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Subject: {ASSM} RP: Wynter and Hailey Pt 1 {Hoisington} (MF Mf mf bf Mg mg bg oral ped cons rom)
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Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:10:09 -0500
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                   WYNTER & HAILEY

This is an erotic fantasy.  It is the third sequel to
"Wynter" and follows "Wynter & Cinnamon."  It is not
necessary to read the previous three stories to understand
this one, as events are recapped within this story, but it
would help in order to better understand the background and
to see the growth in the characters.

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 2007 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, along with Uncle Sky, the Night Hawk, Wizard,
Rod O'Steele, and, Old Man Ted, for their input and for
keeping the characters in character.  Special thanks to the
Night Hawk for being my musical advisor.

This story is dedicated to Uncle Sky, without whose
encouragement Wynter would have remained a short story.

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

                       WYNTER & HAILEY

                           Part One

                      Russell Hoisington

                             One

      Richard King really, deeply, sincerely wished he
hadn't done that.  When the door to his hospital room
opened he had, without thinking, turned his head to look.
Despite the happy-time shots that Nurse Sue Kwan had given
him, the movement detonated dynamite inside his skull, just
above his left ear.  He didn't feel much of anything else,
but he definitely felt that and wondered if he could keep
skull fragments from scattering.

      Kevin K. Taylor, Senior, MD, and his entourage
entered. _Morning rounds_, he realized.  Except for the
fact that it was Tuesday, June the first and a school day--
_It is the first, isn't it?  Or was I unconscious for more
than one day this time? I should have asked Sue_--he wasn't
all that surprised to see the slender form of a beautiful
twelve-year-old blonde talking to Kevin.  She wore a white
lab coat embroidered with her name and had a stethoscope
draped around her neck, and she looked as if she belonged
in Kevin's traveling circus.  _Traveling circus?_ Yes.
That was what he called it during his other stays. Maybe.
_Damned drugs_, he thought, though not with any emotional
force. He didn't want to detonate more dynamite.

      Most people would be surprised to see a twelve-year-
old of either sex making hospital rounds, but Richard King
wasn't most people.  Neither was this most twelve-year-
olds.  He knew of no other who had 'Current Emergency
Diagnosis, Fourth Edition' on her night stand for 'light
reading' before she turned out her light and went to sleep.

      Kevin gave Richard a cursory glance, one perhaps
cloaking a smirk--or a sneer--and then said, "Okay, who'd
like to present our next patient?  How about..." Kevin made
a big show of trying to decide who he would choose,
"...Future Doctor King."

      Wynter King, Future MD, parted her coral lips in a
wide smile, exposing perfect, even teeth.  The sparkle that
Richard knew all too well ignited in her blue-green eyes.
Ignoring the clipboard in her hand she spoke.  "The patient
is one Senor Klutz."

      Richard winced twice, first in embarrassment and then
again in pain.  That was the name Police Officer Joe Lopez
had given him after the most serious of his many vehicle
wrecks. They had been awaiting arrival of the jaws of life
so he could be removed from the twisted metal.  Joe had
used humor to distract Richard from the pain of his
injuries, and the name stuck.

      "Senor Klutz was found unconscious at the foot of his
basement stairs at two-twenty this morning by his daughter,
who summoned help and performed emergency first aid to
stanch the flow of blood from a four-centimeter laceration
running essentially horizontal approximately a half-
centimeter above, and centered on, the patient's left ear.
The patient lost an estimated one-point-five pints of
blood, not enough to indicate any acute problem from blood
loss.

      "The patient has a severe contusion approximately
eight centimeters long by four centimeters high located
above the left half of the supraorbital torus, tangent with
his beginning-to-recede hairline.  Although the patient has
additional contusions to his forearms, left leg, and the
apex of his left pelvis, he has no broken bones.  Nor does
he have any new scars to add to the numerous others on his
hands, arms, legs, and torso.  He does, however, now have
what promises to be an interesting first one under
development on his head.

      "Because Senor Klutz was attempting to descend
carpeted basement stairs in the dark while wearing foam
rubber flip-flop shower shoes, there is legitimate reason
to believe that he is suffering the onset of senile
dementia and should be tested for that condition."

      Kevin, the bastard, did nothing to discourage her.
Instead, he asked, "So, Future Doctor King, do you
recommend that we allow the patient's family visiting
privileges?"

      Her long blonde ponytail lashed about as she
emphatically shook her head.  "That would not be advisable.
I doubt the patient's wife has time to visit him anyway,
since she has to remove blood from the carpet, file and
polish her nails, and watch reruns of 'Sesame Street' to
prepare herself for dealing with the patient at his own
level.  And the patient's twelve-year-old daughter
shouldn't be exposed to a feebleminded individual who would
perform such a ridiculous stunt.  A brain with that degree
of dendritic density could easily warp the fabric of the
universe and cause her to take her .22-rifle to the post
office and ask if they're hiring temporary help."

      It was difficult to wonder who was writing her
material while he was wincing in agony, but he managed to
do both successfully.  He suspected it was a community
effort, no doubt aided and abetted by one Kevin Kenneth
Taylor, Senior, Doctor of Sadism.  For an instant he
noticed Wynter's flinch as she realized the agony she had
caused, but iron resolve immediately reappeared in her
eyes.  That, more than anything else, showed him just how
pissed off she was.

      It also showed him how much she had grown and matured
in the thirteen or fourteen months since his last wreck had
left him confined to bed with one leg and two arms in
casts.  At that time they were living in their isolated
home in the mountains south of town.  His wife, Angie, was
in Europe on a no-notice business trip.  A spring blizzard
materialized.  Ellen Carter, his resident nurse, had rushed
to town to correct a prescription refill and had been
trapped there by an avalanche that closed the road.
Wynter, at that time a Future Nurse, had been pressed into
duty as Actual Nurse.  Every movement she made then was
with the concern that she would do something wrong and
cause him physical discomfort.

      Now she was setting off dynamite in his skull and
mostly taking it in stride.  As much as he enjoyed watching
her mature, at that moment he'd have given anything to have
the old Wynter back.

      "Thank you, Future Doctor King," Kevin said, giving
her a warm smile.  "That was quite succinct and extremely
accurate. May I translate that to the patient in terms he
can understand?"

      Wynter dipped her head.  "Certainly, Doctor Taylor."
She moved aside.

      Kevin stepped to the side of the bed, grasped his own
clipboard in both hands behind his back, and lifted himself
up-and-down once on his toes.  "Senor Klutz, your Future
Doctor daughter said you'd been a fucking idiot."

      He expected Wynter to gasp.  She did not.  While the
rest of the Traveling Circus nodded agreement, her blue-
green eyes narrowed and stayed locked on his, her lips
clamped in a firm line that did not waver.   He had never
seen her this pissed off at anyone or anything before.  He
began to worry about what had NOT been said in her
presentation of his condition.  Was he to be confined to
bed again?  How long?  In the hospital, or could he use the
hospital bed that sat in his home office?

      He suddenly began to worry that Angie and Wynter
would say that he could stay in the hospital, that they
didn't want him to come home.  _No.  They wouldn't do that.
Would they?_

      He looked up at Kevin and mumbled through clenched
teeth because moving his jaw blasted tiny flashes of agony
through his temple, "I translate tha' m'self."

      "I'd recommend a brain transplant, but we're fresh
out of human brains at the moment.  I might, however, be
able to locate a squirrel for a donor.  Even that would be
an improvement."  He turned to Wynter.  "What's the current
treatment regimen, Future Doctor?"

      Wynter spoke in the crisp, accurate, professional
tone that she always used when discussing medical matters.
Ellen Carter had taught her well.  Andrew Henderson was one
of the best orthopedists in Colorado, but any of the sixth-
graders in Wynter's class could do a better presentation.
Wynter, however, could match any of the staff, even Kevin.
Later, when Richard wasn't in agony, he'd feel fatherly
pride for her ability.

      He missed Kevin's asking Wynter for her
recommendation and her suggesting an increase of his pain
medication.  He missed the departure of the traveling
circus as it moved on to torment another helpless victim.
He missed everything until gentle pressure on his lips
caused him to awaken to the smell of peppermint.  Kevin had
shared his stock of candies with her before they made the
morning rounds.

      He returned the kiss, willingly accepting the flashes
of pain in exchange for the opportunity to kiss the joy of
his life. When her head drew back, he slowly asked through
clenched teeth, "You real' piss'd at me, aren' you?"

      "No," she said, leaning on her folded arms atop the
bed's safety rail.  "But I might calm down to that point
later."

      He groaned.  "You have t' sound jus' like Mother w'n
you say tha'?"

      "Yes."

      "I love oo."  It wasn't easy to show how much he
meant that, speaking through gritted teeth, but Wynter
would understand and would know.

      "I love you, too, but that doesn't change anything."

      "Would..." he winced as a small bolt of lightning
shot up the side of his head.  "Would he'p if I say I sorry?"

      She nodded and smiled for the first time.  "Yes, but
it might help more if you promised that you'd think next
time before you do something dumb like that."

      That hurt worse than his head did.  "'Ey, who's
paren' here?"

      "Biologically or examplewise?"

      He sighed.  Carefully.  "Gonna get worse w'n you'
mother arrive, isn' it?"

      Wynter looked up as the door swung open.  She smiled
again. "It's worse."

                            ~ ~ ~

      The elevator doors opened on the emergency room.
Wynter stepped out and looked for Nurse Carter.  She headed
for the reception desk to ask Mrs. Erland if Nurse Carter
had reported in.  Halfway there, two men wearing EMT
uniforms so white that it made their skin look even darker
exited a treatment room in front of her.

      The round face of the heavier man split with a wide
grin. "Future Doctor King!"

      Wynter's own smile exploded.  "Hi, Mister Sanders!"

      Harland Sanders bent down to accept a big hug, then
straightened and said, "Wynter King, this is Bedpan
Dornbush."

      The other man, who was tall and almost as slender as
Wynter, gave her a broad smile and offered his hand.
"Colonel has told me all about you.  I wasn't expecting to
meet you so soon."

      "I'm pleased to meet you," she said, giving his hand
her best professional shake.  "So you're Bedpan now?"  She
raised an eyebrow at Mister Sanders.  "What name did Mister
Kwan get?"

      The EMT Corps members all had nicknames.  The newest
member of the EMTs was named "Bedpan" until one of two
events happened: a newer EMT joined the Corps, or the
current Bedpan earned a new nickname.

      "Slugger," Mister Sanders said.  "The naming ceremony
was yesterday.  His very first call was a heart attack at
the Pine Lodge condos.  Skier up for the weekend, a couch
potato who overdid it but didn't have the heart attack
until after he was back in his room.  You know the type.

      "His brother was with him, and he'd had a snootful.
In fact, I don't know how he could stay conscious with that
much alcohol in him, but he managed.  And he got in the
way. Slugger was paired with Ace that day.  She did the
mouth-to-mouth while he did the chest.  The brother
wouldn't stay out of the way, trying to pull Carter off the
patient's chest, saying it was his brother and he'd do the
heart massage.  Carter couldn't think of any other way to
stop him--nobody in the hall would help--so he knocked the
brother out with one punch.  He almost got the nickname
'Slugger' after his first run."

      Mister Dornbush laughed along with Wynter, who
suddenly stopped laughing and twisted her face in thought.
"I guess that's okay, but I'd have named him 'Tae,'" she
said.

      The men gave each other a baffled look.  "Why?"
Mister Sanders asked.

      Wynter shrugged.  "Well, he's Korean and he knocked
the guy out.  Nurse Kwan says that he likes to cook,
especially breads and muffins and cookies."

      "Yeah," said Mister Sanders.  "He's always bringing
cookies for everyone when he's on duty."

      "There you go," she said with a shrug.  "He could
have told everyone that his cookies were made with genuine
Tae Kwan dough."

      They blinked at her for a second.  Then Mister
Sanders turned to Mister Dornbush and said, "When we get
back, remind me to see if a naming ceremony can be undone."
Then he looked to Wynter again.  "I hear Ace and Zoomie
were at your place last night."

      She sighed.  "Daddy's been a klutz again."

      He nodded.  "So they said.  Thank goodness he wasn't
seriously hurt.  You've been up to see him, I see."  A
flick of his hand indicated her stethoscope around her
neck.  It had been her birthday present from Doctor
Taylor's son, Kenny, also a Future MD.

      "Yes, sir.  Mother took over the lecture when I ran
out of breath.  I came down to see Nurse Carter while
Mother finishes. I think she had some words in mind that
I'm not supposed to hear until I turn thirty-five."

      "Oh," said Mister Sanders with a chuckle and a shake
of his head.  "Well, Ellen's not here for a few days.
She's probably in California now."

      "She's riding with Mister Hughes in his truck?"

      Both men nodded.  "Yeah," said Mister Dornbush with a
grin.

      "Confidentially," said Mister Sanders, looking around
as if checking for eavesdroppers, "I wouldn't be surprised
if they tie the knot soon."

      Wynter just knew that her professional look had
vanished with the smile that swept over her face.  "Wow!
That's great! They're both really nice people, and they
deserve each other."

      "And speaking of really nice people who deserve each
other, is Jimmy with you?"

      She shook her head ruefully.  'Rueful' was a new word
she'd just learned, and she liked the sound of it.  "No,
sir, he's in school.  Today is the last day of review
before final tests."

      "Oh.  Well, you don't need to be there for that, do
you?"

      She shrugged.  "I do for history this morning."  She
looked at her watch.  "But the review started four minutes
ago. If I don't get an 'A' in it this semester, I'm going
to blame Daddy."

      Mister Sanders gave a pitiful look to Mister
Dornbush. "Lord help him," he said.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter arrived at Griffin Middle School just as the
bell rang for lunch.  She kissed Mother good-bye, grabbed
her backpack, and hurried to her locker.  She hated to turn
down Mother's offer to have lunch together, but she knew
that Jimmy and the others would be worried about Daddy, and
that worry would grow worse the longer they had to wait.
It wouldn't be polite to increase their anxiety disorder.
Wynter always tried to be polite, following the example set
by Jimmy, who was the most polite person she knew--except
maybe for Daddy and Doctor Taylor, that is, but they'd had
more years of practice.

      She saw Jimmy McCauley's red hair as he closed his
locker, an upper one next to hers, and turned toward the
lunch room.  A brown-haired boy almost as tall as Jimmy
said something to him. As Jimmy spun around, the second boy
looked down and spoke to someone Wynter couldn't see,
though she knew who it was.

      Wynter felt tingly all over when Jimmy's handsome
face exploded in the smile that said he loved her with all
his heart. He gave her his familiar grin-and-nod and had
her combination lock open by the time she arrived.  They
hugged each other.  She wished she could give him the kiss
she had in mind, but she sure couldn't right there in the
main hallway.  They had to settle for mutual I love yous.

      Jimmy put her backpack in her locker while she gave a
quick hug to Huntly Sheridan and leaned down to give
another to her 'adopted older sister,' Cinnamon Brees.

      "So how is he?" Cinnamon asked, her lustrous green
eyes narrowed with concern.

      "I think he's not going to do anything that dumb
again."

      "Don't bet on it.  Doing stupid things when you know
better is a male flaw.  Just ask shithead."

      "Bitch," Huntly muttered, rolling his eyes up to the
ceiling.  But he didn't argue.  While recovering from a
knee injury back in January he'd disobeyed his father and
had gone skiing with Josh Carter.  A snow bunny had cut in
front of him, they'd gone down in a tangle, and the
resulting additional damage had put him in a wheelchair for
a while.  His football days ended immediately.  He'd
received word a few days ago that basketball and golf were
also out.  Not that he played golf, because he found
watching snails race to be more exciting, but now he knew
he never would.  Baseball hadn't been ruled out yet, but he
knew that the end of basketball also meant the end of
baseball, too. The twisting and turning on his knee might
not be as constant as with basketball, but baseball could
put an even greater strain on the damaged ligaments.

      Wynter looked at up at Huntly, and then down again to
Sis, who was scooping back her long red hair in both hands,
letting it drop down below her gluteus maximi.  She nodded
to Sis. "Good point."

      As Huntly sighed in chagrin, Jimmy snapped the lock
in place and put an arm around her.  Her left hand moved to
its usual resting place on his back, a spot between his
belt and ribs, in a motion as smooth and automatic as
morning sunrise.  "So, it was what you thought?" Jimmy asked.

      Jimmy had been awakened by the sirens racing down
Seabridge Trail toward Wynter's house.  Jimmy didn't need
his high IQ to know where they were headed.  He'd leapt out
of bed, jumped on his bicycle, and raced the block to
Wynter's house, arriving before Daddy had been brought
upstairs.

      "Yes," she said.  "Nothing broken, just the scalp
laceration and contusions.  Doctor Taylor had me present
the patient."

      Jimmy and Huntly both looked pained.  Cinnamon's eyes
narrowed as her wide smile pushed her full cheeks upward.
"I hope it wasn't pleasant for him."

      Wynter shrugged.  "No.  I asked myself what you would
do, and then did it.  I don't think he will want to go
through that again, so maybe some of the lesson will stick."

      "I hope so," Cinnamon said with an evil grin.  Lots
of people could do evil grins that weren't too bad.
Cinnamon could do one that caused involuntary urination.
"Otherwise, I'll do rounds next time, and he'll learn just
how gentle you actually were to him.  Was Daddy there to
see it?"

      "Unh uh.  Mrs. Malcolm was in two minute
contractions, so he was in the delivery room.  Where are
Kenny and Suzie?"

      Jimmy's back muscles tensed slightly as the others
looked uncomfortably at each other.  "Oh, no!  They're
fighting again?"

      She looked at Jimmy and understood the expression on
his face.  Wynter had almost as good a grasp of nonverbal
communication as Cinnamon did, but she never needed that to
know what Jimmy was thinking.  "They broke up again!"

      "They're going to be doing it true doggie style now,"
Huntly said with a rueful shake of his head.

      Her face twisted into a puzzled frown.  "What do you
mean?"

      Huntly shrugged.  "He's going to sit up and beg, and
she's going to roll over and play dead."

      Cinnamon rolled her eyes.  "Shithead."

      "Bitch."

      Wynter ignored them and asked Jimmy, "How?"

      As always, Jimmy understood her meaning.  "Suzie and
Kenny aren't talking, of course.  My Future Sister-in-Law
knows more about it than I do.  You know how she gets
information out of people."

      Wynter sure did.  The only one who might be better at
diagnosing a situation from just a few symptoms was Ron
Lopez, who was in high school, but even Ron wasn't
Cinnamon's equal in getting information from people who
didn't want to talk. "Sis?"

      Cinnamon's face relaxed.  "You know how Suzie said
she was going to win the state swimming competition for
Kenny because he'd been too sick to attend?  Well, she got
back from Denver earlier than planned."

      "Uh huh," said Wynter.  "She called me and then said
she didn't want me to tell Kenny she was back early.  She
wanted to surprise him and show him her medals and tell him
she'd won them all just for him."

      "She surprised him, all right.  Kenny wasn't too sick
for a little 'action,' it seems.  Suzie walked in on them."

      "Judy Chase," Jimmy said.  "She's been hanging around
him all the time for a couple of months, now.  She even
showed up and tried to sit with Kenny the weekend the swim
meet was here.  Had to be Judy Chase."

      "I agree," said Huntly.

      "Maybe," Cinnamon said before Wynter could speak.  "I
know Tiffany Jones was sitting on his face.  But I have the
distinct impression that Kenny had at least a threesome
going.  If so, then I'd bet good money on Judy."

      "Man," Huntly said in a jealous tone, "some guys know
how to live."

      Cinnamon slowly, deliberately, fixed him with a
steady glare.  For a second, Wynter actually thought she'd
heard him whimper before he cleared his throat and asked
how Cinnamon knew that.  Huntly was trying to change the
subject, but Wynter knew he'd have better luck trying to
change the moon's orbit.

      Cinnamon finally said, "The same way I know you did
her last week."

      While nobody knew exactly how she knew that tidbit,
either, nobody doubted that it was true.  Wynter and Jimmy
wouldn't have doubted it even if they hadn't read
verification in Huntly's face.  Cinnamon sometimes stated
suspicions as facts to get you to admit that she'd guessed
right, but both Wynter and Jimmy knew she was stating facts
this time, not attempting a trick. They also knew that if
Cinnamon didn't voluntarily tell you how she knew
something, you were wasting breath asking her.

      Huntly squirmed.  "Well, you're the one who said we
don't have exclusive contracts on each other."

      "I know I did," she said, "and I meant it.  So why
are you acting guilty?"

      Huntly deliberately looked at the hall clock.  "We're
going to miss lunch," he said.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Mitchell Brees, MD, OB/GYN, knocked, waited two
seconds, and stuck his head in the door.  "Sorry I missed
rounds this morning, but I had a breech to contend with.  I
hear things went well."

      Richard was afraid to speak loud enough for Mitch to
hear him, despite the increase he'd received in his
medication, so he elevated his right middle finger instead.

      "Obviously you're beckoning for me to enter," Mitch
said. "Thank you."  He closed the door and checked the
physician's notes.  "Say, this person isn't qualified to be
a doctor! Her handwriting is far too neat and legible."

      Richard said something that sounded like, "Esso."

      Mitch chuckled.  "Hey, this is the room I was in with
the pre-migraine syndrome.  It was your first one here, you
said. Welcome home!  I'd repay your kindness and bring you
some non-hospital coffee if only you deserved it."

      "Isn' an'body gonna gimme symp'thy?" Richard slurred
through clenched teeth.

      Mitch held up one hand and started counting on his
fingers. "Well, there's... uh... no."

      This time it sounded more like, "Asso."

      "You aren't giving yourself sympathy are you?"

      Richard looked like he was about to shake his head
before common sense took over.  He sighed and closed his
eyes. "Unh." It was a grunt of resignation.

      "I thought not.  I heard Wynter did an excellent
presentation, though for her that's like saying that water
is wet and the sky is blue."

      "Kev'n kep' encour'gn her.  Prob'ly wrote half her
mater'l for her."

      "Actually," Mitch said, checking his watch for the
time he had left, "all Kevin did was tell her to bring her
stethoscope and be prepared to make rounds.  The rest was
all Wynter's doing. She's really quite good, you know.
Maybe when you grow up, you'll be as smart as she is, but
I'm not counting on it."

      Richard's eyes opened.  He frowned suspiciously,
though slowly, as if worried that the muscle tension might
trigger another flash of pain.  "Angie ask you gimme this
grill'n?"

      "No."  Mitch put an entire sentence in that one word.

      "Damn!" mumbled Richard as he closed his eyes again.
"She REAL' was pis'd!"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter took in Mr. Shelby's science classroom in one
glance. She wasn't as good as Cinnamon or even Mr. Shelby
in doing that, but she'd been practicing.  Good doctors had
to be able to see everything quickly and watch for subtle
clues all the time in order to make correct diagnoses.
Suzie was ignoring Kenny.  He was ignoring her, too.  Or
pretending to.  His eyes kept wandering over to her, and he
wasn't doing a very good job of hiding his misery from
anyone who really knew him.

      They had chosen opposite sides of the cafeteria,
surrounded by others so that Wynter and her friends had to
sit elsewhere. Then, after lunch, they had vanished.
Wynter agreed with Cinnamon that they had done so separately.

      Her hand on Jimmy's back made two quick pats.  They
separated, Jimmy moving toward Kenny and Wynter to Suzie.
They had debated the best way to pair up.  Cinnamon had
noted that it probably didn't make any difference.  Wynter
was afraid her sister was right again.

      Still holding her books, she stopped beside Suzie's
desk as the right thing to say suddenly burst forth in her
mind. "Suzie?"

      Suzie slowly looked up, her gray-green eyes
narrowing.  Her blondish-red hair seemed to grow lighter as
her round face darkened with the shade of red that made
sensible people back away from her quickly.  "Look!"

      Wynter held up her free hand.  "Wait.  I'm not going
to ask any questions now.  Okay?  I just wanted to say that
anytime you want to talk to me, I'm ready to listen and to
help if I can. Okay?  You know we're best friends, and
that's what best friends do for each other.  I helped
before, and I'll do what I can this time, too, whenever
you're ready.  That's all I wanted to say. Well, that and I
love you like a sister, too."

      When she said nothing else, Suzie's face cooled and a
hint of a smile tried to break through.  "Thanks.  I'm so
tired of everyone..."

      "I know.  But I'm not everyone."

      Suzie nodded.  "Yeah.  But it's not like before with
that stupid dolt."

      Wynter looked around.  Several people were
deliberately not looking at them, which meant their ears
were straining for the words.  "We don't have to talk about
it here," she said, using her eyes to indicate the on-
lookers.  Or more properly, she decided, the on-listeners.

      Suzie wasn't as dumb as people thought.  In fact, her
problem, diagnosed by Cinnamon when Wynter had failed to
diagnose it herself, was dyslexia.  She was very good at
non-verbal communication and understood Wynter's meaning.
"Maybe after tests are over Wednesday."

      "You want to come over after school?  We can study
together. Jimmy can study with Huntly or Timmy or Cinnamon."

      Suzie's eyes flicked to Jimmy and Kenny and flashed
anger before returning to Wynter's.  "I would, but I, um,
already have other plans.  She checked to see if anyone was
looking and then silently mouthed, "Josh."

      Josh Carter was on the boys' swim team.  Suzie had
been privately coaching Josh.  Miss Jackson, Suzie's coach,
wasn't surprised when Josh had won a silver medal at the
State Meet and had given the credit to Suzie because of her
help.  Miss Jackson had said that Suzie was a natural coach
and could work with her any time, if that's what Suzie
wanted to do with her life. But, as far as Wynter knew,
Suzie's only interest in Josh was on a coach/pupil basis.
She assumed that Suzie had made plans to study with him
because they lived near each other and had already
established a 'professional' friendship because of the swim
team.

      "Okay.  How was the assembly this morning?"  Because
she'd been at the hospital, Wynter had missed the special
assembly that the school had held for the swim team in
general and Suzie in particular.  Over the main entrance to
the school was a banner welcoming the 2004 State Swimming
Champion, Suzanne Middleton. Other banners had been put up
when Suzie broke Miss Jackson's school records.  Kenny had
said that the undated banners meant that Miss Jackson had
ordered them in advance, perhaps even the previous year.
Wynter was sure that Miss Jackson had ordered today's
banner in advance, too.

      Suzie smiled broadly.  She never tired of positive
attention.  "It was great!  How's your dad?"

      Wynter glanced over her shoulder to see Mr. Shelby
enter the room and take attendance at a glance.  "I think
he was doing a lot better before I made rounds with Doctor
Taylor this morning."

      Suzie grinned.  "Well, remind me to look surprised
next Tuesday."

      "I'll bet he thinks before he acts next time.
Cinnamon said that if he doesn't, she'll make the rounds
instead of me, and he'll think I'd been gentle."

      "Well, Cinnamon should be enough, but if not, then
I'll have to go yell at him or something."

      The second bell rang and Mister Shelby told everyone
to take their seats.  "Suzie, no!" Wynter said in a worried
voice. "I don't mind making him uncomfortable if it teaches
him to not hurt himself, but I don't want to kill him!"

      Suzie giggled and then glared in Kenny's direction as
Wynter walked away.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Kenny watched as Wynter and Jimmy split.  Wynter was
obviously heading for Suzie, otherwise she'd have gone the
other way around to her desk, and Jimmy was looking
straight at him as he approached.  He groaned to himself,
then said, "Later," to Josh Carter and Larry Oligon.  He
didn't want to leave, mostly because of the way Josh's eyes
kept glancing at Suzie, but he knew he didn't want anyone
else hearing what Jimmy had to say.

      Kenny smoothly flowed sideways, as far away from
everyone else as he could get, without taking his eyes from
Jimmy's.

      "Got a minute?" Jimmy asked.

      Kenny forced himself to relax.  He was ready to
strike with any of several martial arts techniques he was
learning from Ron Lopez.  "Look," he said, "I'm not gonna
talk about it. Didn't you learn that before?"

      Jimmy's eyes and posture said that he'd understood
Kenny's change in stance.  "Oh, I'm not going to ask you
what happened. I already know about Judy and Tiffany."

      Kenny was sure that Jimmy was trying to get him to
admit that Jimmy had guessed right.  He also thought that
his eyes had betrayed him.  Then Jimmy's face changed
slightly. "What?" Kenny asked.

      Jimmy shook his head.  "You need to get Ron to teach
you how to control your pupils.  If I didn't already know
before, I'd know now, you putz."

      Kenny's teeth clenched.  He forced his jaws to relax.
"I'm not gonna talk about it, I told you."

      Jimmy waved a hand in dismissal.  "Oh, I'm not asking
you to.  I just have one question for you, and you can
answer it later, after you've had time to think about it."

      Kenny cranked his suspicion index up another notch.
"What?"

      "I just wanted to ask if Judy and Tiffany were worth
it. You don't have to tell me, but I think you need to
answer that question to yourself, putz."  He turned and
walked away without waiting for Kenny to respond.

      Kenny's eyes flicked to Suzie talking with Wynter.
Suzie was deliberately ignoring him again.  Just the way
Judy had ignored him when he'd tried to talk to her before
lunch. Tiffany had spoken to him, but mostly she just
stalled, saying she'd talk to him "later."

      His fantasy of a threesome hadn't been what he'd
expected, not by a long shot.  Judy talked a good line, but
she really had no clue about how to suck a dick properly,
even after Tiffany had shown her.  It was okay--no blowjob
was "bad" as long as it didn't involve teeth--but it wasn't
anything spectacular. 'Dear Diary:  not much happened today
except for winning at Doom.  Oh yes, I got a blowjob.
(Signed) Kenny.'

      Tiffany had gotten off twice while she sat on his
face. She'd been the only one to get her cookies before
Suzie burst into his room, long before she was supposed to
have returned to town.  Tiffany and Judy had thrown on
their clothes and fled immediately after Suzie ran out in
tears.

      Mrs. Holland, the housekeeper, was as clueless as
ever about what had really happened.  Mom wasn't able to
prove anything, but she was suspicious in the right
direction.  He'd sat through an hour of lectures from his
parents that night, and then little brother Charlie had
taunted him whenever their parents couldn't hear him.  He
guessed that beat being grounded again.

      "SHIT!" he muttered in exasperation.  All he wanted
was to have a threesome with two girls, something Suzie
didn't want to do.  Was that so much to ask?  It was just
sex, after all. He wasn't in love with them, NO WAY!  All
he wanted was a little jumpin' and humpin' after being so
sick with that chronic weird intestinal problem that nobody
could diagnose or cure. He'd been too sick to have any
action with Suzie before she left for the state swim meet--
though she did offer to handjob him, and also to blow him a
little if people would stay the hell out of his hospital
room.  Unfortunately, his guts had hurt too much for that.

      Didn't he deserve the opportunity to make up for what
he'd missed from Suzie?  Especially since she hadn't been
there for him when he'd come home from the hospital?

      He refocused and glanced toward Suzie.  Wynter was
walking to her desk and Suzie was glaring at him.  Her eyes
dropped to her desk when she saw him look in her direction.

      The news broadcast of that evening sprang to life in
his mind.  He saw Suzie telling the governor that she
hadn't won the state championship for herself.  She'd won
it for her very best friend in the whole world, who had
been too sick to come watch her compete.

      The answer to Jimmy's question was, "No."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Richard opened his eyes.  Kevin was standing at the
foot of the bed, reviewing the chart.  "Shit," he muttered
through clenched teeth.

      "Ah, you're awake!" Kevin said in a too-loud voice.
"Too bad.  I was looking forward to waking you up with
this." He held up a toy bugle.  Between Kevin and Ted
Delvy, the pediatrician, the Blue Spruce Regional Hospital
had enough toys and gadgets to equip any major children's
day care center in Denver.  His disappointed look widened
into a huge grin.  "Tomorrow morning I plan to have Mitch
bring in a couple of Cinnamon's cymbals, her bass drum, and
maybe the snare, too."

      Richard sighed.  Carefully.  His latest shots were
wearing off.  "I'm goin' rename this room th' Outhouse,
'cause all th' ass'oles in here."

      Kevin nodded.  "Including the one who's taken up
residence."

      "I'm not goin' home?"

      "Are you kidding?  The next two days are finals.
Wynter has to be in school.  Angie was supposed to go to
Denver this morning, remember?  But you fucked that up for
her, so she's leaving late this afternoon and will be gone
tomorrow and maybe Thursday, too.  Ellen's with Dusty in
California.  You're stuck here.  Unless you want me to see
if the Barracuda will come out of retirement to be your
home nurse."

      "F'k."

      "Whoa!  What happened to that positive mental
attitude? Say, I think I can schedule a consultation with a
really cute and competent Future MD who can give you a nice
long lecture on how a positive mental attitude can
contribute to faster recovery, if you need a reminder."

      Richard sighed.  "Whassit like bein' hors' ass?"

      He knew he'd been maneuvered into asking something
like that when Kevin smiled and reached inside his lab
coat.  He pulled out a small hand mirror and held it for
Richard to look at himself. The bastard didn't say
anything.  He just smiled for a moment and then put away
the mirror.

      "Wyn'r's idea, isn' it?"

      Kevin's brown eyes went wide, and one hand flew up to
cover his gaping mouth.  "You think so?  Damn!  What could
have given you the idea?  Huh?  You have wrecks that aren't
your fault and she bends over backward to help you."

      Richard fought to keep his eyes from reacting to that
last sentence.  Kevin's statement held far greater truth
than he'd realized.

      "But then you, the possessor of the world's most
hyperactive klutz genes--that's her diagnosis, by the way--
do something that's incredibly stupid even for a
coordinated and lucky person. Thanks to Dragon, who woke
her instead of Angie, she was the one who found you in a
bloody crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs.  Where
you could have lain until morning with a broken neck if
Dragon hadn't investigated the noise."

      Kevin leaned forward and fixed him with a cold hard
stare. "Ever wonder what effect something like that might
have on a twelve-year-old girl, even if she is a Future MD?
Ever wonder what finding somebody she cares about in that
crumpled, bloody heap at the bottom of the basement stairs
might do to her before she learns his injuries are
relatively minor compared to what his past experiences have
taught her to expect?  Hmmm?"

      "Yeah," he admitted with a heavy sigh.  "T'ink I do."

      "Yeah."  Kevin straightened.  "You know, half the
hospital is ready to walk in here and thump you upside your
thick head, but not until after the shots wear off.  And
it's not at her insistence, either.  They are PISSED at
what you put her through. It bothers the shit out of me
that the people who work here are more worried about your
daughter than you are."

      Kevin snapped his fingers, as if a thought had just
occurred.  "Say, who was that son of a bitch who got all
pissed off at Don Middleton for not telling Suzie that her
sister was HIV positive and left it up to Wynter to console
Suzie AFTER blurting out Caroline's condition because she
was unaware that Suzie didn't know?  Must have been
Wynter's other father, you think?  Well, I'm going to do
everything I can to make sure you don't put her through
that again.  You aren't going home until Friday, and then
only if I think you've learned your lesson."

      Richard sighed, but he couldn't argue with Kevin,
either because of the pain or because of the logic.
"Un'erstood."

      The door opened.  Sue Kwan had brought his meds and
the cart to check his vital signs.

      Kevin gave Richard one last long look and turned to
Sue. "Let me know if there's any change, especially if you
find any signs of intelligence.  I won't hold my breath
waiting for that last one."  He looked over his shoulder at
Richard.  "You know, something is definitely wrong when I
have to be the adult between the two of us."

      Richard pondered all that Kevin had said while Sue
silently attended to her duties.  When she left he lay
there waiting for the shots to knock him out.

      His last conscious thoughts were about what Wynter's
response to his stupidity had been and how she'd gotten her
point across with no ifs, ands, or buts.  _Damn_, he
thought, _I sure am proud of her_.



                             Two

      Wynter returned Mrs. McCauley's big hug and updated
her on Daddy's condition.  Jimmy had a whispered
conversation with his mom and then escorted Wynter up the
stairs to his room. With Mother out of town and Daddy in
the hospital, she'd accepted an invitation to have dinner
with Jimmy's family.  Afterward they would all visit Daddy
in the hospital.

      Wynter planned to spend the night at home.  "Dragon
would worry if he was alone in the house all night," was
her explanation.  Jimmy volunteered to stay with her and
keep her company.  Mrs. McCauley agreed.  Wynter wasn't
surprised. They had spent the night alone together in the
house before. Mrs. McCauley might not suspect they were
sexually active, but Wynter was sure the woman did because
she was pretty smart  And she was well aware that they had
already slept together while naked.

      That sure seemed like a lifetime ago, way back in
September when they had been trapped in the Hargus Mine.
Two high school thugs had kidnapped both of them plus Suzie
while they were exploring Hargus City, a ghost town off the
road to Wynter's former mountain home.  The punks had
missed Kenny Taylor, who was in the woods relieving a
diarrhea problem, one symptom of his strange abdominal
illness.  Kenny saw the kidnapping and rescued Suzie, but
he became caught at the edge of the rubble from the cave-in
caused by one of the bullies.

      Wynter and Jimmy, trapped on the other side of the
collapse, had fallen into a drainage sump while running
away from the cave-in.  They had to remove their clothing
and rinse with bottled water to avoid skin damage from
acids in the sump. With no dry clothing in their packs,
they'd huddled together under blankets to stay warm while
Suzie summoned help and Wynter's father, a geological
engineer who did his Master's Degree thesis on the mine,
coordinated the rescue teams that saved them.

      Wynter had been astonished to discover that Jimmy had
the same feelings for her that she secretly felt for him.
And while Kenny was in the hospital, he and Suzie learned
that they had a mutual interest in each other, too.  As a
result, the Hargus Four, as they became known, paired into
girlfriends and boyfriends.

      But now, for the second time, Suzie had broken off
her relationship with Kenny.  The first was caused by
Suzie's older sister, Caroline, trying to ruin Suzie's
relationship out of jealousy.  This time it was because
Suzie had caught Kenny having sexual activities with two
other girls.

      Wynter sure was glad that nothing like that would
ever come between herself and Jimmy.  Well, she hoped
nothing would. Jimmy wasn't her first lover, though she
knew there would never be a third one.  She couldn't tell
Jimmy about the first one because of who he was.  When she
was trapped in their mountain home with her father, who was
a bedridden invalid because of traction and his three
casts, she'd discovered sexual activities through him.

      Jimmy was too straitlaced to accept that for now,
though she and Cinnamon had been performing what they
called a "prudectomy" to prepare Jimmy in case he stumbled
on the truth before Wynter decided he was ready to know.
Cinnamon knew because her skills at observation allowed her
to observe the symptoms that she needed to diagnose the
relationship, symptoms that the little redhead was attuned
to because of her own fatherly relationship.

      Halting at his door, Jimmy, always the gentleman,
held out his arm and allowed Wynter to enter his room
first.  They placed their backpacks on his desk and
indulged in the kiss that both had been awaiting all day.
She felt the arrowhead she had given him, a gift he wore on
a leather thong around his neck, press into her chest.
That raised the intensity of her kiss, and she was swept
away by her love for him.  She lost all track of time and
didn't care because she was with Jimmy, and that was all
that mattered to her.

      Wynter slowly opened her eyes as they finally pulled
away, enjoying the dreamy feeling that ran throughout her
entire body. She gazed deeply into the green eyes that said
he loved her with all his heart...

      ...and focused on the wall behind him.  "You moved
your Star Wars cartoon," she said.

      Jimmy pretended to be cross, but he looked too dreamy
himself for it to be effective.  "Your Future Husband gives
you his first kiss of the day, and you want to discuss the
house furnishings?  Maybe we already are married and have
mutual amnesia about it."

      "Smarty pants!" she retorted disdainfully and kissed
him again.

      "Okay," she said, "there's your second kiss.  Now
let's talk about the house furnishings."

      He gave her his characteristic grin-and-nod.  "So now
who's being a smarty pants?  It's over there."  He pointed
to the wall opposite the door, where he'd collected all her
cartoons into a group.  A large group. The Star Wars
cartoon, with the Hargus Four as different characters from
the movies, hung in the center. It was his favorite cartoon
not only because it was the first one she'd ever drawn, but
also because they had first held hands during the 'Star
Wars II' movie.  "But I haven't moved the deer and her baby."

      After the movie they had again held hands in Otter
Park, where they'd quietly watched a deer and her baby come
to drink from Porcupine Creek.  Wynter had commemorated the
event in a breath-takingly beautiful colored pencil
drawing, adding in other birds and animals until she had
created a highly detailed scene people always got lost in.
Jimmy loved all of the artwork she'd given him, even her
first oil painting, the one of Jimmy as a knight that now
hung in the McCauley living room, but that drawing was his
favorite.  He'd put it on the wall where it would be the
first thing he saw when he climbed out of bed.

      She pulled his head down until their noses touched.
"So what are you going to put beside the door to look at
when you leave the room now?  A picture of Sis?"

      He grinned and pulled away.  "This."  He opened a
desk drawer and removed a framed picture of Wynter, head
partially down, looking toward the lower right corner of
the frame. She recognized the curtains behind her and the
top of the red dress she'd been wearing.  "Jimmy!  This is
from the talent show!  When did you take it?  And how?"

      "I didn't," he said.  "Mrs. Katzmarek took it.  Amy
finally realized I might like to have a copy of it and gave
it to me last night.  Mom got a frame for it today and put
it in the drawer for me."  He took the picture from her,
turned, and placed it on the wall hanger that had
previously held the Star Wars cartoon. "There.  That's much
better," he said.  "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to
take a potty break.  Ladies first if you need to go."

      She did.  She emerged from the bathroom to find Mrs.
McCauley climbing the stairs with juice and cookies on a
tray. "You keep feeding me cookies, and I'm going to get
fat," she warned.

      Jimmy's mother laughed.  "Honey, it wouldn't hurt you
to gain a few pounds.  Just don't overdo it until you're
maybe my age, the way I'm doing."

      Mrs. McCauley wasn't that much overweight; not nearly
as much as many of the mothers of that age whom Wynter
knew. "Okay," she said, "I'll have an extra one since
they're so good."

      "Two extra," Mrs. McCauley said with a stern frown
that made Wynter giggle.  The phone rang.  "Honey, would
you take these, and I'll go get the phone downstairs?"

      Wynter put the tray on Jimmy's desk and waited for
him to use the bathroom before helping herself.  While he
was out of the room she looked around.  His synthesizer
keyboard was in his room instead of in the basement room
where they had rehearsed for the talent show.  She looked
at the sheet music face up on it.

      "'Mariner No. 4'," she read, "organ music."  She
placed her hands on the keys, checked the tempo notation,
ran the opening through her head twice, and rolled the
first six chords, then waited through the rests until the
organ music began again.  She used the settings Jimmy had
last used, assuming it was for this piece.  As she played
the main theme she decided she really and truly liked it
and wondered what the other parts sounded like with it.  It
didn't sound much like the surf music that...

      Jimmy burst into the room.  "You weren't supposed to
see that!"

      She jerked her fingers from the keyboard as if it had
suddenly turned to lava.  "Jimmy, I'm sorry!  I didn't know."

      "It's not your fault," he said.  "It's mine for
leaving it sitting out.  You wouldn't have found it if I'd
thought to turn it over when I left this morning."

      He was right about that.  Although Jimmy and Wynter
shared almost everything, neither pried into the other's
personal business.  Each assumed that anything not exposed
to public view was private until told otherwise.  "I'm
really and truly sorry. You wanted to surprise me with it?"
She'd have assumed that it was something he'd composed for
her, the way he'd composed 'Wynter's Song' for her
birthday, if it hadn't been commercially printed music.

      He shrugged one shoulder.  "Well, it's not my idea,"
he said.

      "Ah."  She wrapped her arms around his neck.  "Sis."

      He gave her his grin-and-nod.  "Yeah.  Huntly's
having some problems with it, and she doesn't want anyone
to hear it until his birthday party.  Junior and the Twins
will perform."

      That sure didn't make any sense.  'Junior and the
Twins' was Cinnamon's surf music band, with Huntly himself
on lead guitar. Jimmy played keyboards, his father played
rhythm guitar, LaMarcus Reed was on bass, and Cinnamon was
the best drummer the state of Colorado had ever seen.  And
Huntly's party was being held at Cinnamon's house, when
traditionally it was held at the home of the guest of honor.

      These were symptoms.  Wynter put on her diagnosis cap
and tried to analyze the problem the way Cinnamon would.
Cinnamon had her main drum set at home as well as the
practice kit in Jimmy's basement practice room.  Jimmy's
face said he was hiding a secret, which was another
symptom.  _Why would Sis... Aha!_

      "So," she said in a conversational voice, pausing to
give him a quick kiss, "what color is it?"

      "What color is what?"

      She grinned at the suspicion in his voice and the way
his green eyes narrowed just a tiny bit.  "Huntly's new
guitar. You've seen it, haven't you?  Or did she just show
you a picture of it?"

      Jimmy groaned and sat on the edge of his bed.  She
sat across his lap and kissed him again before he asked,
"Non-verbal communication?"

      She shrugged.  "Maybe a little, though it was just a
symptom and not the answer."  She kissed him again when she
saw how miserable he looked.  Any afternoon she found
excuses to keep kissing Jimmy was a pretty darned good one
as far as she was concerned.  Not that they needed excuses,
of course.

      "It's supposed to arrive tomorrow or Thursday. One of
Cinnamon's friends in Boston is having it shipped directly
from the factory in Scottsdale.  Um, Arizona," he added as
if he thought she might not know where Scottsdale was.
"Dad is going to take care of the tuning himself.
Something special about the way it's made.  'Double locking
tremolo,' whatever that means. Dad will tune it in advance
for the performance.  I know because I accidentally heard
him talking to her about it after rehearsal last month.  If
she spent as much on your diamond earrings for your
birthday as she's spending on Huntly's guitar, maybe you'd
better not wear them anyplace but a bank vault."

      Wynter shrugged.  "She said for me to not worry about
the cost, but to enjoy them and wear them whenever I liked.
She said that people who spend all their time worrying
about money never learn to appreciate what it buys."

      "Huh.  Maybe, I guess.  Well, I guess I'll know for
sure when you make us rich.  So, what do we study first?"

      She appreciated the fact that he didn't feel the need
to ask that she not say anything to Cinnamon.  Jimmy
trusted her as fully and as implicitly as she trusted him,
and that made her heart swell until it seemed too big for
her chest.

      "History," she said, "since we'll be studying anatomy
later tonight.  History's my weakest subject, after all."

      "Did I tell you that Cinnamon said that's the
difference between us?  I'm better at history because I
spend so much time in the past."  Jimmy loved medieval
movies and games. "You spend all your time thinking about
the future."

      "That," she said before covering his mouth with hers,
"is why we make such a good team.  We have all the aspects
covered."

      It was some time before they came up for air and
began studying.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie caught herself just in time.  She was about to
turn into Lori Carter's room out of habit or something.
Josh Carter's house, which was a couple of blocks away in
the same subdivision, had the same floor plan as Suzie's.
That is, it was the same except that when Josh's father had
enclosed the carport, he'd had enough sense to move it back
so that the stupid kitchen window didn't look into the
stupid garage afterward.  Lori had the room that was
Suzie's in the Middleton's house.

      Josh had the room that in Suzie's house was normally
occupied by Suzie's sister, Caroline.  Only now Caroline
was in the girls' correctional thingy in Buena Vista for a
year, where the judge had put her when she cut off that
stupid Ray Simons' pecker because he'd given the stupid cow
AIDS.  Or, anyway, the stupid HIV virus, which Wynter had
said wasn't exactly the same thing.

      Josh placed an extra chair beside his desk for Suzie.
"I'm glad we can study together," he said.  "Maybe I can
help pay you back for the coaching you did for me.  I
couldn't have won that medal without your help."

      Suzie followed his eyes to the gold swimming medal
hanging in a small display case on the wall.  Her eyes
returned to him. "That's just the first of many, I'm sure,"
she said.  "I'd bet the next one is gold, too."

      "That would be nice, but I'll never have as many as
you," he said.  "Gold or otherwise."

      Suzie didn't mean to give Josh such a hard look.
She'd won her medals for Kenny.  He'd been in the hospital
with his mysterious stomach sickness and unable to attend
the state swim meet, so she'd tried ever so hard.  It had
been more important for her to win for Kenny than it had
been for her to beat the stupid little witch from Alamosa
whose cheating had kept Suzie from winning first place the
year before.  She'd done all that for the stupid dolt, and
then she'd caught him having a gangbang with Tiffany Jones
and Judy Chase when she came home early.

      She forced the thoughts out of her head and gave Josh
a nice smile.  That wasn't difficult to do.  Josh was a
nice person who had always encouraged her.  "Maybe you
will.  You have two coaches now."

      She thought Josh looked flosstered, or whatever that
stupid word was.  He shrugged one shoulder.  "Yeah, but
only one gives me personal attention.  Mister Wallace has
all the other boys to worry about."

      "Well, now you're gonna get more personalized
coaching. I'll coach you in history, and you can coach me
in math as payback."

      "Deal," he said, and they spread their books on his
desk.

      An hour later she noticed Josh seemed uncomfortable.
Something was strange about his eyes.  After a minute she
realized that the way she was sitting caused the wide neck
of her blouse to gap open where he could look at her bra.
Josh was trying ever so hard not to do so.  He was so
unlike that stupid Kenny.  That dolt was always trying to
look down her blouse, and had been doing so since her
boobies had started to grow.

      She straightened and stretched, letting the movements
shift her blouse in a natural manner.  Josh seemed
relieved, whereas the dolt would have complained.  She'd
never really thought about how Josh was such a gentleman,
but he was, especially around her.

      Josh stopped to stretch, too, noting how good it felt
to get the kinks out.  His foot accidentally touched hers,
but he jerked it away immediately.  Faster than she could
even think, her foot scooted off and pressed itself against
the side of Josh's. He jumped slightly in surprise or
something but didn't move his foot away again.

      By the time they finished their shoulders were
touching too. Josh sounded honestly disappointed when he
said that he was sorry Suzie had to go home and they
couldn't study more.  She didn't know why for sure, but she
felt sorry, too.

      They hugged each other goodbye at the door.  It
wasn't anything special.  Members of the swim team often
hugged each other after a good performance.  But it somehow
seemed special to Suzie.  Once again she acted faster than
she could think and kissed him on the cheek, the way the
girls sometimes did to congratulate the boys on the swim
team.  "Thanks for everything," she said.  She thought he
turned a cute shade of red. Actually, she thought he was
kinda cute even when he wasn't red.

      She made her farewells with Mrs. Carter and let Josh
escort her out to her bike.  Mister Carter pulled into the
driveway as she raised the kickstand.  She spoke with him
for a moment and then rode out onto Thirteenth Street and
turned left.  In her mirror she saw Josh watching her until
she turned right on Wheeler Way.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon grinned as Huntly and Kenny broke off at
Kenny's driveway.  "Just remember that you're supposed to
study school subjects and not internet porn," she said.

      Kenny shot her the bird while Huntly sighed, "Bitch."

      "Shithead."  She twisted her head to the right.  "You
still doing okay?"

      Tyrone Hayes was struggling with his new bicycle.  He
wasn't used to having one with gears or with tires that
didn't need inflating every time he rode it.  "I'll manage,
Little Momma."

      Tyrone was Cinnamon's project for the year.  Well,
one of them if you also counted Huntly.  She'd convinced
Tyrone to stop trying to do rap that everyone hated--Tyrone
frequently placed dead last in rap competitions--and start
using the wonderful singing voice that he'd tried to keep
hidden.  She'd convinced him to sing in the spring talent
show and had built a band around him to provide backup.
Then she'd arranged with one of her friends from Boston,
where she'd lived until the first of the year, to attend
the show.  The friend, Alex O'Connor, was a talent scout
who trusted Cinnamon's judgment, and with good reason.
Over three years, Cinnamon had made him a small fortune.

      When the show ended, Tyrone was offered a contract to
have Alex represent him.  In addition, Alex had been so
impressed by LaMarcus on bass that he'd offered to pair
LaMarcus with Tyrone, as Cinnamon had expected.  LaMarcus,
however, wanted to wait to see if his NBA career
materialized.  Alex had given Tyrone what LaMarcus had
called a "signing bonus" that the Hayes family had used to
pay off several troublesome bills.  Mister Hayes had
insisted that part of the money go into savings for Tyrone,
except for enough of it to buy him a new bicycle.  It was
one of the few things Tyrone had that wasn't second- or
third-hand merchandise.

      They banked left into Cinnamon's driveway and parked
their bikes in the rack across from the northern side door.
Tyrone followed her into the house and up the short flight
of stairs to the main level.

      "Rosita!" she called.  "We have company."

      "Kitchen," echoed down the hall as Cinnamon's white
greyhound raced down the hall, stopped, and sat in front of
her. He licked her face as she hugged him.  She turned to
Tyrone and giggled.  "You look like you've seen a ghost,
but that's okay. You have.  Tyrone Hayes, singer
extraordinaire, this is Colonel John Singleton Mosby, ex-
racing greyhound not-so-extraordinaire. But now that he's
retired his name is Ghost, after his namesake's nickname,
'The Gray Ghost.'"

      "He don't bite?"

      "Doesn't," she corrected.  "Are you kidding?  If you
broke in to steal the silver, he'd probably show you where
it's located.  I know he would if you brought him something
to eat. Let him sniff your hand, and then you can pet him."

      Tyrone did.  "What it is, Ghostman?"  He rubbed
Ghost's head and scratched behind his gray ears, which,
along with the small blotch on his chest that resembled the
Ghostbusters' logo's ghost, was the only non-white hair on
the animal.  Ghost's tail became a blur on the carpet.
"Well, all right, G!"

      Cinnamon's eyes narrowed as her wide grin pushed up
her round cheeks.  "Rosita is waiting for us.  You may
escort me."

      Tyrone bowed stiffly from the waist and extended his
elbow. Cinnamon hooked her hand in the crook and allowed
him to lead her down the hallway as music by Tangerine
Dream, one of Wynter and Jimmy's favorite groups, played
from the ceiling speakers. Ghost tagged along beside her.
"Sure is quiet in here," he said.

      "Nice, isn't it?" she agreed.

      Tyrone was referring to previous visits.  Cinnamon's
alcoholic birth mother, who she called either the bitch or
Millie, after the bitch's own alcoholic mother, had always
screamed and shouted and made a total ass of herself
because Cinnamon had brought "one of THEM!" into her house.
At her urging, Tyrone had gone into his act and had almost
brought the bitch to apoplexy every time.

      Unfortunately, that desired result hadn't happened.
Because of the terms of a prenuptial agreement, Cinnamon
had been forced to frame the worthless waste of oxygen with
a prescription drug abuse charge to get her out of the
house and out of their lives before her father, who she
dearly loved more than life itself, had a mental breakdown
from the stress.  Millie was now in a rehabilitation
program back in Massachusetts and had filed for divorce.
Under the terms of the pre-nup, Millie thus forfeited all
claims on Cinnamon, but not her financial obligations. That
suited both Cinnamon and her father just fine.

      "Yes," Tyrone said, stopping before the doors into
the kitchen and turning to face her.  "And I don't mean for
my benefit.  You been a right-on friend, Little Momma, and
you and your poppa didn't deserve the way you was treated."

      Cinnamon nodded, partly in agreement with what Tyrone
had said, partly because deep inside he was the kind of
person she'd thought he was instead of the shithead image
he'd projected. "You can never have too many friends," she
said before glancing around him to the bathroom door.  She
shrugged out of her backpack and handed it to him.  "You go
on in and say hello to Rosita.  I need to go drain the
swamp, and then I'll join you."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Rosita Vasquez was pulling a tray of cookies out of
the oven when she heard the doors swing open.  The range
was in the kitchen end of a long central island that looked
as if it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be an "L" or
an "I", so it had the short end halfway between, like a
broken "J." Mrs. Brees had always insisted on being served
breakfast in the dining room. Cinnamon and Mitch had used
the short end as a breakfast bar, as much to piss off that
hateful woman as because they found the breakfast nook more
cozy and inviting.

      She straightened, then jumped when she saw Tyrone and
Ghost coming toward her.

      "Tyrone!  What a wonderful surprise.  I thought she'd
brought Huntly, as usual.  I'd put out a Coke for him. I'll
get you..."

      "That's all right, Mrs. V," he said.  "I'll start
with it." He took her offered hand and shook it with a firm
grip.

      She put the hot cookie tray on the range top and then
hugged him ferociously.  "It's been forever," she said.
"Joo haveen't been heere seense the baad old dayz, I
theenk," she said in her atrocious phony Spanish accent.
"Joo eeven meesed the housewarming party they had wheen
Senora Brees queekly left town."  Rosita turned the last
word into three syllables. She was third generation
American and spoke very little Spanish, but she had faked
the accent because it served as a thorn to remind the
former "Lady" of the house that her maid was "foreigner
riff-raff."

      She'd done so as punishment for her employer, payback
for the way the woman had treated her own husband and
daughter, not for the way she'd treated Rosita. She was
among the first in a town full of people who couldn't
understand how the evil woman could be so filled with
hatred for a bright, charming, talented, beautiful daughter
that anybody in the community would adopt in an instant.
She'd immediately fallen in love with Cinnamon.

      Falling in love with Mitch had taken a little longer,
and that was still a secret from everybody except Mitch and
herself.

      Tyrone slouched, seeming to double the number of
joints in his body, and flailed his arms to direct his
pointing fingers in emphasis as he spouted a stream of jive
that Rosita couldn't begin to follow beyond the, "What it
is, Big Momma?"

      She laughed as he finished and then reformed his body
into a normal stance in one fluid, graceful move.  "I'm
certainly glad we don't have to resort to that any more."

      Tyrone nodded.  "Word!" he said. Then his grin faded.
"I haven't seen you since you lost your father-in-law," he
said. "I'm real sorry."

      "Thanks," she replied, noticing a slight catch in her
voice. "When Pete died, I was afraid that would be the end
of the family relationship, but instead I went from being
Papa Antonio's daughter-in-law to being another one of his
daughters.  I miss him, but it was for the best.  Now I'm
worried about Mama Rosa. She's already lost without him.
She'll be gone by the end of the year."

      Tyrone took her shoulders in his hands and squeezed
gently. "They had something very special.  I hope some day
I can find me a woman as good as her and we can have us
what they had."

      Rosita nodded.  "I think Pete and I had something
like that going for us.  It's one of the reasons I never
remarried. I was afraid I'd not be able to recapture it."

      A corner of Tyrone's mouth twitched upward.  "Oh, I
wouldn't worry about that, Mrs. V.  I can give you Tyrone's
four-one-one on that.  You will.  And you can chill with
that."

      "Hold it, buster!" said a sharp voice from the
kitchen doors.  Cinnamon stood with her feet apart, her
fists on her hips, and a ferocious scowl on her face.  "I
leave you alone for two minutes and you start hitting on
the maid?  That's my adopted mother, you know."

      "Well, make up yo' mind, Little Momma.  Is she yo'
maid or yo' momma?  Oh, wait, I f'got.  You white folks
thinks yo' mommas IS yo' maids."

      "Uh huh," she said with a deliberate nod.  She
pointed to the kitchen phone.  "And if I call Mrs. Hayes,
will she tell me you treat her like a mother or a maid?"

      Rosita chuckled at the way Tyrone deflated before he
said, "Say, Little Momma, these cookies is getting cold.
And while Mrs. Vasquez's cookies are delicious when they's
cold, they are heavenly when they's warm."  He turned to
Rosita and gave her a charming, ingratiating smile.

      Rosita smiled back.  "You two have a seat and I'll
serve the cookies," she said.  "Then you can get to work
studying for the English final."

      Tyrone twitched in surprise that she knew what they
would study.  He looked back and forth between the two
before settling on Cinnamon.  The decision to study
together had been made as they were leaving school, and
Cinnamon hadn't phoned anyone.  "Is that some of what you
and Wynter call 'non-verbal communication'?"

      Cinnamon paused beside her chair and shook her head.
"No. It definitely WASN'T NON-verbal."

                            ~ ~ ~

      "So tell me," Tyrone said as they stepped off the
stairs and onto the gallery overlooking the family room and
foyer, "when do they plan to get married?"

      Cinnamon glanced down into the family room.  The
partition doors that separated it from the breakfast area
were open, but she couldn't see Rosita.  "No idea," she
said as she followed Ghost left toward her room.  She
sighed.  "I don't even know when they plan to tell me
they're already engaged."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter's narrow hand rubbed her slender stomach, and
her blue-green eyes sparkled with mischief as she grinned
at her father.  "You know what a good cook Mrs. McCauley
is. That was as far above road kill as road kill is above
hospital food. Right, Jimmy?"

      "Right, Future Doctor McCauley.  Even compared to
diesel-flavored chipmunk."

      Wynter wasn't the only one gaping at Jimmy.  His
parents and Daddy also stared bug-eyed at him.  Jimmy was
the only one who was oblivious to the fact that he'd not
only used her future professional designation but also her
future last name, too.

      Jimmy looked at all the faces gawking at him.  "What?"

      "Nothing," Wynter said before anyone else could
speak.  She turned back to Daddy.  "So how's hospital life?"

      His smile, partially a result of his narcotic
injections but mostly pleasure at having Wynter in the room
with him, widened, though he still spoke in a slur and
without moving his jaw. "Jimmy?" he said instead of
answering her question.  "Son, need you observe somet'in'
very important an' 'preciate it."

      Jimmy's posture straightened and he gave her father
his undivided attention.  "Yes, sir?"

      Daddy lifted his right hand and pointed the index
finger at Wynter.  "I wan' you see real doct'r at work,
even if she isn' designate' yet.  Real doc is one who put
aside person'l feelings and does wha's best for patient,
not best for self.  Real doc sometimes does thing agains'
her nature 'cause tha's what thick-head patient need so
he'll pay 'tention to lesson and learn from mistake.  Real
doc sometime endure person'l emotion'l pain to keep her
patien's from endurin' further phys'cal pain. Real doctor
has heart bigger'n anything else about her."

      Jimmy's finger wiped away a tear that trickled down
her cheek before he said, "Yes, sir, I know that.  And I do
appreciate it.  I've always known she was special.  It
wasn't until she told me her plan that I realized how
special she was. The way you now do, too."

      Daddy nodded.  "So, I've jus' one quest'n, Future
Doct'r McCauley."

      Wynter heard Jimmy gasp at the name.  She made a
mental note to be amused later.

      "Am I forgiv'n, now I've learn lesson?"

      "Uh huh," she said.  "And you'd better have learned
it.  I don't want to go through this with you again."

      She didn't explain which "this" she meant.  Daddy
knew which meaning she'd intended:  both of them.  Both the
accident and the subsequent lesson.

      "Uh, we, uh..." Mrs. McCauley stammered.  "We'll just
wait out..."

      "No," Jimmy said.  "How much time may we have with
your patient, Future Doctor King?"

      Wynter didn't take her eyes off her father's.  She
didn't want to miss an instant of the love and appreciation
of her that she saw deep within them.  "Five minutes."

                            ~ ~ ~

      When the door closed, Richard shifted his eyes from
his departing visitors to Wynter.  The iron determination
of the morning's Future MD had been replaced by the sweet
vulnerability of his daughter.

      She squeezed his hand in hers and gave him a sad
look.  "I'm glad I don't have to be mean any more," she
said.  "I didn't like myself very much."

      "Unh uh," he grunted, waggling an index finger
because he couldn't shake his head and survive.  "Don' say
that.  Wasn' mean.  Was good doct'r.  I was ser'ous.  You
made point. You'll be good doc an' good parent."

      He waited for her to think about that one.

      She shrugged one shoulder.  "I guess that's a good
point. Did you feel like this whenever I was naughty and
you had to punish me?"

      "Ever' time."

      She smiled and gave him the gentle nose-and-lips kiss
that had been something special between them for most of
her life.  "I wish I could give you a lover's kiss, too,"
she said.

      "Uh huh."  He wondered if feeling her sweet tongue in
his mouth would be worth the explosion in his skull.  As he
decided it would, she said, "but we'll have to wait.
You're going to miss your Friday night, too."

      "Huh?"  One of the arrangements that Angie had
established for their continued sexual relationship was
that Wynter would have Richard on Friday nights and Angie
had him the rest of the week.

      "Daddy, it's that bad.  Next Friday you'll be okay,
but not this Friday.  Mother has to do without, too, this
week. See? When you do something like that, you affect not
just yourself but everyone around you."

      He sighed.  "You be better parent'n I was."

      Her ponytail lashed as she shook her head.  "Maybe
I'll have more sense," she said, sounding uncomfortably
like Angie, "but I can only hope to be as good."

      "Love you."

      "I love you, too.  I brought you a special gift."

      He hadn't seen her bring anything into the room. "Wha?"

      She looked over her shoulder at the door, moved a few
inches to the side, and raised the hem of her blouse.
"What every tit man wants to see."

      Richard sighed happily as he gazed at the small, soft
mounds capped by pink cones.  "Secon' best presn't you
brought," he mumbled.

      "What was the best?"

      "Ev'rthin' else.  You giv'n Jim same presn't t'night?"

      "Uh huh.  He's staying at our house to protect me."

      Richard smiled and reached up to cup one of his
favorite toys in his hand.  He had better sense than to ask
who was going to protect Jimmy.



                            Three

       Wynter wasn't surprised to find Dragon sitting in
the front yard, waiting for her return.  It was where she'd
expected him to be.  She hugged him and told him how much
she'd missed him, too. Jimmy pulled a large dog biscuit out
of a cargo pocket in his shorts and paid his toll to pass
the coal-black, eighty-pound 'Labrador Roadblock,' as
Grandpa Wolfe called him.

      Wynter closed and locked the door while Jimmy
shrugged out of his pack.  She scratched Dragon's ears with
one hand while the other led her arm around Jimmy's neck to
pull his lips toward hers.  Her eyes closed and her mouth
opened in breathless anticipation...

      ...and the phone rang.

      "DRAT!"

      "Maybe it's your mother," Jimmy said.

      Wynter didn't think so, but maybe it was.  She
chastised herself for being disappointed without even
checking first to see if it was someone whom she loved with
all her heart.

      She glanced at the Caller ID as she reached for the
kitchen phone hanging over the breakfast nook.  "Huntly,"
she said before lifting the receiver.  She heard Jimmy
groan disdainfully as she identified herself.

      "Hey, Doctor Cutie!  Glad you're home.  Jimbo's mom
said you two were there and were planning to spend the
night together. Cinnamon and I will be there shortly.  Tell
you what: because you're my special friends, we'll stay
over and chaperone you tonight.  Damn, you're lucky to know
us."

      "You'll stay over and chaperone?"  She heard Jimmy
groan again.  "Why are coming here in the first place?  You
want some place where you can make out with Sis
uninterrupted?"

      "You have such a low opinion of such a wonderful
person as me?  I should be insulted, but for you I'll make
an exception. It's about Kenny and Suzie."

      "Oh."  She looked over her shoulder at Jimmy, who had
squeezed up behind her and was encircling her waist with
his arms.  "Okay.  How soon can you get here?"

      "We're waiting to cross Cheyenne Road.  Oops. There's
the light.  See you shortly."  He hung up.

      "What?" Jimmy asked in a cross tone as she hung up
the phone.  Before she could speak he said, "They're coming
here?"

      She turned in his arms.  "Uh huh."  She pulled his
head toward hers again.  "It's about the Hargus Other Two."

      He still looked disappointed, but he said, "Oh.
Well, that's important.  And Cinnamon said that this was
what we'd have to look forward to when you start Medical
School."

      "At the rate we're going, it will be routine for us
by then."  She didn't let him respond because she'd waited
long enough.  She crushed her mouth to his and slipped away
to paradise.

      When she returned to Earth she realized Jimmy's hand
had crawled up under her top, and he was looking at her in
his version of what she called Dragon's "curious pose."

      "What?" she asked.

      "You were wearing a bra when we went to the hospital."

      OH NO!  She'd forgotten to put it back on!  She tried
to sound natural as she said, "Well, I didn't need it.
You've said so yourself several times.  And I've told you
how they sometimes get uncomfortable.  It's that bulge in
my pocket."

      Jimmy gave her his grin-and-nod.  "Yeah, you've told
me. You've saved me the work of taking it off, but you've
also saved me the fun of taking it off."

      She rubbed her nose against his.  "I could put it
back on."

      "That's okay.  I'll just have extra fun taking off
your top."

      Dragon jumped up from the floor at her feet and
bolted to the front door.  Wynter knew from the particular
way he looked at the door that Cinnamon had arrived.  Just
how long had she and Jimmy been lost in their kiss this time?

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon sipped her apple juice and nodded to Huntly.
"You first, shithead."

      "Bitch," he said with that world-weary tone that made
people who didn't know them think he was seriously tired of
her. He smiled at Wynter and Jimmy.  "First of all, I'd
like to express my appreciation to the hostess..."

      "Get on with it!" Jimmy barked.  Cinnamon thought he
looked cute when he was flustered, and Huntly was the only
person she knew who could fluster Jimmy as well as she and
Kenny could.  And then there was Cousin Hailey who, after
she arrived on Sunday, would no doubt would fluster him
more than Huntly and she combined could do.

      "Try to show some civilized manners around Kenny's
clone and look what happens."  Huntly shook his head at the
futility. "Okay, here's what happened.  Suzie took her
swimming medals to show Kenny and to tell him that she'd
won them just for him.  She caught him in a threesome with
Tiffany Jones and Judy Chase."

      When he looked at Cinnamon, she said, "Josh Carter
has been one of Suzie's secret admirers all year.  They
studied together this afternoon.  Looks like he's aware
that she's available and making his move.  She seems to be
receptive to the advance."  She reached for her juice glass.

      When neither one said more, Wynter and Jimmy and
looked at each other and then at her.

      "And?" her adopted sister and Future Brother-in-Law
asked in unison.

      Cinnamon shrugged.  "And that's it."

      Huntly nodded.

      "You could have told us that over the phone," Jimmy
said. Cinnamon grinned to herself and wondered if he was
aware of the suspicion in his voice.

      Huntly nodded again.  "True.  But I can't get my knee
massaged over the phone."

      "Knee massage," Jimmy said.  "I suppose you want to
loosen it up in the hot tub first."

      Huntly shrugged one shoulder.  "Well, thanks, Jimbo,
if you insist.  Though I expect Doctor Cutie will insist
anyway because that makes it easier for her."

      Wynter shook her head.  "You just want to see me
naked again."

      Huntly assumed his most pompous look.  "That, Your
Doctorness, is an outrageous lie!  I want to get my knee
massaged because it's been nagging me for a couple of days."

      Wynter looked apologetic.  "Oh," she said, not
realizing, as Cinnamon did, what was coming next.

      "Getting to see you naked again is just a bonus."

      Cinnamon joined her adopted sister in a head shake
and added, "You shithead."

      "Bitch.  Don't worry, Jimbo, you get a treat, too.
You get to see Cinnamon naked."

      Jimmy shrugged.  "I already know what she looks like.
Remember?"

      Cinnamon was impressed with the way Jimmy said that.
Even though he understood the Kings' concept of a European
sauna atmosphere, he still had some lingering apprehension
about seeing her nude and even more about being nude in her
presence.  It wasn't as bad as it had been, though.  The
prudectomy she and Sis had been performing was paying off.
He was almost completely relaxed being nude in Mrs. King's
presence, though perhaps that was because her adopted Mom
didn't tease Jimmy the way she did. She, of course, only
did so as part of the prudectomy.

      Sure.  That was her only reason.

      "What are you snickering at, bitch?"

      She refocused and looked at the brown eyes below the
puckered brow of his frown.  "I was thinking, shithead.
Someday the rest of us will explain to you how that's done."

      "You know," Jimmy said, scratching his temple with
one fingernail, "if I didn't know better, I'd think you two
hated each other."

      "That's a very good point," Huntly said as he snaked
an arm around Cinnamon's shoulders and squeezed.  "How come
you two don't have any pet names for each other?"

      Jimmy's eyes shifted to Wynter, and his face
dissolved into that dreamy look.  A thousand boys had
looked at Cinnamon a thousand different ways, and not one
had given her that fantastically wonderful look that made
her wet every time she saw it directed at Sis.  "Because I
can't imagine a prettier name than 'Wynter.'  Any other
name for her would be an insult."

      Wynter gave Jimmy the look that said nobody else
could come between the two of them and mumbled something
before the two lost themselves in another kiss.

       Cinnamon wouldn't dare try to take Jimmy out of
respect for Sis, but she knew that she'd have no chance of
stealing him, even if she were of a different temperament.
On Sunday, Cousin Hailey was due to arrive from Hawaii to
spend the summer with her.  She wondered how long it would
take for Hailey to realize that she couldn't have Jimmy,
either.  No doubt Hailey would still be trying when she
boarded the plane in late August, unwilling to admit that
someone actually could resist her advances.

      She guessed that Huntly would let her finish the
introductions before he started humping Hailey.  Unlike
Kenny, who would "bang first and ask names later," as Megan
McNeal had once said of him.  Megan was one of those who
would know from first hand experience.

      Not that Cinnamon minded if Hailey did Huntly.  They
weren't formally "an item."  They did a lot of things
together, including each other, but each had other partners
available, though Huntly had only a couple and she could
have almost anyone she wanted. And Cinnamon didn't mind
sharing.  After all, she always shared her father with
Hailey.

      After watching the other couple for a good half-
minute, Huntly said, "Bitch and I will go ahead and get in
the hot tub. You two can join us when you come up for air.
Get it? Hot tub, come up for air?"

      Cinnamon groaned, a low, guttural sound that turned
into a growl.  "Shithead."  She fluttered her hands in a
shooing motion to urge him toward the basement stairs.

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Put your knee next to that jet," Wynter said in her
best professional voice, "and let it warm up for ten
minutes."

      Huntly moaned in satisfaction.  "Just the jet makes
it feel better.  I can't wait for you to start massaging it
again, though."

      "Well," Sis said slowly, as if thinking up the words
as she said them, "if you hadn't stupidly gone out of your
way to fuck it up again, you could have had it massaged a
lot more often instead of having to wait for it to heal
first.  Again."

      "Yeah," he said ruefully.  "And I also missed out on
all those opportunities to be in the tub with two hot,
steaming, naked babes."

      Wynter, sitting across from Huntly, leaned back in
her seat and relaxed.  For all Huntly's words about naked
girls, he mostly glanced to see if there were any major
changes since his last time in the tub, such as Wynter's
having grown an extra butt, and then he acted as if they
were all fully clothed.  He sure wasn't like Kenny, who
would duck his head underwater if he thought he could see
through the bubbles from the jets.

      Cinnamon, sitting to Huntly's right and across from
Jimmy, rolled her head on the built-in pillow so that she
could focus on Wynter.  "Speaking of males and their
ability to injure themselves while acting totally stupid,
Daddy said your father was coming home either Friday or
Saturday.  Will Mom be here to take care of him Sunday?"

      Because Cinnamon hadn't experienced the joys of
having a mother who loved her, Angie King had voluntarily
become Cinnamon's surrogate mother and was 'Mom' as far as
both parties were concerned.  As far as all four were
concerned if you counted Wynter and Daddy.  Okay, all five.
Wynter didn't want to unfairly discriminate against Canine-
Americans by ignoring Dragon's opinion.

      "Unless something changes," Wynter said as she
flipped her ponytail over the edge of the tub and eased her
head onto her pillow.  Unlike Cinnamon, who pinned her
thigh-length hair on top of her head for the tub, Wynter
left her hair, which reached to the bottom of her
shoulders, either in its normal ponytail or hanging loose
without the scrunchie, which meant it usually got wet in
the tub.  She didn't mind, though, because she'd then wash
her hair in the shower when they finished, and Jimmy would
comb and blow dry it for her.

      "Good!  How'd you like to go with me to DIA when we
pick up Hailey?"

      "You want ME to go with the three of you?"  Wynter
had been expecting Cinnamon to ask if she'd watch Ghost
while Cinnamon was away.  The greyhound was relatively new
and hadn't been left alone before.  Whenever Cinnamon spent
the night with Wynter while her father was on duty, Sis had
either brought Ghost with her or had Mrs. Vasquez spend the
night in the Brees's house. Sis had mentioned a few days
earlier that Mrs. Vasquez was planning to make the trip, too.

      "Sure.  Hailey's your cousin, too.  But it will
probably be just Daddy and me.  I think Rosita's going to
be with her mother-in-law."

      Something about the sound of her voice set off the
Code Blue signal in Wynter's head.  "You mean Mrs. Vasquez
Senior isn't well?"

      "Yes."  Cinnamon gently shook her head, her face
withdrawing into sadness.  "Rosita got the call right after
Tyrone left.  She doesn't want to go on without her
husband, just as everyone suspected.  Doctor Vasquez found
her unconscious on the living room couch.  He's staying
with her until about nine, and then Rosita will take over
for the night.  Fortunately, the nursing home can admit her
Sunday afternoon, unless a bed unexpectedly comes free
before then."

      Wynter saw Huntly's shoulder move and knew he was
reaching for Cinnamon's hand.  She felt Jimmy's touch her
wrist, then slide down to grip her own.

      Jimmy and Huntly spent several minutes telling
personal stories about Mrs. Vasquez Senior and her late
husband. Wynter had met them only once and that was very
briefly. Cinnamon had never met either.  The stories ended
when Wynter looked at the clock, sat up, and moved Huntly's
leg into position.  He moaned in relief as her thumbs began
working on his stiff knee.

      Wynter spoke without looking up.  "I guess that after
Mrs. Vasquez Senior is gone--to the nursing home, I mean--
then there will be nothing stopping Mrs. Vasquez from
moving in with you."

      "Yeah," said Huntly in a tone that sounded to Wynter
almost as if it were post-orgasmic.  "She can move into the
room the Doc was using while Cinnamon's mother..."

      "SHE WAS NOT MY MOTHER!" the little redhead screamed
in a voice so vicious that it caused everyone else to jump

      He'd known he'd made a mistake as the words left his
mouth. Wynter had seen that on his face.  "Sorry," he said.
His tone said he really and truly meant it.  "I meant to
say while the Doc's almost-ex was using the master suite.
It would be convenient since both bedrooms are at the same
end of the house and the doors sorta face each other."

      Wynter tried to stay natural.  Huntly didn't know
that Doctor Brees had frequently slipped down the hall at
night to one bedroom at the far end of the house whenever
loud snoring indicated that Mrs. Brees was passed out drunk
for the night. Wynter was the only one besides her father
and Cinnamon who knew that.  The only one except Hailey,
that is.  Cinnamon didn't hold too many secrets from her
cousin.

      "It would be more convenient if they'd just tell
everyone they're engaged," Jimmy noted.  Wynter nodded at
him over her shoulder.  She liked Jimmy's practical
approach to problems, unlike Cinnamon's answers.  Sis
seemed to enjoy making very complicated solutions and then
seeing them work as planned.

      "I think they're trying to protect me," Cinnamon said
as she straightened.  "Jimmy, you want me to give you
another foot massage?"

      To Wynter's pleased surprise, Jimmy replied, "I have
a better idea.  Let's move to the lounge seat and I'll
massage your shoulders."

      Wynter thought Sis's smile was going to push her
round cheeks right off her face.  "Sure!"  She stood and
grabbed Jimmy's face in her hands.  Before he could react
she gave him a quick kiss, a Future-Sister-in-Law one
without tongues.  She said, "Thanks," and sat on the end of
the lounge seat. Jimmy moved to the middle of the seat and
then pulled one leg across it so that he could turn to face
her.

      "Better watch out, Doc," Huntly said with a smirk. "I
think he's looking for an opportunity to play with the best
looking tits in school."

      Wynter pursed her lips and pushed them to one side in
thought.  "So, you're saying I should stop massaging your
knee and go supervise them?"

      "No!"  He raised one hand out of the water and gave a
flip of dismissal.  "Look, they'll be okay.  I trust Jimbo."

      "Cinnamon's right," Jimmy said as his fingers began
kneading her neck.  "You are a shithead."

      "For trusting you?"  Huntly sounded genuinely
surprised.

      "For telling your doctor who is giving your knee a
massage out of the goodness of her heart that her breasts
don't look as good as her sister's."

      "Oh.  Yeah.  Um..." Huntly frowned for a moment and
then brightened.  "Well, Cinnamon's are the best for me.
Naturally, Doctor Cutie's are the best for you.  That way
we don't have to fight each other over them.  Maybe I
should have said the biggest instead of the best looking."

      Wynter moved his leg to extend it more as she said,
"Mrs. Beuller has the biggest tits in school."

      "Student tits."

      "Amy Chisolm's are the biggest."  Almost everything
about Amy was the biggest in Griffin Middle School, and she
was only a sixth-grader.

      Huntly tried again.  "The biggest student tits that
don't need a bra."

      Wynter paused, then slowly, deliberately, turned to
stare at Cinnamon's chest.  Cinnamon straightened and
thrust them forward.

      "Yeah," Wynter said in a slow drawl, "I guess you're
right."

      Cinnamon giggled and relaxed, then moaned softly as
Jimmy began work on her trapezius muscles.  Jimmy, Wynter
noticed with pleasure, hadn't become embarrassed.

      Huntly also moaned, but not in the same way, causing
Cinnamon to remark, "You gave him a boner, Sis."

      Huntly snorted.  "Who says so?

      "Are you saying you weren't picturing us in a
threesome just then, with Wynter and me going after each
other and you helping yourself to whatever wasn't in use?"

      Sis was working on Jimmy's prudectomy.  Out of the
corner of her eye Wynter saw Jimmy flush scarlet.  Sis had
finally gotten to him.  Sure, she'd like to be alone with
Jimmy right now.  But Sis had realized that and was trying
to pay back Wynter for the deprivation by helping her with
her Jimmy Problem.

      Huntly's head bobbed to one side and he shrugged.
"Well, if you put it that way..."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter heard the faint sound of Cinnamon having
another orgasm in the guest bedroom.  "If they hadn't
showed up, you could be doing that to me right now," she
said from the seat in front of her dresser mirror.

      Jimmy stopped drawing the brush through her hair.  He
had used the blow dryer and comb and was now brushing out
the remaining tangles.  He smiled at her reflection in the
mirror. "Huntly's here with Cinnamon for sex.  I'm here
because I love you.  Brushing your hair may not be as
intense as making love with you, but when both are over the
satisfaction is just as great."

      Wynter looked down between her small, firm breasts.
Her heart suddenly felt too big for her chest, and she was
checking to see if it would explode out of her body like
that yucky creature in 'Alien.'  When he announced a minute
later that he was finished, she turned and sucked him to an
erection and then deep throated him until he came less than
a minute later.

      "Wow!" he said when he could speak again.  "You never
did that before!"

      _Well, no_, she thought, _not with Jimmy_.  She
smiled up at him and said, "Sis explained how to do it
right without choking. You owe her one.  So," she flapped
him up-and-down with her fingers, "do you think you can get
this up again right away for me, or do you just want to eat
my pussy for a while."

      Jimmy sighed in a faraway, dreamy voice.  "Yes."

      She smiled and rose, running her hands down his
chest, across his stomach, and cupping them around
everything. "I'm glad we got that answered before we
climbed into bed."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Marti McCauley's breath exploded in a rush over
Keith's ear. Some distant rational part of her said it was
a good thing she wasn't a screamer when she came or she
might have shattered his eardrum.  She enjoyed the feeling
of him slamming into her while she was throbbing with her
release.  Moments later he was short stroking.  His panting
ceased and a strangled moan tried to force its way out of
his throat as he slammed ever faster into her body.  She
and Keith were perfectly designed for fucking missionary
style at the angle most comfortable for both. Friction as
he withdrew caused her inner labia to pull on her clit just
right, and the impact of his body against her cunt was like
a jolt from a vibrator directly on her clit.

      She felt a thrill as he slammed into her one last
time and then went as rigid as a statue until he started
spewing. When she felt his liquid heat inside her tunnel,
she simultaneously felt his hips unlock.  He began slamming
against her clit again.

      Marti had no interest at all in rough sex per se, but
she did thoroughly enjoy this part of passionate sex with
Keith.  He managed to push her over the edge a second time
before his muscles went from solid iron to overcooked pasta
and he collapsed atop her.  As usual, her mind took off on
a wild flight of fancy, unrestrained by her normal
inhibition's control.  For a moment she found herself
wondering if Jimmy fucked the way his father did, and, if
so, whether Wynter enjoyed that method as much as she did.

      She hoped so.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Mitchell Brees gasped for air.  It had been more like
work than sex, mainly because he wasn't able to throw
himself so fully into the act with Cinnamon.  He'd always
had to hold back with her because she was small for her
age, and her vaginal canal wasn't quite deep enough for all
of him yet.  His green eyes slowly focused on the dreamy
brown ones smiling back at him. "Was it... good for... you,
too?" he puffed.

      "Caramba!  Eet was soooooooo magneefico!"  She
frowned and then pulled something from her mouth.
Something short, red, and curly.  "Looook!  Eet ees organic
deental floss, I theenk!"

      Mitch tried to shake his head, succeeding in moving
it maybe a half-inch in each direction.  "And Huntly calls
Cinnamon a bitch."

      "We all are," Rosita said. "Some just have more luck
hiding it than others."  Whatever else she was about to say
was cut off in a shriek as Mitch twisted a nipple between
two knuckles.

      Mitch stroked a hand down her side and her flank. She
no longer had Cinnamon's youthful skin, but she still felt
young for her age, which was two years younger than his.
She felt, and looked, more like six to ten years younger,
in his professional medical opinion.  All except for one
part of her which was almost as tight and youthful as his
daughter's.  Rosita's had never been stretched by
childbirth, though he'd had patients who had delivered two
or even three kids, but who were tight enough to dislocate
your finger with one muscle contraction if they'd been of a
mind to do so.

      They shared a kiss that took most of his energy
reserve.  He collapsed onto the pillow again and resumed
his delightfully interrupted argument.  "Look, once you and
Mike and the others have Rosa in the nursing home, there's
no reason for you to keep that house next door to her empty
one."

      Her eyes sparkled, but he wasn't sure whether it was
mischief or fresh-fucked afterglow.  "That southeast corner
of the basement, under the kitchen, was designed to double
as a maid's bedroom," she agreed, giving him his answer.

      "You need to see a doctor about having your bitch
gland toned down," he advised.  "You could move in across
the hall for appearance's sake until we're married.   It's
large enough for you to be comfortable in."

      "Mitch, I'd be comfortable in the other spare
bedroom, or even that basement room."

      "No way Cinnamon would let you have that spare
bedroom.  It shares a bath with her bedroom, so it's going
to be Hailey's room for the summer."

      "Is that why she won't move into your old room?"

      "No.  She wants to stay where she is.  She says it
took her too long to "train" the room, plus she likes
having windows that overlook three sides of the house.  And
having you in the big room would make it easier for us to
sneak across the hall for more of this at night."

      Her face turned unreadable.  "Mitch," she began, but
her throat seemed to stick when she tried to say what was
on her mind.  She pulled him to her and kissed him hard and
deep, with an intense passion that he'd rarely seen in the
woman in the few weeks since they'd first sampled each other.

      "Mitch," she said again when she backed away.  "I
think there's been enough sneaking down the hall at night
for sex in this house."

      An icy fist slammed Mitch in the gut, freezing him.
He could think of only one interpretation for that sentence.

      "Yes," she said with a nod.  "I know about you and
Cinnamon."



                             Four

      Miguel Vasquez, MD, known as Mike to his friends,
closed the conference room door and nodded an apology.
"Sorry I'm late," he said.

      Kevin Taylor, MD, shrugged.  "Mike, if anyone
understands the term, 'Medical Emergency,' it's those of us
in this room. How is she?"

      Mike collapsed into his chair and looked at the
sympathetic faces of the rest of the staff meeting's
members.  "Not good," he said.  "Rosita called a little
after six this morning.  The ambulance crew was there when
I arrived.  Myocardial infarction, though she has no
history of heart disease.  I think she willed herself to
have one.  She's in the ICU now and stable.  If she remains
stable, I'll transfer her out in twenty-four hours. You all
know that since my Dad died she's lost interest in living.
If she remains stable," he lifted a hand and let it thump
down on the polished cherry table, "I think we'll have
witnessed a miracle."

      A general murmur arose as each staff principal voiced
his or her version of comforting words.  When they quieted,
Hal Miller, MD, said, "Mike, do you think it would help if
I did a consultation?"

      Mike shook his head.  "No."  He sighed heavily. "It's
not anything you can fix.  She wants to go.  She's always
said it's what she said she wanted if he went first."

      "I didn't mean for her, Mike.  I meant for you."

      Tact wasn't Hal's strong suit when it came to other
doctors. Any other psychiatrist would have made the offer
in private, no matter the status of the offeree.  But Mike
understood that Hal's heart was in the right place and that
he was trying to help. Mike knew better to take offense at
Hal's perpetual social blundering.  "Thanks, Hal, but I've
had years to prepare for this.  We all have.  Kevin, where
are we?"

      Kevin knew as well as he did that Hal would pursue
the matter further if someone didn't change the subject and
that he was looking for an excuse to change the subject.
Kevin nodded slightly.  "You didn't miss anything major.
We were in the current budget status.  Danny, anything else
from Internal?" When Danny Young, MD, shook his head, Kevin
said, "Okay, next. Mike, what's the word from Cardiology?"

      Kevin ran a tight ship.  Staff meetings usually
lasted precisely thirty minutes, and Mike had missed the
first half.  As a result, the remainder of the meeting felt
like it lasted only an hour.  While Steven Edwards, OD,
presented the Family Medicine status, Mike noticed that
Mitch Brees seemed adrift.  He used his own eyes to catch
Kevin's attention and then flicked them at Mitch.

      Kevin looked at Mitch and then back at Mike.  His
right index finger flicked downward almost imperceptibly.
'Stay after the meeting' was the meaning.

      After a small eternity the administrative bullshit
was finally over.  Mike became a cardiologist to practice
medicine, not to sit on his butt in non-medical meetings.
Each staff member gave him a handshake and brief words of
comfort before filing out.  Oncologist Denise Holt, MD,
threw in a hug that could have had him sleeping on the
couch for a week if his wife had seen it.

      Mitch pulled himself together during his handshake,
and then seemed to drift away again before he released
Mike's hand.

      Hal waited until last, then tried to make his
counselling offer again, but that ended when Candis Taylor
pushed him aside. "Come on, Hal.  You're holding up the
show.  Don't you have patients to see?"  Without waiting
for an answer, she also hugged Mike.  Hal was non-plussed,
but he didn't leave.  She threw an arm around Mike's neck
and pulled him into a surprise kiss.  Mike had a clear
flash of the couch becoming his permanent bed.

      Hal went from flustered to flabbergasted and left.

      "There," Candis said as she released Mike.  "That
should keep him away from you."

      Kevin cleared his throat.  "Excuse me, dear, but
don't you think that word of the Managing Director's wife
throwing herself at the cardiologist might have a bad
impact on morale?"

      Candis adjusted her glasses and shook her head.  "Not
at all," she said, patting Mike's forearm.  "Mike's morale
has been tremendously improved.  Besides, that was the
Human Resources Director attempting to keep a valued and
irreplaceable surgeon from considering offers to move on to
Bigger and Better Hospital, Incorporated."

      "I see," Kevin said with a slow nod.  "So you were
just..."

      "...doing my job.  Plus I got Hal out of here for you
as a bonus.  You should give me a raise."

      "Get outa here."

      Candis grinned at Mike, shrugged, and picked up her
notes. "In that case, you don't get a kiss, too."  She
closed the door on her way out.

      Kevin shook his head and indicated that Mike should
take a seat.  "Sometimes I wonder why I married her."

      Mike shrugged.  "Most of the staff ask that question
the other way around," he said as he slid into a chair.

      Kevin probably would have been pissed off if Mike
hadn't been telling the truth.  He also sat down.  "Any
idea what's up with Mitch?  Before the meeting I found him
standing in front of a door, looking like he was trying to
remember how to open it."

      "Don't know," Mike admitted.  "Rosita was acting a
little differently last night at Mom's, too.  Mitch had
obviously... well, 'made her very happy,' but something
else was on her mind."

      Kevin grunted.  "Maybe they were arguing about their
future? About her moving in when she doesn't have to help
care for your mother?"

      Mike shook his head and rolled a hand over.  "Don't
know that, either.  But I think life would be less
complicated for them, maybe for all of us, when they
finally admit in public that they're engaged."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Jimmy felt a wave of pleasure radiate outward from
the pressure of a slender hand finding its natural resting
place on his lower back.  He nodded a farewell to Tiffany
Taylor, turned, and asked, "How'd it go?"

      Wynter looked positively miserable.  "I think I got a
B. There goes my four-point for this semester."

      Before he could respond, Suzie appeared, her round
face radiant with delight.  "I just talked to Mister Peters
about a couple of the answers.  I think maybe I got a B!"
She hugged both of them and practically danced out the door.

      Jimmy smiled down at Wynter and said, "Isn't
perspective a wonderful thing?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      "See that?" Cinnamon asked, nodding toward another
table. Suzie was in animated conversation with Josh Carter,
so excited she could hardly find time to eat.  "I haven't
seen her that giddy since she took first place in swimming
in the state."

      "I know," Jimmy said, speaking before Wynter because
she had to finish chewing and swallow first.  "It will be
her first grade higher than a C other than PE.  Mister
Peters bases most of his semester grade on the final exam.
I can't wait to see the final history grades tomorrow so
we'll know for sure.  Think how she'll be if she ties a
certain Future MD."

      Wynter wiped her mouth with her napkin and said, "I
think that would be great.  She needs something else nice
to happen to her after what Uncle Bozo Junior did."

      'Uncle Bozo' was Wynter's nickname for her mother's
brother-in-law.  Cinnamon had never met the creep and
wanted to keep it that way.  Although it was possible that
Mom might not object to Cinnamon's plan to feed the creep
to the garbage disposal a small bit at a time.  Wynter had
given Kenny the nickname 'Uncle Bozo Junior' the first time
that he and Suzie had split.  Cinnamon decided that it was
no longer a joke. Kenny had earned the nickname.

      Huntly leaned forward for a better look and then
straightened.  "I guess they really did study yesterday
instead of enjoying each other."

      "You know, Huntly, you can study and still enjoy
being with someone," Jimmy said.

      Huntly watched Wynter and Jimmy exchange a look, then
turned to Cinnamon as the look dragged on.  "Got any
insulin? All this syrupy sweetness around here could put us
into diabetic shock."

      Cinnamon blinked at him and shook the astonished look
from her face.  "Shithead."

      "Bitch."

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Of course they won't get mad," Suzie whispered as
they made their way the final few feet through the hallway
crowd. She put on a bright smile when Jimmy saw them and
told Wynter.

      "Hi, Suzie.  Hi, Josh," Wynter said as she turned
around.

      Jimmy added his greetings and said, "What's up?"

      "Josh and I were wondering if you were planning to
study for the science test tomorrow this afternoon," she
said.  She realized the words didn't come out right or
something because she was still so excited about her
history test.  She shook her head and tried again.  "I mean
tomorrow's science test this afternoon. Josh thinks you
won't need to study."

      "I wish!" Jimmy said, grinning at them.  "It's mostly
botany, and that's one of our weaker areas.  We don't know
it anywhere near as well as Ron."

      Suzie smiled up at Josh, who was about an inch taller
than her, and put on her 'I-told-you-so' face.  "See?" she
said.  "I told you so."  She just couldn't believe how
stupid some people could be.  Even Josh.

      Well, okay, Josh was a bit of a surprise, but most
other people, especially boys, thought Wynter and Jimmy
never studied. Well, not schoolwork, anyway.  They thought
Wynter spent all her study time reading those stupid
medical books instead.

      Well, okay, maybe they weren't stupid if they helped
make doctors smart so they could fix you when you were
broken or something.  But whenever Suzie tried to tell
those stupid people that she'd seen Wynter and Jimmy study
hard for classes, the dolts always acted like she was
dismental.

      "Do you want to study with us?" Wynter asked.  "We
don't mind."

      "Uh huh.  Please.  Are you going to study at your
house?"

      "Why?" Jimmy asked, surprising Suzie with his frown
and suspicious voice.  "You two wanting to use the hot tub,
too, since she's home alone?"

      "Hot tub?"  Josh asked, looking back and forth among
the three.  "I didn't know she had one."

      Suzie felt her face blush when she realized what
Jimmy meant.  He thought she wanted to get Josh in the tub,
naked, and fool around with him like she'd done with that
stupid dolt Kenny. "No!  I'm sorry.  I just thought that
maybe you'd be studying there since it's quiet or
something.  I..."

      Wynter did something with her hand on Jimmy's back
that made him jump.  "Jimmy's sorry," she said, "but he's
suspicious because Cinnamon and Huntly invited themselves
over to use it last night.  Since they were there, we
didn't get to study history as much as we'd planned after
we came back from seeing Daddy at the hospital.  Actually,
we were planning to study at Jimmy's this afternoon.
There's room for all four of us if Jimmy and his mom don't
mind.  And if they do, we can study at our house."

      Jimmy jumped again.  "No!  It's okay," he said in a
hurry. "Mom won't mind, either.  We can use the practice
room downstairs.  It's quiet."

      It sure was quiet.  Mister McCauley had sorta
soundproofed it or something so that Cinnamon and the rest
could hold band practice for the talent show.  Suzie had
been part of that band. Sorta.  She'd been one of the
tambourine players and 'crowd motivation technicians,'
according to Cinnamon, though Suzie thought she was just
cheerleader or something instead of a 'technician.'  The
other 'technician' had been that stupid dolt Kenny.

      Jimmy glanced at Wynter for an instant and then
asked, "Do you want to come over now, or do you need to go
home first?"

      "Now, please, if you don't mind," Josh said, sounding
like he was apologizing or something.  "Going home first
would lose too much study time.  We kinda need all we can
get."

      Suzie and Josh followed Wynter and Jimmy down the
crowded hallway.  Near the entrance she saw that stupid
dolt Kenny looking at her.  His sad face said that he
wanted his arm to be the one she was holding.  Well, it
served the stupid dolt right. He could just go let one of
his stupid sluts hold his arm. She snuggled closer to
Josh's side, causing him to jerk a little bit and move
away.  She hadn't expected that.  Well, she'd train him on
how to act later, after school was out for the summer.

      They were almost to the bike racks outside when
Wynter and Jimmy split apart and fell back beside them.
Wynter distracted Josh, and Jimmy whispered, "Suzie, I'm
sorry.  I thought... you know."

      She did, and she understood.  "That's okay," she
whispered. "I guess I'd have been suspicious, too.  But
Josh isn't like... HIM.  He doesn't even want to look down
my blouse at my boobies when he has the chance."

      Jimmy gave her the nice smile that he rarely gave to
anyone except Wynter.  "Suzie, just because he's being a
gentleman and doesn't look when he has the chance doesn't
necessarily mean he doesn't want to.  Trust me on that."
He pressed against her as a sort of hug and winked before
sliding around behind to Wynter's other side.

      Suzie watched Wynter's hand go right to its usual
spot while she never took her eyes off of Josh.  It was
like her hand had been pulled there by magnets or gravity
or something.

      She sighed, and then she thought about what Jimmy had
said.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Jimmy flipped the light switch.  "Josh, you want to
grab the other end of this table?  We'll move it right
there."  He pointed with his head.  "Wynter, Suzie, you can
pull the chairs over." The long table normally was used for
refreshments when the various bands rehearsed, starting
with the band that Cinnamon had created for Tyrone's backup
during the talent show.

      They decided to sit in pairs, facing each other
across the table.  Before he took his seat, Josh walked
around the room. "So this is where it happens, huh?" he
said in a quiet, almost reverential voice as his blue-gray
eyes took in the Clavinova, Wynter's two synthesizer
keyboards, the empty stand for Jimmy's keyboard, the guitar
that Jimmy's dad played and the empty stands for Huntly's
guitar and LaMarcus's bass next to it, the amplifiers and
speakers, and, most impressive of all, Cinnamon's drums
that were as elaborate as the school's drum kit that her
father had donated.

      When Josh looked at all the drums and cymbals and
shook his head in wonder, Jimmy put one hand on the other
boy's shoulder and said, "That's what she calls a 'practice
kit.'  Her set at home has four more tom-toms and six more
cymbals, a second cowbell, two more gourds, and another
five percussion blocks. Unless she's added to it recently."

      "How does she keep track of everything?" Josh asked
in bewilderment.

      "That's nothing, Josh," Suzie said.  "Pianos have
eighty-eight keys that Wynter and Jimmy have to keep track
of."

      "Maybe so," Jimmy said, "but I think we have it a lot
easier because the keys are in a progressive order."

      When Wynter agreed, Josh studied the kit for a few
moments and then shook his head.  "I'd say she has some
kind of order, too."  He pointed.  "The drums are mostly
arranged by size. These here and then those.  See?  And
then these cymbals and those and those."

      Jimmy glanced at Wynter.  She looked as startled as
he felt. Neither hadn't noticed, and neither had asked.  He
called up an image of Cinnamon while they played 'Let There
Be Drums' and realized Josh was right.  _Boy, do I feel
stupid._  He glanced at Wynter again.

      As usual, she knew what he was thinking.  "Me, too,"
she said.  "I got distracted by the things that didn't
follow the pattern.  I guess I'm not going to be a very
good doctor if I get distracted that easily."

      It wasn't the right time to discuss Wynter's assumed
inadequacy issues, so Jimmy let the statement drop and
waited for Josh to take his seat next to Suzie.

      They began, facing each other across the table.  By
the time his mother brought the refreshments, Wynter was
sitting beside Suzie and he was on Wynter's other side.
Suzie and Josh never moved, but when they quit they had
progressed through Jimmy sitting next to Suzie and Wynter
next to Josh, Jimmy next to Josh and Wynter next to Suzie,
and then each pair facing the other across the table again.

      Jimmy was impressed.  Suzie and Josh had shown
indifference to science in the past.  Now each was trying
hard, trying to understand the concepts and details.
_Trying to impress the other_, he realized.  But Suzie
seemed to be doing better overall now that she knew about
her dyslexia and was conquering it. _Maybe that means I was
wrong about her trying to impress Josh. Maybe she's just
trying harder now that she knows she can make higher grades
than C's_.

      As they were leaving, Suzie gave Wynter a sisterly
kiss and then surprised Jimmy by giving him one as well.
"Thanks ever so much!" she gushed.  "I think I really
understand it now!"

      Jimmy wasn't surprised when Wynter gave Josh a
sisterly kiss, even though Josh almost melted through the
floor and back into the basement in embarrassment.  One
thing Wynter deeply believed in was fair and equal
treatment for everybody.

      Josh gave Jimmy an embarrassed, apologetic look.
Clearly he wanted to say something but wasn't sure of what
to say that wouldn't get him in trouble.

      Jimmy held out his hand.  "Huntly and I just shake
hands at times like these," he said.  "So I hope you aren't
expecting a kiss."

      The tension broken, Josh laughed and shook hands as
Jimmy's parents appeared, said his thanks, and said
farewell to everyone.

      Jimmy closed the door.  His mother announced that
dinner would be in ten minutes and retreated back into the
kitchen.

      Wynter hooked her free arm around his father's while
the fingertips of her other hand rubbed a circle on his
back. "So," she said in a tone that Jimmy knew all too well.

      He braced himself, but her comment unexpectedly had
nothing to do with him.  "I hear that Junior and the Twins
are going to perform at Huntly's birthday party."
Unfortunately, that statement didn't allow him to relax.

      When his dad looked at him, Jimmy made the same
expression and shrug that his father used for "I tried to
keep it a secret from your mother, but she got it out of me
anyway."  He finally relaxed when his father gave him a nod
of understanding. The thought occurred to him that he'd
probably be making that signal to his dad a lot in the
future.

      "Yes, ma'am," his father said as he escorted her to
the family room.  "It's our drummer's 'suggestion,' which
means we all volunteered to play if we know what's good for
us."

      Wynter's timing was perfect.  They were at the corner
of the kitchen, about to turn into the family room, when
she said, "You'll do anything to take part in the kissing
contest, won't you?"

      Jimmy wanted to sink through the floor and on past
the basement.  His mother exploded with laughter.  His dad
froze and blinked at Wynter, giving his mother time to
control herself and say, "Wait a minute.  I thought your
kissing contests were just for the birthday celebrant, who
in this case is Huntly."

      "Uh huh," Wynter said with a nod, her eyes never
leaving his father's.  "They are.  For a musician, he's
sure got a poor sense of timing.  You'd think he'd wait
until Cinnamon's birthday."

      "WYNTER!" Jimmy cried, wondering if perhaps she was
spending too much time with her adopted sister and picking
up the little redhead's bad habits.

      "That's okay, Mister McCauley.  I won't tell the
others if you'll show it to me."

      Jimmy would have fainted, but he couldn't remember
how. Fortunately his dad knew better than to misinterpret
that.

      "Show what to you?" he asked in genuine bewilderment.

      "Huntly's new guitar."

      When his dad looked at him, he used the look-and-
shrug signal for the second time.  He wondered how many
more times he'd have to use it before dinner was over.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter was surprised to find Doctor Brees in her
father's room and even more to see a worried look on his
face for an instant before it changed into a smile of
greeting.

      "Good evening, Future Doctor King," Doctor Brees
said.  He nodded at each as he added, "Marti.  Keith.
Jimmy.  I was explaining to your patient that Kevin might
let him go home tomorrow after your mother returns.
Assuming, of course, that he'll be tied to the bed so that
he can't get up and do anything else stupid."

      Wynter giggled at the way he said that last sentence.
Ron Lopez would have used the same weird voice, but Ron
also would have made a funny face.  "I probably should
assign Dragon to guard him, too."

      "Rodney Dangerfield got nothin' on me," her father
said. Although he was mostly keeping his teeth together, he
was making slight movements with his jaw.  He wasn't
clamping his mouth shut.

      Doctor Brees shook a finger at him.  "Don't forget
that you have to be well by the party on the fifteenth, or
I'll invite Dragon instead and you can stay home by
yourself."

      Wynter giggled when she understood what her father
mumbled, though nobody else knew what he'd said.  Perhaps
that was a good thing.  Jimmy had been embarrassed enough
throughout dinner

      "And speaking of home, I'm going there now to see if
Cinnamon and Ghost left any dinner for me."

      He didn't leave immediately.  All four newcomers
wanted him to relate the latest news about Mrs. Vasquez
Senior's condition.

      After Doctor Brees had left, Wynter scanned her
father's chart and nodded while Daddy gave an oral update
on his condition.  They'd reduced his pain medication
slightly. Daddy didn't like pain medicines and got off them
as soon as possible. She nodded approval again, knowing it
meant his pain was decreasing.

      Ten minutes later Jimmy and his parents left for the
waiting area.  Wynter gave her father a nose-and-lips kiss.

      "That's best medicine," he said with a smile.  "Now I
can survive shaving tomorrow."

      "It's about time," she said, grinning so that he'd
know she wasn't being critical.  She told him about her
tests and how she thought she would get a B in history.
Her heart swelled in her chest when he said he was sure
that wouldn't keep her out of medical school and that he'd
still love her with all his heart even if she didn't have a
four-point grade average.  She told him about Huntly and
Cinnamon spending the night.  Finally she said, "Doctor
Brees seemed to have anxiety disorder when we came in. Was
it about Mrs. Vasquez Senior?"

      "Rosita," he said.  Wynter noticed the worry creeping
onto his face and knew it was bad news.  "She knows about
Mitch and Cinnamon."

      Wynter gasped.  "How?  Is she going to make trouble?"

      "Don't know.  She said she talk to him 'bout it
tonight, 'cause she had to leave then, but she's taking
care of things at her mother-in-law's house with Mike and
the others. Hasn't seen her today.  He's a wreck."

      Wynter put on her diagnosis cap, frowned, and then
pursed her lips before pushing them toward the right side
of her face. It took her a little more than a minute.

      "He doesn't need to worry.  Mrs. Vasquez won't make
any trouble.  She won't do anything that would hurt
Cinnamon, and if she says anything, that would mean
Cinnamon would go back to Mrs. Brees.  She won't let that
happen.

      "The real problem is how she knew, so that others
don't find out.  I guess it might be something we need to
watch out for, too.  I wonder if it means she won't get to
have sexual activities with her father any more, or if
Cinnamon will have something like my Friday nights with
you.  I..."  She stopped suddenly when she had an idea
flash through her mind.

      "I'll bet Mrs. Vasquez was teasing him," she said
excitedly. "She didn't know Cinnamon would spend the night
with me, so she probably thought he'd say something to
Cinnamon and she'd diagnose the situation, but if not..."
she thought for a second. "If not, she'd have told him
today.  But then Mrs. Vasquez Senior had a myocardial
infarction and she forgot about everything else. If she'd
had any idea that he'd be worrying this long, she..."

      Wynter stopped when she saw the look on his face.
She frowned.  "What?"

      "Just admiring the brains of family at work," he said
through his mostly closed teeth.  "Mother and I knew you be
special when you were born.  We grossly underestimated how
extra special.  I'm very thankful that you're my daughter."

      Wynter gently took his hand and pushed it up under
her blouse and bra.  She thought she might need his help
keeping her heart in her chest.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Quasi-rigor mortis left Mitch's body and he slowly
collapsed into a human puddle.  He tried to keep his hands
cupped around the firm hemispheres that looked even larger
because Cinnamon's body was small, like her mother's, but
he didn't have the strength.  She had worked him into a
frenzy before she let him climax, and every last ounce of
remaining strength was needed just to keep his heart
beating and his lungs pumping.

      She grinned down at him, moving her bottom to keep
him inside her body until the last possible second.  "I
think yours was better than mine that time," she said.
"Maybe you'd better do me a third time."

      "If I try that," he gasped as he sucked in ragged
gulps of air, "you'll miss... half your tests... tomorrow
before I... get it up... again."

      She giggled and squirmed.  For a moment he thought a
miracle was about to happen, but fatigue  canceled the
erection almost instantly.  Instead, he squirted out of her
canal like toothpaste from a stomped-on tube.  Her face
warped into a little moue that made him want to spend the
rest of their lives holding her and telling her how much he
loved her.  She sighed and said, "I guess I'd better not
wear you out before Hailey arrives.  If she doesn't get her
share of you Sunday night, she'll make the rest of the
summer miserable for everybody."

      HAILEY!  He'd forgotten about that.  No way he could
move Rosita into the house if his perpetually horny niece
was there, otherwise it wouldn't be himself sneaking down
the hall at night for sex after Hailey arrived.  It would
be his niece sneaking into his room.  What would Rosita
make of that?

      For that matter, what the hell was she going to make
of his relationship with Cinnamon?  That idea frightened
him.  He hadn't seen Rosita since she left after her
announcement the night before.  It certainly wasn't
something he wanted to discuss over the telephone.

      As Cinnamon stretched out atop him, wrapping her arms
over his head and snuggling her face into his neck, he
wondered for the fiftieth time if he should say something
to her about it. _No_, he decided yet again.  _It wouldn't
be fair to her. She doesn't need the distraction while
she's taking tests tomorrow. I'll tell her tomorrow night,
whether I speak to Rosita or not._

      "I love you," she murmured, kissing his neck.  "You
don't mind if I go to sleep like this, do you?" she asked
in a dreamy voice.  She always asked, and he always said,
"As long as I get to hold you, it doesn't matter how or
where you sleep."

      She murmured, "Good night," and was asleep in
seconds.  He kissed her shoulder, found her back under her
long hair, and rubbed it in tender, relaxing strokes from
neck to butt. Worry about her future delayed his slumber
for half an hour.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon sighed happily when her father whispered,
"Good night. I love you," and crossed his arms over her in
a sheltering hug.  He rubbed her back as she dozed off.
She felt more of him trickle out of her and seep down her
lightly-haired lips to puddle on his stomach.  Somehow that
triggered the thought that it was bikini season.  But she'd
wait for Hailey's arrival before shaving.  Hailey would
want to shave her.

      She wiggled her face into his neck, enjoying the
mixture of his Lagerfeld cologne and body scent.  She never
thought of it as body 'odor' in his case, even when he'd
been exercising heavily. She sighed again, though it was so
faint that she herself barely noticed the sound.  She loved
nights like this when she could enjoy the fragrance
directly as she dozed off, rather than having to content
herself with the lingering scent on her pillow.



                             Five

      Wynter inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly in a gentle
sigh, and opened her eyes.  The light level told her that
the alarm would sound in a few minutes.  She couldn't see
her clock without unwrapping herself from around Jimmy's
back, and she sure didn't want to do that.  She gave him a
gentle kiss on his neck, though not so light as to tickle
him, and whispered, "I love you with all my heart."

      She quickly ran her morning self-diagnosis,
determined nothing was wrong except a distended bladder
that could wait, and shifted her attention to her warm and
snuggly bedmate.  He was breathing slowly and regularly in
deep sleep, he was warm and vibrant under her encircling
arm and leg, and he needed a haircut because his neck was
getting shaggy.  She wished that they didn't have to go to
school.  She wanted to turn off the alarm clock before it
awoke him and just watch, listen to, and feel him sleeping
until she drifted back into slumber herself.

      The alarm startled him.  Jimmy normally awoke
gradually to music from his clock radio instead of an alarm
buzzer.  She wondered which they'd use after they were
married.  She kissed his neck and said, "Good morning!
I'll get it."  With great reluctance she turned away and
switched off the buzzer.

      Jimmy shifted onto his back and stretched.  "Morning
already?" he asked through a yawn.  "Didn't we just go to
sleep a few minutes ago?"

      She patted Dragon's head and wished him a good
morning.  He licked her hand and then left for his doggie
door while she turned, rising enough to look down at
Jimmy's sparkling eyes. They exchanged dragon-breath kisses.

      "You know why today's an excellent day?" Jimmy asked,
crossing his arms around her neck as if he foolishly
expected her to try to pull away.

      "Uh huh," she said with a nod.  "Because you woke up
next to me."

      "Nope," he said with a sparkle in his eye that might
have been mischief.  She frowned at him, causing him to
kiss her again before he continued.  "Because I woke up
next to you and there were no other people in the house."

      She sure couldn't argue with that!  No having to
divide three bathrooms between four people today.  She
could use her parents' while Jimmy used the hall bathroom.

      Since they had decided on cold cereal and juice for
breakfast, they didn't have to dress to prepare it.  Which
was WHY they had decided on that menu.  As they sat side-by-
side on a bench seat in the breakfast nook, they
occasionally fed each other bites of cereal and bananas.

      "I'll be glad when we can wake up together every
day," Jimmy said as he fed her a bite of cereal with his
left hand. Because he could eat and do many other things
with either hand, he had sat on her left, leaving his right
arm and her left free for holding and cuddling.  "And have
breakfast together every morning, too."

      Since it wasn't polite to talk with food in your
mouth, she smiled and hummed her agreement.

      Breakfast was over WAY too soon.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Jimmy closed his locker door and turned to the
enthusiastic voice that shouted his name and Wynter's.  "I
think the final history grades have been posted," he said
with a grin.

      "Sounds like it," Wynter agreed as she closed her
locker and also turned toward Suzie.  "I hope she doesn't
get in trouble for running in the hall."

      "Nah," he said.  "It's too crowded for her to really
run, even with Josh breaking trail for her."

      The four-way greetings were brief to keep Suzie from
dying of excitement.  "I got an A-minus in history!  I got
an A-MINUS!" She threw her arms around Wynter and dragged
her around in a circular dance.  Because she was a swimmer,
her arm strength was easily greater than Jimmy's or even
former-athlete Huntly's, and Wynter couldn't have resisted
if she'd wanted to. Fortunately, Wynter didn't want to
resist.  Her feet found the rhythm of the circular dance.

      "Oh, Wynter!" Suzie gushed.  "You and Cinnamon found
my dyslexia for me and now I got an A-minus!  Thank you!  I
can't believe it!  My parents won't believe it!  Heck, I
still don't believe it!  An A-MINUS!  Oh, Wynter, THANK YOU!"

      Jimmy grinned at the way Wynter had become swept up
in Suzie's excitement.  When the two settled down he said
pointed and said, "Didn't you study with Josh?  I think you
owe him some thanks, too."

      "You got it backward," Josh said.  "I owe her.  First
she teaches me how to swim better, and then she teaches me
history. I did so good on the final that I actually got a B-
minus instead of a C-something for the semester!  I owe her
big time."

      "Well, congratulations to both of you," Jimmy said,
first giving Josh a handshake since he wasn't the one still
wrapped around and hugging Wynter, and then hugging Suzie
after she released Wynter.  "Did you happen to see Wynter's
grade?"

      "Yeah!" Suzie gushed, the smile on her face never
wavering. "She got a B.  Where's Cinnamon?  I gotta thank
her, too, for finding my dyslexia!"

      Wynter pointed down the hall.  "She went that way to
the girls' room with Snoopy and Possum."

      Suzie grabbed Josh's hand and pulled.  "Come on,
Josh.  We gotta find her before the bell rings!"

      Both shook their heads in bemused delight as Suzie
towed Josh down the hall.  "I hope for his sake that she
doesn't drag him inside," Jimmy said as he shook his head
again.

      When Wynter turned to him, he looked down at her
beautiful blue-green eyes.  "I'm surprised she didn't make
a big deal out of getting a higher grade than you."

      Wynter gave him an odd look.  "She did.  She just
wasn't blatantly obvious about it like you males would be.
One of these days Sis and I will explain subtlety to you
and Huntly and Kenny."

      Jimmy wasn't about to put his foot in that bear trap,
so he changed the subject.  "Looks like you blew your four-
point for this semester," he said as sympathetically as he
could.

      Wynter shrugged her shoulders in a quick bounce.  "It
was worth it to see Suzie so happy," she said with a smile.
"I'd do it again for that."

      As her hand warmed his lower back, Jimmy squeezed her
close and angled them toward Mr. Shelby's science classroom
and the last test of the school year.  Every step of the
way was accompanied by his thoughts of how truly wonderful
and selfless his girlfriend was.  Anyone that willing to
give up want she truly wanted for the sake of a friend's
happiness shouldn't have inadequacy issues.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter turned her test paper face down and put her
pencil in its holder inside her notebook.  Jimmy was
already finished and was also waiting.  She had finished
five minutes earlier and then had triple-checked her
answers.  Instead of leaving, as several others had already
done, she and Jimmy waited to speak with Mister Shelby.

      Cinnamon rose from her desk, turned in her paper, and
gave Wynter a warm smile before gathering her things.
Sonny Turner rose and handed in his paper.  Cinnamon waited
and then left with him.

      She was surprised that Kenny was still working on his
test. Well, maybe she wasn't.  He would mark a few answers,
look at Suzie, and then let his mind wander in the way that
Wynter and her father called "going someplace else".

      "Five minutes," Mister Shelby said, his eyes on
Kenny.  That seemed to get Kenny's attention, and he
furiously began filling in blanks and circling letter
choices.

      Suzie rose, her test paper in one hand, her things in
the other, and handed in her paper.  She gave Wynter and
Jimmy thumbs-up signs on her way to the door.  She ignored
the sad puppy face of Kenny, who again looked contrite and
went somewhere else.

      "One minute."

      Kenny resumed furious scribbling.  Mister Shelby
looked at Wynter, flicked his eyes at Kenny for an instant,
and shook his head.  Wynter nodded agreement, then looked
at Jimmy to see if he'd translated the message.

      Jimmy nodded.  Either he was getting better at non-
verbal communication, or the meaning was as blatantly
obvious to everyone else as it had been to her.

      "Time!  Pencils down.  Hand in your papers, please."

      Kenny looked absolutely miserable as he turned from
Mister Shelby to the door.  He left without looking at
anyone or anything except the floor.  Wynter had seen that
he'd been at the top of the next-to-last page.

      Mister Shelby sorted the tests into two piles while
Wynter and Jimmy waited for everyone else to leave the
classroom, most voicing sighs of relief that tests were
over until the fall.

      "Well," Mister Shelby said after the others were
gone, "what can I do for you two?  Are you waiting to tell
me that you finally talked Jimmy into Medical School, too?"
Mister Shelby was always trying to recruit people into
medical careers. He was hoping that Wynter would help him
convince Jimmy to become a Future MD, too.

      "No," Wynter said, trying not to grin as his face
went from hopeful to disappointed.  "We just wanted to wish
you a happy summer vacation.  We won't stay long because
you have all those tests to grade."

      Mister Shelby's broad, graying mustache widened with
his smile.  "I don't have all that many to grade," he said,
pointing at the smaller pile of tests.  "Just these."

      Wynter could tell from the sound of Jimmy's voice
when his curiosity had been aroused, even now after his
voice had changed. "What do you mean?" he asked.

      "To tell you the truth," he said, looking around as
if he expected to find eavesdroppers sitting at the desks
or clinging to the blackboard, "I give tests to everyone
either as a training vehicle or because I have to.  I don't
give them to determine your grades, especially the finals.
I see you every class.  I grade your homework.  I know who
does his own homework and who has her mother do it for her.
I see how you do at the workstations when we have practical
exercises.  I know how well you know the material."  His
clipped voice turned disdainful.  "I don't need to grade a
silly test to know what I see every day."

      He reached forward with one index finger and
carefully pushed upward on Wynter's chin, closing her
mouth.  "Take Mister Taylor, who was severely distracted
today, obviously because he and Miss Middleton have had a
quarrel.  How well do you think he did on the test?"

      "Not very," Wynter admitted.  Doctors had to be
truthful about the facts, no matter now much they might
wish the facts were otherwise.  Regardless, she saw no need
to tell Mister Shelby that it wasn't just an argument but
Suzie's breaking off their relationship that had depressed
Kenny.  She told herself that the actual reason was like a
medical confidence.

      "Precisely," Mister Shelby said.  "So do you think he
earned a B for the semester because he did horridly
pathetic on today's test?  Or do you think he earned an A
because he knows the material forward and backward and
merely failed to do an adequate job of putting it on paper
for one day out of a whole semester?"

      She felt Jimmy's back muscles stiffen beneath her
hand.  He hadn't thought of it that way, either.

      "See?"  Mister Shelby straightened and hooked his
left thumb behind a bright red suspender.  His right
forefinger rose and waved emphasis as he said in his most
imperious tone, "The advantage to taking Mister Shelby's
Outstanding Science Class"--she could hear the capital
letters in his voice--"is that you continue to learn even
when class is over!"

      "So, you aren't going to grade his test?" Jimmy asked.

      Mister Shelby pointed to the smaller stack.  "Why
should I waste my time when I have those borderline people
who need my careful attention to determine which grade they
have earned?  We all three know you have earned A's and
that Kenny has, too."

      Wynter pursed her lips and pushed them to one side
for a moment.  "Sir, may I ask which stack Suzie's test is
in?"

      "Of course you may ask," he said, looking slightly
bewildered.  "Isn't one of your ground rules that it's okay
to ask any question as long the questioner is willing to
take 'I don't want to answer that' as an answer?"

      "Actually, that's a popular misconception," Jimmy
said. "It's really her dad's rule."

      "Which she brilliantly carries on in the family
tradition. Yes.  Suzie's in the big stack with the rest of
you.  It's no secret that she's barely a C student in
science."

      "Well, there really is a secret about that," Wynter
said, "and you're the only teacher I trust with it without
asking her permission first.  We recently discovered that
Suzie has dyslexia.  We studied together.  She studied
really hard, with us reading the material to her, and I
think she knows the subjects better now.  Would you put her
test in the grading stack as a favor for me?"

      Mister Shelby shook his head.  "No, I will not.  It's
against my principles to show favoritism.  But I will put
it in the grading stack because it's the right thing to do.
Anyone else study with you?"

      Jimmy nodded.  "Josh Carter."

      "Mister Carter's test was this morning, but I kept
all the papers.  I'll put his in this grading stack, too."

      He jumped when Wynter sprang forward and embraced him
in a huge hug.  "Teachers aren't supposed to hug the
students, you know," he said in his impish tone.

      "You aren't," she said.  "I'm hugging you."

      "If it's okay with you," Jimmy said, "I'll just shake
your hand."

                            ~ ~ ~

      The phone on the other end rang twice.  It seemed to
Suzie that the rings were hours apart or something.  When
Mrs. King answered, Suzie welcomed her back and asked for
Wynter in a non-stop rush of words that took maybe one
second flat.

      She wondered why Mrs. King was laughing before she
put Suzie on hold to buzz Wynter to answer.  Maybe she was
watching a comedy on television or something.

      The phone clicked.  "Hi, Suzie."

      "Wynter!  Guess what!  I GOT A B IN SCIENCE!  Mister
Shelby called to tell me!  Isn't that great?  Mister Shelby
said I was supposed to tell you about it for some reason or
something!  I GOT A B!"

      After a couple of minutes of excited cheering and
thanks and exchanging opinions about some of the questions,
Wynter asked how Josh had done.

      "I'm not sure," Suzie said, "but I think he got a B
or a B-minus.  I gotta call him next.  But it's all thanks
to you and Jimmy!"

      "No it's not.  It's thanks to hard studying on your
part and learning the material."

      Suzie thanked her again anyway and then asked, "Are
you going to the hospital to see your dad tonight?"

      When Wynter said that she was, Suzie asked if she
could go with them.

      "Sure.  Do you plan to scream at him?"

      Suzie laughed.  She was at least as famous for her
screaming dynotribe, or dialtribe--or whatever that stupid
word was--at the sanctimonious old judge whose stupid son
had kidnapped them at the mine as she was for her part in
the rescue.  And now, three months after the talent show,
people were still talking about the way she screamed at the
stupid audience in the middle of Tyrone's act to get them
to stop acting like they were a bunch of dead zombies or
something.

      "Not unless he's planning to do something else
stupid," she said.  "I just wanted to since I haven't yet.
Since the accident, I mean.  I mean, I haven't seen him.
Oh, you know! Well, I gotta call Josh.  I sure hope he got
one, too. Got a B in science, I mean."

      They said their goodbyes and she dialed Josh's
number.  She thought it was weird that Wynter was laughing
exactly the same way her mother had.  She wondered if it
was that stupid thing they'd mentioned in science class the
first semester. Generics.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Richard grinned at the closing door.  He shook his
head slightly, pleased to note that the movement hadn't set
off any more intracranial dynamite.  He noted the pleased
grin on Wynter's face.  "If she'd beaten your science
grade, too, I think they'd have moved me out so that she
could have this room."

      Before Wynter could speak, Angie said, "Oh, I don't
think so.  Suzie has enough sense not to do anything so
stupid that it would put her in the hospital."

      "Motherrrr," Wynter drawled, turning to her and
rolling her eyes.  "That part of his treatment is over."

      "Not for me," Angie said as she curled an arm around
Wynter's shoulders.  "I've been away.  I have to catch up."

      "I'll go join Suzie in the cafeteria," Wynter said.
She kissed him goodbye and then added a nose-and-lips kiss,
"I'll see you at home tomorrow after school, if you survive."

      "You aren't going to stay?" he asked.

      "Unh uh.  I'm only twelve.  I shouldn't hear what
Mother's going to say until I've graduated from Medical
School, at least."

      That was what Richard was afraid of.

      "Oh," she said as she reached the door.  "Did you
talk to Doctor Brees?"

      "Yes, and he said to thank you."

      "For what?" Angie asked with a puzzled look.

      "Um, we can't say," Wynter explained.  "It would
violate a confidence."

      "Oh."  Angie shrugged.  "Okay, then.  I'll meet you
in the cafeteria in ten minutes.  Or sooner if he doesn't
survive."

      Wynter's coral lips exploded in a big grin.  She
pulled open the door and turned.  "Good night, Daddy.  I
love you with all my heart."  One index finger traced an
"X" over her heart.

      "I love you with all my heart, too," he said,
repeating the gesture.

      After the door closed, he spoke first.  "I have a
good idea. Why don't you join Wynter in the cafeteria and
have Suzie come back and scream at me?"

      To his great non-surprise, that didn't work.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter returned Suzie's wave, then went to the
counter to buy some apple juice.  As she reached Suzie's
table she heard her name from off to the side.

      "Mister Sanders!"  She suddenly realized the serious
look on his face as he approached meant something wasn't
good news, and her smile faded.  When he reached them, she
said, "You remember Suzie, don't you?"

      He sure did.  He exchanged a quick, friendly greeting
and then said, "I have just a minute.  I thought I'd grab
something for Ace and me.  I'm covering for Zoomie tonight.
Did you hear about Doctor V's mother?"

      Wynter felt a very sad chill run throughout her whole
body. "No.  Did she die?"

      Mister Sanders shook his head.  "No, but she had
three heart attacks and is in a coma.  Nobody expects her
to come out of it. Doctor Vasquez finally convinced the
last holdout to agree that no heroic measures would be used
when it happens again."

      "Oh, no!" said Suzie in a mournful tone.  "She is
such a very nice lady.  She doesn't deserve something like
that."

      Mister Sanders nodded his agreement.  "But it seems
to be what she wants.  She sure is getting there the hard
way, though." After another minute's conversation Mister
Sanders wished them a good night and headed for the counter.

      Wynter sat down and started to speak to Suzie, but
she stopped herself.  Suzie was holding her Diet Coke in
both hands and slowly turning the glass, looking through it
at nothing.

      Suzie finally focused on Wynter, but her voice
remained far away as she said, "Here I was all excited
about my stupid grades, and Mrs. Vasquez Senior is in a
stupid coma and may never wake up."

      Wynter gently curled a hand around one of her best
friend's wrists.  "Suzie, that's the way life is.  There's
always sadness and there's always happiness.  Doctor Taylor
said that you should always enjoy as much of the happiness
as you can, so that when the sadness comes along, you'll be
better prepared to deal with it."

      Suzie was quiet for a moment.  "Maybe," she said in a
soft, faraway voice.  "But it seems like every time
happiness comes around, the stupid sadness is just a couple
of minutes behind or something."  Her eyes slowly lifted to
Wynter's, and her mouth opened to speak.  Wynter thought
for sure that Suzie was going to say something about Kenny.

      "Suzie!  Wynter!"  Timmy Gagnon cried as he
approached their table.  "I didn't expect to see you here."

      Suzie's mouth closed.  The moment had passed.  The
girls greeted Timmy.  "My dad's still here," Wynter
explained, "but he's going home tomorrow.  Mother's
explaining the rules to him, and we're here so that she can
use language he'll understand.  Is your mother here again?"

      "Yeah," Timmy said as he pulled out a chair and sat
in it. "She was feeling so good that she didn't take her
heart medicine for a couple of days.  Dad's admitting her,
and she's in the ER, so I came here for a Coke.  Maybe when
your mom is finished, she can help Dad explain the rules to
my mom."

      Wynter shook her head in disbelief.  Some people just
didn't understand how the medicines worked, even when they
had to take them every day for the rest of their lives.
"She shouldn't stop because she feels better.  It's the
medicine that's making her feel better.  She should..."
She stopped because Suzie had squeezed her forearm.

      "Timmy knows," Suzie said with a 'here-we-go-again'
look. "It's Mrs. Gagnon that you need to lecture."

      Timmy grinned.  "Wynter can help Doctor V lecture her
if he's still here."

      "Doctor Vasquez may not see her," Wynter said,
realizing she wasn't keeping the personal sadness out of
her voice the way she'd planned.  She worried that it made
her seem unprofessional. "It's his mother.  She's in
serious condition, if not critical."

      Timmy's grin faded into a sad face.  "I didn't know.
I feel sorry for Doctor V.  First his dad and now his
mother."

      Suzie and Timmy exchanged a few stories about Mister
Vasquez Senior and his wife.  Some were new to Wynter.
Sure, it wasn't a very big town, but Wynter was always
surprised at the number of lives that the Vasquez Seniors
had touched.  Then Timmy said, "I'm just glad I got to know
them for a while.  Hey, I heard you beat me in history."

      If Suzie's face grew any brighter, Wynter just knew
you'd be able to read by it in the dark.  "Yeah, I did!  I
beat Wynter, too!  And I got a B in science!  Can you
believe it?"

      "Well, yeah," Timmy said with a shrug.  "I never
thought you were dumb, like some of the girls were always
saying."

      Wynter had always liked Timmy.  Now she thought he
was one of the nicest boys in the whole school.

      "Really?" Suzie asked in a surprised voice.

      "Sure."  His voice turned quiet and shy.  "I'm
looking forward to your birthday again and... I hope I get
invited."

      Timmy clearly was referring to the kissing contest,
where Suzie, as the honoree, got to judge which of the boys
kissed best.  Suzie grasped that as well as Wynter did
because her voice suddenly turned... well, it wasn't
seductive, but that was the only word Wynter could think of
besides 'interested,' and it was more than that.  "Don't
worry," Suzie said, "you will be."

      Wynter suddenly felt out of place and wondered if she
should get herself some more juice.  But Mother entered the
cafeteria at that moment.  She waved until Mother saw her
and then said to Timmy with mischief in her voice,
"Huntly's birthday is in a couple of weeks, if you want to
practice your birthday kissing technique."

      She and Suzie both laughed at the horrified look on
his face.

      "N-n-no!" he spluttered.  "I-I'll just wait for
Cinnamon's birthday and see if I get invited to it."

      "Relax.  You're already on her list," Wynter said.
She and Sis frequently spent the night with each other, and
they'd sit or lie in the dark together and talk about all
sorts of things, including boys.  Sis was planning on a big
party, and her principal criterion was that all the boys
had to be kissable. Timmy's name was at the top of the list
based on Wynter's description of kissing techniques at her
own party in December.

      Timmy seemed very relieved.  He stood and greeted
Mother. She politely declined his offer to bring her
something. They talked for a moment, and then Timmy wished
everyone a good night. As he went toward the soft drinks,
Wynter and Suzie cleared their things from the table.

      "Did the patient survive?" Wynter asked as they
headed for the door.

      "He said you were much rougher on him than I was,"
Mother said with a frustrated sigh.  "Can you teach me what
you did?"

      "Sure she can," Suzie said, her face beaming with a
wide smile.  "You're a girl.  You listen and pay attention.
You'll be much easy for her to teach than some dolt of a
guy."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Mitch knew about Mike Vasquez's mother's sudden turn
for the worse.  It had happened as he was leaving the
hospital for the day.  As a result he was surprised when he
found Rosita at the house, preparing dinner for Cinnamon
and himself.  She'd said she needed a little normal routine
in her life at the moment, and he had dropped the subject.
That was a need he understood all too well.  He invited her
to dine with them, only to learn that Cinnamon had already
offered and she'd accepted.

      He wasn't surprised at his daughter's thoughtfulness
because it was one of the many things that he loved about
her. She had set the dining room table for the three of
them before she asked Rosita, and then used that as
leverage to convince Rosita to stay.  Mitch doubted Rosita
needed much leverage, if any, but Cinnamon rarely
overlooked any detail or any potential results of
miscalculation.  That was another thing he admired about
the most important person in his life.

      After they ate, Cinnamon immediately kissed him, then
Rosita, and then disappeared to her room, saying she needed
to contact Hailey.  He found that unusual because Cinnamon
always helped Rosita clear the table when she ate with
them.  He decided that his daughter was merely too excited
about Hailey's impending arrival.  Maybe that was the way
normal twelve-year-olds were supposed to act.  If so, he
was happy to see it.  For far too long the person inside
the twelve-year-old body had been a thirty-year-old woman
thanks to... he caught himself before he could think the
words, 'her mother' and substituted instead 'Gwendolyn.'

      "Looks like I'm your bus boy tonight," he said.

      Rosita gave him a sympathetic look.  "Mitch, you've
had a busy day.  Why don't you go to the den and pour a
couple of glasses of port for dessert?  I'll join you when
I'm done here."

      He draped his arms over her shoulders and pressed his
forehead to hers.  "And you've had an easy day?  Come on.
I'll help.  That way we can both get to the wine sooner."

      His head rocked when she shook hers.  "If you expect
to marry me, you need to learn how to obey orders like a
proper husband."

      "I wouldn't know anything about that," he said. "I've
never had a proper marriage."

      "I know," she said, "but I have.  I can train you to
follow orders.  Cinnamon says you're trainable."

      He stiffened involuntarily.  "You told her about us?"
He couldn't believe that she'd tell Cinnamon without his
approval and participation.

      She laughed in a way that said she'd needed an excuse
to do so.  "No.  But your name does come up occasionally
when we talk. You are her favorite conversation subject,
you know.  She's always said you've loved her enough for
two parents, and she clearly gives you the additional love
she'd have given to that despicable woman if she'd acted
like a real mother instead of a self-centered spawning
chamber."

      Mitch recognized the bitterness in those final words
because he felt it himself whenever he thought of the way
Gwendolyn had treated the finest daughter anyone could ever
hope to have.  He kissed Rosita and then turned to gather
plates and silverware from the table.  "Okay.  I hope I'm
not too old and set in my ways to learn," he said.

      Rosita gathered the glasses, serving utensils, and
some of the leftovers.  "Probably not.  You're only a
couple of years older than me, and I'm still young enough
to learn.  In fact, I learned something new today."

      "Which was?"

      She led the way through the butler's pantry and into
the kitchen.  She indicated the family room with a thrust
of her head.  "That the second floor gallery is a wonderful
place to stand and look down into the family room while
Cinnamon practices."

      Cinnamon's drum kit sat at the west end of the family
room. From the gallery one could look directly down at it.
"Really?  I never thought of that," he said.  "It has to be
a whole new way of appreciating her talent."  He made a
mental note to watch the next time he was home while
Cinnamon practiced.

      "You have no idea," she said.  "As hard as it is to
believe, it makes her look all the more remarkable.  Just
set those on the island.  I'll load the dishwasher while
you fetch the rest."

      Minutes later he handed Rosita a glass of port, sat
in his den recliner, and waited while she made herself
comfortable in his lap.  They snuggled into a comfortable
position, making small talk that avoided any mention of her
mother-in-law's coma.

      "I need to apologize to you," she said after a long
moment of silence which each spent enjoying the closeness
of the other. "I thought that if I let you sweat overnight
about Cinnamon, you would listen more closely to what I had
to say.  Then Mama Rosa..."  She hesitated, her words
choked off so that the name came out as a squeak.

      "Some things are beyond your control, Rosita," Mitch
said softly as she buried her face in his neck.  He placed
his glass on an end table, took hers, and put it there,
too.  "I could write a book on that fact, you know.  A
multi-volume set all based on personal experience.  So you
got... distracted by current events and forgot, right?
Under your circumstances, I can't blame you.  You don't
need to apologize for that."

      Mitch wished he could tell her that he already
understood, but he'd have to be fair about it and say that
it was Wynter, not himself, who had arrived at the
conclusion.  There was no way he could tell Rosita that
without getting into other people's secrets.

      Rosita inhaled sharply in a liquid sniff.  "I'm not.
I'm apologizing because I thought I needed to get your
attention first.  I was afraid that after all the years
with that woman that you'd tune me out."  Again her voice
rose to a squeak.

      His upper arm wrapped around her, and his hand rubbed
circles on her back.  "It's not an unreasonable assumption
when I think about it.  That's not so bad."

      She sighed and lifted her head to look at him.  Tears
ran from her dark eyes and left wet trails down her cheeks
before collecting on, and dripping from, her chin.  "What's
bad is that I didn't give you a chance.  I foolishly
assumed you weren't the person you'd shown yourself to be,
and then I didn't give you the chance to prove that I was
wrong."

      "Thereby proving," he said, pausing to give her a
kiss, "that you're human, and therefore that I've made a
much better choice than Gwendolyn for Cinnamon's mother.
Now: whatever you want to say, you certainly have my
attention, and I won't tune you out."

      She clamped her lips in a wry smile.  "I know.  You
wouldn't have then, either.  I... I don't know where to
begin."

      "Well," he said, reaching for her wineglass.  "You
might start with how you found out."

      She thanked him for the glass and sipped the wine.
Mitch thought she was on the verge of gulping it, but she
maintained her re-found composure.  "Lagerfeld."  When he
frowned at her, she smiled.  "I kept noticing that
Cinnamon's pillows smelled like yours.  At first I thought
she was swapping pillows with you.  Maybe the smell of your
cologne at night was what she needed to keep that woman
from driving her crazy.  But little things didn't add up
over time.  Too many occasions when it couldn't be that for
too many reasons."

      Mitch would never have thought of that.  He was
surprised Cinnamon hadn't either.

      Well, that was a ridiculous thought.  Despite her
sometimes-apparent age, the girl really was only twelve,
almost thirteen, and not thirty.  "And so you decided that
I was sleeping with her?"

      "Yes.  As in resting unconscious overnight.  I never
thought about you having sex with her.  I thought it was
just two miserable people who loved each other finding some
comfort in the close presence of the other.  Two tortured
souls with a common demon.  And I'm sure it was that, too."

      "Yes," said Mitch, not realizing how far away in time
and in space his voice was.  "It started out that way.  All
we had was each other, and she was my lifeline to sanity.
God, I put such a burden on her with the strain of the
hospital and home life, too. She wasn't just my daughter
and my surrogate wife, she was also my psychiatrist, my
therapist..."

      "...and your best friend," Rosita said in conclusion
for him.  Then she did him the favor of returning the
conversation to its original topic.  "She uses those soft
white towels for the wet spot, doesn't she?  I thought so.
Well, one night part of you missed the towel, or she
removed it too soon.  Anyway, the evidence on the sheet
when I did the laundry was the final clue, back on April
Fool's Day."

      Mitch was startled.  "You've known that long?"

      "At first I thought it was Huntly, or one of her
other friends, but then I remembered that no boys had been
over since I'd changed the linen.  I didn't say anything
because I wanted to think about it.  I couldn't get mad,
though I definitely thought I wanted to.  If it hadn't been
for that despicable woman, I mightn't have been as tolerant."

      "If it hadn't been for her, you'd have had no reason
to be tolerant, I'm sure."

      Rosita gave him an odd smile.  He was beginning to
recognize it as her 'You said something dumb' look.
"Maybe.  But maybe not.  I've noticed that Cinnamon is
quite good at getting what she wants.  And who she wants.

      "I've also noticed that you know about that and
aren't overly concerned.  That means you trust her
judgment.  You love her too much to spoil her by allowing
her to indulge in potentially dangerous behavior."

      He reached for his own wineglass.  "Being a doctor's
kid has its advantages, I guess.  So you're saying you want
us to quit now.  Okay, we..."

      "No."

      The response surprised him.  The glass stopped an
inch from his mouth.  "You don't?"

      Her shoulders lifted in a gentle shrug and her eyes
searched his.  "I've thought about this for a long time,
sweetheart.  I've gone through about every emotion in the
book, and maybe a couple that aren't in the book.  I've
seen my bedside clock reach one or two in the morning more
times than I want to remember.

      "Look, I'm a realist, especially when it comes to
Cinnamon and her... capabilities.  You might agree to end
it, but if she decided she wanted you again, she'd get you
eventually, and then you'd feel guilty and try to hide that
from me to protect me. This marriage won't work if we lie
to each other for any reason. I deserve better than that.
So do you.  So does Cinnamon, because she doesn't deserve
to live in another strained domestic household."

      "No," he said firmly, "she doesn't.  I swore a solemn
oath that I'd never put her in that situation again, no
matter the emotional cost to me."

      She nodded understanding.   "When I said there's be
no more sneaking down the hall at night for sex, I meant to
end the sneaking part.  That's all.  Even after we're
married, if you want to spend some time with her, you don't
have to wait for me to go to sleep and sneak down the hall
like you did with that woman.  Just tell me that you'll be
busy for a while and go."

      "This isn't a joke, is it?" he asked, trying not to
sound as wary as he felt.

      Her bright laugh was the second best sound he'd heard
since he arrived home.  The first had been Cinnamon's voice
as she raced Ghost down the hall to greet him.  "No!"  She
kissed him. I'm serious.  I'm mostly comfortable with the
idea now. Just don't wear yourself out.  I might want some
attention myself when you return.  But it would have to be
when you returned. I'm not into the idea of threesomes.
Deal?"

      He held his glass up in a toast.  Hers rang against
it and they drank a toast to themselves and to openness in
the household.

      "Speaking of openness," she said, pausing to kiss him
and trace the outline of his ear with a fingertip, "maybe
we should tell her about us now."

      "No," Mitch said as he placed the empty glasses on
the table.  "I've been thinking about it.  Hailey's coming,
and we don't want to distract her from their having a good
time. Maybe after Hailey's been here a week or two."

      She agreed and buried her face in his neck again,
this time to the accompaniment of small kisses instead of
tears.  He wondered if he should tell Rosita about his
relationship with Hailey, too.  _Better not at this time,_
he decided.  _I shouldn't press my luck after what she's
already agreed to. Especially now that I've remembered
something Richard told me._

      "Honey?"  he asked, stroking her hip as she hummed
her query in response.  "What if we gave Cinnamon one night
a week with me and you got the rest?"



                             Six

      Wynter's eyes followed the line of Doctor Brees' arm.
The bird was perched near one of the peaks of the
translucent white fabric roof.  It was a blue jay.  They
were normally a noisy bird, one that was pretty until it
opened its beak and screamed like an angry Suzie, but this
one was staying quiet. Maybe it was trying to think of a
way to get back outside Denver International Airport's
terminal building.

      Cinnamon snorted.  "Can't you just imagine sitting in
the food court, thinking you were safe, and suddenly a bird
thirty feet up takes a dump in your kung pao shrimp?"  She
spoke loudly enough to draw several laughs from others
waiting for friends or family at the underground shuttle
train exit.

      Wynter joined Doctor Brees in staring down at her for
a moment, and then they looked at each other.  "Did you
just lose your appetite?" she asked.

      He made a 'yuck' face.  "I may never eat in an
airport again.  In fact, I'm glad I had the Whopper instead
of Chinese food."

      She started to reply, but the doors from the
underground shuttle train's arrival escalators disgorged
another crowd of people.  Everyone scanned the new arrivals.

      Wynter recognized Hailey from her picture just as
Doctor Brees began lifting his arm to wave.  Adults rudely
crowded in front of them, keeping Sis, who was two inches
shorter than Wynter, from seeing her cousin.  She was
almost surprised that Cinnamon didn't yell at the
miscreants--not the way Suzie would scream but every bit as
bad in its own way--but she quickly realized that Sis was
too overcome with joy at having her cousin arrive.  She
guessed it was a lot like the way she felt whenever she saw
Grandpa Wolfe, who was just over in Breckenridge, not
halfway across the ocean in Hawaii, and she got to see him
more than once a year.

      Hailey didn't yell, either, causing mild surprise in
Wynter after what Sis had said about her cousin.  She wore
a trendy Hawaiian blouse tied to show her midriff, a white
miniskirt, and sandals, but she carried herself in that
same self-assured manner as Cinnamon's birth mother.  She
had almost the same look of arrogance when she entered the
main terminal instead of the smile that Wynter had
expected.  Cinnamon also could put on that same look when
she was cross, but normally Sis was all round-cheeked smiles.

      Hailey's smile suddenly appeared and was as bright as
Sis's when she saw Doctor Brees.  "Uncle Mitch!" she
squealed as she threw up an arm to wave back.  As she
neared them she finally saw the little redhead and cranked
her smile up another megawatt.

      Cinnamon and Hailey squealed each other's names and
hugged and kissed.  Wynter was sure she saw an instant of
tongue action from each, but only because she sort of
expected it.

      Hailey was Wynter's height, with her long, curly,
light brown hair piled on her head the way Cinnamon wore
hers that day, though Hailey's clearly wasn't even long
enough to reach her butt.  And while she was as tall as
Wynter, she wasn't as slender.  She was proportionately
built more along Cinnamon's lines--what most people would
call 'normal,' though Wynter thought of herself as 'normal'
and people like Sis and Hailey as 'wide.'

      As Hailey pulled back, squealed "Uncle Mitch!" again,
and launched herself at Doctor Brees, Wynter realized that
she was nothing like her Aunt Gwendolyn, Sis's birth
parent, but she had the same square face that ran in the
family.  Her chin didn't have the point that made
Cinnamon's face more of a pentagon. Hailey's chin was
rounder and less prominent.  And while Wynter still thought
Sis was the prettiest girl she'd ever seen, nobody would
call Hailey unattractive, even in Cinnamon's presence.

      Again Wynter thought she saw a flash of tongue work
before Hailey pulled back, her large gray-green eyes
sparkling. She looked every bit as thrilled to see Doctor
Brees as she did to see Cinnamon.  And then her eyes
fastened on Wynter's.

      "Cousin Wynter!" she squealed and launched herself
again. She pinned Wynter's arms to her sides with a bear
hug.  She whipped her head backward, then forward, to land
a kiss on Wynter's lips.

      Wynter was so startled that she didn't have time to
think about what she'd do if she suddenly found Hailey's
tongue in her mouth.  Instead, she felt only a light brush
of it against her lips.

      "All right, hold it, sister!" Cinnamon barked as
Hailey released Wynter and stepped back.  Hailey's eyes
sparkled with mischief as she ran her tongue-tip in a
circle around her lips and winked at Wynter.  "I said hold
it!  I haven't made formal introductions yet!  Wynter King,
this is Whitney Gwyneth Kennedy."

      "Oh, like, cram it, Cuz.  Wynter is SO family!"

      Wynter noticed that four people had turned and looked
at her when they heard her name.  They grew wide-eyed when
they recognized her.  She was used to it by now.  Well, she
was used to it at home.  It surprised her that people in
Denver reacted the same way.  Surely there were other
Wynter Kings in the world. Then the other name she'd heard
sank in.  She blinked at the others in confusion.

      "Whitney Gwyneth?  I thought it was Hailey."

      Doctor Brees rested his hands on his niece's
shoulders and flexed his fingertips to squeeze them,
causing Hailey to look like she'd just won the Lotto
jackpot. "One of her first words was 'Hey!'  She saw you,
it was 'Hey!'  She wanted something, it was 'Hey!'  She
didn't like something, it was 'Hey!'  She used it
incessantly, and the nickname was born.  And she still has
a bad case of 'hey fever,' don't you, dear?"

      "Hey!  It, like, could have been worse," Hailey said.
"Another first word was 'ca-ca.'  They SO could have
nicknamed me 'Shit.'"

      Cinnamon backhand her father's leg.  "After all this
time, don't you know better than to encourage her?"

      Doctor Brees looked chagrined.  "Apparently not."
Then he smiled at Hailey.  "Let's go get your bags, dear."

      Hailey glanced at him over one shoulder and smiled.
"You'll SO need a skycap."

      "Well, remind me to look surprised next Tuesday,"
Cinnamon said in her best impression yet of Suzie's voice,
earning a smile and a nod of appreciation from Wynter.

      Hailey frowned.  "What does Tuesday have to do with
it?"

      As Wynter giggled, Cinnamon fluttered her hands in a
shooing motion.  "Just go.  You'll understand later.  No,
not there. Your bags will be over on the other side."

                            ~ ~ ~

      "I can take the front seat," Wynter said as Doctor
Brees gave the skycap a tip that was generous  even
considering the extraordinary amount of work he'd
performed.  She waited while he thanked the man again and
closed the back door of the Mercedes SUV.  "That way you
two can sit together.  It's easier for you two to talk if
we do it that way."  Her had thoughts flashed back to the
time she and Daddy had dropped Mother at the airport.  She
rode from the airport to the Denver Museum of Nature and
Science in the back seat with Jimmy and then from the
museum to home, making it so much easier to talk together.

      Hailey laughed.  "You just SO want Uncle Mitch to,
like, feel YOU up instead of me on the ride home."

      As Wynter gasped and felt her face reddening with
embarrassment, Cinnamon's smile disappeared in a different
red, one of rage.  "WHITNEY GWYNETH!  YOU'RE OUT OF LINE!"

      Hailey suddenly looked very contrite, yet another of
Wynter's favorite words.  Hailey had realized she'd gone
too far. Wynter had seen Cinnamon pissed off at people
before, but she'd never heard Cinnamon use THAT voice.  She
sure hoped she never did anything that would make Sis use
it at her.

      "I'm sorry, Wynter, Uncle Mitch.  I, like, got too
excited about seeing you for the first time in, like, ages
or whatev'."

      Doctor Brees gave her a hug of forgiveness.  "I
understand, but you have to be careful who's around when
you say things like that."

      This time Hailey had the sense to lower her voice to
just above a whisper when she said, "Uncle Mitch, it's SO
not the big! Wynter knows we fuck."  Wynter guessed the
only reason she understood what Hailey said was precisely
because she did know.

      Doctor Brees gave her a startled look, which caused
Wynter to press her lips together, lower her head slightly,
and give him a sympathetic nod.  His eyes flicked for an
instant to Cinnamon and then back to her.  He smiled and
gave her a nod of understanding.  If he was cross, it was
with Sis.

      "That may be," he said in a low voice, "but you never
know who might be kneeling beside the next car over,
checking out a low tire or whatever.  And the skycap was
probably still within hearing range."

      "Ooookaaaay," she said in a tired drawl.  "Whatev'."
This clearly wasn't her first lecture from him on the
topic. Then her face brightened as if nothing had happened
since Wynter had offered to take the front seat.  "Hey!  I,
like, get the seat behind Wynter.  Cinny, you get the one
behind Uncle Mitch."

      For a moment Wynter thought Cinnamon was going to
imitate Suzie again.

      Doctor Brees had parked on the top level so that the
anticipated skycap wouldn't have so far to travel with the
bags. As soon as they had descended to the next level
Hailey said, "Uncle Mitch, you SO need to, like, pull over
for a minute."

      He looked surprised but turned instead of going down
the next ramp and pulled into a striped area.  It was a no-
parking zone, but Wynter guessed that it was okay to stop
there temporarily, since they weren't leaving the vehicle.
As soon as the SUV had stopped, Hailey released her
seatbelt and launched herself between the front seats.

      Wynter turned her head to look out the side window as
Hailey gave Doctor Brees a passionate kiss and began
groping in his lap. The lighting was adequate to cause a
reflection in the side glass, one that showed Doctor Brees
pushing his niece away.

      "Hailey!" he said.  "There are cameras everywhere in
here!"

      "SHIT!" Hailey growled, pushing herself back into her
seat. "I NEVER get to have any fun!"

      "Honey, you've been waiting for months.  You can wait
a couple of hours longer.  It won't kill you.  Trust me:
I'm a doctor."  His voice wasn't cross.  In fact, it
sounded to Wynter as if Doctor Brees had been repeating
medical instructions that every patient received.  His flat
tone sounded almost bored. Obviously this wasn't the first
time he had said that, and Wynter guessed it wouldn't be
the last.

      Sis lowered her voice to where Wynter couldn't
understand it and began a long lecture.  Since Wynter knew
she wasn't supposed to listen, she decided to talk to
Doctor Brees, who was putting the vehicle in gear.

      "I'm really and truly sorry to hear about Mrs.
Vasquez Senior," she said, re-opening a topic she'd touched
on only briefly.  Doctor Brees had given her the sad news
when they'd picked her up at home.  "Has Doctor V said
whether he'd stay or take one of the better offers now that
both parents are gone?"

      Doctor Brees' face softened and he gave her a slight
smile as he guided the vehicle back to the exit ramp.  "I
think Mike has decided that this is his best offer.  The
other places will pay more, but he has so many friends and
surviving family here, and he's also the chief of
cardiology.  He'd be the deputy at best at the other
hospitals.  The only two offering to make him the chief are
smaller than Blue Spruce Regional.  Besides, I think he
sees a challenge here."

      Wynter's head tilted sideways slightly, and her
eyebrows pulled together because of the way he'd said that
last sentence. "A challenge?"

      "Uh huh."  He looked at her for a moment, giving her
a wry smile.  "There's this extremely talented Future MD
that I think he wants to talk into a career in cardiology."

      Wynter raised an eyebrow.  "Oh, really?  Does he know
the head of OB/GYN has also been on a recruiting spree?"

      Doctor Brees gave her a very phony look of surprise.
"He has?  The nerve of some people!  By the way, Laura
Adams is due any day now.  She was in with false labor
yesterday.  I told her that I had your parents' permission
to let you assist with a delivery."

      Wynter was stunned and thrilled at the same time. She
tried to maintain a professional voice and attitude, though
it sure wasn't easy restraining her excitement.  "What did
Mrs. Adams say?"

      Doctor Brees gave her a warm smile and an even warmer
squeeze on her forearm before pulling the vehicle into the
street leading to the toll booths.  "She said there's
nobody else she'd rather have assist than you."

      Wynter forced her mouth closed.  Then she opened it
enough to speak.  "Me?"  Mrs. Adams had been one of the
volunteers helping provide for the workers and families at
the Hargus Mine rescue.  Wynter had met her briefly after
she and Jimmy had been rescued, and only once or twice
since then.

      He nodded.  "She's a member of the Wynter King Fan
Club. Like most of the town, including Mickey Findley and
Darlene Pierce, who are due later in the month and who have
also agreed. In fact, Linda Ginley has talked to Darlene.
She said that after Missy Sue is older, she and Sean plan
to have another baby and would like you to assist for that
one.  Actually, I think she said she'd like for me to
assist you.  You're going to have your own group of
patients by the time you become an OB/GYN resident at this
rate."

      The Ginleys were Wynter's neighbors on the southeast
side of her house and had become good friends with Wynter's
family.  In fact, she thought of them as friends instead of
as Future Patients.  She guessed that was something she'd
have to get used to when she became a doctor:  even your
friends will need medical treatment at some point.  She
went someplace else thinking about that.  When she
returned, Doctor Brees had paid the parking fee and they
were on Pena Boulevard.  In fact, they were already at its
end and were merging into westbound Interstate 70.

      "I'm sorry," she said, realizing that Doctor Brees
had spoken.  "I guess I REALLY went someplace else that
time.  I didn't understand what you said."

      He gave her a funny look and then a wry smile.
"Apparently not.  I was talking to Hailey's reflection in
the mirror. I said that she was going to cause me to have a
wreck if she didn't either change the way she was sitting
or put on some panties."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon's fingertips thrummed against the armrest.
The first day or two with Hailey usually went this way when
Hailey visited the mainland.  But this time was worse.  She
wasn't sure why, unless it was because of Wynter.  _Showing
off or jealousy? Maybe both._  They had left Golden and
were rising out of the western plains and into the Rocky
Mountain foothills now. If Hailey had been able to get her
way, she'd have sucked off Daddy at least once and would
have gotten off a couple of times herself while he fingered
her.

      Not for the first time, Cinnamon wished Hailey had a
relationship with Uncle Gerry.  Maybe that might settle her
cousin down a little.  Too bad there weren't any places
along the way where her father could pull over and screw
her cousin's brains out, and not because it would please
the father she dearly loved, but because it would make
things easier for herself.  She hated putting her own
interests ahead of her father's in her mind, even one that
would make him happy, because that made her feel as if she
were becoming a clone of the bitch who had spawned her.

      She wondered what Wynter would think if she tongued,
or maybe just fingered, Cuz to orgasm there in the back seat.

      "Hey, Wynter?" Hailey said in that particular tone
Cinnamon recognized all too well.  "Is it, like, true about
you and Jimmy?"

      "Some of it is," Wynter replied without turning
around. "Which part?"

      Cinnamon's gathering darkness vanished and she smiled
to herself.  Her adopted sister was more than smart enough
to understand that Hailey would twist a "Yes" or "No" to
her advantage, the same way Kenny would, and that Cuz would
also try to trick Sis into admitting things that Wynter
would prefer to keep secret.  Cuz didn't know how well Sis
played that game herself.  Cuz didn't even realize Sis was
deliberately facing forward to keep Hailey from reading
clues in her expression.

      "The bad part that says you are SO not into sharing."

      Again Wynter refused the bait.  "Some things we
share, some we don't, both between ourselves and with
others."

      Hailey decided some honesty might weaken Wynter's
guard. "I'd SO like the opportunity to see if he's, like,
as good in bed as I've heard."

      Cinnamon grinned at the smugness in Wynter's voice.
"That makes a hundred percent of the back seat who'd like
that opportunity.  But Sis is content with taking my word
for it.  I'm sure you will be, too.  Eventually."

      "SHIT!" Cuz mumbled.  She braced her right elbow on
the arm rest and propped her head against her fist while
deciding on her next tactic.

      Cinnamon noticed a slight trembling in her father's
shoulders.  He was holding back a laugh.  Hailey was too
absorbed in her next attempt to notice.  That was Cuz's
problem: she got all wrapped up in herself and never
noticed what was going on around her.  She wasn't stupid,
not by any means.  But she was lazy and too self-centered.
Cinnamon had realized some time ago that Hailey was too
smart to risk pregnancy or AIDS and VD, but she was
nevertheless gullible for anyone offering her what she
wanted.

      If Hailey had been a virgin, she'd have become a
victim of Matthew Wylie, an eighth grader who had preyed on
the innocence of the younger girls in Griffin Middle
School.  But Wylie would have refused Hailey as she really
was because Cuz would have had a reputation, and he'd have
known about it.

      The only girls Wylie had willingly accepted were
those whom he thought were virgins and who were in awe of
his abilities as the school's star drummer.  Otherwise, he
preferred the unwilling, like the Watkins cousins, Snoopy
and Possum. He'd foolishly made the critical mistake of
assuming that new-student-Cinnamon was a virgin when she
promised him what he wanted.  Now he was no longer the
school's star drummer, and he was incapable of having sex,
either with girls or with his fellow inmates in the boy's
correctional reformatory.

      She amended that last thought while trying
unsuccessfully to hide her evil grin.  Wylie could still
have sex with his fellow inmates, but only as a receiver.

      The grin faded.  Matthew's gullibility had resulted
in his getting what he deserved.  Cinnamon was afraid that
Hailey's would result in something that she didn't deserve.

      "I tell you what, though," Wynter said while Hailey
was working on her next tactic.  "His birthday is in
December. You can fly back here for his birthday party and
take part in the kissing contest.  Then you can extrapolate
from that how good he is in bed."

      "Huh?"

      "You shouldn't use four syllable words around Cuz,"
Cinnamon said with a laugh.  "She has enough trouble with
two syllable ones."

      Hailey's head spun to frown at her.  "Hey!  Was that
supposed to be, like, a diss?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Mitch had expected Hailey's move to the front seat
when they dropped Wynter at her house.  He had said that
Hailey would have to wait until Richard was more fully
recovered before they met. Wynter, of course, had realized
what he was doing, and she'd said nothing to correct him.
She'd known that he was waiting for Hailey to calm down
first, and she'd approved.  He was pleased that Cinnamon
had "adopted" a sister, and he was beyond pleased that
she'd found a sister who was virtually her intellectual
equal.  Not to mention damned near as pretty.

      Hailey waited until he'd started down the street to
twist in her seat and expose her shaved snatch for him.
_The girl actually showed a vestige of restraint, and it's
still the first day!  Wonder of wonders!_  He had to fondle
it and comment on how she'd avoided leaving any stubble
before they reached the McCauley house.  She grabbed his
wrist to insure that he didn't withdraw his hand afterward.
By the time they reached Griffin Middle School, Hailey had
already had her first orgasm. Instead of calming her, it
was like throwing gasoline on a fire.

      He wasn't surprised to find Rosita's vehicle missing
from the garage.  Despite the circumstances, that was a
good thing. He didn't need the complication of an oversexed
niece and his mourning fiancee meeting each other just yet.

      Before the garage door had fully closed, Hailey
slipped out of her blouse and miniskirt, leaving her
wearing nothing but her sandals.  Fortunately, Cinnamon
came to his rescue, saying how much more comfortable they'd
be all piled in the master bed.  She opened the doors of
the vehicle, causing Hailey to complain that the
temperature was "chilly."  He used his daughter's
explanation of the altitude's effect on temperature to
temporarily escape his niece's clutches.  He loved Hailey
almost as much as he loved his daughter, but he'd give a
month's pay if the girl would learn to exercise a little
patience occasionally.

      They stowed Hailey's bags in her room before
verifying Cinnamon's comment about the master bed's
comfort.  Cinnamon watched closely as Hailey proved that
she wasn't exaggerating her improved skills at deep
throating.  Cinnamon was insuring that she would be able to
provide him the same intense pleasure at a later time.

      She also was deliberately postponed her own pleasure
so that her father and her cousin could fully enjoy each
other. Since she hadn't wanted him to finger her yet,
thereby taking some of his attention away from Hailey, he'd
simply held her hand while she watched so that she wouldn't
feel left out and would feel his love for her.  They stayed
that way until some signal he didn't see passed between the
girls.

      As Cinnamon straddled his face, Hailey positioned
herself over his erection.  "I've spent nine months waiting
for this again," she said, desire making her voice croak as
she slid down his shaft and violently humped her clitoris
against the coarse hair over his pubic bone.  Hailey's
second orgasm swept through her almost immediately while he
kissed the insides of Cinnamon's thighs and plunged his
tongue as deep into his daughter's body as it would go.  He
wanted her to feel some of the pleasure sweeping through
her cousin.

      While Hailey convulsed and gasped for air he withdrew
his tongue and attacked Cinnamon's clitoris with it.  At
the same time his hands cupped and squeezed the sexy globes
of her firm round ass.  The little redhead came
immediately.  A transient thought opined that if she had
the strength in her thighs that she had in her arms, he'd
be lying there with a crushed skull. Well, there certainly
were far worse ways to go than between the legs of the
person you loved most in the world.

      Half a minute later the girls had recovered, and now
began what Cinnamon always called "the arm dance" as they
decided who would play with what body parts.  Thanks to
much practice the process was over in five seconds.  Mitch
had both hands squeezing Hailey's small breasts and
tweaking her nipples.

      Since his tongue was still attacking Cinnamon's clit,
Hailey opted to use both hands to play with the firm
softballs on her cousin's chest.

      Cinnamon's left hand slid its fingertips under the
lower curve of her cousin's body, thumb braced against the
shaved mound, middle fingertip vibrating on the clit, and
the other fingers gently stroking the lips on either side
of his invading erection.  Her right hand pulled Hailey's
head forward as she opened her mouth and quickly ran her
tongue-tip over the lips before crushing Hailey's with a
passionate kiss.  Assured that her cousin wouldn't back
away, or even let up pressure as their tongues fought for
dominance, her right hand slid down Hailey's back to cup
the left butt cheek and pull, establishing the rhythm as
the older cousin began humping her invader.

      Mitch decided it was just as well that he couldn't
see anything but Cinnamon's sweet butt in his face.  The
sensations alone were about to drive him to ejaculate long
before he wanted to, and the images forming in his mind
against his will were speeding up that process.  He was
amazed that he lasted almost three minutes before the
sensations and images and Cinnamon's second orgasm on his
face were too much.  While his body was rigid and he was
spewing, Hailey had her third orgasm.

      As the tension left his body and he began to relax,
Cinnamon dismounted and sucked her juices from his face,
then plunged her tongue into his mouth.

      She lifted her face.  "Daddy, I love you!" she said
with all the feeling that she could command.  All he could
do was smile and grunt reciprocity and appreciation, and
then she was pushing Hailey's shoulders.

      The older girl collapsed backward atop his legs,
pulling his soft organ out of its warm, sticky shelter.
Cinnamon sucked the flaccid member into her mouth and
cleaned it with her tongue, then plunged her face into the
glistening, gooey snatch of her cousin.  By the time she'd
cleaned it, Hailey had exploded with her fourth orgasm.

      Which meant he had a chance of getting some rest
before Hailey began demanding more.  Four always calmed her
down initially after she'd been away from him for a week or
more, though it took a day or two to fully tame her.  As
much as Hailey could be tamed, that is.

      He didn't want anyone to have to cook, and going out
was out of the question.  There was no telling what Hailey
might do in public at this stage.  As the girls snuggled
against his sides and hugged him, he squeezed them with his
arms and asked, "Okay, pizza or Chinese delivery for dinner?"

      They settled on pizza.  While Cinnamon called
Pepperoni Pete's, he pondered his next problem.  How could
he prevent his niece from greeting the delivery boy while
wearing nothing but a horny grin?

                            ~ ~ ~

      Kenny stared at his computer screen, unable to
believe what he was seeing.  Judy Chase had not turned on
her camera. Instead she had typed, "YOU LEID TO ME,  YOU
SAD SUZIE DIDNT MIND SHE JUST DIDNT WANT TO KNOW, WHENEVR
WE DID IT BUT SHE DID AND YOUR A HATEFUL ASHOLE, FOR
HURTING HER, WERE YOU GONNA HURT ME NEXT, FUCK YOU."

      Was that what was wrong with Tiffany Jones, too?  He
tried her next.

      "I THINK WE SHOULD WAIT AWHILE," Tiffany typed, her
camera also remaining off.  "NOW ISNT A GOOD TIME. MAYBE
LATER. I HAVE TO GO."

      Kenny looked down at the boner sticking out of his
pajamas. He could always look at internet porn since he'd
guessed Mom's password for the parental controls on his
computer on the seventh try, but he was in the mood for
watching some live action. Well, he could always depend on
Tiffany Marucci if she was on line. Her pussy looked sorta
weird to him, but he'd have to look at all types when he
became a gynecologist.  And a weird pussy was better than
no pussy to look at.  Though she did have nice tits. His
fingers went to work on the keyboard.

      "NO."

      That was it.  A one word reply.  He ticked off names
on the list in his head.  The only one who'd shown any
romantic interest in him at school had been Evi Lopez, and
she didn't have a video camera on her computer.  Amy
Katzmarek hadn't been unfriendly, but she'd been a little
distant.  But Amy also had no camera. Megan McNeal had a
camera, but she shared her room with her sister.  And Megan
had become a close friend of Suzie's since the last time
he'd pumped his pulsating pud in the pudenda of her puss-pot.

      The only other member of his humping harem was
Tiffany Taylor, and she was out of town for two weeks.

      "Shit," he muttered.  "All I wanted was a little
action, and now I'm not getting any, all because Suzie got
back early."  He opened a password-protected list of links
and chose a site from it.  He found a model he liked, sat
back in his chair, and began stroking.

      Life wasn't fair.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Hailey thought it was SO the strange that seven
months could make such the diff.  Her own coozie mound, if
she didn't shave it, had, like, a jungle compared to the
few thin dark-red wisps on Cuz's.  The two lines on the
edge of the chubby lips framing Cuz's mosh pit had, like,
more hair than the mound.

      She released those lips, again swollen with desire,
and softly stroked the wide mound.   She grinned at the
master bathroom mirror's reflection of the face behind her.
"Hey, I, like, think that's got it.  Whadda you say, Uncle
Mitch?"

      She couldn't stand the thought of taking her hand off
Cuz's coozie, so she slid it down to make room.  She
discovered that her middle fingertip was, like,
accidentally resting on Cuz's joy buzzer.  She circled it
with her finger while Unc reached around her and did his
stubble-check.

      He smiled at her and nodded.  "Smooth!  Feels good
enough to lick," he said in her ear, "but I think I'll wait
until you get the soap off of it."

      She agreed.  Cinnamon had, like, the only coozie that
SO tasted better than Cousin Margaret's.  She didn't want
the experience, like, TOTALLY ruined by the taste of the
shaving gel.

      Unc slowly humped his hard cock up the crack of her
butt. She felt it swell some more as he grunted.  She
almost couldn't believe that he was, like, hard again, but
hey!  She had that effect on him.  On most cocks,
fortunately!  But especially with Uncle Mitch when they'd
been separated for a long time.

      Which was good.  She wasn't sure if his cock was,
like, her fave, but it was definitely in the top three.
Cuz had SO been the right when she once said, "Teens,
Twenties, or Terminal.  As long as they can fuck and are
good looking, you're available."

      Mostly right, anyway.  Being good looking was SO not
the big if the guy had, like, SOMETHING going and knew how
to use his trouser treat for fun.  He SO had to please both
himself AND her for it to work.  Or he had to be trainable.
The only thing worse than a, like, TOTALLY selfish asshole
was someone who was, like, SO absorbed in her that he
forgot to enjoy himself, too. If he didn't enjoy himself,
then it made HER the selfish!

      That's what was SO the cool about Unc!  He, like,
wouldn't hesitate to fuck her brains out if that was what
she needed, but he'd damn well have the time of his life
while SO doing it!

      That thought made her moan low in her throat.  She SO
wanted him to fuck her while she shaved Cuz, but he was,
like, afraid she'd accidentally cut Cinnamon's coozie
because of the distract. Damn it, he was probably right!
At least he, like, took advantage of each op when she'd
quit to examine her work and decide on her next stroke.
Because he DID take the advantage, her exam was, like, at
the end of every stroke.

      The hand holding one of her tits would, like, squeeze
it, and his cock would SO hump her crack while his other
hand stroked down and around the curve of her own mound.
Then his finger SO tingled her own twat-trigger.  It took
her longer to shave just Cuz's mound than it did to, like,
shave ALL of her own coozie. MUCH longer!

      Not that Cuz seemed to mind.  The more aroused she
was, the wetter she got.  Cuz was, like, outdoing Manoa
Falls now. Soft moans erupted every few breaths.  Her eyes
were, like, wide and glassy and her short fingers played
her hard pink nipples the way Hailey SO wanted to play them
with her lips.

      Unc's hand again cupped her coozie.  Since she
wasn't, like, using the razor, his finger SO tickled her
trigger that she fired the big O again.

      Her head, like, flew back and she braced the hand
with the razor against the edge of the lavatory top for
support. "Heeeeyyyy..." she moaned as her eyes tried to,
like, push out of her head.  Then her face pulled toward
her nose and her lids, like, squeezed her eyeballs back
into place, triggering bright sparks in the darkness like
lava bombs flying out of Kilauea at midnight.  Her head
started to drop.

      One of Cuz's hands grabbed her hair and yanked her
head up. The other squeezed her cheeks, forcing her lips
into a weird pucker before Cuz's lips and tongue found them
and she, like, tongue-fucked her mouth.

      Cuz's short frantic moans finally pushed through the
roar in her ears and caused her to wiggle the finger on
Cuz's joy buzzer. Cuz SO exploded!

      It was too much for Uncle Mitch.  He released her
coozie so he could, like, guide his cock between her juicy
swollen lower lips and into the caldera of her passion
volcano.  He stroked three times and then, like, spewed
white lava into her.

      They SO needed a couple of minutes of recovery time
before they could continue.  Finally Cuz leaned back
against the mirror, allowing Hailey to, like, slip her two
middle fingers into the tight wet coozie and stretch one
lip.  As Hailey reached for the shaving gel, Cuz giggled
and wiggled and Uncle Mitch again SO humped his crotch
against her butt.  His soft sticky-wet cock, like, pressed
into her crack.  She'd bet two blowjobs and a quickie that
it would remain soft a remarkably short time.

      She grinned at Cuz and at Unc's reflection in the
mirror. "One mound down," she purred, "two lips to go."



                            Seven

      Wynter wiped away tears and tried to remember the
last time she'd felt this sad.  As she fastened her seat
belt she remembered many sad times, but never one like
this, unless it was when Grandma Wolfe died of breast
cancer before Wynter's seventh birthday.

      Her father started the vehicle, then sat with hand on
the gearshift.  The cemetery was old, and the one-way roads
through it were little better than narrow asphalt trails.
They were barely wide enough for vehicles to pass ones
parked on the side, and then only if nobody stood or walked
next to the cars on the road.  And besides that, everyone
was parked bumper-to-bumper. Daddy couldn't move until
Jimmy's dad moved, and he had Doctor Holt blocking in front
of him.

      Mother's hand moved atop Daddy's.  He turned his palm
up and squeezed her hand for comfort.  Wynter wished she
had Jimmy to hold her hand.  Or Sis.  Or even Hailey, who'd
been remarkably subdued for both the funeral mass and the
graveside service.  Or Suzie.  Or Huntly, Timmy, or Josh,
for that matter.  Or even Kenny, who'd also been wiping at
a few personal tears.

      She started to chastise herself for not being more
professional.  Doctors had to deal with death as a part of
life. She couldn't let her emotions get in the way of that.

      But then she remembered how miserable Doctor V had
been as he looked at his mother's face for the last time.
She remembered Doctor Holt clinging to her husband as tears
flowed down her cheeks and her body trembled with quiet
crying.  She remembered Doctor Taylor brushing away more
tears than his wife did.

      And she decided that maybe being a doctor didn't mean
that she had to give up being human.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Richard heard the soft sob and felt like an absolute
idiot. Worse, he felt like a complete failure as a father.
He switched Angie's hand to his left one and reached
between the seats to grasp one of his daughter's.  "Honey,
are you okay?"

      That brought Angie back to awareness of her
surroundings. She turned to look between the seats, the
stricken look on her face saying that she, too, had grown
so accustomed to Jimmy's comforting Wynter that she'd
momentarily forgotten that he was riding with Keith and
Marti.

      "Uh huh," Wynter said and followed that with a long
sniff. She used the tissue in her other hand to wipe her
eyes and blow her nose.  "I just feel so bad for Mrs.
Vasquez."

      "I know, honey.  But we all have to go sometime. It's
part of life.  And it's what she wanted."

      "No," she said, shaking her head.  "I meant the
Future Mrs. Brees.  Doctor V has his wife to comfort him.
His brothers and sisters are all married, too.  But all
Mrs. Vasquez has is memories of her husband and his
funeral." She sniffed.  "And Doctor Brees is still
pretending that they aren't a couple, so he can't hold her
and comfort her the way she deserves.  He's still playing
friend of the family to everyone instead of Future Husband
to Mrs. Vasquez personally."  Her voice turned bitter.
"Everybody knows anyway, so he should console her.  She
deserves better."

      His eyes shot to Angie's and found them staring back
at him. For Wynter to be critical of anyone was a rare
enough occurrence, but to be so critical of someone she
respected, even loved in a way, was virtually unheard of.
Unheard of except when she was pretending so that she could
get a point across, such as the way she'd treated him when
he was in the hospital.

      Years of married life meant that he knew from her
sudden soft, "Oh!" that Angie's thought was the same as his
own: _Was the Wynter in his hospital room really an act, or
was that a glimpse of the woman she was becoming?_

      "Honey, he has to be that way for now."  He hoped his
voice sounded soothing instead of patronizing.  He had
sworn never to patronize her.  "He has every reason to be
that way, and she knows it."

      Wynter frowned at him, the sorrow that had slowly
been warping into anger suddenly shifting to confusion.
"What reason could possibly be more important than helping
her?"

      Richard was startled.  He felt an involuntary twitch
in Angie, too.  They'd both assumed that she'd reasoned it
out before they did.  It was far too easy to forget that
Wynter was only twelve and had limited experience in how
truly devious people could be.  "Cinnamon," he said.  When
her confusion remained, he added, "The divorce isn't final
until the fifteenth. He's afraid his wife will find out
about Rosita and somehow use that as a weapon to take
Cinnamon away from him."

      Wynter's angelic face grew even more confused.  "Why
would Mrs... that woman want Cinnamon?  She HATES her."

      "She might hate Cinnamon, but that doesn't mean that
she doesn't want her if it keeps Mitch from having her.
She would choose having Cinnamon herself to punish him.
And, I guess, she'd then go back to punishing Cinnamon for
being born. Mitch would never risk putting Cinnamon through
that.  I'm sure he loves Rosita, but Cinnamon's his
daughter, and he loves her more."

      Wynter's face reddened as confusion melted back into
anger. Furious anger.  The last time Richard had seen a
face like that was the night that Suzie had screamed at the
talent show audience.  No, Wynter was past that degree.  It
was the day Suzie had screamed at Judge Wilson at the mine
rescue.  He wondered if Wynter was about to stamp her right
foot.

      Wynter suddenly yanked her hand from his.  Her eyes
were frightful blue-green fire.  "Cinnamon was right!" she
spat as she unfastened her seat belt with one hand and
opened the door with the other.  "That woman is a BITCH!"
She leapt out of the Jeep and ran toward Rosita Vasquez,
throwing her arms around the woman and hugging with all her
strength.

      Richard looked at Angie, who found her voice first.
"Did I just hear her say that?"

      "Yeah," he said, searching for meaning that eluded
him.  He frowned as an idea coalesced.  "She's not having
her period early, is she?"

      Angie growled deep in her throat and barked, "MEN!"
Her tone made the word a curse.

                            ~ ~ ~

      "May I get you anything else?" Wynter asked.

      Mrs. Vasquez, seated in the middle of the couch in
the Vasquez Senior's living room, pressed against Wynter's
left side in an armless hug.  "Wynter, you've already given
me plenty, and I don't mean just the food."

      Cinnamon, who was squeezed against Mrs. Vasquez's
other side, said, "You really should try the banana
pudding.  It's almost as good as yours."

      The pressure against Wynter eased as Mrs. Vasquez
shifted to snuggle against Sis.  "Racquel made it, and it's
definitely better than mine.  I use her recipe, but I still
haven't learned what little trick she does to give the
bananas that extra bit of flavor that teases your tongue."

      Wynter heard the soft, quick inhalation that
indicated Hailey, who was on the other side of Sis, was
about to spontaneously say something.  Silence afterward
indicated that Hailey had undergone a stroke of common
sense and was keeping quiet.  Wynter almost looked to
reassure herself that it was the same Hailey.

      Kenny rose from his seat at Wynter's right.  She
wondered if he was sitting there as a substitute for Jimmy,
or if he and Hailey had decided to sit at opposite ends of
the couch to avoid mutual temptation.

      She decided that the latter wasn't a very charitable
thought and forced it out of her head.  Kenny had always
been a good friend, despite his character... well, she
didn't want to use the word "flaws," but "deficiencies"
wasn't any better as a choice. But Kenny wasn't there for
either Jimmy or himself.  Kenny was there for Wynter, just
as she was there for Mrs. Vasquez. She didn't feel any need
whatsoever to reassure herself that it was the same Kenny.

      "May I take your plates?" he asked.  He collected
Wynter's and Mrs. Vasquez's.  Sis and Hailey were still
eating. "Can I bring you back some banana pudding, or some
other dessert?"  When he wanted to, Kenny could almost
equal his father's qualities as a gentleman, though he
didn't exactly look like one with his ever-crooked glasses
splayed below his tousled hair, his tie askew on the shirt
pulling out of his trousers in front, and his one untied
shoe.

      Wynter passed on dessert, but Mrs. Vasquez asked for
a small scoop of the homemade French vanilla ice cream that
Officer Lopez's wife had brought.  Mrs. Lopez was somehow
distantly related to the Vasquez family through marriages,
but Wynter didn't understand the connections.

      Wynter went somewhere else as she thought about the
invitation to join the family and friends gathered at the
Vasquez Senior home.  Both Mrs. Vasquez and Doctor V had
insisted that Wynter and her parents join them, with Doctor
V agreeing that Wynter was "family."  That had made her
heart feel too big for her chest, even if it was heavy with
sadness.

      Her parents had understood the need for her to be
with Mrs. Vasquez and had agreed to attend.  They were on
the far side of the room, talking with other members of the
Vasquez family.

      She heard a distant familiar voice say, "Rosita," and
then continue in Spanish.  But... Mrs. Vasquez spoke very
little Spanish.  That thought brought her back from
someplace else.

      It was Ron Lopez, who was on one knee and holding
Mrs. Vasquez's hand in his.  Whatever he had said, she had
understood. Mrs. Vasquez smiled at him.  She was an
attractive lady to begin with, but when her face sparkled
with a smile, she was pretty. Much prettier than Cinnamon's
birth parent, though that woman might have been attractive
before she became a bitter alcoholic with a face frozen in
chronic disdain.  The sight of a smile instead of sadness
on Mrs. Vasquez's face made Wynter's heart swell in her
chest again, and some of its weight lifted.

      "Gracias," Mrs. Vasquez said.  "Me, too."

      Ron's usual impish grin made its reappearance as he
rose to his feet.  He bent to kiss Mrs. Vasquez on the
forehead, and then spoke to Cinnamon and Hailey, unaware
that Wynter had returned to this world.

      Wynter watched his eyes closely as they focused on
Cinnamon. She was right!  She had seen it before, when Sis
had introduced him to Hailey.  It was the same look that
she'd seen in her adopted sister's eyes, one that someone
who didn't know Sis as well as she did would have missed.

      Ron the High Schooler and Cinnamon the Middle
Schooler had... well, SOMETHING... between them.  Wynter
couldn't exactly diagnose what it was, but that SOMETHING
had occurred between the two.  She knew that each deeply
respected the other's intellect and deductive reasoning
abilities, but this was more than that. She thought it was
more than friendly affection, too.  It was something very
personal--possibly sex, but she didn't think so.

      That thought caused her eyes to shift involuntarily
to Hailey.  Her adopted cousin was staring at Ron.
Hailey's eyes didn't blink.  She involuntarily slid just
the very tip of her tongue out of her mouth to slowly wet
the junction of her lips. She made Wynter think of a
starving person looking at a loaded banquet table.  Or of a
snake about to strike.  Wynter wasn't sure which
description was more accurate.

      Kenny's return interrupted her thoughts.  He brought
three small bowls, two with a little ice cream in each and
one that was filled.  He said something to Ron in a quiet
voice as he gave Mrs. Vasquez her bowl, a spoon, and a
napkin, and then held out a twin assortment to Wynter.  "I
know you said you didn't want any dessert," he explained,
"but I had a taste first, and I thought that you shouldn't
miss this.  It's not much, but if you want more, I'll get
it for you.  Or if they're out--it's going fast--I'll share
mine."

      She thanked Kenny for his thoughtfulness and silently
wondered if Kenny was bi-polar.  Maybe he was twins:  one
who Suzie had fallen in love with and one who had stomped
on her feelings.

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Five minutes?  It's important," Wynter said when
Mother indicated it was time to leave.

      Mother smiled and nodded without asking any
questions.  The thought that her parents trusted her so
completely once again made her heart swell in her chest,
and once again she promised herself that she'd never ever
do anything to betray that trust.

      Sis was in the bathroom.  Hailey and Kenny had Mrs.
Vasquez bracketed.  The thought occurred to Wynter that the
four of them were like a security guard for the woman.  She
sure hoped that their presence hadn't prevented anyone from
expressing condolences, though she couldn't think of anyone
who'd not spoken with her.

      Kenny scooted aside at her approach, making room for
her to sit beside Mrs. Vasquez again.  She thanked him,
sat, and put a hand on the woman's forearm.  "Will you be
okay tonight?" Wynter asked.

      Mrs. Vasquez smiled in a sad way.  "Yes.  I'll need
time to adjust, but I'll be okay."

      Wynter pursed her lips and pushed them to one side in
thought.  "You don't need to be alone tonight.  I'll stay
with you if you want."

      Mrs. Vasquez's eyes grew very wet.  "Wynter, that's
the nicest thing you've ever said to me, and you've never
said anything but nice things to me.  But I don't want to
take you away from your family."

      That was what Wynter was hoping to hear, though her
offer had been sincere, and she'd gladly have spent the
night at Mrs. Vasquez's house.  But Sis had been a bad
influence on her, and she had devised a plan.  It wasn't as
elaborate as those Sis thought up, but that just meant
fewer things that could go wrong. "In that case, don't
move.  Doctor's orders.  I'll be right back."

      She found Doctor Brees talking to Doctor V in the
kitchen. She apologized for interrupting and then focused
her most professional look on Sis's dad.  "You're needed.
Stat."

      Doctor V smiled at Doctor Brees and shook a
cautionary finger.  "Just don't forget that she's MY Future
Cardiologist."

      Cinnamon intercepted them in the hall and was told,
"You're needed, too."

      Doctor Brees gave a shake of his head when Cinnamon's
expression asked him what was going on.

      Wynter said nothing until they arrived at the couch.
She pointed to the space between Kenny and Mrs. Vasquez,
looked up at Doctor Brees, and said, "You sit here."  Then
she looked down at Sis and said, "You sit there," and
pointed to the space Hailey had made by scooting aside.

      When they were in place she stood tall in front of
Doctor Brees and crossed her hands behind her butt.  "The
patient is one Rosita Miranda Vasquez.  The patient is
suffering mental anguish from the loss of a beloved family
member.  As a result, the patient exhibits hyperlachrimal
activity, transient depression, and shortness and
irregularity of breath induced by said transient depression
and hyperlachrimal activity.

      "The patient is at mental risk if she remains
unattended tonight.  The patient has refused an offer of in-
home care by one certain Future MD.  Therefore, the only
viable alternative is for the patient to spend the night in
the home of a family member. Since the patient has been
officially declared 'Another Adopted Mom' by one Cinnamon
Anne Brees, I prescribe that the patient spend the night at
the home of her Adopted Daughter.

      "Anyone wishing to express contraindications to the
Attending Future Physician's prescription may do so with
the head of the hospital.  However, in the interests of
fairness I should note that said hospital's head will side
with me because I'm cute."

      She had NO idea where that last line had come from!
Maybe she'd picked it up from Hailey by osmosis.  Or maybe
from Kenny, though she couldn't see Kenny using that line,
even if Doctor Taylor was his father.  On further
reflection she decided she couldn't see Kenny using that
line on anyone male, but that was about it.

      She suppressed a grin at the sight of Doctor Brees
sitting there with the look Daddy called 'pole-axed.'
Sis's grin pushed her round cheeks even higher, and she
gave Wynter a surreptitious thumbs-up gesture that looked
to be a poor substitution for a desire to jump up and dance
around the room.

      Kenny faked a solemn look and nodded approval.  "As
the backup Future Physician, I concur with the prescribed
treatment."

      Hailey looked... disappointed, Wynter guessed was the
word. Hailey, it seemed, had devised other plans for her
uncle that night.  But she swallowed and nodded, too.

      "Well," said Mrs. Vasquez, her eyes brimming again,
"at least I'll be there for an early start on setting up
for Huntly's birthday party."  She cut off an immediate
protest from Sis by saying, "Look, Mama Rosa would be
disappointed in me if I didn't do my part for the party.
Mama Rosa enjoyed life and especially enjoyed doing things
for her children and for others.  For me not to follow her
example would be to dishonor her memory. Besides, it would
be good for my 'transient depression.'  Wouldn't it?" She
directed the last at Wynter.

      Wynter put herself in Mrs. Vasquez's place, thought
about it, and nodded.  "Yes," she agreed.  "It would.  I'll
add that to the prescription."

      Cinnamon and Kenny escorted Wynter to her parents
after she'd made her good-byes.  Hailey said she had to
make a bathroom stop, but Wynter noticed that she'd gotten
"lost" enroute and had to ask Ron for directions.
Apparently very detailed, time-consuming directions.

      When they were out of earshot of the couch, Cinnamon
gave her a big hug and whispered, "Thanks, Sis.  I owe you
big time."

      "No, you don't," Wynter whispered in return.  "I did
that for Mrs. Vasquez."

      "I know you did," said Cinnamon.  "And that's why I
owe you."

      "So," Kenny said, also speaking quietly, "you think
it's okay for her to prepare the house for the party
tomorrow?"

      "You couldn't keep her away," Cinnamon said, turning
a smirk toward Wynter.  "After all, Wynter has seen it and
Rosita hasn't."

      "Seen what?"  Suspicion dripped from Kenny's voice
when he spoke the second word.

      "Huntly's birthday present from me."

      Wynter's mouth fell open.  Sis wasn't trying a trick.
Sis KNEW.  "Jimmy told you?"

      The little redhead snorted a laugh.  "Do you think he
could keep it a secret from me?"

      Sis had a point.  Jimmy was very good at keeping
other people's secrets, but not his own, especially when
the secret was that he'd done something he wasn't supposed
to do.  It sure was comfortable having a boyfriend and
Future Fiance who had a guilty conscience, unlike some
males she knew, present company included.

      But...

      There were times when Kenny soared above his usual
standards.  And today had been one of those times.  So,
when her family had made farewells with everyone and they
were leaving, and when Kenny said, "See you tomorrow,"
before stepping back to let her leave, she instead moved
forward.

      She gave Kenny a big hug.  "Thanks for being my
friend," she said.  When he saw her lips pucker, he turned
his cheek to her. But this time she'd decided he'd earned
more.  Kenny had soared to new heights that day, and he'd
done so not for personal gain but because he unselfishly
felt it was really and truly the right thing to do.

       She turned his head with her hands and planted a
brief, gentle kiss on his lips.  It was just a brother-
sister type of kiss, but Kenny looked as if she'd given him
a full scholarship to the OB/GYN college of his choice and
permanent visiting privileges to the girls' locker room.

      Wynter concluded that she'd repaid her debt.



                            Eight

      Wynter just knew her eyeballs were going to pop right
out of their sockets and shoot to someplace on the other
side of the lake.  And the closest side of the lake was
over a quarter of a mile away.  "WOW!" was all she could
say as she stood there with her eyes wide and her mouth
open.  "They did ALL THAT yesterday?"

      Doctor Brees' hands applied gentle pressure against
her shoulders to remind her that she'd been exiting his
house through the patio doors when she'd been frozen by the
sight. She'd seen several small redwood gazebos in town,
but this one was an octagon almost twenty feet across.

      "It's almost as big as the one in Otter Park!" she
gasped as Sis and Hailey ran out of the gazebo and raced
toward her.

      "Well, not quite," Doctor Brees said with a laugh.
"Speaking of the park, did Cinnamon tell you they've
decided to build it?"

      She jerked her eyes away from the gazebo and stared
up at him, her mouth still open.  "Really?  Oh, WOW!  I
can't wait to hear Junior and the Twins play in an outdoor
amphitheater!"

      Hailey had heard the comment. "Hey, I just SO wanna
hear her play ANYWHERE!"

      Cinnamon sprang onto the concrete patio and grabbed
her in a big hug.  "Outdoor acoustics are different, you
know."

      Wynter released her, shrugged, and hugged Hailey.  "I
doubt that would be a problem for Finnegan and his new
sound mixer."

      "You're probably right," said the little redhead,
arching an eyebrow and bobbing her head to one side to
concede the point. "If it has mechanics or electronics,
it's no challenge for Finnegan Burke, Boy Genius.  By the
way, he's not coming, and neither is Brin Kwan."

      "Oh, that's too bad," said Wynter, really and truly
meaning it.  She turned her awed attention back to the
gazebo. "All that in one day!"  She shook her head.

      Doctor Brees laughed as he squeezed Cinnamon's
shoulder with one hand and Wynter's with the other.
Hailey, not wanting to be left out, slid under one arm so
that he could hug her.

      "No," he said, "in about three hours yesterday
morning. It's prefab, so all they had to do was bolt and
nail the parts together yesterday.  The concrete footers
were poured and the support braces set last week."

      "Yeah," Cinnamon said.  "I told her about Ghost
getting into the concrete while it was wet and needing a
bath."

      Wynter looked around the yard.  She didn't see Ghost,
and he hadn't greeted her in the house.

      "He's, like, supervising the basement crew," Hailey
said in answer to Wynter's scan.

      "Oh."  Her eyes were drawn back to the gazebo.

      Doctor Brees continued.  "Then Lee's Lawn and
Landscaping came out yesterday afternoon, a day early
because Huntly's party is today, and they did a little more
work than usual. Can't even tell where the electrician
buried the wires, can you? Then we arrived home around six,
and Rosita explained what was wrong with the hanging
baskets of flowers, and I helped move them the way she
wanted."

      "Together, we're slowly getting him trained,"
Cinnamon said with a serious face.

      "We SO hope we can take him out in public in, like,
another month or two," Hailey added with her mischievous
grin.

      "But," said a new voice behind them, "that may be
overly optimistic."

      Doctor Brees frowned over his shoulder.  "That's
pretty sassy talk for a maid."

      Mrs. Vasquez shrugged, like she was dismissing
something of no importance, and leaned against the door
frame.  "If I could handle working for that woman, I can
handle you with no problem."

      As Wynter giggled, Cinnamon kissed her father's hand
and slid out from beneath it.  "Come on," she said.

      "Yeah," said Hailey, giving Doctor Brees's waist a
parting squeeze.  "Hey!  You're probably SO dying to see
your squeeze and his dad.  LaMarcus is already here and,
like, helping." They bracketed Wynter, locked arms behind
her, and led her toward the north end of the house at a
run.  A few feet from the corner they slowed, spun a one-
eighty, split, and started down the steps to the games room
beneath the den.

      "They've, like, done pretty good, considering,"
Hailey said.

      "Considering what?" Wynter asked, her suspicions
aroused by the way Hailey said that.

      Cinnamon snorted.  "Considering she couldn't get
Jimmy alone for a few minutes."

      "Cuz!"

      "Yeah," said Wynter with a slow nod of her head as
she watched the placement of her feet on the concrete
steps. "That's what I thought."

      Hailey had been completely unsuccessful in trapping
Jimmy alone with her since she'd arrived, despite all her
subtle and not-so-subtle attempts to do so.  Wynter had
described the journey back from the airport to Jimmy and
had watched his nervousness grow exponentially.  At the
funeral mass and graveside service, he'd stayed as far from
Hailey as he could. His manner made Wynter think that he
was calculating placement distances with millimeter
precision and choosing the greatest distance, despite the
fact that Hailey had been subdued and on her best behavior
the whole day.

      Jimmy was no longer afraid to be alone with Cinnamon,
even in the hot tub, but he did not want to be alone with
Hailey even when both were fully clothed.  He was no longer
nervous about giving Cinnamon a Future-Sister-in-Law-type
kiss, but he always tried to find a way to avoid kissing
Hailey after the first time they met.  Wynter wasn't sure
if it was because Hailey had used her tongue or because
she's grabbed his crotch or both, and Jimmy wouldn't say
which.  Wynter worried that his reactions might mean a
reversal of the prudectomy gains instead of an advance
toward her goal.

      She let Hailey and then Sis enter the games room
first. When she followed them in she thought Jimmy had a
mild look of panic on his face for the moment that he
needed to realize Wynter was also there.  She greeted his
dad and LaMarcus, then Ghost, and then gave Jimmy a quick
kiss.

      "I didn't get a kiss from him," Cinnamon said with a
scowl.

      Hailey suddenly looked predatory.  "Hey!  Neither did
I."

      Wynter saw the look on Jimmy's face and didn't know
whether to laugh or to hold him close and tell him
everything would be okay.  Her problem vanished when Sis
said, "But we don't have time for that right now."

      Jimmy relaxed as Hailey exhaled in frustration.
"SHIT!" she muttered.  "I NEVER get to have any fun!"

      Wynter stifled a giggle.  Sis hadn't been baiting
Jimmy, she'd been baiting Hailey.

      Cinnamon's drums had been moved downstairs, to the
north end of the games room.  The band's amplifiers and
speakers sat behind the kit and in front of the curtain
wall that kept arrivals at the north gate from seeing the
setup through the windows. An empty guitar holder sat to
the left of the drums, and three keyboards, both of
Wynter's plus the one belonging to Jimmy, were to the left
of that.  To the right of the drums sat holders containing
LaMarcus's bass and Mister McCauley's guitar.

      "Your timing is perfect," LaMarcus said with a grin.
"The manual labor is over, and we need some ears instead of
work."

      "Smarty pants!" Wynter quipped, looking at her watch.
"Better make it quick.  If I know Huntly, he'll show up
early because of Sis, and that'll sure end the surprise."

      Three minutes later they had adjusted the volume
controls and switched off the main power.  Jimmy's dad
closed Ghost and himself into the media room, which was
through the double doors in the south wall.  He said,
"We're going to do some male bonding by watching a movie of
'Lassie' together."

      The rest adjourned to the gazebo to finish setting up
the tables and chairs, a process that took just another
couple of minutes.  Huntly arrived as Sis was double
checking to see if anything had been overlooked.

      "Doctor Cutie!" he said in a loud, happy voice.  He
gave Wynter a big hug, and she added a small friendly kiss
since it was his birthday.  "Hey, Jimbo!"  He shook Jimmy's
hand like it was a pump handle.  "LaMarcus, my favorite
bass-playing center!" He shook LaMarcus' hand almost hard
enough to knock the older boy out of basketball for the
next season.  "Aloha, my favorite Wahine!"  He and Hailey
searched for each other's tonsils. That took a while
because both had undergone tonsillectomies in early
childhood.  Wynter guessed that they were checking to see
if the tonsils had regenerated.

      "Well," Huntly said as they finally determined they
were still tonsil-free, "now I'm ready for the party.  What
do you want me to do?"

      Cinnamon put her fists on the points of her hips and
snorted, "Shithead."

      Huntly, who was only a half-inch shorter than Jimmy,
looked around as if trying to find the source of the voice,
then looked down and convulsed as if surprised.  "Bitch!
I didn't see you all the way down there."

      The little redhead glared up at him.  "Don't you
think you'd better be nice to me, since I'm the one
throwing your party for you instead of your mom?"

      He shrugged.  "Hailey will party with me."  He
grinned when Hailey wrapped an arm around him and squeezed,
lifting her head for another kiss.

      "Yeah," Wynter said in a slow drawl, "but Hailey goes
back to Hawaii at the end of the summer.  What happens then?"

      He jerked his head away from Hailey's.  He seemed
surprised at the thought.  "Well, I guess I'll hope you
come to your senses and dump Jimbo for me."

      Wynter's left hand, occupying its usual spot on
Jimmy's back, made a small circle.  "Never happen," she
said. "And you won't get your birthday present from Sis,
either.  That would be worse than not getting me."

      His eyes widened as if stunned.  "No guano, Bat Doc?
There's actually something worse than not getting you?"  He
looked down again, made a Grand Canyon-sized smile, and
threw his arms wide.  "Bitch!"

      The little redhead shook her head in feigned
exasperation. "Shithead," she said in a dry voice.  But she
locked her arms in a steel grip around his neck when he
bent to kiss her. Sis made sure her kiss lasted longer than
Hailey's.

      Movement at the patio door caught Wynter's eye.
Doctor Brees was standing in the door.  He had one arm
around Mrs. Vasquez and both were laughing.  She made a
note to tell Sis later.  The little redhead would be
thrilled to know that after all the misery he'd suffered
with Cinnamon's birth mother, Doctor Brees was finally was
able to openly share joy and laughter with someone special.

      Well, she didn't mean that the way it sounded.  He
was always happy with Cinnamon, who was special because he
loved her so much.  But now he had a companion and Future
Wife as well as a daughter to love and cherish.  He was
about to have a real family now, like her own father had
enjoyed since he had married Mother. Doctor Brees' delight
couldn't be more apparent if he wrote it on a neon sign the
size of the house.

      She hoped she could always make Jimmy as happy as
Doctor Brees now was.  She turned her head up to look at
him, squeezing the hand on his back as she did so to get
his attention.

      Jimmy was already looking at her.  His eyes flicked
to the patio door for an instant, and then he gave her his
grin-and-nod. _He knows what I'm thinking, and he's saying
I will!_  Her heart felt WAY too big for her chest.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie rested one hand on Josh's muscular shoulder as
she placed his cake and ice cream on the table. When he
turned his blue-gray eyes up to her and said, "Thank you,"
her hand must have had a spam or something, because her
fingers suddenly squeezed two or three times, all by
themselves.  After that happened he gave her a nice smile,
and butterflies exploded out of their nest--or whatever the
stupid things lived in--deep in her stomach.

      She kinda got lost in thought as she made her way
back to the serving table.  Josh was always smiling at her,
and he'd always been her strongest supporter on the boys'
swim team, but something was different about this smile.
She wondered what the something was, because it sorta
reminded her of the way that stupid dolt used to smile at
her.  The thought slowed her down, allowing Hailey, who was
also assisting her and Wynter in serving, to move ahead of
her.

      And that meant her plan failed.  Instead of Hailey
serving that dolt Kenny, now she had to.

      FUCK!  She won a fight against the urge to stamp her
right foot.

      For a moment she considered ignoring the dolt, the
way she did at Wynter's birthday party.  _No.  If I do
that, the stupid dolt might think I still care.  And then
there's that other reason, and I bet it won't work if I
don't serve him._ She took the plate from Shamisa James,
who was scooping out the ice cream on top of the slices of
cake, and said, "Thanks."

      She smiled at Wynter as she passed her.  Just before
her friend was out of sight Suzie saw her mouth drop open.
She knew without turning that Wynter was following with her
eyes to see if she would ignore the stupid dolt again.

      She half-expected to find his stupid hands on the leg
of either Megan McNeal or Evi Lopez--or both--but the
stupid dolt had his stupid arms on the table, using his
stupid hands to emphasize whatever he was saying to Katie
Wilson, who was seated across from him.  When she attempted
to put his plate on the table he spread his stupid arms to
make room, sat back in his chair, and looked up at her
through his stupid crooked glasses.

      "Thank y..."  His words cut off in surprise when he
realized who she was.

      Her lips made a polite smile.  Her eyes said he was a
sanctimonious, stupid, two-timing DOLT!

      "Thanks," he said in a voice so soft that she barely
heard the words.  Pain flashed in his stupid eyes as she
lifted her head and turned without a word.

      It wasn't the pain she felt when she found him in
stupid bed, with that stupid Judy Chase sucking his stupid
pecker while that stupid Tiffany Jones sat on his stupid
face, but it would do, especially if she kept supplying it
until she'd paid him back with interest.

      She suddenly realized that Wynter wasn't the only one
looking at her.  Everyone was looking at her, and the only
sound was music from the speakers pointing down from the
rafters of the gazebra.  Or whatever the stupid thing was.
The others suddenly seemed embarrassed that she'd noticed
them, and the noise came up again as they resumed talking
to each other.

      She served Miranda Ochoa, then took her own plate and
accompanied Shamisa to their seats on either side of Tyrone
Hayes.  Josh sat to Suzie's right.  He gave her a polite
smile as she sat down.  No, it was more than just a polite
smile. And it was more than the friendly looks he usually
gave her when they were in swim competitions.

      "If I'd been thinking," he said, sounding like he was
apologizing or something, "I'd have let you sit down, and
I'd have served you."

      The butterflies exploded from their nests again.  "I
don't think Cinnamon would let you," she said.  "That would
have messed up her plan."

      "Well," he said with a shy smile, "maybe I'll get a
chance to serve you some other time."

      She gave him a return smile.  "Maybe."

      She thought of something to add, but Tyrone
interrupted from her other side.  "No wonder Little Momma
hosted this do," he said.  "The Sheridans got a nice house,
but I don't think you'd get all of us in it, and their back
yard don't have one of these gizmos in it."

      Shamisa poked him in his side.  "Gazebo."

      "Actually," Suzie said, "there were supposed to be
two more, but Finnegan and Brin both cancelled this morning."

      "Well, Finnegan's the shortest kid in Middle School
and Brin's barely Little Momma's size.  They wouldn't take
up no extra room if they was here."

      Suzie laughed as Shamisa said something to draw
Tyrone's attention back to her.  She gave Suzie a look of
apology and flicked her eyes toward Josh.  Her chin pushed
forward just enough to notice, indicating that Suzie should
get back to whatever she was doing before Tyrone interrupted.

      She gave Shamisa a nod and smile of thanks and said
to Josh, "If you really want to serve me, you can buy me a
Diet Coke and some popcorn at the Aspenleaf Theater
Saturday."

      Josh's face lit up like the town Christmas tree or
something.  "Sure.  What movie would you like to see?"

      "Oh, you decide," she said.  She thought that sounded
ever so much nicer than, 'Who cares?'

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter's heart felt too big for her chest.  Local
tradition said that presents from the most important people
in your life were saved until last.  Hers was the last one
before Cinnamon's.

      "If I'm lucky," Huntly wise-cracked as he held up the
flat package, "this will be a coupon for one free knee
massage from Doctor Cutie every day for the rest of my life."

      While everyone else laughed and Huntly removed the
wrapping paper, Jimmy quietly asked if she planned to set
the broken bones in his hand herself.

      She gasped when she realized how hard she was
squeezing it with both of hers.  "Sorry," she said.  Then
she gave him a grin he had no trouble translating.  "I'll
make it up to you later."

      Jimmy raised one eyebrow and held out his other hand.
"In that case, maybe you'd like to injure this one, too?"

      "Smarty pants!  You've been spending too much time
around Huntly."

      She looked at Huntly in time to see him remove the
lid from the box and almost fall over laughing.  Sis looked
and then broke up, too.  Huntly held up the framed colored-
pencil cartoon that showed Junior and the Twins riding
surfboards, with everyone represented as a playing card.
She used playing cards because Huntly was incredibly
talented with a deck of cards.

      Mister McCauley was the ace of spades, wearing a
wetsuit and playing his rhythm guitar.  Jimmy in his
Speedos was the king of spades, pounding the keyboards
mounted on his surfboard. LaMarcus was the jack of spades
in gym shorts and a Hawaiian-print basketball shirt,
playing bass while a basketball balanced and spun on the
thumb of the hand fingering the chords. She needed a ten of
spades to make a royal flush, so she had drafted Hailey to
dance in a Hawaiian bandanna and grass skirt on the beach
in the foreground.

      Huntly was, of course, the joker, bent over and
waving his arms around over his head, trying to ward off
the drumstick blows from a grinning Cinnamon who was--what
else?--the queen of spades, known in the game of Hearts as
'the bitch,' as she hovered in mid-air and screamed, "TEMPO!"

      People closest to Huntly broke up as they saw it.
Jimmy pried it from Huntly's fingers and passed it down the
tables for others to see.  The next three or four minutes
were lost as people howled in delight, almost regained
control, and then started in again as others saw it for the
first time and roared.

      Jimmy rose when people had mostly settled down and
the cartoon had been returned to Huntly.  He gave the new
teenager a look of pity.  "Well, the present table is
empty," he said, indicating it with one hand.  "Wynter said
she warned you about not being nice to our charming
hostess.  Too bad.  She'd bought you a very nice present."

      Huntly splayed one hand over his heart and threw his
other arm out to the side, then bowed toward Cinnamon.
"What if I promise to name you Best Kisser?" he asked.

      Jimmy answered for her.  "Well," he said, "then that
means there's no need to hold the kissing contest.  I'm
sure the girls will be relieved to hear that."

      All the girls, including Hailey, applauded.

      "Did I say Best Kisser?  I meant to say Best Drummer.
And Best Dancer.  And Best Friend.  And Best Dog Owner.
And Best..."

      "Hold it, buster!" Sis said in a loud voice.  "You're
embarrassing not just yourself but everyone else.  Maybe it
would be less nauseating to everyone's stomachs if I just
give you your present."

      Her left arm shot up in a fist, the way it did when
she counted off the beat before a song.  When it whipped
down, the patio doors opened.  Everyone gasped when Doctor
Brees brought out a box so large that he had to carry it
with both arms. Mrs. Vasquez followed him to the gazebo,
where Jimmy and Sis had removed the plates, utensils, and
glasses from Huntly's end of the table to make room for it.

      Wynter snickered at the look on Huntly's face.  He
obviously thought it was something small inside a weighted
large box as a joke.  When he snipped the ribbon holding on
the lid and looked inside, he turned so pale she thought he
was going to faint.

      Doctor Brees removed the box after Huntly lifted out
the dark guitar case with his signature tastefully
emblazoned on it in gold.  Wynter had seen the guitar, but
Mister McCauley had brought it into the room without its
matching case.  She realized with a shock that the case
alone had cost as much as the expensive diamond earrings
that had been her birthday present from Sis.  She'd thought
Cinnamon was giving him an expensive guitar as an
investment in the band, but after seeing the case she
realized the gift was personal.  Somehow that thought made
her heart feel too big for her chest.

      Huntly looked absolutely stunned because he knew from
its weight that the case wasn't empty.

      He placed the case on the table, unlatched the snaps,
and lifted the lid.  Tears streamed down his face.

      "I... I... I... I don't know what to say!" he
stammered as he stared at the guitar.  "Holy shit!"

      People began calling for him to show it to them.

      Reverently, and with the gentleness of a new mother
picking up her baby, he lifted the guitar out of its case
and turned it for everyone to see the front.  It was
elegant in its simplicity: a solid, double-cutaway body in
a gleaming transparent black finish with Huntly's signature
again tastefully inlaid in gold on the lower horn of the
body.  The hardware was black metal. The rosewood
fingerboard had small "piranha teeth" inlays marking the
frets.  The headstock had "Jackson" written in large white
letters along the single line of tuning pegs.  It was one
of the most beautiful man-made objects that Wynter had ever
seen.

      "Hey!" Kenny shouted.  "You have it upside down.  The
tuner knobs are going the wrong way.  That's a left-hander
model!"

      LaMarcus spoke because Huntly was still too choked to
find his voice.  "Wrong again, Boy Blunder," he said.
"That's a Jackson Dinky, a DKMG, I think?"  He glanced at
Cinnamon, who nodded confirmation.  "That's the way they're
designed."

      Kenny wasn't smart enough to quit.  "It must be a
Jackson Dinky," he said.  "It's way too big for Huntly's
dinky."

      The laughter that followed was nothing compared to
the laughter when Suzie said in a VERY disdainful tone,
"Both are way too big for yours, you dolt."

      A grinning LaMarcus looked at Huntly, then indicated
Kenny with a jerk of his head.  "Hey, if you have any spare
locking nuts in there, I'll put 'em on Kenny's mouth.  By
the way, I'm the one who told Cinnamon to get you a Dinky.
Jimmy's Dad wanted her to get you a Fender Stratocaster
like his."

      Huntly finally found his voice when the laughter at
Kenny died.  "Cinnamon, I don't know what to say.  I... I
can't take this."

      "You have to," she said with a shrug.  "They won't
take it back now that it has your name on it.  Something to
do with their having standards."

      Even Huntly laughed at that one.  Then he turned to
Cinnamon's dad.  "Doc..." he began.

      Doctor Brees shook his head and pointed at Cinnamon.
"Talk to the younger redhead.  All I did was say that it
was her money and she could spend it any way she wanted to."

      That caused a lot of people to look at each other.
Wynter heard some girl's faint voice wonder just how much
Cinnamon's allowance was.

      Huntly nodded, then blinked at Cinnamon for a long
moment while he tried to think of something--anything--to
say.  He seemed to be desperate for words and finally
blurted out, "This has a Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo
on it.  Do you have any idea how long it takes to tune one
of these?"

      Cinnamon shook her head, but Wynter knew she was
fibbing. "No, because Jimmy's dad tuned it instead of me.
Well, don't just stand there!  Let's see if you know what
to do with it."

      She turned to face the crowd.  "Listen up!  We're
adjourning to the game room over there for a brief concert
by Junior and the Twins."  She pointed toward the stairs
where Mister McCauley stood.  "Down those stairs by that
handsome guy who DOES know how to play a guitar."  She made
shooing motions with her hands. People rose and made their
way toward the house.

      Mrs. Vasquez tugged on Doctor Brees' arm.  "Let's
go," she said eagerly.  "We want to hear this, too."

      Wynter's hand found its place on Jimmy's back.   She
giggled at the look on Hailey's face when the startled girl
was swept away by Mrs. Vasquez.  Wynter leaned against
Jimmy.  She guessed that the concert start might be delayed
a couple of minutes while the guitarist thanked the drummer.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Everyone sat on the hardwood floor in front of the
band. Wynter sat between Suzie and Hailey, holding one hand
of each. She had asked about supervising Ghost as well as
Hailey, but Doctor Brees had said that Ghost was still
watching Lassie.

      Huntly made a minor adjustment in his guitar strap.
He was using his old one because of its sentimental value.
He wouldn't tell anyone why, but Wynter thought it had
something to do with whomever had given it to him.  Sis
knew, but she, of course, wouldn't say anything without
Huntly's permission.  Sis also wouldn't say how she
acquired his old strap without his knowledge, but Wynter
suspected that Mrs. Sheridan was involved.

      Cinnamon used the pause to announce from her throne,
"We've expanded our repertoire to include more than just
surf. We've started including a little outer space music,
too, mostly because our lead guitarist spends so much of
his time there."

      "Bitch," Huntly mumbled before kissing his guitar and
slipping the strap over his head.

      "Tempo, shithead!"  Cinnamon had to wait for the
laughter to die down.  "In the early 1960s, 'Telstar,'
named for a communications satellite, was a big hit."

      Dustin Morgan nodded.  Everyone else gave Sis a blank
stare.

      "In 1964 or 1965, I think, NASA launched the fourth
Mariner satellite, which took the first close-up pictures
of Mars. The Ventures commemorated that in a piece which
sounded similar to 'Telstar,' but which I like better."

      Again Dustin nodded.  Then he grinned while the rest
looked at Sis like she was explaining cardiac bypass
procedures in Chinese.

      "If we're all ready," she looked for nods from the
rest of the band, "ladies and gentlemen, 'Mariner No. 4!'"

      Her left arm shot up, its drumstick parallel to her
shoulders.  Huntly stood at attention, his new guitar at
the ready.  Sis's right hand and its stick rose to beat the
tempo, and then both shot downward.  Jimmy played the
rising whole notes on the keyboard.  LaMarcus set a bouncy
4/4 beat as Mister McCauley did eighth-note chords and the
little redhead beat out sixteenth-notes, or maybe they were
thirty-seconds--they were way too fast for Wynter to be
sure--with both sticks on the high hat.

      Six measures later Huntly's left foot slid forward
and he leaned down into it.  The bass drum and an
interwoven pattern of notes from Huntly's guitar
transitioned for two measures. Cinnamon went back to work
on the high hat as LaMarcus got 'bouncier' and joined
Mister McCauley for the next two measures, and then the
main theme launched with Jimmy carrying the lead.

      At first Huntly echoed the primary notes that Jimmy
played. After he repeated the interwoven notes the first
time, he jumped, spun in the air, and landed facing Jimmy.
He began matching Jimmy note for note as they rocked side
to side with the beat.

      Wynter glanced around the room.  Most of these people
didn't know surf from space music, but they didn't care as
long as Cinnamon was drumming.  She could tell that this
time, however, their eyes weren't focused on Sis but on
Huntly who beamed with ecstatic joy.

      As Wynter also bounced her body to the music, which
was even better than she'd expected from reading the sheet
music in Jimmy's room, she forced herself to watch Huntly
instead of Jimmy.  She thought he might be borderline on
cardiac arrest from the excitement of his present.  He
probably was if he knew how much his guitar and case and
cost.  Jimmy's dad knew the approximate cost of the guitar,
and Wynter almost had undergone cardiac arrest herself when
he told her.

      Huntly's face reminded her of Mister and Mrs.
Ginley's when they brought Missy Sue home from the
hospital.  He'd face Jimmy when they were playing the same
notes, feet apart and bouncing his weight between them in
time with LaMarcus's bass notes, and then he'd spin around--
on his uninjured right leg, of course--and face either
Cinnamon or the audience when he played the pattern of
interwoven notes at the end of each phrase while Sis
briefly went to work on the other cymbals and drums.

      LaMarcus and Mister McCauley also faced each other
and bounced in time, sometimes in synchronization with and
sometimes in opposition to the other.  It was as
entertaining to the eye as the music was to the ear.

      She glanced at Sis, who was grinning at Huntly's
reaction to playing his new guitar...

      ...and a thought began forming.  She frowned slightly
and watched both Huntly and the grinning little redhead for
the rest of the tune, her heart swelling in her chest at
the excited look on Huntly's face when he did the last
interweave of the notes, and then his arm shot down for the
final chord and swung around in a half-circle to make a
fist over his head, one with the index and little fingers
extended.

      "YESSSS!" he shouted.  Wynter thought Huntly's heart
was going to explode from his chest, too.

      "Thank you!" Cinnamon said when the applause died.
"How about it, shithead.  You ready to give that 'double-
locking tremolo' gadget a small try and see if it's worth
all the hype, since you used the electronic tremolo on that
one?"

      "Never mind that!" he said as he yanked the guitar
from around his neck, kissed it, and placed it quickly,
though gently, in the stand.  "Doc, turn around!"

      The audience roared and applauded as he bent the
little drummer backward on her throne and kissed her.  Half
a minute later, Derek Clark broke up the gathering by
shouting, "For God's sake, go to her room!" but it had no
effect on Huntly and Sis. Another half-minute later, after
several comments from the audience, Katie Wilson turned to
Alyssa Erland and said, "I think Cinnamon has bought the
winning entry in the kissing contest."

      That brought Huntly up for air.  "Oh, no," he said.
"In fact, I was merely warming up for the contest.  Can't
afford to damage my reputation by a sub-par performance,
now, can I?"  He pointed at his mouth.  "I can't expect you
ladies to do your best if you have to kiss lips that
haven't been properly tuned for peak performance."

      Everybody else laughed at Huntly's joke.  Wynter
smiled at it, but she knew the real reason he had dragged
it out so long. It wasn't because of the guitar.  Well, not
entirely, though it had started out that way.  Sis was so
excited for Huntly that she had performed one of her secret
talents during the kiss: she'd applied a little thigh
masturbation and had achieved orgasm. Though he'd never
admit it under torture, Huntly was being a gentleman and
letting her recover.

      He helped some more by drawing attention away from
her as he suddenly released Sis and retrieved his guitar
from its stand. "That's enough fun for you," he said.  "My
turn to get back to having a good time now that my lips are
properly tuned. Okay, you can look now, Doc!  Well, don't
just sit there looking all goofy, bitch.  Grab your sticks."

      Sis shook her head.  "Shithead," she said with a
smile that wouldn't go away.  "Jimmy, since you don't have
a part in this one, you can go protect my sister."

      Jimmy looked at Wynter and then frowned at Cinnamon.
"Protect her from what?" he asked.  "I thought Huntly was
staying up here with you."

      That got another laugh as Jimmy jumped from his seat
and ducked a head slap from the Birthday Guest of Honor.
Everything was fine until he reached Wynter and realized he
had to sit within arm's reach of Hailey.

      "Sit down, pickledick," Hailey said in a low voice.
"I, like, won't molest you.  Yet."

      Jimmy nervously opted to sit behind Wynter and scoot
up against her back.  He wrapped his arms around her waist
and nestled his chin on the shoulder away from Hailey as
Cinnamon said, "Ladies and gentlemen, 'Apache!'"

      Instead of raising her arm to count the beat,
Cinnamon began on a tom-tom in a repeating _ONE-two-three-
four, one-two-three-four_ beat, like drums in the old
cowboys and Indians movies that Wynter's parents watched.

      She saw it again.  She watched Cinnamon as Mister
McCauley and Huntly and then LaMarcus picked up their
parts.  YES! She turned her head to whisper to Jimmy.
"Watch Sis's face."

      When the B-theme began, Wynter again whispered to
Jimmy. "See it?"

      "Well... no."

      "It took me a while, too.  When I drew the cartoon, I
had her giving him a ferocious glare, but it didn't look
right. Nothing looked right until I drew her smiling.  Sis
always smiles when she's drumming.  It's not part of the
act for the audience. It's the real Sis."

      Jimmy squeezed her waist.  "Yeah!  I see it.  You
know, it's the same look that Doctor Brees has on his face
whenever he sees her playing."

      Wynter twisted to look at Doctor Brees for a second,
then imitated Kenny's weird voice in a near-whisper.
"HELLO! EARTH TO WYNTER!  DUH!"

      Hailey leaned sideways toward her.  "Hey!  Uncle
Mitch is SO not the family solo who loves watching her at
work," she whispered.  "And no, I mean, like, at work
DRUMMING.  You know, Jimmy might notice that, too, if he
wasn't so convinced that I'm, like, a leper.  Maybe some
day you can, like, take him to Molokai and let him see that
real lepers aren't treated as bad as the way he treats me."

      Wynter felt Jimmy's entire body stiffen, slightly
lifting his chin from her shoulder.  Hailey had found
Jimmy's guilt center, which was fortunate because it kept
him from thinking about the implication in Hailey's initial
words.  She recognized his exhale as one of resignation.
"Uh huh," she whispered in answer to his unspoken question.

      As the song drew to its end, one arm detached from
her waist and clasped the joined hands of Wynter and
Hailey.  His head moved to Wynter's other shoulder, closer
to Hailey.

      Hailey's only response was a quiet, "Thank you."

      When the applause ended, Cinnamon pointed her sticks
at Jimmy.  "Okay, fun's over," she said.  "Stop harassing
Wynter and our cousin and get back up here.  You have work
to do."

      Wynter wondered if the little redhead had just made a
mistake.  She decided Sis hadn't when Jimmy squeezed their
joined hands, released her, and rose to his feet.  _That's
a relief_, she thought.  _Sis..._

      Wynter and her father called times like this 'the
moment the lights came on.'  _Sis knew exactly what she was
doing!  She probably knew exactly what she was doing when
she had Jimmy sit down!_  She closed her mouth and deleted
the word 'probably' from that thought.

      _That's the problem with Sis.  Nobody can tell when
she's scheming._

      Cinnamon looked her straight in the eyes, smiled, and
nodded.  _Non-verbal communication at work_, Wynter
realized. Then Sis looked at the whole room.  "I understand
that you've stuffed yourselves with pizza and cake and ice
cream," she said, rising to her feet.  "So maybe you're
content to just sit and listen because of that, and that's
fine.  But this is a party, not a formal concert.  The next
one is 'Surf Rider,' and it's a slow one, so if you do feel
like dancing, then in the words of the finest person I
know, except for my Dad and my sister, of course..."
Cinnamon leaned forward at the waist, threw her arms back
for balance, stamped her right foot, and screamed, "GET OFF
YOUR BUTTS!"

      The room shook with the burst of laughter from all
except Suzie, who'd been stunned by the unexpected
compliment.  Her smile finally erupted as Cinnamon resumed
her seat and said, "Of course, I don't do it nearly as well
as the original artist, probably because my hair is a
darker red." She blew Suzie a kiss. "Ladies and gentlemen,
'Surf Rider!'"

      As Cinnamon's left arm shot up, Wynter looked toward
Hailey as an excuse to check the look on Kenny's face.
This time she'd recognized Sis's scheme.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon bounced off her throne and held her arms and
sticks upward, outstretched in a "V," as her smile pushed
her round cheeks higher than ever.  The band all bowed in
unison. "Thank you!" she said, and blew kisses to the
audience.  "Dancing and cheap canned music will follow back
in the gazebo in a moment."

      Before she could add the next announcement, Kenny
made his revenge strike.  "How about playing 'Wipe Out'?"

      Even though she knew what he was doing, she felt the
automatic feeling of hopeless resignation whenever people
asked for that one.  She'd already shown Kenny that she
could do the drum solo with either hand while the other did
something entirely different.  But by letting the feeling
happen, she'd let him win.

      Suzie immediately came to her rescue.  "Cinnamon
played a lot more notes of that 'Number Four' thingy on the
top hat than she ever plays on the drums in 'Wipe Out,' you
dolt. Maybe you'd have realized that if you'd been paying
attention to Cinnamon instead of Evi's butt."

      Suzie raised her nose in the air, turned her head
toward Cinnamon, and bowed while everyone except Kenny and
Evi roared with laughter.  Kenny looked hurt.  Evi looked
like she was hoping the floor would open and swallow her.
Rosita was holding onto both the pool table and Cinnamon's
father to keep from falling down laughing, and he was
giving Suzie a thumbs-up.

      Unlike most of the people in the room, Cinnamon did
not underestimate Suzie.  Still, she was impressed.

      Huntly looked up from packing his guitar in its case.
"Hey, LaMarcus?  I don't think you'll need these locking
nuts after all.  Suzie brought her own."

      Cinnamon had kept her eyes on Suzie.  She nodded to
herself at the determined look on the taller redhead's
face.  Hailey wasn't the only one who was going to make the
kissing contest a treat for Huntly.  She dropped the sticks
in the holder, then waved her arms for silence.

      "One special announcement," she said, and that killed
the remaining murmur in the room.  "One of the members of
the band doesn't get to attend our birthday parties because
of his advanced age, which borders on decrepitude.  As a
result, he never gets to participate in the kissing
contests."  She noticed the way Jimmy flushed, though his
father nodded, hung his head, and made a pathetic face.

      "All he got for performing today was the opportunity
to eat some cold cake and warm ice cream, to drink some
flat punch, and to be a roadie for the setup.  So, first of
all, let's give him a special hand!"

      While everyone applauded, she moved the bench seat
away from the keyboards and waved him to it.  "And second
of all, girls, let's show him our gratitude by showing him
what he's missing because he was born too soon."  She
pointed at the bench and looked at him.  "SIT!"

      Wynter looked like she was ready to spring into
action with emergency CPR.  Jimmy looked like he might be
the one who would need it.  His dad, however, ducked his
head, said, "Yes, dear," and shuffled over to take his seat.

      "Wow!" said an awed Amy Katzmarek.  "His wife has him
trained just right!"

      He was ready when the laughter died.  Cinnamon
puckered and leaned toward him, but he held up a hand to
stop her. "Son," he said, looking at a crimson Jimmy, "not
one word of this to your mother!"

      Cinnamon didn't bother mentioning that this was his
wife's idea.  Sort of.  The idea came from some of the
woman's interesting, sometimes lurid stories of his band
back when they were dating.  He didn't know about the
afternoon girl-talk session between his wife and his
current drummer several weekends earlier.

      She gave him a daughter-type kiss, hoping that
everyone would take the hint.  That "everyone" particularly
included her cousin, who, for the next six days, wouldn't
be doing much except kissing.

      Megan McNeal was first in line.  "Thanks for
everything you did," she said before giving him a
daughterly kiss.  Each of the other girls else echoed the
thanks in her own words.

      "Thanks, Future Dad," Wynter said when it was her
turn.  "It wouldn't have been nearly as good a party
without you." She gave him a daughter-in-law kiss and
scooted beside Jimmy, who'd set up a protective position
behind his father.

      Cinnamon thought that Wynter's presence was a good
thing for Jimmy because Hailey was next.  Cuz expressed her
thanks, flicked her eyes toward Jimmy, and then threw her
arms around Mister McCauley, bending him backwards.

      Wynter's forearm stopped Jimmy's movement forward.

      Hailey chuckled and bestowed a quick peck on Mr.
McCauley's lips, then released him.  She oozed seductively
to Jimmy's other side and whispered in a very disappointed
voice, "Hey!  I SO thought you trusted me now, pickledick."

      "Guys," Huntly said when the girls had finished and
Jimmy's dad had risen to thunderous applause, "I know that
he wouldn't appreciate the same thing from us--fortunately--
but I think we, too, should express our appreciation."

      As Huntly held out his hand Cinnamon saw her father
check his beeper and then slip out of the room.  The group
had begun departing for the gazebo when he returned.  He
called Wynter over for a quiet word that caused her face to
brighten like a power surge in a neon light factory.

      "Huntly!" Wynter cried, stopping him before he could
slip out the door.  They met beside Cinnamon.  "Mrs. Adams
is in labor, and the nurse says it could be any time.
Doctor Brees said I can be there to assist!  I don't know
when we'll get back, but I'm sure it will be after the
kissing contest, so..."

      She threw her arms around Huntly's neck and gave him
her entry in the contest.

      Cinnamon looked at the two, then at her watch,
studied the room, looked at her watch again, and then
elbowed Jimmy. "How much of all that do you think is what
she had planned for the contest, and how much is excitement
over the delivery?" she asked, flipping a hand at the two.

      "I dunno," he said with a head shake.  "But I sure
hope she's that happy when ours are born."



                             Nine

      "Look," Huntly whispered, "you don't have to do
anything you're uncomfortable with.  So, if you want to
fake kissing me because the others are watching, that's
okay.  I won't tell."

      "No," Alyssa Erland whispered in return, "it's just
that... well, I'm not very good, and I'm not as pretty as
the other girls."

      He raised a finger to point at her chest which, like
the rest of her, was rather ample.  He realized what she
thought he was going to do when she flinched.  He silently
cursed himself for not expecting it and acting differently.
"In here," he said, pointing at her heart, "you're one of
the most beautiful people I know.  And beauty isn't a
function of an entire body anyway. The body is a grouping
of parts, each with its own degree of attractiveness.  Your
smile is prettier than everyone else's here, which makes
your radiant lips even more beautiful, and nobody I know
has more lovely hands than you.  If I had to sculpt
replacement hands and arms for the Venus de Milo, I'd give
her your hands.

      "As for how good you are, at first I was terrible at
sports. I became a legend through practice at every
opportunity, you know.  Not having had enough practice yet
is not the same thing as being bad.  Anyway, you can't be
too bad or Duck wouldn't be smiling all the time he's with
you."

      "Hey!" Kenny shouted from the dance floor area.
"Less talking and more kissing!"

      Huntly raised his voice.  "Sorry to disappoint you,
Taylor, but you don't get a turn to kiss me, so go back to
dancing with Amy."

      While everyone else laughed, Huntly resumed
whispering. "Personally, I'll be disappointed if I don't
get to kiss you, but I'll be far more disappointed in me if
I make you kiss me against your will.  Do you want to fake
it?"

      Alyssa smiled.  "Heck, no!  I've wanted to kiss you
since I heard Wynter named you best kisser at her party.  I
was just worried that you wouldn't want..."

      He decided that the best way to get her to stop
talking was to do so physically, so he pressed his lips to
hers.  He was pleasantly surprised when she got into it.
She probably hadn't kissed anyone except Duck Watkins in
her life, so her technique wasn't all that spectacular, but
that didn't dampen her enthusiasm.  Perhaps that came from
having such an uptight, overprotective mother and a wishy-
washy, henpecked father.

      "I hope that wasn't too bad," she said when she
pulled back.

      "Alyssa, I like to think that we became friends while
we rehearsed for the talent show."  She had been the second
synthesizer player.  "So, as a friend as well as a sports
legend, let me tell you that you'll never, ever win a game
if you go onto the playing field thinking you're going to
lose.  Any time you want to practice and Duck isn't
available, I will be for you. Call me."

      He didn't always say the right thing, but this time
he had. She kissed him again.  It was a shorter kiss but it
was better.

      "Don't tell my mom?" she asked when she pulled back.

      "You kiss me like that again, and she'll find out if
she's on duty when they carry me into the ER with a heart
attack and a smile that they can't remove from my face.
Now, go kiss Duck like that and make his day better, too."

      As she bounced away, Huntly hoped that Cinnamon
hadn't realized what had occurred and wouldn't make an
issue of his good deed later.  After all, he had a
reputation to maintain. But those thoughts vanished when
Cinnamon's cousin appeared before him, a feral grin
dominating her face.  This was the moment he'd been waiting
for.

      Instead of bending over, Hailey sat on his lap, legs
on either side of him, and ground her crotch against his.
"It is SO my lucky day," she said.  "I hope it's yours, too."

      She didn't give him time to respond.  One hand
whipped around behind his neck and grabbed his shoulder,
locking their mouths together.  Her tongue writhed like an
epileptic snake on amphetamines while her other hand slid
down his chest and abdomen and found what it wanted.  He
hoped she wouldn't draw a foul for illegal use of the
hands.  By the time she broke away, every boy present
except Jimmy had moaned comments and expressed a desire to
have her return in January for her birthday party. She'd
quit when both participants were on the verge of passing
out from lack of oxygen.

      "You'd better turn loose of that thing," Huntly
gasped in a whisper, "or I'll be going home to change pants
in about five seconds."

      She giggled, an incongruous sound if you heard it
while looking at her face.  "Hey!  You SO need to dump this
silly kissing contest idea," she said.

      _That came from left field_.  "Why?"

      She shrugged while her eyes sparkled with lust. "Last
month I, like, went to one bash in Kaneohe and another in
Honolulu where we had a cocksucking contest.  That was SO
more the fun!  I learned enough at the first to win the
second one hands down. And I DO mean, like, no hands."  She
gave him a quick kiss and sprang to her feet while his eyes
glazed over at the idea.

      He thought Hailey was returning for another round
when he felt the weight on his legs, but his eyes were
trying to register reddish-blondish hair, not brown.  He
focused.  "Hi, Suzie!"

      She deliberately looked at his lap and then at his
eyes. "So, do I have a chance, or have you already awarded
the gold medal or something?"

      He grinned.  "Until the state swim meet, everyone was
ready to award the gold medal to Amber Vallarta again,
despite your breaking those records.  I wouldn't want to
deprive you of the chance to stage another stunning upset."

      She grinned back in the way that only people who
competed in sports truly understood, then turned serious.
"I never kissed you after you took me out."

      "Well, you missed Kenny even if you were fighting
with him. I understood."

      "Yeah, I know.  Well, I don't miss the stupid dolt
now, and I'm gonna make up for that time plus kiss you for
this time.  So, you wanna tie a knot or something in that
thing before we start?"

      He shrugged.  "If I have to go home and change pants
afterward, well, that's a sacrifice I'll just have to make."

      "Yeah!" she said, wrapping one arm behind his head
and the other behind his waist before making Hailey's
performance seem like kissing your sister.   Well, if she
wanted to make Kenny jealous, then it was his duty as a
humanitarian to sacrifice his lips and body to the cause of
the greater good.  _Who'd have suspected that Suzie could
kiss better than Hailey?_ he wondered. _She learned that
from Kenny?  I need to thank him!_  When it was over she
kept him locked in her arms.  "How was that?"

      "What pocket did I put that gold medal in?"

      She giggled and rose slowly.  "Keep that thought in
mind."

      He'd try, but he'd reached the end of the line and
only Cinnamon was left.  Her face stated in no uncertain
terms that she was determined to top the last two
competitors.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie held out her hand to Josh.  "You ready to dance
some more?"

      "Yeah," he said, his eyes wide with amazement or
disbelief or something.  "Sure."  He gave her his arm and
escorted her to the dance area.  "You, uh, you didn't kiss
like that at your birthday party."

      "No," she agreed, "I didn't.  Maybe I should make it
up to you later."

      Josh stopped and looked at her.  He seemed
flosstered, or whatever that stupid word was.  "Suzie, I...
I wasn't asking you to... you know."

      "Yeah, I know.  I just thought you might like it if I
made up for it later or something."  She sighed.  "You
don't have to if you don't want."  She hoped she sounded as
ever so disappointed as she really felt at that idea.

      He turned a cute shade of red.  "No!  I mean, I'd
love to. It's just that... well, it's only been, like, uh,
swim team kisses before, except for your party.  I thought
maybe you wouldn't want to kiss me like that."

      _That's a surprise!_  She couldn't make sense of what
he'd said no matter how she tried.  "Why would you think
that? Are you deformed, too?"

      He frowned at her.  "Too?  Who says you're deformed?"

      She shrugged and felt embarrassed to mention her
condition, but she lowered her voice and said, "I sorta got
a birthmark." She pointed at the inner side of her right
boobie and drew a quarter-sized circle in the air.  "Right
here."

      It was his turn to shrug.  "A birthmark?  So what?
Deformed is like having legs that work backward or two
heads.  And even then, that doesn't change who you are.  I
like Suzie the Coach and Suzie the Friend, not Suzie Who-I-
Didn't-Know-Had-a-Birthmark-Hidden-Away."

      She raised her eyebrows and lowered her head.  Her
words came out in a mumble.  "Well, if you saw it..."

      "I don't think there's much chance of that."

      "Maybe you think too much," she said as she took his
hand and pulled him down the steps at the back of the
gazebra, or whatever Shamisa had called the stupid thing.
She made sure she was standing where the stupid dolt could
see, and then she tried ever so hard to top her performance
with Huntly.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Kenny wondered if Suzie planned to quit kissing Josh
before the party was over.  The pain of seeing Suzie
ignoring him and kissing somebody else like THAT was almost
too much for him.  It wasn't HIS fault she got back early.
He'd planned to have Judy and Tiffany out of his room
before she was scheduled to return. They'd have been gone
if she'd just called first to say that she was back early.

      Somebody stopped behind him.  He ignored whoever it
was as he tried to hold back tears.  After few seconds he
felt a gentle hand settle on his shoulder.

      "Hey!  That pickledick's SO getting a treat."

      "Yeah," he replied, not trusting his voice with
additional words.

      "So, like, how come you SO don't kiss me like that?"

      He turned to Hailey in confusion.  "You're Cinnamon's
cousin."

      "Yeah.  But we share."

      "That's just it.  Cinnamon won't kiss me.  I didn't
think you would, either."

      "Oh, please!  That is SO not the sense!  Cuz decides
to be stupid, so I'm, like, gonna do the same because
we're, like, related?  Gimme a break, pickledick."

      Kenny felt as if a storm cloud had just been replaced
by sunny skies.  "You want to kiss me?"

      "No," she said, giving him a 'How stupid can you be?'
look. "I wanna, like, fuck your brains out, but that is SO
not the possible for a few more days.  I can blow you,
though.  I hear you like that, just like most other guys I
know."

      "Most?"  He shook his head.  "What kind of idiot
doesn't want a blowjob?"

      "SERIOUSLY stupid ones." She gave him a bright smile
and a slow, deliberate glance at his fly.  "Come on.  Take
me for a walk.  Let's, like, go down to those trees at the
back of the yard.  If we, like, get lost and end up in the
middle of them, nobody can see us."

      "How do you know?"

      She ran her tongue over her lips and smiled
appreciatively at his sudden Horn of Pleasure.  "Hey!  Cuz
isn't the only one in the family who can, like, plan ahead."

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Thanks," Cinnamon gasped as the throbbing in her
goodie box faded away.  "I wish you could do that, too,
without messing up your pants."

      "That makes two of us," Huntly whispered into her
mouth. "You ready, or do you need another second?"

      She giggled.  "I'm ready, but what about that boner?"

      He shrugged.  "You can take care of that later.  I'm
not through expressing my appreciation for the guitar."

      She giggled again and slid off his lap, then turned
and bowed to the applause, whistles, and cat-calls.

      "Hey!" Huntly said as he rose to his feet.  "What
makes you think they were applauding you instead of me?"

      "They always do, shithead."

      "Bitch," he sighed.  He faced the assembled party-
goers and bowed.  It was like having a speaker switch cut
off.  He groaned in faint frustration but otherwise ignored
it.  "We have multiple category winners," he announced as
one hand pointed at the serving table, "so grab some
refreshments and grab some seats. This may take a while."

      When everyone was ready he stood at the head of the
table and said, "The winner for best performance by a bitch
is..."  He mimed opening an envelope and pulling out a
card.  "Well, no surprise here.  Cinnamon Brees!"

      Cinnamon stood and threw her arms up and out in a "V"
while people chanted, "Cin-na-mon!  Cin-na-mon!  Cin-na-
mon!" They stamped their feet in time with the chant and
clapped their hands between the words.  It was a variation
of a cheer for the Griffin Middle School Knights.

      When she sat down and the crowd quieted, Huntly put
his hands on his hips.  "B-i-i-itch, bi-i-itch, bi-i-itch!"
He shook his head.  "Moving on now to the important people.
The winner for best lip action is..."  He mimed opening
another envelope, then pretended he had the card upside-
down.  "Monique LaRue!"

      She rose to a chant that gave her name three
syllables. "Mo-o-nique!  Mo-o-nique!  Mo-o-nique!"

      When she sat down, Tyrone rose to his feet, slid
behind her, and grew an additional set of joints in his
arms and legs. One arm flailed and pointed at the girl.
"Sheeit!  Ain't no wonda, G!  Momma Monique done got the
biggest lips here. 'Course, you cain't sees them when she
be sittin' down!"

      Cinnamon looked up at Huntly after Tyrone doubled
over and sank into Duck Watkins' lap.  "Hey, that was a
nice sucker punch!"

      Huntly shook a finger at her.  "You ever do that to
me and I guarantee you that I'll drop dead on the spot."

      "Really?  Thanks for the tip, shithead."

      "Bitch."  He held up another imaginary envelope. "The
award for best performance by a newcomer goes to..."  His
lips moved in silence as he read the imaginary card.  He
extended an arm toward the winner.  "The cutest keyboardist
in the talent show, Alyssa Erland!"

      She turned a deep red as she rose to the chant of her
name. She mumbled, "Thank you," in a low voice that nobody
heard.

      Huntly blew her a kiss and waited until she'd taken
her seat before observing, "It must be natural talent on
her part. No way somebody who plays cornet as bad as Duck
could TEACH her to kiss."

      "Up yours, Sheridan!"

      "Why, thanks, Duck, but you aren't my type.  Looks
like Tyrone's yours, though, the way you're cuddling him in
your lap. Guys, I think Alyssa's available.  If you're
lucky, maybe Alyssa will let you coach her.  With your
help, she could win every category next year.  Except the
bitch and newcomer ones, that is."

      Cinnamon recognized what Huntly was doing because
Wynter had essentially done the same thing with him at
Wynter's birthday party.  That was what had given her the
idea to make Huntly her next project and civilize him in an
investment that had paid off well.

      "The award for best breathing technique while kissing
goes to..." He mimed dropping the card after pulling it
from the envelope and then catching it in mid-air.
"Wouldn't you know it would be a member of the swim team.
Megan McNeal!"

      Megan held her clasped hands overhead as the crowd
chanted her name in three syllables.

      "The award for best performance by a cheerleader goes
to..." Katie Wilson, the only cheerleader present, was
already on her feet when he held up the imaginary card.  He
shook it at her and said, "You're going to feel awfully
foolish if it's somebody else's name on this card.  It
could be Brin's name, you know."

      Katie shrugged.  "If it is, I'll accept for her."

      Huntly did a take and looked down at Cinnamon. "There
are two of your kind here!"  Then he read the card:  "Katie
Wilson!"

      While the crowd chanted Katie's name in three
syllables he sipped his punch and grinned around the cup at
Cinnamon.

      She was severely impressed.  Huntly hadn't said that
he intended to do this act, but it was working to
perfection and everyone was pleased..

      "The award for best gold-medal-winning performance
that makes me want to scream with delight goes to...

      "Su-u-zie!  Su-u-zie!  Su-u-zie!" the crowd chanted
as Josh rose and held her fist in the air.

      "HEY!"  Huntly shouted, shaking the imaginary card.
"Do you mind if I read the card first?  You have any idea
how many hours I spent on these?  And fancy engraving costs
a lot of extra money, you know!"

      "Boo-oo-oo!  Boo-oo-oo!  Boo-oo-oo!"

      Huntly sagged.  "Assholes."  He shook his head.  "The
award for best use of hands goes to..."  This time he let
the imaginary card hit the table, fumbled picking it up,
and grabbed it from the floor.

      "Lame!" shouted Timmy Gagnon.

      "Well, yeah.  You rip up your knee like I did and
you'll be lame, too, and would need Doctor Cutie to massage
it frequently." He waited until the booing ended again.
"Guys!  Let me clue you in.  It's worth it."  He didn't
give them time to think about that.  "The award for best
use of the hands goes to Hailey Kennedy!"

      When Hailey didn't stand, Cinnamon jumped to her feet
and looked around.  "Where'd she go?"

      LaMarcus pointed out the back of the gazebo.  "She
went for a walk with Kenny.  They were down at the end a
minute ago.  I don't see them now."

      SHIT!  They were in the trees, which meant...

      "Accepting for the winner is the runner-up and her
cousin," Huntly announced, extending an arm toward
Cinnamon.  The crowd chanted Hailey's name in three
syllables.

      Cinnamon fumed through the rest of the presentations.
She'd been watching for Hailey to make a break for the
house with someone.  She'd suspected that Cuz would take
someone--or more likely, someones--to her room for a quick
BJ.  She hadn't considered the possibility of taking them
to the thicket of pine and spruce trees at the back of the
yard.  And Hailey had waited until Cinnamon had relaxed her
guard before pouncing on Kenny, the one she'd expected Cuz
to choose from the beginning.

      She was being a bad influence on the older girl.
Hailey was turning out to be too much like herself.  So
what other precautions had she overlooked?  She began
reconsidering them.

      When she started paying attention again, Huntly was
saying, "...first place and overall best kisser goes to..."
He pretended to extract and unfold a large sheet of paper.
Cinnamon assumed that the crowd already knew because only
one name would be left. She would be the only one surprised.

      "Aha.  Hmmm.  Well, accepting in her behalf is her
Lover Boy, composer, hair brusher, lap dog, scalpel
sharpener, ear wax remover, errand boy, and straight man."
Jimmy shook his head and rose to his feet as Huntly said,
"The best kisser is: Wynter King!"

      The crowd chanted her name in three syllables.

      After several seconds, Huntly held up his arms in an
appeal for silence.  "I was planning to have the winner
demonstrate her award-winning technique at this time.
However, our winner is with Doctor Brees out at the
hospital and having a baby--it's not yours, is it, Jimbo?"

      Jimmy shot him the bird.

      "I didn't think so."  Huntly held up one hand, his
index finger and thumb a half-inch apart, widened his eyes,
and jerked his head at Jimmy.  He waited for the laughter
to die and then continued.  "Rather than have the accepting
party demonstrate her technique, an act which would turn
more stomachs than just my own, I'll have her sweet,
wonderful, darling adopted sister, an accomplished kisser
in her own right, demonstrate the technique in her place."

      As she rose to her feet, Cinnamon glanced down the
yard. Hailey and Kenny were emerging from the trees.

      "Shithead," she muttered.

      "Bitch."

      She started in surprise and frowned at Huntly.  "Oh,"
she said, realizing at last that she'd spoken aloud.  "I
didn't mean you that time."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter just knew that she would float right up into
the sky when she got out of Doctor Brees' Mercedes SUV.
They passed several guests on bikes and walking home, so
she knew that the party was over.  She sure hoped Jimmy was
still there to help keep her feet on the ground because
Doctor Brees might not weigh enough to hold her down by
himself.

      He pulled the vehicle into the garage.  _This is
good. Maybe I won't float any higher than the garage
ceiling._

      Doctor Brees turned off the ignition.  "Thanks
again," he said.  "I don't know when I've enjoyed a birth
more."

      "Thank YOU!" she gushed.  She knew she wasn't being
very professional, but she just couldn't control her
excitement.  She thought Doctor Brees would understand,
though.  She unfastened her seat belt and gave him the
biggest kiss she could and still have it count as a
daughter-type kiss.

      He looked hesitant for a moment, like he was about to
say something, and then smiled.  "Was it worth missing the
rest of the party?"

      "Was it ever!" she said, her heart feeling like it
would explode from her chest, through the doors of the SUV,
and out through the walls of the house.

      They climbed out of the SUV as the door into the
north entrance of the house opened and a tornado cluster
burst into the garage.

      "How was it?" Cinnamon asked.

      Wynter hugged her.  "It was the most awesome thing I
ever saw!"

      "Better than winning Best Kisser in absentia?" Huntly
asked.

      "I did?  Wow!  But, yes, even better than that!"

      She hugged Huntly and then Hailey before pulling
Jimmy into a kiss.  "He's good," she said to Jimmy when
they separated.  "He can deliver all of ours."

      "So everything went okay with Mrs. Adams?" Jimmy
asked as Wynter's hand found its resting spot on his back.

      "Yeah, except that he had to do an esp... eps..."
DRAT! She hadn't stumbled over the word at the hospital!
"An ep-i-si-otomy, but that was okay."

      "A what?" Hailey asked.

      "She was too tight," Huntly translated, "so he cut an
incision to make her pussy bigger."

      Doctor Brees chuckled.  "Well said.  I was about to
give her a medical answer that would have just generated
more questions."

      Hailey crossed her hands over her vaginal region.
"EEEEwwww!  Like, how could you DO that, Unc?"

      "With a scalpel," he said.  "If I hadn't, she'd have
torn anyway.  In fact, she was already starting to.  This
was actually easier on her body."

      "But everything is okay?" Jimmy asked, worry coloring
his voice.

      "Mother and daughter are resting comfortably," Wynter
replied.

      "A girl?" Huntly said.  "Good!  The world needs more
good looking girls."

      "That's not the best part," Doctor Brees said as he
ushered everyone into the house.  "Since Wynter was there,
the Adamses decided that Jennifer Ashley wasn't a special
enough name. They thought about naming her Wynter, but
decided that didn't make sense in June.  I thought Spring
was a good name.  Fifty years ago there was an actress
named Spring Byington, so it's a famous name.  But they
didn't like that one, either.  It's June, but they didn't
care for June Adams.  They did like Wednesday, but it's
already taken and they didn't like the unfortunate
implications of that name."

      "Like, what's the prob with Wednesday Adams?" Hailey
asked. Nobody said anything.  They waited, and it finally
penetrated. "Duuuuh!" she groaned.

      "So what did they settle on?" Jimmy asked.

      "Summer, even though it's still a couple of weeks
away," Doctor Brees replied.

      Wynter had been thinking about that.  She'd decided
that she and Jimmy should plan for a girl in late June
after they were married.

      Everyone agreed that it was a terrific choice.

      "I think it's perfect," said Mrs. Vasquez as she
appeared at the top of the steps up to the main floor.
"And you," she added, pointing at Doctor Brees, "can tell
me all about it while we clean up from the party."

      Cinnamon flipped a hand as they climbed the steps up
to the main floor.  "We'll help you."

      Mrs. Vasquez shook her head.  "No, you won't.  I'm
the maid, so it's my job.  You're the mistress of the
house, and you have a guests to entertain.  That's your job."

      When Cinnamon started to protest, Wynter laid a
gentle hand on her adopted sister's arm.  "She's right."

      Sis clearly didn't understand the obvious, but she
knew Wynter had a good reason.  "Okay.  We'll be in the den
if you need us."

      "WE won't."  She grabbed Doctor Brees' arm and towed
him away, causing Wynter to giggle at the surprised look on
his face.

      Cinnamon spun left on one foot and led the way into
the den. "Make yourselves comfortable while Sis explains
what's going on."

      "Well, I'll be darned," Jimmy said in awed surprise.
"You mean for once I realized something before The Cinnamon
Brees?"

      "Yep," Wynter said, rubbing a circle on his back.
"Sis, not everything is as complicated as one of your
plans.  She wants some time with your dad.  She's not over
her mother-in-law's death as much as she wants you to
believe.  She does fine when your dad's around, but I'll
bet that when we were at the hospital, she was in the house
by herself after Mister McCauley left and got lonely."

      Cinnamon's shoulders sagged and she looked chagrined.
"I can't believe it.  A mere male out-thought me over
something so simple!"

      Jimmy snorted and turned, a sarcastic retort to
Huntly dying on his lips when he realized that only the
three of them were in the room.  "Where'd Huntly and Hailey
go?"

      Cinnamon glanced around, then lifted a hand to point
at a spot over the adjacent laundry room.  "I'd say they're
in Hailey's room and that she's blowing him."

      "WHAT?"  Jimmy looked like he didn't know whether to
faint or fly around the room like a bird.  "But... but
Huntly's... well, he's your...  I mean, he..."

      Wynter always called the way the little redhead
looked at Jimmy her "curious pose," with unblinking
narrowed eyes and her head tilted to one side.  "My what?"

      "Well, you two go out together, and you, um, you
know.  You have sex together."

      Sis clearly saw the opportunity to work on the
prudectomy because she said, "Yeah.  But that doesn't make
him 'my' anything.  He's a big boy, his maturity level
notwithstanding. In fact, he's now a teenager.  He can make
his own decisions. He's a friend and a good bed partner,
but we don't OWN each other.  And even if we did, I
wouldn't care."

      Jimmy's voice turned suspicious, like he thought
Cinnamon might be baiting him.  "How could you not care?"

      She took Jimmy's arm and guided him to the couch.
Wynter followed, her hand still in its spot on his back.
She thought she'd better keep it there in case Jimmy
decided to faint and needed steering on the way down.
Cinnamon sat and patted the spot beside her as an
invitation to Jimmy.  Wynter sat on his other side.

      "Huntly's who he is, and his feelings for me are
whatever they are.  Nothing I do will change that, unless I
do something mean or hurtful or stupid or something like
that.  When I said I knew he'd done Tiffany Jones, I didn't
get upset, HE did. Why? Because he thought I might be mad,
even though we've both done others since we met.  He knows
I don't mind, but he doesn't really believe the truth."

      Sis took Jimmy's hands in hers.  It was to insure
that she had his attention, not to make an advance on him.
Wynter was thrilled to realize that Jimmy recognized the
move for what it was and didn't jerk his hands away.

      "Jimmy, I could take you to my room right now and
fuck your brains out and he wouldn't mind.  And that's not
because at this very moment he's learning how well Hailey
can deep throat. If they'd stayed down here and we'd gone
upstairs instead, it wouldn't have mattered to Huntly."

      Jimmy shook his head.  "How could it not matter to
him?"

      "The same way it wouldn't matter to Wynter."

      "CINNAMON!"  This time he did attempt to jerk his
hands away, but the little drummer's hand and arm strength
were enough to keep them in her grip.  "Wynter," he begged,
turning his head to her, "tell her it's not true."

      "It's not true."

      Jimmy sighed with relief.  "See?"

      Cinnamon smiled.  "Sis, are you telling the truth?"

      "No.  I'm just doing what Jimmy asked."

      "WYNTER!"

      "Jimmy, I'm not saying you should make love to Sis.
I'm not even saying you should fuck her.  I'm just saying
you should do whatever YOU want to do, not what you think I
want you to do. It's okay with me if you say no, but if you
decline I want it to be for the right reason, not the wrong
one.  We've had this discussion before, remember?  More
than once?  True or false: you love me?"

      "True!"

      "True or false: I love you."

      "True."

      "True or false:  if you had sex with Cinnamon, you'd
fall in love with her and tell me to take a hike?"

      "FALSE!"  His voice was almost a screech.

      "There you go!"  She smiled at him.  "I already knew
those answers, of course."

      "Jimmy," Cinnamon said, drawing his attention back to
her, "I know that I can't take you away from Wynter.  I
wouldn't try because I don't like to waste my time.  I
never have enough time to do all I want to do, so why waste
it?  But I also know that if you did me, it would be
indescribably wonderful for both of us. Afterward, you'd go
back to Wynter because she's your future, and I'd have a
memory I'd treasure forever.  And if you're half as smart
as Wynter thinks you are, you'd have one, too."

      He frowned with suspicion that showed in his voice.
"Are you asking me to go to bed with you?"

      Cinnamon sighed and rapped her knuckles on his
forehead. "Hello?  Anyone home?"

      Wynter tried to stop the giggle fit, but the harder
she tried, the worse it got.  In seconds both she and Sis
were almost rolling off the couch, while Jimmy looked more
confused than ever.

      "I'm sorry," the little redhead said, wiping her eyes
as she regained control.  "No, I'm not asking you to take
me to bed. But don't let that stop you from saying yes
anyway."

      "I'd be betraying Wynter!"

      Wynter used a fingertip to pull on his chin until he
faced her.  "No, you WOULDN'T," she said.  "Not unless you
stopped loving me.  And you could always do that even if
you didn't have intercourse with Sis.  How many times have
you kissed her until she had an orgasm?"

      "A few.  But..."

      "And how many times did she ask you to, and I told
you it was okay?"

      "Once.  But..."

      "So you've kissed her to orgasm more than once, both
with and without me knowing in advance.  How many times
have I gotten mad or said I don't love you or ended our
relationship or done ANY of the things you've been afraid
I'd do?"

      "Well, none.  But..."

      "And how many times has she masturbated you to orgasm?"

      She just knew he'd turned red all the way to his
umbilicus before he said.  "Just one.  But I didn't know it
was her..."

      "And did I get mad or say I don't love you or end our
relationship or do any of those things you've been afraid
I'd do?"

      "Well, no.  But, Wynter, I didn't realize..."

      "There you go."

      Jimmy sighed.  "I'm not making my point clear," he
said.

      "No." Wynter slowly shook her head.  "You are making
your point perfectly clear.  Apparently I'm not making
mine, though." She looked down at the couch and tested the
cushions with her hand.  "Sis, this looks comfortable for
you."

      "It is," she replied.  "I've used it a few times."

      "Good."  Wynter rose to her feet.  "Make sure he has
a good time, too.  Want me to feed the fish in the aquarium?"

      "Sure."  Cinnamon locked her arms around Jimmy so
that he couldn't get his balance to rise, and Wynter left,
closing the door behind her.



                             Ten

      Richard watched the light on the kitchen phone wink
out as he closed the door of the fridge.  He snatched two
cookies from the jar and took those plus his glass of milk
through the dining room to the door of Angie's office.  His
head was throbbing. Close-up focusing made it worse, so he
hadn't bothered with the Caller ID display.

      Angie sat with her elbows on the desk and her face in
her hands.  Only two people left Angie that way at the end
of a phone call.  "Boss or sister?" Richard asked as he
eased into a chair.

      "Diane," she said without looking up.

      Richard had guessed as much since Angie's boss
usually called on her office line first.  He looked at the
cookies and wondered if he should go fetch some more, along
with three fingers of liquor for Angie to wash them down.

      "What does she want this time?"  He started to make a
crude joke, but Angie's face lifted.  Tears ran down her
cheeks. Icy lightning bolts shot down his spine and his
throat seized. "What?" he asked, his voice high and trembling

      "She went to the doctor for something trivial.  One
of the tests made him suspicious, so he did some more
serious tests today.  Small tumor, right breast."

      The four words slammed into Richard's gut like a
sledge hammer.  His late mother-in-law's cancer had started
in the right breast.  "Wynter tried to tell her it was
hereditary and that she needed annual exams," he said
without thinking.  While he knew that Angie was afraid for
her ditzy sister, he also knew that she was more afraid for
herself.  So, that wasn't the stupidest thing he could say,
but it was in the Top Five.

      "I told her that.  She said that it was coincidence."

      Richard wasn't surprised.  Diana Wolfe Pratt was
convinced that Wynter was dumber than her one-year-old son
and was always putting Wynter's ambitions down as a child's
fantasies by insisting  "Men become doctors.  Women are
nurses."   Once the woman made up her mind about something,
you couldn't budge her opinion with dynamite and a
bulldozer.  He had no disagreement with Wynter's nickname
for her:  'Aunt Dumb.'

      "She said they'll operate next Thursday.  Lumpectomy
because they think it's small and contained, though we'll
know when they get in and look at it."  She took a deep
breath and let it out in a sigh.  "I'll be there to take
care of Bob and Baby Christopher for a few days.  You know
what happened the last time he tried to take care of
himself."

      Richard remembered.  'Uncle Bozo' set the microwave
oven on fire.  "It should take more than a few days, even
after she comes home, shouldn't it?"

      Angie gave him a chuckle and a wry smile through the
tears. "I hope to find someone to replace me in less than a
week, but most of Grand Island probably knows about him by
now, so it won't be easy."

      "Diane will be okay," he said, addressing the real
issue.

      "Diana Dipshit has never been okay."

      "When are you leaving?"

      "Thursday morning.

      "Come on," he said, rising to his feet and placing
the milk and cookies on her desk.  "Let's go sit on the
living room couch together."

      Angie accurately read the pain in his eyes.  "What
about your headache?"

      He shrugged.  "Some things are more important."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter was impressed by Hailey's knowledge of the
fish in the salt water aquarium, but she guessed you had to
learn some things when your father was a marine biologist
and you had four sea aquaria in your house.

      "There were six of those small black and silver
catfish at first," Wynter said, pointing to a sole fish in
the front left corner.

      "Yeah," said Hailey.  "That big flat anemone on the
top of the back ledge gets one, like, every night or two.
I saw it catch one last night.  It was WAY cool!"

      "I still think it's neat the way the bubble coral
catches and eats the brine shrimp," Huntly said, his brown
eyes scanning everything in abrupt jerks.

      "The clownfish are my favorites," Wynter said.
"Perculas, aren't they?"

      "Uh huh.  They're, like, my favorite clownfish, but
the yellow butterfly is SO my favorite fish!  God, they are
SO happening!  When they, like, zip around in a hurry,
they're like a streak of sunshine!  Hey, I see that and I,
like, feel terrif all over!"

      Wynter thought the noise behind her was Mrs. Vasquez
or Doctor Brees bringing things into the kitchen again, but
she saw Jimmy's reflection in the aquarium glass.  She
turned and smiled at him.  "How was Sis?"

      His already deep blush intensified.  "Okay.  Um, did
Huntly and Hailey tell you that..."

      She nodded and crossed the room to him because he
seemed to have grown roots into the floor.  "Yeah.  They
said they walked in on you."  She kissed him while her hand
found it's home on his back.  "I hope they didn't break the
mood."

      He frowned at her.  "Aren't, um, you mad that I did
it?"

      "JAMES EVAN MCCAULEY!"  She flinched at how sharply
she'd spoken.  "I'm sorry," she said, really and truly
meaning it. "But I told you that I wouldn't mind.  If I
were upset now, then I'd be a hypocrite, and you know how I
feel about those." She pointed at his shirt.  "You missed a
button."

      "Um... yeah."  He fastened it as he said, "Cinnamon
wants us back in the den."

      "All of us?" Huntly asked.

      Wynter looked at him before speaking, then frowned at
the reflection in the aquarium glass until she was sure of
what she saw.  Huntly's hand was down the back of Hailey's
shorts. "Yes," Wynter said.

      Cinnamon's smile faded when they walked into the den.
She rose to her feet and looked at Huntly with her curious
pose.

      "Um, Wynter says she really isn't mad," Jimmy said.
He seemed unable to believe the words.

      "Of course not," Cinnamon said, her look becoming a
very angry glare directed at Huntly.  "Okay, buster, you
told her, didn't you?"

      "No," Wynter said.  "He didn't.  Hailey did."

      "What?  Hey!  No WAY!"  She looked from Wynter to
Cinnamon and back.  "Like, I SO did NOT!"

      Huntly shook his head.  "No, you did.  You ad-libbed
and said too much.  I thought Wynter would pick up on it."

      Hailey gave Cinnamon an almost-apologetic look and
then glared at Huntly.  "So, like, WHAT did I say?"

      Wynter spared Huntly the embarrassment of answering
it himself.   Huntly had obviously indulged in a little
creative male bragging while alone with Hailey.  "It was
when you said Jimmy's was 'almost as big' as Huntly's.
It's smaller flaccid, but it's larger erect.  If Jimmy and
Sis had been engaged in sexual activities, you'd have seen
it was larger.  You wouldn't have seen it flaccid if they
really were doing each other."

      Hailey's eyes had locked on Jimmy's crotch with a
look Wynter thought of as 'carnal hunger.'  Hailey licked
her lips and made the thought more of a reality.  "It's
bigger?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

      "Hailey!" Jimmy cried, matching each of her steps
forward with one backward.

      She stopped and frowned with puzzlement.  "Hey!  Wait
a minute.  Like, how would you know?"

      Huntly shrugged.  It was his turn to answer when
Wynter hesitated.  "From the New Year's Eve Strip Monopoly
game and the hot tub at Wynter's."

      Wynter thought Hailey was going to physically pounce
on her like an excited kitten in her glee.  "YOU HAVE A HOT
TUB?" She grabbed Wynter in her arms and spun her around in
a dance.

      Huntly slapped the top of his head and groaned
ruefully before he shot a pained look at Cinnamon.  "I
fucked up?"

      Sis nodded, paused, then shook her head once while
she sighed, "You fucked up, shithead."

      Wynter ignored Hailey's questions about the hot tub
and listened to Jimmy ask, "So... you knew we didn't really
do it?"

      "Not exactly," she replied as Huntly took over Hailey
Control Duty.  "I knew when Hailey blurted out the wrong
thing. Until then I didn't."

      "But surely you knew I wouldn't do anything with
Cinnamon!" His voice was a plea.

      She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed.
"I know that I gave Sis permission.  In fact, I told the
two of you to do it.  I know that you usually will do what
I say, if you can and you want to.  And I know Cinnamon.
If anyone besides me could get you to do her, it's Sis.
Not Suzie or..."  She aimed a thumb over her shoulder at
Hailey, who was busily chastising Huntly for not telling
her about Wynter's hot tub while simultaneously rubbing the
front of his jeans.

      "But... Cinnamon said she wouldn't."

      "Sis said she wouldn't AGAINST MY WISHES.  I said it
was okay."  She looked at Sis.  "By the way, the missed
shirt button was a nice touch."

      Cinnamon smiled.  "Thanks.  It's the little details
that sell a scheme, not the big ones."

      Jimmy shook his head as if to clear it.  "You weren't
mad? Really?"

      "Jimmy!  I won't lie to you."

      "No, you won't," he agreed, his face contorted into a
mask of confusion.  "But it doesn't make any sense."

      She hugged him while Sis, behind Jimmy where he
couldn't see, shrugged, gave Hailey a cross look, and
mouthed to Wynter, "Sorry."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Angie was deeply touched by Wynter's sincerity.  "No,
honey," she said, "I'll be fine.  Thanks for offering to
go, but I'll be okay by myself.  I think.  If it gets too
bad, I'll just fly home early.  I'll tell Aunt Diane you
offered, though. That will make her feel better."

      Angie almost laughed at her own words.  Wynter knew
as well as Angie did that she was lying.  Wynter might make
a generally acceptable playmate for Baby Christopher, but
that's about it as far as Diana was concerned.  For Wynter
to volunteer to spend time with Bob and Baby Christopher,
the situation would have to be grave, indeed, and she had
done so.  Only she and Richard could truly appreciate that
fact, as well as the fact that Wynter was doing so not for
her Uncle Bob's benefit but for her mother's.

      "Now," Angie said after hugging Wynter and kissing
her forehead, "tell your father and me about the party and
the hospital."

      Wynter, seated between the two of them on the couch,
gave them a full and accurate account of the party.
Neither interrupted until she mentioned the comic
interactions between LaMarcus and Keith and the way Huntly
interacted with Jimmy, Cinnamon, and the audience during
the performance. "Everyone really and truly liked that."

      "There's a message there," Richard noted.

      "He's right," Angie agreed, pointing a finger at
Richard. "While everybody likes the music, they need to be
visually entertained as well.  Something the Marx Brothers
understood quite well, right, dear?"

      As Richard agreed, she reminded herself not to laugh
at the look on Wynter's face.  Typical of her generation,
Wynter rarely watched anything in black and white.  She
also didn't appreciate the Marx Brothers' style of humor.
"Maybe you can watch some of their movies and just fast-
forward the DVD to the part where Chico plays the piano,"
she suggested.  "You have to be good to do what he does,
and you're that good on the piano."

      "She's right," Richard said, similarly pointing at
Angie. "I know a lot of your music doesn't lend itself to
visual comic humor, but some of it does.  It would be an
extra bonus of entertainment for your audience, especially
when you surprise them with it.  The rest of it is more
like Harpo's harp playing, which often starts with a comic
setup, but then becomes serious while he plays."

      "I don't understand," Wynter said, a frown of
confusion creasing her lovely face.

      "Well," Richard said with a warm smile, "we'll go
over some of that together while your mother is away.  Tell
us about the rest of the party."

      Wynter finished her account of the party, ending with
her departure for the hospital with Mitch, and then
switched to an awe-struck account of her assisting in the
delivery room.

      "Honey, I'm really thrilled for you," she said.  "I
just hope you weren't in the way."

      Richard shook his head in that annoying way that men
had when they didn't understand what was truly important.
"If she'd been in the way," he said in the patient voice
he'd used with Wynter when she was four, "Mitch would have
asked her to move, and she'd have moved.  Are you sure
you're Angela and not Diana?"

      Wynter saw the need to referee the fight before it
began and said, "Huntly accidentally told Hailey about the
hot tub after I returned.  She wants all of us... I mean,
well, not 'us' including you because the tub isn't big
enough, but Jimmy and Cinnamon and Huntly and herself
and... I don't know.  Kenny, maybe.  Anyway, all of us to
have a tub party."

      Richard sighed and faked a put-upon face.  "I doubt
there's enough room even without the two of us.  I knew I
should have gotten the neighborhood-orgy-size tub."

      Wynter giggled at the way Angie backhanded Richard in
the gut without looking.  Angie tried to imagine Wynter
doing that to Jimmy some day, but the picture just wouldn't
form in her head.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter held Jimmy's hand as they lay side-by-side on
the large flat rock and peered down into the Porcupine
Creek late on Friday morning.  The pool below was large and
swift-moving with the late spring run-off.

      Jimmy glanced ahead and to the right.  "I wonder if
the deer has a new baby this year," he whispered.  "Maybe
she'll bring it to drink, too, while we're here."

      A snapping sound behind them caused Wynter to hold
her response.  They glanced over their shoulders.  Suzie
and Josh were approaching.  They were moving quietly, but
one of them had stepped on a twig.  They, too, were holding
hands.  The sight caused Wynter to squeeze Jimmy's.  He, as
usual, understood her meaning and softly grunted, "Uh huh.
Me, too."

      Josh, looking nervous, said, "We were taking a walk,
and, well, we saw your bikes back at the trail, and, well,"
he glanced at Suzie, "we thought..."

      "We'd love to have you join us," Jimmy said, causing
Josh to look VERY relieved.

      Suzie lay down beside Jimmy, while Josh stretched out
on her other side.  Suzie didn't seem to be very interested
as Jimmy explained all the different things they observed
there and pointed out the location where they'd seen the
deer and her baby. Josh mentioned that it would be a nice
place for a house, and that seemed to perk up Suzie a little.

      But when Jimmy wondered whether any early settlers
might have camped or maybe had once built a cabin there,
especially in that flat area where the deer had brought her
baby to drink, Suzie's face began to glow.  She became
positively animated, describing how the cabin might have
been facing and why, its construction, and how the
inhabitants would have lived there.

      The small cabin sprang to life in Wynter's mind.  She
watched the people who lived there carry out their daily
lives, pausing occasionally while she tried to determine
what words Suzie had meant to say instead of what had
emerged from her mouth.  A woman cooked on both the hearth
inside the house and a fire pit outside.  She washed
clothing in the creek and bathed herself and her children
in the pool below them.

      The man panned for gold in Porcupine Creek but found
none. He trekked to Panner's Creek and soon moved his
family from this spot when he found gold there.  After a
few trips to move goods south to their new cabin, this spot
was abandoned and was quickly overgrown  The few remaining
items eventually rotted or rusted away.

      Josh and Jimmy were equally spellbound as Suzie
quietly pointed to different areas and took them a hundred
years and more into the past and described what-might-have-
been.  Yet she seemed totally oblivious to the effect she
was having on everyone else. Suzie's explanations reminded
Wynter of the way Jimmy had brought to life the skeletons
and models of prehistoric animals in the Denver Museum of
Nature and Science.

      Shortly after she finished, Cinnamon and Huntly
appeared. "We saw your bikes and thought you might be
here," he explained.

      "No Hailey?" Jimmy asked.  He sounded relieved,
causing both Wynter and Cinnamon to giggle.

      "She and Kenny stopped a little way back down the
trail," Sis said after a glance at Suzie.

      "Anywhere near cowhead tree?" Jimmy asked.  An old
pine tree with broken branches and some scarring created an
impression of a cow's head about four feet above the ground
when viewed from the trail going back to Otter Park's main
north-south path.

      "Yeah," Huntly said.  "Why?"

      Wynter giggled as Jimmy said, "I just wondered if
they were putting on a show for Ron.  He's up in the aspen
trees across the path, working on his research project with
Doctor Britt at CU."

      A shriek from Hailey and a shrill, "YOU ASSHOLE!"
from Kenny answered Jimmy's question.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie scooted closer to Josh when she noticed Kenny
looking sideways at her.  She wanted the two-timing dolt to
be sure she was getting along just fine without his
presents. She didn't know why somebody's being someplace
was called "presents," because having him around right now
sure as heck wasn't a present as far as she was concerned.

      "I don't want to talk about it," the dolt snapped in
a sharp voice.

      That was fine with Suzie.  She sure as heck didn't
want to listen.  "Hailey," she said, "Josh and I are
thinking about going swimming tomorrow after the early
matinee at the Aspenleaf Center.  At the pool, 'cause the
lake's still too cold. Cinnamon said you liked to swim,
too.  You," she put JUST enough emphasis on that word, "are
welcome to join us."

      Hailey's face exploded with a huge smile.  "Hey!  I'd
SO love to, if Cuz..."

      "No, you go ahead," Cinnamon said.  "Jimmy's going to
his Uncle Evan's tomorrow, so I'll be busy holding Wynter's
hand, trying to stave off an attack of terminal loneliness.
Unless she has other plans too?"

      "Nope," Wynter said.  "I'm just going to look at some
old Marx Brothers movies with Daddy, so you're welcome to
join us. Oh, and the rest of you can come over after you're
through swimming.  Anyway, Mother and Daddy said that the
piano player in the movies was worth watching for some
ideas on what to do when I'm playing for others.  I'm not
sure it fits in with the stuff we play, though."

      "Really?" Josh said, turning his body so that he
could look at Wynter, who was now sitting up.  "That's a
great idea. That's Chico.  He's really good, like you, so
he makes it look easy."

      Suzie frowned in suspiciousness.  "How do you know
how good Wynter is?"

      Josh blinked down at her.  His face was ever so
surprised. "She was in the talent show, remember?  She was
the one playing the piano when you weren't screaming at the
audience."

      Boy, did she ever feel dumb.  "Oh.  Yeah.  I forgot.
Sorry."  She ignored the look given to her by the dolt with
his hand on Hailey's butt and gave Josh an apologetic
smile, leaning into him.

      "Well," said Cinnamon, turning her head down to
Wynter, "maybe she'd like to play at the party Tuesday
night. That's what I wanted to talk about tomorrow."

      Wynter's mouth fell open in surprise or something.
"ME?"

      "Yeah," said Huntly.  "I've been working on the
guitar part of 'No Borders.'  I thought we could play that,
along with maybe 'Yucatan' and 'Optical Race,' too.  I know
it's your and Jimmy's song, but, no offense to Jimbo, it
sounds a heck of a lot better with a real guitar instead of
him on synths."

      Suzie saw Wynter was about to object.  Well, that was
no surprise.  Wynter always objected when somebody said
something she didn't like about Jimmy, even when it was
true.  She also wasn't surprised when Jimmy said, "I agree.
You, Wynter, LaMarcus, and Cinnamon would be best."

      "LaMarcus won't be there, so you'll be doing the bass
on your synth like you do when it's just the two of you,"
Cinnamon said with a bigger than ever grin.  "He's going to
New York with Tyrone.  Alex talked him into it.  Mrs. Reed
is going along with them."

      Suzie sat up and waited until they were finished
talking about LaMarcus and Tyrone.  She was ever so happy
that LaMarcus was going to get to go, even if his mother
was going along, too, but she had some bad news she needed
to tell the party's hostess.

      "Uh, Cinnamon?" she said.  "I might not be there,
either. Dad said the bank might be having some kind of
thing he has to go to or something.  They might have to go
to that, so I'll have to stay home."

      Cinnamon gave her a surprised look, then stood up and
moved to sit beside her.  She took one of Suzie's hands in
her own and gave it an ever so nice squeeze.  "Suzie, let
me tell you a colossal secret that's so huge it's one of
the underlying foundations of the universe.  The only other
person who knows it besides Daddy and me appears to be
everybody on this rock except you.  You weren't invited to
the party because of your parents. Your parents were
invited because of you."

      Cool air blowing over her tongue was Suzie's first
clue that her mouth was gapped open.  "What?" she asked,
just knowing that her dyslexia had caused her to
misunderstand or something.

      "Hey, she is SO the right!" Hailey said.  "Uncle
Mitch, like, TOTALLY wants you there.  It is SO the big for
him!"

      Cinnamon squeezed her hand.  "If your parents say you
can't come without them, then I guess Daddy will have to
invite Henry Balfour and his wife, too.  That will stop
whatever Mister Balfour has in mind."

      Suzie couldn't believe her ears. "He'd invite the
president of the bank just so I could be there?"  Never in
her wildest dreams would she think Doctor Brees or anyone
else would do that just to get Suzanne Middleton to attend
a party for grown-ups.

      Cinnamon nodded.  "I told you when we first met that
he'd been a member of the Suzie Middleton Fan Club ever
since he saw you on television at the mine."

      Hailey giggled.  "Hey!  Maybe he's SO going to, like,
change his mind and propose to you at the party."

      Suzie tried to get her brain around all that
information without crying.  She barely heard Josh ask, "Is
he going to announce his engagement to Mrs. Vasquez at the
party?"

      She was so deep in wonder or something that she
didn't hear Cinnamon answer, "Who the heck knows?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter punched the slow motion button on the DVD
remote and unconsciously leaned forward, as if that would
help her see the action more clearly.  Her hands mimicked
the movements of Chico Marx's.  She thought the way he made
a pistol with his index finger and shot it to strike a key
was... well, she guessed the word was "interesting."  She
thought of a couple of places where that might work, just
as she knew of a couple where drawing a "U" back-and-forth
and striking the key with a fingertip at the bottom of the
stroke would work, too.

      She was backing up to the beginning of the scene,
prepared to watch it a fifth time, when Dragon suddenly
shot to his feet and raced up the three steps to the main
floor in his "Cinnamon's here!" manner.

      Thanks to Dragon's advance warning, Wynter was at the
door before Cinnamon had parked her bike beside the garage
and rounded the corner to the front porch.  She had to wait
while Dragon got his hug and a scratch behind his ears.
After Wynter received her sisterly kiss, Sis greeted Mother
in the kitchen, expressed her concern about Aunt Dumb's
cancer, and asked Wynter where Daddy was.

      "Mister Chang called a couple of minutes ago with a
question.  He's up in his office looking up something.
He'll be down in a minute."

      "He has five minutes," Mother said, "and then he'll
be late for lunch.  We'll just give his share to Dragon if
he's not here."

      "Well, before I go wash," Cinnamon said, slipping off
her backpack and opening it, "I have something for you,
Sis."

      "Really?  What?"

      "'L'Etoille Rouge.'"

      Wynter frowned, pushed her pursed lips to one side,
and placed her extended fingers across Cinnamon's forehead.
"That cough sounded viral, so antibiotics won't work.  I
prescribe bed rest and plenty of liquids."

      Sis rolled her eyes.  "That is the most oxymoronic
statement that the medical profession knows.  How can you
drink plenty of liquids and then get any rest?  I'd be
getting up every fifteen minutes to drain the swamp!"

      Wynter giggled, then went into her curious pose as
Sis extracted a CD and some sheet music and handed them to
her. "'Geophobia' by Bil Vermette?"

      "Uh huh.  A friend in Boston said the last one
sounded perfect for you based on what you like to play."
She grinned. "You can't have too many friends, you know."

      Wynter frowned again.  "You have a friend in Boston
who picks out music for you based on my taste?"

      "No.  She picks it out for YOU based on your tastes,
the way Mrs. Evers does for Jimmy.  It's the last track.
I'll go wash my hands for lunch while you put it on.  You
probably won't like the other tracks, though I think Jimmy
will like most of them."

      Wynter put Cinnamon's pack on the family room's love
seat. She removed the DVD and put the CD into the player
She skipped to the eighth track.  She frowned as eight
measures of simple bass and snare drum and percussion block
beats were followed by six measures of simple guitar notes
overlaid on the rhythm.  The melody was simple chime-like
notes, not chords, in a light-hearted music-box sound.  She
turned to the kitchen as the synthesizer in the background
rose and kicked out a swelling passage that seemed to fill
the entire house.  She paused at the bottom of the steps,
in front of the bathroom door, and watched Mother.

      Cinnamon opened the door and looked startled to find
Wynter standing there. Wynter used non-verbal communication
to tell Sis to be quiet and look at Mother.

      The little redhead's smile grew even wider while they
watched Mother standing at the stove, swaying lightly to
the beat.  She wrapped an arm around Wynter's waist.  The
taller sister wrapped one around the shorter one's
shoulders, and together they enjoyed the sight of their
shared mother being herself.

      When it ended, Mother began taking things off the
stove. Wynter and Cinnamon pretended they had just arrived,
though they got a frowning question-look from Mother.  They
pretended not to notice it.  Wynter helped Mother set food
on the breakfast nook table while Cinnamon strode to the
bottom step of the stairs and turned her head to listen to
the upper floor sounds.

      The little redhead put her fists on her hips.  "All
right, buster, listen up!" she said in a loud voice that
Wynter realized came from the Kennedy side of Sis's
biological mother's family. "Dragon says you can take your
time getting down here because that means he gets your
share!"

      She turned and smiled at Wynter and Mother.  "That
should do it," she said in a bright voice.  "There are two
ways to get a man's attention.  The second is through his
stomach."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter pushed her empty soup bowl forward and thought
about Cinnamon's question.  "Yeah," she finally said, "I'd
like to play it, but the percussion is so ret... rept..."
DRAT!  She always stumbled over that word.  She HATED
stumbling over words. "It's so re-pe-ti-tious.  Wouldn't
you be as bored with that as with disco?"

      Cinnamon wiped her mouth.  "No," she said after
swallowing her bite of tuna salad sandwich.  "You're mixing
apples and oranges.  Or," she looked at Daddy, "quartzite
and galena ore."

      A smug grin crawled across his ruggedly handsome
face. "Very good," he said.  "I knew you had promise.
How'd you like to stay here as our daughter?  We could send
Wynter to your house to keep Ghost from getting lonely."

      Cinnamon shook her head.  "Uhn uh," she grunted. "You
need somebody here who can bandage you the next time you do
something stupid."

      While Mother laughed and Daddy looked pole-axed, the
little redhead continued her point.  "The drumming in this
song is the same for only that one song, and that's why he
uses a drum machine instead of a live drummer.  With disco,
it's the same thing for EVERY blasted song, so they don't
even have to change the drum machine.  For that matter, the
only things that vary for most disco songs are the words.
They are cookie-cutter music for mediocre minds who don't
know how to compose for mediocre talents who know only a
few basic chords that they play for mediocre listeners who
don't have a clue."

      "Yeah," Wynter said as she reached for her juice.  "I
see what you mean.  That would be boring.  But I wouldn't
mind repeating the same notes on the keyboards for one
song, the way the guitar has to do with it.  Would Huntly
mind the... re-pe-tition?"

      "Not if he knows what's good for him.  But seriously,
no. He's practicing it even as we speak.  Well, unless his
mom has called him to lunch.  The only thing that boy likes
better than sports is food.  But he's smart enough to
understand how the world is--smarter than some of the males
at this table and almost as smart as the one under it."

      Dragon thumped his tail twice while Daddy sighed and
wondered aloud whether he should have just told them to
serve Dragon.  "How much longer do I have to put up with
this?" he asked in a voice that sounded like a little boy's
to Wynter.

      "Until you show us some evidence that you've learned
from your experience," Cinnamon said.

      Though Mother agreed with Sis, Wynter said, "I think
Daddy's learned his lesson.  We should give him another
chance."

      His smile made her heart feel too big for her chest.

      "But if he hasn't learned," she concluded, "then the
next time we won't be as gentle."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Richard closed the door to the dishwasher as Cinnamon
put the items needing refrigeration in the fridge and
Wynter refilled the girls' juice glasses.

      Angie turned from wiping the table with a dish cloth.
"It goes fast when I have plenty of family help," she said,
giving an appreciative smile to all four assistants.
Dragon had helped by permanently removing some of the
leftovers.  "I'm going to miss having my extra daughter
when Mitch and Rosita finally marry."

      Richard had seen ferocious intensity on Wynter's face
at the hospital, so he knew that twelve-year-old girls
could use the look.  But he never expected to see the
degree of intensity on Cinnamon's face.  The sweet little
redhead put her fists on her the points of her hips in a
remarkable imitation of Wynter, then softened her look and
held out her open arms.  "Come down to my level," she said.
It was sweet and loving and charming and an absolute ignore-
at-your-peril order.

      Angie squatted and smiled as Cinnamon's arms
encircled her neck.  It was the same smile that Richard saw
on his wife's face when Wynter hugged her.  Angie truly had
two daughters and loved them equally.

      "You listen to me," Cinnamon said in that regal
Kennedy family voice that said she would brook no attempts
not to take her seriously.  She backed her head away until
her nose was an inch from Angie's.  "You are the first real
Mom I ever had. Rosita will soon--I guess it'll be soon--be
my step-mother. She's already Mom to me, too.  But DON'T
you think for one single micro-instant that once she and
Daddy are married that you'll stop being Mom to me.  Not
one!"

      She pointed at Richard.  "He didn't stop loving you
when Wynter came along. You didn't stop loving him.  He
didn't stop loving you when he and Wynter became lovers.
Wynter loves both of you at the same time.  You don't have
to stop loving somebody just because you have somebody else
to love, too.  I love you, Mom, and I always will."

      Cinnamon kissed Angie and then hugged with all her
considerable arm strength.  Richard had the distinct
impression that the only dry eyes in the kitchen belonged
to Dragon. He felt the explicit need for a hug, too, and
turned to Wynter.

      And hesitated.  Wynter looked as if the lights had
just come on.



                            Eleven

      Kenny knelt beside the car's rear tire, glanced to
see if anyone was looking, and opened his pocket knife.
The scalpel-sharp steel sliced through the hard rubber of
the valve stem in one stroke.  He crept forward to the
front tire and repeated the procedure.  He duckwalked to
the front of the car and peered around the fender on the
driver's side.

      The driver, a large Hispanic man in his mid-twenties,
was standing beside the door, his back to the front of the
vehicle. An animated Ron Lopez spoke in rapid Spanish to
the man, whose attention was riveted on Ron and his waving
hands.

      Kenny sliced through the third valve stem, cutting
rapidly so that the escaping air wouldn't whistle and alert
the man.  He gave Ron a thumbs up as he folded the knife
and stuck it in his pocket while he rose.

      The man realized someone was behind him and turned.
He couldn't see the sinking tire thanks to Kenny's
position. "You again, gringo?" he asked with a dangerous
frown.

      "Yeah," Kenny said with a nod and put on his Genuine
Mask of Phony Sincerity.  "I was making sure Angel found
you, just like I said I'd do.  He's the one who handles the
deals in this town. They buy from him.  Nobody else better
try.  What about my twenty?"

      The man turned to look Ron up and down, giving Kenny
an excuse to move beside Ron and keep the man's line of
sight away from the tire.  "This _maricon_?" the man asked.
"Everyone is supposed to be afraid of him?"

      "Only the smart ones are," Kenny said.  "The dumb
ones are needed to keep the emergency room busy."

      The man looked skeptical at best.  Kenny knew Ron had
seen that look on several people's faces just before he
sent them to the emergency room.

      "Let's walk," Ron said, jerking his head toward the
entrance of the Aspenleaf Center.  "We'll attract attention
if we stand here and talk.  Nobody notices people walking.
Right, Steve?"

      Kenny nodded.  "Right, Angel."

      "Yeah," the man said.  "Good thinking.  But just you
and me. Your little faggot buddy can get lost."  He scowled
at Kenny. "And forget the twenty, gringo.  Just be happy
you didn't piss me off, because my letting you live is all
you deserve."

      Kenny swallowed his anger and forced a smile.  "I'm
outa here.  Like I said, I was just making sure Angel found
you." Kenny jammed his hands in his pocket and headed
toward the Safeway store to wait.

      Ron arrived a few minutes later.  Kenny liked the way
Ron could suddenly appear in a place that had been empty a
few seconds earlier and was having Ron teach him how to do
that.

      "Well?" Kenny asked.

      Ron pulled out his cell phone and punched a speed
dial number, then shrugged.  "His price was too high."

      Kenny grinned.

      "Hey, Dad?" Ron said into the phone.  "You have a
customer in the Center parking lot, Row D, Section Four,
brown '73 Impala. You won't have any trouble recognizing
it.  It's the one with New Mexico plates, three flat tires,
and what the driver claims is two kilos of fifty percent
cocaine in the trunk.  You'll recognize him by the Padres
baseball cap, the faded jeans with a hole in the knee, the
three-day beard, and the brown leather jacket bulging with
a left-side shoulder holster, probably a small snub-nosed
revolver."

      Ron winked at Kenny and then said, "Because he asked
Kenny if he knew an Angelo Ramada who was supposed to meet
him. Guess he didn't know Angelo was your guest.  He
offered Kenny twenty bucks to find him and said he'd
described the car to Angelo, but to remind him what it
looked like.  Kenny deduced that meant he and Angelo hadn't
met.  Kenny knew I was in Slopes and Fields and got me,
then disabled the car while we talked business. Shouldn't
you be on your way here instead of talking to me?"

      After a couple of seconds, Ron looked at Kenny.
"Hlavacek and Sam Peters."

      Kenny nodded and headed back into the parking lot
while Ron explained more details to Officer Lopez.  When he
spotted the unmarked car, he waved them over.  "Hey.  I'll
distract him while you ease up.  He'll be so mad at me that
he won't notice you with your hats off until you're right
on top of him."

      "Kenny, that's not a good idea," said Officer
Hlavacek. "You might get hurt."

      Kenny gave him an 'Oh, please!' look.  "Hey, I've
been trained by Ron.  You wanna try a little one-on-one
with me?"

      Officer Hlavacek looked skeptical at best, and Kenny
understood how Ron felt when people underestimated him.
Okay, so he wasn't as good as Ron, but he'd seen the
nameless shitbird drug dealer up close, and he knew he was
more than a match for that anonymous blowhard, even if the
bastard was armed.

      "Look," Kenny said, jerking his head toward where the
car was parked, "I can be there before you can... and
you're out of time.  Look."  He pointed to the wrecker
pulling into the lot. "Carlos is here, probably to change
tires.  You don't want a third party involved.  Let's go."

      He raced off before the officers could object.  He
looked over his shoulder and saw the unmarked car moving.

      He ducked low and approached the dealer's car from
the passenger side.  The scuzzbucket was sitting on his
trunk and looking not at all happy.  Kenny wondered which
vehicle would arrive first.

      The wrecker did.  The dealer waved to Carlos Sanchez
to get his attention, and the wrecker sped up.  Kenny
thought Carlos was driving too fast for the parking lot.
_Well, duh!  He always drives too fast for everything._
Carlos climbed out of the driver's seat and approached the
scumbag as the unmarked car turned the far corner into that
row.

      The scuzzbucket would see and recognize the policemen
before they could get out of the car.  Okay.  Kenny had to
distract him.

      He straightened from his crouch and put a finger over
his lips to warn Carlos to say nothing.  The scumbag saw
something in Carlos's expression and turned around.  Kenny
acted as if nothing were wrong and said, "Hey.  I hope
everything was okay. And I wanted to forget about that
twenty, but I just couldn't. Cough it up."

      The scuzzbucket's face twisted with rage.  He pointed
at one of the tires.  "YOU!  You did this, didn't you?"

      Kenny put on his Genuine Mask of Pure Innocence. "Me?
No. I tried to help you, remember?"

      "Oh, no," Carlos said, trying to be helpful.  "Kenny
would never do something like this."

      "Kenny?"  The hot rage turned to cold suspicion. "You
said your name was Steve."

      The unmarked car was almost there.  "And you were
stupid enough to believe me.  Who's the _maricon_ now, you
drug-dealing cocksucker?"

      Carlos Sanchez wasn't the fastest thinker in town,
but he understood what was happening as the scumbag reached
inside his jacket for his gun.  Carlos was too slow because
he hadn't been expecting it.

      Kenny had counted on it and had already shifted his
weight. There was no room between the cars to do his spin
and flying leg takedown, so he leaned on his right foot,
lifted his left leg, and smashed his foot into the
shitbird's knee in one fluid motion.  As the douchebag
pitched forward Kenny dropped his left foot to stand on it
and brought his right foot up into the bastard's balls.

      The scuzzbucket screamed and doubled over, the sound
cutting off when his descending throat slammed into the
bunched fingers of Kenny's up-thrusting left hand.  A
second later, Carlos landed atop the gasping dipshit.

      "He has a gun," Kenny warned.  The scumbag dealer,
however, was in no condition to throw Carlos off his back
and use it. Carlos easily pinned the gasping man's arms to
the ground.

      "Impressive," Ron said from behind Kenny as the
patrolmen jumped out of the car.  "You have learned well,
Grasshopper."

      "How long have you been there?" Kenny asked.  He felt
the adrenaline coursing through his body, but he was
keeping his breathing under control, the way Ron had taught
him.

      "You had him so occupied he never noticed me."

      Kenny knew that was all the answer he was going to get.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter was beginning to recognize a pose that
indicated Dragon knew Suzie was at the door, so she wasn't
surprised when she reached the top of the steps and saw
Suzie, Hailey, and Josh through the glass of the storm
door.  She smiled and, still holding Cinnamon's hand, went
to open the door.  It was when she reached for the latch
that she recognized the red in Suzie's face.

      Cinnamon took in the same information, plus the looks
on Hailey's face and Josh's.  "WHITNEY GWYNETH!  WHAT DID
YOU DO?"

      Wynter's parents were in the back yard, sunning
themselves in lounge chairs.  She was afraid that Sis might
have ruptured their eardrums despite the distance.

      "Hey!  I went swimming!" Hailey said as Wynter opened
the door to admit the three.

      "Tell her about the diving board," Suzie said in a
VERY cross tone.

      "Oh," Cinnamon said.  "THAT trick again." She looked
up at Wynter.  "Hailey dove off the board, her top 'came
loose' underwater, and she surfaced right in front of Josh.
Probably ran into him as she surfaced, dragging her tits
across his chest. Right?"

      The last was directed at Hailey, who nodded with a
grin. "He SO must have liked it, though, because his balls,
like, jumped into my hand.  It was SO the terrif'!"

      Josh turned an even more embarrassed red.  "No, they
didn't! You... I mean...  Well, it might have been an
accident."

      "See?" Hailey asked with a big innocent smile.  "SO
not the big!"

      "Josh," Cinnamon said with a sympathetic look, "I
understand why Suzie likes you because you're one of the
sweetest boys I know.  Even when somebody treats you like
this, you still accept blame for her.  It was never an
accident before.  I'm sure it wasn't one this time."

      Suzie's face remained a glowing dark red, and she
stamped her right foot.

      Wynter, realizing what that meant, quickly said,
"Well, maybe she thought they needed a massage."

      Suzie's eyes jerked to Wynter's and unfocused
slightly.  She was picturing the 'massage' she'd given
Jimmy's when she was trying to take him away from Wynter.
The red faded some. Wynter wondered how she could tell the
red of anger from the red of embarrassment and decided it
was because of the way Suzie's eyes looked.

      "Uh... yeah," Suzie said in a halting voice.
"Maybe... maybe she did."

      Josh's face jumped from embarrassment to confusion,
but Wynter said nothing else.  It wasn't her story to tell,
which is why she'd worded it so that only Suzie would
understand. Well, and Sis, too, since Sis knew the story.

      "You apologize RIGHT NOW!" Cinnamon snapped at
Hailey.  Once again she used that voice from her maternal
side of the family. Wynter didn't like thinking of it using
that description because of Cinnamon's feelings about that
terrible woman who had created her, but medically it was
the correct term.

      "I'm sorry," Hailey said.

      She sounded halfway contrite, which surprised Wynter.
Maybe she was just sorry that she'd been caught.  _Well,
that wasn't a very polite thought, was it?  Maybe she's
sincere, but that's just the best she can do to sound that
way_.

      Josh nodded.  "It's okay."

      Suzie nodded too, apparently not trusting her voice.

      Hailey brightened as if she'd just arrived and
nothing had been amiss.  "So, when do we, like, get to see
the hot tub?"

      "You don't," was Cinnamon's immediate reply.

      "Wynter," Suzie said in a quiet voice as the two
cousins began arguing, "can I speak to you for a minute?
Just us two?"

      "Um..." Wynter looked at Josh.  "We were in the
family room. Just make yourself at home, and we'll be back
in a minute."

      Josh smiled and thanked her.  As he went down to the
family room, Wynter led Suzie across the living room to the
library at the front corner of the house, next to Mother's
office.

      "Thanks for not telling Josh what I did," Suzie said,
crossing her arms low in front of her and watching her foot
twist one toe into the carpet.

      Wynter shrugged.  "If you think it's his business,
then you'll tell him.  It's not my place to tell him.  Or
Jimmy's."

      Suzie looked up and gave her an embarrassed smile.
"Thanks."  She hesitated again.  "Um, I'm afraid to ask
something."

      "Suzie!  You know the rule about questions.  You can
ask me anything you want, and it's okay."

      "Yeah, I know.  But this is sorta different or
something. I... uh... well, you are my best friend, aren't
you?"

      Wynter shook her head, lashing her ponytail.  "That's
not my decision to make.  You have to decide that, but I
sure hope that I'm at least in the top ten.  I told you
before, I thought of you like a sister even before Cinnamon
came along."

      Suzie smiled and nodded.  "Yeah," she said.  "You are
my best friend.  But... well, it's sorta embarrassing to
ask, and I'm afraid of what you might think..."

      Wynter had already put on her diagnosis cap.  "It's
okay. And, yes, you're welcome to use the hot tub.  We'll
keep Hailey up here.  And, no, I don't think you're like
Caroline.  I KNOW you aren't."

      Suzie looked relieved, then concerned.  "What about
your parents?"

      "They won't be joining you.  We'll keep them up here,
too."

      "No," Suzie said shaking her head.  "I meant..."

      "They know you aren't Caroline, too.  Does, um...
does Josh know you have this planned?"

      "Unh uh.  He might not want to, and that's okay,
but... well, this is sorta important.  Not because I'm
trying to get him to do me or something, but, uh... well,
he needs to know something, and, uh... well..."

      "It's okay," Wynter said, hugging her friend.  "You
don't have to tell me.  If you want to tell me later,
that's okay, and if you never tell me, that's okay, too.
You're still the best friend I have besides Jimmy."

      Suzie released her and looked confused.  "What about
Cinnamon?"

      Wynter shrugged.  "She is, too.  I never choose
favorites between sisters."

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Because Wynter said so," Cinnamon said, each word
sounding like a complete sentence.  "Now:  forget about it.
Do you want to join us in the family room, or do you want
to go back to the house?"

      "Maybe I'll go to Huntly's."

      Cinnamon glanced at the kitchen clock.  "He's
probably left by now.  If not, they'll have left for
Breckenridge by the time you get there."  His family was
attending another regional auto sales award banquet at the
Beaver Run resort that night.

      "Kenny's."

      "Charlie's T-Ball game started five minutes ago."

      "SHIT!"  She slumped into the breakfast nook's end
chair. "I SO never get to have any fun!"

      "You could have been in the hot tub, too, if you'd
behaved. Cuz, you gotta stop thinking with your twat!
You're worse than Kenny's thinking with his dick all the
time.  Thanks," she said as she accepted a glass of apple
juice from Wynter.

      Hailey mumbled thanks for her glass and then
complained, "Hey!  Like, how was I supposed to know that
they'd be doing the hot tub thing?"

      Cinnamon swallowed a sip and placed her glass on the
table. She sat on the bench, resting her right elbow on the
table and dangling her feet off the end as Wynter took the
opposite chair. "You weren't.  But you might have guessed
that they'd do SOMETHING after they went swimming and that
maybe you'd like to be invited to that.  But you might also
have realized that your chances of being invited would be
zero if you pissed off either or both of them."

      Hailey sighed heavily.  "Whatev'."

      Cinnamon saw that Wynter had something on her mind
but was hesitant to speak.  "Go ahead," she said.
"Hailey's your cousin, too."

      Wynter smiled and nodded.  "Hailey, Suzie's somewhat
popular among the boys now, but a year ago she wasn't.  Her
sister had the same problem.  Suzie learned how to become
popular by controlling her emotions, especially by learning
how to subjugate her wants..."

      Hailey shook her head.  "How to WHAT?"

      Cinnamon sighed.  "I told you to use simple words
with her. Cuz, the sisters both became popular in different
ways. Caroline became the town slut and had a miserable
life right up to the moment she went to the slammer with
the AIDS virus in her veins. Suzie learned self-control,
and now boys like her for who she is, not for what's
between her legs.  She..."

      Cinnamon's head jerked to the family room steps as
she heard the patio door slide open.  She glanced at
Wynter, who was already out of the chair.  Wynter was
thinking ahead.  Three months wasn't a very long time, but
maybe, just maybe, some of Wynter would rub off on Hailey
in that span.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter raced carefully down the three steps, Dragon
at her side, and got to the family room before Daddy had
latched the patio door.  She stopped in front of them.

      "Hi, sweetheart," Mother said with a big smile.  She
lowered her voice.  "We heard Hailey was here."

      "Yes, ma'am.  Um, listen, I need to tell you
something."

      Her father faked a look of disdain.  "You're going to
throw us out of our own house, aren't you?"

      "Um, no."  She wanted to laugh at his attempt at
humor, but this was too serious.  "Do you trust me?"

      Her parents gave each other THAT look and knelt on
either side of her.  "Honey, you know we do," her father
said.  "Is something wrong?"

      "Well," she glanced toward the kitchen.  "Sorta.  Sis
is trying to explain to Hailey what she did wrong at the
pool with Suzie and Josh.  It really sounds like she's
repeating a lesson she's given dozens of times before.
Suzie and Josh..." She glanced toward the basement door.

      "Hot tub pumps," Mother said.  "So, just the two of
them are..."

      "Mother!  I told Suzie you didn't think she was like
Caroline!  You're going to make your own daughter into a
liar."

      "Sweetheart, I didn't say that.  Honest."

      Daddy shook his head.  "Your words didn't, but your
tone did.  I heard it, the same as Wynter."

      Mother gave him a cross look.

      Wynter sure was tired of people arguing and getting
mad that afternoon.  Next thing she knew, Dragon was going
to be fussy, too, and then she'd just have to run away from
home. "Listen," she said, drawing their attention back to
her.  "I think I understand what Suzie wants.  They're not
going to be doing each other in the hot tub.  Suzie
understands the European sauna idea."  She lowered her
voice.  "It's not like when she tried to get Jimmy to like
her.  I think it's about her birthmark."

      "Why?"  Sometimes Daddy sounded just like Jimmy when
his curiosity had been aroused.

      "I'm not sure."  She sighed.  "It's like when a
doctor sees a patient and can arrive at a probable
conclusion without realizing what factors were involved in
the diagnosis."

      Her parents blinked at each other.  "You have any
idea whose daughter this is?" Mother asked.

      Her father shook his head.  "No.  Weren't you there
when she was born?"

      "Apparently not."

      Wynter felt her heart swell in her chest at the
intended compliment.

      "So," he said in a low voice after giving his two
favorite women a kiss, "we're cut off from our basement,
and it sounds like the kitchen is off-limits for a while,
too.  Any suggestions?"

      "Uh huh.  My keyboards are up in my room.  Want to
see what Sis and I came up with for a possible performance
routine at Doctor Brees's divorce party?"

      Even Dragon seemed excited at the idea.  She guessed
that was because he'd slept through the boring creative part.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie held Josh's hand as she flipped on the light.

      "Wow," he said.  "That's a nice one."

      "Yeah," she said, trying not to sound as
uncomfortable as she felt.  "The seats in it are
comfortable and everything.  And the water's nice and hot
without being uncomfortable."

      "Uh huh," he said, still looking at the tub.

      "Yeah.  And, uh, it's really relaxing, too."

      "Uh huh."

      "It's especially nice when the heat relaxes your
shoulder muscles after you've been swimming hard or
something. It's even better when Wynter massages them for
you."

      His eyes were still on the tub.  "Uh huh.  I can see
how it would be."

      "And it, uh..."  She shrugged.  He didn't see it.
"It... Look, Josh, I, uh...  Well, would you like to see
how good it is for yourself or something?  The hot tub, I
mean?"

      He finally looked at her.  "We shouldn't use it
without her parents' okay,"

      Suzie pushed the button for the bubble jets, and the
water began to froth.  "Josh, Wynter wouldn't have said it
was okay if she thought they'd object.  You know how she is
by now."

      "Yeah," he said with a shy grin.  "I know.  Still, it
doesn't feel right."

      She shrugged.  "It would if you knew her parents
better, like I do."

      "I guess.  But my swimming trunks are upstairs in my
bag."

      "Well, that's the other thing," she said, shifting
her look from his eyes to his chin.  "Um, nobody wears
anything in the tub because the stupid whatever-it-is isn't
good for cloth or something."

      His eyes widened.  She was asking him if he wanted
them to be naked together.  Then they widened even more as
he understood the complications of what she'd said about
nobody wearing anything.  He already knew, thanks to
Hailey, that Wynter and Jimmy and her parents and Cinnamon
had used the tub together. And she'd already told him that
she'd been in the tub with Wynter and her parents a couple
of times, as well as with Wynter and Jimmy and Finnegan
and... HIM.

      "Suzie?"

      "Look, I'm not asking if you want to do me or
something. I'm not Caroline."  She explained European
saunas to him, the way Mrs. King had explained it to her.

      He still looked antiskeptic.  Or whatever that stupid
word was.  "Suzie, if you think I'm interested in Hailey
because of what she did, I'm not.  That's the kind of thing
I'd expect from... well, Caroline.  A guy'd have to be
pretty dumb to fall for something like that.  I'm not as
smart as Jimmy, but even I know how dumb that approach is."

      He laughed his ever so nice laugh.  "Can you see
Jimmy actually leaving Wynter if Hailey was dumb enough to
do something like that to him?"

      The words felt like jumping into a stupid unheated
pool in January.  She'd once thought that a stupid stunt
like that would have worked on Jimmy and had tried several
of them.  Boy, did she ever feel stupid or something.

      "Josh, that's not what I mean.  It's just...  Well,
we've become really good friends, and before we get..."
She swallowed. "Well, before we get any closer as friends
or something, you should know... Well, I don't want you to
change your mind or something later because of my
birthmark, so, well, I want you to see it now.  I mean, so
that if you want to, um...  In case you want somebody
else...  I mean..."

      "Suzie!  I already told you about that."

      "Yeah."  She reached for the hem of her pullover
blouse and lifted it over her head.  "But you might change
your mind or something after you see it."

      She thought it was ever so nice that he was looking
at her eyes instead of her bra when the blouse came off
over her head. She reached for the front hook.  His eyes
still stayed on hers. He was such a gentleman!

      She took a deep breath and unfastened it.  His hand
jumped up and caught hers.  "You don't have to show me any
more than the birthmark," he said.

      She nodded and remembered what Jimmy said about the
fact that Josh's acting like a gentleman didn't mean that
he didn't WANT to look.  He released her hands.  She pulled
both outward.

      Josh's eyes got really big.  They swept across her
chest like he couldn't stop them or something, then focused
on her birthmark, then looked into her eyes.  "It's just a
little birthmark," he said.  "If anybody complains, tell
him that it's a special gift wrap, or maybe that it's
something unique that not every girl has."

      She gasped.  That was what the stupid dolt had said!
"Uh," she said to cover her surprise, "that's a good idea.
Thanks. But now that you've seen them, do you want to use
the tub with me?"

      He turned red.  "Suzie, it sounds nice, but I might,
uh, you know..."

      "It's okay.  Josh, I've seen a boner before, you know."

      He nodded.  It was no secret that she done it with...
HIM..., so Josh knew that.  "You remember when I told you
what deformed was?  Well, there was one more example I
didn't mention. I sort of... well..."  He took a deep
breath.  "I... Oh, heck. When it's up, it isn't straight.
It bends to the left."  He mumbled the last sentence.

      She breathed out in relief.  "Oh.  Well, that's not a
big deal.  I've never seen one do that before, but it's not
unusual. Supposedly, President Clinton's did that."

      He looked flosstered.  "How'd you know that?"

      "Oh, Kenny told me."

      FUCK!  Wasn't that just the stupidest thing she could
do? She just HAD to stop thinking and bring up the stupid
dolt's name, didn't she?  What would Josh think now?

      He laughed.  "Well, if anybody in school would know
that, 'Studman' would."

      One of the dolt's fantasies was that he was
'Studman,' a super hero in a cape and crotchless red
tights, running around with a huge boner and rescuing girls
from virginity or something. She wasn't surprised that some
of the guys knew about it. She guessed Josh did make sense.

      After a brief discussion of not telling his parents
and concerns about Hailey's mouth, which Suzie took care of
by saying that Hailey wouldn't do anything to make Josh mad
or something because she still wanted him, Suzie found
herself in the shower with Josh.

      She didn't see anything wrong with his pecker while
it was soft.  It didn't look all that much different from
any other guy's thingy as far as she could tell, though
she'd only seen Huntly's, Jimmy's, Finnegan's, and... HIS.
Well, and her father's once or twice and Mister King's, if
you wanted to count grown-up guys, too.

      He wasn't sure about washing her back until she told
him how Jimmy sometimes washed Cinnamon's and hers because
it felt good the way he massaged their muscles while
soaping them.  And the whole time, just like Jimmy or
Huntly, he never got a boner.

      And then they were sinking down into the bubbling hot
water. Josh looked sort of relieved or something as he
relaxed into his submerged seat and rested his head on the
built-in pillow. "With all the bubbles you can't tell
we're... you know."

      Suzie reached for his hand and squeezed it underwater
before she, too, relaxed into her seat.  "Uh huh.  Feels
good like I said, doesn't it?"

      "Yeah.  Makes me wish we had a co-ed tub at the pool.
Well, I mean... well, you know the way I meant it."

      Suzie sighed happily.  She did.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter lifted her fingers from the keys and frowned
at Sis, then at her parents sitting beside Sis on the bed,
and then at Hailey, who shrugged in a 'Whatever' gesture.
"Sis!  The party is Tuesday night.  Jimmy and I can't
memorize our parts by then."

      Cinnamon also shrugged, lifting her hands palm-up to
her shoulders.  "Who says you can't use the sheet music?
Good Lord, I can tell them it's a new song that you're just
learning. They'll understand.  You'll at least know it well
enough to play it with the sheet music by then."

      "Yes, but Jimmy won't be home until late tomorrow
afternoon."

      "Well, that gives him forty-eight hours to learn it
well enough to play it with the sheet music.  You know,
Sis, this is the composer of 'Wynter's Song' we're talking
about.  He's pretty smart and talented with synthesizers."

      Wynter sure couldn't argue with that accurate
diagnosis of Jimmy's ability.

      "If you want my opinion," her father said, pausing to
see if he'd get any static from the females before
continuing, "I think it's too pretty a song to deprive the
people from hearing. Given a choice, I'd rather hear it
with you reading the sheet music than have you not read the
sheet music and not play it."  He frowned.  "I think that
came out right."

      "Well..."  She pursed her lips and pushed them to one
side in thought for a moment.  "Then which of the other
songs should we leave out?"

      "None of them," Cinnamon said dismissively.  "Who
says we have to play only three songs?  If they don't want
to enjoy the live entertainment, then they can go sit in
the gazebo or go jump in the lake.  I don't care which."

      A damp-haired Suzie and Josh appeared in the door.
"You're right, Cinnamon," Josh said.  "You should play
whatever you want and as much as you want.  It's your house
and your party."

      "Wrong, Josh," Wynter said.  "It's her father's party."

      "Wrong, Sis.  It is my party.  I'm the mistress of
the house.  Or will be until he makes the announcement,
which I think he will do before it's over.  But by then it
will be too late."

      "Wrong, Older Daughter," Mother said.  "After the
announcement, Rosita will officially be his fiancee, but
until the wedding, you're still the official mistress of
the house."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter thought her heart was going to explode from
her chest, fly across the Brees family room, hit Jimmy
right between the eyes, and knock him back into the
aquarium.  Huntly removed his finger picks and Cinnamon
returned her sticks to their holder.  All three looked the
way she felt as the people crowded into the family room and
looking in from the breakfast nook and looking down from
the gallery above thundered applause after the third number.

      Sis had grabbed everyone's attention with the opening
drums for 'Yucatan.'  The bouncy 'Optical Race,' with
Cinnamon rocking side-to-side to strike alternating drums
for its opening, also had been a big crowd pleaser.

      The little redhead had then announced that they were
playing 'No Borders' so that Huntly could show off his new
guitar that so many people had commented on.  After her arm
shot up, but before she counted the beat, Huntly had held
up both hands for silence and announced that for the first
time ever in public, "The world's cutest Future MD is about
to perform live on her flute." She would, accompanied by
"her squeeze" on the synthesizers, perform the introduction
to "their song."

      That had brought about the obligatory
"shithead/bitch" exchange before Jimmy's sampled strings
and Wynter's flute had begun after Cinnamon's count and
Huntly quietly did something to his right hand while all
eyes were on Wynter.

      It may have been Wynter and Jimmy's song, but the
focus had been on Wynter and Huntly as he stood in front of
her keyboard and played the beautiful tune to her like she
was the only person in the room.  She guessed she didn't
care that people saw the tears on her cheeks.

      Well, it WAS her idea to visually entertain the
spectators, after all.

      At one point she had glanced to Hailey, sitting next
to Kenny on the floor at the front left of the spectators,
and at Suzie sitting with Josh at the front right, near
her.  A sweeping glance took in Mother and Mrs. Vasquez and
especially Mrs. Sheridan.  Wynter wasn't the only one with
tears.

      They were almost finished before she realized Huntly
was wearing a thumb pick and individual finger picks to
pluck the notes.  That was how he was doing both the bass
and the treble patterns at the same time.  His face lit up
when she looked back into his eyes and smiled, showing him
that she'd noticed.

      When the crowd quieted, Cinnamon rose from her
throne. Huntly, pocketing his picks, spoke first.  "We were
planning to perform three songs tonight, but one of the
drummers, who shall remain nameless, found a new piece that
she thought you would like.  One of the synthesizer
players, who shall also remain nameless because she's too
cute to embarrass, said that the synth players couldn't
possibly learn their parts in only forty-eight hours.
Naturally she wasn't concerned that the guitarist would
have a problem learning his part in that amount of time."
He blew on his nails and buffed them on his shirt.

      "Good Lord," Cinnamon groaned.  "You have eight notes
in sequence.  That's six hours a note.  Even YOU should be
able to manage that, shithead."

      After the laughter died, Huntly muttered, "Bitch,"
and then spoke up.  "She's afraid you will think less of
them if they perform from the sheet music.  If that's the
case, say so now and spare them embarrassment.  Otherwise,
let them know it's okay and we'll play it!"

      When the applause died, he said, "I think it's a go,
people. That's a good thing, too, because if you'd said no,
I had arrangements with part of the audience," he pointed
at Suzie, "to have you screamed at."

      Suzie jumped to her feet and bowed, first at Huntly
and then at the audience.

      Huntly waited until after the laughter and applause
to say, "Try not to screw up this time, Jimbo.  It makes
your girlfriend look bad.  Cinnamon, what's the name of the
piece again?"

      "'L'Etoille Rouge,'" the little redhead said in
perfect French.

      "Whoa!  That sounds serious.  Is there a throat
doctor in the house?" He yelped when Sis threw a drumstick
and hit him.  He rubbed his injured chest.  "How about a
trauma surgeon?"

      Suzie again jumped to her feet, bent forward at the
waist with her left arm back for balance, and pointed her
right index finger at Huntly.

      "YIPE!" he squealed.  "Ladies and gentlemen,
'L'Et...' 'L'Et...' uh, 'The Throat Condition!'"

      The crowd sure seemed pleased when Wynter held up a
fist with one finger pointing down, using it to strike the
keys like a hammer for the chime notes.  At the end,
everyone bounced back and forth.  And then they almost blew
the roof off the house with shouts and cheers and applause
in a display that the former mistress of the house would
have found MOST inappropriate.

      As Cinnamon called for silence, Wynter noticed Doctor
Brees indicate with a sweep of his hand that Mrs. Vasquez
should proceed him to the small open area in front of the
band. Sis said, "I have one more important announcement!"
causing the couple to halt.

      "Thank you!" the little redhead said, all round-
cheeked smiles.  "We appreciate your response, but it's
only fair that I note that the four of us had a LOT of
help!  Hiding behind the mixer board in that back corner is
the genius whose talents made us sound better than we
really are, Finnegan Burke!"  The band rose and initiated
the applause.

      As the crowd applauded, Doctor Brees and Mrs. Vasquez
stepped into the open spot.   Cinnamon went into her
curious pose for a moment, then sat and quietly drew sticks
from their holder. Wynter knew the moment had come.

      Everyone quieted when they saw Doctor Brees was about
to speak.

      "Despite the fact that I fathered one-fourth of the
performers and one-fifth of everyone involved in tonight's
live entertainment, I think I'm objective enough to say
that they gave us one fantastic performance!"  He turned
and initiated the applause that again thundered throughout
the house.  The band, with everyone standing but Sis,
graciously bowed, though Huntly held his fists over his
head and extended his index and little fingers.

      When everyone quieted, Doctor Brees faced the room
again. "Ladies and gentlemen, I, too, have a special
announcement."

      Wynter just knew she was experiencing the initial
symptoms of an anxiety attack.  _This is it!_  She glanced
at Jimmy, who gave her his grin-and-nod.

      "You all know that we're here tonight to celebrate
the end of what was almost the biggest mistake of my life.
I say 'almost' because had it not been for that mistake,
you wouldn't have had tonight's excellent live
entertainment."  He turned and blew Cinnamon a kiss.  She
caught it and pressed it to her smiling lips.

      "For twelve years and eleven months and two days,
I've loved nothing else in the world as much as I love her."

      Sis nodded at the compliment and acknowledged the
light applause from the onlookers with what Wynter now
called the Kennedy Imperious Look.

      "Well, I have a tremendous surprise for all of you,
one that has been most difficult for me to keep secret from
you because it's the second fantastic event in my life,"
Doctor Brees said, looking like he was about to explode
with joy.  "I've recently found someone I love as much as I
love Cinnamon.  Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me the
utmost pleasure to announce that I am honored and lucky
enough to be engaged to this charming, lovely, thoughtful,
caring, other woman in my life, Rosita Vasquez!"

      Three seconds of total silence caused his face to
warp from pleasure to worry to near-panic.

      Sis finally hit the rim of the piccolo snare twice,
then simultaneously thumped the bass drum and slammed the
largest crash cymbal.  Everyone in the house except the
engaged couple spoke in unison:  "Well, it's ABOUT TIME!"

      Doctor Brees and the Future Mrs. Brees looked at each
other in confusion.  Then the lights came on, and together
they turned to Cinnamon.

      The little redhead's smile was about to push her
round cheeks off her face.  She lifted her hands, palms up,
to her shoulders as she shrugged.  "We really were getting
tired of waiting for you to tell us."

Copyright Russell Hoisington 2006

***********************************************************
                    Continued in Part Two
***********************************************************

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