; I could tell,
because Mom wasn't usually crying.
     "Mom?!"
     She sniffled and wiped her face hurriedly as she turned around.
"Oh, Eugene," she smiled at me.  "How was work today?"
     "Mom, what's up?" I asked as I shut the back door behind me.
"SOMEthing is wrong."
     She shook her head at me.  "It's nothing, really-"
     "Mom, 'nothing' wouldn't make you upset like that," I reminded her.
"Come on..."

***
18:48 17 Jul

     The problem was 'just' work, apparently, although that could be a
severe pain in the ass.  At least my job allowed me to say things like,
"Do it or I'll beat you."  And even then, there were times I wanted to
cry.  Of course, those were usually the times I was too busy to sneeze,
too.  But I was never lulled into a false sense of security, because my
'clients' always acted like little children.
     "Eugene," Mom said as she sat up, "you don't have to do this-"
     "Mom, shut up, 'kay?" I said as gently as I could.  "I want to help
you, and since everyone else isn't here," Dad and Brian out doing
something manly together, and Amy and Susan out shopping someplace
themselves, "then I gotta do it myself, instead of beating up Dad into
doing it."  She sniffled sort of appreciatively at that.  "I THINK I can
survive fixing YOU supper for once."  I winced theatrically and clutched
at my chest, which hurt when I hit myself.  "E'en though it may be the
end of me, I can do no less..."  I wondered if that was a quote or
something.
     "Eugene," Mom said, half smiling like I'd gone too far.
     "Mom, no sweat," I told her again.  "Just hang out, 'n relax."
     She gave me a look, but didn't argue, which meant I'd won.  Heh.

***
19:52 17 Jul

     I guess it's an evil thing to get your mom half-drunk on wine, but
I thought she needed it, a little bit.  Besides, Dad should be home
before dark, I thought, and it wasn't like he had to go into work
tomorrow or anything; I'd checked.
     "But I am TIRED of talking about MY work," Mom insisted.  "Tell me
about YOURS."
     "Mom..."  I shrugged.  "I watch three seven year old boys and a
baby, all day.  You know what that's like!"  Well, actually Davy was
six, but close enough.
     "I would rather hear you read some stupid program listing out
loud, line by line," she said carefully, "than think about my work any
more.  Am I clear?"
     "Oh.  Like a bell, Mom.  Um, well... Stella, she started crawling
around, recently- man, she can crawl FAST!  I mean, she's only this
big," I showed her how big with my hands, "and she's, I mean-"
     "Babies ARE fast," Mom agreed, smiling.  "Did you get to see her
going backwards?"
     "Do all babies do that?" I asked her.  "I thought she was like
brain damaged when she did that first."
     Mom laughed.  "YOU started crawling like that-"
     "Mom, everyone KNOWS I'm brain-damaged-"
     "Oh, stop.  No, some kids do it backwards first, and I made SURE to
ask, it's not a big deal."
     I ran water in the sink to start on the dishes.  "You said you
asked?  Who?"
     "Oh, the pediatri-i-sh-in," Mom sounded out slowly.  "When we lived
back east, before you were born even.  When I had Susan."  She frowned.
     "Did Susan start crawling in reverse too?" I asked Mom, hoping to
distract her from noticing how drunk she was and I wasn't; that sort of
made it look deliberate on my part, which of course it was, but I didn't
want her arguing with me about it, especially now.

***
21:08 17 Jul

     "You got your own MOTHER, DRUNK?" Dad protested.
     "Well YOU weren't here to do it," I reminded him.
     Dad was going to say something really crass and rude, I knew it,
but Mom weaved into the hallway, put her arms around Dad, and whispered
something in his ear.  A lot of something, and then Dad was fumbling
with his wallet.  "You two take off, go to the mall or something," and
he gave us ten dollars each and motioned to us to leave.  Now.
     Which is why Brian and I ended up on the front porch with our packs
and the door shut and locked behind us.  I had an idea of what was going
to happen, when Mom starting hanging on him and whispering at him.  I
had lived here for a long time, which is how I could know what was going
to happen without actually seeing it.  I'd be happy if I never saw it,
actually.
     "Did you eat?" I asked Brian.
     He nodded.  "You?"
     "We had wine with supper; I made sure she had a lot more than I
did."
     Brian nodded.  "So..."
     "So, the malls are closing, and I really think we ought to wait and
warn Susan and Amy.  God only knows what they're," pointing at the
house, "doing.  Or where."
     Brian made a face, but nodded.
     "Besides, I'm not really safe to drive," I told him.  "I had to
sort of keep up with Mom or she'd get suspicious."
     "You got Mom sloshed so you could get drunk yourself?" he accused.
     "Shut UP, rodent!  You KNOW that's a lie!"  He laughed at me.

***
21:26 17 Jul

     "You got Mom drunk?" Susan whined at me.
     "She NEEDED it, Suze, trust me.  She was crying, I mean literally,
when I got in."  
     That surprised everyone, Brian included.  "What-"
     "Just work," I shook my head, "Nothing serious.  But she needed to
unwind a bit, and take tomorrow off."
     Susan shook her head, and sighed, while Amy giggled.
     "And Tucker's too drunk to drive too," Brian 'thoughtfully'
contributed.
     "I just don't want to risk it," I announced.
     "Well, we WERE thinking about ice cream," Amy smiled.
     "YOU were, squirt," Susan disputed.
     I thought about it, and decided ice cream would be nice.  "We'll
pay for you if you take us?"
     "We?" Brian repeated, sounding shocked.  "What is this 'we'
business?"  Susan slapped at his head, which he ducked and tried to turn
into an arm twist, and then Amy and I were standing on one end of the
porch while Brian and Susan chased each other around the yard.
     Eventually, they stopped for a moment, glaring at each other, and
Amy called out, "Wouldn't some ice cream be nice right about now?"
     As they decided that yes, perhaps ice cream would be preferable to
getting grass stains all over themselves, not to mention the usual
bruises, Mike pulled up in his car.
     "Oh, SHIT," Amy complained.
     "You forgot you had to go to work, didn't you?" Susan accused her,
and Brian took advantage of her inattention.

***
21:54 17 Jul

     Ice cream was nice, even without Amy.

***
22:16 17 Jul

     Amy looked up at us in disbelief.  Mike, being perpetually
hungrier, had wasted no time in opening his pint of ice cream and
sampling it.
     "It was my idea," Brian lied, and Susan and I had to chase him
after that.
     "Thanks," Mike and Amy called to us as we attempted to catch Brian.

***
22:47 17 Jul

     "Jeez, Dad, why don't'cha get a room or som'tin'?" I whined.
     "This is MY house!" he shot back.  "You can go sleep on the lawn if
you don't like it!"
     An inspiron hit me.  "It's gross!"
     "How would YOU know?" he shot at me, like I'd hoped.
     I smirked, and drawled, "I used to suck on her tits."
     He stopped, in shock, and stopped long enough that everyone knew
he'd lost, and I laughed until I fell down.  Brian and Susan applauded,
even, which was pretty awesome.

***
06:51 18 Jul

     "No, no, she's ill... we think it's a twenty-four hour flu,
though."  I made the appropriate vomiting noise, and Dad gave me a
thumbsup.  He waited a bit, apparently listening to the other end of the
phone, then nodded.  "Yeah, we'll see... she ought to make it in
tomorrow, we think-"  I interrupted him with a really piteous moan and
some burbling noises.  I was starting to make myself nauseous; it ought
to be working.

***
06:54 18 Jul

     Dad slipped me an erasing fiver - so I wouldn't remember a thing,
even under interrogation - and ruffled my hair.  "I think I'm goin' back
to bed," he told me, ever willing to twist the knife.
     "I think I'm going to go deal with three seven-year old lunatics
and a psycho baby," I told him, as a reminder.
     Dad smiled, shook his head, and said, "Sucks to be you."
     "Bite m-"  He had stuck his fingers in his ears before I could
finish saying it, so I stepped lightly on his foot to open his eyes -
like one of those garbage can things - and then signed what I thought at
him.  He made a face, because if he removed his fingers to sign back
then I could talk at him again, and if he didn't then he was sort of
mute.  And if he closed his eyes I'd butter his glasses or something.
     You had to laugh, so I did.

***
07:48 18 Jul

     I was a little later than I wanted to be, getting to the Parker's,
but since I'd gotten my own key, Miz Parker had sort of been getting
later and later herself.  At least, she smiled and said 'hi' and all
that when I came into the kitchen to find her giving Stella her
breakfast.
     "Valerie?" she finally asked.  "Would you mind if I stayed for
breakfast this morning?"
     I really needed to get an education so I could get a job where I
could go in late when I wanted and hang out with the babysitter and get
breakfast cooked for ME, I realized.
     Then I remembered, she'd asked me a question, and I hurriedly
replied, "Oh, uh, sure you can stay.  It's your place, remember?" I
reminded her.

***
09:19 18 Jul

     "I don't know how you do it," she sighed at me.
     "Do what?"
     "Cook, every day, for them."
     I shrugged.  "It's my job; you want them to eat well, and you're
paying me to be good to them, so it's not that big a deal."  I chuckled.
"I could be working at McDonalds or something, or something horrible,
but I'd rather be here, even with the monsters."
     On cue, as it were, one of them roared in a monsterly fashion.
     "Eeeek!" we both obligingly screamed, which generated some
below-the-belt laughter before they ran off.
     "It's a lot easier when it's your job," I finished.  "I mean, I get
paid, every week, and so it's a lot easier for me, even when they whine
'Oh you made THIS again?'."  She smiled ruefully at that.

***
09:26 18 Jul

     My pager buzzed, and so I went to go look at it.  *Oh jeez,* I
realized, *I hope Travis isn't cancelling, oh damnit...*
     It wasn't him.
     The pager said:

     TTTKIDTTT SHE OF SHES WOKE AND IS ROYALLY PEEVED X SUGGEST YOU
     STAY ABSENT FOR SOME TIME TONIGHT X YOU DID GOOD SEMI JUST DONT
     SHOW YOURSELF FOR THE NEXT 48HRS X WORKING ON IT X TSIXT END

     Despite being a computer freak from the time he got out of the
Marines, I think he still missed the days of telegrams.  Dad was a
lunatic.  On the other hand, this was why I'd gotten an alpha-pager, so
he could 'take advantage' of the ability to send me these, and therefore
perhaps he wouldn't want to know my actual 'work number'-
     "Travis?" Miz Parker guessed.
     "Nope, Dad.  I gotta stay out tonight, Mom's pissed," I said, and
then had to chuckle as I realized she wasn't nearly as pissed as she'd
been last night, and then I made a face because I remembered what she
tended to do when she got that pissed-
     "Valerie?" Miz Parker interrupted my thoughts.  "What did you DO?"
     "Uh.  You don't really want to know, it's sordid," I said, and her
face got REALLY shocked.  "Not THAT sordid," I said hurriedly.
     The Eye or Parental Inquiry came on.  "What did you DO?" she
demanded.
     "I forgot."  I still had the fiver in my wallet.
     "You forgot," she repeated in disbelief.
     "I'm quite sure I don't remember," I told her.  "Even under
subpoena.  Even under torture."
     She really looked like she wanted to know, but eventually she
realized that I wasn't going to tell her a thing.
     After all, I HAD been paid.

***
10:19 18 Jul

     The second thump got me and Miz Parker up off our chairs at the
same time.
     In the living room, the boys were apparently inspired by a martial
arts movie on television to try beating each other up.  "Alri-" I
started, and one of them took a kick at me.
     "Don't attack the babysitter," I told them as I blocked, and he
tried a hand chop the second time.  I grabbed and kicked and threw and
he bounced into the wall and fell down, and lay there trying to breathe.
     "DO NOT ATTACK THE BABYSITTER!" I repeated a little louder, and
they all stopped, finally.  "You'll start breathing again in about
thirty seconds," I told the supine one.  The other two stood very still,
and stared at me.  Or at-
     *Oh, no, not in front of their MOTHER,* I sighed.

***
10:20 18 Jul

     Well, she hadn't hit me back, so I guessed it was okay-
     "Valerie?" came from Miz Parker in that tone of voice that said I
was about to get into trouble.  It's a very innocent tone, like they
don't even want to believe it themselves, but no matter what you say,
you're in trouble shortly thereafter.
     I sighed.  I hate being wrong about the trouble I just got into.
     Before she could say anything else, though, three boys were
standing in front of us, and Gary - the one who had met with the wall -
asked, "Can you show us how to do that?" in sort of a gasping voice.
     "What?" Miz Parker said before I could.

***
10:22 18 Jul

     "So, you grab the arm, and twist away from it like this," I
demonstrated in slow motion, twisting my body away as slow as I could,
"and pull here- you want them to end up over there, about," I pointed
with my foot.  "So you pull and push on their arm to make them go over
there.  Um, trade places," I said to Miz Parker.  "I know how to fall
better."

***
10:26 18 Jul

     I was seriously tired of being thrown on the ground by all of them,
one at a time, but they were definitely getting it.  "So you guys
practice on each other, out here where the dirt is softer and you're not
going to break anything," I said as I got up.  "Meanwhile, I need a
hose..."
     Miz Parker was looking at me again.

***
10:28 18 Jul

     "'Cause, my dad thought that girls should be able to protect
themselves just as well as guys."  He had, when all he had was Susan.
Unfortunately, later on he had me and then Brian, and he realized too
late that he had to give US the knowledge to protect ourselves FROM her,
and then my own self in particular seemed to invite a lot of informal
social readjustments and discussions, so I had to learn nastier stuff
than either of them.  Which I then taught to Brian, because he was
smaller than me and I was afraid for him.  Then Susan got raped, and Dad
almost chewed himself to pieces trying to teach her everything he knew
about killing people in two days.  Like me and Brian were at the same
time, I guess-
     "Valerie?" Miz Parker said, bringing me back to her particular
here/now.
     "Oh, um... anyway, since we were little kids, we've been getting
stuff like that, martial arts, other things," like gun training and
paintball games, "and so we just learn stuff like that. And then
practice on each other a lot," I grinned.
     She shook her head.  "I don't know, it's awfully violent..."
     "What's violent about it?" I asked, puzzled.  "That move doesn't
work unless someone's trying to hit you.  It's a reactive move, that's
why you have to practice it a lot."
     "It's a what?" she asked, sounding more puzzled than me.
     Obviously, she'd never studied any of this.  You had to wonder
about her education, which I did.

***
10:36 18 Jul

     "Sure, I can teach the boys, but..."  I sighed.
     "What?"
     "It's a lot of bruising," I sighed again.  I wasn't fond of
bruises.
     "What about something, like boxing gloves?  Or padding?" she
suggested.

***
11:02 18 Jul

     It took some calling around, but I found a place that would sell
us, or her, the pads in both childs' and adults' sizes like we'd need
without making us take their classes too, and I got the prices and names
and wrote them down, along with the directions to the place.  "Thanks!"
I said, and they said the same thing, probably hoping for a big sale,
and we hung up.

***
11:14 18 Jul

     "Um, aren't you going to work?" I asked Miz Parker as we all went
inside to get ready.
     She smiled at me.  "I'm not that crucial, day-to-day, so I only get
paid for what I work, so if I want to take a day off, I can."
     I sighed in envy.  I wished I could do that.

***
11:46 18 Jul

     Apparently, she could also drop a few hundred dollars on something
as 'frivolous' as hand-to-hand padding without having to call her
husband and discuss it.  I REALLY had to get a good education.
     Or murder Dad and inherit-
     *Nah,* I realized almost instantly.  *There's no way to kill him to
be sure of doing it where he won't get back at you.*  He probably let
his guard down around Mom, but not around us kids.  Probably because he
was afraid of being inherited to death.
     "So how about lunch?" Miz Parker suggested, which brought a cheer.
"My treat," she added, which - when I figured out this meant I would not
have to cook, clean, nor put up with whiny 'WHAT is THIS?' - made me
cheer all over again.  Jumping up and down hurt a bit, though, even with
bra and shock absorbers on.
     "Could we try Chinese food?" Ricky suggested, and I almost fell
over.  So did Miz Parker.  "What?" Ricky asked defensively.

***
12:01 18 Jul

     "If you guys don't settle down RIGHT THIS INSTANT," I promised
them, "I am gonna put you in pain so bad you won't want to eat OR move
until we get home an hour or two from now.  Think I'm kidding?"
     They did not, and got much quieter and less frenetic.
     Miz Parker tapped me on the shoulder, and I fell through the ice of
mood, knowing I gone too far and she was going to whisper in my ear
'You're fired-'
     She whispered in my ear, "Could I say that to them and not go to
jail for child abuse?"
     I stopped.  Then I giggled.

***
12:06 18 Jul

     Normally, I liked a buffet, but not when I had three rug rats
asking me what every item was and what the main ingredients were.  I was
SO tempted to direct them to something like kung-pao pork and watch them
explode, but once again the realization that this would imperil my
employment kept them safe.
     "Valerie?" Miz Parker asked, pointing at the kung-pao pork, and for
an instant I thought she was a telepath or I was inadvertently
projecting.  "Isn't that hot?" she asked.
     "Oooooh yeah," I agreed.

***
13:49 18 Jul

     "No!  I am still full!" I complained.  "And I want to go over some
stuff with my brother this weekend.  We'll start Monday."
     "Is he really your brother?" Davy asked, which confused me until I
realized that while I was thinking of Brian, he was probably thinking of
Mike, who didn't look much like me at all except under certain lighting.

***
14:31 18 Jul

     "Does it really look okay?" Miz Parker pressed, trying to see her
own butt in her swimsuit.
     "Yes, it does," I sighed.  "I'm completely sure," I added before
she could ask like I knew she would.
     "But..."
     "Miz Parker?" I said, which got her attention.  "You've had two
kids, you are at least," *Seventeen plus seven-* "twenty four years old,
and you eat a healthy diet. You just aren't going to look like the
twelve year old heroin-addict basketball players they use for fashion
models nowadays."
     She laughed.
     "Thank God," I added.  "Or I'd have to force-feed you."
     And she unwound and let go of her butt, laughing more.

***
17:02 18 Jul

     "Oh, Valerie?" Miz Parker asked.
     "Uh huh?"  I was diapering Stella, which was unfortunate, but we'd
taken turns doing it, which was a lot better deal than I usually got.
     "As soon as you finish with her, would you like to go and change?"
     "What?"  *Did I get some on me?* I wondered, and tried to look.
     "Weren't you and Travis going out tonight?"
     "Oh!  Yeah, we were-  Thanks," I smiled at her, and she smiled
back.
     "Take a shower, too, so you'll be all nice and fresh for him," she
suggested.
     "That wouldn't take too long?"
     She shook her head.  "I DO watch the kids on occasion all by
myself, you know."
     "Wellllll," I drawled, tabbing Stella's new diaper into place, "I
dunno...  Do you have anyone who can vouch for your reliability?"
     "Valerie!" she protested, and I laughed.

***
17:26 18 Jul

     When I finally came out of the bathroom, Miz Parker came to see me.
"Uh HUH," she said, looking me over.
     "What?" I said, maybe too nastily, but I felt sort of nervous.
     I'd wanted to look sexy for Travis, so I had brought a black denim
straight skirt, and a tank top that happened to be white and have some
lace around the neck, and white stockings and, for once, black high
heels.  To keep my hair back, I was using a hairband I'd ended up with
that was all white lace with a big fake bow in it.  So I had all the
right elements.
     I just wasn't sure if it looked good, or stupid.
     After another second, I was sure.  "It's stupid," I sighed, and
turned to go back into the bathroom to change back into my sitting
shorts and T shirt, and I'd have to hurry this time-
     "No, it looks good Valerie," Miz Parker said.
     "No, come on, don't lie," I pleaded as I turned around.
     "It DOES," she emphasized.  "I just, you don't normally dress like
that," she smiled at me.  "You look really different.  Elegant, even."
     "Really?"  I couldn't believe it.  "Elegant?"

***
17:37 18 Jul

     I waved happily at Travis as he got out of his truck.
     "So where are you two going tonight?" Miz Parker asked me.
     "I dunno..."  I felt hot in the face, but I said it anyway, because
it was true.  "I'm just glad to be spending time with him."
     Travis waved back when he got a hand free.  I grabbed Stella's hand
with my free one, and then I had her wave for me.

***
18:04 18 Jul

     We drove out of sight of the Parker's, and then I honked a lot at
him and parked my car at the side of the curb.  He stopped, and got out
and came back to see what was up, but I ran over him and kissed him,
which I'd wanted to do for quite a while.
     I think Miz Parker knew that, and wasn't confident of her ability
to torture her own children and get away with it, so she was torturing
me instead, with inane small talk while I wanted nothing more than to
leave.  And do this.
     Eventually, we stopped, and I looked at him, as I hung from his
neck by my arms.
     "Hi?"
     "Hi!" I replied confidently.
     He smiled down at me.
     "I missed you," I said.
     "I got that impression," he mentioned.
     "I dressed up for you too."
     "And you look great, fantastic actually," he countered.
     "Good.  Kiss me," I demanded.
     "I did!"
     "MORE!"
     He did.  More.

***
18:11 18 Jul

     "So how was your day?" he asked me as we broke for air.
     "Oh, pretty good," I panted.  "Much better after six, though," I
grinned at him.
     "What hap- oh," he grinned back, and kissed me on my nose.

***
18:21 18 Jul

     Travis pulled me loose and asked, "Are you hungry?"
     "Not really," I answered before I thought about it.  "Are you?"
     "Yeah."
     "Wanna-"  *He wouldn't have stopped if he didn't 'wanna',* I told
myself.  *Stupid.*  "Where would you like to go?"
     "Could, could we have Chinese food?" he asked, sounding a bit
nervous.
     I had to laugh.  Then I had to explain what was funny.  Luckily, he
thought it was funny too.
     "So you want Chinese?" I confirmed.
     "We don't have to-"
     "I don't mind Chinese twice in a row," I told him.  "I just might
not eat that much," which was true except for the 'might' part.
     "I don't want you to go hungry, Val," he said seriously.
     "Travis!  I ate a big lunch, 'cause Miz Parker treated us, and
that's all I need to eat in one day.  I PROMISE I'll eat something.
Maybe we can go someplace that doesn't have a buffet, and I could take
the leftovers home?"
     "Well..." he said, and then he got an idea.  "How about Teller's?"
     "Well, I had to promise a friend I'd call next time I went there,"
I demurred.

***
20:02 18 Jul

     We'd eventually 'decided' on the Indigo Casual Gourmet Cafe sort of
by default, but they had open tables and decent food, and so we sat
outside and I had an all-vegan small dinner and nibbled on Travis' too,
which was good enough to fill me up.
     "So," he asked me after he paid the check.  "What next?"
     "Travis?"
     "Yeah?"
     "Can I be honest?"
     "Yeah," he said warily.  I couldn't blame him; that was a sort of
scary phrase.
     "I... I want, I want to go back to your place and kiss and cuddle
until I have to go home," I said, not able to look at him as I said it.
     I was sure I looked stupid and pathetic and I was starting to wind
up to something rash when he said, "Really?"
     "What?  Yes really!"  Now I could look at him because he was being-
     No, I couldn't, I had to look down again.
     His hand touched my shoulder, and I shivered from the contact like
I usually did.  He pulled his hand back, though, which did get me to
look up.  "What?"
     "I, I thought, you didn't-"
     "No!  I mean, I, I mean..."  I scooted my chair next to his, and
tried to say something, but I couldn't, and I couldn't look at him for
very long either, so I finally gave up and put my head against him.

***
20:09 18 Jul

     We held hands all the way back to our cars.  That wasn't quite what
I wanted to do, but I don't think we could have walked and done what I
wanted to do at the same time, so this would have to do.
     "Meet you at your place?" I confirmed, without letting go of him.
     "Yeah," he agreed softly, and then we kissed again.

***
21:38 18 Jul

     "Can I ask something?"
     "Sure?"
     He was quiet for a few moments, and then he said, "I don't know if
it's okay to ask this, so don't yell at me if it's not, okay?"
     "What, what could be not okay to ask?"
     "Promise you won't yell at me?"
     "I promise, what?"
     He was quiet again for a while, but he was holding my hands and
looking off and thinking, so I tried to be patient.
     Finally, he let go of one of my hands, and slowly reached up and
touched one of my-
     "Oh," I said, guessing what his question was.  "Um, mostly.  But
I'm growing, all on my own," I sighed.  I didn't know what I was more
embarrassed about.
     "Can, can..."
     "What?"
     "Can I see you?  I mean, them?  I mean, the real ones?  You?"
     "W-w-w-y-but...  You want to see me?"
     "You said you wouldn't get upset."
     "I said I wouldn't yell at you," I corrected him idly.  "Um... you
really want to see me, like, without the, the forms?"
     He nodded at me, not looking up, I could see just barely if I
looked up.
     "Well, um..."  I swallowed.  "Um.  Can I see your chest first?"
     "What?"
     "I want to see you without a shirt on," I hoped out loud.
     "Me?"
     "Fair's fair, isn't it?" I pointed out, and managed to look at him.
Of course, he was looking at- no, Looking at me.  "Stop!" I begged,
ducking my face.

***
21:51 18 Jul

     He had a sexy-
     Well, I didn't know.  I had never had much experience with chest
hair, and his nipples were even smaller than mine - of course, he didn't
have my problems either - and he was pretty well muscled, and really
really tan.
     I guess it qualified as sexy.  I just wanted to rub my face against
it for a while, and taste it.
     "Your turn," he said, and I sighed.  "Do, do you want to use the
bathroom?" he offered.
     I thought about it, then finally declined.  "No, that's okay.
Um..."  I moved a little away from him on the couch, and turned around
so I wasn't looking at him any more.  Then I looked at him over my
shoulder, and confirmed, "You're sure?"
     "If, I mean you don't have to-"
     "Do YOU want me to?" I asked.
     He eventually nodded.  "Yeah, if I could?"
     "Yeah," I agreed, and then turned back.  There was no way I could
do this if I was looking at him.  I pulled at my top, un-tucking it from
my skirt, and then pulled it off, leaving me almost topless.
     His warm hands came around, at the bottom of my ribs, and I moaned
and my back arched before I could stop myself, not like I wanted to.
"Oh god, stop," I begged him, "or I'll never get this off..."
     He let go of me, and I wrenched at the back of the bra and
disconnected it and pushed it off and the forms off and turned around
and flung myself on him-
     "Hey!"
     "Travis!" I moaned back.  "Come on!"
     "Wait, can I see you?"
     I panted, trying to decide the right answer.  I mean, fair was
fair, and I'd looked at his, but I wanted to touch him so bad and I
couldn't if I stayed far enough away from him-
     "Wait," I gasped as I came up with a solution.  "Turn, that way-" I
pushed his legs so he'd be sitting 'straight' with the couch instead of
twisted, and before he could object, I got up and then got on his lap,
so that we were belly to belly but I could bend back and he could see my
chest.
     But I'd rather be kissing him.
     "Wow," he said, in awe.
     "What?"
     "Your, your breasts," he said, and pointed with one hand in case I
didn't know he was referring to the fleshy ones.
     "What?" I repeated, now not feeling quite so lustful.  In fact, I
kind of wanted to grab my top and run-
     "They're beautiful," he said.
     "What?!"
     "They are," he said.  "Can, can I touch one?"
     "Yeah, but be careful, they're REALLY sensitive," I cautioned him.
     He put his hand on either side of my body, and at that point I
didn't much care what he did to me as long as he did something to me.
One thumb reached over and ever so gently stroked the bulge that had
developed on the left side, and I moaned.  He did that for a long,
wonderful time, before he spiraled in and lightly stroked over my taut
nipple.
     "Ahhhhh!" I breathed out in shock.  "Oh my God."
     "Did that feel good-"
     "Oh God yes," I interrupted him with the breath I could spare.  My
eyes were still crossed, I think.
     "Can I-"
     "Yes!"  Whatever it was, I was pretty sure I'd like it.
     He touched it some more, and then he touched the other one, and I
tried not to scream or explode.  I didn't explode.
     He stopped when I gasped wildly, and I yanked my eyelids back open
and told him, "No!  Don't stop!"  I sounded frantic and desperate even
to me.
     "But-"
     I flung myself into his mouth, pulling his head back so I could
kiss him into, I hoped, something like the mental state where I was.
     He had other ideas; he kissed his way down my chin and across my
throat and over one shoulder, pulling me where he wanted me, and then
way too slowly towards my right nipple.  I caught myself begging, as he
paused, "Oh please oh please oh please oh please don't stop oh god
please..."  I think I'd been doing that before without realizing it,
though.  "Please don't stop!" I begged.
     Then his mouth rolled over my nipple, and I choked, then inhaled,
then wound up as my back arched and I unstoppably pulled his head
against my chest and I screamed...

***
22:03 18 Jul

     "Did you really...?" he asked.
     I was still trying to catch up to my breath, so all I could do was
nod at him, which I hoped he could feel, because I was draped over his
body, almost cheek to cheek, and I couldn't move if my life depended on
it.

***


"Hey pretty, don't you want to take a ride with me, through my world?"
- -- Poe, "Haunted"


Distribution:
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the entirety of the work (from the BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE header to
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+ ==[--------   Ellen Hayes   @>--,--'---      ellen@barkingduck.net +
PGP DH/DSS keyfing: 33D4 156A AE39 53E2 0313  6714 2878 56A8 61B0 9CDC
+ http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes -=[1990]=- vicki .sig virus 11.4 +


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