Christina (Mf, Cons, Rom, Slow)

Chapter One

Three hours worth of driving of the very worst sort.  My trip was mixed in with the evacuation of parts of two states in the face of a hurricane barreling down on the Gulf Coast, and after white-knuckling a mere hundred miles, I pulled onto a secondary road thinking that maybe, just maybe, that the traffic would be less than the main highways.  I was only partially correct, and I finally heeded my stomach's growling and pulled my rig into a roadside diner in a small town in north Louisiana.

I asked for, and got, a seat at a table in the corner, my back to the wall, so I could relax without dodging other clientele and also watch what was going on.  Evacuations were sort of like kicking over the rotten log of civilization.  You never knew what was going to scurry out into the sunlight.

I was entertaining a breakfast of steak and eggs, pretty nicely done, actually, and noticing the activity at a nearby booth.  The occupants looked to be some bozo in maybe his early forties, around my age, a woman maybe five or so years younger, and a teen girl, I'm estimating maybe sixteen or seventeen at this point.  They're just a little too far away for me to make out the conversation, but it doesn't appear to be too cordial, from the expressions of the participants.

I heard "mumble mumble mumble" from the guy, mumble mumble mumble" from the older female, and then "mumble mumble mumble" from the teen girl, except her voice had a tone of hurt and a bit of fright.  Not my business.  I forked another load of steak and eggs into my mouth.

The conversation changed.  The guy's voice got loud, as in "MUMBLE MUMBLE" pause "MUMBLE MUMBLE MUMBLE" apparently directed at the teen who replied with a shake of chestnut hair, "mumble mumble".

The loudness put me on alert.  I mean, country diner and all, you didn't expect to see people acting like this, and heads were turning in the direction of this one booth.

The guy got loud enough to understand.  His actions made it even easier to understand.  "YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BITCH!!!!" and he reached across the booth table and grabbed the front of her blouse, yanking puling her up as he rose.  His free hand was coming back.  It didn't take a lot of analysis to see what was coming next.

Me.

I stood up and pushed around my table.  "HOLD!" I said, in my best command voice.

The dude dropped his free hand, shoved the girl backward against the back of the booth and turned towards me.  "Boy!" he hissed.  "You need to mind YOUR own fuckin' business!"  I outweighed him and out-reached him and was a good six inches taller.  Bad odds.  His right hand started into his pocket.  The situation had just escalated.

My own right hand went across my midsection under my shirt-tail and came out with a compact 9mm pistol.

"Bud," I said, "if that hand doesn't come out of that pocket VERY slowly and VERY empty, you're gonna have a big hole in you."

His hand came out, slowly.  The girl had slid down in the booth and was trying to get herself up from halfway on the floor.  The older woman was screaming, "He's got a gun!"  I didn't parse that very well.  My own gun was obvious.  Was she talking about her companion?  The poor waitress was back behind the counter.

"Call 9-1-1," I said.  "We need some law here.  Fast!"

"They're on the way.  I called when he raised his voice."

Indeed they were fast.  Scarcely a minute and half passed, me holding the guy at gunpoint, when I saw the flashing lights and a deputy sheriff pushed through the door, gun drawn.

Three people said at the same time, "NOT HIM!"  as I two-fingered the gun delicately onto the table and stepped back.  A second car pulled into the parking lot, lights blinking mad blue.  A second deputy was in the place in a few seconds.

"Hurley!" screamed the waitress.  "It's not the big guy!"  I was the big guy.  6' 2", 200 pounds.  I locked my fingers on top of my head, frozen.  I mean, you never know with the small town cops, who's trigger happy, who's scared shitless, and any bad move, well…

"Hurley" was apparently the deputy who was first on the scene.  He kept that damned pistol of his at eye level, midway between me and the bozo who started the mess.  He addressed me.  "Sir!  Do you have any other weapons on you?"

"Yessir," I said.  "I've got a folding knife hanging in my right pants pocket."

"Carefully remove the knife and put it on the table and step back."

I'm thinking that Deputy Hurley's thinking isn't really good if he lets me step close to the table with the gun laying on it, but I drop my right hand very slowly and remove the knife clipped in my pocket with a thumb and index finger and drop it softly on the table.  And I step back.  Hurley steps up and sticks my pistol and knife in his thigh pocket.  He's looking at his partner.

"Jim," Hurley says, "That guy clean?"

"Jim" answers, "I haven't checked."

I know what comes next.  "Sir," says Hurley, "turn around and put your hands behind your back."

And there I am, in the dining room of a Louisiana restaurant, in handcuffs.  They perform a similar operation on the doofus and have a lot more fun with him, retrieving a little black automatic pistol from his pants pocket.  Yeah.  The pocket he was reaching into.  Now he's in cuffs, too, and they're marching all four of us, me, the doofus, the middle-aged chick, and the teen girl, all of us, out into the parking lot.  Now comes the fun part, where they try to unravel the story.  

The waitress is out there too.  And half the clientele, apparently regulars.  And if you're a regular at a small town diner, you also get pretty familiar with the cops, so nobody was getting run off.  They were the witnesses.

They started with the girl.  Deputy Hurley asked, "Miss, do you have some ID?"

"I-in my purse," she sniffled.  "It's at the table."

Hurley spoke to one old guy standing nearby.  "Unka Bob, can you get this young lady's purse?"  The old guy left and Hurley turned his attention back to the teen.  "What's your name?"

"Tina.  Christina Johnson," she sobbed, still shaken by the rush of events.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Now, very carefully, tell me what happened."  He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a little recorder and punched a button.

"I- We were having breakfast, and had an argument, and Mister Jeff grabbed me and started to slap me."  Sob. "And that guy stood up and told ‘im to stop.  An' Mister Jeff was pissed and threw me down and started to go for that pistol, ‘cept that guy (me) was faster.  Mister Jeff put his hands up an' you came in."

Hurley looked at me, then the doofus.  "What was the argument about?"

Tina took a deep breath.  "He said they didn't have enough money for breakfast an' cigarettes, and I was eatin' too much an' to give him my money so he could buy cigarettes.  An' I told ‘im "no" an' he called me an ungrateful little bitch an' grabbed me."


By that time Unka Bob was back with Tina's purse.  He handed it to the deputy.  The deputy eyed Tina.  "Is there anything in there I need to worry about?"

Tina took another breath, trying to control her sobs.  She shook her head.  "No sir.  My wallet.  Tampons.  Pictures.  Little notebook.  A pen."

He handed her the purse.  "Show me your ID."  She complied.  He examined it and handed it back to her.

I was next.  He stood in front of me, six feet away.  "And you're?"

"Alan Dean Addison.  Forty-one.  From…"  I named my home town.

"You heard what Miss Tina said?"

"Yessir," I said.  Damned straight I called him 'sir', despite him being at least a decade my junior.  The guy was small town law enforcement and I was, in my own mind, 100% legal in my actions, but also 100% at his mercy as far as resolving the situation with the least pain to me.

"Is that pretty much what you saw go down?"

"Yessir," I said.  "Except I didn't hear any of the conversation before he yelled "You ungrateful little bitch" and grabbed her.  He was hauling his right hand back to slap her when I told him to stop.  He threw her down, turned at me and said mind my own business and started reaching into his pocket.  That's when I drew."

"Uh, Mister Addison, I'm gonna undo your cuffs.  I want to see your ID.  Don't move fast."

Freed, I very gingerly removed my wallet and retrieved two pieces of ID, a state drivers' license and a permit that allowed me to legally carry a concealed handgun.  Hurley looked them both over and handed them back to me.

"So, you're carrying legally.  That's one for you."

"Hurley.  Son!"  Unka Bob was interrupting.  

Hurley turned.  "Yessir?"

Unka Bob smiled at me.  "This feller," he said, pointing to me, "saved that little girl a butt-kickin'"

The waitress intruded on the scene and joined in, "Yeah, I called your cell when that bunch started gettin' loud.  Before he grabbed her.  This guy stepped in just in time."

Things were lining up for me.  Hurley looked at me.  "Mister Addison, can you wait here?  I need to get back with you."

Deputy #2 was going through the purse of the adult woman, and there were some curious artifacts laid out on the hood of his squad car, many of them involving tiny plastic bags.  The guy was already sitting in the back seat, behind a closed door.  The woman ended up in the other police unit, still in cuffs.  Their car was an older Japanese import and by the time the deputies started going through it, a state police crime lab unit was on the way.  Drugs.

Deputy Hurley approached me.  "What are you driving?"

"That rig over there," I said, pointing to my "on the road" rig, a big silver diesel pickup truck towing a thirty-five foot travel trailer.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.  "Can you follow us to the station?  I'm gonna need a statement."

"Sure," I said.  "I hope you have room for me to pull in.  That's a bitch to back up."

He laughed.  "We'll fix you up."  And there was forgotten participant.  Miss Tina.  Hurley looked at her.  She'd regained composure.  Was standing there, all five-foot seven or eight (tall girl) of her, hips a little wider than a bikini model, the tiniest bit of a muffin top over her tight jean shorts, her blue cotton blouse knotted just above the beltline of the shorts.  Auburn hair.  Blue eyes.  And pissed.

"What about me?" she asked.  Hurley's eyes darted back and forth between his car and his partner's, each with a handcuffed suspect in the back seat.  Hurley opened his passenger side door for her and the doofus in the back began screaming and cursing her.  He took her to the other car, and got much the same treatment from the woman.

He looked at me.  At her.  At me.  "You saved ‘er.  Got any problem with giving her a ride?  Miss Tina?  "Is that okay?"

Tina looked at me.  "I suppose."

"Wait a second," I said.  I spotted the waitress and pulled out a twenty and a five dollar bill.  Handing it to her, I said, "This'll cover my breakfast.  And that little lady's.  And your tip."  I turned back to the deputy.  "Let's go, then."  I turned to the second deputy.  "How about some flashy light stuff so I can get this thing out of the parking lot?"

"Sure," he said. "You just gave her like a six dollar tip.  You gonna ruin ‘er for the rest of us."

"Yeah," I said.  "But her day went all to hell.  Figure she could use a boost."

 Lights flashing, I followed as we crossed the steady stream of hurricane evacuees and I followed him to the sheriff's office.  True to their word, they led me around in a big parking lot so I didn't have to fight that long trailer.  Tina didn't say a word the whole trip.  It wasn't a long trip.  Just awfully silent.

We followed the deputy into the building.  He motioned to a set of chairs.  "Ya'll can wait here.  Wanna coke?  Coffee?"

"Coffee would be nice," I said.  I looked at Tina.  "You want something?"

"Coffee, I guess," she said.

"Coffee pot's in here," the deputy motioned, looked, then said  "I'll get somebody to make a fresh pot."

About that time, the entry door opened and the waitress from the restaurant walked in.  She immediately went to Tina's side.  "Hon," she cooed, "Are you okay?"

Tina nodded.  "He saved me."

"Uh-huh," said the waitress.  "That man was getting ready to knock the crap out of you."

Tina shook her head.  "He was."  She looked at me.  "Uh, mister, I don't remember your name."

"Alan" I said.  "Alan Addison.  And you're..."

"Tina.  Christina Johnson.  Thank you.  For stopping him."

"It's okay, Tina. I'm glad I could help."

The deputy stuck his head in the door.  "Folks..." and then he saw the waitress.  "Hi, Debbie," he said.  "Uh, folks, the coffee's ready."

Debbie laughed.  "I can do without another sniff of coffee today.  You got some paper for me to write my statement on?"

"Sure," he said.  "Just a sec."  He ducked away, then back, handing Debbie a few forms.  "Just write it out in your own words.  I'll come by the restaurant in the morning and get 'em."  He turned to us.  "Come help yourself."

We stood, and I let Tina go first.  She fixed herself a cup of coffee, then I fixed mine as she watched.  I took a sip, savoring the aroma of the steam.

"Gah...  I still have the jitters, Mister Alan," she said.

"I'm kinda the same way."

"You pulled your gun on 'im."

"I didn't have much choice, Tina.  He was...  well, I didn't know what he was going to do.  Gun.  Knife. Whatever.  And I wasn't going to stand there and watch him slap you around.  Did I hear correctly?  He wanted your money to buy cigarettes?"

"Yeah. Cigarettes.  And Mom was mad because I didn't give it to him.  I babysitted for that money.  It was all I had."

"That was you dad?"

"God, no!  Mom's current boyfriend.  I hate 'im.  He hates me.  Doesn't want me around.  We evacuated an' he's got friends in Arkansas.  I honestly don't think I'd've come home alive.  Really."

We walked back into the waiting room.  "So now what do you do?"

"I don't know.  Mom was all I had.  I've been living with her for nine months since Grandma died.  I was living with Grandma for the past five years while Mom did her thing...  uh, make that THINGS.  Like that guy."

"Do you have any other relatives?  Grandparents?  Aunts?  Uncles?"

"Not that I know of.  If I had something better, I'd be doing it.  And it wouldn't take much to be better than Mom and her druggie friends.  I'm seventeen.  I'd run away, but I don't know where to run."

"Gosh."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mister Alan.  I don't mean to drag you down."  She sighed.

I looked a little longer.  She was not unattractive, even under adverse circumstances.  I mean, evacuation by car is not conducive to good hygiene or personal care, but even with her hair in a bit of disarray (being thrown to the floor will do that) and face tracked with dried tears, she was cute.  Maybe not a centerfold cute, but cute.

"You're not dragging me down, Tina.  Everybody's got stories."

She sighed.  "So what's yours?  You evacuating too?"

I smiled.  "Oddly enough, no.  I just got caught in it.  I'm on my way to a project in Tennessee.  New factory's being built, and I'm the guy they chose to build the electrical part.  I'm an electrical engineer."

"And you bring your travel trailer?"

"Yeah.  I researched RV parks until I found one that sounds good, willing to put up with me for a few months, off the beaten path, and I'll park the trailer there and live out of it for the duration of the project."

"Is that good money?"

"Yeah, pretty nice.  They pay me a hundred and seventy five dollars a day to live there.  My hour rate works out to seventy-five bucks an hour.  Plus I get a hefty bonus if I stay until the project completes, plus we get bonuses if we make certain milestones on the schedules."

"Gosh.  And you're just going there? Today?"

"No, I was planning on a night in a motel on the way.  About halfway.  But right now I'm sitting in a sheriff's office in Armpit, Louisiana instead of driving, so I don't know how far behind I'm going to be.  I wasn't supposed to start for a week anyway."


"Oh."

"So what happens to Tina?"

"I don't know," she said.  "I'm sure there's a shelter or something."

"Or something."  I was thinking.  Shouldn't be.  But was.  After all, I'd already helped once today.

Another deputy stuck his head in the door.  "Uh, could you folks come back here with me?"

Tina and I ended up in separate offices.  I imagine she was doing what I was doing, getting another round of interviews about what happened.

I'm good at interviews.  I interview lots of people for jobs, from shovel-jockey to engineer, so I know how to handle myself.  And I was having fun, once the pressure was off.  I gave them all they wanted to know.  The deputy who did the interview was sympathetic to my position.  Asked about my holster, my gun, my carry, how often I practiced.  I took him out and showed him my travel trailer, a heavily modified floor plan I'd ordered special for MY requirements.  And the truck.  A nice pickup truck is like a social event in some circles, and although it was only a tool to me, I knew that some people liked seeing one well turned out.  They were finished with me.  I got my pistol and my knife back.

I was walking up the hall and I saw Tina sitting in an office.  I saw Deputy Hurley sitting in another office.  I knocked on his door.  "Hey," I said.  "I want to thank you for the professional job you guys did today."  A  little honey catches flies, you know.  "Can I ask about the other people?  What's happening?"

"Uh," he said, "Off the record, you know..."

"Of course," I said.

"The guy, your buddy?  Outstanding warrants.  A bunch.  Parole violation with him having a gun.  And drugs.  Intent to distribute.  That puts him in state and Federal jurisdiction.  He ain't comin' out any time soon."

"I ain't supposed to say "he looked the type..." I started.

Hurley finished.  "He looked the type.  And the adult woman, damn near as bad.  Parole violation.  Probation for previous drug offenses.  Prostitution.  And drugs in her purse.  She's gone."

"Uh, what about Miss Tina?"

"That's the tough part.  Best we can tell, she's never been in trouble.  Not even a traffic ticket.  Her personal possessions are clean.  I tell you, Mister Addison, I just think she was being dragged along.  Not very willingly."

"So where's she go?"  I asked.

"That's the tough part.  She's seventeen.  We're trying to find something for her.  But right now, she's kind of in limbo.  I mean, she could walk out the door right now and we couldn't stop her.  But the sad thing is, she says she's got nowhere to go."  He looked genuinely concerned.  "She's just a little younger than my kid sister."

"Can I talk to her?" I asked, knowing that I could be treading on thin ice.

"Sure.  But...  Why?"

"I dunno.  Offer to help.  Again."

Hurley half-smiled.  "Might be the best chance she has right now."

I walked back up the hall and stuck my head in the door where Tina was sitting.  "Tina," I said softly, "you got a minute?"

When she turned there was moisture in the corners of her eyes.  "Looks like I've got more than a minute, Mister Alan.  Why?"

"I was talking to Deputy Hurley.  He's telling me what you're up against right now.  I know this may sound strange, but...  don't take this wrong.  I could make room for you for a while.  With me.  Until school."

"School's over, Mister Alan.  I dropped out.  Mom moved us six times in nine months.  I tried changing schools three times.  And I gave up." She hung her head. "Grandma'd be crying to know that."

"I'm sorry.  But then, school.  Or no school.  I have a place for you to stay.  No strings.  None.  I mean it.  None.  If you want.  It ain't much.  A travel trailer."

She turned teary eyes to me.  "You'd...  you really would..."

"I really would," I said.  "You want to go tell Deputy Hurley?"

She was starting to smile a bit.  For the first time since I met her.  She knocked on Deputy Hurley's door.  

"Come in, Miss Tina," he said.

"Deputy Hurley," she said, "Uh...  Mister Alan has offered to give me a place to stay for a while.  I just wanted to let you know."

Hurley looked at me.  "Uh, Mister Addison.  A minute, please?  Excuse us, Miss Tina."

I knew where this one was going.  "Okay, Deputy Hurley.  I know what you're thinking."

"No shit," he said.  "D'you KNOW that she's still under a lot of confusion and crap from this morning?"

"Yes I do," I said.  "And I aim to reduce that a bit by NOT forcing her into a temporary home or a shelter for battered women or whatever else comes up."

"You tell me with a straight face..." He glared.

"Deputy Hurley." I glanced at the nameplate on his desk.  "Bill, if I can be so bold.  I am a man of honor.  I stood up for that young lady this morning under threat of harm to my own body.  I am not about to cart her off somewhere to turn her into a sex slave or a play toy.  I'm just trying to help."  I reached in my wallet and pulled out a business card.  "This is MY business card.  You can call it tomorrow or next week or next month.  I will answer the phone.  If Tina is around, SHE will talk to you.  And like I told you, I am going to work for six months on a project, and my name and reputation are on the line.  I am a professional, as are you.  Give me your trust."

"Damn, man!  What a speech.  Okay.  Okay!  I'm sorry.  Like I said.  Little sister.  Okay?"

"Okay," I said.  "And like I said, I appreciate you doing your job as conscientiously as you've done it.  Including this."

"Okay, Mister Addison."

"Alan," I said.

"Alan.  Open the door and ask Tina back in."

Tina popped back in.  "Yessir?" she asked.

Hurley said, "Me and Alan had a discussion about you.  I understand that he's offering to give you a place to stay.  But here's the deal.  I don't care if you ARE in Tennessee.  If you get in trouble.  With him or anybody else.  Here's MY card.  You call me and I will personally come up there and get you and kick whoever's ass needs kicking."

"I believe him, Miss Tina," I said.

"So do I," she said.  "Thank you, Deputy Hurley.  You've been good to me.  I'll call you and tell you how things are going."

"You do that, little sister," he said.

We were walking out to the truck.  "What'd he mean, "little sister"?" she asked.

I told her, "He said you're just a few years younger than his little sister and he didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

She looked at me.  "You mean, like getting slapped around by Mister Druggie this morning?"

"Or worse..."

"Mister Alan, there's no telling how much worse it would've been."

She climbed in on the passenger side of the truck and I cranked up the diesel and let it clatter at idle for a minute.

"Nice truck," she said.

"Tool," I said.  "Some people treat it like a status thing.  To me, it's just a good tool for what I need.  And I take care of it.  That's why we're sitting here for a minute, to let things get warm."

"Oh," she said.  She clicked her seatbelt and I clicked mine and I shifted into gear and off we went.  Considering that I was at breakfast at eight when things went bad this morning, and it was now two-thirty, I counted myself lucky.

"If you're hungry," I said, "there's granola bars and stuff in the console.  Help yourself.  And the ice chest behind the seat has cokes."

"D'you want one?"  she asked.

"I could use a coke," I said.

As we crawled out of town with the evacuees, she was sitting there munching on a granola bar and sipping a coke.  I stole a glance over at her, removing my eyes off the traffic.  She wasn't exactly smiling, but she did have a satisfied look on her face.







Chapter Two



An hour and a half later and we were out of the worst of the traffic and I had the cruise control locked in at seventy, letting that diesel engine do what it did best, eat up miles.  I'd noted that, despite a cup of coffee and a coke, Miss Tina'd seen fit to doze off for an hour or so.  She woke up to the rhythm of the interstate under our wheels.

"Are we gonna get there this evening?" she asked.

"Nope.  If I drove straight through, maybe we'd get there sometime after midnight.  I'm not up to that kind of driving if I don't have to," I said.

"I've got my license.  I could drive," she said.

That was an interesting thought that I hadn't entertained.  But, "No, you're not on my insurance, Tina.  But I appreciate the offer.  Really."

"So what are we going to do?  For the night, I mean?"

"Let's see," I said.  "Open this map."  I still had some paper maps. She complied.  "In two more hours we'll be here," I pointed to a town in Mississippi.  "If you check my cellphone under "Holiday Inn" you'll see a number for them.  Tell 'em we need a room with two beds, non-smoking.  Uh... you don't smoke, do you?"

"Yecchhhhh!" she spat.  "Uh...  I have a problem," she said.  "Actually, a couple of 'em."

"What sort of problem?"

"One, I'm...  Uh...  let me put it delicately...  I'm on my period, and I have two tampons left.  And two, all the clothes that I own are in that Wal-mart bag behind the seat."

"Oh," I said.  "I thought you said "problem".  Make the hotel reservation.  That town's big enough to have a mall and we'll hit town at six or so.  We go to the mall, you get what you need.  No problem as far as I can see."

"Nuh-uh.  Problem.  I almost got the crap slapped out of me for forty bucks.  That's all the money I have."

"You keep arguing," I smiled.  "I got a gold card in my pocket and it needs exercise."

"But I can't pay you back, Mister Alan.  At least not right now."

"Look, Miss Tina, first thing is, we get rid of this "Mister – Miss" stuff.  I'll be Alan and you'll be Tina, okay?"

"Uh, okay..."

"And second, buying you a few things you need is NOT going to inconvenience me in the least.  You need stuff.  I'm getting you stuff.  Pretty simple.  And I didn't say anything about paying back.  So stop worrying."

"Okay... Alan."  And she smiled. Just a little bit.  And it was wonderful.

I listened to her reserve us a room, reading numbers off my Visa card as I drove.  An hour later we were at the mall, and I followed her part time, led her the other part, forcing her to get a few changes of clothes, bought both of us pajamas, extra bath towels, an inordinate amount of strange substances apparently needed by young ladies in the bath, a hair dryer, and as we were heading out, me carrying six huge bags, her carrying one, we happened past one of those accursed perfume counters and she got whiffed by a charming, perfectly coiffed lady wielding a sample spritzer like an artillery piece.

"Mmmmmm," Tina said.  "I love that stuff. Always have."

I dropped my load of bags and reached for my wallet.  She put her hand on my arm.  Electricity coursed through me at this, the first touch.  "No, Alan.  I understand all this other stuff.  I need things.  But I don't NEED perfume."

"Hush!" I told her, slapping the gold card on the counter.  To the lady with the spritzer I said, "Which do you recommend?  The cologne or the perfume?"

And Tina added another bag.  We guarded our treasures as each of us made a run at the food court for dinner.

We got back in the truck and drove up the highway away from the mall to the hotel on the side of the interstate.  I checked us in and we started unloading bags into the room.  I had my one overnight bag, the remainder of my stuff being stored in the trailer.  Tina had two loads.

And now I began to see how sticky things might be.  At this point, I was being completely non-lecherous.  I was truthful when I told both Tina and Deputy Hurley that I had no intention of Tina being my sex toy.  I was as serious to myself.  In my own mind, she was as untouchable as a vestal virgin.  And here we were in the same hotel room.

First line of business was for us to rifle through the bags for pajamas.  She continued past that point to locate panties (hip-hugger, in pastel colors.  I bit the inside of my mouth) and a new bra, 34-B.  She also chose the next day's ensemble, jeans and of all things, a rugby shirt.  Those were all carefully laid out, along with my shirt for the next day. My pants had yet to suffer to the point that I determine a fresh pair is needed.

Next, it's shower time for Tina.  I plopped my ass down in a comfy chair and found TV channels to surf while she hauled her bag of goodies into the bathroom and shut the door.  I heard shower for a while, then various noises including gargling sounds and then ten minutes of hair dryer.  And the door opened, and out of the darkness came a vision.  Clean, sweet-smelling, hair washed, dried, and brushed to a shine, her bangs glistening like jewels above those blue eyes, the slightest curl where her hair stopped just short of her shoulders.  And she was smiling.

"Gah, Alan, I feel so much better."

"You look much happier," I said.  "Lemme go see if the works for me."

Half an hour later I was shaved, showered, deodorized, and after-shaved.  I told myself that the aftershave was because it made my face feel good.  For me.  I slid into a new set of pajamas, a big change since my usual bed-time garb was a t-shirt and drawers.  But there I was, in PJ's, walking out of the bathroom.

To a smiling Tina.  "Wow!  You smell better."

"Uh... I'm sorry.  I didn't know I smelt BAD..."

She smirked.  "Maybe it was the adrenaline."

"Yeah...  probably so."  I turned down my bed and stretched out in it.

"Are we gonna fight over the remote control?" she laughed.

"Nope.  Tonight I relinquish the control to you.  Whatever you want to watch."

She flipped channels.  Paused on "Cops".  "Hmph!" she snorted.  "That's where Mom's guys get their career tips."  Kept flipping.  "Oooooooh! Do you mind? Animal Planet.  "The Blue Seas"?  I LOVE this!"

I was pleasantly surprised.  I figured, oh, I don't know what I figured.  This was good.  No, great. "You like this stuff?"

"Oh, gosh, yes!  My favorites.  Learn stuff."

"Well, then be my guest, little princess.  We're not going to argue about TV."

"Really?"

"Really," I said.

She turned her own bed down.  We watched and talked.  And what I didn't hear was as important as what I did hear.  I didn't hear "like" and "ya know" and "He's like" and other contemporary argot.  That left me to parse the "high-school dropout" angle.

Ten o'clock came around and I noted that we needed to get rolling by 0700.  

"Okay," she said.  "Can I set the sleep timer on the TV?"

"Sure," I said.

She set the timer and I reached to turn out the lights, and I heard in the room, dimly lit by the flicker of the TV screen, "Alan, thank you."

"No, thank you, Tina.  You've added a new adventure to my life."  And that is the note I went to sleep on.  And strange dreams.

The alarm woke me up from a sound sleep.  I looked over at the next bed and saw the lump that was Tina.  She stirred.

I turned on the light.  "Owwwwww," she complained.  Then, "oh, yeah..."  And she sat up, rubbed her eyes, looked at me, and smiled.  "Hi, Alan."

"Hi, Tina.  I hate to be a party pooper, but we have to get in gear, dear."

"Yes, dear," she teased.

"You want the bathroom to get dressed, or here? I'll take the other one."

"Bathroom," she said.

"Wait," I said.  "Before you take over."

I went and relieved my bladder.  When I got out, there was Tina, eyebrow raised, baby-talking, "Did my widdle boy have to go potty?"

"Like a racehorse," I countered.

She took over the bathroom.  I heard face being washed, teeth being brushed, and in ten minutes a Tina showed up, ready for the day.  I did the teeth thing and I was ready to go, that is as soon as we packed up.  Two trips to the truck.  I stopped by the front desk and paid the tab, and we made a short run across the interstate to a diner for breakfast.

Pancakes and coffee, and conversation.  "Maybe we won't have to shoot our way out of this one, babe," she smirked.

I noted with interest the term "babe" used in reference to me.  "Gosh," I said, "At least not until next week."

Walking back across the parking lot to the truck and trailer, I noticed that there was less distance between us than before.

In the truck, in five minutes we were back on the open road, locked in at seventy.  She loosened her seatbelt and turned sideways.

"So if we're gonna be living together, don't you think we should know something about each other?"

"That might be good.  I figured you'd tell me what you wanted, whenever you felt up to it."

"I'm talkin' about you, Alan," she said.

"Okay.  What do you want to know?  If I don't want to answer, I'll tell you.  Between us, that's gonna be the rule.  If you don't want to tell, just say no.  No lies, okay?"

"Okay.  Wife?"

"Nope," I said.  "Divorced four years ago.  She left with a high school sweetheart.  Living in California with new husband and our daughter."

"Daughter?"

"Yeah.  Terri will be seven this year.  Have her a month in the summer.  Might fly her in for Christmas or Thanksgiving, IF the ex will submit to such horrors.  You want to know what's sad?"

"What's sadder than that?" Tina asked.

"She had complications during the pregnancy and delivery and her doctor said another baby might be very bad for her or the baby, so she talked ME into getting a…  uh… fixed.  Of course, now that I'm forty, that's not as big a deal, but to some women…"

"Yeah, I guess some women would see that as a minus.  Girlfriends?"

"Nope.  Not in the last two years.  Gave up on the dating scene.  Don't do one-night stands.  Morals, and all that."

"Really?  It's been a long time since I heard that," she said.

"Besides, I'm weird.  Just ask the ex.  I listen to the wrong kind of music.  Watch the wrong kind of TV. Laugh at the wrong kind of jokes.

"I thought you liked the right kind of TV last night."  She paused.  "Okay.  Let's move on to the music thing.  Let me guess.  Hip-hop."  She smirked again.

"You need a magic marker to help you make a cardboard sign for the side of the road?"

Laughing.  "Okay, so what..."

"Look in the console."

She opened the console and pulled out two CD's.  "Uh...  if this is the wrong kind... Alan, I miss this music."

"Are you looking at..."

"Bach.  Brandenburg Concertos.  Beethoven.  Symphonies.  Oh, god!  Pastorale!"

"W-w-wait!  You're a teenaged girl.  It's supposed to be boy bands and hip-hop."

"Not when you're looking for a little bit of theology and geometry in your universe."

"Theology and geometry?  Like in "Confederacy of Dunces"?"

Squeal.  "You know the book?"

"Not the kind of book I expect to be known by a high school dropout, Tina."

"About that," she sighed.  "I wanted to explain.  This is as good a time as any.  When my Grandma was alive and I lived with her, I had a 3.8 average.  When she died, and I had to live with Mom, like I said, school after school, never enough days, I gave up."  She looked at me with serious eyes.  "I'm not stupid.  And I'm not lazy.  I'm not my mother's daughter, I'm HER mother's grand-daughter, and I want to go back to school."

"That answers that question, then," I said.

"You had a question?  Really? About me?"

"Yes, Tina, I did.  I was quite happy to help you out, but honestly, I didn't know how much I could do if you were a dropout and done with school.  Now I have some hope.  3.8?  Really?  Wow!  I didn't do THAT good."

"So you're thinking about my school now?"

"Yeah.  We'll have to figure some stuff out.  Get you graduated from high school. College?"

"Was a dream.  I was hoping for scholarships.  Grandma was going to help, but she was on fixed income.  And when she died..." she sighed.  "Hope of college died too."

"Don't give up hope, Tina. Let's see where this leads, okay?"

"Okay.  Now, back to Alan.  You went to college, obviously.  Engineering.  Isn't that tough?"

"Not if you get your head into the game.  And I was Army ROTC, so I spent five years as an engineer lieutenant."

"Really?"

"Yeah.  Really."

"And now..."  She was paying close attention now.

"And now I'm pretty well known in a small field of people who take care of industrial power systems, and that's what I'm, we're going to go do in Tennessee.  It pays good if I'm willing to travel, and with no wife and kids to take care of, I AM willing to travel."

She was smiling.  "And rescue young damsels in distress."

"That too.  Now, tell me more about Tina."

"I turned seventeen three months ago.  I should be starting my senior year in high school.  I used to swim on the city team.  I am computer literate.  I like classical music, although I think Chopin is trying too hard to sound sophisticated and darned little good classical music has been written since 1900. Well, some of Copland's stuff, and a few others.  I can stand some ragtime and some bits of other genres."

"Boyfriends?"

"I've dated a few.  Nothing serious.  Because boys my age, at least the ones I met, AREN'T serious.  They're as bad as girls except it's pickup trucks and cars instead of nail polish and hairdos, and there's that ONE thing that's always on their minds when they're on a date and get you alone."

"Ah, yes," I said.  "I remember being young and stupid.  Thanks for reminding me."

She was on a roll.  "So I'm out on a date with a guy I'm thinking is cute and smart and I've just finished reading "Confederacy" and I start talking about it and he's all about, "Can I touch your tits" and I'm pushing hands away.  She sighed.  "I want to be a MIND."

"I understand," I said.

"No you don't.  It's different for guys."

"No, babe," I said.  Oops.  Called her "babe".  Move on.  "When the men and women are forty, it gets all screwed up.  Women think that if they get you into bed a time or two that you're ready for marriage.  And I'm thinking, "Hey, you hated my music.  And I supposed to spend the rest of my life in a house without Beethoven?"

Her laughter was like tinkling bells.  "Maybe you DO understand."

She continued.  "And then I moved back in with Mom.  SuperMom.  As in, "Oh, baby you're old enough.  Go out with HIM.  He's got a nice car."  And "You might give a little to get a little, you know what I mean?"  And "He didn't mean to walk in on you in the shower.  And it's no big deal if he saw you naked."  And "don't be so sensitive.  A lot of people ain't as picky about showing off their bodies.  Get over it."

"Really?  That bad.?"

"That bad.  Grandma cried about how her daughter turned out to be such a, in her words, slut."  She sighed.  Then I saw her smile.  "School. I get to go back to school."

"If that's what you want, Tina."

"That's what I want."

Lunchtime saw us parked in the back corner of a roadside restaurant, inside for a stretch and a bathroom break and a decent meal.  Two o'clock saw us pulling into the RV park we'd be calling home for the next six months.  That was the plan, anyway.  We got down together and I signed in at the office, meeting the manager, getting the talk about the lay of the park, the amenities, the rules and we got pointed to a spot in the most remote corner, per my request.

I did the much-hated backing of a thirty-five foot trailer into a spot, then with Tina helping, got unhitched, leveled, electricity, water and waste connected, then I climbed a ladder and installed my satellite TV dish.  To Tina I said, "There.  Animal Planet, Discovery, History, MTV, VH1..."

"Watch it, Alan.  You're falling off your white horse."  and laughter.

"Okay, princess, it's time to see your new castle,"  I said, unlocking the door and lowering the retractable step.  She stepped in first.

"Wow!  This is nice!  I haven't lived in anything this nice since Grandma's."

"You like it?  Really?'

"Yeah," she said.  "It's small, but you've got everything.  Kitchen.  Little washer and dryer.  "Uh...  just one bed..."

"And the sofa makes out into another.  I had this one custom made.  I didn't plan on company.  The desk is where the other bed would normally be.  But I've slept on the sofa and..."

"It's nicer than anything I've seen in a year, Alan.  This is wonderful."

I wish I heard more assurance in her voice.  

We moved her stuff from the truck to one of the two clothes closets.  I showed her the bathroom.  Storage space.  Where to turn water on and off.  Gas.  Electricity. I also showed her how the sofa made out into a bed, a fairly easy operation but instead she stretched out full length on it in "Sofa" mode.

"This is a sight better than I'm used to.  I had a single bed in Mom's apartment and the mattress was shot."

"I'm sorry, b…" I caught myself. "uh, Tina, but when I designed this I didn't plan on a teen girl living with me."

"That's okaaay, Alan, really. If you put up with me, I can put up with this."  She got up and opened cabinets.  "You got pots and pans.  We need to go grocery shopping.  Get stuff to cook."

"Uh," I said, "I don't usually cook much past TV dinners."

"But I can cook.  So let's make a list.  And then go shopping."

She retrieved the little notebook from her purse and started writing.  As she wrote, she questioned me about foods I liked and disliked, studiously scribbling in her notebook in a tight and even hand.

"'Kay," she announced.  "Now let's go buy groceries."

And we did.  Once in the truck, I asked, "Tina, if you're serious about going back to school, I'm gonna call tomorrow and see what it takes to get you in.  If you're serious."

"I'm serious.  I can't imagine not having at least a high school diploma, Alan. What do people do?"

"I don't know.  Some make it without the diploma, but that's not the way to bet."

"I'd really like college."

"That's what you said.  Let's get you through high school first."

Giggle.  "Yeah.  High school."  

Driving out of the park, we drove past the pool.  There were two couples sitting poolside watching some kids splash around.

"I need a bathing suit.  I could enjoy that pool," she said.

"Me too," I responded.  "We'll see about getting suits.  Maybe tomorrow."

As we drove, she asked, "What's the plan for tomorrow, anyway?"

I glanced at her.  "I figured we'd find where I have to work, and see what kind of drive it is.  Maybe find the high school.  Go into town and get a couple of swimsuits.  And YOU get to say, too, you know.  I don't start working until next Monday.  We have all week."

"'Kay," she smiled.

Groceries collected we retired back to our trailer.  It was nearing darkness.  "Tina, I'm going to walk a lap around the park.  I need the exercise."  I tried to do something three or four times a week.  Kept the weight down and my health up.

"Uh, okay," she said.  "Is this your 'alone' time, or can I walk with you?"

"Let's go.  If I need 'alone' time, I'll tell you.  I've had plenty enough in that last couple of years.  It's nice to have somebody to talk with."

We locked the trailer and started walking.  Sunday evening, there were still three other trailers in the park.  Two retired couples were sitting outside near one, chatting.  We stopped and exchanged pleasantries.  Continuing the walk, we caught up with a third retired couple out walking like us, enjoying the evening calm.  We made a point of examining the park's pool area.  Looked like a good thing.  At least through September, before it started getting too cool.  So we had a month.

I walk pretty briskly, so I was stepping out.  I noted that Tina was matching me step for step without complaint, and carrying on conversation as she did so.  Healthy.  Okay.

I unlocked the trailer and let us in.  "Who goes first?"

"Me, if you don't mind…" she said.

"Okay, but remember to go easy on the hot water.  We got a ten-gallon heater.  So wet down, soap up, rinse.  Same thing on shampoo."

Giggle.  "I read that's how you do it on a boat," she said.  "I'll leave you some hot water."

"Uh, another problem.  These things aren't exactly built for privacy.  I'll stay in my end with the curtain closed until you're dressed, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess."  She fixed me in a stare.  "This is gonna be difficult, huh?"

"I'm sorry.  You got a better idea?"

"Yeas, I do, if YOU'RE the kind of man I think you are.  I mean, locking yourself behind a curtain…"

"What's the alternative?"

She stared at me, her lips belying a firm resolve.  "You can just decide that you might see as much of a female as you would on any beach in the country.  I won't flash you or tease you.  And you try to be the same when it's your turn.  I've seen guys before.  I think we're both adults and we can restrain ourselves."

"There you go, making sense," I said.

She smiled.  "I don't want to mess up your life, Alan.  We just both live here, and we get along, and treat each other like adults, okay?"

This from a cute seventeen year old girl.  That, yes, part of me definitely wanted to see naked.  But I pushed that part back down in my head.  "Okay, princess."

She huffed.  "Stop calling me princess."

"You ARE a princess."

"I will carry my weight in this house, okay?  Really."

"Okay," I said.  "Then we'll have a couple of TV dinners.  And tomorrow we'll try cooking."

"Okay."  She smiled.  "Alan, I appreciate what you're doing for me.  What you've already done.  We'll work this all out, okay?"

"Okay.  Get your shower."  And I went back to my chair with my back to the bathroom.  I heard the water run.  Stop.  Run again.  Stop.  Run again.  Then bumping and a towel-clad Tina zipped up the narrow aisle to the bedroom where her clothes were.  The privacy curtain closed for a minute, then she emerged.

"See!" she laughed. "We made it.  Your turn.  I'm gonna dry my hair."  Pajama-clad, she sat on the steps to my bed and started brushing and blowing.

I'd done enough in this trailer to have a routine, but that had to be altered at the point where I walked around nude.  I brought my tighty-whities into the little bathroom and in the confined space, I toweled off and donned them, then opened the door to let the moist air out while I shaved.  I emerged and Tina was sitting on the sofa.

"Oh, wow," she laughed.  "Tighty-whities.  I can hardly contain myself." Sarcasm dripped.

"I didn't know I was sharing a trailer with a smartass," I laughed, as I donned my own pajamas.

"One of my many talents," she smirked.  Punching the start button on the microwave, she giggled.  "This is another."

TV dinners and soft drinks.  "We can do better than this," she said as we sat opposite one another in the dining booth.  She was right.  We watched TV together, me with my laptop and a wireless card, checking email and a couple of engineering websites.  She looked.

"I haven't used a computer since Grandma's house.  I had a laptop.  It "disappeared" at Mom's."

I picked it up and handed it to her.  "Use this one."

"You don't mind?"

"I gotta trust you, huh?"

"You CAN trust me, Alan.  Mom didn't raise me.  Grandma did.  Right."  She got serious fast.

"Sorry, Tina.  That's YOUR computer now.  Just don't erase my old stuff."

Squeal.  "This is MINE?  But don't you need it for work?"

"Got another one in the truck for work.  I can bring it in if I need it.  What'd'ya got?  Email?  FaceBook?"

"Uh-huh.  That I haven't checked in months.  Only got to a computer at the library.  And I didn't get to the library very much."

I flipped through some TV channels as she concentrated on the computer screen.  I heard her muttering under her breath, "Nope.  Nuh-uh.  Nope.  No way."  A pause, a flurry of keystrokes, the back to "Nope.  No way."

"You sound awfully busy," I said.

"Catching up with people I don't really want to catch up with, mostly.  I'm answering a couple, though."

I looked at her as she went back to her task.  I didn't stare, but I was looking at a cutie who wasn't working at being cute.  She just was.  I went back to TV.  It was safer.

Finally she looked up.  "Done!"

"That was fast.  How about looking up the local school board?  We need to get the ball rolling on getting you back in school."

"Okay," she said.  A few more keystrokes and she passed me the laptop.  I looked at the website.

"That's where we'll start tomorrow," I said.  I looked at my watch. "It's about bedtime.  Lemme get you a pillow and some sheets."  I retrieved a set of sheets and a pillow from my bed.

"But this is YOUR pillow," she said.

"I had three.  I can live with two."

She unfolded a sheet and tucked it into the sofa cushions, making a clean smooth surface, then positioned the pillow and pulled the other sheet over her.  "This'll work," she said.

"If you get cold, I can get you a blanket.  I like sleeping in a cold room myself."

"I'll be okay," she said, smiling.  "G'nite, Alan.  Thanks for a nice day."

"No, thank you, Tina.  You're fun to hang out with."

She smiled.  I made my way to the bed at the opposite end of the trailer, turned down the covers and crawled in.  I didn't close the privacy curtain.  The light at the other end of the trailer blinked out, leaving a little night light's soft illumination.  I went to sleep.





Chapter Three



I woke up to the smell of frying bacon, an alien smell that my sleep-fogged mind took a few seconds to parse.  I sat up.  From my vantage in bed at one end of the trailer I could see all the way to the other end, and there in the middle, at the stove, was Tina, fiddling with a skillet on the stove. I guess she caught my movement.  

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she chirped.  "I hope grits and bacon and eggs is good for breakfast."

"Oops," I said.  "I woke up in the wrong trailer."

"Whaaaat?" she giggled.

"Do you know that there's NEVER been a meal cooked in the trailer that I didn't cook myself?"

"Then get used to it.  I think I like to cook every now and then."

"Me too," I said.  "But cooking for one?  Kind of a drag."

"So is cooking for people who could give a shit," she said.  "But I thought I'd try with you.  Make up for the breakfast you didn't finish Saturday.  I saw this stuff in the fridge.  I figured that since you brought it, it was stuff you like."

"Well it smells good enough.  Lemme get dressed."

"I won't peek," she said.

I slid out of my pajamas and into a clean pair of pants and a pullover shirt, grabbed a pair of socks and headed toward her.  I noticed the bacon was cooking to perfection and the grits were happily bubbling on a rear burner.

"How do you like your eggs?" she asked.

"Can you do "over easy"?"

"Piece of cake," she laughed.  "Grandma showed me.  I practiced."

Soon we were seated opposite one another in the little dining booth, eating.

"So how'd I do?"

"Very good. I figured burnt bacon and crunchy eggs."

"Why?"

"Because pretty teen girls aren't supposed to know how to cook," I said.

"I'm NOT pretty," she said.

"Hah.  I think you are."

"Thanks," she said.  "You don't have to say that, you know."

"You're right," I said.  "But it's true, and it should make you happy to hear somebody say it."

"Okay.  Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Tina.  I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.  I just meant that you…  Oh, never mind…"  Inwardly I kicked myself.  This was a sticky situation, and I was still trying to figure out how there could be a good outcome.

"No, I'm sorry, Alan.  You were just trying to be nice.  I'm not used to having people be nice, not the last few months."

"Tina," I said, getting up from my now empty plate and gathering hers, "if we're going to exist in this trailer, we need to get along."

"I know," she said.  "But Alan," she continued, "you gotta understand how it was, living with Mom and a stream of trash she brought home.  I mean, guys that came home with Mom, they'd hit on me in a second if she left the room.  They thought if she was easy, then I was easy.  And I'm NOT easy."

"I understand, Tina," I said.  "You want coffee?"

"Yeah.  Lemme watch you make it.  People are particular about their coffee, so I didn't try."  She watched as I threw a little drip pot together and put water on to boil.

"You are NOT my maid, Tina."

"Yeah, yeah…" she said.  "But two people.  Little trailer.  If we don't share the work…"

"I know.  Can't leave anything out of place, or it gets cluttered fast."

"And we're in a tight space, so we need to NOT be sensitive.  You've known me, what this is the third day?  I am NOT an asshole unless somebody deserves it.  YOU don't deserve it.  Therefore, please don't consider me to be an asshole."

"I'm SORRY!" she said, "I just REACTED, okay?"

"That's not the point, Tina.  We can make this whole thing work, but WE need to be nice to one another.  And that means that I don't suspect you of ulterior motives, and you treat me the same."

The kettle whistled, thankfully giving me a stopping point.  I poured the water into the drip pot, took out two mugs, the sugar canister and a little carton of half and half.  I poured two mugs.  "Fix yours," I said.  "I don't know how you want it."

"Two spoons of sugar, and cream like you put in yours."

"How do you know I put cream in my coffee?"

"Hah.  First, you got it out today, AFTER you brought it with the other stuff.  So I figured you used it.  Second, you put some in your cup every time I saw you drink coffee the last two days.  So I trust you to put cream in my coffee."  She did that little smirk thing I'd noticed several times before.

With a clinking of spoon against cup, I handed her a mug.  She sipped.  "Perfect!"

I sat down opposite her again.  "Well, good.  I did something right."

"Oh, Alan, I don't mean to be like that.  Just…"

"Just a lot of changes in three days."

"In nine months," she sighed.  "And things, uh, they looked so bad… with Mom."

"You're past that, Tina.  If we can figure this all out."  I sipped my savory brown liquid, gazing at her face.  

She shook her head, flaring her hair and letting it fall in place.  Her hand went up and brushed it off her collar.  "Uh, Alan, how…  I mean, am I askin' too  much to get my hair trimmed?"

"No.  Is it too long?"  It touched  her collar.  Auburn, shiny, a little curl at the ends, it framed her face nicely.

"Uh, I like it shorter.  Needs an inch or so cut off.  But…  I…  money."

"Not a problem.  I don't know how you want to do it, but find a place, and we'll get it done."  I drained my mug and got up to start washing dishes.   

She shoved me out of the way. "Lemme do that."

"Okay, boss," I said.  I gathered clothes and started filling the little washer.  "I'll do the laundry."

With dishes washed and stacked to dry, and a load of laundry in mid-cycle, we headed out of the park with the address of the jobsite on the GPS.  It wasn't too long a drive through the countryside.  I found what I expected,  a site consisting of several acres, cleared from the surrounding woodlands, a new railroad spur and pipeline going in, and huge amounts of bare dirt and rock with curiously shaped trenches and holes and interesting formations of concrete and steel rising out of them.  And a complex of temporary office trailers.  In one of them was my new office, but today wasn't the day to look at it.

"So that's where you work," Tina commented.

"Yeah.  They all start out as a big mess like that.  In six months we ought to be ready to make stuff.  Or at least I'll have the electricity on."

We drove towards the county seat.  I was looking for the school board office.  Nine AM.  I guessed that government employees should be at work by nine.  I punched up the phone number from the search the night before.  I got a menu.  I navigated until I got a human.  "Hi, I said, "I'm Alan Addison.  I need to talk to somebody about enrolling a student in your high school."

The female voice said, "Yessir.   Let me connect you with Mister Jenkins."

Click. A male voice.  "Dan Jenkins.  Can I help you?"

"Yessir, Mister Jenkins.  I'm Alan Addison.  I have a student who needs to enroll.  We just moved here."

"Easy enough," he said.  "I'll just need the information from her last school.  You wouldn't happen to have transcripts with you?"

"Nossir," I said.

"Didn't figure you did, but I thought I'd ask.  We can get those.  What grade?"

"Uh, that's the problem.  Hey.  We're on the road.  Can we come by and talk to you in person?"

"Sure," he said.  He gave me the address. "Just tell the lady at the front desk that you're here to see me."

"Looks like we'll see you in twenty minutes or so."

"Okay, Mister Addison," he said.  "I'll be waiting."

"So we're going to see him?" Tina asked.  "I'm not dressed."

"Uh, Miss Tina," I stated, "you're dressed quite nicely."  She was.  Jeans, athletic shoes, a conservative blouse that accented that head of hair.

"I get nervous."

"You have nothing to get nervous about.  We're just trying to get you back in school.  These are the people that will help us do that."  I pulled into the parking lot and maneuvered the big pickup into a slot and we got out.

Walking into the office, we met the receptionist, a nicely dressed black lady who directed us down the hall after she notified Mr. Jenkins of our arrival.  I knocked on the office door and heard a "Come in!"  I ushered Tina in ahead of me.

"You're Mister Jenkins?" I asked, extending my hand.

He shook it.  "And you're Alan Addison.  And this is…" he asked, looking at Tina.

"This is Tina, uh, Miss Christina Johnson.  She's needing to be in school."

"Hello, Miss Tina," he said.  "You folks can sit down."

We sat.

"So what's the deal?  You're her, uh.. relation?"

"None," I said. "She's, well, I don't know how to categorize…"

His eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly.

"No," I said.  "Not like that.  Like "foster home"."

"Sir," Tina interrupted, "I have no living relatives who aren't in jail. Mister Alan has provided me a place to stay and has offered to get me back in school."

"Okay," he said.  "We'll leave that as it is.  Mister Addison, what is your legal relationship?  Guardian?  Something that says you're 'in loco parentis', legally able to sign for her?  I'm assuming she's still a minor."

"Seventeen, sir," said Tina.

"Uh, yes.  Minor," said Mr. Jenkins.  "Sir," he said, looking at me, "I'm afraid that you need something to say that you have legal standing to make decisions concerning her life."

"I understand," I said.

"I DON'T!!!" hissed Tina.  "Two days ago this man saved my life.  From that, my mom and her boyfriend went to jail.  I don't HAVE anybody else to make decisions.  He's the one."

"I'm sorry, Miss Tina," he said.  "But that's what the law says."

My head was full of spinning gears.  They lined up and clicked.  "Uh, Mister Jenkins, can I make a cellphone call?  I don't want to be rude."

"No," he said.  "If we can get this straightened out."

"Tina," I said. "Let me have Deputy Hurley's number."

As she opened her purse I said to Mr. Jenkins, "This guy might be able to help us out."

"Yeah?" he said.  "Then use my phone.  Here!"   He turned it around.  "Punch this button if you want to use speaker.  Dial nine to get an outside line."

"Thanks," I said, punching buttons.  I put us on the speaker.

"I'm really trying to help," he said.

The phone rang.  I wasn't sure of success on Hurley's office phone, but we were surprised to hear "Sheriff's office.  Deputy Hurley.  Can I help you?"

Here goes nothing, I thought.  "Uh, Deputy Hurley.  Alan Addison.  From Saturday morning at the diner?"

"Hello, Mister Addison," He said.  "What can I do for you?"  His voice sounded a tad apprehensive.

"Uh. I'm here in Tennessee with Miss Tina and uh, Mister Jenkins of the school board.  We're trying to get Tina back in high school."

"Oh, really?"  His tone took a definite upward turn.  "That's great!  She doin' okay?"

"Yeah, so far."

"Hi, Deputy Hurley," Tina piped in.

"Hi, Miss Tina," he said.  "How can I help you?"

I said, "Mr. Jenkins here says I… we need some sort of legal document saying that I have some standing to sign for her to get in school.  Can you help us?  I mean, you know the situation and all."

"I dunno exactly how that's gonna work," he said.  "Tell you what, lemme call my uncle.  He's the district judge.  He'll know."

Mr. Jenkins injected, "How long might that take?"

Hurley came back, "I'll get off the phone with you and call ‘im.  Call you back in ten minutes.  Gimme a number."

Jenkins read him off one.

"I'll call you back in ten minutes, fifteen, tops."

"Okay, thanks, man!  We appreciate the help."

"Don't thank me yet," Hurley said.  "I haven't done anything."

"We trust you," Tina said.

"'Kay.  Bye, ya'll."  Click.

I looked at Mr. Jenkins.  "Okay, we're working on it."

"Saturday?  At the diner?"  He looked interested.

"You want the story?"

"Sure," he said.

"You don't mind, do you, Tina?" I asked.

"Certainly not.  We lived through it."

So I told the story, aided ably by Tina.  "And," I said, "That's how a forty year old engineer ended up with a teenaged girl in Tennessee."

"Okay," he said.  "Let's assume that we get something going that lets you sign for Miss Tina."  He turned to Tina.  "What grade are you in?"

"I dropped out in the eleventh grade," Tina said.  "I was a 3.8 student.  Then I moved in with Mom when Grandma died.  And I dropped out."

"Hmmm," he said.  "That changes things a bit."

"How so?" I asked.

"We have to do a placement test.  To see where she starts back.  Pretty standard thing."

Uh, okay?  When?  Where?"

"We can do it here.  Uh, tomorrow if you get us something to fix things.  Or later this week."

I eyeballed the diploma on his wall.  A picture of a happy Jenkins with a pretty, if somewhat chunky wife and two kids, maybe eight and ten.  And to go with the conservative haircut, a framed honorable discharge certificate from the Marines.

"Marine?" I said.

"Oh, yeah," he said.  "You?"

"Army.  Combat engineers."

"Chopper pilot."

"Really?!?" I said.  "Gulf War?"

"Yeah.  You?"

"Uh-huh.  Blew one of the minefields to cut the army loose into Iraq."

"Small world, ain't it?  I flew into Kuwait."

"Hah!"  We laughed together.  Tina was alternating her gaze between the two of us.

Jenkins saw her expression.  "Sorry, Miss Tina, we're not ignoring you."

"Oh, don't worry about me, Mister Jenkins.  I'm learning stuff every day.  About him."

The phone rang.  Jenkins answered, then punched the speaker button.  "Okay, Deputy, uhhh,  Hurley, is it?  We're all here.  So what's the good news."

Hurley's voice as tinny on the speaker.  "Hi, folks!  Hizzoner Judge Hurley, my dear uncle, says that I need for you two to fax me copies of your drivers' licenses so he can get the paperwork done up properly.  I can overnight it to you.  You both sign.  Overnight it back.  The judge signs.  And it's back to you.  We can get it done by Friday that way."

Mr. Jenkins asked, "So this is a hundred percent?  No questions?"

"Nope," the tinny voice said. "Hundred percent."

"Great," said Mr. Jenkins.

"The fax number on your card works?" I asked.

"No," Hurley said.  "Use this one.  It's the judge's law office.  And you owe me seventy-five bucks.  Court costs."  He gave me a fax number.  Tina was already pulling out her drivers' license.

"Tell your uncle that his name goes on the list of good people," Tina said.

"Uh, Deputy Hurley, Let me give you an address for the deliveries."  I gave him the RV park.  Made a mental note to make arrangements for them to watch for me and call when things came in.

"I'll do that, Miss Tina," Hurley said.  "I'll call ‘im back and tell ‘im to expect the fax."

"Hey, Deputy Hurley," I said.

"Yeah."

"Can your uncle fax me back a copy of the document.  A draft?  So Mister Jenkins will have something in his hand pretty quick?"

"Yeah.  I can do that."

"Great!  We're gonna fax that stuff right now."

"'Kay, folks!  Let me know how things go.  Bye!"  Click.

Mr. Jenkins sat back, bridging his fingers at his chin.  "Well!" he exclaimed, "That looks pretty good.  Lemme make quick call.  He picked up the phone.  "Hi, Janie.  Dan Jenkins.  Yeah.  Look, I got a young lady who needs to do a grade screening for high school.  Uh, yeah.  She dropped out last year in, uh, Louisiana.  Wants to start here.  We need to determine grade placement.  Can she…  Uh, tomorrow?  Yeah.  Wait a sec…"  He looked at us.  "Tomorrow okay?"

Tina nodded vigorously.  "Yes, fine!" I said.

He went back to the phone.  "Yeah.  Tomorrow.  Eight-thirty?  Till, what, lunch-time?  Okay… she'll be there.  Uh… Christina Johnson.  "'Kay. Thanks!  Bye!"

"Okay," he said, turning to us. "Now, let's get these licenses copied and faxed."  He took them and left, coming back in a few minutes.  He handed us back our licenses.

I gave him a business card.  "Cell number and email works.  If you need anything.  I sure do appreciate your help on all this."  I stood up, Tina rising by my side. 

He handed me his card.  "Same thing goes."

"Thank you, Mister Jenkins," Tina said.  "I'll be here, what eight-thirty?  I'll be early. Okay?"

He smiled.  "Good.  We're looking forward to having you."

Tina was a little old to be skipping beside me, but there was a definite bounce in her step as we left.  

"Are you nervous?  I mean, TESTS!"

She shook her pretty head.  "Nuh-uh.  I'll do my best.  Things will work out. Again."

"Again?" I questioned.

"Yeah," she smiled.  "Things seem to have taken a good turn for ME since Saturday, don'tcha think?"

"I suppose.  That is, if you can get over your living arrangements."

"I'm sorry about this morning, Alan.  I'm just, you know…"

"Don't worry, Tina.  Lots of changes."

"Uh, AND a period.  And I get a bit edgy.  I'll try to be better."

"Just be you.  We'll work things out."

"'Kay, babe," she said.  Giggled .

And I noted the word "babe".

We took off in the truck, went to find a good clothing store, and bought a couple of bathing suits.  I left her to her own devices in choosing, and her choice as a very conservative one-piece.  I'd imagined a bikini, a not unpleasant set of images, to be sure, but most disturbing to my efforts at maintaining an almost fatherly distance.

That effort put us within hitting distance of lunch.  "Where do we eat?" questioned Tina.

"I got an idea," I said.  I whipped out the business card from my shirt pocket and dialed the number.

"School board.  Dan Jenkins.  Can I help you?"

"Dan Jenkins, this is Alan Addison.  We're looking for a decent lunch meal and thought we'd ask you to come along and show us one.  Meal's on me."

Laughter.  "How far out are you?"

"About five minutes."

"I'll be standing beside the road with my hungry look…"

Tina grinned.  "Do you, like, go out of your way to make friends?"

"Life is a lot better when people are happy to see you.  And the day goes better when you don't go into it pissed off all the time."

"Hmmm.  Interesting."  She smiled.  "You're really something, you know."

"Nope, just a plain ol' engineer trying to have a good life in the middle of all the mess."

She smiled as we pulled into the parking lot at the school board.  She waved at Dan Jenkins and he started toward us.    As he approached, she unbuckled her seatbelt, stowed the console that separated the passenger side from the driver side of the truck's bench seat, and slid beside me.  She was buckling herself in the middle as Dan got in to occupy the passenger side.  Buckled in, we started back out of the lot.

"So what are you looking for?" He asked.

"Tina?  Are you hungry for something in particular?"

"Oh, no," she said.  "Let Mister Jenkins show us."

"Okay, Dan," I said.  "take us to the showplace dining experience."

He laughed.  "Uh, well…  I know a place.  Family style food.  Good for lunch.  And not expensive.  Turn right at the next light."

We were early enough to beat the lunch crowd and had a very nice meal presented to us.  

"So where are you working," his first question came.

"That new factory going in over east off the main highway?  I'm doing the electrical."

"Engineer, again?" He surmised.

"Yep, still.  I was headed this way and stopped for breakfast.  Tina told you the story."

Tina smiled.  

"So where are you living?" he asked.

I named the RV park.  "For at least the next six months.  Not quite long enough to be a resident.  Too short to be called transient."

"Yeah," Dan said.  "I suppose somebody could make a big deal out of your address being an RV park, but you explained the situation and I'm happy with it."  He turned his attention to Tina as she worked her way through her meal with surprisingly good manners.  "Miss Tina, not many dropouts go back to school like you're doing."

She put her fork down.  "I suppose," she said.  "But I hated to drop out, Mister Jenkins.  It's just that with my home situation, I was out of school more than in."

"Are you thinking of college?" he asked.

"Yessir," she answered.  "I was, before…  and now I'm thinking about it again.  If I have a chance."

"Good.  I know the guidance counselors at the high school.  Let's see how the tests go."

"We'll find out, won't we…" and she smiled enigmatically.

We continued a pleasant lunchtime conversation and then drove back to Dan's office and dropped him off.  I expected Tina to slide back over to the empty passenger seat, but it was almost as if she hesitated before moving, buckling in, and lowering the console as a barrier between us.  A sort of pickup truck chastity wall.

I let the GPS take us to a nearby recreational park on a lake and we walked around, savoring the afternoon, even though it was a little warm.  I wiped some sweat from my brow.  Tina saw that.

"Alan," she said.  "We have brand new swimsuits and I know where there's a pool.  Good idea?"

"Great idea!  Let's go."

We drove back to the RV park.  "I need to stop in at the office and tell them we're expecting deliveries," I said.

"Yeah, we are, aren't we?"

We both got down and walked into the office.  The manager was an older lady, maybe early sixties, at the counter.  "Hi, again," I said.

Lillian Graves was her name.  She smiled.  "Oh, yes.  You came in yesterday.  Uh… Alan, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She looked at Tina. "And Tina.  What can I do for you folks?"

"I gave this address for mail.  And tomorrow I'm expecting a Fed-Ex overnight.  You have my cell number.  Can you call me when it comes in?"

"Sure," she said.  "Didn't you say you're going to be working around here?"

"Yes ma'am,"  I said.  "That new plastics plant off the main highway."

"Oh, yes," she said.  "My son in law is going to be there as a construction foreman."

"Great!" I said.  "His name?"

"Rollie Stebbins.  You can't miss him.  He's taller'n you.  ‘Bout three hundred pounds.  Beard."

"I'll look for ‘im!  Tina's probably gonna do high school from here.  Start next week, we're thinking."

"Oh, that's good.  I can get the bus to stop here to get her in the mornings."

Tina looked at me.  "Uh, okay.  That's good.  I was wondering how I was getting to school."

"And baby," Lillian said, "you're always welcome to come sit here with me in the afternoons while he's still at work.  If you don't mind sitting with us old folks."

"Oh, no ma'am," she smiled.  "I loved talking with my grandmother."

I said, "Well, we're gonna go swim for a while."

"Well, ya'll have fun, then.  I'll watch for your stuff tomorrow," she said.

We climbed back into the truck and drove the short distance to the trailer.  In ten minutes I was wearing a conservative pair of swim trunks and Tina was in a one-piece suit that clung to sleek curves and bulged out over set of B-cup breasts.  I tried not to stare.

"Grab us some towels," she said.

"Yes ma'am," I said, exaggerating my servitude.

"Oh, stop that.  You're being a butt…"

"Walk or ride?" I asked.

She gaged the distance from the trailer to the pool.  "Uh, with what we've been eating, I'm thinking that the walk is a good thing."

"Smart girl," I said.

We started walking, side by side.  Could've been a dad and his daughter.  Could've.  And as far as I was concerned, that was just about what we were.

The pool was bigger than I expected.  Certainly not Olympic-sized, but plenty long enough for laps to be meaningful.  I stripped off my t-shirt and slipped into the pool, letting the water envelope me, then ducked my head and started laps in an easy crawl.  And got passed up by a seventeen year old girl.  

"This isn't the way it's supposed to go," I thought to myself, and I kicked my effort up from "recreational" level towards "Showoff".  And I struggled to close the gap.  Kept trying, too, expecting her speed to be a fluke.  Wasn't a fluke.  Back and forth.  Finally she pulled up on the edge of the pool and I hit just seconds behind her, and I was breathing pretty good.

"Okay," I said, between breaths.  "Now tell me why Miss Tina is whipping my butt in the pool."

Giggle.  Then a little snicker.  "High school swim team.  I had trophies."

I heaved a cleansing breath.  "Now I remember. It shows.  Very good."

She smiled at me, her hair dark with water and plastered against her head.  "You didn't do bad yourself," she said.  "I could feel you almost catch me.  You have a better kick off the wall."

"You beat me.  In a regulation pool, you'd have lapped me in five laps."

She smiled.  "Nice to know that I have something on you."  She ducked under the water to cool off.  I did the same, then watched her leggy form exit the pool and settle onto a lounge beside the walk, toweling herself off.  Her height was from those long legs, not her torso, I observed.

I got out and sat on the lounge beside her, drying myself off, then laying back.  I closed my eyes to the late afternoon sun, but not before I saw her eye me.  She stretched back on her own chair.

"Mmmmm, this is really great, Alan.  It's so much different than what I was looking at Friday night.  I think I'm in heaven."

A gentle zephyr stirred the nearby trees and cooled my damp body.  "Ahhhh, yes, lady, I think it's great.  Different, but great."

"Alan," she said, "how do you usually do these jobs?  What do you do?  Work, I know, but after work?"

"That's where I part ways with a lot of guys, Tina.  Lots of construction people party hard.  The bars and clubs around here are going to make a fortune while this thing is being built.  And there's be a lot of women chased and a few caught, and all.  But that's not my thing."

"So what DO you do?"

"I find the library, or the internet, and if there's some good concerts, I go to those, and if I find friends that share my desire not to go out drinking and cavorting then I might spend the evenings with friends."

"No women?" she asked.

"Not for the sake of the standard things that men chase women for.  Like I told you the other day, I don't do casual sex and I am not going to get serious with somebody who's not on the same wavelength that I am.  There's too much pain in trying to fit the wrong pieces of a puzzle together."

"But…"

"But that's too serious a part of my life to compromise.  Been there.  It hurts.  So I quit."

"Uh…  I guess that's a better approach than Mom's…  she kept tryin' and tryin' and then it was just for, I guess, the physical thing…  and it seemed like a bad way to go through life." She sighed.

"Some people go their whole lives like that and they don't suffer consequences, but every one of those one-nighters, or short things, there's two people involved, and what doesn't bother one can leave a mark on the other."

"Yeah," she said.

"Or you end up with two people who just want to use each other, and…  I don't know.  I thought I was connected in my marriage, but apparently she wasn't.  And when it hurt me like that, I decided I never wanted to do that to another person."

"Me neither.  I saw Mom and it looked like a train wreck. People bent and broken all over the place."

"Life sucks, sometimes…"

"But then," she smiled as I looked at her, "there are days like this.  Look!"  She pointed upward to a hawk circling high overhead.  "That's freedom."

"Yes it is," I said.  "And he can do that when his belly's full and the babies are fed.  If he's a good, successful hawk, he gets to circle in the afternoon skies."

We chatted for a few more minutes then I watched her form do a little knifing dive off in the deep end of the pool and I did a backflip in to join her.  This time I knew better than to let her surprise me, but she still was nothing I could catch.  Finally we got out again and walked back.  Passing a couple of the other trailers, we smiled and greeted them as we walked.

Inside the trailer, Tina grabbed her night-clothes and hit the shower first.  "Won't take long.  I just need to rinse," she said.  And true to her word, she was out and drying her hair. 

 I did a similar move, but had a few more minutes scraping the hair off my face.  A splash of aftershave left my face tingly.  I exited the tiny bathroom to a sleekly coiffed Tina, eyes blue and twinkling.

"Gosh, you smell good again," she smiled.

I sat in my recliner and she lounged on the sofa and we watched TV until about eight when she picked up her laptop.  "Just want to see if I got any responses to my email," she said.  Ten minutes later, she turned the computer off.  "That's that," she said. "I sent email last night to see who wanted to keep in touch.  No responses.  I guess those friends gave up."

"I'm sorry, Tina."

"Oh, it's okay, Alan.  You know, this is almost a new life.  I mean, I had that life with Grandma, then she died, and I had that life with Mom, and it was horrible, and now that's over, and I have this new life, and you've been good to me, and I'm gonna go back to school and meet new friends and start over.  Not many people get to do that."

"I know."  I was parsing the "meet new friends" statement.  I knew that she was seventeen and the world was there for her and a new high school was rich ground for relationships and friends and boyfriends and, I hated to think, prospective mates.  I pushed that out of my mind.  Hard.  "Uh, do you play cards?" I asked.

"What kind of cards?  Like rummy?"

"Yeah.  Can you play rummy?"

"Grandma and I used to play several times a week.  I like it.  You got cards?"

And we sat at the table and played rummy.  And it wasn't easy.  She was no slouch and we each won a game and I got a lucky draw to beat her on the tie-breaking third game.  And it was bedtime.

She made her bed and I retreated to mine and we went to sleep.  





Chapter Four



The accursed alarm clock went off as expected at six-thirty.  We got up and dressed and because of her appointment for testing, we hit a local diner for breakfast of pancakes and coffee.

At eight fifteen she was walking in the door of the school board offices.  There was a lady expecting her, and I left her with my business card for her to call me if she needed me.

"Oh, don't worry," said the lady.  "These tests are timed, but she's the only one taking them today, so she'll be finished at eleven-thirty."

"Good luck, Tina," I said.  

She smiled.  And kissed me on the cheek.  I was still standing there semi-stunned when she followed the lady up the hall.

I left, a thousand thoughts going through my head, and drove to the new jobsite, checked in the front gate and introduced myself to the people already on site.  A few faces and names were familiar to me, including the engineering manager who'd asked for me by name and reputation.  I looked at my new office, bare, with a desk and a large table to spread out prints and drawings, and a few chairs for the inevitable meetings and conferences.  We talked about the progress so far, and the target dates for my equipment to begin arriving, and I looked at the schedule of construction, and we laughed at a few old tales, and I saw it was ten-thirty, and my cell phone rang.

I looked at the display.  Unfamiliar number.  I answered. Familiar voice.  Tina.

"Hi, Alan," she said.  "I'm finished."

"I thought the lady said eleven-thirty."

"Yeah, I know.  But that's if there were others who need the whole time… but I just did what I could and then stopped and we went to the next one.  So I'm finished."

"Okay, sweetie," I said.  "I'm out at the plant.  I'm leaving now."

"Okay.  Uh…  I see Mister Dan.  I'm gonna go see if he has time to talk.  See ya in a bit."

"I gotta go," I told the crew.  "Had a kid taking a test this morning.  She's finished.  I'll be here bright and early Monday."  And I left. Thirty minutes later I walked into the school board offices.  The receptionist spotted me immediately.

"She's in Mr. Jenkins' office.  Go right in."

I walked in, spotting Tina sitting in a chair smiling.  Mr. Jenkins…  "Hi, Dan," I said.

"Hi, Alan.  I'm being surprised today."

I looked at Tina.  She was smiling.  "How so?"

"She took the placement tests.  They're timed tests, Alan.  Usually nobody finishes."

And I looked at Tina.  She was smiling.  And it was a self-assured little smirk of a smile.

Dan said, "Tina finished.  I, uh, we, the lady who gives the tests is scoring them right now.  If you want to grab lunch, she'll be finished by the time we get back."

"Sure," I said.  "Come on, punkin," I told Tina.  I looked at Dan.  "We're gonna need directions.  You up for another meal?"

"Oh, why not," He said.  "I can always run it off…"  He got up from his desk.

We all walked out to the truck and got in, Tina taking the center seat again.  I know Dan noticed that she had to move the console out of the way.  But she buckled in rather more to my side than his, and she was STILL smiling.

This time Dan directed us to a barbecue joint.  "I don't go here often during work," he said, "because they laugh when I come back with sauce on my tie."

We could see why.  The barbecue was good, but eating ribs was not for the fastidious.  They had GOOD ribs.  We ate happily and cleaned up as best we could.  Dan was laughing.  "They'll know where we've been."

Back at the office, Dan walked in to see a score sheet on his desk.  "Wow," he said.  One word. "Wow."

He looked at us.  "Just a sec," he said, punching the phone.  "Uh, hey, Louise.  Yeah.  I got'em. Thanks for doing it this fast.  I know.  I was curious too.  Yeah.  I'll tell ‘er.  Thanks!"  He turned his attention to us.  Tina was sitting next to me.

"Well," I said, "Back in the eleventh grade?"

"Yeah, right."  His tone was happy sarcasm.

Tina was still smiling.  I wasn't.  I was trying to interpret Dan's demeanor.  "So what's the deal?"  I looked at Tina.  "You did your best, didn't you?  You didn't just quit?"

"No, Alan.  I did my very best."

Dan said, "Uh, Alan, she's twelfth grade.  And I'm recommending advanced placement in all her subjects.  That way she gets college credits before she graduates high school."

"You're kidding!"

"I'm NOT kidding.  These scores are the best I've ever seen. Or Mrs. Conner, too, for that matter.  She does our testing for us for years.  Oh, and I got a faxed draft of your guardianship this morning.  So we're operating like you can sign her papers."

"That's good," I said.  "When do we have to give you a decision about the advanced placement stuff?  And when can she start classes?  Monday?"

"Monday will be fine.  And we can set her schedule if you decide.  I'll call the guidance counselor at the high school, but she can start Monday."  He smiled back at Tina.  "You're a pleasant surprise."  To me he said, "Did you know any of this?"

"Uh…  You know I've known her since Saturday.  I knew she was bright, just talking with her, and she told me about the 3.8 GPA, but… how was I supposed to know?"

"Well now we know.  Can you go to the school Friday and get with them about the schedule and stuff?  Since she's a new admit, you need to go with her, Alan."

"Okay.  Not a problem."

Tina was still smiling.  "Mister Dan," she said.  "Thank you for taking care of us."

"We're the ones who are getting lucky, young lady, if YOU work to your potential.  Just one question.  What kept you from getting a 4.0?"

"I missed some tests when my grandma got sick.  Mom pulled me from that school and moved me and I couldn't make them up."

"Oh, okay.  Uh, Alan, can you sign this release so we can get her transcripts from her old school?"

I signed.  We left, headed to the RV park.  She got in the truck giggling.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"That lady!  Mrs. Conner.  I took the first test and finished and she told me to check my work, that I must've missed some pages.  And I showed her the answer sheet.  And she asked me if I understood the questions.  It was funny.  She just didn't believe that I did the work."

"You've surprised a bunch of people today.  I'm one of them."

"Really?"

"I mean, I knew you were smart.  It shows in the way you talk about things.  But now… it's like your swimming.  Another surprise."

"I'm glad I surprise you in good ways."

"Me too," I said.  "And I thought of something while I was out.  Let's go get you a cellphone.  I don't want you without a way to get hold of me or whoever…"

"My own phone?"  Squeal!   

"Yeah.  I think it's a necessity, with you in school and me at work and schedules change and things happen.  And I don't have to tell you how you need to take care of it."

"Nobody will touch it, Alan," she said seriously.

That was a minor stop.  And the day ended in what would become routine:  a walk, a swim, a dinner, TV, games, and bed.  Her at her end.  Me at mine.

The Friday meeting at the high school with the guidance counselor was interesting.  These things were a lot more fun when you walked in with a winning hand, and Tina was an academic winning hand.  "Yessir," she said.  "I DO want the advanced placement classes."

"Which ones?" he asked.  "Physics?  Trig?  English?  Social studies?"

"All of ‘em," she smiled.

I smiled too.

Our last weekend before we both started acceding to fixed schedules.  We abandoned the trailer and drove a hundred and fifty miles to take in a concert and spend Friday and Saturday nights in a hotel with a full-sized shower and two queen-sized beds.  The concert was a very workmanlike performance of Mozart chamber pieces by the local university's strings and several times during the performance I stole glances at Tina, a young perfection in an austere little black dress, tastefully simple pumps and tiny gemmed studs in her ears.  Her hair was auburn perfection.  And her eyes were closed and she was smiling as the notes soared over our heads.

It was with reluctance that we headed home, talking about the museums and the concert and the sights and the food.

Monday morning came.  We did a bit more hurried breakfast of grits and eggs and bacon and I headed out to the project and she cleaned up then went to wait for the bus.

My day went just as chaotically as I expected for Day One.  By four-thirty I was ready to leave and I did so.  I stopped by the front office and found Tina and Lillian talking.  Tina had a book and notebook open on the counter.

Lillian handed me the Fed-Ex package that contained the final versions of the documents that gave me legal place in Tina's life, the power normally attributed to parent.  

"She's been talking and working since she got off the bus," Lillian said.  "It's nice to have young company."

"You don't mind her chatter?"

"Hah!" Lillian answered.  "Half her schoolwork I don't even begin to understand, but she talks about everything.  It's mighty nice."

Tina poked at her trig book.  "You might have to give me a hand on some of this.  I think I understand, but I want to be sure."

"Okay, little girl," I said.  "Swim.  Food.  Homework?"

"A plan," she laughed.

We bid Lillian goodbye and went to change.  Our swim was abbreviated, and we hit a local eatery for supper, and then homework and showers.

Somewhere during the evening I asked about her bus ride.

"Not exactly my favorite thing.  Rowdy kids.  Long.  Bumpy.  I wish I could do schoolwork, but that's pretty much impossible," she said.

"Then let me ask you this," I said.  "I think I know how you'll answer, but I want YOU to say it.  Can I trust you with a car?  I mean, school and home on school days, and I know exactly where you go and who you're with at all times?"

Squeal!  "A car?"

"It makes sense to me.  That way you get a little more time before and after school.  You're carrying a heavy load.  You need the time.  And you can run errands for us when I have to work.  Makes my job easier."

"You're gonna give me a car?"

I got serious.  After all, I'd known her a week.  I knew her to be a serious and unusual specimen of teenaged girl, but…  "No, the car will be in my name.  You're still a minor.  And I have title.  So if it disappears from my control...  Like if you were to take off for parts unknown…"  I left that unspoken.

"Alan!  I would NEVER do that!  I don't have ANYTHING  without YOU!"

"Baby," I said, using the term as if she were my child, "I believe you.  But I also know that strange ideas come across people's minds.  Just saying."

"You needn't worry.  Really."

She was unusually chipper when she whipped my butt at cards before we went to bed that night.

Another day.  This time I left work a tad early and picked Tina up at the park and headed to a used car dealer.  I'd driven by earlier and saw what I had in mind, a little Japanese sub-compact, reliable, safe, and with good resale value.  Practical, that's me.  Tina looked good behind the wheel.  With stars in her eyes.   I'd already warned my insurance agent and the car dealer faxed him the information.

That activity cost us the day's swim.  I wasn't sure that I could ever wipe the grin off Tina's face.  I gave her a gas card, planning on calling the gas card people for a second card on the account to replace it.  Sitting in a restaurant for supper, as in "I'm driving us to supper, Alan!" she looked at me.

"I know you're just dying to give me the speech, huh?"

"What speech?  I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, right," she grinned.  "Let's see.  Obey traffic laws.  Don't speed.  Don't take risks.  Pay attention to the road. Nobody else drives this car but me and you.  No illegal substances.  No alcohol.  Don't leave it unlocked.  Keep my keys with me."

"Okay, just do all that."

She smiled.  "Alan, this is something Grandma would've done if she was still alive.  It's wonderful .  I never expected…"

"Just trying to make our lives better, babe," I said.

We got home.  Did the homework thing.  The shower thing. A round of rummy,  510 to 480, my favor.  And to bed.  Her at her end.  Me at mine.  The six o'clock alarm ruled the morning. Wednesday.  

Thursday.  We started our swim.  She was unusually quiet.  "What's up, Tina," I asked.  "Trouble?"

"Well," she said, "not really.  But I don't know how to ask this."

"Ask what?"

"It's a new school, Alan.  And I'm making friends.  And they want to get together Friday evening.   They ASKED me if I'd come with them."

This was a day I knew would come.  At this point, for all intents and purposes, she was like a daughter.  And I was a dad whose teen daughter wanted to go out.  She was seventeen, and when it came right down to it, I had only the most tenuous of holds on her.  "So what ‘s the plan?"

"It's not a big deal," she said.  "One of the girls is getting some movies, and we're gonna meet at her house and watch ‘em."

"Are her parents going to be there?"

"Yes.  She seems like a nice girl.  She's in my AP English class."

"Then I guess I should let you go.  You're seventeen.  You know the ropes."

"Thank you, Alan," she said.

We swam our laps and then showered and went to supper.  A part of me was crying inside and I couldn't tell if it was the "daddy's little girl" part or the "there goes your heart" part or if those were both the same or what.  I did my best to keep conversation light.

We did homework, and I noticed that she didn't need quite the help of two days before.  She beat me by a hundred and fifty points in rummy.  Friday.  I got tied up over a botched shipment and was still arguing on the phone as four o'clock passed.  I pulled into the park at five and saw Tina's car at the trailer.  Knowing she was likely doing date prep, I knocked before entering.

"Come in, silly," she said, giggling.

I wanted that to be MY giggle.  I really did.  "I thought you were getting ready for the big date," I said.

"It's NOT a date," she said.  "There's a bunch of us."

"No special boy?"  I really didn't want to hear "yes".

"Well, there's this guy.  He's in my AP science.  Cute.  Smart.  And my friend Susan says he likes me…"

Inside I died a little. Perfunctorily I mouthed,  "Just go and have a good time.  I'd like you to be home at a responsible hour.  Say, before midnight.  And if you have any trouble, call me.  I mean it.  That's what I'm here for."

"I'll be careful, Alan.  And I planned on being home by eleven.  She was standing in the door, ready to leave.  "Bye!  I'll see you later!"

And I let her leave.  I rewarded my restraint by treating myself to a tasteless TV dinner and then I showered and stretched out to watch TV, a book in my lap.  I didn't want to close my eyes for fear of seeing images I didn't want to see.  Time crept.  It was Friday, and I doubt that I ever felt that lonely on a Friday in my life, at least not since my divorce.

And that's why I was surprised when I heard the crunch of a car pulling into the gravel parking space at a bit past eight.  And the door opened and a Tina walked in with a hugely exasperated expression plastered on her face.

Silently she stalked to the sofa and plopped down.  Her face turned to me and I saw tears marring her complexion.  "SHIT!!!" she said.  "Fresh start, my butt!!!"

"What's wrong, Tina?"

"People LIE!  That's what!"

"Uh..how?"

"Oh, just peachy.  No parents at home.  And a cooler full of beer. And Mister "I think he likes you" is like, "Uh, let's go someplace in your car.  I got some weed…" and he's also got enough hands for a roomful of clocks and he thinks he's all IT an' everything.  Wouldn't take "NO" for an answer.  He's gonna walk funny tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, babe," I said.

She was on the verge of tears.  "I expected different.  I hoped it would be different.  But I'm the new girl and therefore I'm lucky that anybody pays attention to me an' I live in a trailer park an'…  I'm pissed."

"Uh…"

"Okay, sorry…  I am seriously upset."

"Better."

Her eyes turned shyly in my direction and the barest beginning of a smile appeared.  "Okay.  So what does Alan say about crap for friends?"

"Move on.  People can be depended on to be people.  And the behavior you describe is, unfortunately, pretty common among your age group.  I won't say 'your peers', because apparently you don't have very many peers."

"So?!?" 

"So life goes on.  Even when things don't go your way.  You get to keep being you.  Uh… why's the guy gonna walk funny?"

"I tried "NO".  I tried pushing hands away.  And he wrapped me up in his arms and tried to kiss me and he had his hands all over, so I reached down and grabbed.  Hard.  And yanked.  He was on the floor crying when I left.  And Susan was looking at me funny.  And I came home."

"You had a rough evening.  How about hot chocolate for a change." I paused.  "On the floor crying?!?!  Whatta girl!"

"I'm NOT going to be a slut, Alan.  NOT.  My first time is going to be with WHO I want, WHEN I want."  She paused.  "Hot chocolate?"  Pause.  "Okay."

Now that bunch of gears in my mind was really clattering.  Her first time?  She hadn't HAD a first time yet?  "Sorry, babe," I said.  "Hot chocolate is instant tonight.  Remind me to buy some cocoa next time we do grocery shopping."

She accepted the steaming mug and sipped loudly. "Mmmmmm" she said, then "Dammit!"

Her cellphone rang.  She looked at the display.  "That's Susan," she said.  "Shhhh!"  She answered the call.  "Uh, hi, Susan.  Yes, I AM mad.  I expected a nice evening of watching movies and talking and stuff, with new friends."  Pause. "No, I DON'T  drink." Pause.  "No, I have NEVER tried pot."  Pause. "Uh…  No, I'm NOT a prude.  I know stuff about SEX that will curl YOUR hair.  And I think LOVE is better."  Pause.  "Oh.  How is he?  Walks funny?  Good!!!  He should.  He needs to learn the meaning of NO!" Pause.  "No, Susan,  I don't HATE you.  I don't HATE him.  But HE'S not getting within six feet of me.  EVER.  And if you want to be my friend, then YOU need to be straight with me." Pause.  "No.  I don't like being blind-sided."  Pause.  "No.  If you want us to do something together, tell me what's going down, up front.  And give ME the chance to say no."  Pause.  "Yeah.  Okay.  Yeah, I'll still talk to you."  Pause.  "Reputation?  If **I** get a reputation, it's NOT gonna be because I let Jeff Jamison put his hands on my tits. Or anything else."  Pause.  "Yeah.  Okay.  See you Monday."  Pause.  "Yeah, you can call.  I'll talk."

She looked at me.  "Now my chocolate's cold."

"I can fix that," I said, taking her mug to the microwave.  "That was quite a speech."

"Sounds like one of those "Alan" speeches, huh?"

"You have to know that all at once I'm sorry you didn't have a good time and I am relieved you're okay and I'm proud that you can say no… peer pressure is a hard thing to get past."

The microwave chimed.  I handed her back her mug.  "Oh, no, Alan.  I've pretty much "peered" at enough with Mom."  She took a sip.  "Mmmmmm.  What are we watching?"

"Good movie coming on in half an hour, I said.  I was gonna stay up late and watch it by myself."

"You're not by yourself now," she said.

We watched the movie and at eleven thirty she changed into her PJ's.  "Bedtime?"

"Yeah.  Let's do an "us" day tomorrow.  If you don't have plans."  I waited.

"My plans pretty much got erased."

She made her bed as I rinsed our mugs.  I started toward my end of the trailer.

"Wait, Alan," she said.

"What?"  I stopped and looked at her.

She walked up to me and tiptoed and kissed me on the cheek.  "Thank you."

"For what?" I asked.

"For being decent and understanding.  And good to me."

"You're one spectacular young lady," I said.  It's easy being nice to you."  And I went to my bed.  

From the other end of the trailer I heard, "G'nite, babe!"

And I went to sleep.  Somewhere around two o'clock I started to turn over and ran into an unexpected obstacle.  A seventeen year old girl.  She was lying on top of the covers and I was underneath them and I decided that chastity was being observed, so I carefully rolled the other way.  An hour later I awoke again, this time to feel a pajama-clad form sliding up against me.

"Tina," I whispered, not wanting to startle her.

"Alan…  I…"

"Tina, I… you're…"

"I'm… the sofa hurts my back…  and I got cold laying on top of the blankets."

"Okay… "

"I'm cold." She slid closer.  I didn't feel "cold".  I felt heat.

"Okay," I said.  "Come here."  And I let my arms encircle her.  And I smelled the sweet trace of perfume on her, and I breathed and she snuggled into me and said, "mmmmmm".  And we really DID go back to sleep.

And that made for a very interesting wake up.  I woke up first and looked at the lump in the bed beside me.  Her hair tossed crazily in her sleep and ended up wreathing her face, that pretty face, asleep, looking cherubic in its innocence.  Innocence!  That clanked in my head.  She'd told her friend that she was a virgin.

I started to get out of the bed and I felt a hand on my arm.  "Noooo, babe," she said.  "Stay here."

"I'd love to, babe, but I gotta go to the bathroom."

"Okaaay," she whined.

"I'll be back," I said.  "If that's what you want."

"Mmmm-hmmm" she said.

I was up the hall, into the bathroom and back out.  I eased under the covers and she scooted towards me.  "Are you sure this is…"

"I want to cuddle."

It was my turn.  "Okaaaay…"

Our bodies met.  For some minutes I held her, her face pressed against my chest, my cheek against the top of her head.  She moved.  Her face turned towards mine.  And things went horribly wrong.  Or right.  Because she kissed me.

I let her slide out of my arms and sat up.  "God, no, Tina…"

"Alan…" she said, putting her hand on my arm.  "What's wrong?"

"Tina…  I…  we…  No…"

"What?" she asked.  "D'you know that I didn't go to sleep last night?  Not until I got in your bed?"

"No…" I answered.

"I didn't.  It wasn't my back.  I couldn't sleep.  I  just lay there thinking about things like how a guy my age thought that the first  time he got me in a room alone that I belonged to HIM, and he's supposed to be a GOOD one, and I thought, "well, dummy, there's a guy thirty feet away that never so much as made a move, that treated me like a princess and an equal and a valuable person and SAVED me at the risk of his own life, all at once, and I said, 'Stupid girl, exactly what ARE you  looking for?'.  So I crawled in your bed."

"B-but…  Tina, I didn't, I mean, I…  I told Deputy Hurley, I didn't take you to turn into a sex toy…"

"I am NOT a sex toy.  You don't listen, Alan.  You treat me like I want to be treated.  If you were only my dad, I'd have a perfect dad.  I'd be so lucky.  But you're NOT my dad.  You're…  well, I don't know what you are.  I know what I want you to be…"

I knew what I was…  speechless.  "Uh…"

"Alan.  Do you love me?  For real?  Not saying it to make me feel good?"

This one was easy.  "Yes, Tina, I love you."

"Then tell me, Mister Engineer, if you love me, don't you think it might be possible that I love you?"  She had an awfully serious look on her face.

"Precious, I can believe that.  But then what? I mean…"

She knelt beside me.  "Then this…"  and she kissed me.  Her lips were hot and soft and as they met mine this time mine parted involuntarily. The tip of my tongue brushed her lips softly and they parted and her own tongue gently met mine.  "Mmmmmmm…." escaped her and resonated throughout my being.  My arms enveloped her and she molded into me, separated from me by only a couple of layers of cotton pajamas.

Our lips finally parted.  Blood was pounding in my ears.  "Alan," she said, "Tell me you love me again."

"Heaven help me, darling," I said.  "I love you, Tina."  I kissed her this time.  Finally we stopped.  Her eyes were bright and blue and I could lose myself in them, and there was a satisfied smile on her lips.

"That's all I want to know.  I love you.  You love me.  I can stop worrying."  And she got up.  I had a raging hard-on that I wasn't supposed to have, but I'd just been kissing a beautiful, nubile, intelligent, funny seventeen year old girl.  And I wasn't dead.  But I wasn't ruled by my baser urges, either.  I got up too.

"So now what?" I asked.

She pushed up against me.  "All things in due time, babe," she said, kissing me lightly.  "Mmm-kay?"

"Okay," I said. I ran my hands down her sides.  The embrace was invigorating.  And I know she felt the erection I had.  Still in each other's arms, her face turned to me.  "In due time."

So Saturday morning we drove out for breakfast, then a ride through the countryside.  Away from the home area, she pushed the console out of the way and slid beside me, wrapping my bicep with her hands, putting her chin on my shoulder.

"You're mine? " she asked.

"I'm yours," I said.  "That's kind of scary, babe," I said.

"Why's it scary?  I love you?"

"Because you're seventeen and I'm forty and…"

"And it makes no difference at all.  I thought about that.  Is love supposed to be about physical things?  Like MY looks or YOUR looks?  Or is it supposed to be that the real YOU and the real ME, personalities, likes, dislikes, dreams, thoughts, all of US fits.  That US is right…"

"You're gonna make a habit of this, aren't you?"

"A habit of what?"

"Being all smart and right all the time…"

She kissed me, giggling.  "Just let us be US…"

"Okay, smart girl," I said.  "You just bought yourself a forty year old engineer."

"And you got yourself a…  well, you got ME…  and whether I'm seventeen or the reincarnation of Cleopatra,  Queen of the Nile.  And I am YOURS…"  She looked thoughtful.  "Uh, babe… can we do a hotel tonight?  And don't get two beds…  Never again."

"But, babe… we didn't pack…"

"I know for a fact, Alan Addison, that you keep an emergency bag behind your seat with a change of underwear and a shaving kit.  She smiled demurely.   And we won't need pajamas.  Not tonight."

"Babe, didn't you say last night that you wanted your first time to be…"

She interrupted, "Don't feed me my own speech, dearest.  I said, and I quote (I loved it when she got academic) 'Who I want and when I want.'  And, Alan, the 'who' is YOU and the 'when' is before this day ends."

"But, Tina…  you only get to do that once."

"You know," she said, sitting back, "I love you.  We share this together…"

"Okay.  Jackson is an hour up the road.  Here's my phone.  Look up either this hotel or that one.  And get us a place…"

A very businesslike Tina did the reservations and an hour later we checked in with my emergency bag for luggage.  And went straight to the room.  And locked the door.  And she pushed me back against it and almost climbed up me, kissing.  And I gave up.  I loved it.  I loved her.  And the girl I loved was tugging my shirt out of my pants…

I ran my fingers through that short, sassy hair and fastened my lips to the side of her neck, getting squeals and wiggles in response.  She pulled free and grabbed my hand and we went toward the bed.

Her sloppy, floppy Saturday blouse was loose and I ran my hands under it, feeling her flesh for the first time.  "Mmmmm… ohhhh, baby…" and she giggled.  "You don't know…"

I turned and sat on the bed, drawing her toward me.  "What don't I know?"

"That I've been wanting to do this…  for you to touch me…  but I tried, too, Alan.  I tried telling myself that you were a nice guy who really just wanted to take care of me and it wasn't like that and I shouldn't push for anything else…"

I laughed.  "Then we were both doing the same thing…"

"I know," she giggled.  She started to unbutton her blouse.  I helped.

"Uh, Alan…  I never…  before…"

"But you're unbuttoning…"

"I knowwww," she said.  "But I'm…  uh… bashful…"

"Then do it YOUR way."

She let out an exasperated sigh.  "Okay then…"  and she stopped unbuttoning and pulled the shirt off over her head, leaving me staring at her bra.  She reached behind her.

"No, I'll do that, babe," and I reached around her and unhooked two hooks.  Her bra slid off her shoulders.  Two perfect titties…

"Your shirt," she said.  I peeled my shirt off.  Her hands went to my chest, her fingers clutching my chest hair.  "God, I've wanted to do this every day we went to the pool," she said.  She pushed me back on the bed and straddled me.  We both still had jeans on at this point.  More giggles.  "D'you KNOW what you did to me this morning when I hugged you and felt that THING pressing against me?"

"No.  What?"

"Beast!" She laughed.  "D'you think you're the only one that gets aroused?   I had to go swab out my…  uh… THERE!"  Giggle.

"I'm glad.  I thought I was going to explode.  And you just went "la-di-dah…"  What were you thinking?"

"That we needed to talk," she smiled.  "'Cuz I'm only doing this once.  And you, mister, you better be forever…"

"Forever," I repeated.  "Uh… little darling, you're too damned smart to be confused as to what that means…"

Naked chest to sweet, firm titties, we kissed.  "I know exactly what it means."  Another giggle.  "There's that thing again."  She sat back, still straddling me.  "It's time I get to see it."

"I'm not going to ask if you're sure again."

"Good!" Giggle.  She got up.  I stood, started to unbuckle my belt.  "Nuh-uh," she said.  "MY present.  I get to unwrap it."  She worked my belt loose, then unsnapped my jeans and unzipped me.  I was hard.  Diamond-cutter hard.  It tented out my drawers.  She slid my jeans down my thighs.  I wiggled my legs and they fell to my feet.  I stepped out of them.  Blue eyes turned up to me and her mouth formed a smile.  "This is supposed to be fun, right?"

All I could do was nod.  Her fingers hooked the elastic of my drawers and in one move pulled them out and down over my dick.  Keeping her eyes fixed on it, she slid my drawers down my legs.  I stepped out of them too.

"So this is the thing…"

It was.  All six circumcised inches of absolutely normal.  And I died when her fingers wrapped around it.

"Uh, babe," she said, looking up at me standing in front of her, "Am I supposed to think this is, uh.. like… beautiful?"

"I don't know, babe.  I never thought about it.  I'd settle for you not finding it too disgusting to touch.,."

Her grin was joy to behold.  "Oh, yeah, it's disgusting.  Like this."

Every ounce of strength I had, I used to keep my knees from buckling when she stuck the head in her mouth.  She heard me suck in a sharp breath.  "I…  I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Oh, god, no, sweetness.  Surprised, yes.  Hurt?  No."

"I've heard about that for years.  Saw yours.  Knew that I'd like it, with YOU."  She stood up.  She eyed me questioningly.  "You want?" she touched her jeans.

"Oh, yes," I said.  I knelt before her and unbuttoned her jeans, taking time to run my hands over that perfectly framed ass.  "Perfect," I said.

"Glad YOU think so, baby," she said.

I slid them down, helping them as they clung to her thighs, then down past her shapely calves.  She raised first her left foot, then her right, stepping out of her jeans, leaving her clad in a pair of powder-blue hip-hugger panties, her rounded mons, beckoning.  Yes, it WAS beckoning.  So I did the thing I thought it needed.  I planted a kiss on it.  It was her turn to suck in a breath.  "Ahhhhhhhh."

"Did I hurt you?" I asked.

Giggle again.  "No, but I'm gonna hurt YOU if you don't pull my panties off and do that again."  

I slid the panties off her plumpish rounded ass and down.  She stepped out of them and I kissed her mons again through a fine down of brown pubic hair.  Hands held the back of my head.  I eased a little lower and I let my tongue tease the beginning of her slit.  "Nnnnnnn, baby…."  I stood up and our bodies touched naked for the first time.

She shook her head.

"D'you know," I said, "how wonderfully adorable you are.  Right down to that little head shake."

"I need a haircut," she said.  "But then you might think it's too short."

"Nuh-uh," I said.  "I like your neck." And I attacked it, turning her into a wiggly, giggly mess in my arms.

She pushed me backward onto the bed.  "Now," she said, "this is my first time, and I know it's supposed to hurt some.  So I'm gonna be on top, okay?"

All I could do was nod assent.  She straddled me and for the first time in her life her pussy met a dick.  My untold riches lay in the fact that the dick was mine.  The wet lips of her pussy wrapped the shaft of my dick.  "Ahhhhh," she said.  "THAT is GOOD!"  She smiled at me and slid back and forth a few times, letting her clitty ride in contact with the underside of my hard and wonderfully trapped dick.

While she was enjoying that I was enjoying the beauty of her body, tracing sweet curves with my hands, moving up from her delightful ass, up her sides, around to cup twin handfuls of firm, warm flesh, letting my thumbs tease pink strawberry nipples, circling the quarter-sized areoles.

"You're killing me, baby…  and I'm loving the death…" she sighed.  Finally she raised her hips and let my dick rise.  Lubrication was complete.  Her juices far exceeded my own, and between us, we were ready.  Her hand went between her thighs and she guided me with fingertips, lining the head of my dick with her waiting hole.  Her face showed concentration.  She bit her bottom lip, pressing down, the head pushing against her cherry.  Her eyes went full open, she took a deep breath, and pressed.  She went "Mmmph!" and I was in.

"We're…  You're in ME, Alan."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded.  And answered by rising, letting me slide out of her a little, then she sat back down, pushing me all the way back inside.  Her back arched.  I put my hands on her hips and she started slow oscillations, back and forth, sitting back to angle me so her clitty was again in contact with the dick inside her.  I was trying hard to keep from coming right then but her hips were, her pussy was, working against my best intentions.

"Oh, baby," she moaned.  I curled forward to suck one of her titties into my mouth.  My tongue played on her nipple.  "Babe… tooo…  Much…  I… I…  ohhhhh."  Thrust.  "I'm… I'm…  doinnnnnnnn'….. it…" the last syllable was a hiss.  Another thrust was all I could stand, and I squirted.  Hard.  Deep…  Her eyes blinked open. "Is that…  you're… Oh, god…  I feel it…  again…" she breathed.  "Another… babyyyyy."

She fell forward into my arms and our lips sealed together.  I ran my hands over her ass.  It wouldn't be still, and active muscles in her pussy teased me through orgasm to hardness and she started humping me as we kissed.  I held her in my arms and rolled her over onto her back, still inside her.  Her hips pushed me deeper into her.  I started plunging into her again, rolling her almost immediate second orgasm into yet another for me.

After the fire subsided for the second time, I rolled her back on top of me.

Finally we regained the power of speech.  "Darling," she said, caressing my face, "everyone told me the first time was gonna hurt and wouldn't be much fun.  I had fun.  Did you have fun?"

"I'm returning from a parallel universe, little girl," I said.

She kissed me lightly.  I looked into those blue eyes.  "Tina, will you marry me?"

Giggle.  "You ask me to marry you with that THING stuck in me? Uh…" her hips wiggled and I fell out, soft, spent, with a soft plop.  "Okay, it's out.  Now ask me."

"Tina, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Alan, I will."  She got a semi-serious look.  "IN fact, in SOME societies, we're married NOW."

"Good enough for me," I said.  "But when you're old enough…  we'll make it official."

"Old enough?  I'm seventeen…"

"That's old enough for you to get married if your parent signs for you.  But at eighteen, you won't need a signature."

"What about you?  You're my guardian."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that I can't sign for you to marry me…"

"So we can like, live in sin for a year…"

"I wouldn't call it sin, exactly," I said.  "After all, I am not going to be with anyone else for the rest of my life.  What about you?"

"You're it, babe.  One.  Only.  Forever."  And that statement was sealed with a kiss.





Chapter Five



Of many things is a life built.  Together.  Things like finding out that we loved the same music.  Food.  Lifestyle.  We didn't leave the room until we left for home the next day.  Our marriage day dinner was a delivery pizza and a liter of coke.

We took our first shower together in that room, luxuriating in endless hot water and plenty of room to move and love.  And dried off, we were back in bed.  I forgot I ever knew a female form before Tina.  Each touch of my fingers, lips, tongue, dick to her was a discovery.  

And since I was her first, she had pure fun.  A sharp mind, insatiable curiosity, and new-found sexuality made wonderful experience, especially coupled with her sense of humor.  Her giggles weren't intimidation, they were just manifestations of the joy we experienced together, and I found myself giggling as we explored one another.

A happy discovery for both of us was that my Tina loved oral sex.  From her first quick suck Saturday, she decided to do more after we showered, and she needed little coaching.  All I had to do was limit the enthusiasm of her bites and how hard she squeezed and suck and bit my balls.  I was in heaven watching that auburn-wreathed head working me over, especially when those blue eyes looked up, her lips smiling around my shaft.  And a throaty giggle.

She pushed my head down from where I was working over her tits with my lips and teeth and tongue, urging me into her pussy, and I drank her, her juices sweet and salty and musky as I showed her the joys of multiple orgasms with my tongue and lips.

Sunday morning.  Satiated.  Sore.  Aside from it being her first time, I know I'd come at least six times and we lost count of hers.  And her pussy was as tender as my dick.  And we checked out and hit a fast food drive-thru for lunch masquerading as breakfast.  And she stayed plastered to my side all the way home.

Arriving back at the park, we entered the trailer.  She picked up the linens from the sofa and turned to me smiling.  "We won't be needing these again."

"Nope," I said.  "I just started living again, baby..."  

She smiled.  "God, I'm sore.  But there's our bed.  And we need to initiate it…"

I started stripping.  She beat me to nudity.  She was on her hands and knees in our bed when I crawled in.  She ducked her head, trapping my dick in her mouth for a languorous suck.  Then she smiled at me.  "That thing is made for me to suck on, Alan."

I returned the favor, kissing her lips, her tits, and then tonguing her sweet pussy.  Moisture was flowing when I entered her and those muscular legs wrapped around me, pulling me in.  In a matter of minutes we were wrapped in each other's arms, shuddering to orgasm.  This time when I finally pulled out, I was kneeling in the bed and she was lying before me.

My dick was soft and dripping with the results of our joy and she surprised me by swiveling around in bed and taking my sopping dick in her mouth.  "Mmmmmmm, baby, we taste good together.  Wanna do me?"

I couldn't tell her no. Her clear juices were mixed with the translucent white of my own semen.  And my lips and tongue working to empty her sopping hole brought her another orgasm.  And lying in my arms, giggling.

"Are you happy, little girl?" I asked.

"Deliriously happy.  Ecstatically happy." She smiled.  "Are you?"

"I started living when you came into my life."

We lay in bed naked for an hour, too satiated for much more than occasional touches and caresses.  Until Tina remembered her new friend.  Warm lips closed over soft dick.  "mmmmm," she said.  Then a giggle.  "Stop me if I do this too much," she said.

"Don't be selfish," I told her.  "Turn around here and let me do you."

"Is that sixty-nine?  I've heard…"

As a beautiful, deep pink, abused pussy opened in front of me, I said, "Yes, this is sixty nine, baby doll." I got another giggle before her lips closed around my dick and my own mouth formed to suck the juices from her pussy.

Finally we got out of bed long enough to shower and fix a quick meal, and then back in bed and more exploration and experimentation by Tina.  I managed to set the alarm clock before we disintegrated into naked, drained, and sound asleep bodies.

The six o'clock alarm was still the boss, though, but instead of careful avoiding or averting eyes and trying to not bump each other, we took advantage of the efficiency of allowing nudity and touching, and we submitted each other to fondles and caresses.  And it's a wonderful thing to leave for work with the warm feeling of hungry lips on your dick as you walk out the door.

Monday was the first day of school following a lot of things for Tina.  By the time she walked into the halls, the news of her Friday night fiasco was coursing through the student body.

My own day at work was more like routine to me, the standard package of hurdles I'd come to expect from fifteen years of project work.  I knew where the most likely screw-ups would occur, and I and my minions dove right into those.  And Rome not being built in a day?  Neither are plastics plants, and there was no good reason for me to extend my presence past normal hours, so at four PM I was climbing in the truck and twenty minutes later I pulled into the park.  

Tina's little car was parked at the park office and I walked in to find her sitting with an open book and notebook, scribbling. She stopped when I entered.  "Hi, babe!" she said.

Mizz Lillian smiled.  "She's happier today than she was Friday," she said.

"Yes ma'am," I said.  "Two weeks past disaster and she keeps getting happier and happier."

"It sure looks that way," Lillian said.

Tina was stuffing books into her backpack.  "I guess we need to go do a swim, huh?" she asked.

"Don't you think that would feel good?"

"I do," she said.  She turned to Mizz Lillian.  "Thanks for putting up with me, Mizz Lillian!"

"Oh, dear girl, thank YOU for visiting.  I appreciate the company."

We drove to the trailer and went inside to change.  Changing was, well, would have been, a lot faster since we didn't have to work around exposing ourselves to one another.  Except now we added naked embraces and teasing and caressing to the process.  But we DID get out to go swim, striding through the park to the pool with towels in hand, pausing to greet the regulars who'd been in the park since before our arrival.  Mid-week, the pool was deserted, afternoon swims not being a priority of the retired set who customarily stayed over the weekdays.

Tina was first splash, followed closely by me and despite the urges forming in my head by watching her butt in a bathing suit, we did our normal regiment of a few laps, finally ending side by side, hanging on the pool wall.  Closer together than last week.  As a matter of fact, a female hand under the water insinuated itself up the leg of my baggy trunks and gave a squeeze that brought me to instant erection.

"Stop that!" I whispered, half meaning it.

"Why?  Bashful?"  she giggled.

"Not in the least, little girl," I said.  "I just don't wish to outrage the population."

"Uh…  oh, okay…  I understand…"

"I'm sure you do, babe.  And believe me, I'd love nothing better than to parade through this park right now, holding your hand or with my arm around you.  But we've sort of created an image…"

"Oh, yeah," she sighed.  And gave me another squeeze.  Her expression, biting her bottom lip, smiling, eyes twinkling… "Let's get out."  She bounced out of the pool and sat on a lounge, toweling off.

I followed her.  We were still alone, but I saw an older couple coming up the road, hand in hand.

"I wanna be like them, babe," she said.

"Me too," I said.  "In due time.  It's just that when we started in here, we were NOT a couple, and…"

"But I'm seventeen.  I'm legal.  I can do what I want with who I want…"

I sighed.  She was right.  Legally.  "I know that, babe.  But what's legal and what decent people think is right are quite often two different things."

"And we like being around decent people.  Or we end up like Mom and her friends."

"Right.  So we need to proceed gently.  Let people get used to seeing us together all the time, and let them get used to thinking, 'Hey!  She's nice.  He's nice.' And then 'You know, they almost make a cute couple' and then 'Well, there's Alan ‘n' Tina.  Kind of odd, but they're happy.'  And when we get there, we'll have all but a few people accepting what WE already know.  That a forty year old guy and a seventeen year old girl can be together because they LOVE one another, not because somebody's using somebody…"

"That makes sense.  Uh… let's go back to the trailer, okay?  I got homework to finish."

"Okay," I said.  We got up and let the older couple in the gate as we left.  Walking up the road, she took my hand.  "Oh, you're going to make this difficult, aren't you?" I said.

And got a giggle in return.

Back in the trailer, and sad that only one of us could fit in the shower at a time.  She was out first, sitting with her blow-dryer as I soaped quickly and rinsed off.  I was shaving as the phone rang.  My phone.  Hers had a different ring.  "Can you get that, babe?"   I called.  I was scraping whiskers off my face and listening.

"Oh, hi, Deputy Hurley.  Uh… yeah, we got all that taken care of.  Exactly what we needed.  Yessir, I'm back in high school.  Yessir.  It's great!  I wish we had a bigger place, but this is working good enough."

Since I didn't have to bother with dressing for modesty, I stepped out of the bathroom naked.

She said, "Here's Alan.  And thank you SO much, okay?"

I took the phone.  "Hi, Bill.  I guess Tina caught you up?"

"Yeah, she's back in school?" he asked.

"Yeah.  Damnedest thing.  Since she was a dropout, they had to give her tests to see what grade to put her in."

"And…"

"And Miss Tina is in college level classes."

"Really?  Great," he said.

"Did you get your check?"  He'd said that fees and cost for filing our legal documents as seventy-five dollars.  I'd mailed him a check.

"Hey, I was kidding…"

"Then put it in the coffee kitty.  Extra donuts…"

"Hey!  That's a stereotype."  Laughing.

"Uh… any news on the disposition of our "friends"?"

"Momma's still in jail here.  Couldn't post bail.  So's the boyfriend, pending a hearing for extradition.  They ain't getting' out, Alan.  And if Momma was to get out, she has no legal standing for you an' Tina, what with Tina being seventeen."

"That's good to know.  She's… Tina's good people."

"Uh… we did a check on her.  Nothing.  Clean record.  Not even a traffic ticket."

"I know.  We talked.  She likes to talk."  The little girl who 'Liked to talk' was laying on the sofa with her head in my lap, her cheek pressed against the hardening lump of my dick.

"Well," Bill continued, "She's legal, and she's out of my jurisdiction, and I was surprised when you called ME back to get the paperwork to put her in school.  And now she's IN school, so I'm not surprised any more."

"I quit being surprised, myself…" I said.

"Okay, Alan, I'll let you go.  But hey!  Keep in touch, okay?  And if you're ever back through Armpit, Louisiana, stop in and say hi!"

"Okay, Bill.  And thanks again.  Here's Tina."  I handed the phone to Tina.  "Say bye to Deputy Hurley."

"Bye, Deputy Hurley.  Yeah, you've done VERY good.  Uh-huh.  We'll take care of each other. Yeah.  Bye!"  and she disconnected.  She rolled over onto her stomach and smiled.  "He said to take good care of you."  Her head bobbed downward. Several seconds of slurping and sucking ensued.

I dragged her naked, complaining "Why'd you make me stop????" body up and sat her in my lap, kissing her.

"See, babe?  That's a nice person.  I wouldn't want to have him think less of you."

She kissed me.  "I know, babe," she said.  "but in a few months…"

"A year.  When we can say "Mr. & Mrs. Addison"."

"You're serious about marrying me?" Squeal. 

"I am.  Are you?"

Long kiss.  "Most definitely."

My hands roamed freely over her sleek body, lingering at places where a touch produced a shiver or an "Mmmmmm."

"Let's not play cards tonight, babe.  I need to finish homework.  And then…" she smiled, blue eyes twinkling below auburn, burnished bangs.

"You're the boss," I said.

"I'm NOT the boss.  I was thinking about this in study hall today.  I own Part A.  You own Part B.  But we BOTH own what happens when we put ‘em together."  Giggle.

"I never thought about it like that.  But I sure do like your Part A."

"And your Part B feels soooo good in so many ways."  She smirked.  "Stop that.  I NEED to do the homework first, and I'm gonna be sitting in a puddle if we keep this up."

"Do your homework, little brown-haired girl!" I laughed.

She tossed her head, her hair bouncing.  She knew that this drove me wild.  "Okay.  But I need to make an appointment to get a trim." She giggled.  "And I may dye it orange."  Her eyes flashed.  "Like whats'er name in that movie…"

"Don't tease an old man, lover…" I laughed.

"Well, maybe not the "orange" thing.  Mizz Lillian knows a hair salon.  They'll do me Saturday morning."

"Sounds like a plan.  Wanna do another "both us in the same shower" weekend somewhere?"

"Mmmm-hmmm… and we can hold hands in public."

"Yeah.  Do your homework."

She smiled and went through the exercises.  English and social studies she critiqued.  We talked about the ideas behind the science.  And numbers were numbers.  I was on the laptop checking private email.  One needed an answer.  My sister.

"Dear Sis," I wrote.  "I haven't heard from you in a month.  What gives?  Are they charging postage in Louisiana for email?"

"A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we talked last."  Sis and I were not the "talk on the phone every day" siblings.  

I continued typing, describing briefly the incident at the diner and the friends I found, including the one currently doing homework wearing only panties.  I didn't mention that detail.

"And Sis," I wrote, "This may come as a shock, but what started out as a friendship has become more.  We are getting married as soon as she turns eighteen.  I hope this doesn't disturb you too much.  I've been alone entirely too long, and genius females who like classical music are entirely rare creatures."

I signed it, "Love, big brother" and hit "send".  I surmised a few days before I got an answer back.  Apparently I need to rethink my "surmise" routines because a minute and a half later my cellphone rang.  The sound shocked Tina and she put her pen down.


I punched the "answer" button.  And got ready.  "Hi, Sis," I said.

I held the phone away from my ear.  "You did WHAT?!!?!  Have you lost your ever-lovin' mind?!?!  SEVENTEEN?!?!  You old goat!  You have nieces that age!"

Tina could hear the voice.  She slid beside me and I held the phone so it was speaking to both our ears.

"Tina," I said, "Say hi to your new sister-in-law, cutie.  She sounds very excited at the news.  You remember?  Her name is Elise."

"Hi, Elise," chirped Tina in her cheeriest voice.  Elise was still sputtering.  Tina took it upon herself to fill the conversational void.  "He's wonderful and I love him very much.  We are so alike in so many ways…"

"Babe… uh, okay, Tina,"  Elise paused. "he's been beat up about women for a long time.  He's MY brother.  Don't you dare hurt him.  I have a garden.  I can HIDE bodies…"

Tina's laughter pealed.  "Oh, Elise, he was RIGHT.  You're just like ‘im…"

Elise feigned outrage.  "He told you THAT!?!?"

"Uh-huh," Tina said.  "And that you're his only sister and he loves and respects you.  And you'd understand…"

"I understand…  might take a while to fit my mind around it."

It was my turn to speak.  "Well, Sis, get your mind around it.  This is the real thing."

"Okay…  if you say so.  Send me pictures…"

Tina's turn.  "We'll take some pictures.  Huh, babe?"  Giggle.

"Not THOSE pictures, doll…" I laughed.

Elise's outrage was mostly still feigned.  "Well, okay, brother," she said.  "ya'll need to come down and visit.  Let me know when, and I'll get your house all aired out."

"Okay, sis.  We'll talk to you later.  My fiancée has to finish her homework…"  I laughed.

"Gahhhh," said Elise.

"Bye, Sis," Tina said.  I ended the call.  "Well," she laughed," that was rather painless."

"If I can get my eardrum back in its socket," I laughed.

Giggle.  "Eardrums don't have sockets, silly."

"And I have a perfect mate who knows that," I said.  "Finish your homework!"

"Beast!" she laughed. Ten minutes later she closed the books and stuffed her backpack.  She looked at me, smiling and said one word:  "Bed!"

She stood for me to remove her panties.  My reward for performing this task was permission to kiss her on her "muffin", the name we'd given her pubic mound.  We rolled backward onto the bed together.  Her fingers found me erect and a couple of slow, squeezing strokes and she giggled.  "You're leaking."  Her fingers came to her lips and she made a show of licking them.  Then she kissed me.

"Babe," she said, "you know how many times you've made me come with your mouth?"

"I hadn't been keeping count.  A bunch?"

"Mmmm-hmmm," she purred.  "and we've, you know, licked each other clean after we came together, so I have a good idea of what you taste like."

"Yeah, and you're delicious."

"We taste good together.  And you've made me come so hard with your mouth. You…"

"I like your taste, babe.  And the way you wiggle when you're coming."

Giggle.  "I'm glad.  I love that.  But…  I want to make YOU come.  With MY mouth…"

I smiled.  "And that's something you think you have to ask permission for?"

Her bright-eyed face nodded.  Smiling.

"Babe, I belong to you.  As long as we both enjoy, anything, okay?'

"Then scoot up so I can lay between your legs."

I scooted, arranging pillows behind me.  "You're the sexiest creature in the universe.  I want to see you…"

Her eyes belied her love.  And lust.  "Then watch, babe.  I need to learn how to do this."

Her head eased forward and she sucked my dick's head into her mouth, her tongue prodding and swirling.  "Mmmmmm," she moaned.  Muffled,  "Good?" she asked with me still in her mouth.

"God, yes…" my hands stroked her hair.

She pulled back, releasing me, and rubbed her hair against my balls and thighs.  Smiled.  "I wanna bite, Alan.  Can I?  Does that feel good?"

"I think it does, babe… nobody…"

"But… it's MADE for my mouth…"

I sighed.  "That's YOUR mouth, baby.  Apparently everyone doesn't…"

Petulant.  "But I want to bite.  How hard?"

"I think I can show you."

" How can you show me?"

"I can bite you…"

That thought got interpreted in that pretty head quickly.  "Oh, like…  I LOVE when you bite my titties…"

"That's how hard.  Just like Sunday.  And be careful.  The head's a lot more sensitive."

Giggle.  "That's what this ridge is for.  So I'll know where to keep my teeth!"  The feeling of my dick disappearing between those lips was exquisite.  As was the feeling as he white teeth playfully caught me behind my coronal ridge.

"Ohhhhh, god, yesssss," I hissed.

I felt the giggle as well as heard it.  My dick popped out.  "That's better than I imagined it."  Her hand continued to work up and down the shaft.  "So if a guy's doin' himself, this is what he does, huh?"  She looked at me, smiling, questioning…

"Yeah."

"Show me."

I replaced her hand with mine and began the old, familiar stroking.  It wasn't as exciting when I did it, even though twenty-eight years of practice made me sure of what I was doing.  "Like that," I said.

"Uh, yeah.  You're holding the skin and sliding it up and down."

I passed my hand over the head.  "And the head…"

She interrupted, "…is made for my mouth.  And you REACT…"  She stopped smiling.  "One of Mom's guys did that in front of me one time.  I guess her thought I'd get turned on and want his toothless ass…  Mom walked in and hollered at ‘im."

"So he didn't…"

"No," she interrupted.  Smile came back with little sucks on the head of my dick.  "I've never seen it.  But babe, when you're IN me, I can FEEL it." Giggle.  "And I want to feel it in my mouth.  And taste what I made YOU do."

And a brilliant, if inexperienced mind put hand and mouth together in concert.  And teeth.  Wonderful teeth.  Stopped. Licked my balls.  Giggle.  "I love how they're all wrinkly.  And they move when I kiss ‘em."

"Just be careful…"

"Yeah.  I know.  Excruciating pain.  Neat trick."  She smiled wickedly.  "Funny how just a little change in pressure can make it feel good…" her lips closed over one ball and she gently sucked and washed with her tongue.  "That okay?"

I shivered.

"Wanna make my guy happy while I'm enjoying him."  She moved up from my scrotum to my dick, nibbling and sucking, then tilted it toward her mouth and sucked me in, her lips, tongue and teeth working magic on the first two inches as her hand, a couple of fingers of it, jacked my shaft in time with lips an teeth and tongue.

I was… pressure was rising fast.  I stroked that sassy hair lovingly, causing her to turn her face to me, smiling wickedly with my dick in her mouth.

"Mmmmmm" and then a giggle.  "Something's happening," and then she was back on me.

"I'm…  uhhhh….  Nnnnghhhhh!  I'm comingggggg!"   I shook uncontrollably as the first huge spurt erupted.

"Mmmmphh!" she reacted.  I felt her swallow and suck.  Second spurt.  Swallow.  Third, fourth spurts.  Swallow.  Then she sucked the remainder of my coming into her mouth.  I went from pulsating orgasm to hot continuous ecstasy and she kept sucking.

I realized that I was curled up with my hands on her head, not holding her, just touching this girl who was pushing me to the stars.  I relaxed, falling backward.  The mattress shook.  Tina looked up.  Grinning.  A droplet of my semen had escaped her mouth.  Her pink tongue slipped out, collecting it.

My breathing returned to normal.  I knew that if I never received oral sex again in my life, I could die knowing that I'd been DONE.

Giggle. "I get the idea that what I did worked…"

"Like using a steamroller to crack walnuts, babe," I said.

She crawled up my torso, folding her arms on my chest and resting her chin in her hands, smiling.

I had to ask.  "Did you…"

She interrupted, "I LOVED it." Her finger wiped an imaginary drop.  "Every last drop."  She kissed me, lips closed.

"Nuh-uh," I said, putting a hand behind her head, pulling her to me.  "Real kiss."  Our lips met and parted, our tongues wrestling, dancing together.  Yes, I detected a taste.  Me.  In the mouth of the girl who loved me so wondrously just a minute before.


Our kiss broke.  She smiled for me. "Did it REALLY feel good?  I mean, it's my first time… you're the only one… only one there will ever be, babe…"

"Babe, it was… beyond my imagination.  What you are is what I want.  Forever."

"You know, Alan, I wondered.  I guess girls do that. I mean, I know you were married, and I know you've been with other women, too.  And I wonder how… I mean, am I as good?"

I kissed her gently.  "Baby.  Precious Tina.  The first time you kissed me, history disappeared.  Making love with you, it was like I'd never touched a woman before."

"But Alan," she asked, "Us…  I"

"Let's put it this way, cutie.  Before, I had fantasies.  Even when I was married, it was like 'If she'd do THIS or if we did it like THAT', or 'it's good but it could be better.'  And then there's you.  And I find out that my most vivid imagination couldn't compare with reality with you."  I kissed her for punctuation.

"Mmmmm, she purred.  "I know I LIKE what we do, babe…  and it's part of love.  The way we LOVE each other."

"That's the way it's supposed to be, sweetie," I said.  "I hope it stays that way."

"Stop worryin', Alan," she said.

"I do worry, Tina.  You're in school with a few hundred people your age, and in a week you already had a date with a cute guy…  and it probably wouldn't have taken that long…"

"Yeah…  a guy.  I thought "smart" meant decent and civilized.  I was wrong.  And the rest of them?  besides, after news got around, people travelled from one end of school to the other to get a peek of ol' lover boy walkin' funny.  And he's whinin' that all he tried to do was kiss me.  So it'll be a while before one of ‘em's brave enough to ask me out.  And I'm, well, I'm playin' things differently."

"Differently?" I asked.

Six inches from my face, she grinned.  "Yeah.  Next one asks, I'm tellin''im I have a boyfriend.  And I do, you know…"  she kissed me on the nose.  "Right?"

"Right!" and I kissed her back.  I wanted to kiss her for each of the freckles that spread across her cheeks and nose.  That's a task for another day…

"What'd your friend Susan have to say?" I asked.

"Susan was sorry.  At least she says…  and she told people that Jeffy's lyin',  that he'd bragged to HER boyfriend that he was gonna be doin' me before the night was over…"  She giggled.

"That's funny?" I asked.

"Yeah.  Supposedly he told his parents that he got kicked playin' soccer, that's why he's walkin' funny.  And when I saw him in class, he stayed on the other side of the room.  Didn't say nothin'."  She smiled.  "You know, I'm really glad the whole thing happened, just the way it did."

"You're glad?" I mused.

"Yeah.  If it had gone the way it was supposed to go, I don't think I'd have had the same thoughts I had Friday night.  At least not for a while.  And I would have missed a chunk of the life we have together."  Her smile was sublime.  "And besides, now people are going to have to deal with me as a person who's   different and not to be played with. And by the way, calculus?  I aced the first quiz."





Chapter Six



Okay, we got into a new routine.  No, not an "I'm bored" routine, but rather an "I can't wait to get home to connect with my soulmate" routine.  Yes, the afternoon swims were part of the routine.  The exercise kept us both fit, and at forty, it would have been too easy to spread out, as many of my contemporaries and co-workers had done.  Besides, I had a hundred and twenty pounds of incentive.  

Another part of the routine was the homework.  I took an active part in Tina's education as I noted it usually took her longer to write her assignments than it did to derive answers.

Meals were another routine.  Many mornings found us eating cold cereal in the trailer, and other mornings we ended up at the diner up the road in the direction of my project.  We usually sat in a corner table.  The waitresses knew us as regulars, and on the odd day, we were joined by one or more of my co-workers.  Everybody was indeed getting used to Alan 'n' Tina.

Our weekends…  Sometimes we took off on Friday.  Sometimes we waited until Saturday morning, but most weekends we were on the road, laughing, talking, and searching parks and concerts and culture.  And we found it.  On the advice of Mizz Lillian, we went to a bluegrass festival and Tina found pure acoustic folk music to be something that meshed with our love of classical music, and heaven knows, Tennessee has a lot of bluegrass.

But Mizz Lillian.  She saw the Alan ‘n' Tina thing real quick.  "You two look like you belong together," she'd told Tina one afternoon.

Tina related that conversation to me that evening, and the next day, when I stopped in to retrieve my sweetie, she was sitting in her chair in her customary spot.  There was nobody else in the place, me, Tina, Mizz Lillian.  Almost two months of visiting every day had me and Mizz Lillian as more than passing acquaintances.   We'd shared gossip and laughter about some of the stories from her years of managing this RV park, and I guess she thought we were at a point where she could get a little personal with us.

I guess that's why I didn't hit the floor when she suggested that just maybe, Tina and I were a couple in the more traditional sense.  "So the truth, Alan Addison, and don't bullshit an old lady.  I have eyes, you know…"

Tina's the one who answered.  "Yes ma'am.  We are.  And the day I turn eighteen, I'm marrying him!"

Lillian laughed.  "Good for you, darlin'," she said.  She looked at me.  "Alan, I know what you were thinkin' but this is Tennessee and we've got a history of girls marryin' young.  Even to older men.  I've seen stranger stuff than you an' her.  At least she ain't pregnant.  And you have a good job.  An' she's in school.  That's a lot of "right".  And I can't see much wrong." She grinned at me.  "But if I was you, I'd buy her a ring."

That got a giggle from Tina.  And got me to thinking.  Tina and I headed out the door to the trailer and drove our separate cars.  Ring?  If she wore a ring and I wore a ring, we'd have US happy, but what would it be to others around us?

She'd been thinking, too, when we walked in the trailer.  The door locked behind her, she was already stripping, preparatory to putting on her bathing suit for our afternoon swim.  She got down to the "completely naked" part and stopped, waiting for me to get to the same state.

The naked embrace was wonderful.  As were the kisses and the fondles.  They didn't last, though, as we knew that sunlight was waning.  Back out the door we went, towels in hand, holding hands.  Alan ‘n' Tina.  "So what do YOU think?  The ring thing?"

I dunno, babe.  Part of me says "yeah, right NOW! But then I think about what we talked about the other day, about having to live in a world where the people we want to accept us might need a little time to get used to Alan ‘n' Tina."

"The ring's already around my heart, Alan.  I'd love to wear your ring.  And I will.  But right now, in school?  That might open up a lot of trouble."  She smiled.

"I know," I said.  "Just as long as you know how I feel…"

"But," she said, "what about when we're NOT at work or at school?"  Cool blue eyes.  "Our weekends ‘n' stuff…"

"You know," I said, laughing, "there you go being right again…"

"You know you were thinking it, too…" Giggle.  "I mean, you want to…"

I laughed.  "That's our goal for the weekend.  Go find us rings…"

We continued our walk to the pool, waving, saying hello to the regulars, laughing.  It was indeed Alan ‘n' Tina.  At the pool, the towels went on two adjacent lunges and we splashed in, making our laps for the evening, ending up our exercise cooling off, hanging on the side of the pool.  After a cool-down we moved to the lounges and were joined by a sixty-something year old couple from Ohio.  They were regulars, having been at the park when Tina and I moved in.  We chatted about work (mine) and retirement (theirs) and school (Tina's and their grandkid's) for a while and then they slipped into the pool and Tina and I headed back to the trailer for homework and pasta carbonara.

The homework was just about over when the carbonara hit the table.  We ate, talking about her school experiences.  "I'm old news," she announced.  "Susan's still my friend, and there're a few kids I talk to, but now people just walk past me in the hall instead of stopping and staring."

"Yeah," I said, "that's pretty much human nature, babe.  Something new and exciting will attract their attention.  Another shiny object.  And life's back to normal."

"Oh, I love this normal," she cooed.  "I love being loved." Giggled, too.  "And I love our life together.  How about a game of rummy?"

And that was usually preparatory to me getting a good workout at cards.  I flipped through the steno pad we used to keep score and over that last month we were tied for winning the most games.  And it was, after we became intimate, a bedtime thing.  She was dressed in one of my t-shirts and panties, and I was in a t-shirt and drawers, and I don't know if that get-up did anything to her, but her in a simple t-shirt, those delightful nipples poking against the cotton fabric were visual candy.  We played to five hundred points, a number she reached about a hundred points ahead of me.  I put the cards and scorepad up and she turned back the covers on OUR bed.

In five minutes we were naked in the soft glow of a little night light; enough light to make out her face, her eyebrows,   the way her hair framed her face, the soft curve of her waist.  Loving her was pure joy, sometimes soft and tender, sometimes fast, hard, wet, but always exciting.  Tonight loving Tina was the perfect cap to the day, easing from consciousness to ecstasy to blissful sleep.  And wonderful sleep it was, rolling over in the night, regaining semi-consciousness to find a sweet, soft female form in the dark bed beside me.

Equally priceless was being disturbed in my sleep, waking to find that Tina had shifted positions and it was her arm or her leg pulling me closer to her.

We had the morning routine almost down pat, combining getting dressed with preparing and eating breakfast, and heading to separate destinations.  To be factual, it wasn't uncommon for us to drive to a neighborhood restaurant and eat breakfast there; joined quite often by people I worked with.  And some mornings my Tina was just a little bit wet between her legs from the remnants of early morning lovemaking.

That weekend we disappeared from the RV park to travel to the big city nearest us, and after an afternoon at the mall and a visit to a jewelry store, we left with a simple gold band on each of our ring fingers, her arm wrapping mine.

Chamber music.  We stayed on the mailing list for the local university's orchestra and didn't miss a performance.  Apparently there were several others in the same boat because when we walked into the hall, me wearing my "respectable engineer" suit, Tina wearing yet another understated dress that served well to accentuate her natural features.  These people had never seen either of us without the other, and we knew several of them by name.  After the concert we accepted an invitation to a late night visit to a restaurant for a light meal.  The other couple sipped wine, but I explained Tina's age and she and I had soft drinks.

"But you can have wine, if you want, Alan," she cooed. "I can drive."

"Sugar," said Sandra, the wife of our friendly couple, "I'm sorry!  We ordered wine without thinking!  We didn't mean to be rude!"

"Oh. Mizz Sandra, that's alright!" smiled Tina.  "Alan and I aren't the conventional couple.  You couldn't know…"

Brad, the husband, contributed, "Yeah, Tina, we're sorry.  Not trying' to be a snob or anything, here…"  to me, he said, "Alan,  I'm sorry, buddy."

"No," I said. "nothing to worry about.  We enjoyed the concert sitting with ya'll, and this is perfect.  I mean, a few appetizers, chat among friends…  perfect evening."

Sandra said, "Well ya'll have to come over for a visit one day.  We could do a barbecue on Saturday and then go to a concert."

Tina answered for both of us.  "That would be wonderful, Mizz Sandra…"

"Please, sugar, don't call me Mizz.  Makes me feel so old…" Sandra smiled.

"Okay, Sandra," Tina said.  "We can certainly do that.  It's good to get away from the park for the weekend."

"Park?" Brad asked.

"Yeah, let me explain our circumstances."  And I told him about how I worked these projects and added that Tina was in the local high school.  And the part about being several hundred miles from home.  "Fourteen hours," I said.

"If you have to drive," Brad said.  "Pity you can't fly."

"Oh, I can fly.  I just don't have a plane.  And renting one, well, they got real expensive since I got my license."

Brad grinned.  He was an attorney.  Mostly family and business law.  But he was also a lover of the music and he and his wife were bright, bubbly people who you just knew were going to be fun to be around.

"Alan," he said, "I might be able to do a couple of people a favor."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I just finished up the disposition of an old guy's property.  He passed away, left a bunch of money stuff to his kids, stock portfolio, house, land, you know…  And an airplane.  Cessna 182.  His kids don't want to mess with it.  They want it sold, in their words "NOW!"  I advised them that a more timely approach might net them a bunch more money, but you know how some people are."

"Cessna 182's a nice practical plane," I said, "but a good one's six figures."

"That's the fun part," Brad said.  "The old guy loved to fly.  Treated that plane like his personal friend.  Tip-top shape, all that, the plane, that is, and then he died.   Aneurism took him.  Bang!  He'd been flying the weekend before, so I'm thinking it's current.  I flew with him a time or two and he loved it.  Said he wanted to sell it when the time comes, as he put it, "To somebody who'd love it like he did."

"Wow," I said.  "I've often thought about it.  But I just never pulled the trigger." I looked at Tina, who was looking at me, her chin propped up in her hand.  "When can we see it?"

"We can meet tomorrow." To his wife he said, "Hon, reach into that Grant's Tomb that you call a purse and get me something to write on."

Sandra slapped a small note pad and a piece of paper on the table simultaneously with Tina's notebook.

"Ah, Alan, you're lost, you know," laughed Brad.  "You're in the hands of a practical woman."   He took Tina's notebook, whipped a fountain pen from his pocket and scribbled information in it.  "You guys show up here tomorrow.  What?  After lunch?  One o'clock?"

"Sounds good," I said.

Tina's turn.  "Alan, you never stop amazing me.  You're thinking about buying a plane?"

"No, babe," I said.  "We're LOOKING at a plane.  There's a lot more to buying one.  Inspections and stuff."

Brad added, "Alan seems to know what he's doing, Tina.  Let' see."

The remainder of the evening was spent in convivial conversation.  At a bit after ten PM we all said our goodbyes in the parking lot and Tina and I headed to a slightly upscale hotel for the night. 

We walked into the room knowing that the king-sized bed, and more important, the HUGE (in relation to the tiny closet in my travel trailer) shower was a happy indulgence for us. We indulged in the unlimited hot water and the space for two happy people to turn a sanitary function into an exercise in erotic stimulation.  And pure fun.

After a half an hour shower, we finally got out and bumped into each other happily as she dried her hair and I shaved.

"Who gets to smell good tonight?" I asked.  We'd had a discussion of her perfume being overwhelmed by my aftershave.  That conversation had collapsed with me saying, "So what YOU'RE saying is that in any situation, ONE of us is supposed to smell like a goat…"  Which brought us to tonight's decision.

"Me," she said.  "I'm gonna put a dot of it in two places, and you get to find them."

"That's a happy task, cutie," I said, entirely meaning it.

Chapter Seven

	

"Find the perfume" is a fun game when the playing field is seventeen, freshly bathed and giggly.  It is soft, warm, tasty, and rife with sudden bursts of ecstasy, and at the end it is very difficult to discern the winner from the loser.  In our case, you couldn't have slipped a business card between us when we went to sleep.

In the morning I was drifting along between asleep and awake with outside light filtering into the room and the sound of Tina moving in the bathroom.  The running water stopped, and I heard soft footsteps on the carpet.  Then a soft touch and a shake.  "Alan, baby," she whispered, then her lithe form slid into the bed beside me.

I was totally awake now.  We kissed.  "Good morning, love," I said.

"Mornin', babe," she said.  "Let's shower and go find breakfast.  You have to go look at my new magic carpet today."

"Magic carpet?"  I shook a little grogginess off my brain, and it dawned on me.  I replayed last night's conversation.

"Yeah," she giggled.  "Come on!  Get it in gear, dear!"

Oh, that I had to suffer through the horrors of a shared shower with Tina. An hour later we were being seated at a little restaurant for breakfast.

"Does this airplane thing make sense, babe?" she asked.

"Uh, well, depends on how you look at it.  Do we NEED it?  No.  But it adds four hundred miles to our long weekend range.  And takes us home in six hours.  And the country is ours.  A ten-hour day is almost fifteen hundred miles in that thing.  That model is as close to a flying mini-van as you can get.  But upkeep, well, there's insurance and annual inspections and maintenance, and that's expensive, so if you just run down the columns in a spreadsheet, maybe not."

There was a twinkle in her blue eyes.  "Sometimes there are things you can't put numbers to, you know…"

I caught that.  "Yeah, like seventeen and forty-one."

"Bingo," she said.

"So I take it that you're in favor of us doing this."

"If it's a good deal," she said.  "You can fly?  Really?"

"Really.  It's been a while, but I flew that model before.  I can fly it."

"I think we should do it, babe."  Her eyes sparkled.

"And I'm thinking that just maybe a certain young lady might be interested in learning to fly?"

"It might be useful, don't you think?"  She was propped on her elbows, smiling.  Waffles and bacon showed up.  And coffee.

After breakfast we had hours to burn, an easy task with a map of scenic highways and me driving and an analytic young mind plotting a circuitous route that would have us near the airport that was to be our after lunch destination.

We chiseled our way into a restaurant with the after-church crowd and at ten minutes to one we drove into the rural airport.  Brad and Sandra and an unidentified third person were gathered in front of an open t-hangar.  Inside was an unexpectedly sparkling jewel of a single-engined airplane.  Okay, from a hundred yards a LOT of older planes look good, just like older women in dimly lit bars.  I knew all too much about both.  

We pulled up alongside Brad's SUV.  Tina eagerly bounced out to stand beside Sandra.

Brad and the guy with him came to me.

"Alan, this is Charley Staples.  He's the…" Brad started.

Charley stepped forward, extending his hand, "FBO, owner, flight instructor, mechanic, etc., etc."

"Hi," I said.  "I'm Alan Addison.  Brad wanted to show me this plane."

"And I'm the guy who's been taking care of it for the last ten years.  I wish I had the cash to pull the trigger on it myself," Charley said.  "Look 'er over."

I did.  I poked around.  I opened covers, peered underneath, inside the cowling, examined logbooks.  To my eye, it looked good.  But I wasn't the expert.  And the expert in the immediate vicinity was Charley, who just MIGHT have a little too much interest in the sale.  Still, I'd been in a lot of these things.

We walked aback to see Brad.  "Brad, Charley, no doubt, that's a good-looking plane."

Charley beat me to my point.  "Mister Alan…"

"Just Alan," I said.

"Alan.  Okay.  Look, if I was you, I'd get another mechanic to look 'er over."

"Yeah," Brad said to me.  "Do you know one?"

"No, I don't," I admitted, but I was also thinking that this thing was priced well below market, too.  "So what's YOUR recommendation?"

Charley said, "I already told you.  If I was a little more liquid right now, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

I looked at Tina.  She was doing that smile thing again.  I looked at Charley , then Brad.  Gears were turning in my head.  I don't usually take risks, and when I do, I do it on things I know about.  Time for a risk.  "Brad, can you help me with the paperwork?"

Brad 's eyes darted back and forth between me and Tina and Charley.  "Are you sure?  I mean, you're not going to get another mechanic?"

"Nope," I said.  "Somebody takes the care on the outside that this thing has seen, they're not gonna neglect the inside."  I slapped the logbooks against my hand.  "Charley…"

"It's everything you want, Mister Alan.  But…"  He shrugged.  "Most people would want a second…"

"He's right, Alan," Brad said.  "Most people would…"

I looked at the two of them.  "Because nobody wants to trust anybody else?  I have an idea…  Let's go fly this thing.  All three of us, right now…"

"Sounds fair to me," Charley said.  "Brad?"

Brad said, "Well, guys, that sort of puts it in perspective, then."

Charlie jangled the keys.  "You gonna leave Tina and Sandra here?"

"Yeah," I laughed.  "If you guys are wrong, we need to leave survivors."

Charlie and Brad both laughed.

Tina said, "We can wait in the office if you're not gonna be long."

"Are you okay with that, sweetie?" Brad asked his wife.

"Sure," she answered.

We rolled to plane out of the hangar onto the apron.  Yes, it was indeed a while since I'd played with a Cessna 182, but it WAS a pretty simple plane, and the preflight routine came back to me.  Charlie tagged along beside me, listening to my running commentary on what I was doing.

"Just in case you wonder if I really know what I'm doing," I said.

"You seem to," he said.  "Alan, between you and me, it IS a good plane."

"Yeah, I ran some numbers in my head.  Even if I had to do an engine overhaul, it'd be a pretty decent deal.  If the wings don't fall off…"

"I'll be sitting in the right seat beside you when they do," he laughed.

Brad took the back seat, Charlie took the right, and I took the pilot's seat on the left.  Charlie handed me the laminated checklist and I ran down it, item by item.  Finally, I opened the window and hollered "Clear!", then cranked the engine.  It caught immediately.  I watched the gauges.  Everything worked exactly as expected.

We taxied to the end of the little country runway and I ran through the run-up checks.  Okay, it's time.

"Last chance," I said.  "If ya'll duct-taped the wings on…"

"Let's do it," Charlie said.

"Follow me close, Charlie.  I'm out of a physical and a biennial review."

"I'm right here with you, Alan."

I ran the throttle forward and we rolled, then lifted off.  At a thousand feet above ground I asked Charlie, "Where's the practice area?"

"Oh, south, about five miles.  Give us five thousand feet above ground."

"Okay," I said.  I trimmed us for climb, feeling for any unexpected tugs or unbalance in the controls, listening to the engine at full throttle, watching gauges.  All good.

In the practice area, I trimmed for cruise, looking, feeling.  Then slow flight.  I dropped the flaps.

"Okay, I've seen enough."  I turned to look at Brad.  Brad.  Help me with the paperwork.  And to Charlie, "Who's a good doctor for a physical, and when can I get my biennial?"

Ten minutes later I was on short final, working up the landing, Charlie's hands hovering, just in case.  The landing wasn’t as smooth as mine USED to be, but we were on the ground, all in one serviceable piece.

Sandra and Tina were walking out to meet us when I shut the engine down at the hangar.

Tina said, "If I can read that smile…"

I shook Charlie's hand.  "Nice plane, for sure, Charlie."

"Told you so , Alan.  And if you have anything major for the next six months that doesn't involve smacking stationary objects, well, Brad's a lawyer, so I won't say warranty, but…"

"I believe you, Charlie."

"Let's go in the office.  I have that doctor's card."  The group followed him into the office and I got the offered card.  "Look," he said.  "If you get your physical this week, come by Saturday and we'll get your review out of the way.  Now that I've seen you fly, all we need to do is the oral review.

"I can do that."

Brad's turn.  "And if you can get me a cashier's check and come by the office any day this week…"

Tina was giggling.

Sandra said, "Bradley, I think I was that excited when you bought me my BMW."

"So," Tina said, This next weekend?  Wings?"

"Sounds like it, sweetie."  I turned to Charlie.  "Charlie, I hate to ask this, but you're two hours away from where we live."

"Oh, I understand that, Alan.  Don't worry.  I have a waiting list for these T-hangars.  There's an airport twenty minutes from where you're at.  I know the guy.  It's got one of those big ol' world War II hangars.  He's got plenty of space in it out there in the boondocks.  I'll call 'im myself."

"Well," I said, "You're being awfully nice to us."

"Not a problem at all."

Tina HAD to sit in it.  She did, after we rolled our new acquisition back into the hangar.  And after a round of happy  handshakes all around, we left.

In the truck, Tina was giggling.  "Aren't you excited, Alan?"

"Yes, brown-haired girl, I guess I am.  It felt good to fly again.  And the idea of you and I being able to get away even further on weekends, well…"

Another giggle.  "Alan, you said something about ME learning…"

"You're seventeen.  You're old enough."  I went through the procedure.  "Most people, though, learn in something smaller, lighter, and simpler.  But it's not unheard of to use one of these."

"Well, I don't expect you to buy me my own…" she giggled.

"Actually, that's NOT unheard of, little one.  Planes like this are pretty much bottomed out and on the way up in value.  You buy one, use it for whatever, like getting your license, then you sell it for what you paid, maybe a bit more.  But I'm thinking, no, we won't do that."

"It's all just crazy, when you think about it, Alan.  A month and a half ago, I was rock bottom, headed to Arkansas with a couple of criminals, and now I'm discussing learning to FLY."  Her face was in 'full smile' mode, blue eyes atwinkle.

"Yes, little one, it does seem crazy.  There I was, headed off into the woods for a few months work, all alone, and here WE are. Us.  A couple."

"And that's a good thing, huh?"

I bent sideways and kissed her cheek.  "The very best of things."  And we drove out the gate, headed to the place we called home.  

We took advantage of the return in late afternoon to take advantage of each other.  The aftermath left me lying on my back with this auburn head of hair resting on my chest, fingers tracing patterns in the hair on my belly.  She raised up and turned her face toward me.

"Dinner?" she said.

"I was considering it, sweetness," I answered.  "Got a preference?"

"Shall we grace the halls of the local fried catfish emporium, sir?"  she said.

"Oh, yes, why not?  I hear there's this REAL cutie that shows up there from time to time with some old goat."

Giggle.  "Let's get dressed and go, old goat."

"Okay, cutie!"

We managed to eat and get back to the park in time to get a couple of laps walking in the waning light of dusk.

Back in the trailer, I played on the computer while Tina ran through her schoolwork.  She glanced up at me.  "They had me sweating on this trig stuff last week, but I think I got a handle now."

"You didn't ask for help," I said.  "I can help if you need it."

She chuckled.  "If I hadn't gotten it on my own, I would've asked, Alan."

"Don't get in a bind, sweetness.  You're in advanced placement classes.  Catching up would be tough."

"I know," she said.  "But according to the guidance counselor, I get three semester hours credit if I pass this class, and I AM passing this class."

"And the others?  Science, English?"

"Piece of cake. I'm having fun in those.  Physics?  Come on.  YOU do this stuff."

"I'm sure I do some of it, but you're a high school student."

"And I'm doing in it a classroom, and making a mistake means a bad grade.  If you muff something…"

"It happens, baby.  Some of the good ones make the news."

"Have any of yours?"  She turned in her seat to look at me.

"Nope!  The time I've had problems on my jobs is where they didn't build the way I drew it or they didn't install what I wanted the way it was supposed to be installed.  Now I make good money making sure that those things don't happen any more.  I don't do the designs myself, but I make sure that they're good and that they're installed correctly.  And that's a whole lot different than your physics course."

She smiled.  "So how many traps do you find because you know physics, and how many do you find because you know how things are supposed to be put together and how they're supposed to work?"

"Oh, little one," I said,  "Part of it's physics and math and most of it's knowing the right way to do things because I've learned it from wise men who've gone before me."

Eyebrow arched.  "No wise women?"

"There might've been some, but I never met them.  I've known some female engineers, even electrical engineers, but not at the level we're talking about.  Not that there couldn't be.  Just weren't.  For me, anyway."

"Maybe I ought to fix that."  She smirked.

"Huh?"

"I was SAYING, just maybe I ought to fix that."  She tossed her head.  "I think I could, you know…"

"You could what?"  I was grasping her intent.

"I could be an electrical engineer.  Female, too."  The smirk was replaced by the derisive extension of a pink tongue.

"Ohhhh, I see…  dumb ol' Alan can do it, the Miss Christina can certainly do it better…"  I stuck my tongue out in return.

Giggle.  "Seriously, baby!  I've been thinking about a major.  One of the heroes in my life happens to be an engineer, therefore just maybe that's what I might want to do myself."  She closed her book and stowed it in her backpack, then crossed the little aisle to plop down in my lap.  Her arms encircled my neck and her lips met mine for a peck.  "And you're the smartest person I've ever known, anyway."

"Thank you, my Tina can do anything she sets her mind to do," I said, and I meant it.  "I'll be at your side the whole way, and I will be sitting there watching when you graduate."  That got me more kisses.  I considered it fair trade, really.

"You know," she said, "Grandma wanted me to get an education.  When she died and I ended up with Mom, I didn't know how that was gonna happen.  I didn't know how anything was gonna happen, Alan."  Her head rested on my shoulder.  "And then we stopped for breakfast…"

"Yeah, funny how life hinges on one thing, isn't it?"  I mused.

"Funny…  That's a good word.  Spectacular is another," she answered.

"Nope!  Can't use 'spectacular'.  I save that one for you."  I kissed the top of her head.

"You're so good t me, Alan."  She snuggled into my chest and purred.  "Why don't we get our showers out of the way?"

"One more kiss, and I'll let you go, little one."  I saw her face from four inches in front of mine.  My lips pushed her bangs aside and I brushed her forehead with my lips.  She turned her face up a tiny bit and our lips met, softly, tentatively at first, then just melting into each other, our tongues teasing.

She pulled away, almost reluctantly.  "One more like that, buddy, and we'll be showering late…" She bounced lightly.  "And apparently part of YOU is having the same thoughts."

"Uh-huh," I admitted.  "But…"

"But I'll be more comfortable if we're both bathed."  She got up off my lap, undressing in front of me, allowing me to marvel at her youthful figure.

Okay, maybe just a little more than just marveling.  I had to kiss and touch and caress.

"You make me quiver," she smiled.  "Just keep that idea…"  giggle.

Ten minutes later she was standing outside the tiny bathroom, drying off with a fluffy towel.  When I stepped past her to get my own shower, she gave me a gratuitous squeeze.  I responded with a kiss, then finished off the hot water for my own ablutions.  Crap!  I forgot.  Now I get to shave with cold water.  Oh, well, not like that's the first time.  My complaints, though, were answered with only slightly sympathetic giggles as she stopped drying her hair to see what I was griping about.

When I stepped away from the bathroom sink, she was now clad in her nightshirt, stowing her hair dryer.  I slapped her playfully on her upturned butt, causing a squealy giggle.  When the cabinet door closed, she stood and turned around, wrapping me in her arms.  I reciprocated.

"Poor baby," she chuckled.  "Had to shave with cold water…"  she kissed my cheek.  "But I'm glad you shaved." Her nostrils flared.  "Mmmmm!  You smell good."

"Thank you, young lady!  So do you!"

"Come sit down.  Let's see what's on TV for a little while," she smiled.  "Then nine o'clock.  Bedtime…"

We were at opposite ends of the sofa, legs intertwined in the middle, TV on, me with a book at my end, her with a book at hers, both reading and watching something about whales on a nature show.  The end credits were rolling when her foot started jiggling things.  She closed her book and put it in the little bookcase.

"I suppose we need to go to bed, huh?"  I smiled.

"You betcha, babe!"  she stood up and stretched, her palms touching the trailer's ceiling, the nightshirt pulling taut over perky nipples.

I felt a familiar and happy stirring in my groin and closed my own book, standing up.  I killed the lights at that end of the trailer as we filed to the bed at the high end of the gooseneck trailer.  The little fixture over the head of the bed lent enough light so that loving this auburn-headed doll was also a visual experience.

That was a good thing, because I was pushed onto my back and straddled by a young female who was in the process of stripping a nightshirt up over her head and tossing it aside.

"Hah!  YOU still have clothes on!" she giggled, sliding sideways off me.

Took me seventeen seconds to correct that error.  Then all my senses were overloaded by what happened next.  Twice.

Still wrapped in each other's arms, Tina sighed.  "Alan, I sooo much love you."

"Miss Tina, I love you too, you know…"

"Mmmm-hmmmm… d'ya love me enough to hand me my nightshirt?"

I retrieved the shirt and passed it to her.  I pulled my own t-shirt over my head, then we settled back into each other's arms.

Her nose wiggled.  Giggle.  "We're gonna need a quick shower in the morning, baby.  I think everybody's gonna know what you've been doing…"

"And I do so love who I'm doing it with, sweetness."

"Put us some music on to sleep with."  And a gentle kiss, and I rolled onto my back with Tina's leg thrown over me, and we slipped into slumber.

Six o'clock alarm.  Two quick showers, a couple of bowls of cereal, a pot of coffee, and we headed in separate directions for the day.  I climbed into my truck with the taste of her kiss on my lips and the sweet scent of a tiny drop of perfume still in my nostrils.

Twenty minutes later I was in my parking spot and heading to my office.  Monday morning staff meeting, then out into the project's guts, talking with the electrical foreman and the crew and a couple of technicians, then back in my office, scratching notes on some field drawings, then copying them, one copy back into the field for  the guys to work with, another copy for the record stack, and for me, a scanned copy on my computer.

Then a phone call to the bank.  Something about a five-figure cashier's check made out to a lawyer in Tennessee.  Easy enough.  The administrator waited for my fax, I signed it, and faxed it back.  The check was now in a Fed-Ex envelope headed to Brad's office.  I called him and told him it was on the way.

Next phone call was to the doctor.  Okay.  Physical, Tuesday after lunch.  That was enough of taking care of my own business on company time.  I grabbed a coke from the refrigerator in the office trailer, took a long swallow and headed back out the door.  The day's most interesting and critical activity was a short ride away on my golf cart.

Big hole in the ground.  Well, an engineered hole.  Here was one end of a set of pipes, a duct bank, through which cables as thick as your arm were supposed to be pulled.  I stopped a safe distance away and climbed out of the cart.  The foreman saw me and started walking towards me, his face grim.

"Mister Addison, we can't get a line though the pipes."  The idea with these things was so actually blow a thin string from one end of the pipe to the other, several hundred feet away, then use that string to pull a heavier line, then that line pulled a strong rope, and the rope was used with a winch to drag the cable into the hole.  And they couldn't get the line through.

This was matter of simple mechanics.  "You tried ALL of them?" I asked.

"Hell, yeas," he said.  "Can't get but a trickle of air.  And no line."

"Crap!" I said.  "Let's take a walk!"  I had a suspicion.  We put the stuff in the ground and supposedly the area was restricted to ONLY light vehicular traffic.

"You're thinkin'…" the foreman said.

"That some asshole ran heavy equipment over my ductbank, Jeff."  It didn't take much walking to locate the heavy tracks across my route.  "Shit!" I said.  "Here's a week's delay, right here."

The foreman shook his head.  We carefully paced to the next manhole, and I said, "three hundred feet.  Do you have something you can push up the pipe to measure?  If you find the obstruction three hundred feet from this end, we're going to have some fun…"


His chuckle came through clenched teeth.  "Yeah!  Fun!  Because some asshole took a shortcut to save a hour…  Lemme get some fishtapes hooked together.  I'll call you on the radio when we're done."

"Great!" I said.  "I won't say anything to anybody until you get me a measurement."

”Uh-huh," he said.  "Some days it sucks to be us…"

I hopped back onto my golf cart and rode back to the office.  I was reviewing some reports when the radio broke squelch. 

"Mister Alan, come in."  I recognized the voice.

"Go ahead for Alan," I said.

"That measurement?  Three hundred feet."

"That solves the mystery," I answered.  "I'll be out there in a few minutes with the project manager.  He's gonna love this…"  I walked into the project manager's office.

He read my face.  "Ohhhh, shit!" he said.  "That's NOT a 'happy engineer' face.  This cain't be good…"

"It's not,Carl," I said.  "Looks like somebody rant heavy crane across the main ductbank from the utility substation between our first and  second manholes.  It's collapsed.  Wanna come look?"  There were a dozen reasons every day that this guy lost his smile, and I dearly hated anything of mine to be one.

"Sure," he said, grabbing his hard hat.  "Why the hell not!"

Five minutes later we were looking at the telltale tracks and the electrical foreman had laid out his tape, showing the obstruction was under our feet, right there where the tracks crossed.

"So I guess you have a path forward already?"  Carl looked at us.

"Yep," I said.  "We're gonna dig down to the concrete in both directions to where we find no damage, cut this section out, put a new section in, pour it again, and then cover it back up."  I looked at my foreman.  "What do YOU think, Jeff?"

Jeff rubbed his chin.  "It's not rocket science.  Three, maybe four days from when we start diggin'."

"There's your answer, Carl.  I don't like it.  It's a delay.  But if we don't screw up any OTHER big thing, we're not going to be your critical path."

Carl shook his head.  "That's good to know…  You want to get with the civil bunch and get a trackhoe over here?"

"Got it," I said.  "Jeff, I'm gonna let you put your crew back in the substation.  You wanna make sure that trackhoe doesn't collapse anything else?"

And we went on from there.  As they say, "That's why I get the medium bucks."

Driving Carl back to the office trailers, I told him that I was going to be out on /Tuesday after lunch.

"Not a problem," Carl said.  "Doctor?  Something wrong?"

"Nope," answered.  "Flight physical.  Me and my cutie are getting a plane.  I need to get myself current."

"Oh, yeah, your cutie.  What the HELL are you doin' with a seventeen year old girlfriend?'  The story had gone around and was common knowledge.

"Waiting until she's eighteen so we can get married.  And having the time of my life."



Chapter Eight



I was in trouble and didn't know it.  The guys I talked to, they were like me, from various locales around the country, brought together for this job, so news of my happy circumstance with seventeen year old Tina was a matter of interest, and with my obvious happiness, a bit of good-natured ribbing, and I was rocking away happy in my ignorance.  How ignorant?  You'll see...

Tuesday I got Tina out of school to meet me at the doctor's office.  You see, student pilots need physicals, too.  We walked out of the doctor's office, me with a valid physical, Tina with a combination physical AND a brand new student pilot license.  I called Brad's office.

“Hey, Brad,” I said after I'd gotten past his office manager.  “D'you get my check?”

“Sure did,” he said.  “Ya'll come by tomorrow afternoon and I'll have the paperwork for you to sign.”

It didn't dawn on me that he wanted both of us there, but hey, a moment is a moment, so I made plans to meet Tina there immediately after school.  That put me leaving work a little early, but I didn't see a problem.  Tina and I had a perfectly wonderful Monday with not a care in the world.

The next morning I and several other people were looking in the excavated hole at cracked concrete.  I shook my head.  My electrical foreman shook HIS head.  The project manager strung together some expletives in an innovative and extraordinary manner.  There wasn't much engineering to the problem, though.  It was pretty straight forward, and crews went right to work to fix it.  The rest of the day?  Routine.  At three I took off and met Tina at Brad's office an hour away.

We're in the office, signing a bill of sale and a title transfer and Brad asks the question:  “D'you want both of you to sign this?”

“No,” I answered.

“Normally, a man and wife...” he started.

Tina gave the answer.  “Mister Brad, we're not officially married.  In a year we will be.”

“Oh,” he said.  “I never asked.  I just saw the rings and assumed...”  His brow wrinkled.  “Uh, Alan, Tina...  We have a problem.”

“Problem?”  I asked.

“Alan.  Tina.  I thought ya'll were married.  Tina, you said you were seventeen.  In Tennessee, the age of consent is eighteen.  Alan,  you know what that means.”

Tina’s eyes widened.  But we thought it was seventeen, Mister Brad.”

“It is,” he said, “in every state around us, even sixteen in some of 'em.  But it's eighteen here in Tennessee.”

“Dammit!” I paused.  “Sorry, Brad.  I'm an engineer.  I know I lot of things about a lot of stuff.  I guess it's the wrong stuff.  I can't believe that.  I mean, seriously, Brad...  where'd you and Sandra first meet me and Tina?”

“At that chamber orchestra concert.”

“Yeah.  Common haunt for us child molesters, right?  And what was she wearing?”

“That darned little black dress.  Sandra commented to me about it.”

“Uh-huh...  Brad...” I started.

“It's not a big deal, is it, for you two to get married?  You need a parent or guardian's signature, is all.” He sat back.

Tina's face was ashen.  I hadn't seen that look since the first day I met her.  “Mister Brad, you don't understand.  Alan is my legal guardian.”

That statement caused Brad's look to change.

“It's not like THAT, Brad.  Can we tell you the story?”

He leaned back in his chair, bridging his fingers together.  “Go ahead.  I've heard lots of stories.”

I said, “It all started at a little restaurant in the middle of Louisiana...”

He did ask questions.  We answered.  Tina's tears probably aided our case.

“Dammit, Alan,” he said, “Sandra just thinks the world of Miss Tina.  And you.  Said ya'll were different, but in a happy way.   And the rings.  That threw us both off.  We just assumed...”

“And I assumed that every state was seventeen or less...”

Tina asked the obvious next question.  “B-but Mister Brad, you mean that they could put Alan in jail?”

Brad nodded his head. “Theoretically, if some prosecutor wanted to make a case...  It makes me scratch my head, just thinking about it, you know...  I think of all the crap that goes on today, pregnancies with no daddy, no job, no nothing...  and then this...  But it's the law.”

Tina folded her arms and got that little crinkle above her nose, her “I've decided” look.  “I don’t want to do without Alan.  He's more husband to me than you can begin to imagine.”

“Oh, no, Miss Tina.  I can imagine a lot.  I've seen you two together.  But if you're in Tennessee, you're taking a risk.  A BIG risk.  Unless you get married.”

I took a deep breath.  “Brad, let me sign these papers.  And then Tina and I have some thinking and talking to do.

“God dammit, you two, please forgive me.  I never wanted to mess ya'll up.”  Brad's expression looked sincere.  “I mean, as far as I'm concerned, ya'll ARE married.  But the state...”

I signed the papers.  I, that is, me and my not quite wife, were owners of an airplane.  I wish I could say we were happy when we left.  We drove back in separate vehicles.  I had a million lines of thought going at once.  Somewhere on the hour drive I lost sight of Tina.  I was about ten miles form the RV park when my phone rang.  I retrieved it from my pocket thinking it was my little girl.

“Hello, Alan Addison!  Sounds like YOU have a problem.”  the voice was that of Deputy Bill Hurley.

“Bill...” I started.

“Don't get started, Alan.  I told you I didn't want you draggin' Miss Tina to Tennessee and turning her into a sex toy.”

“It's...  I...”  Words weren't coming.

“Tina just called me cryin' her eyes out, Alan.  In her words, she thinks she's losin' her best friend in the whole world, and her husband.  And she explained to me some things.”

“Bill, I didn't start out to do this...”

“And I believe her.  And I guess that means I have to believe you, too.  So she called me because I helped ya'll the first time, getting' her set up in school.”

“And now?” I asked.  “What can you do?  Really...”

“I can call my uncle, the judge, and talk with him and see.  But you probably need to get out of Tennessee for a few days.  Go to Mississippi.  Heaven knows, they won't care...”

“Bill, if you can help...”  I started.

“Oh, hell, Alan.  Miss Tina asked me.  Lemme see what happens.  I'll call you back.”

I pulled up next to our trailer a few moments ahead of Tina.  She got out of her car, shaking, tears in her eyes.  I pulled her inside the trailer.

“Alan,” she sobbed.  “I just CAN'T lose you...”

I wrapped her in my arms, cradling her against me.  “I can't lose you either, dearest one.”

“What're we gonna do?”  she wept.

“If push comes to shove,” I said, “I'll leave the state.  I can find us a place where we can be together.  Hell, this is the ONLY one like it that I know of.”

“What about your job, Alan?” she asked through tears.

“I can get another job with a phone call.”  I was truthful.  I could play that card once or twice, but part of my reputation was built on dependability.  “I can't get another you.  Never.  You're an anomaly in my universe, sweetness.”

“Oh, Alan....”  I was being ripped apart, seeing those blue eyes with tears in them.  

I called the project manager.  He answered.  “Carl, I hate to tell you this, but I've got an emergency situation to take care of.  I'm gonna come in for an hour in the morning, and then it's liable to be a few days...”

“Oh, shit, Alan,” he said.  “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“No,” I said.  “Jeff's gonna be fixing that duct bank, and I'm in good shape on the rest of the project, so I won’t put you in a bind.  Not yet, anyway.”

“Is it that bad?” Carl asked.

“Yeah.  It might be.  It's kind of personal, Carl.  I'll explain when I get some things straight.”

“You're a big boy, Alan.  You haven't let me down yet.  Do what you gotta do.”

Tina looked at me.  “I love you,” I said.

Next phone call was to Charlie.  “Charlie,” I said, “I hate to bother you this late, but d'you think you could do me a flight review in the morning.  Like about ninish?”

“Sure,” he said.  “You in a hurry?”

“Yessir,” I answered.  “I might have to go somewhere in the next day or two.”

“Just bring your logbook in the morning, Alan.  I'll have your plane gased up and waiting for you.”

“Thanks, guy,” I said.

I turned to Tina.  “In case we need to go somewhere.”

Her eyes were still wet.  “You don't think somebody'll, like, turn us in?  Do you?”

“Mizz Lil knows about us, and some of the guys at work.  But I told Mister Carl that I was going to be married to you in a year.  So I don't know who he might've told.

Neither of us had any appetite that evening.  Or any joy.  We sat together on the sofa, clinging to one another, my mind still running through one scenario after another.

And the phone rang.  Deputy Hurley.

“Alan, I talked to my uncle,” he said.

I was hoping.  “And...” I asked

“I told him what was going on.  He said it was an easy fix.  When can you come down here and present yourself and Miss Tina?  Can you do Thursday?”

Tina was leaning her head against mine, sharing the phone.  “Yesyesyes, Mister Bill.  We'll be there.”

“Can we get a rental car at your airport?  We're flyin' in tomorrow afternoon,” I said.

“Uh, Alan, we don't have commercial flights...”

“I know, Bill.  Me an' Tina just bought an airplane today.  That's when all this crap came out.”

“You just get you two here, and I'll make sure you have transportation.  There's a motel in town...”

“Yessir, I got that much.”  I paused.  “Bill...”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks!”

“Yes!  Thank you, Mister Bill,” Tina said, finally getting a little of the lilt back in her voice.

“We'll call you when we're getting close, okay?”  I said.

“Ya'll do that,” Bill said.  “And if you're up to it, plan on dinner with me an' my bunch.  If you can stand a couple of rug rats.”

“That would be wonderful,” Tina said.

“There's you an answer, buddy!” I added.  “We'll talk to you later!”

“'Kay, Alan.  Tina.  See ya tomorrow!”  He hung up.

I fell back against the sofa and Tina fell into my arms.

“Baby,” she asked, “What do you think all this means?”

“It means, little one, that you probably need to make very very sure that you want to be married to me.  Because if I'm working in Tennessee, that's the only way we can do it and stay together.”

Squeal! And a kiss.  A long, hot, hungry kiss.  “You'd've left this job to stay with me, Alan?  Really?”

“Oh, little princess, I'd've got me a bag and started collecting cans off the side of the road to stay with you.  This job?  You?  Oh, come on...  no choice at all.”  And I meant it.

I looked at my watch.  “D'you have an appetite now?”

she smiled.  “I could eat something.”

“Get your shoes on.  Let's go.”  Fried catfish soothes the stomach quite well.  Back at our little home, we packed bags for the next adventure.

We got up the next morning.  “Don't bother to go to school today, sweetie,” I said.  “I'll be back here in an hour and a half.

“No, Alan.  I'm going to go and get my assignments and tell 'em I might be out for a couple of days, okay?”  Her eyes had life in them again.

“Okay, baby.  You know best.”  I kissed her and headed out the door.

I was still knotted up from the day before, though, despite the idea that there was a way out.  I wouldn't be happy until we crossed the state line.  I guess I would've made a horrible criminal.  Paranoia?  I had buckets of it.

My dash through the job site was mainly to talk with Jeff about his repair job and to make sure that they didn't fall behind any further.

I knocked on Carl's door.  He looked up.  “Alan!  Come in.  Close the door!”

I did.  “Carl, sorry to jerk you around, buddy...”

“Look,” he said.  “You an' me's been on too many of these things together to not trust each other.  Do what you gotta do, okay?”

“Thanks, buddy.  Just so you know,  I've gotta fly back to Louisiana with Tina.  I didn't know that us livin' together was illegal in this state.”

“She's seventeen, ain't she?  Old enough?  I mean, it's your business.  You're what, forty?”

“Close enough.  But in this state, eighteen's the magic number.”

“Oh, crap...  Can you fix things?”  Carl asked.

“I'm thinking so.  Back in Louisiana, though.  We should be back Friday.  I'm on my cellphone if you need something.  Everybody's got my number.”

Carl stood and offered his hand.  I shook it.  “Take care of yourself an' Miss Tina, 'kay?”

“You got it!  Thanks, buddy!”  And out the door I went.  I picked up Tina at the RV park and told Mizz Lil that we'd be gone a couple of days.

And hour later we were at the airport.  

Charlie looked through my logbook.  “How many hours in this thing?” he asked.  

“Eight hundred total, at least forty in a 182,” I said.  “Was in a club in Arizona.”

“Oooooh,” he said.  “I saw you handle this the other day.  That takes care of the flyin'.  Now let's review some rules an' stuff.”

Tina sat in the office as I was questioned about a variety of procedures and regulations.  Charlie opened my logbook to the last page I'd used and signed me off.

“You're good to go,” he smiled.  “Since Miss Tina's sitting there, I assume you two are flyin' off?”

“Yeah.  Louisiana.  Should be back either late tomorrow or early Friday.”

“Be careful,” Charlie grinned.

“Come on, baby,” I said to Tina.  “Let's go teach you something.”

I talked her through the pre-flight inspection and then saw that she was strapped in, big headphones on for the intercom.  It was going to be her first flight.  Ever.  Her hands were folded nervously in her lap.  I knew a sure-fire way to get rid of the nerves.

“No, Tina.  We do this together.  Put your hands on the yoke and your feet on the pedals and follow me through this.”

“B-but, Alan!  I've never...” she stammered.

“You've never been bashful with me, little one,” I said.  “This is easy.”

We went through the run-up with me explaining every step.  I checked the frequency on the radio and made a call to any aircraft that might be interested in what was going on at this little field, and we taxied onto the runway and I pushed the throttle forward.  And we were in the air.  As I banked us onto a course headed southwest, her grin was huge.

“You like?” I asked.

“I like.”  So our four hour flight was instructional.  Tina was a quick study, and for somebody who found no problem with high school physics, the general principles of flying light aircraft were no trouble at all.  Eighty-five hundred feet over the countryside, the miles slid away at a decent clip.

By early afternoon we were close.  I opened my cellphone and called Hurley up.

“Where are you at?”  he asked.

“Eighty-five hundred feet over a cotton field, about twenty minutes out.”

“I'll be there waiting for you.”

I had a picture of us returning to the little town in the back seat of a patrol car, but I wasn't about to complain.  Deputy Bill Hurley showed up in a departmental SUV as we were tying down our plane.

“Man, you guys travel in style,” He said, shaking my hand then getting a chaste hug from Tina.  “Come on!  Let me get ya'll to the motel.”

“That would be great!” I said.  I let Tina take the front seat for the short ride.

In the car, we started talking.  “So Tina tells me that she's in advanced placement classes in her senior year, now.”

“Yeah, you should've seen the expression on the guy's face when he showed us her placement test results.  I was worried.  I worried about what I could do to help a high-school drop-out.”  I admitted.

Tina picked up the thread.  “I told Alan that the reason I dropped out was that mom kept moving us every time I'd start school.  The first thing we did was talk to the school board about me getting back in.”

Bill admitted, “Yeah, ya'll kinda surprised me with that phone call.  But it worked out well, didn't it?”

“Yes,” I said.  “We got her in school and I figured I was going to be the foster dad or whatever to a teenaged girl in high school.  I mean, her first week, she'd already been asked to...”

“That's what I was tellin' you, Mister Bill.  Alan was perfectly serious about taking care of me.  He got me back in school.  Bought me a car...”

“A car?” Bill queried.

“Yeah, the preferred automobile of child molesters everywhere, a Honda Civic.”  I said.  “Actually, it just made sense.  She could run errands after school and go out and do whatever, and I wouldn't have to worry about transporting her or her depending on people I didn't know.”

“Okay,” he said.  “When you put it like that, it makes sense.”

“So anyway,” Tina continued, “my first week back at school and I'm getting into the classes and since it's all AP, you know that the kids are some of the serious students, so it's pretty good.  And at the end of the week, one of the girls asks me if I want to come over on Friday night to watch movies, and there's gonna be a few other kids, and this guy in one of my classes and he's smart and he's asking her if I'm coming over, and I asked Alan if I could go.”

“And what could I say, Bill?  I told her to be careful and to be back by midnight and let 'er go.”

We pulled into the motel.  Bill said, “Look, can I pick ya'll up about five and bring you to the house for dinner?”

“We don't want to put you out, Bill.  I could just as easily take you and your wife out for dinner.  Uh... and the kids...”

Bill smiled.  “I appreciate that, but with the kids, it'd be a trial.  Best you come over to the house.  We used to have a good restaurant in town, but it's been closed for a year.  That little diner where ya'll met, it's about the only other place.  Or McDonald's.”

“We're your guests,” Tina asserted.

“Uh, one more thing.  I hope you don't mind.  Uncle, the judge, he might stop by after dinner.  Wants to talk to you both.”

I guess my face gave away my thoughts.

“Oh, no, nothing bad.  He got part of the story from me.  He knows what he needs to do.  It's just he wants to meet ya'll.”

“Okay,” Tina said.  “We'll be happy to meet him.  I mean, you guys have already helped us out so much.”

We checked in and hauled our bags into our room.  Tina made a show of falling backward onto the king-sized bed.

“Just come lay by me, Alan.  I need you near me.”  she turned her face toward me, those azure eyes boring into my heart.

I lay beside her on my side so I could touch her face.  She was smiling.

“It's gonna be okay, babe,” she said.  “We're going to STAY together.  That makes it okay.”

I bent over and kissed her.  “just 'okay'?”

“Well, then, how about 'a little piece of perfect'?”

“That would be you, cutie!”  The next kiss was better.  Longer, hungrier, hotter, and so comforting to be delivered by this doll.  Her hair was doing that thing where it was either mahogany or walnut, depending on the light.  In this room...  mahogany.  I buried my face into it at her neck.

I felt her stir, then heard twin thumps as her shoes hit the floor.  She scooted away from me, higher in the bed and motioned for me to come up with her.  I sat up, untied my shoes and took them off and lay down, finding myself in her arms.  Fully clothed, we kissed a few times and then snuggled together for a nap to make up for a couple of horribly sleepless nights.

At four-thirty we were up, showered and ready for dinner.  Ten minutes out, Hurley called us on the phone and warned us, so we were waiting in the motel lobby when he pulled up.  There was a little tow-headed boy in the front seat with him.

“Hi,” Bill said.  “This is my son, William junior.  He's Billy.  Billy, this is Miss Tina an' Mister Alan.”

Billy offered his hand politely.  We both shook it.  “I'm gonna get in the back seat.  You gonna ride back here with me, Miss Tina?”

“I certainly will, Billy,” she said.  Tina  and Billy buckled  into the back seat and I slid into the front with Bill.

“Hope you can stand fried pork chops,” Bill said.  “Sharon's teaching school, and pork chops are fast.”

“Pork chops sound wonderful.”  Tina turned to Billy.  “What's your favorite, Billy?”

Little Billy didn't misshis cue.  “Today?  Pork chops!  An' Mom has mashed p'tatas an' gravy!  And a pie!”  he smiled broadly.  “I like it when she cooks for company!”

Bill followed, “Folks, we don't starve our kids.  The only difference between company and a regular meal is the pie!”

Billy said, “I LIKE pie!”  Tina giggled.

We pulled up at the Hurley place.  It was  one of those homes from a bygone era, huge, wood-frame, two story, and obviously the subject of a huge amount of restoration.  I commented on the age.

“My great-grandparents' house.  It got it passed down to me along with a pretty good inheritance and we put a lot of it back into this house.”  He sounded happy and proud.

When we walked in, I saw why.  The restoration was meticulous and well thought out, combining modern efficiencies with the character of the old home.  And we met Sharon, Bill's wife, a diminutive lady with a few extra pounds and blonde hair and blue eyes and that explained where Billy got that golden shock of his.  And Billy's little sister, a year younger, and a couple inches shorter, and obviously Billy's sister.

Billy handled that introduction.  “Miss  Tina, Mister Alan, this is my sister.  Her name is Bridget.”

Tina squatted to Bridget's level.  “Hi, Miss Bridget!  What a pretty name!  You're a cutie!”

Bridget smiled bashfully and said softly, “Thank you Miss Tina!  You're cute too!”

Tina stood up.  “Mizz Sharon, can I help you in the kitchen or something?”

Sharon smiled.  “That would be lovely, Tina.”  She turned to us.  “We'll be ready in about ten minutes.”   The two of them disappeared.

Bill gave me a quick tour of his castle, including a running commentary on the history of the house and his family.

We returned to find the table set and ready for us.  Bill sat at the head of the table, his wife on his right, I at the opposite end with Tina on my right, and the two kids on opposites sides of the table.  Bill offered a brief blessing for the food and friendship and we dug into a quite decent and happy meal.  I was pleasantly surprised that the two kids were well mannered.  And I enjoyed watching Billy's eyes when he got his piece of chocolate pie.

Sharon and Tina and the kids cleared the table following the meal and Bill and I were talking when the doorbell rang.  “That's gonna be Uncle Jimmy,” he said.

Uncle Jimmy was tall, bald, dressed in slacks and a business shirt with a tie.  “I'm Bill's Uncle Jimmy,” he announced, extending his hand.

I shook it.  “I'm Alan Addison. You've already rescued us once!”

“Yes, son, and if I'd have been a little bit more on the ball...”  he started.

“Uncle Jimmy, ya'll come sit in here so we can talk!”  Bill guided us into the living room.

We sat down.  Uncle Jimmy continued.  “Like I was sayin', we could've done an emancipation on 'er if I'd given it more thought, but when Bill here gave me the story, I thought that giving you guardianship was a better approach, especially with you wanting to put her back in school.”

Tina and Sharon walked in.  Sharon introduced Tina to Uncle Jimmy.  He smiled.  “Alan, she's a charming young lady.  Miss Tina, I've heard good things about you.”

It was Tina's turn to smile bashfully.

Tina sat next to me on the sofa and Sharon joined Bill on the love seat.

Uncle Jimmy repeated what he'd just said for the ladies' benefit.

“Mister Jimmy...”  Tina started.

“Uncle Jimmy.  Please!” he smiled.

“Uncle Jimmy, when we called about that school problem, that's all we thought we needed.  Really.” she sighed.  “Alan was just takin' care of me and giving me a place to live and helping me.”

I interrupted.  “Like a little sister.  Or a daughter. Or...  I don't know.  When I found 'er, she didn't have too many options.  I just wanted to help out.”

Uncle Jimmy nodded.  Bill had heard the story up to this point.  Tina went through it from the beginning to the point of her first week of school, and the party.  Sharon was following every word.

“See, Bill, THAT'S I was telling you last week.  One of my straight A students, bright, smart, with a future...  She's turned up pregnant.  The daddy's a senior and has a scholarship to play football in college.  It's like all the stereotypes in the world piled on top of them.”  Sharon looked at Tina.

Tina read the question in Sharon's look.  “No, ma'am.  I'm not pregnant.  I want to marry Alan because we're just RIGHT for each other.  Look!  This is how I'm being exploited here!”

I looked and almost fell off the sofa.  The piece of paper in Tina’s hand, that she was shoving towards Sharon, was her brand new student pilot license.

Uncle Jimmy laughed, relieving a tension.  

Sharon stammered, “Oh, Tina, I DIDN'T mean that you HAD to get married.  That YOU were pregnant.  I was just sayin' that kids can get off the track so easy.”  She inhaled.  “And you two walked in here with wedding bands an' I looked at you and you act like you belong together.”

Billy wandered into the room.  “Hi, Uncle Jimmy!” he said.  He hugged his great-uncle.  “When we goin' to your camp?”

Uncle Jimmy mussed Billy's hair.  “Just as soon as your daddy decides he wants to do you some fall catfishin',” he said.

Naturally, little Bridget was next.  She perched briefly on Uncle Jimmy's knee and kissed his cheek then came over and squeezed next to Tina.  Tina put her arm around Bridget.  Big sister – little sister.  Should've taken a picture.

“I love seein' your kids, Bill.  Sharon sure shows in 'em, too.” He smiled at Sharon.  “You kep' 'em from getting those squinty Hurley eyes, Sharon!”

We all talked for a while longer.  Finally Uncle Jimmy said, “Look, Alan, Miss Tina, here's what we're going to do.  You two want to be married.  So tomorrow I'm gonna do some magical judge things, sorta like that magical electric stuff you do, Alan.  And we're going to emancipate Miss Tina from the horrible bonds of having you as her guardian.  Under state law, if she's emancipated, she's free to act as her own agent, as an adult.” He grinned.  “If, upon execution of her emancipation, she doesn't high-tail it out of the parish, you two can do us a marriage license, and if you have no religious reservations, I will personally perform the wedding in my office.  Then the State of Tennessee can go pound sand.  Where ever it is they might need to have sand pounded.”

Squeal!  That was Tina’s commentary on Uncle Jimmy's speech.

He laughed.  “I wish I could say that this puts me on the plus side of the marriage game, but I sign more divorces than I get to marry folks.  There's something wrong there.  Seems to me that if two people wanna get married in front of a church full of people, then they should do the same damn thing for the divorce.”

Bill laughed.  “Alan, you have to understand.  I've heard this speech before.”

Sharon smiled.  “And we're still married.”

Uncle Jimmy wasn't finished.  “How long did it take ya'll to fly down here?  Four hours?”

“Yessir,” Tina chirped.

“Seems to me,” he said, “That ya'll oughtta fly back one weekend and meet us at my camp.  It's on the river.  We'll barbecue, an' catch some catfish and have a fish fry, and feel guilty for the next two weeks about eatin' like that.”

I was thinking that this old guy was a hoot, and good company is good company.  Tina spoke for us.  “We'll make that happen.  We need to kinda know when.”

We rode back to the motel with Uncle Jimmy, talking, listening to him assail us with stories of courtroom shenanigans.

The next morning Hurley picked us up for breakfast.  “Sorry, Alan, but I had to give the shift sergeant back his SUV.  You'll have to ride in the back of this thing.”

We went to breakfast in his squad car.  I was in the back, behind the screen, and Tina was giggling.  “Mister Bill, you shoulda put 'im in handcuffs!”

“Evil little woman you got there, Alan,” he said, laughing.

We walked into the restaurant where the whole thing started a couple of months before.  Bill jogged the waitress's memory.

“Oh, YEAH!” she said.  To Tina, “Hon, are ya doin' okay?”

Tina's answer was to show her ring finger.

After breakfast, we were first ones into the judge's office.  Uncle Jimmy was waiting.

“Hi, folks!” he said, “Mizz Mary's got the paperwork ready. Come on into the office.”

We went in and sat in some really nice leather chairs and signed papers which his secretary duly stamped.

“There!” he announced.  “Miss Tina, you are, in the eyes of the state, an adult.  Able to make your own decisions.  So, here's this piece of paper...”  He pushed an application for a marriage license across his desk and raised an eyebrow.

Her squeal could be heard to the street.

We both filled it out.

I noticed Bill eye-balling his watch, nervously.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“No, just that Sharon wanted to be here for your wedding.”  As he was finishing the statement, we heard the front door open.

“They're in the judge's office,” the receptionist announced.  Sharon's face peered around the corner.

“As I was sayin',” Bill continued, “If me an' Sharon are at THIS wedding, then that's one LESS wedding I'll have to go to this year...”

“Pffftt!” as Sharon stuck her tongue out at her husband.  Then she took his hand in hers and kissed his cheek.

Uncle Jimmy hollered to his staff.  “Ya'll all come in here!  We're doin' a wedding.  No shotguns involved!”

The office filled up.  Tina and I slipped our rings off and traded, and amid smiles from some people we hardly knew, we were married. A camera flashed. I kissed my bride.  





Chapter Nine



Married! And Tina wrapped around my arm as we shook hands and smiled and received congratulations from a happy little crowd.

I shook hands with Bill Hurley and got pulled into a manhug. "Man, you don't know how much I owe you, Bill," I said. Next hug was from his wife, Sharon. "Congratulations, Alan," she said.

Tina was in the middle of the office ladies receiving similar noises, and worked her way out to Bill and Sharon. Uncle Jimmy waited his turn to kiss the bride, and I shook his hand.

"Alan, I was serious about you two comin' down for a weekend. Keep in touch with me and Bill so we can get together." He smiled. "I feel good about today. You two will do well together."

"Thank you, Uncle Jimmy! You don't know how much we appreciate you helping us."

"Yeah I do, son. I really think I do." He smiled.

"Folks," I announced, "this has been a great day for Tina and me. I wish we could stay and do more, but we have to get back to Tennessee today."

Bill clapped me on the back as Tina attached herself to my arm. "You know, ya'll bring excitement every time you hit town…"

Tina giggled. "Maybe our next visit will be sane, Mister Bill." She kissed him on the cheek, and then when Sharon popped into range, tagged her, too. "Mizz Sharon…"

"Please, Tina. Just 'Sharon', okay, sweetie?" Sharon smiled.

"Okay, Sharon, tell Billy and Bridget that I'm sorry they were in school today and we didn't get to say 'bye'. But we'll be back."

Sharon smiled. "Oh, I know, Tina. They'll be sad that they missed this." She sighed. "I need to get back to school myself. I so much enjoyed meeting you two."

Sharon left, and Bill did taxi service, running us by the motel to retrieve our luggage and then to the airport. We gave Bill a tour of our little plane and waved bye as he took off back to work. Before I climbed in the plane, I flipped my phone open and punched up my boss's number.

"This is Carl," he answered.

"Carl! Alan. We're getting ready to take off in Louisiana. We'll be home in four hours or so. Any problems?"

"Nope! Not on my end. How about you?"

Tina was in earshot. "I'm the proud possessor of a seventeen year old wife, Carl. Tina and I got married."

"Congratulations, I guess, bud," he said.

I chuckled. "No guessing to it. We would've waited until she was eighteen, but it was gonna happen anyway. Tina, say hi to Carl."

Tina took the phone. "Hi, Mister Carl. I'm bringing him back to you. Thanks for letting him loose like this, on short notice."

"Not a problem, Missus Addison. You two take care of yourselves. Tell 'im I'll see him Monday."

"'Kay," she said. "Bye!" she handed me back my phone. "Carl says see ya Monday."

After the pre-flight ritual, she started to walk around to the passenger side of the plane. "Oh, no, little girl. You do the left seat today!"

"Serious?!?" she squealed.

"It's not that big a deal. First, the plane controls equally well from either side. The left seat just has a better view of the instruments. Second, we're gonna take off, climb to seventy-five hundred feet and head northeast. Nothing fancy. No maneuvers to speak of, unless you want to do some, and in four hours we'll see our airport."

"You make it sound simple. Okay, then," she said. "If you say so. I mean, you're my husband an' I gotta be all obedient and submissive an' all that…" Her eyes laughed.

A few minutes later our wheels left the Louisiana runway. We climbed straight out, looked around, then banked left to our final course. I guided her into setting up a neat 'cruise-climb', cranking away miles as we gained altitude, and then we leveled off. I helped her trim us up. "That's pretty much it. A little care that you don't get too low or too high. Or too far left or too far right."

Her eyes sparkled. "Wow! I'm doin' this!"

"If you get tired or confused, let me know." I folded my arms. Okay, I unfolded them and reached over and stroked that auburn hair, held oddly in place by the headband of her headset. "You married me. You REALLY married me."

She glanced over, smiling. "Yeah I did, Alan. One of those forever things. You…"

"I will watch the stars blink out in the night sky before I leave you, Tina."

"The way it should be." 

The seat of my pants felt a surge. "You're cruising, baby. Just tiny little pressures. If you're low, a little back pressure and you'll see the speed drop a tiny bit and you'll climb. Same thing if you're high. Or left or right. Tiny changes. And if you keep having to correct high or low, a little turn on the trim will get rid of some of that."

"Uh-huh. Just new, that's all…" she smiled.

We ate up miles at a satisfactory pace, crossing the Mississippi River angling across Mississippi and into Alabama. Our destination in Tennessee was half an hour ahead. I talked Tina through pulling back the power and lowering the nose to keep the speed up for our descent. A radio call on the 'Unicom' frequency alerted anyone who might care of our intent to land. Nobody cared. Traffic was sparse at little rural airports during the week.

Okay, ONE person cared. "Uh, Cessna 6-5-6-7 Golf, this is Tulla County Airport. No known traffic."

"That's Mister Charlie," Tina said. 

"Good! We can top off the tanks before we put her up for the day." I thumbed the 'transmit' switch. "Tulla County, 6-7 Golf. We're gonna need fuel service in ten," I said.

Radio broke squelch. "Roger, 6-7 Golf. You know the drill."

Tina followed me through a standard landing pattern and the wheels touched down with only the tiniest of bounces. "Okay," I told my wife, "Steer with your feet. No faster than a fast walk. Pay attention to your wingtips. You're forty feet wide."

I followed her on the controls, giving a couple of helping nudges here and there. As we approached the fuel pumps, I took over. She sighed in relief. "I thought you were gonna try and make me do that," she said.

"You learn at YOUR pace. You've done great so far. Now, to stop this thing, pull the mixture back all the way. Then when it stops, turn the mags off. That's the key there."

Our engine stopped as Charlie sauntered out of his office. He was amused to see Tina climbing out of the left door.

"You don't waste time, do you, Alan?" he said.

"Thought she should get a taste of it from the left seat," I laughed. "I know we can't log those hours, but practice is practice."

Tina was beaming. We topped off the tanks. Charlie and I pushed our little chariot back into its nest after Tina pulled my pickup out of the hangar. When we walked into the office, Tina's eyes scanned his display case. 

"Student pilot manual. I need that, Alan!"

"Put it on the card with the gas, Charlie."

"You know, Alan, she's got to log twenty hours with an instructor, forty hours total, and what isn't with the instructor has to be solo…"

"Yeah, I know."

"But that doesn't stop you from flyin' with her. Just means that when she gets with an instructor, she's gonna probably have more practice."

"Sorta what I figured. You got a problem with doing it that way?"

"No," he said, "but I've never did a student in a 182. I know a little 152, over at regional, that a guy's trying to sell."

Tina said, "TWO planes?"

"Remember when we talked about that, baby?" I turned to Charlie. "Okay, buddy, that 152, what kind of deal is it?"

"Pretty good one, actually. Just about what I imagine YOU want to do. He bought the thing to get his hours in, now he's commercial and all the other tickets, and he doesn't need the plane. He bought it for fifteen, he'll take fifteen. And when Miss Tina's licensed, you can turn around and sell it for fifteen. All her license costs is fuel and an instructor."

I looked at Tina. "If you're serious…"

Squeal!

"She's serious," Charlie laughed.

"When can we look at it?" I asked. 

"Well, if we lock up this office, it's a forty-minute drive. And you're going in that direction anyway."

"We'll follow you," I said.

Tina skipped out to the truck.

Forty minutes later we were looking at the little trainer.

"It's so little," Tina said. "I thought ours was little. THIS is little."

Charlie said, "This was the most popular trainer around. Still probably is. Burns half the gas of yours. Weighs half as much. Goes two-thirds as fast. More responsive."

"You know this plane?" I asked.

"Yep," Charlie said. "I finished the annual on 'er last month. Engine's got a hundred and eighty hours on a complete overhaul. She's used, for sure, but like I said, it's a good buy. And good resale."

"Fifteen thousand's a good price," I said. Call the guy. Tell 'im to get with Brad. We'll make it happen."

"Boy, you're a trusting soul," Charlie said.

"You've been good so far," I said. "How much do you get if you sell this thing?"

"Ten percent," Charlie admitted.

"Yeah, and if I'd approached the owner and talked him down fifteen hundred bucks, I'd still have to pay YOU a thousand to do the inspection. I'd rather just pay him fifteen and let him pay you."

"You wanna fly it?" Charlie asked.

"That'd be nice," I laughed. I turned to Tina. "Babe, you wanna wait here?"

"I'll sit in the truck while you're gone," she smiled.

She walked with us as we preflighted the little red and white plane. "Just about like ours, except littler," she said.

"Yep! Pretty much."

Forty minutes later Charlie and I were taxiing back to the tie-down and there was another car next to my pickup truck. A guy was standing there with his arms folded, talking to Tina.

"That's the owner," Charlie said. I called him while we were on the road.

He and Tina met us when the engine stopped. "Alan, this is Dexter Stevens. It's his plane. Dexter, this is my husband," I caught the extra smile with that admission, "Alan Addison."

"Hi, Dexter. Heard you just got all your tickets.

"Yessir," he said. "Looks like I'm in agricultural aviation now."

"Great!" I said.

"Meh, it's a living. I'm hoping for something in the airlines, but this'll put money in the bank until then. You wanna buy my little bird?"

"Yeah," I said. "Tina's gotta learn to fly…"

"And you've got a 182. She told me. This'll do fine. And when she's finished…"

"Just like you did," I said. "Can you get with our lawyer to do the transaction? Charlie said fifteen…"

"I'm not going below fifteen, Alan." Dexter looked serious.

"I realize that's a good price. I do my research. And Charlie says he just did the annual."

Dexter rubbed his chin. "I'll call the guy Monday. We got a deal!"

We shook hands. I handed him a business card. "Just in case," I said.

"Thanks," he answered.

So finally Tina and I got in the truck, headed back to the RV park. 

"You're nuts, you know," she giggled. "Two days ago you were a criminal in Tennessee, and now you're my husband and I'm married to a guy who just gave me an airplane."

Laughing at the absurdity of that statement, I pulled my cellphone out. "Here," I said. I think we need to share our nuptial news with my sister. Wanna give Elise a call?"

"You're gonna defend me, right?"

"Of course," I said. "I don't think it'll be too bad."

As I drove, I heard Tina. "Hi, Elise." Pause. "Yeah, he's drivin'. He asked me to call you and tell you the news." Pause. "Remember how we were gonna get married when I was eighteen?" Pause. "We didn't wait." Pause. "Oh, thank you! Yeah, here!" She passed me the phone.

"Hi, Elise," I said. "Well, lemme have it…"

"I ain't sayin' nothin', brother. You're a big boy now."

I spent a couple of minutes explaining why we'd moved things up. She was laughing. "So when do we get to meet her?"

"Well," I said, "that's another thing…" I told her about ONE plane. I didn't think her psyche could handle the idea of two.

"So ya'll could fly in on Friday or Saturday and leave Sunday and get back in time?"

"We could."

"Then you need to do that. I wanna see the girl that made you lose your mind…" at least she was laughing when she said it.

"We'll have to look at the weather, Sis," I said. "We'll call you back."

"Bye, Sis," Tina said, loud enough so Elise could hear.

"Bye, brother. Tell Tina…" Elise said.

I closed the phone and turned to Tina. "She wants us to come down next weekend."

"If the weather's good, let's do it. She sounds fun!" She tossed her head, bouncing that auburn hair. 

"She's okay. All the family I had after Mom and Dad passed away. Now I have you."

"And your daughter. OUR daughter."

"That's another thing, sweetie. She's usually with me at either Thanksgiving or Christmas. It wasn't a big deal last year. I was between projects. But this year… "

"This year it's us, and I can help, if she accepts me."

"That's a phone call I hate to make, dearest. Terri's not scary, but I hate dealing with the ex."

"It's not going to get easier, putting it off, babe," she said simply. "And NOTHING she can do is going to hurt US. We have each other."

"Yeah." My Tina. Getting ready to attack things head-on. "Okay. After dinner."

We stopped at a road-side diner for dinner, then finished our trip home. Entering the trailer, first order of business was showering. Forty minutes later we were on the sofa. She was snuggled beside me, smelling sweet.

She handed me my cellphone. "Don't you need to make a phone call, baby?"

"I hate to," I said. "There's a high chance of getting pissed off."

She smiled. "First, I've never seen you pissed off, even when you had a gun in your hand, and second, if she gets to you on the phone, **I** get to you HERE. Remember? Me and you…"

"Okay." I sighed and scrolled through the contacts on my cellphone. "Here goes…" I dialed.

I was pleasantly rewarded by the voice of my seven year old daughter, Terri. "Hi, baby," I said.

"Hi, Daddy. Are ya still in Tennessee?" she asked. Her voice was all 'squeaky little girl'.

"Uh-huh, baby."

I heard Carole's voice in the background. "Who is it, Terri?"

"It's Dad," Terri said.

"Lemme talk to him," Carole said.

"I miss ya, Daddy," Terri said. "Here's Mommy."

"Hello, Alan," Carole said.

"Hello, Carole," I said. "Terri sounds good."

"She IS good, Alan. We take good care of her. So you're still in Tennessee?" Her voice sounded a little 'off'.

"Yeah," I said. "Project won't be finished until late spring. I may hang around longer, June or so…"

"Are you going to be home for Christmas? So Terri can come stay? She misses you."

"We ought to be home for Christmas…" I said, wondering how alert she was.

She was alert. "We? Like you and Terri?"

"And Tina. My new wife." I paused to see how THAT would fly.

"Oh!" I could see her lips tighten in my mind's eye. "When did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago," I fibbed. Tina was sitting tight beside me, listening. She stroked my arm and smiled. I continued. "We were going to wait a while, but decided not to. Would've been inconvenient when Terri came over, us not being married." That was a little dig. Carole had started running around on me while we were still married, and ran off with her present husband and my daughter before the divorce was final. They actually got married the day after the divorce was signed by the judge.

"Anyway," I continued, "I'd like to introduce her to Terri."

"Supposed I don't WANT Terri talking to her," Carole snipped.

"Look," I said, "it's hard enough trying to be a dad to my daughter with her in California. Don't be like this. You have no reason to do this, Carole."

"You could sign off your parental rights, Alan," she said. "Jeff would adopt her…"

"Look, Carole. That's NOT going to happen. We've had this talk. Let me talk to Terri." I felt my face changing colors, but I was trying hard NOT to come unglued. It wasn't easy. I don't know why Carole thought that she needed to jerk me around, especially over Terri.

"Okay, Alan," she hissed. "Terri," she called, "come talk to your dad."

I heard the thumps of my daughter's approach. "Hi, Daddy! Again!"

"Hi, punkin, again! I got news for you, baby."

"What kinda news, Daddy?" she asked.

"I've gotten remarried, sweetie," I said, as Tina's ear listened in.

"You did, Daddy? D'you still love me?" She sounded almost scared.

"Of course, baby! You're my precious little girl. I will ALWAYS love you!" I wondered what she was getting from her mom and step-dad on this subject.

"I'm happy for you, Daddy. I miss you, though."

"I miss you too, baby," I said. It was an honest statement. This little brown-haired girl had permanent hold on a chunk of my heart. "All I get to do is talk to you. But if you want, you can come be with us at Christmas. I'll pay for you to fly back to Louisiana and we'll stay at our house."

"I'd love that. Is your new wife there with you?"

"Yes she is, baby. Do you want to talk to her?" I looked at my Tina and smiled.

"I would. What's her name?"

"Her name is Tina. Here she is." I handed the phone to Tina.

"Hi, Terri," Tina said.

"Hi, Miss Tina," Terri answered. I was listening in, my head against Tina's, sharing the speaker.

"Terri, you can call me just Tina, okay?" Tina said.

"Okay," Terri said. "You sound young. How old are you?"

Tina let the cat out of the bag. "I'm seventeen, sweetie. We can be like sisters, huh?"

Little girl squeal. "I'd LOVE that, Tina! Do you have to go to school?" Terri asked.

"Yes, I graduate this year, though. What grade are you in?"

"Second," Terri said. "School's neat. I can read good, too. I like reading an' stuff."

"That's good," Tina said. "Your dad said you were smart."

"I love my dad. I miss 'im so much."

"I love 'im, too, Terri. We'll have fun when we get together, okay?"

"Okay," Terri answered. "Uh… is it okay if I call you an' him more often? Dad calls me every few days, but I wanna talk to 'im more. An' YOU, now…"

"We'll do that, sweetie," Tina said. "Now that I've met you, huh?"

"Uh-huh," Terri said. "I'd really like that."

"Okay, then," Tina said. "You want to talk to your dad some more?"

"Yes, ma'am," Terri said.

Tina handed me the phone and I put it between our heads again.

"So now you've met Tina, huh, sweetie?" I said.

"Dad, she sounds nice. I'm happy for you an' her. I tol' 'er to call me more. I miss you, Daddy."

"I miss you too, sweetie," I said, feeling a bit of my heart being torn off. "We'll call you more often."

"Okay, Daddy," she said. "I guess I'll go now. But don't forget to call me. Lots!"

"Okay, princess," I said. "I love you."

"I love you too, Daddy." And the phone clicked.

Tina smiled. "You know, babe, I feel better now. All those times you talked to her and I just sat there, I didn't feel right."

"I know, baby. But what could I tell her to explain our situation? I didn't want to lie to Terri. She's already got a strike against her living with her mom and the sleazoid."

"We're past that now, baby," Tina said.

I thought we were free and clear, but my cellphone rang. I retrieved it and saw the display. The ex. Not good. I flipped it open. "Hello, Carole…" I said.

"She's SEVENTEEN? What're you doing, trolling playgrounds, Alan?!?!" I recognized the voice as it brought up unpleasant memories.

"Yes, she's seventeen, Carole. A high-school senior," I said. "And an honor student. And my wife. And Terri's step-mom. Or friend. Or big sister."

"So, like, her parents signed for you to marry her?" I could hear the sarcasm, as could my auburn-haired wife.

"Nope. She's emancipated. She signed for herself. 100% legal."

"Your business, Alan," she said tensely. "You seem to like 'em young." Carole was ten years younger than me. I thought it was part of our problem. 

"I LOVE Tina. She's amazing in so many ways. Come to think of it, ALL the ways I can imagine. Now is this gonna keep me from getting Terri at Christmas?"

"No. I guess not. Jeff an' I can go on vacation without the kid…"

The tone of that statement was incongruous when compared with her earlier 'sign over your parental rights' move. But that was the Carole that used to drive me to the edge of criminal behavior.

"You're gonna send us a ticket, right? I mean, so she can fly there?"

"Yeah, when the time comes," I said. "Anything else?"

"No." CLICK!

"Wonderful woman, Alan," Tina said. "Does she have some sort of mental issue? I mean, in ten minutes she went from 'sign over your kid' to them going on vacation 'without the kid'."

"You caught that, too, huh?"

"Strange," Tina said. She ran her hand over my head. "Uh, guy… We're home, and we got married. Today. So…" Her grin was enticing.

I kissed her. "Yes, I know." She took my hand and tugged in the direction of the bed.



Chapter Ten



Saturday morning. It was somewhat comforting to be home for the weekend after the week we'd had, even if 'home' was thirty-odd feet of travel trailer. "Uh-huh," she said. "But what a week to be tired from." Squeal! "WE'RE MARRIED!"

She rushed to me. At least I had time to open my arms. We were twisted together. "Yes, we are, little one." I kissed her.

"Alan, let's go somewhere ... Next weekend."

"And does my new bride have someplace in mind?"

"Uh-huh. I think we should visit your sister." And she smiled.

"So do we leave Friday after work or Saturday morning early?" I knew if she was proposing something, she already had her version of a plan.

"Saturday morning early," she said. "That way we can have a good night's sleep here, instead of getting to Louisiana at eleven and then..."

"Good idea, baby," I said. "Of course, the weather..."

"Of course, silly," she said. "There's always that. But ... Let's call Elise and make sure she's gonna be there."

"She's ALWAYS there, babe," I said. "Sitting in her house, bein' all domestic."

Pouty lips. "Alan, if I'm not the domestic goddess type..."

"Tina, so far in our relationship, have I found you lacking in anything? You can be as domestic as you feel like. I'll be as domestic as I feel like. And somehow, we'll manage."

"But..."

"But nothing, sweetness. We've been living together in the trailer for what, two months, and we've kept it clean, we've both cooked, done laundry. I think we do pretty good, you know..."

"When you put it like that, yes we do..." She kissed me. "You know I love you! I just want to be everything..."

I smiled. "Oh, you are, sweetie. You know that. Besides, you can cook bacon!"

She punched my shoulder. "Beast! We were having a MOMENT!"

"Life with you is a string of moments, little brown-haired girl," I said.

She then leaned her head against my chest. I nuzzled the top of her head. "Mmmmm, I love it when you hold me like this. I feel safe," she said softly.

"You should. You're my life."

"I'm sorry I'm a little weepy, Alan. I think it's that time ... you know."

"I know. I almost keep track, cutie. So, aside from that little detail, what do you want to do today?"

Giggle. "Since I won't actually START until tomorrow, how about we molest each other..."

"We can't do that ALL day..." I said.

Another giggle. "We could try, couldn't we?"

We tried. At six we finally got dressed and left the park for dinner. One of the restaurants within a half-hour's drive served a soup and salad combo. That's what we had. Returning to the park, we took a walk, a couple of laps around the place in the deepening darkness.

Back inside, I stripped my light jacket off. When I turned, she was kicking off her shoes.

"You know," she said, "that was just brisk enough to break a sweat. Now I need a shower."

"I was thinking the same thing, little brown-haired girl. You first?"

"Yeah, because by the time I finish drying my hair, you'll be done shaving, and we can relax on the sofa."

"So much for that 'all day' thing," I said.

"Oh, don't get smug, baby. I think we're good for another round before we go to sleep. After all, this is still our honeymoon." She hauled me in for a kiss.

I caught her face between my hands and kissed her again, lips, nose, forehead, and lips again. "You, dearest one, are some kind of outrageous dream..."

"Yeah, well, buster, I am now your little wifey, too, so treat me nice." She slid out of my grip and started stripping as I watched. Presented herself to me, statuesque, nude, her body a feast for my eyes, and then she stepped inside the little bathroom.

A few minutes later she was out, rubbing down with a fluffy towel, and I took my turn. Yeah, rubbing. And getting into the shower. Fifteen minutes later I was finished showering and was shaving. I saw her face in the mirror. She rested her chin against my bicep.

"Sofa?" she grinned, "or bed?"

"Surprise me," I said.

It was little surprise that when I stepped out of the little bathroom, the lights were out everywhere except the elevated bedroom. She was on her hands and knees, looking back over her shoulder at me. "Your last shot, Alan," she said. "I'm about to start." Giggle. "An' I want..."

When I climbed onto the bed behind her, I was hard. I took a moment to regard the shapely ass turned up to receive me. Couldn't resist. I bent over and kissed the rounded cheeks and she dropped her chest to the mattress presenting me with an even more advantageous angle. The engorged lips of her pussy opened slightly, showing delicious moisture that I couldn't resist. I fell on her with my lips and tongue and rolled her onto her side. Between the giggling and the fact that her left leg spread to give me complete access to my sweet goal told me that she liked this idea. She curled up, her hands on the back of my head.

"Ohgod!" Her giggle became a hiss. "YESSS!" It was just about that fast. Her juices flowed, the taste a little different than usual, and I lapped happily as she came down off a quick orgasm. Her hands left my head, and I moved up between those taut thighs. The head of my dick slid between moist lips, straight into nirvana.

"Ohgod ... Alannnnnn! Hard!" She hissed through her clinched teeth.

I could do 'hard' now because this was my third orgasm of the day and she bucked against me, urging me on. If this would've happened for the FIRST one, I doubt I could have held on for a few seconds. She fastened her mouth on one of my nipples and sucked. Then I felt teeth. And a tongue. And all that, in combination with the feelings that were happening as I plunged myself into her, that was all it took for me.

"Mmmmm! Nnngghhhhh! Baaaa-beeeeee!" I surged against her and tried to do a couple more strokes before I lost total control. I lost it. She lost it. Her arms pulled me on top of her, and I had the foresight and the tiny bit of control necessary to roll sideways, pulling her on top of me.

When I finally opened my eyes, there hers were, clear blue. "Perfect! Words fail me! I love you, Alan!"

"I love you, my Tina," I answered. I could feel my dying dick fall from her with a plop, and our combined juices started oozing over me.

"I felt that," she tittered. "You don't let THAT go to waste!" She had enough energy to turn around and start licking my genitalia clean. That gave me the treat of another go at that pink, happy pussy, and as I found to often be the case, in licking and sucking her clean, she shook through another orgasm.

We ended up snuggled into each other's arms for some wonderful minutes before she got up. When she came back she was wearing panties and carrying a warm washcloth.

"In case things start tonight. I don't want to deal with the mess," she said, wiping my face clean. The washcloth went back to the bathroom and she pulled the covers over her, climbing in beside me.

Sunday was a day dedicated mostly to domestic pursuits. Laundry had to be done. The place needed a good cleaning. We made a run to the grocery store.

Monday was back to work. I had my wedding band on, noted by several co-workers, including the boss, who nodded knowingly. Staff meeting. Report that last week's hurdle with the caved in ductbank was fixed. A few little pokes at potential problems, being all proactive. A few good-natured jabs about getting married, and one sotto voce question: "Uh, dude, she's not, you know..."

"Nope," I said. "We just wanted to do it sooner or later, and the Great State of Tennessee sort of urged 'sooner' on us..."

I got home to the smell of frying pork chops. "What is THIS?" I asked.

Tina giggled. "Oh, a bunch of things. First, since I'm havin' a period, I figure I better feed you good to keep your mind from wandering. Second, I just thought that I oughtta exercise the stuff Grandma taught me. Third, I love you and I wanted to do something from me to you..."

"All perfectly valid reasons, baby," I said. "And I appreciate it, but you know you don't have to." I stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders.

"Oh, and Wednesday is open house at school, so if you want to meet teachers and see the place, you get your chance." She flipped the pork chops.

"Sounds interesting."

"I oughtta put you in a cage and sell tickets, honey," she said. "I wore my wedding band to school today. I got questions ALL day. Half of 'em were 'Are you pregnant?' and the rest were 'Who?" and "Can we meet 'im?"

"Oh, boy," I said. "That ought to be interesting."

"We can get through it, don'tcha think?" She smiled. Uh, kiss the cook!"

I complied.

After dinner, we showered and were sitting on the sofa engaged in the eternal search for something worthwhile on TV. As was often the case, it was a nature documentary.

Commercial break. She flipped open her cellphone.

"Who're you calling?" I asked.

"Elise. Unless YOU called 'er."

"No, but I need to."

"Just a second," she said. She punched a couple of times, and held it to her ear. "Hi, Elise. It's me, your new sister in law." Pause. "No, he's still alive." Giggle. "Yeah, he's listening." Pause. Tina looked at me. "Your sister said she accepts ME. You're another story."

I could hear Elise's laugh from the phone. "Gimme the phone," I said.

Tina was smirking when she passed it to me. "Plotting against me with my own wife, ' I told Elise.

"Nah, just telling her that she's probably closer to normal than YOU are. What's up?"

"Me and my cutie're planning flying in on Saturday before lunch. Wanna pick us up at the airport?"

"Sure," she said. "Ya'll gonna stay at your place?"

"I guess," I said. "Tina needs to see it anyway."

"Okay. Lemme laugh with her a little bit."

I handed Tina back her phone. "She'd rather talk to you..."

They chatted for a few minutes before she hung up. "I like 'er!" Tina said.

Tuesday went without a hitch. As did Wednesday. I got home, finding Tina at the front office chatting with Mizz Lillian. I walked in.

"So you two DID tie the knot!" she laughed. "Mizz Tina tol' me about that. You know, I didn't know about that 'seventeen' thing, or I'da tol' you myself."

I sighed. "It caused us a bad day or two. But I like the solution just fine." I put my arm around Tina. She swung her hip against mine.

"Open house starts at six," she said. "You gonna change?"

"What!?!? This is my 'real live engineer uniform'."

"Shucks, Alan. You're several steps up from bib overalls. I think he's okay, Tina." Mizz Lillian said.

"No, she's right. I got a little mud on these pants. I'll try to look dapper. Dapper sounds good." I laughed.

"I'll pick you something," Tina sighed.

"You need to. You gotta train 'im early so it'll take..." Lillian said.

We left. Two quick showers, a couple of changes of clothes, and off we went.

"Your truck, babe! I want to impress 'em! A gray Honda ain't gonna do it! A big pickup truck with both doors the same color, that will!"

She sat tight against me, belted into the center slot of the bench seat.

I remembered the diorama from my own youth as I eyed the crowd at the high school: Parents, many uncomfortably out of their elements, kids, many of which tried to maintain a specific distance to convey aloofness.

"And that's mostly the GOOD families," Tina observed when I commented. "You gotta realize that the really messed up families aren't going to come to this."

"Interesting idea," I said. WE got out of the truck, and I noted that she slid out the driver's side door. I closed the door and clicked the remote lock. She took my hand.

"The way it's supposed to be," she said as we walked into the auditorium.

Did heads turn? More than a few. We found a pair of seats a couple rows back from the stage, listened to a greeting from the principal, a couple of numbers by the school band, and another couple by the chorus, and then we were turned loose upon the school.

We got to the aisle and got accosted by a short, plump blonde girl towing her parents.

"Mom! Dad! This is Tina!"

Tina said, "Alan, this is Susan. Susan, this is Alan."

"Hi, Susan," I said. "I've heard a lot about you!" I had. After first episode, Susan's name came up often in the 'what'd you do at school' conversations. As a friend.

Still, Susan looked a little sheepish. She turned to her mom and dad. "Tina's new this year. And this, uh ... Mister Alan, he's her husband."

Oh, boy ... Let's see how this was gonna fly. I was in the same general age range as Susan's parents, and here I was, introduced as the husband of one of their daughter's age group.

"Alan, I'm Mike. Mike Carter. This is my wife, Kathy!" His hand came out and I shook it.

"Happy to meet you, Mike! Mizz Kathy." I did my best grin.

Kathy finally regained composure and worked up a smile. "Pleased to meet you, too. And just Kathy, okay? Susan says that Tina has been very helpful in her calculus classes."

"Tina seems to have a grasp of calculus that I wish I'd had at her age," I said.

Mike said, "Well, look, ya'll. We need to go talk to teachers. I'm sure we'll see you around again!"

"I'm looking forward to it," I said. Tina smiled beside me.

There! Survived that FIRST collision. There were several others. Most of the adult expressions were in the range from confusion to bewilderment, but one was a little more into the 'disapproval' range. Tina saw it too, and tugged my sleeve, moving me up the hall towards a classroom.

First teacher. "Mister Timmerman, this is my husband, Alan." She smiled. "If you didn't catch a clue from the classroom, Mister Timmerman teaches us calculus."

I extended my hand to shake his. "I'm pleased to meet you. You have a tough job."

He smiled. "Please, Alan..." He looked at Tina. "What'd you say your last name is now? Addison?"

"yessir," Tina answered.

He continued, "we can keep this at 'mister', or I'm Russell."

"Okay, Russell," I said.

He smiled. "Tina told me she got married. It's rather a shock," he said, 'but from her ... she's a lot of surprise anyway."

"Tina? A surprise?" I laughed.

"She's more like an aide than a student, Alan. Very impressive."

"I'm proud of her," I admitted. She hadn't told me about the 'aide' part.

"I wish the others made my job as easy. Sometimes we get a little loose with screening for advanced placement classes."

"I can imagine," I said.

"You're an engineer, Tina says?"

"Yep. Just here for the new plastics plant. Ought to make the end of the school year, though, so she can graduate with you."

"Great!" Russell said. "I hate to run, but..." Another couple and a lanky boy were waiting.

Physics teacher. Wayne Graham. A generation older than me. "Son, I'm glad to meet you. Tina says you're an engineer?"

"Yessir," I said.

"I retired from an engineering company. Decided I'd get all 'kumbayah' and help the future generations. D'you KNOW that I was a licensed professional civil engineer, designed bridges all over the South, and I had to go to college to be a TEACHER?" He shook his head.

"I've heard that," I said. "I thought I'd kick back off the road and teach a semester or two, and I ran into the same hurdle. So, look, if you want a field trip to my job, let me know." I pulled out a business card. "Here! I'm serious."

"Oh, you know, that might be a thought. My kids're pretty good. They oughtta get something out of it."

We also survived social studies and English and computer lab.

We were easing towards the door when I spotted a couple of guys in suits. One was the principal. All I knew was his last name. Brady. The other was a more familiar face. Dan Jenkins from the school board. He'd been the guy who we had to deal with in putting Tina in school. When Tina was Tina and Alan was Alan, not Alan 'n' Tina, married couple.

Inwardly I was cringing again. Outwardly, hell, I'd lived through combat. I could get through this too.

"Dan Jenkins! Good to see you again!" I shoved my hand out. If somebody was going to be an asshole, it wasn't starting with me.

"Alan Addison! And according to Mister Stewart here, it's Mizz Tina Addison now!" He was smiling, but it was a rather wry smile. "Mister Brady said that Tina was already on his radar screen before she showed up married."

I turned to Mister Brady. "Alan Addison," I said.

"We share first names, Alan," he said. We shook hands. "Miss Tina's showing herself to be quite a student. I wish we'd had her for her whole high school career."

"She speaks highly of your school," I said.

Dan said "Mister Graham says she's got a student pilot license. You guys own a plane?"

"Yeah, for about a week now. An old Cessna 182. And tomorrow afternoon we're adding a 152 to the stable so she'll have something to train in. When's the last time you flew, Dan?"

"Too damn long ago, Alan."

I pulled another business card.

"No," I still have yours at the office..."

"Call me if you get the itch. We're gone this weekend, though, but..."

"I just might do that," he said.

"Ain't the same as a chopper, though. None of the parts move faster'n the rest..."

He laughed. "An itch is an itch."

As we were walking to the parking lot, I heard, "Hey, uh, Alan!" I turned to see Mike and Kathy and Susan.

"Hey!" I answered.

"Ya'll got time for a cup of coffee and a donut? The diner's right up the road." He was smiling. Kathy was mostly smiling.

I looked at Tina. Raised an eyebrow, questioning.

"Sure," she said.

"Sounds like a winner, " I said.

We pulled into a parking spot at the diner immediately after they did. "NIIICE truck," he said.

We went inside and got a table. Started small talk. My work. His work was an equipment rental business that had taken a decided uptick with the construction business from my project. Hers was an accounting business. There was some slightly awkward conversation about school, since it was their daughter and my WIFE.

Kathy said, "We thought it was difficult enough raising a high school daughter. I mean, she invited friends over. We went to dinner and a movie..."

"Mommmm!" Susan whined.

"Oh, baby," Kathy said to her daughter, "we've had this conversation and we're over it."

"I heard about it. At least Tina's side," I admitted. "I was trying to let her be a high school girl."

"I understand she had an altercation with a young man." Kathy wasn't smiling.

Mike was grinning. "Tina seems to be able to take care of herself, Susan says."

"Mike!" Kathy said to him. To us, "But yes, Tina seems to take care of herself."

"Look," I said. "I know it's ... we're an unusual couple..."

Kathy said, "In this day and age, yes, but you're aware of it. At least you're married. Oh, I didn't mean it like that. 'At least'. That sounds BAD. I meant it good. Really."

"Thank you," Tina said. "We belong together."

Mike looked at his wife. Kathy continued. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to come off as judgmental. Our daughter talks about your Tina a lot. Says she wishes she did school as easily."

Tina took a shot. "Susan, you KNOW you're no slouch at any of that stuff. You almost have straight A's in calculus, and you do in all your other subjects.

Mike shook his head. "I'm just glad she got that from her momma. I did good in basketball and track and made C's."

Kathy softened and relaxed, patting her husband's arm. "He used to be quite impressive." She winked.

"Whaaaaat?!?!? I'm STILL impressive!"

"Daaa-aaad!" Susan whined.

We finished our snack and split ways.

"See ya in school tomorrow, Tina," Susan said.

"Glad to meet you folks," I said, mostly meaning it. Tina and I walked hand in hand to the truck.

Inside, I leaned back and closed my eyes for a second.

"What was THAT?" Tina asked.

"That was people trying to figure out exactly how to deal with us," I said. "Susan admires you. That's good, her mom thinks. But here YOU are, in a relationship that obviously involves sex..."

"But we're MARRIED," Tina blurted.

"But you're the same age as her daughter, baby. And she's trying to keep her daughter from getting into a relationship she's not ready for..."

"A relationship WHO'S not ready for? Susan? Or her mom?" Tina was always interesting to converse with. She had a lot of insight.

"Actually, punkin," I said, "a bit of both, I think."

"You know, Susan and I HAVE talked about that. Sex and love and relationships. I think I pretty much told her that love better come first, or people were going to get hurt. She''s not stupid, but she's unsure about herself. I told her that there were plenty of guys who'd be glad to let her prove herself as a woman, if you know what I mean."

"Kind harsh," I said.

"I wanted her to know how serious that stuff is, Alan. Some people seem to be able to handle it better'n others. I don't think Susan is one of those who can. I told her it was just perfectly fine to tell a boy NO."

"Like you told Jeffy?"

"And then some," she said. "And do you really think you can do a tour for my physics class?"

"I've already talked to Carl about it."

We drove home, her head on my shoulder.

"So," she asked, "success?"

"Success?" I asked.

"Yeah. Tonight."

"Success. I learned that my Tina's made a bigger impression at school than she told me. 'Aide' indeed..."

"'S not that big a deal. I finish my work and I help those who're struggling. That's all." Giggle. "I tutor algebra in study hall. Two guys are still on the football team because I helped 'em pass some tests. Girls who have the football team on their side don't get bullied."

"I did the same thing, babe," I said. "Same results. I'm proud of you."

We walked into the trailer, brushed our teeth, and went to bed. "Leave the light on," she whispered.

"Okay." That was a sign that SOMEBODY wanted to play. She was on her period. After kissing me, she said, "I wish to reward you for YOUR good behavior." And she slid down in the bed.

Yes, I felt rewarded.

I took off a couple of hours early from work and went to Brad's law office.

"Another plane, Alan?" he laughed.

"Man owes his wife a wedding present..."

He smiled widely. "I was trying to ask without being nosey, buddy. Wife? How'd you pull that off?"

I explained about friends and Louisiana judges and uncles. "She should be showing up here any minute," I said. "And I need to get you to help me out with a will."

"I'm gonna have to think about that one, Alan. Your home of record is Louisiana, and that's a whole different planet as far as wills are concerned. You might want to talk to that judge."

"I'll do that. Thanks for the advice." I smiled.

"You can buy dinner next time we get together, in lieu of a bill," he laughed.

His receptionist ushered Tina into the office.

"Hi, Mister Brad, ' she chirped.

"Hi, Missus Addison," he countered. "You ready to put your signature on your wedding gift?"

She giggled. And signed.

Brad handed me the keys. "It's yours. Mister Stevens said he'd rather not be there when you flew it off. It don't suit a grown man to cry in public like that, he said."

"I can understand that," I said. "Tomorrow Tina's gonna drive me over there and I'm gonna fly it to Charlie's field."

"Sounds like a good deal. Say, there's a concert weekend after next in Nashville if you two want to meet us..."

"It's a deal!" Tina answered for both of us.

Back on the road, Tina was thinking. She told me, "I'm thinking!"

"Ooooo-kayyyy," I said. "That's usually good..."

"Just USUALLY?!?" she punched my arm.

"Owwwww! Domestic violence!" I whined.

"Just wait till I get done with this period, I'll SHOW you violence," she laughed. "No, listen!"

"Listening," I said.

"Ass!" she continued, "Tomorrow, how about we get somebody else to drive us to the airport to get my new plane, then meet us at Charlie's airport? That way I can fly with you."

"I could get one of the guys from work," I mused.

"Or I could get Susan..."

"Tell 'er we'll bring 'er home and take her and her folks out for dinner."

"That'll work!" Tina smiled.

Of course, the next day's trip took place in Tina's little Honda instead of my big truck.

When we pulled up at the flight line, our new little plane was tied down. Tina was beside herself with glee and it rubbed off on Susan.

"I've never HEARD of somebody getting an AIRPLANE for a gift," Susan said. "I don't even KNOW anybody who owns ONE. And ya'll got TWO!" Yes, she spoke in capitals. Actually, on the trip over, I listened to her talk to Tina and me, and she sounded intelligent, if a bit flighty.

"Susan," I asked, "are you SURE you know where' you're goin?"

"Oh, yes, Mister Alan. 'Sides, you put it on your GPS, right?"

"Right. But sometimes things like GPS fail."

"I know where I'm going. I'll watch ya'll take off, then I'll leave." She smiled. And ya'll need to take me flyin', too, you know..."

"It's part of the deal, Susan," Tina said.

"Pre-flight it, Tina," I said. And I watched.

Susan was still kind of incredulous. "She really knows what she's doin'?"

"It's not rocket science, Susan," I said. "She's making sure everything is in the right place and still tied on. You'd hate to take off with something broken."

"Yeah, really," Susan said.

"It's good, Alan," Tina said. "See ya in a little bit, Susan." And darned if Tina didn't climb into the pilot's seat. And stuck her tongue at me.

It was a short hop for us at a hundred miles an hour. We had the plane tied down and locked when Tina's grey Honda pulled up. And true to the agreement, I took her to dinner with me and Tina. Susan's parents met us at the restaurant.

?

Chapter Eleven



"Mom!  Dad!  They've got TWO airplanes!" Susan squealed.

I shook hands with Mike.  "It's not that big a deal.  Really.  The big one's four seats, and less than an RV, and the little one's two seats and less than a new bass boat.  Or a good used pickup truck."

"Still, it sounds impressive," Mike said.

We sat around the table and ordered fried seafood and talked while we were waiting on its arrival.  Kathy dove right in.  "Susan said you RESCUED Tina at gunpoint?!?"

"It's not nearly as heroic as you make it sound," I said.  Tina and I recounted part of the story.  "She ended up with no place to go, and I offered her a place to stay until she got sorted out."

"I was stuck.  No relatives.  Evacuating ahead of a hurricane.  And Alan offered.  The deputy sheriff talked to me.  Told me that if Alan treated me wrong, to call 'im.  Alan…"

Kathy looked at me.  "Just out of the clear blue, you offered?"

"Yeah," I said.  "If it would've been a boy her age, I would've offered.  I was just trying to help somebody who needed helping."

"Just sounds kind of…  you know…"

"Oh, believe me, I DO know… Last thing I wanted was to take advantage of her.   If you think it looks strange, you oughtta see it from my side…"  I looked at Mike.  "What would YOU do?"

Mike smiled.  "I like to think I'm that honorable."

"You weren't when you were eighteen," Kathy said.

"Uh.. Mommmmm!" Susan squealed.

"I'm sorry, Alan.  Nina.  It's just, you know…" Kathy admitted.

"I know," I said.  "The age thing…"

"Just numbers, Mizz Kathy," Tina said.  "I've seen some absolutely HORRIBLE relationships in my life, and the people involved were the 'proper' age for each other."

"He bought her an airplane, Mom.  She's in high school, an' she's at the top of her class, an' she's learning to fly.  Obviously we need to see that he gets some pointers on exploitation." Susan folded her arms.

I was thinking 'Way to go, Susan!"

Mike chuckled.  "Yeah, I'd say he's missing that whole 'exploitation' thing."

"Okay…  okay…, ya'll made your point.  I am just wrong…" Kathy said.

"No, Kathy,' I said.  "You're just cautious, and that's not a bad thing."

"Thank you for your generosity, Alan," Kathy said, "but I'm afraid my motives weren't as pure as one would hope."

""But you're over it," Mike said.  "Besides, here's fried catfish.  That's sure to bring on benevolent thoughts."

"Tell me again why I married you?"  She laughed.

Susan rolled her eyes. 

"I think it's cute," Tina said.

Dinner became a lot more relaxed.  We talked about college choices for Susan and Tina and my work and Mike's and Kathy's.

"And they're flying to Louisiana this weekend," Susan said.  

Tina smiled.  "I get to meet my sister-in-law for the first time, face to face."

I told Kathy,  "If you think YOU had reservations, you oughtta hear what my sister told me…"

That got a giggle from Tina.

"My sister is woefully conventional," I said.

Mike snickered and got punched in the bicep.

"Lacking in imagination…"

Kathy eyed Mike.  "Don't!"

He snickered anyway.  Got punched again.  "So you're flying down there in your plane?"

"Yep!" Tina grinned.  "We'll leave at seven and get there before noon.  And fly back on Sunday."

"Heck of a way to travel," he said.

"Sounds FUN!" Susan said.  "They're gonna take me flying…"

"Is it safe?"  Kathy asked.

"Mooo-ommm!" Susan whined.

"Safer than the drive to the airport, Kathy. Really."

"Safer than Cousin Robby's four-wheeler," Susan said.

Mike said, "My nephew flipped four-wheeler horsing around.  Broken arm.  Caved in face."

"Horsing around?"

"Yeah," Mike said.  "You know the saying?  'Hold mah beer an' watch this!'?  It was like that…"

"There's a lot of truth in that joke," I said.  "Sometimes I look back an' wonder how I made it this far…"

"Him too," Kathy laughed.  "You're looking at Mister Dirt Bike…  into the door of a pickup truck." Giggle.

"Wasn't too bad.  Twenty-eight stitches!  That scar right here."  He pointed to his forehead.

We finished our meal pleasantly and parted ways with Tina driving us home since we were in her car.

"That was interesting," she opined.

"'Interesting' is a good word for it.  I thought Kathy was getting wound up." 

"Me too," she said.  "But she's not a MEAN person. I think she just wanted to understand…"

"Maybe that's it," I said.

The week went well.  Mid-week, Tina went to the airport and came back giggling, showing her logbook with her first hour of instruction toward her private license.  Milestone!  Studying for her written exam became something we interspersed between her schoolwork.

Friday night we got an invite from the Carters, Susan's parents, for dinner.  Kathy told Nina, "We figured you'd rather not cook the night before your trip."

We accepted and had a very pleasant meal with friends.

Saturday morning we were up early and on our way to the airport.  Our wheels left the ground at five minutes to seven.  With Tina in the pilot's seat.  And me with my arms crossed.  "Just tell me when I need to take over," I said into the headset microphone.  I saw her turn to me, smiling.

"Just don't let me get in trouble," she said.

At eleven fifteen we were on the ground in Louisiana and tying down when I saw Elise's car pull up.

"Damn!, Brother!  The pictures don't do HER justice!  Hi, Tina!"  and a hug.

Tina was grinning.  She bobbed her head sideways near Elise.  "Honey," she said to me, "I don't see where they cut the horns off!  You said she used to have horns!"

"See, darlin'," she said.  "You lived with 'im too long already.  You might be ruint! "

"OH, that's okay, Elise!  I'm ONLY your brother.  I don't mind being ignored."

"Oh, I already KNOW you.  I'm tryin' to see what you did to Tina!"  Elise laughed.

I finished tying down the plane.  We got in the car.  Oddly, I was in the back seat with the two of them giggling in the front.  "I personally do not mind being ignored by my lovely wife and my only sister," I said.

Half an hour later, Elise pulled into MY driveway.

"This is OUR house?" Tina squealed.  "It's nice!"

"Smells," I said.  "When we come down for Christmas, I'll call Elise and get her to air the thing out."

"I'd do that for Tina.  If it was you, I'd turn a possum loose in it."

"Ni-ice!"  I laughed. "Let's see if our car starts."  The car in the garage was the diametric opposite of my big diesel pick-up truck.  This was a sub-compact about the same as Tina's little Honda.  A trickle charger should've kept the battery charged.  I retrieved the keys from the key rack by the door from the kitchen into the garage and gave them to Tina.

"Lemme get the charger disconnected, baby," I told her.  "Then you can start it."  It cranked right up.

Elise said, "We'll see ya'll at the house around four or five, okay?"

"Sounds good," I said.

"See ya in a bit, Elise," Tina added.

Elise left.  I showed Tina the house.  We opened windows to let the stale air out.  I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Tina was sitting on the bed with a lascivious grin on her face.

"Don't'cha think we oughta…"  It had been entirely too long since there was real love in that house.  Tina brought it back.

Afterward, we were lying nude together, drifting in the afterglow.

"Baby, why aren't you living here?  This is a nice place.  You have family…" She rolled onto her side and propped up on an elbow.

"I wanted to get out of town for a while after my wife left.  I wasn't handling things real well.  And there's good money out there.  Besides, if I wasn't running the roads, I would have missed the love of my life…"

"Is there a university close by?"  she asked.

"Close enough.  Why?"

"You know why," she smiled.  "Next fall, I need to start college.  Can you handle it?  From here?"

"There are options," I said.  "I could keep being a road warrior, but only go after short-term jobs, like a week or two at a time, and spend a lot of time here."

"I don't like that one, baby," she said softly.  "I'm not tryin' to be greedy or clingy, but I want to be with you."

"That's why that's a last resort," I said.  "It's always an option, something to fall back on, if we needed to.  But another option is to get onboard with one of the local engineering offices.  If I get on staff, the work is steady, the pay is only okay, but out of town travel is low.  They do contract engineers, too, the pay is better, but it's dependent on their workload, and there are no benefits.  Or I could go to work in one of the local industries.  That's a little more exciting than the engineering companies."

"But you do have options here?" she asked, her blue eyes soft.

"Or someplace else.  There are a lot of people I know, companies that would give me a job."

"Look, baby," she said, "I want us to be together.  I want to go to college, and I want to get my own engineering degree, and I want us to be together after that, too.  I mean it.  Forever."

"Forever," I repeated, and I kissed her.  That precipitated another soft, tantalizing interlude, not as long, but very satisfying.

"It's almost four," she said. "We have someplace to be."

"If you insist."

Giggle.  "You promised Elise.  Don't get her an excuse to abuse you,"  she laughed.

?

Chapter Twelve



Tina was dressing in jeans, just right fit, and a long-sleeved dark blue cotton shirt that set her hair and face aglow.  We pulled into Elise's driveway, got out, and knocked on the door.   Brother-in-law Joe met us at the door.

"Damn, Alan,  she's a cutie.  Hi, Tina, I'm Joe.  Elise's husband.  Ya'll come in!"

We walked into the house, smelling the wonderful aromas of the foods I'd been raised on.  "What's she doin, a pork roast?" I asked.

"Smells like my grandma's," Tina said.

Joe laughed.  "Smells like everybody's grandma's.  She's gotten good over the years."

Elise stuck her head around the corner.  "I heard that!" she said.

"Deb!" Joe yelled.  "Come out here!  Your Uncle Alan an' yer new aunt are here!"  He turned to us.  "Deb's here.  Haley's at a friend's, but she'll be here in a bit.  We tol' 'er to be home for supper."

Sixteen year old Deb popped around the corner, smiling.  Her smile broadened when she saw me and Tina.  Tina was two inches taller, and Deb's hair was a curious arrangement of brunette and blonde streaks, and they could've been schoolmates.

She bounced up to me and hugged me, kissing me on the cheek, then she turned to Tina.  "Hi!   I'm Deb.  Deborah, actually, but Deb works better."  And she hugged Tina.  "Mom says you're graduating this year?"

"Uh-huh," Tina said.  "You?"

"I'm a sophomore,' she sighed.  "Haley's a senior."

"Let's go sit," Joe said.

"I'm gonna see if Elise needs help," Tina said.

I looked at her and winked.

Tina and Deb went to the kitchen.  Joe looked at me.  "Wow, bud!" he said.  "Elise told me, but I didn't quite believe it.  Seventeen?"

"Uh-huh," I said.  "Damnedest thing I ever saw.  Out of the clear blue."  I told him how we met.

The women came back into the living room and Tina sat beside me.  "I heard you talking about me, baby," she said.

"I was telling him about the day we met," I said.

She smiled.  "Wasn't one of my better days, Mister Joe," she said.

"Please don't call me mister," Joe said.

"Okay, Joe, then," she said.  "But Mom an' her boyfriend and I were evacuating from the hurricane, and we stopped for breakfast…"  She told the story.  "And after the deputies showed up, I didn't have any place to go.  And Alan offered…"

"In that trailer of his?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, but you know, he didn't… he was a perfect gentleman.  I was a high school dropout 'cuz of my mom, and he got me back in high school, and got legal responsibility for me so he could do it, and treated me like, well, he never tried anything.  Like he told the deputy, he was just my friend."

Joe and Elise looked at me.  "I was.  Seriously."

"Yes.  He was.  Got me into school.  Bought me a car so I didn't have to ride the bus, and so I could run errands after school while he was still at work.  You know, so we'd have an easier time.  And I thought I was just gonna be a normal school girl.  But the first time I went out, I got shocked back to reality. And I asked myself what a REALLY wanted." She looked at me.  "And I decided it was Alan.  So here we are."

I tugged her against me.  "And we're gonna stay this way."

Deb looked at her mom, eyebrow raised.

Elise snorted, "You go right ahead, little girl.  You bring home a guy with a six-figure job, we'll talk about it."

The front door opened and my oldest niece walked in.  "Hi, Uncle Alan," she said, hugging me. "An' you gotta be Tina!"

"I am.  And you're Haley, right?"

Haley smiled. She was Tina's height, carrying twenty more pounds, her hair shoulder-length, the dark brown that ran in our family.  "Mom says you're a senior?"

"Yep.  You too, huh?" Tina smiled.

"Oh, god, yes!  Finally!" Haley smiled.

"Sit down!  Tell me about your plans!" Tina replied.

"Plans?  I guess, college, huh Dad?"  Haley looked at Joe.

Joe shrugged.  "Baby, we've been through this.  Do you have any idea what you want to do?"

"Oh, I dunno," Haley said.  "I think I'm going in for mass communications.  My friend Kayla's doin' that…"

"And you're thinking it's a good idea to spend five figures on 'I'm thinkin' 'cuz this friend of yours is 'doin' that'?"  

I surmised that this conversation had been run through before.  Haley decided to enlist a new ally:  Tina.  She turned to Tina, her brown eyes showing hope.  "So, Tina, do you, like, have a solid plan?"

 Tina perked up.  "Yes, I do.  I'm hoping for scholarships, but it doesn't matter.  In the fall I'm starting on electrical engineering.  Four years."  She turned and smiled at me. "Like Alan."

Joe smirked.  "That's a plan.  And she actually KNOWS somebody that's making a living as an engineer.  Do you know anyone with a 'mass communications' degree that's not living in their mom's house?  I mean, really?"

"But it's a college degree, Dad," she whined.  "What'd'ya think, Uncle Alan?"

"I think it's between you an' your daddy," I waffled.  "But I do see his side.  Don't you think it would be nice to go after something that makes you employable?"

"But isn't important to LEARN?  Isn't that what college is about?  Learning?"

"Learning is certainly honorable," I said, "and I've never stopped learning.  But I had my eye on paying for my own future when I got out of high school.  The wrong college degree just means you're going to have a better chance at being under-employed than somebody with a high school diploma. So you're working for ten bucks an hour after you paid a hundred thousand for the privilege."

She was a bit somber-looking.  "uh…"

"No, sweetie, don't be sad.  You're at the door to your future, like a few million other eighteen-year-olds are."  I drew a breath.  "I went right into college and then the army.  Your dad went into the navy, then got out and fought a job AND school, and raising a family.  It wasn't so easy.  He's probably tried to explain, but I know how you are.  I was eighteen once too, you know."

"Well, it's hard, Uncle Alan," she said.

"So think about it, baby.  And don't just talk to your friends, because most of them are as confused as you are.  And remember, a lot of people at the school are in the business of education, and you're getting out of their world into the REAL world."

Elise peered around the corner.  "Looks like a funeral in here.  I need help setting the table."

The girls jumped up.  Joe sat back.

"You didn't go easy on 'er," he said.

"Was I supposed to?" I asked.

"Oh, god, no!  She's been talking about it all year.  And I've been tryin' to tell 'er, but I'm just poor ol' dumb Dad, you know…  You're her successful uncle.  Maybe she'll listen."  He sighed.  "And do what the hell she wants."

Tina came into the room.  "Dinner's ready," she said.  "An' it looks GOOD!"

Joe looked into the dining room.  "Oh, sure," he picked, "Set the table for your BROTHER.  Me, I eat off a TV tray."

Elise caught that comment easily.  "Dear husband," she said, dripping sarcasm and humor, "I didn't do it for HIM, either.  I did it for Tina, just to show her that I am on a higher plane of existence that then two of you."

We approached the table and Elise handed Joe the carving tools.  "See," he said as he sliced up the roast.  "She even got meat without bones in it."

"I'm just showin' how successful you are, babe," Elise quipped.

The meal was great, the roast tasty, and dessert was home-made pies.  We managed to keep the conversation light and friendly.

After the meal, Joe and I got out of the way and let the dining room and kitchen be cleared out.  When the last door closed and the dishwasher started making washer sounds, the family ended up at the table playing Trivial Pursuit.

Elise laughed.  "Now, Tina, the only way we let HIM," pointing at me, "play is that he spots everybody two pieces."

I caught Tina's eyes as they flashed at me with a little twinkle that I instantly recognized.  "Let the games begin," I said.  I wasn't married to a dummy, seventeen or not.

A couple of hours later Tina answered the last question and won and I sat back with my arms crossed, smiling.

Elise said, "Get that grin off your face.  You look evil."

"I married 'er for her BRAINS, sis," I laughed.  

Tina giggled.  "Well, we get to pull that stunt ONCE, huh?"

Haley was propping her chin in her hand.  "How do you KNOW that stuff?"

"I read a lot.  Alan and I talk about everything under the sun.  D'you know I flew us here.  Yeah, he's…  I'm learnin' to fly."

"But what'd'ya do for FUN?"  Haley asked.

Tina smiled.  "I LIVE!  Life is fun.  Sometimes.  And when it's NOT fun, you just do your best, thinking of when it was good, and hoping that it'll be good again.  The day Alan rescued me; I thought it might've been my last day on earth.  It got better."

Haley hadn't heard the story, or at least much of it.  After all, it was about an uncle who was gone most of the time.  "So he rescued you?"

"Mom's boyfriend was getting ready to slap the crap out of me in a restaurant, and Alan stepped in.  Mister Jeff had my by the shirt and when Alan told him to stop, he dropped me and started to pull his pistol.  Alan was faster.  Then the sheriff department got there and arrested him an' Mom. And I didn't have a place to go."

"And so you married him?" Haley said.

"Oh, no, it's not like that at all.  He just gave me a place to stay, and it took me a while to figure out that he needed me and I needed him and here we are."

"Amazing," Haley said.  She looked at me.  "Mom always said Uncle Alan was good for some unusual things."

"I'm a 'thing'?" Tina giggled.

"No, that came out wrong," Haley backpedaled.  "He just does some curious stuff.  D'you know he has a CANNON in his garage?"

Tina looked at me.  "Uh, Alan, you never told me THAT!"

"Oh, it's NOT a cannon.  It's a bowling ball mortar.  Me and a buddy each made one on a project a couple of years ago.  It shoots a bowling ball into the air.  Not a big deal."

Joe laughed.  "Unless you're under the bowling ball when it comes down.  We had fun with it one afternoon.  And Haley's right.  Alan has always been different like that."

I patted my wife's hand.  "And you're a wonderful part of that."

"Awwww," Elise said.

We returned to the living room and talked until after ten, then it was time to go.  We left with plans to meet at a restaurant for a late breakfast.

In the car, Tina pulled as close to me as she could with the console between us.  "Well, husband, how'd we do?"

"Good," I said.  "You're a curiosity to the girls, though."

"I figured that.  I am at school, too, you know…  being married and all that."  She sighed.  "But they just sort of accept me, don't they?  Your family?"

"Our family," I corrected.  "And yes, I think they do, sweetie."

The bed at OUR house took another work out, as did the shower, and back in bed, we were in each other's arms, very happy.

Walking out to the car the next morning to go to breakfast, I waved to my neighbor, walked over for a quick chat, introduced Tina to him, and then we met the family at the restaurant.  During breakfast, we promised to be back down for Christmas.

They followed us home and I stowed the car back in the garage, made a pass through the place to make sure everything was in the configuration I desired for our extended absence.  We collected bags and everybody squeezed into Joe and Elise's big SUV.  They drove us to the airport.

Tina gave her two new nieces a tour of our plane while I did the pre-flight inspection, then she slid into the left seat.  She waved as we taxied to the runway, and after completing the pre-departure checklist, we lifted off for our return trip to Tennessee.

The next several weeks were a blur of her school, my work, her flight lessons.

Oh, yeah, you know how hard it is for a parent to watch his kid drive off on his own for the first time?  Add an order of magnitude one Saturday when I stood on the apron with Charlie as Tina taxied the little plane away for her first solo.

"You knew it had to happen, Alan," Charlie said.

"Yeah, but it's still scary."

"Come on.  Let's go get a cup of coffee.  She's gonna do a couple touch and goes and then she'll be back here.  And I'm gonna sign her off to go take her written, too.  She gets that, some practice, a little more dual instruction and she'll get her private license."

"Yeah, I know.  But still… my wife…"

"She's plenty good, Alan.  She says you let her fly all the time, and she translates what she does in the 182 to the 152."

"Yeah," I said.  "She pretty much pushed me out of the left seat when I told her she should learn."  I poured us each a cup of coffee.

In twenty minutes I watched her taxi up.  I was walking out when the engine stopped and she bounced out, ran into my arms, and gave me a wonderful hug and a kiss.

"Okay, enough of that, young pilot," Charlie said.  "Let's have the shirt-tail!"

Tina's grin was epic as she turned away from Charlie and pulled her shirt out of her jeans.  I held her shirt-tail as Charlie made the cut, the tradition for a first solo.  The three of us pinned the bit of cloth on the bulletin board in the little office.

Charlie smiled.  "It's been a long time since I did one of those," he said.  

"Alan, you wanna let her go have an hour to herself?  I usually do that after a first solo.  Let 'em go play by themselves."

I looked at Tina.  She was grinning and her eyes were atwinkle.  "Don't get lost," I said.

Off she went.  Preflight, crank up, and she was gone, a little white and red speck receding into the distance.  Charlie and I piddled around an old aircraft he had in the back of his hangar, open for inspection.

In an hour we heard her on the radio over the speaker, notifying the non-existent traffic that she was returning to the field.  This time we fueled the little plane up and tied it down on the flight line.  Before we left, he laid out the plans for the next lesson.

We got that part behind us, and a week later she went to a testing center to take her written test.  As expected, she passed, so now it was just a matter of time.

The rest of life was good, too. We had friends we could visit, and we stayed on the road or in the air on weekends, looking for new things, concerts, festivals, whatever.  With four seats available on the Cessna 182, we took Brad and Sandra on one trip with us, and on another we brought Susan.

That was interesting.  Don't get me wrong, Susan's a cutie, even if her conversation does come off as little addled at times.  She's very smart, in the same classes as Tina, but sometimes I wonder about her thought patterns.

We flew into a general aviation airport outside St. Louis, picked up a rental car, and checked into a nice hotel where our room had two queen beds.

"Uh, is this gonna be a problem?" Susan asked.

"What kind of problem?" I asked.

"Us all in the same room.  I mean, like, you two are MARRIED!"

Tina fielded that one.  "Come on, Susan!  I spent the night in the same room with Alan the first day we met, and he and I managed to be very proper and chaste."

"Did you ever stay in a hotel with your mom and dad, Susan?" I asked.

"Of course," she said.  "But that's Mom and Dad.  Ewwwww!"

"We'll be okay," Tina said.

"Do I need to go to the lobby for a while, or like, the GYM?"

"WHY?"  I asked.

Susan smirked, "So…  You KNOW…"

"Uh, Tina and I can probably make it a day or two without ravishing each other.  Relax, little girl…"

We did enjoy our concert, and Mike and Kathy had a laugh when we related the events on Sunday evening when we brought her home.

Work rolled right along, too, pretty well, actually.  A worker from a specialty contractor made a mistake and caused THEM to eat the costs of a very expensive piece of cable that failed from incorrect test procedures.

One of the engineers from another discipline walked in one day and announced he was quitting for a lucrative job overseas.  I put my 'rotating equipment' hat on and picked up the slack until they brought in a new guy.

I got to exercise my patience AND my rudimentary German when a couple of engineers from the Fatherland showed up to commission some material-handling equipment.

And through all this, Tina and I were inseparable.  Except when I watched her fly off on one of her flying lessons, or for solo work.  She was on track for her private license in time for Christmas.

December came, bringing with it cold weather.  We kept up our walks around the park, but added a membership in a little gym in town.  After a couple of weeks we were settled in as regulars.  That meant that everybody knew us and placed us together.  The first couple of trips, though, well, leggy, athletic-looking, cute brunette, and she was new to the gym, and the best I can say is that more than one guy walked up to her with a winning grin on his face, spoke a few words to her, then looked in my direction with a sheepish grin.

Christmas was nearing, and life was pretty good, actually.  Regular phone calls with Elise kept her updated as to plans, and we called Terri twice a week, too.  She was anticipating Christmas with Daddy, and I think that she was developing an affinity for Tina, too.

We started watching the weather a week out from Tina's last day at school.  That was a Friday, and it coincided with the Friday that we shut the project down for the holidays.   As It drew closer, we saw that Saturday was going to be our departure day.

A call to the ex-wife confirmed the travel arrangements for Terri.  She'd come in late Saturday to the big airport forty miles from home.  The schedule was do-able.  Tight.  I made another phone call to Elise and lined her up as a backup to pick up Terri.  We had a plan.

On the last Friday, we were all packed and ready to go.  Dinner was a trip to a local restaurant, and we were back home before seven, the next day's clothes laid out, and we hit the shower in sequence.  When I finished shaving and exited the tiny bathroom, the lights were out in the trailer, except beside the bed.  And in the middle of it was Tina, the light turning her hair on the cusp of brown to red.  And she was smiling.  And completely naked.

I figured it made no sense to get dressed, then.

Giggle.  "Tomorrow night we'll have our daughter in the house, so we'll have to be more…  restrained. Tonight?  Not so much." 

She wiggled and I was in bed with her and she was pulling me down beside her.  We knew each other.  And we were already aroused. When my fingers found her slit, it was juicy, slick, her lips pink and turgid and I tore my mouth from hers to kiss my way down her body to a whole new dimension of taste, texture and smell.  When my tongue touched her clit, she threw her head back and moaned, her hands on the back of my head, encouraging me.

Like I needed encouragement.  She squealed through her first orgasm, recovered, and pushed me onto my back and I saw that auburn head in my lap, her mouth working pure magic on me, fingernails scraping lightly on the underside of my scrotum, her other hand gripping my shaft to keep me from plunging too deep into her mouth in my enthusiasm.

"Mmmmm," she said, pulling me out of her mouth.  "I love getting you like this!"  Her head bobbed back down and she bit me lightly, her teeth right behind my coronal ridge, tugging.  I didn't last long before her tongue was stripping the last vestiges of my orgasm from my dick.  She released me and climbed up my torso, lying atop me, smiling.

"Love me forever, Alan."  She kissed me lightly on the lips, and then harder, more insistent, her tongue in my mouth where mine caressed it.  She lifted her face.

"I will love you always, princess."  I ran my fingers through her short hair, relishing the soft texture, stirring up wisps of perfume, sweet in my nostrils.  I felt her small, firm titties pressing against my chest. My hands left her head, slid down her sleek form, and cupped the cheeks of her firm ass, pulling her against my hardening dick.

"I feel that, lover," she said.

I felt the soft hair of her pubic mound brush against my hardness as she raised up and shifted position, spreading her thighs, rising astraddle me.  Only the smallest of movements and I found myself as deep inside her as I could get and she was looking down at me with her blue eyes, biting her bottom lip, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.

"This is where we're supposed to be," she said.  "Mated."

My hands grasped her waist, pulling her down on me, my hips thrusting hard up into her, listening to her breathing and tiny whimpering sounds, gradually gaining in volume as she approached her orgasm, her hips delightfully mobile, eager.  I curled up and took her right nipple into my mouth, sucking like I wanted to merge her lifeforce with mine, and I came.  Hard. And as my second spurt went into her, accompanied by an upward thrust of my hips, she said, "Ohgodohgodohgod… Nnnnnghhhhh!  Alannnnn!"  and collapsed into my arms. I eased back onto the pillows, holding her.

A soft towel was positioned on the nightstand beside the bed.  I reached over and retrieved it.  She identified the motion.

"No, love," she said.  "I'm still hungry for you."  She turned around as I watched, skin flawless, well, except for a mole on her left asscheek that was absolutely NO distraction whatsoever.  Her mouth went down over the entire length of my soft dick, sucking, lick, cleaning up the vestiges of our mutual rapture.  

I found a perfect pussy in my face, a mix of milky and clear fluids oozing from between still puffy lips, and I savored every drop of me and her as I licked and sucked, taking care to apply only the lightest of flicks to her clit, no matter how much I wanted to attack it.  No, she was good for a third orgasm, but she needed to be brought to it gently.  When she came again, she was whimpering against the base of my soft dick.

Finally I helped her into her nightshirt and donned my own, and we went to sleep clinging together.

The alarm went off as the merest hint of dawn tinged the sky. Yesterday's frontal passage left us with clearing skies and we grabbed a fast food breakfast sandwich on the way to the airport.  She was sitting in the pilot seat of the 182, the engine warming up, as I backed her little car into the hangar and then pulled the doors closed.  I climbed into the right seat, buckled myself in and put on the headset.

"You know," I said, Just because you have your private license doesn't mean you get the left seat ALL the time."

"You started this," she giggled.  Ten minutes later she eased back on the yoke and our wheels cleared the runway, Louisiana bound.

An hour out from home, I called Elise up on my cellphone and told her when we were going to arrive.  As Tina rolled into the landing pattern, I saw Elise's SUV pulling onto the apron to wait for us.  As I loaded the last of our cargo of luggage and gifts into the back the car, Tina and Elise were already in the front seats.

Climbing into the seat behind them, I said, "I should've known THIS wouldn't be any different.  She didn't let me touch the controls the whole way down here."

Elise laughed.  "You've met your match, huh?"

Tina smiled.  "We ARE a match, huh, babe?"

At the house, we ran the load inside, promised Elise that we'd see her the next day, and then checked the groceries in the fridge.  Elise had us stocked.  Air freshener overcame the staleness of a closed up house, and we took advantage of a couple of hours to lay together on the bed and hug.  A bit before three we got in our car to go get Terri.

We were half an hour early so we walked the terminal and then sat to watch people coming and going.  The arrival of Terri's flight was announced.  We eased toward the arrival gate, waiting.  And we saw her, hand in hand with a middle-aged flight attendant, all four feet something of seven year old Terri, blonde hair in a ponytail, blue eyes searching.

And she saw us.  "Daddeeeee!" she squealed.  

The flight attendant asked for my ID.  "Procedure," she said.  "She's too cute to let loose to some random dude at the airport."

"Thank you for helping her," I said, fishing out a driver's license.  "C'mere, sweetie!"

And I got to hold my daughter for the first time in months.  She plastered herself on my hip and looked.  "Are you Tina?"

Tina smiled.  "Yes.  And Assume you're Terri, right?"

"Umm-hmmm," Terri said.  "You're pretty!"

"Thank you.  So are you, sweetie." Tina said.

Terri slid down off my hip and grabbed my hand on one side and Tina's on the other.  "We have to go get my stuff," she said.  

We navigated to the baggage claims and got two bags full of whatever it takes for seven year old girls to live for two weeks.  With me loaded down with the two bags, that left Terri and Tina holding hands as we exited to walk to the car.

Terri's head swung.  "Miss Tina, you don't mind holdin' my hand, do you?"

"Of course not, sweetie.  And we've been over this before.  You don't need to call me 'Miss Tina'.  Just 'Tina', okay."

"But it doesn't sound right.  You're my step-mom."  Her blue eyes twinkled.  "I call my step-dad 'mister'."

"Yes, but your step-dad's older than I am.  I'm closer to 'big sister', okay?"

Terri smiled. "Okay.  Dad, you're okay with that, aren't you?"

"I'm happy if you two are happy."  I was, too. They were walking ahead of me, seven year old Terri in jeans and a sweatshirt, her blonde ponytail swinging, the tip just below her collar, and my Tina, almost two feet taller, also in jeans and a sweatshirt, reaching into her pocket to retrieve her keyfob for the car.

I loaded the bags into the cargo compartment of the SUV, got in the driver's side, and Tina started to get in the back seat.

"No, Tina.  I get the back seat.  You sit next to Dad.  That's where wives are s'posed ta go."

"You sure, sweetie," Tina asked.  "I don't mind."

"Nuh-uh!  This is fine, really!"  And Terri got in the back seat.

"Okay," I said.  "Now where do we want to eat dinner?"

Tina was twisted sideways in her seat.  She looked at Terri.  "Terri, how about you pick something?"

Terri grinned.  "Pizza?  That place that has the buffet?"

And the game room.  Inwardly I groaned.  Nothing like buffet pizza.  But I realized that sometimes it wasn't about me.  "That'll work," I said, knowing full well that two slices of pizza and Terri was going to tap me for a five dollar bill to buy tokens for the kid games.

Tina giggled.  "I used to drag Grandma to one of those places, you know."

"No doubt," I opined.

Okay, it wasn't THAT bad.  Well, the pizza was, but the sight of Tina and Terri playing games together was pretty much a fair swap for the bad pizza.  We left and drove home.

Terri walked in, head swiveling.  "Looks the same, Daddy," she said.

"We don't hardly live here, sweetie," I said.  "We're just here for the holidays."

"Place needs a Christmas tree, Daddy." She turned to Tina.  "Don't you think so, Tina?"

Tina grinned.  "Can we, Alan? Grandma had a Christmas tree.  I didn't have one last year with Mom."

Okay.  Two bright, expectant faces.  How could I refuse?  "Okay," I said.  "tomorrow we go get the first Christmas tree this place has seen since your mom moved out.  And all three of us will decorate it."

Squeal!  Twice.  Terri's hug was totally little girl, unrestrained.  Tina wrapped the two of us together in hers.  "Thank you, Alan.  Families do that."

"They do, Daddy," Terri affirmed.

I made hot chocolate while Tina and Terri pulled out a Monopoly game.

"Alan, she wants to play Monopoly."  Tina was a little skeptical.

"Tina!" and the pouty lip came out.  Terri said, "I can count better than anybody in my class.  And I can read better, too."

"Okay, baby," Tina conceded.  She looked at me as I brought a tray in, bearing mugs of hot steaming chocolate.  "We'll try it out."

Tina and I were pleasantly surprised.  Terri could count quite well, and with us helping her with the math, we had a lot of fun playing, but at nine-thirty we called the game a draw and put it up.  I let Tina and Terri commandeer the big bathroom and I made do with the smaller one when I finished shaving, I saw the bathroom door open and Tina was behind Terri, brushing and drying her blonde hair.  Terri was in pink flannel pajamas and Tina was wearing her favorite nightshirt.  And panties.  I saw an uncharacteristic panty line.  Oh, well…  we had little Terri and decorum was advised.

It was bedtime.  Terri's room was a shrine to little girls.  Every time she came to stay with me, we added more of the trappings of little girls everywhere, and there were stuffed animals and a few dolls and cute pictures and now there was a little blonde girl-child sitting on the bed with her new step-mom/big sister and I looked in.

Tina spoke up.  "Alan, I think we can make room in our bed for her tonight.  She misses her daddy."

Blue, pleading eyes.  "Not EVERY night, Daddy.  I know you an' Tina are married an' you s'posed ta sleep together.  But just SOMETIMES?"

"Okay.  Just sometimes."

Tina rested her chin on Terri's head, holding the little girl wrapped in her arms.  She mouthed, 'thank you' silently to me.

Tina and I could've been perfectly happy in a twin bed.  In a normal night we entwined and snuggled and spooned and caressed, sleeping together.  Adding Terri to the mix, though, the king-sized bed was barely enough geography.  She was an active little thing when awake, and didn't slow down much when sleeping.  I remember seeing her bed in the morning, the covers a knot.  Our night of 'sleep' was punctuated with elbows and knees and legs and when I got up in the morning, she and Tina filled in the gap I'd left between them.

I made a pot of coffee and started biscuits and gravy and when things were stabilized in the kitchen, I went back to the bedroom and woke the two females I loved most on the planet.  Two hugs.  Two kisses, one a little longer and deeper.

We sat at the table eating.

"I miss your cooking, Daddy," she said.  "Mostly I just have cereal at home.  This is sooo good!"

Tina was grinning.  "I like it when we cook, too, baby.  In that little trailer where we've been living, it's kinda hard sometimes."

After breakfast came coffee for Tina and me, and Terri got coffee milk, a little coffee and a lot of milk and some sugar.  After that, we put the house in order and I was shoved out the door by two young girls in search of a Christmas tree.  We visited a department store first, and loaded up on lights and ornaments, and then we found the perfect tree, and amid giggles and smiles, the smell of fresh conifer filled our house, making it a home.

While they were busy decorating, I put together the quintessential Cajun get-together dish, a pot of gumbo, and called Joe and Elise to come over for a visit.

?

Chapter Thirteen



This was one of those completely informal occasions, done the way my family had done it as far back as I could remember.  There was a stack of bowls by the stove, the big cast iron pot of gumbo was barely simmering, and there was the requisite pot of rice next to it.  People served themselves and went to sit at the dining room table.

That was how evenings with family were supposed to be, food, laughter, conversation.

Elise started with Terri.  "Baby, you've grown so much since last time we saw you."

"Thank you, Aunt Elise," she said.

"Did you an' Tina decorate that tree?"

"Uh-huh.  Yes, ma'am.  I love it.  Don't you?"  she smiled.

"It's very pretty.  Tina, I know that's you an' Terri.  Your husband has NO sense of style.  Not when it comes to that stuff, anyway."

"My skills lie elsewhere.  I have two beautiful females in my life to help me with my aesthetic shortcomings."

"And it's a good thing," Elise laughed.  "I've watched what he wears.  Scary!"

"Did he tell you what we got married in?" Tina giggled?

"No,  what?" Elise asked.

"Work clothes.  He had a knit shirt with a pocket, cargo pants like these, THESE exact shoes."

"Don't leave out the rest of the story, baby," I said.  "You were wearing that blue and gold rugby shirt that I like, and jeans, and, uh, these shoes."

She slid over and kissed my cheek.  "But it still counts, doesn't it?"

"Yes it does, princess.  And Tennessee won't put me in jail, either."

"Yeah, about that," Joe asked.

"I honestly didn't know.  I mean, me and Tina, we were going to get married when she could sign for herself, and…"

Tina raised her hand.  "Mister Joe, you need to realize that we'd already exchanged marriage vows.  It was just a formality."

"Uh, yeah, so we were rockin' along, and then a friend of ours who's a lawyer broke the news.  He thought she was my wife.  We acted like that when we met him and his wife at a concert.  So that was that mad flight from Tennessee, so we could get the judge who'd given me guardianship could fix the paperwork.  And he married us."

"I never got the whole story," Joe said.  "I wasn't prying…"

"Oh, no, Mister Joe," she said.  "It's okay.  We're kinda like a fairy tale, happy ending an' all."  She stroked Terri's sleek blonde tresses.  "Complete with our own princess."

The next day was pretty, one of those clear, crisp winter days.  Terri and Tina were cooking breakfast.  Terri came running to me.  

"Daddy!  I want Tina to take me flyin'."

"Can I go with you?" I asked.

"Of course," she said.

"Okay, then if Tina wants to take you, we'll go."  I smiled and held my arms to receive my daughter.  She was a giggly feather in them.

"Thanks, Daddy!"  she called over her shoulder, "Tina!  He said yes!"

That pretty much defined part of our day.  After breakfast, we dressed for the chilly air and drove out to the airport.  I went into the office and arranged payment for fuel while Tina taxied the plane to the pump.

"She's licensed?" the manager asked.

"Yep!  Seventeen. Been flying for what, like three or four months.  Just got her private a week and a half ago."  I patted Terri.  This is my daughter, Terri.  That's Tina out there.  We've been married for a month now.  We're taking Terri flying.  First time for her in this little plane."

"Have fun, Miss Terri," he said.

We went out to the plane and I handed the fuel nozzle up to Tina as she stepped on a little ladder to reach the wing tanks.  Refueled, we pushed the plane clear of the pumps.  I buckled Terri in the rear seat and showed her how the intercom headphones worked so she could carry on a conversation.  Tina climbed in the left seat.  I got in the right.

"Am I ever going to get to fly the left seat again?" I asked, laughing.  "I created a monster."

She turned her head the headphones doing something whimsically alluring to her hair.  "Uh-huh.  And I'm YOUR monster!"  She taxied us to the end of the runway, completed the checklist, and we were off.

"Are you okay, Terri?" Tina asked.  I looked back at Terri.  Her nose was stuck against the window, looking at the ground below.

"It's like, magical, Tina!"

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," I said.

I directed Tina's route, carrying us over the fields of south Louisiana, over wintering flocks of geese numbering in the tens of thousands, over marshlands tawny in their winter phase, down to the coastline and then looped back, heading home. After landing, we pulled up to the pumps and topped the tanks off.  Terri sat patiently in her seat.

When we pulled up on the flightline, I exited and unbuckled Terri, lifting her out of the door to the ground.  Her grin was a mile wide.  She ran around to the other side of the plane where Tina was tying down the left wing.

"Dad had his arms folded the WHOLE time!  You REALLY did fly!" Terri squealed.

"I told you I could, didn't I, baby?" Tina returned.  "You dad did that for me!"

"Dad's pretty cool, huh?" Terri said.

"Yeah, he really is," said Tina.  "We're luck y to have 'im."

"An' he's lucky to have us, huh?" Terri said.  "That's what makes us a real family."

We got back in the car and headed to the house.  "What about lunch," I said.

"Grilled cheese sandwiches," Tina suggested.

"Uh-huh," confirmed Terri.  "You must've had Dad's grilled cheese sandwiches."

"Uh-huh,  we live in his little trailer in Tennessee.  And I've eaten his grilled cheese.  And maybe we can make some soup?"

"Chicken noodle?" Terri squeaked.  It didn't take much to impress a seven year old, and grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of canned chicken noodle soup was more than enough.

The remainder of the Christmas vacation followed in much the same vein.  Tina made my two weeks with Terri a much bigger pleasure than previous sessions where it was me and a seven year old, and two days after Christmas I actually regretted seeing her depart on the flight back to her mother.  It was a bit of nasty winter weather, and that was enough to delay me and Tina from flying back to Tennessee.

"No sense in pressing our luck, baby," I'd told her.  "My instrument rating is old and I don't want to have to go that way."

"I can't imagine it myself," she said.  "And Mister Charlie says that this isn't the plane to go busting fronts with."

"Charlie's a retired air force transport pilot.  He knows," I said.  "So I guess we'll just have to spend a night or two down here with the house to ourselves, big shower an' all."

"Oh, I fear I am sooo abused," she tittered.

My cellphone rang.  Elise.  "Hi, Elise," I said.

"Well, did you get 'er on the plane?" Elise asked.

"Yes, and I was crying an' she was crying and Tina was crying and hell, the flight attendant was sniffling too," I said.  "She really fits in with me and Tina."

"I was worried," Elise said.  "Daddy's little girl and all that.  So when are ya'll comin' over?  I got plenty for dinner."

I turned to Tina.  "Elise has food, baby."

"Imagine that," Tina laughed.  "Let's go."

"We'll be there in a little while," I said.

"See ya then," Elise said.  Click.

"Elise was worried about you an' Daddy's Little Girl," I said.

"Me too, honestly.  But it was actually a lot of fun.  She's a good kid.  A little exuberant at times, but a good kid."

"I'm glad it went so well," I said.

"Yeah.  Maybe we can do something special with 'er this summer."

"Let's think about that some," I said.

She held my hand as we drove back, ending up in Elise's driveway.  We walked in.  I sniffed the air.  I looked at Elise.  "Sausage, steak and gravy?" I asked.

"Just like Momma used to make," she said.  "Joe'll be here in a few minutes and we'll eat." I was sitting on the sofa with Tina on my left and niece Haley was on my right and other niece Deb was between her and the arm of the sofa.

Haley was the gutsy one.  "So Tina, my uncle's a little OLD, don't'cha think?"

Elise's face dropped and she started to say something, but Tina jumped right in.  "Oh, yeah… Old.  Smart. Stable. Funny." She paused.  "An' if you're thinkin' about…" she left the word unsaid.  "Don't.  gosh…  Any better and I'd DIE!"

Elise said, "HALEY!  I can't believe you…"

"It's okay, Elise," Tina said.  "If I was in her shoes, I'd have questions too."  She turned to Haley.  "We have a perfectly normal life, Haley, except that we live in that little trailer.  He goes to work.  I go to school.  When we get home, we either cook or go out to eat.  On weekends we have places to go and friends to go with.  Just like everybody else.  Except I'm seventeen and he's a little older."

"Mom," haley said, "She makes it sound normal."

"It IS normal," Tina said.  "We're partners.  Friends.  Like a marriage is supposed to be.  It's about love and friendship."  Tina drew a breath.  "Everybody wants to think about the sex, but it's not about sex.  Sex is easy to find.  Try looking for love and friendship and appreciation between two people.  We're lucky!"

Elise said, "I should be taping this.  Joe needs to hear it for damned sure!"

"Oh, yeah, Mom," Deb interjected.  "Like you an' Dad have a horrible marriage…"

"Your dad is a beast, I tell you," Elise laughed.  And that's where Joe walked in.  He knocked, actually, and Elise let him in, and when he entered the living room, we all looked at him and laughed.

"What?!?!  Do I have toilet paper stuck to my butt?"  he asked.

"No, dad," Deb said.  "Mom was just tellin' us how horrible it was being married to you."

"Was not, baby," Elise said.  "Your elder daughter was nosing into Alan an' Tina's private business and Tina gave 'er both barrels.  You should've heard it.  And when I SAID you should've heard it, YOUR daughters gave me crap about how horrible you treat us."  

Haley giggled. "Dad, you KNOW how we are about you an' Mom.  I was curious about Tina an' Uncle Alan.  They look different, is all."

It was my turn.  "Believe me, ya'll, Tina and I talked about this before we came down here.  I know some folks can't handle it."

"But we CAN handle it, Uncle Alan.  I was just curious…" Haley said.

Joe looked at her, "So you just popped up and asked in general conversation?  You got your momma's sense of tact."

Elise huffed.

"I would've asked her in private, but I never got a chance," Haley said.  "Tina, I wasn't tryin' to be nosey.  I'm sorry if it came out like that."

"I didn't think it was tooo nosey, Haley.  It was a good question, really.  Mister Joe, she wanted to know how things work between Alan an' me."

Joe looked at his daughter.  "I thought your mom gave you that whole 'Tab A – Slot B' speech."

"Daaaa-aadddd!" Haley whined, "That's not what I was wondering about.  I mean, like music.  You an' Mom are stuck in the Eighties…"

Tina jumped in.  "Oh, Haley, that's the easy part for us.  We're hopelessly lost two or three centuries ago."

Deb caught the inference.  "You mean he's still on that classical music thing?"

"And I discovered it on Day One, before we even started thinking about an 'us'.  What are the chances?" Tina smiled.

"Pretty slim," Deb admitted.  "Although I do like some of it.  Just not a steady diet."

"Bottom line is, Haley, we KNOW each other.  We don't have to escape or take a break or whatever."

"And that's a good thing in a thirty-something foot trailer," I injected.

"Yeah," Tina said.  "Like that!"  And she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, but like I said before," Joe said, "before you get any ideas, Alan's got a job an' Tina's got a plan that doesn't involve magic like winnin' the lottery."

"Are we gonna talk or are we going to eat the meal that's sittin' on the stove?" Elise asked.

"Put me down as voting for eating," I said.

The food was good.  Elise managed to replicate the dish we'd grown up on, and I said so.  The conversation continued.

"I'm sorry about my nosey daughters," Elise said.

"Oh, don't think anything of it.  It's not the first time I've been asked.  I go to school, you know, and everybody there knows I'm married now."

"Yeah, how's that working," Deb asked.

Tina finished chewing a forkfull.   "The best ones were like this.  But you don't have any idea how many times I've been asked if I was pregnant.  And how many times I just smiled and walked off, because I knew somebody was wanting lurid details or a chance to go off on me about my morality."

I'd heard all this before.  Sometimes it was related to me with giggles and laughter, a few times sadly.

"One of the teachers wanted to know if I needed to go to a shelter for troubled girls and victims of domestic violence."  Tina smiled.  "It was so hard for me not to laugh when she said that.  But I just told her that I was very happy and wasn't being beaten or exploited…" she looked at me.

"Much," I said, getting giggles.

"See," Tina said.  "Exploited!"

"I got the same thing," I said, "except some of 'em weren't very subtle at all."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Joe said.  "Guys on a construction site?  Not exactly noted for sensitivity."

"Uh-huh.  And sometimes all I do is smile…  But I have HER picture on my desk.  And Terri.  And the few of them that have actually MET Tina, they stopped asking questions."  I smiled at her.  "She doesn't fit that whole 'teen bimbo' mold very well."

Tina giggled.  "An' I offered to bleach my hair and wear a push-up bra an' a mini-skirt to the Christmas party…"

"You're bad," Haley said, giggling.

"Nope," I said.  "I think she's pretty much perfect as she is."




