Deja Vu AscendancyChapter 54 Honeymoon Breakfast
- 4 years ago
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Saturday, May 7, 2005 (Continued)
At daybreak, I felt much more relaxed and secure. Life was good, provided there were several million dollars in my LA account! I was quite eager to go to an ATM to check that. I'd had more or less enough sleep, so I went outside and offered to get the guys some coffee or whatever. They happily accepted more coffee, as their flasks were drained. I figured fresh coffee was the least I could give them for helping us survive the night. Alarm-Girl didn't need anything as she'd had plenty of chances to snack when I relieved her twice-hourly.
I made myself a small breakfast. I killed a little time starting on my schoolwork, waiting for someone to wake up. Carol and Donna were first, so I said to Carol, "Do you want to come for a drive to get some nice food from the bakery?"
Carol was eager, and Donna too.
"Sorry Donna, but I'll just take Carol this time."
"But I want to come too."
I just looked at her silently, until she got the message that I truly did just want to take Carol.
"Oh, okay. I'll wait here."
That'd been my plan. I was learning not to argue with Donna. Carol had to do her morning rituals and change clothes. Macho guys like me don't need to change clothes, especially if they're afraid that their drawers and closet contain nothing but their little sister's clothes. I'd get changed when Dana left.
I was very eager to get some salmon bagels, and there was something else I wanted to do... , what was it? Oh yeah, check to see whether I was a multi-millionaire or not.
A little explanation about the "salmon bagels" mention: We have a bakery - "Happy Foods" - fairly near where we live. It's run by a Korean family that came to Corvallis via several years in Australia, and they sell an unusual range of food. They make most of it themselves, and some of it can be a little expensive, but Mom likes going there because they have English styles of cakes (it's a pastiche of a patisserie, with particularly pleasing provender). I was eager to get the salmon bagels, as I like salmon very much. It's too expensive for the Andersons normally, but hopefully not today!
Thinking of the bakery, I offered, "Dana, do you want anything from Happy Foods? Croissants, bagels, or whatever?"
"No thanks. I'll go home for breakfast when your parents are up."
Outside I asked the security guards, "Guys, do you want anything from the bakery? I'm going to Happy Foods. Croissants, bagels, or whatever?"
"If you're going there, some of their hot meat pies would be great."
#1:
"How many do you want?"
"Would three or four be okay?"
"I'm guessing you mean three or four each, right? I somehow can't see big guys like you sharing three pies between you."
"Yeah, each. That's not too many?"
"I'm feeling appreciative for surviving the night, so eight hot meat pies it is."
#2:
Walking to the car, I quietly told Carol, "Careful what you say in the car."
"Yeah. We've been careful for days." One of the indications of her carefulness was Carol not attaching herself to my arm as usual. That had to be hard on her, considering how much she must've been worried about and missing me.
In the car, I started driving toward the bank. I was initially reluctant to tell Carol where we were going, in case the baddies heard it on a bug and used the knowledge of where we were going to set up an ambush, but I realized I was being silly. Paranoia is a pain in the ass (because it sneaks up from behind when you're not looking).
I told Carol, "I want to go via the bank to check my account balance. I haven't had a chance to do that yet. I probably did have a chance when I was driving to town last night, but I didn't think about it then. Now I'm having trouble thinking of anything else, haha."
"It's good to have you back. You've had an amazing time."
"Yes and no. Watching Prof play was amazing. That lasted about ten minutes in total. The rest of the time was pretty boring." I'd given Carol a wink halfway through, to let her know that my comment about Prof's play was deliberately deceptive.
"Did you really spend a day fishing?"
"Yeah. I enjoyed it. It was very pleasant bobbing on the boat, reading a book, leaning back and relaxing. I caught a few fish too, although I let them go afterward. It was a very enjoyable day." For the first time I was hoping that my car was bugged.
-- I added, "I feel sorry for you guys though. I almost hope the bad guys release Prof's real name, because I'd love to sue them for all the harassment and to make sure the public knew what sore losers they are." Making that the second time I wished my car was bugged.
Carol said, "I hope everything gets back to normal soon."
I knew EXACTLY what she meant! "Yeah, me too. Big time." I used NP to gently stroke her cheek. Not enough to show up on any camera, but enough for Carol to feel it. "Hopefully Monday. I'll hurry Prof up about that."
When we got to the bank, Carol got out of the car at the same time as I did. I was a little worried about her seeing what I was about to do, in case there was $0 in the account, but it would have been too important a secret to keep from her. I'd also taken note that Julia had kept Carol fully in the loop, which was obviously the right thing to do with a wife, even if it increased her worry at times - that logic obviously not applying to mothers.
With a rapidly increasing heartbeat, I inserted the card and pressed the necessary buttons. The screen cleared, paused for a couple of eternities, then displayed...
"Account balance... $8,000,000.00"
"Wow!" | "{Screech}." I think mine was the "Wow!", but I wouldn't swear to it.
I had no idea why the value was $8 million, rather than $11.1, $11.2 or half of either of those values if Prof had split the amount evenly across the two LA accounts. But neither did I care, $8 million was good enough for me!
Carol hugged me fiercely. "I'm SO proud of you!"
"I'm rather proud of myself too! I've actually got $8 million in an account of mine; that's amazing. Wow."
We stood there, trying to let it sink in. I said, "I feel too shaky; you'd better drive."
"Haha. Boy oh boy, it's huge. That's going to change our lives. Mom and Dad are going to be blown away. It's going to take a lot of pressure off them. Mom will be able to visit her parents whenever she wants, and all sorts of other things."
"Yeah, and Dad will be able to take time off work, so he can relax by tinkering with our lawnmower at home all day, haha. Let's get breakfast, my treat." I grabbed the ATM card, not wanting to leave that behind!
"Haha. I wish I could kiss you."
"Not as much as I wish I could kiss you. I want to celebrate, and the best I can do is buy you a piece of cake."
"We can't stand around here. Can you drive?"
"Sure, nerves aren't a problem."
We went to the VERY well named "Happy Foods", and behaved rather silly, buying anything and everything we liked the look of, plus eight hot meat pies.
We returned triumphant and giggling from our successful pillaging of the bakery. On the way inside I stopped to look through the many bags to find which one contained the meat pies, found it, and gave it to the guys. They were happy, although not NEARLY as happy as Carol and I were.
Mom and Dad were up, and were bemused by the quantity of food we'd bought, and by our silly giggles and obvious happiness.
Carol explained, "We're celebrating. This is 'Teenagers Go Wild' Anderson style: we bought one of every single type of everything they had in the place! Haha."
"And a LOT more of our favorites. Salmon bagel anyone? I got ALL of them, haha."
"We're going to need plates. A LOT of plates! Haha."
Soon Mom and Dad were laughing along too, Donna's mouth being full. I cleared my schoolwork off the table, and we laid out all the food, laughing at our silliness in buying so much of it.
Dana yielded to the wide array of temptation, and had some chocolate cake. I had as many salmon bagels as I could manage, with appropriate constraint because there were quite a few cakes I had my eyes on.
Dad asked me, "I take it that you think everything bad is over?"
"I think so. Probably we should check with Prof first, but from my point of view life seems pretty good about now."
"I might call him then, and if he's fine with it, end the security?"
"Go for it, Dad."
Dad called the Williamses, and it was fine with Prof. Then the women got hold of the phones, and started talking real estate. Mom's side of the conversation went as follows:
"Pardon? Did I just hear you correctly?"
"Okay, I'll be over in an hour. I'll bring a great deal of food with me. Mark and Carol went to the bakery and bought pretty much everything they had."
"No, seriously. There's enough food here to feed everyone in your family."
"Sure. See you soon."
Mom hung up then told us, "The Williamses are coming over. They were about to have breakfast anyway. Vanessa and Julia have been looking at real estate online, and they say there's a lot more choice in our price bracket than when we looked three weeks ago. I don't even know what our price bracket is. What is it, Mark?"
"Umm, I'm not sure myself. I could guess, but I could easily leave something out of my calculation. You'd better wait a few minutes to ask Vanessa when they arrive."
"Okay. Vanessa says there are three or four good looking properties listed. She wants to see them today. She's not just window-shopping this time, but talking about making an honest-to-God offer soon! This is really happening, isn't it?"
Carol giggled. "It certainly is. There are going to be some changes around here. Well, not around here. Around wherever it is we end up living, haha."
Dana said, "I'll head home now then. Is that all right?"
"That's great, thanks Dana," agreed Dad. "It sounds like we won't need you again. Thanks very much for doing such a good job." There was more of that sort of stuff, Dad paid her, and she left.
I said, "I'll have a quick shower. Or maybe a slow, thorough shower would be better, because it's been a while since I had one."
After my shower, I checked the drawers in my current room, and they had my clothes in them. I changed into some clean clothes and was back in the kitchen working on another pastry when two cars of Williamses arrived. They'd brought a couple of bottles of champagne and some glasses, and we all had a very happy celebratory drink. Small, in the teenagers' cases, but that was fine with me as I didn't like the stuff much anyway, although I SURE did like the reason for drinking it!
The Williamses descended on the food, and it was soon clear that salmon bagels were a firm favorite for most of their family too. We actually ran out of them, although not food in general.
When the Williamses had eaten enough, Vanessa announced, "We've been discussing the housing situation at home. Robert and Andrew like the idea of their staying in our existing house, and moving Ashley and Sophia in, no doubt to do the cooking and cleaning. They've already tossed a coin for who gets the master bedroom. Andrew won that, so Robert gets the best study. You can tell they can't wait to push their poor old parents out into the cold as quickly as possible."
Prof said, "We've been waiting for them to leave home for years, but now they're staying and we're leaving. They out-waited us, the cunning devils."
Vanessa said, "What The Boys are really doing is house-sitting while we see how having our two families in the same house works out. Their staying in our current house reduces the number of bedrooms we need in the new place down to a much more common number, giving us a great deal more choice."
#2:
#3:
Prof started talking, so I quietly asked Vanessa about the bug danger. She quietly told me back, "It doesn't matter for this conversation. Good that you're being cautious though."
Prof was saying, "Recent events have highlighted how important security can be. If we'd all been in one house, security and communication would have been much easier." That'd been one of Mom's major annoyances during my absence, Vanessa wouldn't let Mom get into phone conversations with her about what was happening. "For that reason alone, I'd like us to relocate quickly. Another reason for speed is that some of the younger members of our group may not be in Corvallis for much more than a year. Living insecurely for many months while we search for the perfect house doesn't make sense given that timeframe. Our budget is higher than we previously thought and we need three fewer bedrooms - for The Boys and their study - which gives us more choice and makes it easier for us to find a suitable place quickly."
Mom jumped in, "What is our budget? All I know is that your trip was financially successful."
Prof said, "I can't give you an exact figure yet, there's also quite a lot of flexibility in the budget, and there's also the issue of the detached building for the youngsters. Some of the online properties had various outbuildings already, which could substantially reduce that cost. With those provisions noted, we could probably make offers in the $2 to $2.5 million dollar range. We could even..."
Mom made a sort of strangled groaning sound.
Vanessa said, "Would you like some more champagne, Felicity? Haha." What Mom most wanted was to sit down.
While she was doing both, Prof resumed, "I was about to say that we could even go above $3 million, but it'd absorb nearly all of our financial flexibility, so I'd rather not. If a $3 million property was perfect for us we'd probably go for it, but that's unlikely because of our unusual requirements. It's also unlikely because there are far fewer properties listed in the three millions, rather than the twos, so chances are we'll buy something in the two million dollar range and make the necessary alterations."
"That's more than ten times what this house is worth!" said my stunned mother. "Are we really going to buy a two million dollar house soon?"
"Yes, Felicity. Vanessa thinks you two can find somewhere that's suitable for us relatively quickly, and we should close on it as soon as possible. One of our criteria is to find a property that we can renovate either very quickly before we move in, or while we're in residence. If we can find a place like that, we could be living in it a couple of months from now."
Vanessa said, "I've got printouts of four properties which are suitable for further investigation in my satchel, just from fifteen minutes of browsing this morning. Plus realtors will have properties on their books that we couldn't find in our quick search. When we went looking three weeks ago, we had half the budget and we wanted three more bedrooms. Now we've got a great deal of choice. I'd be surprised if we can't find something suitable quickly. I wouldn't go so far as to say 'time is of the essence', but Prof and I would like our home security to be much better than it is now. Let me show you the printouts in my satchel."
Mom thought that was an excellent idea.
While the mothers were doing that, Prof started joking with Dad about all the extra lawnmower maintenance the much larger property would cause him.
I heard a woman's voice raised in anger from outside, and looked out in sudden fear and my usual paranoia. I relaxed very quickly, as it was only Mrs. Roberts remonstrating with one of our security guards. She's our most nosey neighbor, and no relation to Mr. Ivan Roberts, the lucky winner of $11.1 million from Binion's.
Dad said, "She comes over at least once a day. I'll go deal with her again."
Which left Prof free for me to talk with, starting with, "Prof, I hope we can get the place checked for bugs soon. It's a REAL pain living this way!"
"I agree. I intend to work on that after breakfast. When I get home I'll contact my PI for his advice on phone models and the right firm to use for sweeping our places."
"Thanks. Maybe less important now, but when I was talking to Mom last night she had trouble accepting your financial success. I had a mental note to ask you to transfer my parents' share into their account on Monday. There's no reason why not, is there? Not for such a small amount."
"How about I transfer a chunk into your Corvallis account on Monday morning, and you write out checks for the other disbursements. Holding her check should please your mother. Do you remember the shares?"
"I'm not sure. Things have changed somewhat."
Prof worked out what I was referring to (his betting $850,000 rather than the $750,000 we'd planned on). He said, "That changes nothing." Prof leaned in to whisper in my ear, which mostly meant I lowered my ear so he could reach it, "The Boys 150 each, Julia and Carol 300 each, your parents 1 mil' in total." Prof stood back, asking, "Okay?"
"They're the before tax values. So they pay their own taxes, right?"
"Yes, it has to be done that way. I'll transfer more than enough into your account, because I want to circulate some, but please don't write checks for more than the values I just told you, okay?"
"That raises the next question I was going to ask you: I don't have a checkbook. If I go to the bank at lunchtime and ask them for a checkbook, they'll give me one won't they?"
"They'll fall all over themselves. They'll also offer you all sorts of other products and services. Don't sign up for anything except a checkbook. Don't even let them waste your time talking about anything else. Most bank products are poor value, so just tell them to mail the brochures to your home. It might be educational for you to read them, but at your leisure. When you're at the bank, I'll get you to do a wire transfer for me too please. I'll open another account Monday morning and get that bank to text the details to Julia's phone. If you do that wire on Monday, we'll be able to get a couple of circles done by Friday, which will be enough."
#3:
#1:
#2:
I asked Prof, "I want to use a credit card next weekend. How do I go about getting one of those?"
"Ask the bank for one on Monday. Make sure you tell them you need it by the end of the week. Just get a basic card for now. They'll probably give you a form that you'll have to get your parents to sign as guarantors for your debts. That means they guarantee to cover your debts if you can't pay them. Isn't that amusing?"
"Yeah."
Dad had returned from dealing with Mrs. Roberts and wanted to talk with Prof about something. I could hear Mom in the living room, getting excited as she was looking through Vanessa's printouts. I was more than a little interested in what $2 to $2.5 million worth of house looked like, so I went to check.
Julia passed me several pages stapled together, saying, "This is the one I like the best."
A couple of seconds later I said, "Wow, this is GORGEOUS! And expensive - $2.9 million! How can a house have 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms? That seems wrong, somehow. And what's half a bathroom anyway? Wow, look at this picture..." I carried on like that for a while, proving that Mom wasn't the only Anderson who could get excited over expensive real estate.
Donna showed me her favorite. After glancing at the first picture I saw why - there was a horse corralled beside the house. A cheap property at only $1.95 million, but it was still Donna's favorite.
I commented, "I was hoping to find a house that didn't have big, ugly animals living next door."
Donna just laughed, knowing better than to fall for that.
Vanessa said, "Most of the properties we're looking at will be large enough for a horse. We want a house with a great deal of privacy, which usually means several acres of land."
After I'd looked through all four bundles, I said, "All of these are wonderful houses. They blow me away. I've never even visited a house as good as any of these, let alone lived in one."
"So you'd be happy if we bought any of these?" asked Vanessa.
"Absolutely. They're gorgeous."
"It's a good thing the women are in charge of the decision then. I'd be surprised if at least half of them aren't totally unsuitable for us. We need two master bedrooms, for example. One of the four listings says it has two master suites, but then it praises only one of them without mentioning the other, which raises questions. The other houses might be able to be renovated to create a second master bedroom - that'd be quite easy if they already have two bedrooms beside each other, with a bathroom on either end - but we can't tell that from this information. Then there's the question of where the semi-detached dwelling goes. You can't just plop another small house beside the main house. We need to see the layout of the property for that."
"Tell you what, I think I'll delegate mansion-buying to the two mothers. How does that sound?"
"Very sensible of you. We'll try to live up to your high expectations. We'll be leaving shortly as I'm eager to move on this."
Mom and I both said, "Me too," at the same time.
When Mom and Vanessa were about to go, Julia asked me if she could go with them.
I didn't know what was going to happen today. I had planned to stay around the house so Mom could be reassured by my presence, but that plan came unstuck when Mom couldn't wait to abandon me to go mansion-shopping. Dad wasn't the type to need reassurance, so I was at a loose end.
I said, "I need to research our anniversary celebration, which starts with some online browsing, so I should go to your place. I guess I could do that and then maybe catch up on my schoolwork and maybe OSU studying? I should call my soccer coach a bit later too, to find out what's happening with this afternoon's game."
"Excellent. Thanks. Bye." Julia was gone. I'd meant my suggestion only as the start of a conversation about what was going to happening today, but apparently Julia knew what she wanted to happen.
Carol said, "Can I study with you, please Mark? I'd like to be around you for a while. It was scary you being away and we didn't know where you were."
"Sure you can, sweetie." It'd be nice to have someone near me, and it'd be nice to cheer Carol up, but it'd also be DAMNED hard to behave myself in the presence of the potential bugs. I wanted very much to pull Carol onto my lap and do totally unbrotherly things with her.
Carol said, "You should invite Ava around too. She's been missing you. Maybe we could have lunch together."
Oops. I'd forgotten about Ava. "That's a very good idea. You've got her number in your phone, haven't you? Because my phone is history and I never bothered trying to remember it when I programmed it in."
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D?j? vu for a DrowChapter 1So far everything had gone to plan for Liavondra. Despite being unwilling to leave her free and unplanned life, she had agreed to her friend Alcala’s request for help. As a Drow she was not trusted by many, as her kin were notorious for their treacherous, violent ways. Lia was different though, and had striven to be different from all other Drow for centuries. Thus, when an infiltrator was needed for the Drow, she was the first and only choice. The mission had been s...
Friday, May 13, 2005 I've heard that many people won't fly on Friday the 13ths, so it's a pity I didn't marry Julia and Carol a month ago today, because it might have saved me an expensive shopping trip. That's assuming superstition would win over the lure of Rodeo Drive, which is highly doubtful. I did have some bad luck today, Mackenzie was waiting for me to arrive at the school's parking lot. As soon as I got out of the car, she was on to me. "Mark, after you left I remembered...
Monday, June 27, 2005 This chapter has jumped ahead four days. Not much happened over summer that was relevant to my ascendancy, so day-by-day reporting isn't needed. ^ A couple of days after Savannah's test ride in my new car, I invited my soccer team to Julia's, excluding the guys who'd just graduated, had serious girlfriends, were virgins, or were too immature for what I had in mind. That left five of them. That many because they didn't actually have to be mature, just be able to...
January 1 to mid-March, 2007 Once the Army pulled out, everything fell onto our shoulders. Not Vanessa's, because her shoulders were already fully loaded, but the rest of us felt the shift of responsibility. We'd known it was coming of course, but when the Army left, EVERYTHING stopped unless we made it move, and that felt quite different. Mom had been frantic for months. Setting up a home at the "stinking rich" end of the market was something Mom had never been exposed to before, so...
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 (Continued) Fortunately it was just the immediate family at dinner. As we walked in, the last to arrive, Robert said, "Couldn't stop playing with your new toy, huh?" I hadn't had a chance to play with it at all, and was worried about my answer seeming unappreciative of the work Robert had done getting it for me. I was thinking about how best to politely answer his question when Julia beat me to it, "Mark hasn't had time to use it yet. We've been busy...
Thursday, April 28, 2005 (Continued) When my family had left to go home, Prof, Vanessa, Julia and I went to the adults' study. There, Prof said, "Almost everyone we talked to suggested Binion's Horseshoe Casino. Some of them had other ideas as well, but Binion's was easily the most frequently mentioned and seems the easiest answer to our problem. Most of our advisors said we'd just need to turn up with the money and tell them what we wanted. It'd get bumped up to the boss, but he...
Friday, July 25, 2008 (Continued) There are several billion dimensions in Category #3, in which my body died in either the Casino Kidnappers' basement or the CIA's underground lab. I need to do some things differently, depending on whether I died in the basement or lab, so I'll describe them separately, starting with the dimensions in which I died in the CIA's care. ^ A few chapters earlier I described how I'd get my revenge on the DHS and CIA people who'd got away with what had...
Saturday, July 14, to Saturday, August 11, 2007 In my following the Sondarm School thread from planning through to execution, I skipped over a few things that I'll attend to now. Carol's birthday was the first event. She didn't want a big bash because she's not really a gregarious person and there were plenty more parties coming up anyway, so she chose to have a small gathering with our families plus three of her best friends from school. It was a very nice evening, and Carol's being...
Thursday, June 19 to Monday, June 24, 2008 I had several areas I wanted to work on: I wanted multiple proximity blobs so I could have one around every loved one, to dramatically improve my ability to detect threats to them. I wanted sight blobs able to fly faster than 300 mph when they're in locations remote from me. I could maybe double that speed with practice, but I wanted at least a tenfold improvement and that'd take an insight. If I need to use a sight blob at a remote location,...
Friday, July 25, 2008 (Continued) Before I started describing the Grand Tour of Refuge, I categorized my family circumstances across the W-Dimension as follows: I am alive and well, with up to thirty two minds. I had been alive and well, but I'd told my families that I was going on a Voyage of Discovery. My body died in either the Casino Kidnappers' basement or the CIA's underground lab. I suicided as a depressed kid, either in the bathtub or menswear store. I remained alive and...
Friday, April 22, 2005 (Continued) It was easier for me to check the kitchen for Prof than check his study, because the stairs arrive at the ground floor near the kitchen. Plus I should greet Vanessa anyway. The fact that I was overdue for a snack had not escaped my notice either. Also, I like kitchens. So I had lots of good reasons. I stuck my head in, and somewhat to my surprise, Prof was in there. As part of the mutual greetings Vanessa asked, "How's your day been, Mark?" "Very...
Sunday, April 24, 2005 (Continued) Carol volunteered, "Even I've walked around this house naked. All of Julia's family have seen me like this. They were all very nice about it and I felt totally safe. They're very nice people." "Especially Robert. He can see me naked whenever he wants, haha." That was from Donna, in case you're wondering. I didn't know whether Donna's comment was literally true, or whether Donna had said it just for fun. It didn't matter either way, as I had...
Tuesday, June 21, 2005 I woke after the usual 2.5 hours, had a snack bar, shut my eyes again, created a sight blob, sent it through to the study, where seven of my minds created a fingertip each for the scrolling keyboard, and we started studying. Other than a couple of snack breaks, that's how we spent the morning. It was a very successful test, especially because we didn't hit a gap in our knowledge that we had to google, so we didn't need to do any extensive mouse work. One of my...
Friday, April 22, 2005 (Continued) Julia waited while I turned to my studies to finish them off at a good point. I was in the middle of learning something new in Calculus, and if I stopped now I'd have to start the next session with a review before I could complete the concept. It's much better to stop once the concept is comprehended. As a result of my working through two courses now I would rarely get two perfect stopping points at the same time, so I was just hoping not to be in...
Mid-September to Tuesday, February 22, 2005, My vague plan - made back when I started pulling ahead of my 9th grade classmates - was to take as many Advanced Placement subjects as humanly possible in my senior year, which would make that year a busy one. But that was over two years away and what to do about the intervening period wasn't obvious. (For those of you who aren't American or who live in dimensions that use a different nomenclature, in most dimensions students in American school...
Monday, June 27, 2005 (Continued) We kept chatting about aspects of the Target Game, to give the guys plenty of time to get used to seeing My Girls topless. Hopefully enough so they wouldn't react typically when the Targets also started stripping. One of the other issues that came up turned out exactly as I'd expected. I pointed out that under my plan, the guys wouldn't get to choose which of the Target Girls they had sex with. It was up to the Targets to choose the guys. Amusingly, the...
Monday, June 20, 2005 (Continued) I'd called Mom before Aikido to tell her, "I'll be staying the night at the Williams' as I want to show Julia something first thing in the morning." I headed to Julia's after Aikido. As I walked toward the front door, I was amused to see a multitude of female heads through the kitchen window. Julia met me at the door, laughingly telling me the explanation. Soon after I'd left for Aikido, Vanessa had called my mom to say they had too much food, and...
Saturday, May 6, 2006 (Continued) I overflew home at a safely high altitude. As I'd hoped, there was a media circus besieging our gate, and several extra cars parked inside (lawyers, cops, CIA?). Watching closely to make sure no cameras pointed skyward, I descended enough to see that all of my extended family were inside. They were watching TV and talking a lot to a few suit-wearing men that I didn't recognize. My families didn't appear to be under any duress and Ron Fisher had no...
Saturday, April 30, 2005 (Continued) Dinner wasn't at a fancy place, but I enjoyed it more than the movie. Our waitress was subjected to the sight of Ava's hands being inside Carol's top, clearly rolling Carol's nipples. The poor girl (the waitress I mean; not Carol or Ava), didn't know where to look. She knew where NOT to look though, and for the rest of the meal refused to look at Carol. Unfortunately for her, on her second visit to the table, it just so happened that I was doing the...
Friday, April 15, 2005 (Continued) After the dishes were cleared away and loaded into the dishwasher (I hope our mansion will have one of those!) Mom said, "I'm taking Mark to get his cast removed later. I don't know how long that'll take so let's have our little meeting now, over coffee in the living room maybe?" Vanessa agreed and started making it. Carol returned looking happy, and Vanessa told her, "I've left your plate in the microwave, dear. In case you were hungry and wanted...
Two days after, a considerable crowd was assembled, towards ten o'clock in the morning, around the door of M. de Villefort's house, and a long file of mourning-coaches and private carriages extended along the Faubourg Saint-Honore and the Rue de la Pepiniere. Among them was one of a very singular form, which appeared to have come from a distance. It was a kind of covered wagon, painted black, and was one of the first to arrive. Inquiry was made, and it was ascertained that, by a strange...
This is a work of science-fiction in a general sense, and is not possible at all. All characters are made up, and are not based on any real persons dead or alive. All characters are of appropriate age in the story context. If this time of story is offensive to you please do not read it. * John was a special child growing up. He had always felt that he may have had ESP or something close to it. He always had this sense that he had been to places that he never been to before, and meet people...
‘That’s what I saw on the TV news just now. So maybe you’d better . . .’ ‘It’s Christmas Eve, Stella,’ Nadine answered, the stubbornness in her voice almost palpable. ‘Those guys were really cute, and I’ve never skied Winter Park before. Gotta do something to get out of here.’ ‘Yeah, well, if the snow really hits up there at Berthoud Pass, there wouldn’t be any skiing, they wouldn’t find you ’til spring,’ Stella said. She was fiddling with the crooked plastic Christmas tree in the corner of...
It’s been said that, once you've left, you can never go home again. I found that to be false. Last week, I returned to my home town to visit my baby sister, Fran. Fran and I are close, and we visit one another a couple of times a year, catch up on old times, and stay connected. After college, it seems we both returned home, living with siblings and parents until we got to the point of financial independence, even though we did it ten years apart. We also never married. For my part, I’m...
Quickie SexMichelle and I had been taken and decided to go to the adult theater. We went with a friend of ours Mike, Mike is a large gentleman of blk per suasion. Been our friend for years. We all met at the theater paid for our tickets wet to take a quick look at the toys and other marital aids. We wandered the ills looking and joking about the miss use of the things we saw but plugs big engulf to heart a rhino . Dill does so long and wide cant images any one that could take that. Dam thing look like a...
It was almost thirty years since I'd visited an Arcade or Adult Book Store, but I was in another city that wasn't afraid the "Adults" might want to see adult things or see Adult movies. I almost felt "dirty" like I did when I first discovered such places. I passed the store ,as another man was coming out catching just a glimpse of a rack of the inside displays. It was early evening and the area seemed saturated with way more people I was used to, at home I would be intimidated of maybe...
I was laying on my bed in my room. My TV was on, but I wasn't really paying that much attention.Truthfully, I was browsing the magazine in my hands. Not the one I appeared to be leafing through... that would be a 'Popular Photography', which was visible, camouflaging the true subject of my attention. Inside the Pop Photo, was the most recent copy of 'Mayfair'.I suppose I didn't really need to hide it. I was eighteen, and legally able to buy the magazine, but I also didn't need to stir the pot...
Now for the normal disclaimers, no kids (under 18), animals, blood, scat, or other extreme things are in this story. If I haven’t scared you off yet, read on and vote. Chapter 1 Suzanne was finishing another day at school. She was a first-grade teacher, and it had been a very long day. Most days she loved teaching, but today was particularly difficult. For some reason today, her kids, who were normally...
Brittany Rogers peered through the store's broad front windows, carefully inspecting each inch of the nearly deserted parking lot. Satisfied, she unlocked the door, set the alarm and slipped outside in the required thirty seconds. She locked both top and bottom locks and scurried towards her car. As she went, she nervously scanned the area, her head swiveling. Twice she turned and walked backwards a few steps to check behind her. Why had she stayed so late, she berated herself silently....
"Oh grandmother, I still can't believe it!" The young blonde haired woman exclaimed as she gushed with excitement. "Two days from now I'm going to be in Europe." "Well it's nothing that you don't deserve." The older woman smiled back. "I'm very proud of you, and all that you've accomplished." "I don't think Mother would agree with you on that." Jenny D'Angelo replied. "She thinks the entire trip is a colossal waste of money." "Your mother thinks everything is a waste of...
PART 1 My company had just relocated to brand new offices downtown in that fancy mega-complex that took up four city blocks. I had just parked my car on level B5 and rode the elevator up to the mezzanine level. So here I was Monday morning, with a map of the complex in hand. A lot of companies' hours are 8 to 5, but I was fortunate to work for a company that worked 9 to 5 and included our lunch hour for "free." At close to 9, the mezzanine was relatively sparse with a few people shopping in...
Sunday when I was pulling into the driveway I had another vision. I saw a bunch of motorcycles in front of the house. I knew that was bad news for sometime in the future. I figured it would be a good time to start building my war chest. I got my cell phone out and dialed the number I had been given in D.C. it was answered with, "6619." I said, "This is the Griz." "Is there a problem?" "Not right now, I think there will be." I related my vision. "What do you want us to do about...
On our way out of Illinois we stopped for the day tour of New Salem. New Salem is where Abraham Lincoln ran a general store and got his first law book and started studying to be a lawyer. It has been restored and is a general tourist trap, to see what life was like 150 years ago. You see Ox drawn carts and wagons. 'New Salem' makes you realize that you do not want to live life back then. We made a leisurely trip to Mt Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore is a very impressive scene. From the welcome...
As Tom and Betty got off the plane in Havana, the Minister of Communication met them. Senor and Senora Wilcox, "It is my pleasure to welcome you to Cuba. Your bags have been taken to the Hotel Tropicana. I am sure you will be very happy there. I have your transportation waiting outside." Once they were in the limo, "Senor, Senora Wilcox, I have been asked to request that you have a private dinner with the President tonight. He will send a car for you." Tom replied, "We will be...
The trip was over and everyone was get back into the swing. Suzy was going to school. The drive to her school was shorter from the new house than from her folks place. Joanne started to sue to get the rights back for my programs. Elizabeth and I decided to open an office away from the house to work from, just so the house was a home and not a place we worked from. We opened an office in Winter Park, about 15 minutes from Suzy's school. If anything happened and Suzy needed something we...
I got an invitation for my High School Reunion in Deland. I asked everyone what I should do about it, go or not go? Jeri and Elizabeth, both wanted to go they loved to dance. Corey said she wanted to go, Joanne decided to stay and keep an eye on Suzy. The girls had fun shopping for dresses. We went to the football game. This was the first time in over 30 years I had been back to Deland for any thing other than stopping to get something to eat or shopping at Wall Mart. I was surprised that...
Elizabeth and I had a lot of work for on Monday. Jeri had joined us for lunch at the 'Big Bite'. Since we had to wait for the hardware to arrive, we decided to leave early. It seemed like a nice day to be lazy by the pool. As we were driving home we drove past the house. We saw several motorcycles in the driveway and a few biker-carrying guns. None of the family was in sight. Suzy truck was in the driveway. We drove about a half a mile past the driveway, Jeri and Elizabeth changed cars....
Tom and Betty came home for Christmas. Suzy spent the holidays moving back and forth. Jenny came back for Christmas and I flew her family in from California. Since we had the room, I got Bill to bring down the family and Dad on Christmas, they could not take off until after Christmas Eve. This is the first Family Reunion at Christmas our family had had for years. Rick told everyone that he was planning on going in the Army. He is supposed to leave in April for Basic Training. He was going...