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Subject: {ASSM} Wynter and Jimmy: Part Two 01/03 {Hoisington} (Mg bf oral rom ped inc)
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                         WYNTER AND JIMMY

   ************************************************************

This is an erotic fantasy.  It is the sequel to "Wynter."  The
characters and the situation are purely imaginary, and this story
is *NOT* intended to be a guide for actual behavior.  Any
similarities between this story and actual people or actual
events you should be ashamed of are purely coincidental.  If it
is illegal in your part of the world to access and read erotic
fiction, or if you are underage, or if you don't like underage
sex stories, then you should stop now.

This story is copyright 2005 by Russell Hoisington.  Please do
not remove the author information or make any changes to this
story.  You may post freely to non-commercial (free) sites, or in
the "free" area of commercial sites.  That does *not* mean that
these stories are in the public domain, nor does it mean that I
give permission for you to use them in spam advertising.  I
reserve the right to determine what is "spam advertising" by *my*
definition, not yours or anyone else's.

Thank you for your consideration.

My sincerest thanks to Denny Wheeler for editing this story and
for his contributions and also to Uncle Sky, the Night Hawk, and
Old Man Ted for their input and for keeping the characters in
character.

   ************************************************************


                        WYNTER AND JIMMY
                    Part Two:  Best Friends
                     by Russell Hoisington

                               Nine
 
     The heavier boy, on the left, swallowed something from a can
and threw the empty container aside.  His hands and moon-shaped
face were so grimy as to be positively unsanitary.  His torn jeans
and black, sleeveless tee shirt were no cleaner.  Wynter wasn't
surprised that he was a litterbug.  She knew he was also the kind
of guy who would burp just to be gross, and he proved her right.
 
     "Well, if it isn't Pencildick," he said in a nasal voice.  His
head looked like it had been set directly on his shoulders, without
a neck to elevate it.  "Out with Bugboy and a girl.  I didn't know
girls would associate with your kind, Pencildick. Did you, Long
Dick?"
 
     The skinny second boy's face reminded Wynter of a rat.  His
stringy, wispy attempts at a mustache and his short-clipped hair
heightened the resemblance.  He looked like he had added the first
one's missing neck to his own.  "Nah, I didn't, Big Willie.  Must
be something Bugboy picked up for his collection.  She look like a
bug to you?"
 
     Big Willie shrugged.  "Might be a cockroach.  Hey, you a
cockroach, bitch?"  He held both arms forward and beckoned her
toward him with the joined fingers of each hand.  "C'mon over here
and get some real cock.  It'll fill you up better than Bugboy's,
and definitely more than Pencildick's skinny little worm."
 
     Wynter felt her face heat as Kenny shouted, "Hey!  That's
enough, Will!  You and Dick let us pass."
 
     The two laughed at each other.  Dick sneered.  "Or else what,
Pencildick?  Your guardian Angel ain't here to save your scrawny
ass this time.  Maybe we'll take turns, one of us whompin' on you
while the other shows Bugboy's cock hound..."
 
     "Cockroach," Willie corrected.
 
     "...cockroach  what a real cock feels like, and then we'll
switch off.  Bugboy won't mind 'cause we'll let him watch us teach
his cockroach how to be a cock hound, long as he behaves hisself. 
And when we're done, we'll take all that lunch money you owe us."
 
     "Wynter," Jimmy whispered, "back up slowly until you can turn
around.  Give Kenny some room.  When he's ready, you go, and we'll
be right behind you."  He straightened and pointed, raising his
voice. "You two move aside and let us through.  We're not bothering
you.  We're going down to the drink stand.  You mind your manners
and we might buy you a Coke or something."
 
     "Who the fuck are you to be giving orders, Bugboy?" Will
asked.  "I'm in charge around here."
 
     Kenny whispered, "Now!"  Jimmy made a panicked face and
pointed behind the two thugs.  "Look out!"
 
     Will and Dick jerked their heads around, saw nothing, and
turned back to see the three friends racing north with Kenny
pulling ahead, putting Wynter in the middle of a column.  They gave
chase.
 
     The pair caught up to them before the bridge.  They were
faster, and the trio was held back by Wynter, the slowest of the
three.  Jimmy, in the rear, began weaving back and forth, trying to
prevent the two from passing him.  Dick managed to clip the side of
Jimmy's rear tire and caused him to swerve left off the trail, slam
into something, and pitch over in a grassy patch among the trees. 
Neither boy stopped for Jimmy but continued after the other two.
 
     Wynter glanced back and saw Jimmy tumbling along the ground,
stopping at the base of a tree.  "_Jimmy!_" she screamed and
slammed on her brakes.  Dick swerved to avoid crashing into her and
sideswiped Will.  Both boys went down.  Limbs in a nearby aspen
began quaking.
 
     Kenny looked back, saw Wynter turning around, and hit his
brakes.  Will and Dick were moaning and cussing and trying to
disentangle themselves as he accelerated past them.  Wynter was
kneeling beside Jimmy when he skidded to a stop.
 
     "Jimmy, tell me where it hurts!" Wynter was demanding as her
fingers felt along his arms and ribs.
 
     Kenny knew.  By the way Jimmy was grimacing, with one arm
crossed low over his stomach and the other hand gripped between his
legs at his crotch and trying to breathe, Kenny knew.  "Hey! 
Wynter, stop!" he said.  "You're going to make it worse."
 
     "How?  What's wrong with him?" she cried.  Her hands didn't
stop moving.
 
     Kenny knelt behind her and wrapped his arms around her, gently
tugging her away.  "Stop!  Remember when you fell on that tree
branch and busted your cherry?"
 
     Wynter struggled to get back to Jimmy for another breath and
then froze.  "He landed on the bar?"  She understood why Jimmy was
in such pain and hoped he didn't have any other injuries.  That was
bad enough all by itself!
 
     "Yes.  If you tug his arm while he's holding his b...--while
he's holding himself you can cause more pain, and if he has a
ruptured testicle, you can make it worse.  You gotta do a visual
exam before you touch in a trauma case."  He released her. 
"Remember?"
 
     Before she could agree, Kenny suddenly flew backward.  A grimy
hand shot down in front of her face and grabbed her blouse.  The
cloth tore almost to the bottom hem as she was yanked to her feet. 
Fetid breath and body odor singed her nose as Will grinned into her
face from inches away and said, "Make sure Pencildick pays for the
damage they did to our bikes, too.  I'll take over after Miss
Cockroach learns how to kiss a cock properly."
 
     "What about Bugboy?" Dick asked, his voice quivering as he
struggled to restrain the thrashing Kenny.
 
     Will glanced at Jimmy.  "If he's got any nuts left, we'll cut
'em off after we're through with Pencildick and Miss Cocksucker. 
He ain't gonna bother anyone."  He dragged Wynter over to the base
of another tree, pinning her arms down with one of his while his
other hand pushed through her torn blouse and under her bra. 
Overhead, a tree limb jerked violently, then bounced to a stop.
 
     "You starting to grow tits, bitch!  Those aren't just kleenex. 

Good.  Means you'll be deep enough for us to fuck too.  But you're
gonna learn to kiss the snake first."
 
     He yanked down his zipper and fished out a short, thin
erection.  Then he pushed Wynter to her knees in front of him,
turned her to face him, and began pulling on the back of her head
as she struggled.
 
     Wynter knew that in emergency situations people sometimes had
strange experiences, like when time displacement made an accident
seem to take forever.  That was happening to her now, and it was
moving even more slowly than it had in Suzie's bedroom.  It seemed
to take minutes for Willie to twist her head around until it was
facing his skinny erection.  All sorts of thoughts rushed into her
mind.  She had time to think about them and choose among them, and
then they were replaced by another rush.  One thought stood out,
and she had _no_ idea why.  It was a joke her father had told her. 
Actually, it was the punch line:  "That looks just like a penis,
only smaller."
 
     Jimmy needed her help, and all she could think of was the
punch line of a joke?  She wondered if that meant she was going
crazy.  Suddenly an idea jumped into her head, and she thought it
might work.
 
     Something moved behind Will.  She gasped as she realized what
she was seeing and knew without a doubt that she had to be really
and truly out of her mind.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     _Fuck!_
 
     Suzie buried her face in her pillow, kicked her feet on the
mattress, and screamed into the fluffy mass of feathers.  It wasn't
fair.  And it was all that stupid Kenny's fault!  The stupid dolt
just_ had_ to ask if he could give her a breast exam the way Jimmy
did in exchange for a hand job for him, too.  He kept at it until
she lost her temper and screamed at him to fuck off and die, and of
course her stupid mother just _had_ to hear her.  The stupid shit
had caused her to get grounded.  It wasn't fair!
 
     She needed to get to Jimmy and turn his head back around
before... _She_... got her hooks any deeper into him.  She needed
to do... well, something.  Anything.  But what?  So far Jimmy had
rebutted and ignored her attempts.  But she was so mad at Kenny for
getting her grounded that she couldn't think of what to do.  After
Jimmy had rebutted her--another expression that made no sense to
her because she hadn't butted him in the first place so how could
he re-butt her?--he barely talked to her.  First she had to get him
talking again.  _He sure didn't have any trouble talking to Kenny
about it...._
 
     Her back felt like a mouse with icy feet raced down it. 
_That's right!  He talked to Kenny about it!_  She rolled onto her
back and glared at the ceiling in thought for a couple of minutes.
 
     The obvious conclusion hit her so hard that she was surprised
it hadn't knocked her off the bed.  Jimmy had talked to Kenny about
it.  She felt so stupid for not seeing it immediately.  Well, no. 
It wasn't her fault she hadn't seen it immediately.  That stupid
knobby-kneed dwarf had made her so mad she couldn't think, even
about her dolt.
 
     Jimmy was always reading those stupid fairy tales about stupid
knights and telling her about how they were shiverous.  She guessed
that having to wear all that stupid armor in winter without parkas
and overcoats was what made them shivery.  And because they were
shiverous, they didn't have any sex.  So, here it was summertime
but her dolt was being shiverous like it was wintertime and turning
down her implied offer of sex.  She sighed.  Yet another item on
the ever-growing list of stupid things she had to straighten out
once she got his head turned back.  He was going to do her every
night they were married no matter what season it was outside.
 
     She realized her thoughts were straying and forced them back
onto the problem.  So, Jimmy had told Kenny what had happened. 
Why?  Obviously because, once he'd left her house, he realized he'd
made a mistake.  He probably didn't realize it until he was talking
to Kenny, and then it was too late.  He couldn't brag about being
shiverous to Kenny, because Kenny would call the dolt an idiot for
passing up the opportunity.  So, instead, he bragged to Kenny about
playing with her boobie and getting a hand job.  Just like Caroline
had once said that men would do.  Maybe she should start paying
more attention to the stupid slut.
 
     She briefly thought about asking her sister for advice on what
to do next.  _Oh, sure. Get another lecture on how stupid you are
for not knowing already and then get laughed at.  I'll think of
something myself._
 
     And she did.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Wynter blinked, hard, and tried to shake her head, but the
weird vision didn't go away. Will was looming over and partially
around her, but she had a limited view behind him and to the side. 
A pair of shoes, heels together and toes slightly apart, had
floated downward into her field of vision just behind Will's
armpit.  Because of time displacement she had time to marvel that
she didn't feel any different now that she was insane.
 
     Then legs appeared and the feet settled gently to the ground. 
Will started to say something, but his words were cut off by a
double thumping/cracking sound, and he pitched toward her. 
Somebody grunted just behind him, and he suddenly reversed
direction, toppling backward.
 
     Wynter looked up.  Concerned brown eyes in a friendly face
seemed to cover all of her in one rapid movement, as if they were
a super-efficient CAT scanner.  He was Hispanic and only a couple
of years older than she was and about as tall as Jimmy.  His arms
and shoulders, visible because of his sleeveless black tee shirt,
were solid muscle, but they weren't grotesque like those silly
bodybuilders she'd seen on television.    He held what looked like
a polished wooden tool handle in one hand and two ends of an
overhead rope in the other.  He brought a finger to his lips, then
turned and moved quickly, but without a sound, toward Kenny and
Dick.
 
     Dick had forced Kenny against a tree a dozen feet away and was
still talking to him, slapping him hard after each sentence or
question.  He knocked Kenny's glasses off.  When Kenny's eyes
focused behind Dick and went wide, Dick said, "You ain't foolin' me
with that trick again, Pencildick."  He drew back his hand, this
time making a fist.  He screamed in pain as something smashed down
on top of his hand. He released Kenny and grabbed his fist,
spinning around.  His eyes bulged as the newcomer grabbed his shirt
at the throat and slammed him back into the space Kenny had just
vacated.  Two feet of polished hickory waved back and forth before
his face.
 
     Wynter couldn't believe it.  The stranger was a head shorter
than Dick, yet he was moving the larger boy around like Dick was an
infant.  She continued to watch as Kenny put on his glasses and
stumbled toward her.
 
     "Dick, Dick, Dick," the stranger said in slow, even words,
shaking his head.  He had the faintest trace of a Spanish accent. 
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
 
     Dick whimpered and clutched his injured hand to his chest. 
His voice was a high squeak that suited his rat-like appearance. 
"We thought you was out of town, Angel."
 
     "Out of town?"  The voice remained gentle and pleasant.  He
slowly shook his head again and then sighed.  "Out of town.  Dick,
did I say, 'Don't ever bother Kenny again unless his guardian Angel
is out of town,' or did I say, 'Don't ever bother Kenny again or
I'll thump you'?  Hmmm?  Lemme give you a hint:  it was the second
one."  He shook his head once more and sighed again.  "Now I gotta
thump you."
 
     Dick struggled but he didn't try to hit the stranger. 
"Willie!" he screamed.
 
     "He couldn't help you even if he was awake.  He'll have to
wait until his collarbones knit before he'll be helping anyone,
even himself.  Gonna be fun watching him trying to take a piss with
both arms in casts, isn't it?  Maybe you'll have the same cell and
you can hold it for him.  You'd like that, wouldn't you, Dick?"
 
     Kenny reached Wynter, who was holding both her ponytail and
the edges of the ripped blouse in her left hand.  Her other hand
gripped his chin and turned his face for a fast visual examination.
 
     "Hey!  Are you okay?" he asked.
 
     "Yeah.  Are you?" she asked in her Mother Hen mode.  "You're
getting a bruise...."
 
     "I'm okay," he said, and gave Wynter a hug.  "I sure am glad
you're okay, too."  He looked over her shoulder at Will.  "Shit! 
And those bastards call _me_ Pencildick?"
 
     Wynter felt her head duck.  "C'mon!  Let's help Jimmy!  Kenny,
who _is_ that?"
 
     "That's my guardian Angel."
 
     Wynter looked back to see Dick pinned against the tree by the
stick across his throat.  When the stranger moved the stick, Dick
tried to dash away to the side.  The stranger hooked his toes in
front of Dick's ankle, and the ruffian crashed to the ground,
crying out as the stick whirled about in a blur and crashed down
four times in rapid succession.
 
     She knew her eyes were wide open, but she couldn't make them
go back to normal.  "Looks more like a guardian devil to me, and
I'll bet Dick thinks so, too," she said.
 
     Kenny grinned.  "Well, that _is_ his other name."
 
     They knelt beside Jimmy, who was moaning through gritted teeth
but able to focus on the two.  Kenny patted Jimmy's shoulder and
said, "Hey, easy, buddy.  I know how it feels."
 
     "Me, too," Wynter said with a sad smile, settling her free
hand to his other shoulder.
 
     Jimmy turned his eyes to her and gasped, "No, you don't."
 
     Wynter shook her head.  "Just because I'm built different
doesn't mean it hurt me any less when I did it."
 
     "And she landed a lot harder than you did," Kenny said.  "You
hurt anywhere else besides the family jewels?"
 
     They could barely understand his strained words.  "How the
heck should I know?"
 
     "Just lie still and try to breathe," Wynter said, leaning
forward to plant a quick, soft kiss on his forehead before she had
time to think about what she was doing.
 
     Jimmy looked startled for a moment and then gave her a gentle
smile before the pain contorted his face.
 
     "Damn!" drawled Kenny, stretching the word into two syllables. 

"Hey!  What about me?  I'm injured too.  Don't I get a kiss?"
 
     Wynter gasped with the realization of what she'd done.  She
lifted her face to look at him.  "No.  You're okay now."
 
     "I'll go crush my nuts, too, if it will help.  It would be
worth it."
 
     Wynter rolled her eyes.
 
     "Hey!  It would!  It was worth crushing your nuts for that
wasn't it, Jimmy?  I'll bet you'd do it again for another one,
wouldn't you?  I'll bet you'd bounce off that bar and then smack
'em with a hammer if she'd offer you another kiss."
 
     "Wynter?" Jimmy wheezed.  "Do it?  Please?  Shut him up?"
 
     She looked at Jimmy's pain-filled eyes for a moment,
understood that he meant it, and leaned forward to give Kenny a
similar kiss on the forehead.
 
     Kenny stared at her with wide eyes, and then said, "Man, this
whole experience was worth that.  Wasn't it, Jimmy?"
 
     Wynter goggled at Kenny, unable to believe he was saying such
horrible things to his friend who was in such terrible pain.
 
     "Yes," Jimmy wheezed, "except for what happened to Wynter."
 
     Kenny looked chagrined.  Wynter knew that he looked chagrined
because Kenny had looked that way once before, and that was how
Jimmy had described it.  Kenny's shoulders slumped.  "Yeah.  Except
for that."
 
     "That's Ron?" Jimmy wheezed.
 
     Kenny grinned really wide as he turned to see Ron picking up
Dick by the throat, only to knock him down again by slamming the
end of the stick in Dick's abdomen.  "Yeah.  He's got it under
control again.  He's already taken care of Will for what he tried
to do to Wynter.  Looks like Will passed out from the pain.  He
always was a candy-ass bully.  Dick has to take all the rest of
Will's lumps for him as well as his own.  But Ron made sure Will
got some lumps, too."
 
     Jimmy coughed, causing him to moan.  "Good."
 
     Kenny looked down at Jimmy, then frowned and turned his gaze
to Wynter's chest.  "Hey, you want to show those babies to Jimmy
and me, I don't mind, but I think he'd be happier if you waited
until his goodies stopped hurting."
 
     Wynter looked puzzled and glanced down.  She gasped.  The torn
edges had slipped from her fingers, and her bra was showing.  She
released her ponytail and held only the edges of the rip in her
blouse.
 
     "Kenny," Jimmy wheezed, "you putz."
 
     Kenny grinned at Wynter.  "But I could be wrong.  I guess he
was enjoying the show, too."
 
     She tried not to blush, but she failed miserably.
 
     A minute later Dick crashed to the ground next to Will.  He
lay curled up in a ball and didn't move, though he whimpered like
a puppy.  Ron knelt and tied Dick's shoelaces together.  "You try
to untie these, I'll break your fingers."  Wynter thought Ron's
calm voice sounded like he was teaching Dick basic patient care. 
"If you do untie them and try to run away, I'll catch you.  You
know that.  And after I catch you I'll break both your shins and
_then_ your fingers.  Understood?"
 
     Dick groaned what might have been, "Yes," and Ron rose to his
feet.  He twirled the hickory in his right fingers and caught the
end in his armpit, holding it forward parallel to the ground.  With
his left hand he grabbed one end of the double rope hanging from
overhead and began coiling it around his right elbow and the stick
as he moved toward the three friends.  The other end of the rope
rose into the air, to where it was looped over a fat limb.
 
     "Is Jimmy okay?" he asked.  Wynter saw in his face that he was
really and truly concerned.
 
     "Nope," Kenny said.  "Crushed nuts.  Aren't you going to tie
those two up?"
 
     Ron stopped in front of Kenny and continued coiling the rope. 
He spoke loud enough for Dick to hear. "Nah.  I'm hoping that Dick
will try to run away.  Now that he's violated his probation, we
won't get to play again until he gets back from Buena Vista when he
turns eighteen.  It'll be my last chance to play with him for a
while."
 
     "I ain't goin' nowhere, Angel!" Dick shouted.  Wynter thought
he sounded terrified and guessed he had reason to be.  "I swear! 
I'm stayin' put like you said!  I ain't leavin' this spot 'till you
say so!"
 
     Ron grinned, then knelt beside Kenny, dropped the coil of
rope, and put his free hand on Jimmy's shoulder.  "You gonna live?"
 
     "Unfortunately," Jimmy squeaked.
 
     Ron grinned and shook his head.  "Yeah, I know whatcha mean." 
He looked at Wynter, then Kenny.  "So, hey, dude, is this your
girlfriend?"
 
     "I wish!" Kenny said.  "But Jimmy won't share.  Wynter, this
is Ron."
 
     Wynter felt her face blushing furiously as Ron bowed slightly
and said, "My distinct pleasure to meet you, even more than the
honor it is for you to meet me."  Keeping his sparkling brown eyes
on Wynter he said, "I called my dad and the EMTs while I was still
in the tree  That's why I was delayed getting to the ground. 
They'll be here any minute."  He cocked his head and said, "And
unless there's a fire, that should be them coming now."
 
     The distant sound of sirens slowly grew louder.
 
     Wynter held her torn blouse closed and thanked him.  "Why does
he call you Angel?"
 
     "Cause that's who I am:  Kenny's guardian Angel.  Renaldo
Angelo Lopez at your service," he said with a formal dip of his
head.  "I have them call me by my middle name as a reminder not to
mess with Kenny, but it seems they've had memory problems. 
Everyone else but my dad calls me Ron.  My dad calls me Diabolito
because," he pulled his head into his shoulders and made a funny
face, "I'm a little devil."
 
     Wynter lowered her head slightly as she smiled and said, "I
guess they think you're a little devil, too, after that."
 
     Ron waived a dismissive hand and raised his voice.  "That was
just love pats, compared to last time.  Wasn't it, Dick?"
 
     "Yeah!  Sure!  Whatever you say, Angel!"
 
     Ron flashed teeth as white as Wynter's.  "So, Jimmy, it looks
like I was right."
 
     Jimmy seemed to be breathing easier, but still gasped and
strained when he asked, "About what?"
 
     "I said that when you finally took an interest in girls, you'd
attract the prettiest one in town.  Remember?"
 
     Wynter's face grew so hot she thought it had sunburned.  "Oh,
no!  It's not like that.  We're just friends."
 
     Ron looked at her hand resting on Jimmy's shoulder, then
looked deeply into each of her eyes.  His eyes crinkled and his
smile grew even wider.  "So I see.  Too bad he became 'just
friends' first.  Latinos do make the best... well, 'friends,' you
know."
 
     Wynter blushed more and couldn't keep her head from dipping as
the sirens to the south suddenly cut off and the cell phone on
Ron's belt rang.
 
     "Yeah?  No, we're in the same place."  Brief pause.  "Of
course they aren't going anywhere.  You can stop for coffee and
donuts if you want, and they'll wait for you.  No, he's okay.  You
park there.  Bring the stretcher 'cause he's had the wind knocked
out the hard way.  Yeah, that way.  Okay.  But stay off the grass!" 

He clipped the phone to his belt.
 
     "Does everybody in town have to know what happened to me?"
Jimmy wheezed.
 
     "No," said Kenny.  "But in about an hour they all will."
 
     "Great."  He closed his eyes and shook his head.
 
     Wynter gently squeezed his shoulder.  She felt sorry for
Jimmy.  She sure did know what it was like to be embarrassed. 
She'd just had a graduate course reminder.  "Um, Ron, what were you
doing up there?"  She indicated the treetops with her head.
 
     "Collecting samples," Kenny said.  "Ron's gonna be a botanist. 

Aren't you?"
 
     He gave Kenny a cross look.  "Is your name Ron?  It's not nice
to answer a lady's question when she didn't direct it at you."  He
moved his eyes to Wynter's as Kenny rolled his and shrugged.  "The
class springbutt is correct.  I'm assisting in a summer research
project with Dr. Britt at CU."
 
     "Really?  You'll have to tell me about it some time.  I'm a
Future MD, just like Kenny."
 
     Ron's brow drew together.  "Future.... Wynter?  You're Richard
King's daughter?"
 
     "Uh huh."
 
     "Oh!  Well!  My dad thinks he's the greatest.  Dad was the one
who was with him while they waited for the jaws of life three years
ago.  Or was it four?"
 
     Wynter's face lit up.  "Your dad's Officer Lopez?"  When Ron
nodded she said, "Oh, wow!  My dad thinks he's the greatest, too!"
 
     Ron's eyes turned serious and his smile faded.  "I'm sure
he'll also be happy to meet you, though not at all happy about the
circumstances.  But this time we might finally get rid of those two
jerks for a while."
 
     Jimmy spoke in a soft, strained voice.  "If it means they're
finally going away, I'd do my part all over again."
 
     "Fortunately for you, kemo sabe, that shouldn't be necessary. 
They violated the terms of their probation.  We got 'em dead to
rights on attempted rape, assault, and battery.  Too bad that
they'll be released when they turn eighteen, though."
 
     Wynter looked over at Kenny and then back up at Ron, who
remained standing.  She guessed that was in case he had to go chase
down Dick if he tried to run away.  "Well, they certainly aren't
very nice people."
 
     Jimmy kept one hand between his legs but moved the other up to
close it over Wynter's. Ron turned his bright smile up a few
hundred watts when he saw that and said,  "No, they aren't.  Sure
was nice around here while they were gone.  I didn't know they were
back.  But they won't be back for long."
 
     "Were they in jail?"
 
     "I wish," Kenny said.
 
     Ron shook his head.  "Will's dad is a district judge.  Every
time he goes to court, Judge Green presides and cuts him slack
because of dear old dad.  Rumor is his dad pressures Judge Green to
do so, and a lot of people here are fed up with that.  It was just
fines until last winter, when Will moved up to breaking and
entering.  Judge Wilson spent a lot of money repairing the damage
to the house and the things inside.  Judge Green gave Will six
months at the reformatory in Buena Vista, but suspended the
sentence if he stayed out of trouble until he turned eighteen. 
Judge Wilson sent Will to his mother in Salt Lake City, but he was
so much trouble she sent him back after a few months."
 
     Wynter frowned as she thought about that.  "What about Dick?"
 
     "He disappeared while Will was gone.  Followed him, I guess. 
Ah, here they are."
 
     Six officers and four paramedics came running up the trail. 
Ron intercepted them, spoke briefly, and then returned with two
paramedics and three officers, one of whom looked like an older Ron
with a mustache.  The other half of the new arrivals went to Will
and Dick.
 
     The paramedics and one officer knelt and spoke to Jimmy.  The
second officer took Kenny aside.  The third stopped before Wynter,
and Ron introduced him.  "Wynter, this is my father.  Dad, this is
Richard King's daughter."
 
     Officer Lopez sprouted a smile as bright as Ron's, but it
faded when Wynter rose and he saw her clutching the torn blouse. 
His eyes turned very angry as they shifted to his son, and Wynter
was surprised that Ron didn't flinch.  "Which animal did this?"
 
     "The one who can't use either arm for a few weeks."
 
     Officer Lopez drew a deep breath and exhaled.  "Was that
necessary, Diabolito?"
 
     Ron stared directly into his father's eyes.  "Yes."
 
     Officer Lopez looked at Ron for a long moment and then nodded. 

"Bueno."  He turned to Wynter and bowed slightly.  "I regret that
our first meeting was not under more favorable circumstances, Miss
Wynter, but except for that I am very pleased to meet you."
 
     Wynter was getting tired of feeling her face flush, but this
time she kept her head up.  "Thank you.  I'm glad to finally meet
you, too."
 
     "Aha!" Officer Lopez beamed like a kid.  "Your father has told
you what a charming and gracious human being I am!"
 
     She giggled.  "He said you called him Se¤or Klutz."
 
     Officer Lopez made wide eyes and put a hand over his heart. 
"The truth is _not_ an insult!"
 
     She giggled again.  She knew where Ron's charm and manner had
come from, and she knew why her father thought so highly of this
man.  If she were trapped inside a wrecked vehicle, she'd want
someone like Officer Lopez to keep her mind off her injuries.
 
     _Daddy!  Drat!_  "Officer Lopez, Daddy doesn't know about
this.  He'll worry about me!"
 
     "Well, he won't really worry because he doesn't know.  We'll
let him know that you are okay and tell him what happened and ask
him to meet us at the hospital."
 
     "Hospital?  But I'm not hurt.  Jimmy is."
 
     "I understand.  But, one, it's routine procedure to have a
doctor examine you in these circumstances.  Your dad knows that. 
Two, Kenny will insist on going along anyway, as usual, because
he's going to be a doctor and it's a 'learning experience.'  And
three, since you're also going to be a nurse, I thought you'd want
to go along with Kenny, especially since it's one of your friends
who is hurt."
 
     "Excuse me," said one of the paramedics, "but we need to
examine the patient's injuries."
 
     "Certainly.  We'll move over there, but first give me some
safety pins out of your kit."  Officer Lopez took the pins, put an
arm around Ron and Wynter and gently guided them toward the trail.
 
     "Moving's not really necessary," Ron said.
 
     Officer Lopez thumped the back of his son's head.  "Hey!  That
is _no_ way to talk about a lady.  I taught you better than that."
 
     "No, Dad, not _that_.  Wynter and Jimmy are 'just friends.' 
I meant that she's going to be a doctor like Kenny.  She's already
seen... well, what's involved here.  Who do you think cared for
Se¤or Klutz when Ellen Carter was trapped in town last spring?"
 
     Officer Lopez sighed and turned to Wynter.  "I apologize for
being such a horrible father that I couldn't instill any manners in
my son.  I...."  He frowned.  "Wait a minute.  Doctor?  I thought
Se¤or Klutz said you were going to be a nurse.  So who changed your
mind, Kenny or Kevin?"
 
     "It was Doctor Taylor."
 
     He laughed.  "I thought so.  That man could sell snow to an
Eskimo in the middle of a blizzard."
 
     Wynter laughed, too.  "Daddy said he could sell water to Noah
during the flood."
 
     Ron said, "Well, I thought...."
 
     "No you didn't," his father said, cutting him off.
 
     Wynter was shocked.  How could such a nice man like Officer
Lopez talk to such a nice person like his son that way?  She looked
at both their grinning faces and realized the truth:  it was some
special thing between just the two of them, like her nose-and-lips
kiss with her father.  Sure enough, Officer Lopez rubbed his son's
head while Ron looked like his heart was too big for his chest.
 
     They had reached the edge of the trail.  Officer Lopez gave
her the safety pins and then turned away with his son while Wynter
fastened her torn blouse together.  When she was finished he turned
back, his face looking as if he were a little sad.
 
     "Wynter, I'm sorry we have to do this, but I need to take a
statement from you.  I'll have it typed up, and you'll have to sign
it later, when...."  He turned and looked down the trail.  A noisy
bunch of people were approaching.  Wynter guessed they were coming
to see why the police and paramedics had run down the trail.  "Ron,
keep them back, please."
 
     Ron sprinted off without a word, and Officer Lopez turned his
attention back to Wynter.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Wynter and Kenny walked their bikes down the trail.  Jimmy was
carried on a stretcher, so Ron brought Jimmy's bike, rolling it on
the rear wheel only because the front one was bent.  Will, both
arms in slings, was now conscious and had to walk, as did Dick in
his handcuffs.  Officer Lopez called Wynter's father, told him what
had happened, and let her reassure him--four times--that she was
okay.  He said he would meet her at the hospital with another
blouse.
 
     After the bikes were locked in a bike stand, Officer Lopez
escorted Wynter, Kenny, and Ron to his patrol car.  He told Kenny
that because Will would be in the ambulance, he couldn't allow
Kenny and Wynter to ride along with Jimmy to the hospital.  Kenny
looked the way Jimmy had in the museum when he learned there were
no dissected mummies.
 
     Officer Lopez parked in a police-only space, and they entered
through the emergency room door.  Jimmy was already in a treatment
room.  An unhappy-looking policeman was escorting Will into
another.  Wynter was surprised that Doctor Taylor and his wife
weren't waiting for them when they entered the emergency room. 
But, she reasoned, Doctor Taylor would have patients who needed
care, and it would be selfish to take time away from them if Kenny
wasn't hurt bad.  And Mrs. Taylor, who was the Blue Spruce
Hospital's Human Resources Director, was supposed to have a team
from the state Board of Health doing an inspection that week.
 
     Mrs. Erland, a pleasant-looking, big lady with poufy red hair,
gave Kenny a smile and then a worried frown when she saw his
bruised face.  She smiled again and reached for the phone when he
gave her a thumbs-up sign and then made a telephone with his right
thumb and little finger.
 
     Wynter's father shot up from a chair and headed toward them,
his ruggedly handsome face a dark mask of worry.  Wynter knew that
family usually had to see for themselves that a patient was okay,
even though they had been told that there was no cause for alarm. 
After he was satisfied that she wasn't injured, he shook hands with
Officer Lopez and Ron.  They talked in a relatively quiet corner
until a pleasant young redheaded nurse came for her just as Jimmy's
parents arrived.
 
     Wynter was disappointed that her father couldn't come into the
examination room with her, but she understood.  She sure couldn't
tell the nurse that her father wouldn't see anything he hadn't seen
before, no matter what kind of examination she had.  She took the
blouse her father had brought and followed the nurse into the
examination room.  As she changed into an examination gown she
introduced herself.  Nurse Daniels smiled and asked her to wait
while she took the torn blouse to Officer Lopez for evidence. 
Wynter explored the room.  She was checking the wall-mounted
sphygmomanometer when the door opened behind her.
 
     "Doctor King, I presume?"
 
     Her face exploded into a big grin as she turned around. 
"Doctor Taylor!"
 
     He squatted, and she rushed into his outstretched arms.  He
gave her a big squeeze just like always and said, "You didn't think
I would let another doctor be examined by a mere resident, did
you?"
 
     She tried to frown, but her grin wouldn't go away.  "I thought
you'd examine Kenny."
 
     He wrapped his arms under hers and picked her up, setting her
on the examination table.  "Nah.  He's not a doctor, he's my son. 
The resident can practice on him.  You, however, are my favorite
ex-nurse."  He backed up, looked stern, and stabbed a finger at the
tip of her nose.  "But don't get the idea that this means I've
forgiven you!"
 
     Wynter giggled.  "Never."  Doctor Taylor  always said that
he'd never forgive her for deciding to be born at home early during
a storm on the first day of winter.  Snow had closed the mountain
road to their old home, thus depriving him of the privilege of
being the first person ever to see her.
 
     "All right.  Let's get your vitals out of the way first and
then we'll get to the serious part.  You understand, of course,
that this is routine and I may have to ask personal questions."
 
     She nodded, thrilled that he was speaking with her in a
matter-of-fact way as if she were a staff colleague.  "Sure."  She
suddenly worried about what those "personal questions" might be. 
Will hadn't reached into her underpants, so she had assumed that a
pelvic exam wouldn't be required.  But what if one was?  Could
Doctor Taylor tell she'd been engaging in sexual activities?  Of
course he could!  What would she tell him then?  She sure couldn't
tell him about her father!
 
     Nurse Daniels came back into the room.  Doctor Taylor checked
Wynter's blood pressure while Nurse Daniels checked her temperature
and pulse.  He made notes while Nurse Daniels weighed her.  Then he
indicated she should sit in the chair by the desk instead of on the
exam table.
 
     "Okay, start from the top and tell me what happened. 
Attention to detail, as usual."
 
     When she finished he nodded and said, "Excellent detail as
usual, Doctor King.  So you suffered no trauma from a bicycle
accident?"
 
     "No, sir."
 
     "Other than fondling your breast, he did nothing else to you? 
No attempt at rape other than the oral intercourse that didn't
happen because Ron stopped him?"
 
     Wynter thought she should have been embarrassed, but she was
a doctor talking with another doctor about a patient.  She
pretended she was talking about someone else and wasn't embarrassed
at all.  "No, sir."
 
     He looked at her head and felt several spots on it with his
fingers.  "No bruises."  He palpated her neck.  "No soreness here? 
That's not tender?  Good.  No neck injuries.  I need to check your
chest for bruises.  Not because of any worry about your health, but
because he'll be going to court.  If he bruised you, then it's that
much worse for him."
 
     _If it would help put Will in jail after he caused Jimmy's
accident_, Wynter decided, _I would show the whole waiting room my
bare chest, Kenny included_.  As she loosened and began lowering
the top of her examination gown Nurse Daniels said in what Wynter
thought was a condescending tone, "There's no reason to be
embarrassed about this.  The doctor won't see anything he hasn't
seen before.  This is...."
 
     "Charlene," Doctor Taylor said, cutting her off gently,
"you're speaking to the finest physician some lucky medical school
will have the honor to graduate.  She understands.  You can save
your speech for someone else."  His gray-green eyes twinkled.  "Or,
you can let her quote it for you."
 
     Wynter looked down between the small unmarked small mounds
topped by pink cones.  If her heart swelled any bigger, it would
burst through her chest like that yucky creature in _Alien_, and
she didn't want to miss seeing it happen.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     _Anxiety disorder_, Wynter diagnosed.  It was the sixth time
her father had asked, "You're sure you're okay?" since her exam,
and they weren't even out the front door of the hospital yet.
 
     "You can ask Doctor Taylor again if you don't believe me," she
said and was immediately sorry that she'd sounded cross.
 
     "She's fine," said Kenny with a big grin.
 
     "The _other_ Doctor Taylor."
 
     "Oh."  He shrugged.  "Well... I thought he wanted a second
opinion."
 
     Wynter felt a whole lot better when her father suddenly
started laughing.  He mussed Kenny's perpetually mussed hair.
 
     "The only one who's really hurt is Jimmy," Kenny added.
 
     Wynter shook her head.  "Don't forget Will's broken collar
bones."
 
     Kenny looked very angry.  His furious snarl made her heart
skip a beat.  "Will doesn't count after what he tried to do to
you."
 
     "Kenny!  They hurt you, too, you know."
 
     The door opened and they stepped out into the late afternoon
heat.  "That doesn't matter.  What matters is that they hurt Jimmy
and they were going to hurt _you_."
 
     Her father rested a hand on Kenny's shoulder.  "Kenny, you are
a real gentleman.  The way you care about other people, you're
going to make a fine doctor some day."
 
     Kenny flashed him a big grin.  "I guess the good news is that
the broken bike was Jimmy's.  He won't feel like riding it for a
few days anyhow."
 
     Wynter rolled her eyes up to her father's.  "You want to take
back that statement now?"
 
     They stopped at Otter Park and put the bikes in the back of
her father's pickup.  They dropped Kenny and his bike at his house
first.  When they reached Jimmy's house the car was pulling into
the driveway.
 
     Wynter greeted Jimmy's parents as his father opened the back
door of the sedan.  "Want me to carry you?" he asked.
 
     Jimmy groaned.  "No.  That hurts worse than walking."  Wynter
fidgeted while Mr. McCauley helped ease Jimmy out of the car.  Her
father sat the bicycle on the ground and spoke to Mrs. McCauley. 
Jimmy straightened, grimaced, and looked at Wynter.  "You sure you
hurt yourself worse than this?"
 
     Wynter nodded and put on her most sympathetic expression.  "Uh
huh."
 
     Jimmy's shy grin tried to break through as he nodded.  "Then
I'm sorry it happened to you."
 
     "Well, I'm sorry it happened to you, too.  You get some rest
and take your pain pills and it'll be better in a day or two.  Ice
packs will help.  If you need anything, have your mom call me. 
Even if it's just to stay with you while she goes out.  Okay?"
 
     "Okay.  And thanks.  For, um... everything.  Um... even, um,
for Kenny's."
 
     Wynter tried to keep from blushing when she realized what he
meant.  "Um, that's okay.  It was, um, letting the patient know,
um, that the doctor, um, cared."  _Anxiety disorder!
 
     _"Yeah.  Well, uh, the patient appreciated it because, ah, it
helped."
 
     "Really?"
 
     The grin did break through this time.  "Yeah," he said in a
breathy whisper as his eyes sparkled.
 
     Wynter wished all the parents weren't around so she could kiss
his forehead again.  She immediately regretted that thought.  They
were around because they were concerned and because they loved
their children.  She was being selfish.
 
     _But, it was also good treatment for my patient_, she argued. 
No, that didn't work.  She was trying to justify being selfish.
 
     She realized with a start that Mr. McCauley had moved over to
Mrs. McCauley and her father, leaving them some privacy.  They were
being that nice for her, and she was being selfish.  She sure
wasn't living up to the billing Doctor Taylor had given Nurse
Daniels.
 
     She tried to keep from turning any redder.  "Well, um, maybe
it will last a long time."
 
     Jimmy's eyes dropped to her feet.  "I hope not."  He looked at
her from under his eyebrows.  "It was a nice treatment."
 
     She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and squeezed. 
"Yeah."  She grinned and said, "Now go lie down.  We can't go
adventuring again until you stop hurting, and I'm going to be stuck
in the house with Aunt Dumb and Uncle Bozo while you recrup...
re-cu-per-ate.  Understood?"
 
     Jimmy's grin widened.  "Understood.  Doctor."
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Dragon danced about the yard as Wynter's father parked the
truck in the driveway and punched the garage door opener.  She
opened the driveway gate, petting and speaking to Dragon as he
sniffed, whimpered, and danced.  Her father unloaded her bike from
the truck and put it in among the clutter that kept him from using
the other half of the two-car garage.  As the garage door rumbled
down the three stepped into the cool air of the family room.
 
     Wynter turned and opened her arms.  Her father picked her up
and gave her a fatherly kiss.  "Honey, are you _sure_ you're okay?"
 
     "No."
 
     "I _knew_ it!  What's wrong?"
 
     She pulled her eyebrows together and stuck out her lower lip. 
"I have a father who doesn't believe me when I tell him I'm okay,
even though I have no reason not to tell him the truth."
 
     He stared at her for a moment and then blushed, looking like
an old sheep.  She'd seen her father blush before, but she could
count all the times on one hand.  Maybe, two.  "Well," he said,
"you'll be a parent some day and then you'll understand."
 
     "A."
 
     He frowned, obviously confused.  "What?"
 
     "I started labeling your responses to reduce filing space. 
That's Standard Answer A."
 
     He shook his head and looked like an old sheep again.  "Well,
it's still true."
 
     She tried giving him a lover's kiss, but he pulled back,
turning it into a father-daughter kiss.  She guessed he was still
worried about her.
 
     "Lemonade?" he asked.
 
     "Please!  I'm dying of thirst."
 
     He put her down and followed her into the kitchen, where they
worked together to pour the refreshments.  They sat at the
breakfast nook table.  Instead of taking his customary blocking
position, Dragon sat at her feet and rested his chin on her knee. 
He seemed to understand that something was wrong.  His eyes
reminded her of the way her father's had been in the hospital
waiting room.  She scratched behind his ears with her free hand.
 
     Her father looked at the glass as he rolled it between
parallel palms.  "Ron said he groped your... your breast."
 
     Wynter shrugged.  "Yeah.  I guess he was a tit man."
 
     Her dad's eyes moved sideways to look at her.  "No.  He was
just an animal.  A beast."
 
     Wynter shrugged again and frowned.  "Well, he sure wasn't very
nice."
 
     "And he tried to force you to blow him?"
 
     Wynter's lips tightened into a thin line.  "Yeah.  That was
pretty stupid, wasn't it?"
 
     His head jerked to look directly at her.  "Stupid?  It was
criminal!"
 
     She shrugged yet again.  "Well, it was also stupid.  He had
Jimmy lying there proving that you couldn't do anything, not even
move, with a bad enough pain down there.  So that made me realize
that if Jimmy couldn't do anything, he couldn't either.  If he made
me do it, then I was going to bite him as hard as I could and punch
him in his testicles at the same time."
 
     She watched as he sat there blinking at her, his face a blank
mask, for several seconds.  "I always knew I had a very smart
daughter," he said.  "I just never understood how calm she could be
in an emergency."
 
     Wynter guessed that was because she usually wasn't very calm
in an emergency.  "Nurse Carter said that you can't let yourself
get overwhelmed by the situation.  You have to stay calm so that
you can think and do what's best for the patient."
 
     "Ah," he said with a nod.  "I have Ellen to thank for your
staying calm and thinking about what was best for you."
 
     "No, Daddy!  Not for _me!_  For my _patient!_  Jimmy was hurt
and I needed to help him!"
 
     Wynter had seen that look on Uncle Bob's face once.  Her
father had described it as "looking like he'd been pole-axed."  She
wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but it was the same look that
was on his face now.
 
     "You weren't thinking about what was going to happen to you?"
 
     "_Daddy!_"  She had thought he understood this.  "A good
doctor has to think about her patient, not herself."
 
     "Your mother isn't going to believe me."
 
     She frowned.  "Why?  About what?"
 
     He didn't explain.  "But what about the other one.  Dick. 
What would you do about him when he came after you next?"
 
     She hadn't thought about that.  "I don't know.  I was too busy
worrying about the problem I had to worry about one I might have
later."
 
     The look on his face slowly changed to the one that always
made her heart feel too big for her chest.  It was one that said he
loved her with all his heart.  "And your mother and I were worried
about how you'd get along by yourself in town.  I think we
underestimated you.  But that's a lot easier to do than
overestimating you."
 
     He smiled.
 
     And she knew he really and truly meant it.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Richard lay on his side and looked at the way the bedside lamp
cast a soft glow over her sweet face and its frame of long, blonde
hair.  He placed a hand over one of hers.  "If you don't want to do
anything tonight except cuddle, that's okay.  I understand after
what happened today."
 
     A semblance of her panic attacks flitted across her face. 
"Kenny told you?"
 
     _Well, that's interesting_.  "I meant after what Will tried to
do.  What do you think I meant?"
 
     She blushed.  "Oh.  I thought you meant something else."
 
     "And it's something you don't want to tell me, right?"
 
     "Well....  Um...."
 
     _Obviously not._
 
     "Oh, I might as well.  Kenny will tell everyone anyway.  When
Jimmy was lying there in pain, holding his testicles, well, um,
I..."
 
     _Oh, God, she held his balls for him!_
 
     "...I sorta kissed his forehead.  Just a little.  Because, um,
because.... Well, I don't know.  I thought it might help him if he
knew that, well, you know, that somebody cared."
 
     He noted the irony in being relieved to hear that his daughter
had kissed a boy.  "Well, honey, there's nothing wrong with that. 
I've always told you that a kiss was good medicine.  Sometimes that
does more good than pills."
 
     He watched her eyebrows creep together before she spoke. 
"You're not mad at me?"
 
     "Mad at you for being a good doctor who takes care of her
patient the only way she can?  Honey, I love you!  Why would I be
mad at your for being the kind, loving, caring person your mother
and I have always tried to raise you to be?"
 
     Relief washed over her face, but it dried in an instant. 
"But, well, Kenny started complaining that he wanted one, too, and
Jimmy said to do it and shut him up, and so, well, Kenny wasn't
hurt like Jimmy but....  Well, I kissed his forehead, too."
 
     Richard forced himself not to laugh.  He thought for a moment,
seeking the best words.  "Because your patient was in pain, and
Kenny was making it worse, your patient asked that you do something
that would help him.  Okay?  And because you are such a good
doctor, you did what your patient needed to make him feel better. 
You didn't do it because Kenny asked.  You didn't do it for... for
selfish reasons.  You did it because it was what your patient
needed.  That's another sign of a caring, resourceful doctor."  He
hoped he hadn't overplayed that one.
 
     The relief again returned to her face, this time staying.
 
     "Thank you, Daddy."
 
     "You're welcome, Doctor Daughter."
 
     She grinned.  And froze.  "Uh oh."
 
     "What?"
 
     "When I was leaning over Jimmy one time, I was holding my
ponytail and my blouse together in the same hand.  The blouse
slipped open, and both Jimmy and Kenny saw my bra."
 
     Richard chuckled.  "Honey, Jimmy hurt too much to get horny
and make the pain worse."
 
     "No.  I mean, what if he thought I was like Suzie and showing
him my tits on purpose?"
 
     "How well do you know Jimmy?"
 
     The startled look on her face told him she was wondering what
he'd meant by a question that had such an obvious answer.  She was
analyzing the question to determine what other meanings it might
have.  Finally she said, "What do you mean?"
 
     Richard shrugged his upper shoulder.  "Well, I thought you
knew him better than I did, so either you don't or else you're
deliberately insulting one of my best friends."
 
     "No, I'm not insulting Jimmy!  I'd _never_ do that!"  She
frowned.  "One of your best friends?"
 
     "Well, I wasn't blessed with a son.  I was blessed with the
smartest, the sweetest, and the prettiest daughter any father ever
had.  But if I had been blessed with a son," he raised his free
index finger before her face, "I'd want him to be Jimmy."  He
traced an "X" over his heart.
 
     She blinked at him.  "Really?" she asked in a breathy whisper.
 
     "Really.  That's how well _I_ know him."  He smiled at her. 
"Wynter, trust me on this if you never, ever, trust me on anything
else:  there is no way that Jimmy is going to think you are like
Suzie.  No way.  Jimmy is far too smart to think that accidental is
deliberate.  He knows how you are in here," he touched her
forehead, "and in here."  He touched her chest over her heart.  "If
you think Jimmy would confuse you with Suzie in this situation,
then you don't know him a tenth as well as I thought you did.  I,
for one, refuse to believe you're that dumb.  I know that Jimmy
isn't."
 
     Her eyes seemed to be wetter than usual.  Yes.  She sniffed
once.  Then she said, "Daddy, would you just hold and squeeze me
for a couple of minutes?"
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     _FUCK!_
 
     _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck, FUCK!_  She
wanted to scream the words into the darkness of her bedroom, but
her stupid mother would hear her and ground her another three or
four days.  It was that stupid Kenny's fault that she was grounded
in the first stupid place, and now he just _had_ to call and tell
her what had happened to _her_ Jimmy and that stupid Wynter just so
she'd scream "fuck" and get grounded even longer.  And he'd waited
until right at bedtime so that she'd be sure to lie awake half the
night thinking about it, too.
 
     _Her_ Jimmy was lying at home is his bed in pain because his
stupid nuts had been crushed--served men right for having the
stupid things out there where they could get hurt in the first
place--and she was _grounded!_  Now that stupid Future MD could
spend all her time with him and....
 
     _No!_  Wynter's stupid aunt and even stupider uncle were
coming for a visit.  She would be stuck at home with them and there
would be nothing stopping Suzie from taking care of _her man_. 
Well, except for the inconvenient fact that her stupid mother had
grounded her.  She needed to get to Jimmy!  She'd massage his nuts
the way he'd massaged the cramp in her leg, and he'd be so grateful
he'd probably marry her right there on the spot if he could. 
Little Miss Prissy would never touch Jimmy's nuts.  Even if the
dolt let her, which he wouldn't.
 
     _Oh, that's right_.  He wouldn't let Suzie touch them, either,
unless she could come up with an excuse.  She knew that once she
got her hands on the stupid things and started massaging the hurt
out, he'd be ever so grateful.  There had to be a way.  First she
had to think of a way to get to Jimmy's and then she needed to
think of a way to get her hands on his stupid nuts for a massage.
 
     That problem might be too much for a lesser woman to handle,
but _she_ was Suzie Middleton, and _her man_ was in pain and needed
her!
 
 
 
                               Ten
 
     Wynter held back her hair so that it wouldn't tickle her
father and awaken him as she gave him a gentle nose-and-lips kiss. 
"I love you with all my heart," she whispered and then slipped out
of the bed.  Dragon followed her to the bathroom.  After she had
voided the overnight accumulation of urine she washed her
split--her pussy--really good with soap and warm water in case her
father wanted to eat her when he woke up.  It was, after all, his
last chance for sexual activities until after Aunt Diane and Uncle
Bob left on Sunday.  She used some minty mouthwash, too.  She
really wanted to crawl back in bed with him and snuggle back to
sleep, but she had a patient to care for.
 
     After her father had turned the light out she had wondered
what she could give Jimmy to make him feel better.  Her father
reminded her that his flowers drawing had made him feel especially
good when he was trapped in all those casts back in the spring. 
She didn't think that Jimmy would like the flowers as much as her
father had, but she just knew he'd like a drawing of the deer and
her baby.  But she wouldn't have time to do it right if she were
going to give it to Jimmy the next day.  She'd draw it for him, but
she'd take her time and do the best job possible.  But what to give
him for now?  The answer had come to her as soon as she awoke.
 
     As Dragon established his bedroom door blockade she whispered,
"I love you," to her father, put her hair in a ponytail scrunchie,
and then sat at her desk.  The cold wood of the seat on her bare
butt made her shiver, but it wasn't unpleasant.  She thought for a
moment and then pulled out a small drawing pad and her colored
pencils.  The first four attempts went into her trash can rather
quickly.  She was almost finished with the fifth attempt when she
heard a sigh behind her and the sound of a hand searching the
sheets.  She turned around as he rolled over and looked at her.
 
     He made a frumpy face.  "There's no teddy bear to squeeze," he
complained.
 
     She put down the pencil and stood.  "I guess you'll just have
to squeeze me," she said, sliding under the sheet.  "But it'll cost
you one dragon-breath kiss."
 
     "I just happen to have some," he said and drew her to him. 
Afterward he asked, "What are you doing up early?"
 
     "I was making something for Jimmy.  You made me think of it
when you mentioned your flowers picture last night.  It's sort of
a cartoon, but I've never done any cartoon-style drawings before. 
It may not be very good, and I'm afraid he won't like it."
 
     The look he gave her made her think he was going to say "Earth
to Wynter!" in Kenny's weird voice.  Instead he kept looking at
her, like he was thinking of what to say.  Then he adjusted his
head on the pillow and said, "Class is now in session.  I will call
the roll of students.  Doctor King?"
 
     She was so surprised that he'd said "Doctor King" that she
failed to respond.  He repeated it.  "Uh, yes.  Present!" she said.
 
     "Good.  Everybody is here.  Today's class will start with an
oral pop quiz.  Doctor King, you have a patient with a fever.  Does
he have peritonitis, the flu, or pneumonia?"
 
     Her response was obvious, so she started trying to apply it to
what she'd just said.  She couldn't make it fit.  "I don't know. 
I need to know the rest of the symptoms."
 
     "So what you are saying, Doctor King," he replied, "is that
you can't diagnose a medical situation without considering all the
facts.  Am I correct?"
 
     "Yes, sir, that is correct."  She thought she understood where
he was headed but wasn't sure of his specific point.
 
     "Can you explain why the need to consider all the facts is not
relevant in a non-medical situation?"
 
     He waited patiently as always while she turned the question
over and examined it from all angles.  "It should be relevant in
all situations, both medical and non-medical."
 
     "Aha!"  She giggled at his wide eyes and upthrust forefinger. 
"So do you know what facts you have overlooked in this situation?"
 
     "Well...."  She thought for a few moments.  "Not all of them,
I guess."
 
     "I guess not."  His smile made her heart feel too big for her
chest again.  "The most important one, aside from the fact that
it's something you made just for him, is that it's your very first
cartoon.  There can be only one first item of anything.  You can
make a million of something, but only one can be the first.  The
very first item of anything is almost always something special. 
It's a collector's item or a museum piece or whatever it may be. 
But it's special because there's not another first one and there
never will be."
 
     He was _reinforcing the lesson_ again, just the way it would
be done in medical school.  She understood what he was saying and
agreed.  "But sometimes the very first of anything is very
primitive and not very good."
 
     Up came his finger again.  "Aha!"  That made her grin.  "So
you're saying that Leeuwenhoek's first microscope is not worth
having because it's so primitive compared to today's instruments?"
 
     She saw his point and conceded.  "I just hope he likes it
anyway, despite its being a first effort."
 
     "Honey, you could give him a road-kill skunk mounted on used
plywood and he'd treasure it."
 
     She blushed.  "Well, maybe if his alternative was hospital
food."
 
     He chuckled and brushed the backs of his fingers across her
cheek.  "Is it private, or do I get to see it?"
 
     "You can see it, but it's not quite finished."
 
     "Maybe seeing it partially finished might teach me how to draw
better."
 
     "Well," she said, sliding her hand down under the sheet, "I
might be able to finish it if I wasn't distracted by being so
horny."  She wrapped her hand around him and gave her best
exasperated sigh.  "Nobody's eaten my pussy in two days."
 
     He rolled over on his back, turned his face up, and said,
"Have a seat, please."
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Suzie couldn't believe how simple the answer was once she'd
calmed down from Caroline's refusal to help her.  She simply waited
until she heard her mother in the basement, moving clothes from the
washer to the dryer, and called Grandma Binns.  "Mother just works
ever so hard keeping the house clean and everything," she said,
"and she never goes anywhere.  It would be nice if you invited her
over for lunch to visit for a couple of hours.  'Course, if she
knows you're asking her over for her benefit, she won't come, and
Grandma, I'm afraid that she's working so hard that she'll make
herself sick if she doesn't take a break."
 
     When she hung up the phone it was with the agreement that
Grandma would call back in a few minutes and tell her stupid mother
some stupid story that would make her mother want to go visit the
sanctimonious old bag.  Suzie didn't know what "sanctimonious"
meant, but she knew it wasn't a compliment and she liked the sound
of it.  Suzie didn't much care for Grandma Binns because she never
gave Suzie anything except stupid clothing for presents at
Christmas and on birthdays.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Wynter giggled as she came down from her second orgasm.  The
sound came out in bursts because she was lying on her back, her
legs up and mostly over the points of her father's pelvis as he
thrust into her.
 
     "Okay?" he gasped into her ear.
 
     She though it was incredibly sweet of him to hold back his
orgasm until she'd had her second one.  "Uh huh," she moaned,
unlocking her arms from around his neck.  "Your turn."
 
     As his head rose she grabbed his face between her hands and
gave him the best lover's kiss she could in the time available. 
That wasn't very much time because his body kept rising and quickly
pulled his face away from hers.  His back arched away and his face
twisted into what should have been the most frightening grimace in
the world, but instead it looked more wonderful than she would ever
have words to express.
 
     He began short-stroking into her with such fury that she was
glad she had lots of pussy juice for lubrication.  She sure didn't
want friction heat to set the sheets on fire before he had his
relief.  She was aware, as always as this moment, that he was just
barely reaching to the end of her pussy and stopping before he went
too far.  She was deeper now than she had been the first time they
had made love and fucked, but his hard dick was still too long for
her to hold all of it.  She knew he was getting plenty of
stimulation from the tight fit of her pussy stretched around
him--so was she--but she decided his thoughtfulness deserved a
reward.  She squeezed her pussy muscles tighter around him.
 
     He gasped and growled something she translated as, "I love
you."
 
     "I love you, too," she said, rubbing her hands up and down his
sweaty rib cage, as if masturbating his body.  "Your turn to cum
now."
 
     His eyelids squeezed together and his lips pulled back from
his clenched teeth as he pumped even faster.  His throat strangled
a growl into almost a whimper, relaxing and freeing it as his cum
began spewing into her.  She thought she'd never see a more
beautiful sight and clamped her pussy muscles even tighter, trying
to give him as much pleasure from his release as he'd given her. 
Eventually, and far to soon as far as she was concerned, he
relaxed, holding himself up with shaking arms as he visually
measured the spaces to either side of her.  He eased his shrinking
dick out of her body and crashed to the mattress at her right side,
gasping for air around short, happy laughs.
 
     Wynter knew that if she died right now, they'd have to bury
her with the biggest smile ever on her face because nobody could
take it away.  She lay with her head on her father's left shoulder,
his arm wrapped around to snuggle her close to him.  She felt a
warm trickle of his semen run down her split and the crack of her
butt.  "You're going to make me stay in the wet spot, aren't you?"
she said between gasps of air.
 
     "If I had my way and the stamina," he gasped, "there wouldn't
be a dry spot anywhere on this bed."
 
     She giggled and both lay still, quietly enjoying the closeness
of each other and getting their breath back.  They resumed normal
breathing just as the phone rang.  "Drat."  Mother should be on the
plane at that time, so Wynter knew that it couldn't be her.  It was
on her side of the bed, so she rolled over and answered it.  It was
Mrs. McCauley.
 
     "Oh, good morning.  How's Jimmy?"
 
     _"He's feeling better, but I don't want to leave him home
alone while I go shopping.  Can you come over at twelve-thirty and
keep him company while I go to Safeway and run some errands?  I'll
be gone about an hour."_
 
     "Sure!  I mean, yes, ma'am.  I have something for him that I
need to drop off anyway."
 
     _"I'm sure that will cheer him up.  I'll see you then.  Good
bye."_
 
     "Bye."  She hung up the phone and jumped as her father pinched
her naked butt.  She explained the phone call to him.
 
     He gave her a weird smile as she spoke, but then he told her
that he loved her.  "You're the best doctor ever," he said.  "Guess
we'd better get cleaned up so you can finish the drawing before you
get too horny again."
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Suzie looked at the clock.  It was almost noon, and her stupid
mother hadn't left yet.  She had both daughters in the living room
and was issuing final instructions.
 
     "Don't you let her leave the house," Mrs. Middleton warned,
"or I'll ground you, too."
 
     Caroline huffed and shook her head, causing her auburn hair to
fan out.  "Mother, please!  I _told_ you I won't let her out. 
Okay?"
 
     "And don't you go off and leave her alone.  Understand?"
 
     Suzie glanced at Caroline.  The stupid slut was wearing the
stupid gold chain necklace that Ray Simons had given her.  She
couldn't believe that her mother was so stupid as not to realize by
now that wearing it meant she was about to do the stupid dolt
again.  From the sounds she'd heard coming from Caroline's room she
knew that she was preparing to do him there instead of in his car
somewhere.  Caroline always closed her stupid door and told Suzie
to stay out while she was doing her stupid boyfriends.  Suzie could
leave and take half their family's stupid cheap furnishings and the
stupid slut wouldn't know until she opened her stupid door and came
out.
 
     She looked out the living room window, half expecting to see
Ray parked across the street and waiting for her mother to leave. 
The street was empty.
 
     When they were finally alone in the house Caroline said, "I'm
going to my room, Twerp.  I don't want to see you or hear from you
until after Mother returns."  Which was her stupid way of telling
Suzie that she'd better get out and stay out.  Which was Suzie's
plan anyway.
 
     Suzie opened the back door, in case her mother was watching
the front from the end of the street, and heard the house phone and
Caroline's phone both ring almost at the same time.  Well, the
stupid slut didn't want to hear her, so she was out of there.  _Her
man_ needed her!  She hopped over the wooden back fence into the
Jacksons' yard, scurried around to the front, and began running
east on Funderburg Way toward Ninth Street.  As she crossed the
bridge she realized that she could have taken the direct route
north.  Porcupine Creek was low enough that she could have removed
her sneakers and socks and waded across the shallows along the line
of Twelfth Street.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     As Wynter taped the bow to Jimmy's present, her mother called. 

She had been at the airport for an hour, but Aunt Diane and Uncle
Bob were not there to pick her up.  Worse, they weren't answering
their cell phone, either.  Nobody was surprised.  Mother was going
to give them one more hour and then rent a car rather than ask her
father to come get her.
 
     Wynter put the carefully-wrapped package in the saddlebag
basket of her bike, being extra careful not to damage the bright
blue bow.  She gave her father a good-bye kiss and Dragon a dog
biscuit and hug, warned her father not to hurt himself while she
was gone because she didn't need two patients, and pedaled toward
Jimmy's house.  She was surprised to find Jimmy's mom backing out
of the garage as she arrived.  Mrs. McCauley explained that Suzie
had just arrived and was with Jimmy.  Wynter wasn't sure how she
felt about that.
 
     Mrs. McCauley told her to go on in because Jimmy was expecting
her, wished her a nice visit, told her to help herself to any juice
or milk she wanted, and left.  Wynter removed the package from the
basket, feeling sorry that she hadn't brought something for Suzie,
and rushed up the sidewalk to the front door.  As she opened it she
heard a scream from upstairs.  A scream of pain!
 
     She rushed up the stairs and spun around the newel post. 
Suzie was standing against the wall, her hands over her mouth and
tears streaming from her wide eyes.  Wynter raced into the room. 
Jimmy was curled up in a ball under part of the sheet.  He was
obviously holding his crotch.
 
     She had to remind herself not to do anything until she
understood the situation.  She put the flat package on the night
stand and a comforting hand on his shoulder.  "Jimmy, what's
wrong?"  When he could do nothing but groan she turned to Suzie. 
"Suzie, what happened to Jimmy?"
 
     Frightened green eyes turned to hers.  "I was just...  I was
trying to help.  I wanted to help him feel better."
 
     Wynter fought down a wave of panic.  Doctors had to stay calm
in emergencies.  But her anxiety showed in her voice when she asked
in too harsh a tone, "What did you _do?_"
 
     "Well, I...."  Tears streamed down her cheeks.  "He made me
feel so much better when he massaged my legs that I thought if I
massaged his nuts...  Um, you know, if I could relieve the ache
like he did...."
 
     Wynter couldn't believe her ears.  "Where's your ice pack,
Jimmy.  Up here?"
 
     "Freezer," he gasped.
 
     "Wait right there," she said to Suzie as she raced down the
door, not regretting the harsh tone this time.  She had to force
herself not to run down the stairs.  She took one of two gel packs
from the freezer, wrapped it in a dish towel, and hurried back to
Jimmy's room.  Suzie was still cringing against the wall, her hands
again over her mouth.  Wynter reached for the sheet and stopped.
 
     "Um...."  _Anxiety disorder!  Calm down.  Doctors don't
panic._  She offered him the pack.  "Can you do it?"
 
     Jimmy groaned.  Somewhere in the middle was an "uh huh" sound
and a hand crept out from under the sheet to take the pack.
 
     Wynter turned to Suzie as Jimmy's hand and the ice pack
disappeared.  "Suzie!  He landed on the bar of the bike!  It's
like... like... well, it's sorta like a broken leg.  You wouldn't
have wanted him to massage your leg if it had been broken, would
you?"
 
     Suzie's face was so red that it made her hair look light
blonde.  "I guess not," she whimpered.
 
     "You can't just treat something without knowing what's wrong
and how to treat it properly!"  The lights came on.  "Just like,"
she said in a softer voice, "just like you shouldn't start feeling
for injuries until you visually assess the situation.  Like I did
after he was hurt."
 
     Suzie didn't stop crying, but she did frown at Wynter.
 
     Wynter felt her face redden.  "When I tried to move his arm so
I could check his abdomen.  Suzie, I'm sorry for the way I yelled
at you, but I was worried about Jimmy.  I guess I was panicking
again, and I shouldn't have.  I should have known you wouldn't hurt
him on purpose."
 
     She gave Suzie a little hug, but didn't feel any less tension
in Suzie's body.  Wynter guessed she couldn't blame her friend for
being mad because she had assumed the worst.  She guided Suzie
toward Jimmy.  They stopped beside his bed.  He was no longer
moaning loudly, though he occasionally whimpered and his legs
slowly moved around under the sheet.
 
     "Are you better?" Wynter asked.
 
     "I'll live."  Wynter thought the look he was giving Suzie was
most unpleasant and was glad he wasn't glaring at her that way.
 
     "Jimmy, Suzie's sorry.  She was just trying to help and didn't
know the right thing to do.  I've explained it to her.  Okay?"  She
gave a little tug with the arm around Suzie.
 
     Suzie looked to Wynter and then back to Jimmy.  "Yeah.  I'm
sorry" (sniff) "Jimmy.  I was only" (sniff) "trying to help," she
mumbled.
 
     Jimmy looked a Wynter for a moment and then at Suzie again. 
"Okay," he said.  Wynter thought he sure didn't sound like he
really and truly meant it, but maybe it was because he was still in
pain.  In a strained voice he said, "You never answered me.  I
thought you were still grounded."
 
     Suzie sniffed once more.  "I am, but you were hurt and I
wanted to help you.  Mother's at Grandma's and I snuck out."
 
     Jimmy moved slightly and winced.  "Suzie, I don't want to you
get in more trouble over me.  You'll be grounded until school
starts if your mother finds out.  You need to get back home as
quick as possible so you won't be grounded the rest of vacation."
 
     Suzie shrugged.  "She'll be gone a couple of hours."
 
     "Yeah, but what if she calls to check on you?"
 
     Wynter felt Suzie stiffen.  Obviously that thought had never
arisen.  "If she knows you've gone out when you were grounded
before, she'll probably check on you, trying to catch you."
 
     She and Jimmy quickly convinced Suzie to hurry home before she
was caught.  After a few mumbled wishes for Jimmy's quick recovery
and an apologetic farewell, Suzie left.  She didn't look very happy
about leaving, but that probably was because she was worried over
how she'd accidentally hurt Jimmy.
 
     Jimmy nodded at the edge of the bed.  "You can sit here. 
If... if you want to."
 
     Wynter felt her heart swell and eased down on the mattress,
careful not to shake it.  She smiled at him and then her eyes
dropped to her lap, where she was trying to decide what to do with
her hands.  "You should have warned her not to squeeze," she said.
 
     When he didn't speak she looked up.  He was giving her _that_
look.  She felt her face redden.
 
     His voice was very soft, but he didn't sound angry.  If
anything, she thought it sounded disappointed.  "I didn't have time
to say anything.  She said, 'I know just what you need,' shoved her
hand under the sheet, almost hit... them, grabbed, and squeezed. 
I didn't have time to stop her.  You said you knew how it felt. 
You think I'd _want_ anybody touching them right now?"
 
     Wynter gasped and wanted to crawl under the bed.  "I'm sorry. 
I was so worried about you that I wasn't thinking, I guess.  I'm
not being a very good doctor for you, am I?  Or a good friend?"
 
     His hand slid out from under the sheet and into her lap,
closing around her left hand.  "You're being the best friend I
have," he said with a shy smile.  "And the only two doctors I would
trust right now are Doctor King and Doctor Taylor.  The older
Doctor Taylor, of course."
 
     She smiled but didn't duck her head, maybe because it was
already down.
 
     "And, I'm sorta glad that you made a mistake, you know?  If
you were perfect all the time, I guess I'd be intimidated and
afraid of you."
 
     "You shouldn't be in... in-tim-i-dated by me."  _Drat!_ she
thought, upset at stumbling over the word in his presence.
 
     His smile grew slightly.  "I guess I'm not perfect, either."
 
     Her own smile grew across her lips.  Then she remembered. 
"Oh!  I brought you something."  She took the flat package from the
night stand and offered it to him.
 
     "That looks too pretty to open," he said, making her heart
feel too big for her chest again.  His other arm appeared and he
took it in both hands.  He carefully removed the bow and then the
tape holding the silver paper closed.  She put the bow and paper on
the night stand as he said, "Wow!  Bristol board!  Just what I
needed!"
 
     Jimmy had the same smirk Daddy had on his face when he was
being a smarty pants.  "It's between the Bristol board, silly." 
She hesitated.  "Um, it's my first time trying to do this."
 
     "Really?"  She thought he looked even more happy.  "Just for
me?  Wow."  She thought he was being a smarty pants again, but his
eyes said he really and truly meant it.
 
     He removed the front protective board, looked, and started
laughing.  That caused him to pull his legs up under the sheet and
grab his groin with his hand.
 
     She hadn't thought about that!  Wynter was shocked at how
thoughtless she'd been.  "Oh, Jimmy, I'm sorry!  I didn't think
about making you hurt yourself!"
 
     He shook his head on the pillow.  "Remember when I said it was
worth landing on the bar to get rid of Will and Dick?  Well, that
little ache was even more worth it for this.  I _love_ it! 
Especially Kenny!"
 
     That made her feel better as he lifted it for another look,
bringing his other hand up to point.
 
     "Okay, that's me as Anakin, you as Senator Amidala...."  He
looked from the cartoon to Wynter.  "But I think I like the
ponytail instead of this hairdo," he said, making her heart swell
again.  "Ron as Obi-Wan.  And Kenny...."  He started laughing again
at the short figure that was nine-tenths Yoda but with parts of
Kenny's face and his black, rectangular glasses.
 
     When he reached for his groin again, Wynter's hand moved
toward his.  She suddenly realized what she was doing and, instead,
placed it very lightly on his forearm, careful not to cause him to
press down or pull back.  He gave her a gentle smile and nod, and
she felt her own smile spread across her face.  Then he looked at
the cartoon and started laughing again.  With tears in his eyes the
laughter finally gave way to giggles.  "This is the third best
thing you've ever given me."

 
     Wynter frowned.  "Third best?"
 
     "Uh huh," he said, twisting his head as if trying to see his
neck.  She looked and saw a leather thong mostly hidden by his
pajama top.  "This was the second best."
 
     Her heart _really_ swelled up when she saw he was wearing her
arrowhead.  "What was the first?"
 
     He blushed, but his eyes stayed on hers.  "My doctor's special
treatment after I was hurt."
 
     "Oh.  Um... is your, um, prescription still working or did it,
um, run out?"
 
     He seemed to almost shrug.  "Well, um...."
 
     _Mutual anxiety disorder!_ she realized.
 
     "I, um, wouldn't mind, um, a refill."  He seemed to almost
shrug again.  "If," he added hastily, "the, um Doctor prescribes
it, of course."
 
     She nodded shyly, moved her hand from his arm to his other
shoulder so that she wouldn't cause any painful pressure, and
leaned forward over his forehead.  Even though he was still in pain
he made a happy sighing sound.
 
     She pulled back until their faces were a foot apart.  The pain
was visible only in the corners of his eyes.  The rest of his face
was a happy smile that made her feel good all over.  "Thank you,"
he whispered.  "If, um, I have a relapse, can I, um, call my Doctor
for a refill?"
 
     She thought her voice sounded strangely deeper as she
whispered, "Maybe you, um, need the extra-strength prescription." 
When he nodded she lowered her lips to his.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     _FUCK!_
 
     Suzie couldn't stop crying as she wandered, head down, south
on Twelfth Street.  Why hadn't somebody _told_ her that you
shouldn't squeeze a guy's stupid nuts when he'd hurt them.  _It's
Kenny's fault_, she decided.  _He never told me and he should have! 

Probably wanted to keep it his own stupid little secret to share
with Little Miss Future MD_.
 
     But Little Miss Perfect had never touched Jimmy's stupid nuts. 

She'd admitted it.
 
     But Jimmy had sent her away so that he could be alone with...
_Her_.
 
     Well, maybe not.  He'd forgiven her and said she should get
home so that she wouldn't be grounded until the stupid school
started.  Her head came up as she realized the truth.  _Of course!_ 

He'd finally had time to think about what he'd felt at the movies. 
He'd told Kenny he'd played with it.  He'd probably been lying
there in his room, holding his stupid nuts, when he'd started
thinking about how he'd played with her boobie, gotten a stiffy,
and played with his stupid thingy while he thought about her
boobies!
 
     He didn't want her to be grounded so that he could play with
them some more!  If Kenny hadn't made her grab Jimmy's nuts and
hurt him again--and if... _She_... hadn't shown up--she'd be
sitting there on his bed with one of his hands discovering that she
wasn't wearing a stupid bra and the other discovering she wasn't
wearing any stupid panties!  _You stupid dolt, Kenny!  It's all
your fault!_
 
     Well, wait.  Jimmy wanted to take her out again, so he'd still
have sent her away so that she wouldn't be grounded and they could
go out again!  She'd finally turned Jimmy's head back toward her. 
But she just _knew_ that he wouldn't have sent her home until he
had first played with her boobies without anything between them and
his hand, and had finger-fucked her so that he could smell her
fairy moans on his finger while he played with his stiffy.  If only
that stupid Kenny had told her about how to handle a guy's nuts,
Jimmy would probably have asked her to play with it for him.  And
she would have, right after he got her off first because he loved
her.
 
     "Hey, Suzie!"
 
     Startled, she turned toward the voice.  It was David Corman
leaning over his front fence.  "You wanna go...."
 
     "_FUCK OFF!_"
 
     Well, wasn't that just the second dumbest thing she'd done
today.  If anyone had heard her and told her stupid mother, she be
in trouble twice.  Mother would know that she'd left the house....
 
     _Fuck!_  She ran down the street, hopped the fence, and
disappeared into the woods, stopping only long enough to remove her
shoes and socks at Porcupine Creek and replace them after crossing
it.  She cut through the Jacksons' yard again, this time to save
precious seconds.  She pulled herself up on the fence and jumped,
losing her balance when she landed.  She staggered backwards into
one of the stupid tea rose plants her father raised.  She threw her
arms out and caught her weight on the fence, barely avoiding
falling right in the middle of the stupid thing.  He spent so much
time with them that he'd know if she damaged one.  Her stupid
mother would put the damaged plant together with the scratches
she'd get, and she'd be grounded until Christmas next year.
 
     Her hand hurt as she pushed away from the fence.  She'd picked
up a splinter as the base of her thumb.  She couldn't get it out
with her fingernails and had to wait until she could get to the
tweezers in the kitchen junk drawer.
 
     She grabbed a cola from the fridge and let the cold can soothe
her hand.  She paused to catch her breath while she drank it,
occasionally giggling because Jimmy loved her again.  She tossed
the empty can in the recycle bin and then headed to her room to
consider her next move.  In the quietness of the house she could
hear the springs of Caroline's bed squeaking as she did Ray.  She
reached for her doorknob but froze when she heard a boy's laugh. 
It sounded sort of familiar and not at all deep like Ray's.  She
spun around to Caroline's door and slowly turned the knob.  She
eased it open enough for her to peek inside.
 
     She saw her naked sister's big stupid butt clenching and
unclenching as she sat on top of someone and rode him.  When
Caroline's butt unclenched and lifted Suzie could see, thrust up
between the slut's stupid shaved cunny lips, a small, thin stiffy
glistening with cunny cream.  Or it seemed to her to be small and
not what she'd have expected from someone the size and age of Ray,
based on the pictures she'd seen in some of the magazines Kenny had
snuck out of his house.
 
     Caroline whispered something Suzie couldn't understand, and
the guy giggled and raised his legs slightly.  That was enough for
Suzie.  She'd know those knobby knees anywhere.  She felt her face
turning scarlet and her heart pounding as she took a deep breath,
threw open the door, and screamed, "_KENNY!_"
 
 
 
                              Eleven
 
     The cell phone rang as Angie was reaching for her driver's
license.  She looked at the caller ID and switched it on and
snarled.  "Where the hell are you, for piss sake?"
 
     "_We're outside door 617, where you said to meet you, waiting
to pick you up.  Where are you?_"
 
     "I'm down at the Enterprise rental counter"
 
     "_What?_"  Diane paused to repeat that to Bob, who asked why
she was doing that.  "_Bob wants to know why you're renting a car. 
Did you forget that we're picking you up?_"
 
     Angie forced herself not to scream.  "You were supposed to
pick me up two hours ago.  You weren't here.  I couldn't reach your
phone...."
 
     "_Oh, well, we turned that off so that it wouldn't wake Baby
Christopher after he went to sleep.  Wait a minute._"  Diane
apparently covered the mouthpiece because Bob's voice became too
muffled for her to understand the words.  "_Sis, Bob says you
better get up here in a hurry or they're going to make him drive
around the loop again.  We can only wait for a few minutes, and
we've wasted most of our time because you weren't here and we
thought you would be, like you said._"
 
     "Like I..."  Angie forced her voice back to normal and eased
her grip on the phone before she crushed it.  "Where the hell have
you two been?"
 
     "_Aaangela,_" Diane said drawing out the first syllable in the
slow, patient voice she always used when she said Angie's given
name.  "_There's three of us now.  You shouldn't ignore Baby
Christopher or you'll give him an inferiority complex._"
 
     Angie drew a deep breath and let it out through clenched
teeth.  The boy was barely a year old.  The young woman behind the
counter looked at Angie's face and withdrew to take care of some
suddenly-remembered urgent business anywhere else.   "Fine.  Where. 

Have.  You.  _Three_. Been?"
 
     "_Oh, well, we left yesterday and stopped in Sterling for the
night.  A guy who used to work with Bob lives there now.  Did you
ever meet Karl Daggett?  He married Karl's crazy sister who was
older than me.  She drove that little green foreign car when you
were away at college?  He has another foreign car.  This one's a
black one, though.  Looks much nicer than her green one, but it's
still a foreign car.  I don't know why he can't buy a good American
car like decent folks._"
 
     "Sis," Angie interrupted, feeling her temples starting to
throb, "you had plenty of time to get here from Sterling by
eleven-thirty."
 
     "_Oh, well, he called again as Bob got out of the shower this
morning.  You know, for a supposedly nice motel, according to their
advertisements anyway, they sure did have some stinky shampoo.  And
I wouldn't use their conditioner on Wynter's mutt.  They should be
sued for false advertising.  You shouldn't never, ever stay in one
of those when you're travelling.  We should have stayed in a Motel
6 or a Red Roof.  You should always stay in one, too, if there's
one there.  Unless you're overseas.  I guess they don't have any
outside the country.  They don't advertise any foreign locations on
tv._
 
     "_Anyway, he invited us to eat breakfast at some new
restaurant that has a breakfast bar.  So, after Baby Christopher
finally woke up and I fed him, we went there for breakfast.  He'd
already had a half-a-dozen cups of coffee and a cinnamon roll!  Can
you believe that?  And the coffee wasn't nearly as good as what we
have at the truck stop!  The food wasn't bad, but they put chunks
of green pepper in the scrambled eggs, and you know how I feel
about green peppers._"
 
     The throbbing in her temples became a pulsing ache.  She put
an elbow on the counter, dropped her head to her fingers, and
massaged the painful spots.  "You went out for a late breakfast
knowing you had to pick me up, for piss sake?"
 
     "_Aaangela,_" she drawled patiently, "_he asked and we had to
accept.  It would have been impolite to refuse him.  Honestly, Sis,
don't you ever think of anyone but yourself?  Wait a minute._" 
More covered mouthpiece and muffled conversation while Angie
wrestled her wrath into submission, and then, "_Well, now you've
done it.  We have to move the car.  Bob will drive slowly around
the loop.  Try to be here when we get back, okay?  Baby
Christopher's been in the car long enough as it is, and we still
have to drive all the way to your place after we stop off at one of
Bob's suppliers._"  She switched off the phone without another
word.
 
     Angie jerked herself upright and turned to glare up at the
approximate space where Diane was located.  She fumed at the silent
phone for several long seconds, flipped the cover down, and then
turned to the leasing agent who had reappeared behind the counter. 
She opened her mouth to say something apologetic, but the woman cut
her off with a wave of her hand and a pained look.
 
     "Believe me, I understand completely.  I have one just like
that."  A sly smile crossed her face.  "Want to rent anyway?  I
would."
 
     When Angie shook her head the young woman nodded with a
you'll-be-sorry look and tore the rental form in half.  "Good luck,
then.  I'm sure you'll need it."
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Wynter struggled with the urge to slip her tongue out in a
lover's kiss, and was saved by the doorbell.  It was Mr. Tucker
with the mail.  He had a package that was addressed to Jimmy and
was too big for the mailbox.  Wynter thanked him and answered his
questions about Jimmy's recovery.  She didn't mention the relapse
Suzie had accidentally caused.  He told her that several people on
his route had asked if he had any news about them.  Then he turned
a little red and asked how she was.  When she said that she was
fine, he promised to tell everyone the good news.
 
     The package was a large book--Jimmy called it a "coffee table
book" and it sure seemed to be about the size of one--about gems
and semiprecious stones and had lots of pictures.  She couldn't
wait to tell Daddy what Jimmy had ordered so she could see the look
on his face.  They tried to determine the best way for her to sit
so that they could look at it together.  Finally she lay down
beside him.  On top of the sheet, of course.  Jimmy wasn't wearing
any pajama bottoms or undies.
 
     She held the book in her left hand and he in his right so that
they could hold hands.  "Comfy?" he asked when they were settled.
 
     She turned her head to answer and saw his face an inch from
hers.  "Uh huh," she said and gave him another quick kiss on the
lips.  She had thought Ron had a bright smile, but Jimmy's seemed
to blind her as he sighed with happiness.
 
     She felt a horniness in her vaginal region.  That was an odd
thought, but she couldn't make herself think "in her pussy" the way
she did when she gave her father a lover's kiss.  It kept flashing
through her mind as "in her vaginal region."  She guessed that she
was finally putting her father, who loved her with all his heart,
first in her feelings the way she was supposed to do.
 
     They stopped reading after about an hour, when Jimmy asked if
she'd swap the ice packs for him.  While she was in the kitchen she
poured a small pineapple-orange juice for Jimmy and a small orange
juice for herself.  She waited while he adjusted the frozen
gel-pack under the sheet and then handed him his juice.  As he took
a sip she asked if he was feeling better.
 
     "Um, it's getting better, but I think maybe a prescription
refill might make it work faster."
 
     She grinned and bent over him, then wiped his lips. 
"Pineapple," she explained before kissing him.  When she pulled
back he looked avast.  Or was the word _aghast_?  She'd have to
look that up in her dictionary.
 
     "You don't like pineapple?"
 
     She shrugged.  "Not really.  Especially since Aunt Diane
insisted I eat some of her pineapple upside-down cake once."
 
     "Oh, Wynter, I'm sorry.  I didn't know," he said.  His face
said he really and truly meant it.
 
     She ran the tip of her tongue around her lips.  "That's okay. 
Besides, I don't taste it anyway."
 
     He looked relieved as he smiled gently and nodded in his
particular way.
 
     A thought came to her.  "Can I tell you something?"
 
     "Sure," he said, looking happy as she sat on the edge of the
bed.
 
     "Remember the day you helped me put the stuff away in my
room?"
 
     "Are you kidding?  That was the best day of my life!  Well,"
he added, looking a little like an old sheep, "except maybe for
today."
 
     She started to argue that he was injured today, but then she
realized what he meant.  She was pleased with herself because she
kept her head from lowering.  "Uh huh.  Well, before you came by,
Daddy brought home a new swamp cooler pump and some chicken. 
Mother got to kiss him first and they just stretched it out longer
and longer and longer until I said I was going to eat up all the
chicken if I didn't get my kiss.  Then they acted like a couple of
smarty pantses and I still couldn't get my kiss from Daddy.  So..."
 
     She realized she was looking at her juice glass and forced her
eyes to Jimmy's.  "...I told them that if I didn't get my kiss
right away, I'd come see you and you'd kiss me."
 
     He looked startled.  "You knew?"
 
     "No, I was just trying get them to let...."  His words sank
in.  "You would have?"
 
     He suddenly looked _very_ self-conscious and his freckles
vanished in all the red on his face.  "Well, yeah.  I mean, well,
you were...."  He shrugged.  "You were the prettiest girl I'd ever
seen.  I mean, you still are.  Well... you know I don't go around
kissing girls all the time.  But when I saw you I thought, 'Man,
I'd sure like to have her be the first one to kiss me.'  And I'm
glad it was."
 
     Wynter made her mouth close, then opened it again just enough
to ask, "Really?"
 
     "Uh huh."
 
     Daddy had told her how guys liked to be the first one to do
things with a girl.  She had never thought about guys wanting a
certain girl to be the first to do things with them.  She guessed
it made sense, but she'd have to ask him about that later.  When
she could do so without Aunt Dumb and Uncle Bozo around.
 
     "And then I discovered that you were also the smartest girl I
knew.  I couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to have you
living down the street from me.  And, well, I just... I decided
that even if you never kissed me, I still wanted you to be my best
friend."
 
     "Really?"
 
     "Uh huh."  He gave her that grin and nod again.
 
     She stared at him a long moment.  "Maybe I could learn to like
pineapple again."  And she kissed him, holding her lips against his
for several seconds.  Right in the middle of it she heard him sigh
softly through his nose.  It made her heart swell even bigger.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     _FUCK!_
 
     Suzie stormed out of her room, where the stupid slut had sent
her, and into the living room.  She picked up the remote to the
stupid television and stared at it for a minute and then threw it
at the stupid couch.  It bounced off the cushions, skidded across
the stupid coffee table, and landed in the stupid floor.
 
     _FUCK!_
 
     She grumbled her way into the kitchen and fetched another cola
from the stupid refrigerator.  She took a sip and put it on the
counter.  She reached into the cookie jar that was shaped like a
stupid cow and brought out...
 
     ...a stupid Fig Newton.  She looked into the jar and stamped
her right foot.  That's _all_ that was in there!  Caroline and
their stupid mother loved the stupid things, but Suzie _hated_
them!  It wasn't _fair_!  There _never_ were any cookies that she
liked!  She grumbled her way back to her room, kicking the tv
remote aside as she passed it, and threw herself on her bed.
 
     _FUCK!_
 
     She'd forgotten the stupid cola!  She crossed her arms under
her boobies and tried to decide which word was the best one to
scream on this occasion.  Just as she decided to scream all of them
she heard Caroline's door opening and Kenny whispering something.
 
     She glared at her door.  Kenny walked in with his stupid
"patented shit-eating grin" across his stupid face.  Caroline, her
hands on both of his stupid shoulders, was right behind him,
wearing that stupid see-thru short gown that she hadn't even
bothered to fasten.  A stupid narrow row of short, curly auburn
hair was growing back in a line up from her stupid slit.  The
stupid slut looked smug, like the canary that ate the stupid cat in
that old saying she never understood.
 
     "I gotta tell you, Twerp," Caroline said as Suzie wished she
had the stupid remote again so she could throw it at the stupid
slut, "you are definitely missing out.  I ain't never seen anyone
who can suck a tit the way this little guy can.  I may pay him to
give the other guys lessons.  Sure was a good thing that he called
just as Ray cancelled our afternoon date."
 
     Kenny's grin widened and didn't let up in the least as she
snarled, "What'd you do, call the town slut and say, "I heard Ray
couldn't come over and bang you, so I'll do it?"
 
     "No," the stupid shit said, shaking his stupid head but not
losing that stupid grin.  "I was calling to talk to you, but
Caroline said you'd already skipped out even though you were
supposed to be grounded."
 
     "And we got to talking," Caroline continued, just like they
were one person with two voices, "and I learned you were giving
Jimmy anatomy lessons.  Kenny said you weren't being fair, offering
them to Jimmy but not to a future doctor.  So, I said I'd tutor him
if he'd tell me more about you and Jimmy."
 
     Suzie now wished she had the stupid cola to throw, too.
 
     Kenny picked up the thread without a pause.  "We got to
talking while I was giving her a physical exam, and next thing you
know she had me checking her temperature with my meat thermometer." 

The stupid look on his stupid face said he clearly thought she
should appreciate his stupid little joke.  From what she'd seen of
the stupid thing under Caroline's fat ass, it certainly _was_ a
"little joke."
 
     As if her stupid slut sister had read her mind, Caroline
cooed, "And it was the best thing I ever did.  He made me wish I'd
taken him on earlier.  But, I suppose if I had, I might have been
disappointed and not let him back in again, and then I'd have
missed out on the _best_ fuck I've had in _months_.  Yes ma'am, I
_sure_ am glad that silly twit Ray had to 'work.'  Which he didn't,
of course.  Annie's period ended yesterday, and he's over banging
her instead."  She shook her head.  "He'll pay for lying to me, of
course," she added as she rubbed one of her stupid little boobies
against Kenny's neck.
 
     Well, remind her to look surprised next Tuesday.  The stupid
slut didn't care that Ray was fucking around on her, not even that
he was doing it with her stupid best friend.  No, she was just
pissed because the stupid dolt had lied to her.  If Suzie ever
caught Jimmy fucking around, or even kissing another woman, she'd
have his stupid nuts in a blender so fast it would make his head
spin.
 
     "How come you aren't at Jimmy's?"  Kenny asked.  "You got back
in a hurry."
 
     Well, just how the hell was she supposed to answer _that_
question?  "Well, we, uh, talked for a little bit and then he had
me come home so that I wouldn't get in trouble and we could go out
again before school started."
 
     Suzie didn't know what kind of reaction she'd expected but it
certainly wasn't the dolt turning to the slut and saying, "I win. 
You owe me."
 
     Caroline's face had its own stupid shit-eating grin, one
getting bigger by the second.  "Damn.  And I was looking forward to
having you muff dive me again.  Okay.  You want it right now?"
 
     Kenny actually smirked at Suzie before saying to Caroline,
"Let's go back to your room so that we don't embarrass the virgin."
 
     As Suzie took a deep breath to scream, Caroline said,  "Okay,
but after I blow you, you have to fuck me again."  Caroline winked
at her.  "Y'know, Twerp, he's _so_ much more better than that silly
Ken doll you use."
 
     "_GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, YOU STUPID...!_"
 
     A sharp "_Suzanne!_" from the kitchen shut her up.  Her mother
had left the garage door open when she left and didn't close it
when she returned.  Nobody had heard the door between the kitchen
and garage open.
 
     Caroline grabbed Kenny, shoved her tongue down his throat, and
squeezed the stupid dolt's thingy as he squeezed one of her stupid
boobies.  She whirled around and dashed into her room before their
mom could see how she was dressed.  Or not dressed.  "I'll collect
later," Kenny said in a loud whisper.
 
     _FUCK!!!_
 
     It wasn't _fair!_  She'd just gotten Jimmy's head turned back
and he wanted to date her, and now her stupid mother was going to
ground her even longer, and it was all the fault of that
knobby-kneed little dwarf again.  And her stupid slut sister!  _IT
WASN'T FAIR!!!_
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     Marti McCauley was a little startled to find Wynter in her
son's bed, but she wasn't a woman prone to jumping to conclusions. 
It wasn't as if her son was in any condition to actually _do_
anything about the situation.  And he was under the sheet, while
she was on top of it.  They were looking at a large book together,
and there couldn't have been any other way to do so that would have
been comfortable for Jimmy.  Okay, it all made sense.  And Wynter
had reached puberty, but she was obviously as sexually
inexperienced as Jimmy, and was undoubtedly as bashful about, and
as eager to avoid, the subject as her son was.  She put it aside. 
"So how are you two doing?"
 
     Wynter looked around the side of the book with a huge grin and
pointed at it.  "Mrs. McCauley, look at the book Jimmy got!  I
can't wait to tell Daddy about it.  He'll dance around like Dragon
when he hears about it!"
 
     While she laughed at the image, her son added, "And look at
the neat present Wynter gave me!"
 
     Wynter sat up, took the cartoon from the night stand, and
handed it to her as she approached.  She laughed so hard at what
was obviously Kenny that she had to wipe tears from her eyes. 
"Wynter, this is priceless," she said as idea came to her.  "Say,
do you think you could do something like this for me for Keith's
birthday, if I can think of what I want?"
 
     The startled look on the girl's face made her wonder if Wynter
had any idea of how great her talent was.  "Sure!  I'd love to! 
It'd be my pleasure."  Sincerity flooded the girl's voice and shone
in her face.
 
     "Then let me think about it.  We have a couple of weeks.  How
much time to you need to do one of these?"
 
     "Well, that one took about half an hour, but it was my first
time doing one.  I guess doing one right would take a couple of
hours."
 
     Marti knew she'd heard the girl wrong and had her repeat what
she'd said.  "Doing one right?  Honey, there's nothing wrong with
this one.  Not a thing."
 
     Wynter's eyes shifted to her shoes.  "Well, you know,"  she
mumbled.  "More detail and stuff."
 
     She stretched out a finger and tilted Wynter's face up until
their eyes met.  "Wynter, cartoons don't necessarily need a lot of
detail.  Some of the best cartoonists put in a lot of detail, but
some of the great ones don't even put shading in.  I think some
poor cartoonists put in a lot of detail to hide the fact that they
have very little talent.  A really good cartoonist can draw a
squiggly line and reveal more than a mediocre one can with a
full-color drawing."  She looked at Jimmy.  "Or am I just a dizzy
old bat who's rattling on about how things were in The Good Old
Days?"

 
     "Mom's right," he said.  "How much trouble did I have
identifying everyone, either movie character or real person?"
 
     Wynter looked at him. "None," she admitted.
 
     Jimmy brought his forefingers and thumbs up in circles in
front of his eyes and imitated Kenny's weird voice.  "_Earth to
Wynter!  Duh!_"
 
     Everyone started laughing, which caused Jimmy to suddenly
squeeze his eyes shut and reach under the sheet.
 
     Mother Hen worry flashed into Wynter's voice and look,
startling Marti with its suddenness.  "Do you need your ice pack
replaced?  It's been long enough."
 
     He grunted and pulled it from beneath the sheet.
 
     "I'll take it," said Marti, placing the cartoon back on the
stand.  "I need to run downstairs for a moment anyway, and I'll
bring you the cold one before I put away the groceries."
 
     She thought the concerned look on Wynter's face was quite
touching and was not surprised to notice how much she sounded like
Jimmy when she said, "Oh, I don't want you to have to make an extra
trip.  I can bring it back up for you."  Her tone clearly said she
meant it.  It wasn't just a ruse to keep her from interrupting
them.
 
     "Thanks, honey," she said, "but I rather like doing things for
him.  He's not going to be mother's little boy much longer. 
Besides, I don't want to separate him from his Doctor.  You're good
medicine for him."
 
     She couldn't stop the grin, and the looks on their faces when
they saw it was enough to make it worse.  She turned and left the
room.  While it was very unlikely they had "played Doctor," she
just couldn't shake the feeling that they had been kissing.  Maybe
it was because Jimmy looked so much like his dad at that age.  She
couldn't resist kissing Keith then, and she doubted Wynter could
resist Jimmy, either.  And Wynter's eyes were looking at Jimmy the
way she had looked at Keith after they had started kissing.
 
     She couldn't help thinking, as unkind a thought as it was,
that Wynter would certainly make a better daughter-in-law than
Suzie.  She'd make a hundred trips a day up and down the steps if
it would make that outcome happen.
 
                              ~ ~ ~
 
     If Dragon hadn't caught her attention, Wynter would have
pedaled her bicycle right past her own house.  He brought her out
of her daydreams in time to turn into her driveway.  Mrs. Ferguson
looked up from weeding the flowers along her driveway to call a
greeting and ask about Jimmy.  It was after she'd replied that she
realized that Uncle Bob's Jeep wasn't in the driveway.  Which was
good news, except that it also meant Mother wasn't home, either.
 
     She gave Dragon a big hug and rushed inside to tell her father
about Jimmy's new book.  From the look on his face you'd have
thought she'd told him that Jimmy had been elected President of the
Colorado Geological Society.
 
     They took some juice to the family room and sat on the couch,
where he held her under his arm and made her feel all warm and safe
and loved.  "So, when's Mother supposed to be here?"
 
     "It's been an hour since I last talked to her, but they showed
up two hours after she landed.  They'd stopped in Sterling last
night and decided to stay for a late breakfast.  Then they had to
see one of Bob's suppliers in Commerce City.  That didn't take
long, but that man mentioned someone else who had source for some
part Bob wanted, so they went to Englewood to talk to him. 
Naturally Bob didn't call first.  The man was tied up in a meeting,
so Bob decided to wait because it was 'important.'  Your mother is
furious."
 
     Wynter felt very sad when she heard that.  "Poor Mother.  I'll
bet her headache's back."
 
     Daddy gave her a gentle squeeze.  "It's supposed to go away on
Sunday,"
 
     "Let's all run away from home until then."
 
     "I don't think you'd have any trouble convincing your mother
to make the vote unanimous.  By the way, I still haven't told her
about what happened.  She has enough on her mind with all the
delays and those two.  Worrying about you until she gets home would
just make it worse for her."

 
     "I know," she said, looking sideways up at his face. 
"Sometimes parents don't believe that you are all right."
 
     "A," he said.
 
     "I'd already guessed that and filed it."  She turned to give
him a nose-and-lips kiss.
 
     He gave her a big bear hug, asked about Jimmy's recovery, and
then said he needed to go up to his office.  He'd had a call asking
for some numbers and had promised to deliver them to Denver
tomorrow.  He sounded awfully happy that he was going to be gone
for a few hours, and she didn't blame him.  She could always go see
Jimmy--for medical reasons, of course.  But poor Mother was stuck.
 
     "That's okay.  I want to work, too.  I need to start on a
present for Jimmy."
 
     He pulled away and twisted to look at her.  "Another one?"  He
made big smarty pants eyes.
 
     She decided to ignore the look.  "Well, the cartoon was just
a temporary one.  His real present will take a couple of days."
 
     "I see," he said, and she noticed him giving her a weird smile
for a second.  Then he looked normal and said, "Am I permitted to
know what it is?"
 
     "I want to give him a picture of that deer and her baby I told
you about."
 
     He looked happy when she said that.  "That's very nice.  I'll
bet he'll like that as much as I like my flowers.  Is it
commemorating a special occasion?"
 
     She thought it was awfully sneaky of him to ask a personal
question that way and decided she should remember that trick in
case she needed it some day.  "Maybe."
 
     He frowned for a second, then laughed and kissed the top of
her head.  "I should know better than try to trick the brains of
the family," he said, rising from the couch and offering her his
hand, the way Doctor Taylor always did.
 
     They put the empty glasses in the dishwasher.  Halfway up the
stairs she stopped and turned to him.  "Um, I have a question if
you aren't too busy."
 
     He gave her that warm smile that told her he loved her with
all his heart.  "I always have time for my daughter's questions."
 
     The question that had wanted out so desperately suddenly
became very shy and went into hiding.  "Um... well, maybe I
shouldn't ask.  I'm not sure how to word it."
 
     He leaned against the wall and said, "I'll help you word it if
you want and won't think about it until it's the way you want it to
be."
 
     She felt her heart swelling again.  "Are all daddies like
you?"
 
     "Nah.  Most are never admitted to the hospital more than once
or twice in their lives."
 
     That made her relax, and the words were there again.  "If,
um....  You said that, well, guys like to be the first one to do
things with a girl.  Do they, well, do they like certain girls to
be, you know, the, um, first to do things with them?"
 
     He moved down a step and then bent to look deep into each of
her eyes.  He looked sort of like she had felt when she had learned
that there had been no mummies to dissect when he straightened.  He
put his hands on her shoulders.  "Yes.  Now, if you don't mind a
direct personal question, does he kiss as good as me?"
 
     She gasped.  _He knows!  He really and truly knows!  He didn't
see it on my lips, he saw it in my eyes!_  "Well, um.... No."
 
     He moved back up to the step below hers and squeezed her to
his chest.  "He'll get better with time and practice.  And a good
doctor."
 
     She looked up to see him smiling down at her with love all
over his face.  "Well, you do plan to teach him how to improve his
technique, don't you?  Good doctors are also teachers."
 
     She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed, hugging her
cheek to his chest.  "Other daddies may not spend as much time in
the hospital, but they can't be any better as daddies than the one
I have."
 
     "Darned right about that!" he said, squeezing back.  "None of
them love you as much as I do."
 
     She closed her eyes and smiled, enjoying the warm satisfaction
of his hug.  "I know."
 
Copyright 2005 Russell Hoisington

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Russell Hoisington
State of Confusion

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