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Message-ID: <36757asstr$1023747008@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "Mike C" <MikeC@NoSpam.NSpace.net>
Subject: {ASSM} (new) Brenda 02 (A JamesWorld Story)
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 18:10:08 -0400
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(C) Copyright 2002. M.C.
All Rights Reserved.
All Reproduction for fee or profit forbidden.

Copies of my stories can be downloaded from:
<http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/MikeC/>

Send all comments and suggestions to MikeC@NSpace.net

   =============

Brenda 02

This short story is based on the characters from my series 'James' and runs
parallel to the main story, at approximately the same time frame as chapters
49-53.



At exactly 5 minutes before 4 o'clock, Anna was at the door. Brenda waved
her inside and took her arm as she finished her instructions to the men in
the room.
   "OK, guys, make sure the FlowCAD stations are fired up and we'll need the
Inviscid tables and the Reynolds and Bernoulli stations ready to go at noon
tomorrow. We don't know what the speed freaks at the garage will ask for, so
we need to be ready with whatever they can throw at us. Any questions?"
   There were none as the six now-grinning men from Computing and Design got
up to go. Vic shook Brenda's hand, "Thank you, it is a REAL pleasure working
with you!"
   Kenneth offered his hand and wrapped a companionable arm around his
co-worker, "Vic is usually so full of shit - but this time I have to agree
100% with him. Thanks." One by one they shook her hand before filing out.
   Brenda started to clean up the place but Anna stopped her, "Grandpa said
the cleaners will be here in ten minutes. We can leave it." Anna said,
smiling, "We're used to how messy these guys are!" She wrapped her arm
around Brenda's waist and leaned her head on her shoulder. "Was it a hard
day?"
   "It wasn't easy, but it's always good when things come together." Brenda
laughed.
   Chuck was busy in the kitchen as they dropped the coffee jug off.
   "Out! Out!" he shouted good naturedly, "You're disturbing the chef!"
   Brenda stood at the kitchen door, "But can I get a hug from the chef
first?" She smiled as she approached him and held him softly, adding a
chaste kiss on his lips. "Thanks, Chuck."
   "For what?"
   "For letting me work with the guys. It was quite an experience."
   "Did they..."
   "You'll find out tomorrow!" She smiled, "You and the lovely Anna are
cordially invited to our presentation at noon tomorrow, called 'Floating an
Idea'. And I would like you to see if Bob can attend as well." She turned
and stopped, "Er, and can we arrange refreshments and food for, umm, 18?"
   Chuck mock bowed, "Your wish... Madame!"
   "Brenda? Do you mind if we don't go skiing?" Anna asked as Chuck went to
call Bob to make the necessary arrangements.
   "No problem, whatever you want..."
   "We need a third person as spotter... And Grandpa is busy - and I'd like
to spend some time with you... alone. Is that OK?"
   "No problem at all. Why don't you let me freshen up and we can go for a
walk?"
   Brenda took a quick shower and brushed out her hair, still running over
the things she had to do for the morning. She had just dressed herself in
jeans and a light top when she heard Anna at her door again.
   "Wow, Brenda, you look great!"
   "Oh, thanks!" Brenda glanced her image in the mirror and smiled, "Just
some old clothes Kelly passed down to me!" She checked the tag, "From the
Nina Ricci Summer Collection!" She laughed, then more seriously, "Do you
think Chuck would mind, it's a little revealing..." Besides showing a bit of
cleavage, the flowery silk top also hinted at naked breasts and nipples.
   "Oh, keep it on, I don't think he'll mind. If I had your body, that's
what I'd wear too!" Anna smiled and took Brenda's hand. "Maybe he won't even
notice!" she added as they went down the stairs.
   Chuck noticed. He had to make an effort not to stare.
   "Brenda was worried the clothes were not suitable for dinner, and I told
her it is fine, isn't that right, Grandfather?" Anna smiled, eyes glinting.
   "Er, I'm sure it is." He murmured "We don't stand much on ceremony here."
he said, studiously watching the stove. "Are you going water-skiing now?"
   "No, I didn't feel like it, we'll go walk around the garden instead."
   They went down the stairs and onto the manicured lawn with its carefully
groomed blossoms. It was alive with life and colorful birds flittered and
chirped in carefree abandon.
   "Which do you think is Anna-bird?" Brenda asked, smiling.
   "That one!" Anna pointed to a drab sparrow in the shade, "Always
hiding..."
   "Not true!" Brenda laughed, "More like that one!" She pointed to a Yellow
Finch on the branches, "See how she sings and hops about, trying to find out
about everything?"
   "Do you really think that's me?" Anna asked.
   "For sure! And there's James-bird!"
   "Don't make fun of me!"
   "I'm not making fun of you! Did you see the look on his face last night?"
   "Yes..." She was barely whispering, "But it was for Sherri, and Sara, and
you!"
   "No, honey, it was for US!" Brenda took Anna's hand, "You, my dear, are a
very lovely person. And you know the best part?" She smiled warmly, "You are
like a flower just blooming. The parts I see are lovely, but the best is yet
to happen!"
   The garden ended and they turned to the back of the house. There was a
long low greenhouse with trays of seedlings and along one end, herbs and
spices. Behind that was a field of plants with long grasslike leaves over 50
feet on each side, obviously carefully hand tended.
   "That's Grandpa's pride and joy. Maria, our cook, introduced them to
Grandpa way back.  Her family grew them in Spain..."
   "What is it?"
   "It's a Crocus, and from it they get the most amazing stuff for cooking,
but it's only from a small part of the flower. You should ask Grandpa about
it, he would love telling you." Anna said with obvious pride in her voice.
   "Where are the flowers?"
   "Oh, they don't bloom in Summer, only when it's cool, like October."
   There was a path that led down the 30 feet to the water's edge, where it
opened into a sunny spot with a large wooden picnic table, surrounded by
large trees.
   "That's the Swinging Tree." Anna pointed to a tall oak leaning over the
water with a tire attached by a long rope. "I don't use it any more, but
Grandpa still changes the rope every year."
   Brenda joined Anna in sitting back on the grass, "Mmmm, feels good..."
Brenda sighed as they basked in the sun. "If James and the girls are here,
they'll be fishing there now..." Brenda said wistfully, looking at the small
dock.
   Anna laughed, "Then they'll be disappointed. All we have are catfish and
pike along here."
   Brenda laughed, "You should have seen the time Sherri caught a big
catfish, and it totally ignored her! And even when she let it go, it
splashed her!"
   "Do you miss them?" Anna asked.
   "Mmmm, I do, a bit..."
   "Me too, it was fun yesterday!"
   "Sure was!"
   "If you were with them, what would you be doing?"
   "We all have our little things. Sara and Amanda will likely be working on
the boats, I may be helping them. Or Jules; that's JulieAnn, she looks after
money things. Her sister, Celeste is busy with building this big round
"Wheel" for the Marina, and Sherri will be helping her. Then there's Nicole,
she flies around the country a lot, but when she's there, she makes sure we
eat properly, exercise and study..."
   "She sounds like a nanny," Anna said, "I used to have one."
   "Well, she IS a teacher," Brenda laughed, "But she's not much older than
us and more like a big sister, she loves us a lot." Brenda sighed.
   "And James...?" Anna asked softly, after a while.
   "Hmmm, he's all over, you just can't tell. One minute he'll be working on
the boats, then you'll see him on the computers with Jules, or--" Brenda
smiled softly, "--we'll be paddling in the canoe..."
   "You like him a lot, don't you?"
   "Hmmm, not just that, I LOVE him a lot."
   "Like candy?"
   "What do you mean?"
   "Something Sherri said," Anna giggled, "She said James was like a candy
you share. Or words like that."
   "Hmmm, kinda like that... but James is not a THING to be passed around.
He, and the rest of us are part of a group who have promised to help each
other and be there for each other. Forever."
   "Sort of like a secret society and you have secret codes and everything?"
Anna asked enthusiastically.
   "And a secret phrase..." Brenda looked at Anna, "You know what it is?"
   "No, what?"
   "Just say, 'I Love You'." Brenda grinned.
   "That's it? But everybody says it!"
   "That's fine, as long as you mean it! When you say you love somebody, you
have to be ready to treat them as importantly as you treat yourself. Do only
what is good for them and makes them happy and share their problems with
them."
   "Sounds hard, I don't think I can do that..."
   "No, it's not hard. Just treat the other person as you would yourself,
what is fun, share; what is difficult, help." Brenda shrugged, "The only
thing you need do differently is to try and think like them a bit."
   "But if that person does something mean to me, what do I do?"
   "Then you ask yourself, did that person do it to hurt me, or was it an
accident?" Brenda explained, "Or maybe you need to understand that person a
bit more first, maybe there are conditions that forced them into certain
actions. Many things in life are not just black and white..."
   Anna sighed, "This used to be a good place to try and figure things out,
but it's getting harder and harder..."
   "That's one of the problems with growing up." Brenda laughed, "When we
were kids; we laughed when we were happy and cried when we didn't get our
way - and our problems got solved by someone else. But then we had to live
with the answers others gave.
   "Being able to make our own decisions and choices means we have to solve
a larger share of our own problems as well. And not all problems have easy
answers." She sighed. "Some problems may have no answers at all."
   They sat in silence for a while, then Anna got up, "Can you give me a
push on the swing?" as she seated herself, "Not too high, OK?"
   They started slowly, but with each push Anna swung higher and higher. She
started laughing and kicking herself higher, squealing with delight as she
plummeted earthward to careen up again, high over the water. Finally she let
herself slow and Brenda caught her. They were both smiling and giggling.
   "Your turn!" Laughingly Anna turned to Brenda. Her smile froze as she
looked up. Chuck was standing at the top of the path and watching them, his
look unfathomable.
   "Dinner is ready!" He said and turned away. Anna dusted herself off
quietly and took Brenda's hand as they made their way up to the house. They
cleaned up and went to the kitchen.
   Chuck was rushing around getting the meal ready. He smiled when he saw
them, "Ah, all washed up? Good!" He looked at Anna, "Been too long since I
heard laughing from the Swinging tree. Quite a shock..." He sighed, "Get
seated - dinner's almost ready."
   "Can we help?" Brenda asked.
   "As a matter of fact, you can. Anna? Can you get the good china?"
   "The Wedgwood? Grandpa?" Anna sounded shocked.
   "Of course! And the crystal!" He boomed.
   As they went about replacing the settings, Anna said, "He hasn't had this
out since I was born!" She giggled, "I better not drop any!"
   They seated themselves as Chuck came out with a green salad of leaf
lettuce, escarole, radicchio and Swiss Chard with Miso dressing. On the side
were individual servings of an assortment of baby abalone, calamari,
scallops, shrimps and crab meat baked inside a parchment pocket. The
wrapping held the flavor in and the aroma as they opened the neat packaging
was out-of-this-world, making them ravenous.
   Then, with a flourish Chuck produced a bottle of wine, wrapped in a white
serving cloth. He poured a small amount in Brenda's glass and waited. She
took a sip, "Mmmm... St Emilion... '89?" She looked up slowly and smiled at
Chuck's incredulous look.
   "H-how can you know?!"
   Brenda laughed, "Don't be so shocked Chuck, I saw the name in the kitchen
when you left the bottle out for breathing. Even though I couldn't tell the
year, I had read that 89 was a good year for Bordeaux and knowing you would
not serve anything but the best..." She finished her glass, "So really,
aside from knowing this is extremely good red wine, I really know nothing
about wine at all!"
   "I am still very impressed," Chuck said as he refilled her and finished
pouring for Anna and himself. He raised his glass, "To you Brenda, to a most
remarkable young lady. It is our pleasure to have you stay with us."
   "Thank you... To you Chuck, and you Anna, for letting me into your life.
It is a privilege." They drank again.
   "Actually," Chuck said, "This is St Emilion '87."
   It was Brenda's turn to look shocked, "The broken year?"
   "Yes," Chuck smiled again, "See? You know your wine. You may not know
that every 11 years, something happens to the wine crop to make a special
vintage. In '76 it was the great drought. In 87 it was the storms. But what
resulted was a truly significant vintage."
   "And rare," Brenda sighed, "The crop that year was half the normal... I
knew about that, but I did not think..." Brenda closed her eyes, "Chuck, I
am truly honored."
   "You are worth it, Brenda." He replied solemnly, "But I'm curious, how
does a young lady like you get to learn so much about wine."
    Brenda blushed at the compliment. "It's my friend Nicole. She
appreciates wines too and I read some of her books on it."
    Chuck turned to Anna, "There are 5 bottles of that vintage left, and
those are for your... for you."
   "T-thank you Grandpa... I don't know what to say. Thank you." Anna
whispered.
   "I also have one bottle of the 76, but a Chambertin," Chuck smiled
softly, "But they are nowhere as tolerant to aging as Bordeaux." He looked
up, "So wouldn't I look quite the fool if I opened it to find it nothing but
vinegar!" He laughed at his own joke, "That's why it sits there year after
year." He looked at Anna again, "I'll leave that for you too, my dear. And
you can call it 'Grandpa's Folly'!" He said slowly and blinked several time,
then raised his glass again, "To us..."
   "Grandpa, what about the other 'Broken Years'?"
   "Well in 65 it was rain as well, and back in 53 it was the blight, when
fungus infestations destroyed the crop in Europe, and they had to import
stock vines from the Americans because they were more resilient to the
bugs." He laughed, "For years they laughed at our miserable little wines,
then they had to ask us for help!"
   "But 53 to 65 is 12 years!"  Anna said.
   "Ah, because there was NO crop to speak of for 2 years. None in 53 OR
54."
   "Except our miserable little wines?"
   "Pretty much!" Chuck laughed, "And they WERE quite miserable too! We had
to re-develop the cultivar vines upon which the fruit-bearing plants are
grafted and finding out the hard way European growing methods were not
suited for our climate." He laughed, "Along with a superior stock vine, we
also invented the growing trellis which allowed more sun exposure and better
density - which the Europeans are now using!"
   "What about 1998, was it a bad year too?"
   "No, not anymore. By the late 80's wine-growing had spread worldwide, and
it was very scientific. A bad crop here and there no longer affected the
total output." Chuck sighed, "Wine growing, and also their product has
become much more predictable, blas  even. You will never have a 73 Burgoyne
again, or a 66 Graves de Vayres..." he sighed, eyes distant.
   They cleared the salad dishes and were served a small ice cream by Chuck.
"Instead of sorbet, which is fruity or mint, we are having green tea ice
cream, to ready our palate for the next course..."
   Chuck had prepared the goat ribs in a crown, glazed and roasted,
garnished with slivers of fresh mango and drizzled with a light sauce. "Food
such as the Maharajahs enjoyed!" Chuck declared.
   "Grandpa," Anna said, "Brenda was asking about the plants we have out
back, the crocuses."
   "Ah," Chuck's eyes glowed, as he served them, "The plants you saw are
called Crocus Sativus, commonly known as the Saffron Crocus. They bloom in
the fall for 4 weeks. Each plant has 5 to 8 flowers and inside each flower
are 3 golden-red thread-like stigmas. When you pick them and soak them in
hot water, they make the most wonderfully fragrant spice called Saffron. It
takes the flowers from two or three plants to supply the spice used in one
serving. Hence it is the most expensive spice known." He waved in the
direction of the field. "Each year we grow enough for a handful of meals."
He smiled at Brenda's look, "But there is nothing like it anywhere. Saffron
is what makes true Spanish paella, Italian risotto and French bouillabaisse
so unique, and the most exquisite curry anywhere," Chuck added, pointing to
the small orangey bits in the sauce, "And these are it, there are over 100
stigma-threads in here. Go ahead, dig in, use your fingers, enjoy." as he
lifted the covering off a stack of unleavened taco-like bread called
chapatti.
   The goat meat was pink and  strong, but it was tempered by the soft touch
of an exotic, fruity yet flowery taste of the saffron, each offsetting and
augmenting the other. Underlying that was the subtle aroma of marjoram,
cloves and turmeric for a truly exquisite and scintillating taste
experience.
   There was little talk as they savored the delicious meal. Finally, Brenda
leaned back, stuffed and wiped her fingers.
   "Mmm, Chuck, you really know how to treat us girls," She smiled, and took
his hand, "This is as close to heaven as anyone can be!"
   He grinned broadly, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, we still have to have
dessert yet!"
   "Oh no! I can't eat another crumb!"
   "Not to worry!" Chuck laughed, "I whipped up something simple and light,
a blueberry compote."
   "Still, I would not be able to do it justice..." Brenda sighed, "Why
don't we clear the table and wait a bit first?"
   "We can do that! And then we can go have it down by the water."
   A half hour later, they were seated at the picnic table, as Chuck fondly
watched the girls finish off their gently pureed frozen dessert.
   Brenda smiled, "Whoever said the path to the heart is through the stomach
is a genius. Chuck, you have won the heart of THIS girl!"
   Anna nodded vigorously, "This girl too! Grandpa!"
   Chuck smiled gently, nodding and murmuring, "My girls... my girls..."
   Brenda nudged Anna and they went around the table and crowded in at his
sides. Brenda leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed happily, arm
reaching around his waist. "Chuck," she whispered softly, "Do you think I
could ask you another favor?"
   "Sure, why not?"
   "Can we finish your dessert for you?"
   "Eh... Certainly!" He guffawed, sending his arms across his two girls,
happy, and discovering that the sunset was more beautiful than he had seen
in a long, long time.

(to be continued)

=============

(C) Copyright 2002. M.C.
All Rights Reserved.
All Reproduction for fee or profit forbidden.

Copies of my stories can be downloaded from:
<http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/MikeC/>

Send all comments and suggestions to MikeC@NSpace.net

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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