index


Message-ID: <61891asstr$1330463410@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Denny Wheeler <dennyw@zipcon.net>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:10.0.2) Gecko/20120216 Thunderbird/10.0.2
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: {ASSM} RP: Wynter and Hailey Pt 2  1/2 {Hoisington} (MF Mf mf bf Mg mg bg oral ped cons rom)
Lines: 5069
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:10:10 -0500
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d



                       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 Two

                      Russell Hoisington

                            Twelve

      Wynter rolled onto her right side and reached for the
night stand light's switch.  Dragon and Ghost held a
contest to see who could lick her face the most in the
shortest time.  She gave each a pat and a soft, "Good
night."  She switched off the light and rolled onto her
back.  Cinnamon's hand found hers in the darkness as she
breathed a deep sigh.

      Hailey, on the far side of the bed, also sighed and
said, "Hell of a week, huh?"

      Cinnamon added her own sigh.  "Sure was.  I'm glad
it's over."

      Wynter agreed.  On Tuesday, Doctor Brees had finally
become free of that horrid woman and had announced his
engagement to Mrs. Vasquez at the big party.

      On Wednesday, they learned that Kenny had been
instrumental in the capture of Juan Rodrigo De Ramirez y
Sanchez, a drug pusher wanted in five states.  Nobody,
especially Jimmy, could believe that Kenny had played the
main role in the capture, yet had said nothing to anyone
else about it.  Jimmy verified it with Ron, who said that
his own part had been minor, and that Kenny was the reason
De Ramirez was behind bars.

      Also, the three sisters/cousins had ridden their
bikes to the Harbor Club Marina, where the Brees family
boat was berthed.  Cinnamon wanted to check a few things
prior to an outing on the lake next week.

      On the way back a car coming from the Public Docks
had run the stop sign at Rainbow Drive and had narrowly
missed hitting Cinnamon, who had to run off the road to
avoid the collision.  Fortunately, Sis was uninjured except
for the strain to her vocal chords when she yelled a
summary of the driver's ancestry at the Ohio station wagon
that hadn't stopped.

      On Thursday, Mother had left for Nebraska.  She'd
almost missed her flight because an overturned semi had
temporarily closed eastbound Interstate 70.  Aunt Diane had
her lumpectomy shortly after Mother had arrived, and the
doctors thought they had caught it in plenty of time.

      The good news that day was tempered by a malpractice
lawsuit against Doctor Brees, filed in Boston.  Sis seemed
unconcerned, saying the woman had had four children and had
sued each doctor for something one year after each one.
The woman had always lost.  Also, Kenny had to break up a
fight over Hailey when she came on to two boys at the
Sundae Shop and both tried to claim her.  Hailey's only
response had been, "Hey!  You'd SO think they, like, never
heard of SHARING!"

      On Friday morning, Miss Jackson, the girls' swim
coach, called Suzie about the swim camp in Colorado
Springs.  One of her assistant coaches had been injured in
an accident and would be out for the entire camp.  Miss
Jackson wanted Suzie as her first choice for a replacement.
Suzie was beside herself in delight.   Wynter and Cinnamon
had helped convince Suzie's parents to let her take the
job.  Suzie's only regret was that she'd miss Cinnamon's
birthday party and--though she didn't say it with her
voice, she said it with her eyes--Josh.

      After lunch, while Suzie prepared for departure the
next day, Josh accompanied the remaining Hargus Three, Sis,
Hailey, and Huntly to the Hargus City ghost town.  It was
the first return for The Three since the mine incident.
They were pleasantly surprised to note that the dangerous,
rickety old wooden bridge across Panner's Creek had finally
been torn down.  Kenny described the way the rescue camp
had been laid out at the mine's entrance, since Wynter and
Jimmy hadn't paid all that much attention to that after
their rescue.  The barbed wire enclosure around the
entrance hadn't been replaced.  Instead, the dangerous
horizontal shaft had been walled off with concrete blocks
and cement.

      Hailey was the only one who wanted to see where Kenny
had found the stolen car with the dead man in the back
seat.  The rest explored what was left of the town itself,
little more than old foundations and remnants of the few
stone walls now, wooden walls having long since vanished.
Wynter and Cinnamon seemed to be the only ones who noticed
that the hormonally-hyperactive two spent more time than
necessary in back in the trees, then reappeared with huge
grins of satisfaction.

      They returned home to learn that International Ski
and Trail, the owners of Wizard Ski Basin, had called
Cinnamon.  They wanted Junior and the Twins to be one of
the acts at the dedication ceremony when the new concert
shell in Otter Park was completed in late August.

      Then that morning, Saturday, while the
sisters/cousins along with Josh and Huntly were saying
goodbye to Suzie, Hailey's parents had called Doctor Brees.
They had an opportunity to volunteer for a one-year
research project in Antarctica, with Mister Kennedy as a
marine biologist and Mrs. Kennedy as a paramedic.  The
project would somehow help Mister Kennedy with his doctoral
dissertation.

      Doctor Brees immediately volunteered to take care of
Hailey while they were gone.  Mister Kennedy was concerned
about the Brees's honeymoon, but Doctor Brees said that Sis
would be staying with Wynter anyway.  Hailey was just more
welcome family, though Daddy had said he was going to ask
Jimmy to move in and also adopt a son first because he
needed a few males to take his side when the arguments
started.

      At noon, the now-officially-engaged couple had
departed for Denver and a flight to San Francisco, leaving
Cinnamon, Hailey, and Ghost in the care of Wynter and her
father.  Daddy had proclaimed to Wynter that Ghost would
count as a substitute for Jimmy, who had left with his
parents for the weekend at his Uncle Jim's  He also had
wondered whether he could adopt a son without Mother's
signature on the paperwork.

      The phone had rung while Cinnamon was removing
Ghost's leash.  It was Huntly, who'd said that Finnegan
Burke had been rushed to the hospital with a ruptured
appendix.  Daddy had taken the three girls to dinner at the
Golden Dragon Chinese Buffet, and then they'd stopped by
the hospital to check on Finnegan.  Wynter was pretty sure
Finnegan wouldn't remember the kiss she gave him, wasn't
sure he'd remember the one Sis gave him, and couldn't
imagine that he could forget the one Hailey had given him.

      After they returned home, things had gone fine until
Hailey suggested Family Hot Tub night.  She'd waited until
Cinnamon was in the bathroom and Wynter was on the phone
with Suzie, who was reporting on the situation at swim
camp.  Daddy had agreed.

      Things had gone well at first.  If Daddy had been
surprised to see that Cinnamon and Hailey were both
completely shaven, he didn't show it.  Wynter had guessed
that little the two cousins did, especially Hailey, would
surprise him.  And then it happened.

      After about fifteen minutes, Hailey had made her
move, literally.  She'd stood in front of him with her back
turned, bent over to pat Ghost, which exposed her vaginal
region to Daddy, and then 'slipped' when she straightened,
landing in his lap.

      Sis had recognized what was obviously an old trick
because she had shouted, "WHITNEY GWYNETH, YOU'RE OUT OF
LINE!  DON'T YOU MOVE!  NOW GET UP!"

      Wynter had no idea what Hailey had planned, but she
knew it sure wasn't the time to ask Sis.  When her father
frowned a question at her, Wynter shook her head just
enough for him to see it and indicated the clock with her
eyes.  He understood her non-verbal message:  _Later_.

      Again Hailey had mouthed a half-hearted apology and
then acted as if nothing had happened.  Sis later told her
that Hailey's next step would have been to use her hand on
Daddy's leg as a support when she stood up, but that she'd
'slip' again and grab his penis while her breasts hit him
in the face.  Wynter couldn't believe how many tricks the
girl had and that Cinnamon seemed to know all of them.  She
sure was glad that it was Saturday night and time to go to
sleep, so that Hailey couldn't do anything else this week.

      "Hey!" Hailey whispered in the darkness.  "I'm horny.
One of you wanna eat me?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie was lost in amazement or something as she
stopped at the end of the breakfast line outside the
cafeteria.  Here she was at the swim camp in Colorado
Springs that her parents had never been able to afford, and
she was a coach!  Oh, sure, it wasn't a full-time paid job.
It was more like being a volunteer hall monitor or
something, except with food and a bed and few dollars for
expenses.  But it was a position of trust and
responsibility for her!  For just plain old ordinary
Suzanne Middleton!  And she could also learn how to swim
better herself without her stupid parents having to pay for
it or complain that they couldn't afford the cost!    How
could life POSSIBLY get any better than this?

      "Middleton?" asked a surprised voice behind her.

      She turned and focused.  For an instant she didn't
recognize the dark-haired girl because her hair was
different and she was wearing sunglasses, but the Alamosa
Swim Team tee shirt was all the clue Suzie needed.  _The
cheating little witch!_

      Suzie strained her anger out of her voice.  After
all, cheating hadn't helped the little witch THIS year, had
it?  She had come in second to the one and only Suzanne
Middleton!  "Hello, Amber."  She couldn't possibly imagine
the little witch needing lessons at swim camp.  "Are you
one of the coaches?"

      Amber Vallarta laughed.  Suzie knew that laugh.  The
little witch wasn't laughing at what Suzie said.  The
little witch was laughing at Suzie.

      "NO, silly!  Though I can see how YOU'd think _I_
would be.  We're still technically in the eleven/twelve age
group.  You have to be in the thirteen/fourteen before they
even CONSIDER you for coaching!"  She flipped a hand as if
brushing Suzie away.  "Of course, they don't take very many
even then.  Just one every year or two.  I'll apply for the
job next year."  She spread her fingertips and pressed them
against her chest, just above the boobies that were larger
than Suzie's and that the little witch used to charm the
men judges.  "I'm sure they'll take ME."

      _The little witch doesn't know!_  Suzie crossed her
arms and tapped her chin with a finger, like she was deep
in thought or something.  "I see.  Well, maybe I'll apply
next year, too."

      Amber snorted like a love-sick horse.  "Oh, I
wouldn't waste my time if I were YOU," she said, stabbing
her pointing finger at Suzie.  "They won't take BOTH of us,
and I'm sure that even if it came down to just you and me,
they'd take ME any day of the week and twice on Sunday."
Amber lifted her head and looked down at Suzie, just the
way the ex-Mrs. Brees had done.  "Just because YOU got
lucky this year doesn't mean that you'll get a coaching job
next year.  Especially since _I_ plan to beat you and get
back MY championship.  It's nice that you made it to the
swim camp for a vacation, but this won't help you against
ME at state next year."

      "Suzie!  There you are!"  Miss Jackson came out of
nowhere and patted Suzie's back.  "Whatever are you doing
here?  We don't have to stand in line.  Our tables are over
there, through that door.  Oh, and here's your coach's cap.
Hello, Amber.  Nice to see you again."  She put an arm
around Suzie's shoulders and led her away while talking
about Suzie's duties as a coach.

      Suzie put on her orange cap as Miss Jackson repeated
stuff she'd already told her.  She glanced back as they
entered the staff door.

      In a low voice Miss Jackson asked, "Is her mouth
still open?"

      Suzie giggled with delight.  "Yes, Miss Jackson."

      "Good."  Miss Jackson gave her shoulders a squeeze
that felt ever so warm and cozy and good.  "And Suzie,
we're not at school now, where I'm your coach.  We're both
coaches working together as equals.  You can call me
Jennifer, and Amber will call you Coach Middleton or Miss
Middleton."

      THAT was how life could get better!

                            ~ ~ ~

      Richard's eyes shifted from the television to the
patio door curtains when the screen door slid open and the
curtains rustled.  Cinnamon, dressed in what he thought of
as three blue postage stamps and some dental floss and with
her long hair pinned atop her head, bounced into the family
room and closed the screen door.  Wynter was also sunning
herself in a bikini, but Wynter's had more material in one
bra cup than in all of Cinnamon's or Hailey's suits.

      "You're lying on the couch instead of in your
recliner?" she asked with a concerned frown.  "Are you
feeling ill?"

      The touch of genuine concern in her voice got to him,
reminding him very much of Wynter.  The two truly were
sisters born of different parents.  "No, it's just that
this is more comfortable for watching the television
sitting in that corner.  I didn't feel like turning the
recliner to face the tv.  The strain still makes my head
hurt."

      She stopped across the coffee table in front of him,
grabbed her left elbow in her right hand, and her pointed
chin in her left.  He tried not to notice how much of her
wasn't covered by the two upper postage stamps, nor by the
single lower one.

      "Well, you have two choices," she said.  "You can get
a recliner that swivels and locks facing whatever direction
you want, or you could move the recliner over here."  She
pointed to a spot between the couch and the loveseat,
partially blocking traffic into the family room.

      "The first are rather expensive, and the second
doesn't allow me to place a lamp for reading."

      She gave him a look that made him wonder if she might
have some of Angie's blood in her veins after all.  Her
right arm shot up the way her left did when she counted the
beat of a song, but she extended a forefinger and pointed
at the ceiling.  "Track lights.  Put the chair where you
want it, then put in a track light.  With a track light you
can move the chair some and still adjust the light where
you want it."

      Richard made a concession gesture with his face and
shoulders.  "Never thought of that," he admitted.

      Her smile lifted her round cheeks, pushing her eyes
into sparkling slits.  "That's why you're lucky you have me
for your daughter's sister."

      He shook his head.  "That's only one of many
reasons."  Cinnamon was like Wynter.  Either could sit
quietly out of sight behind him, and still her presence
would cheer up the room.

      She looked over her shoulder at the television.  "Am
I interrupting your movie?"

      He finally realized she wanted something.  Maybe he'd
hit his head even harder than he'd thought.  "Nah.  It's a
DVD.  I can watch it anytime."  He reached for the remote
and switched it off.  "What's up?"

      She scooted between him and the coffee table.  "May I
sit by you?  You don't have to get up."

      "Sure."  Richard rolled onto his side and pushed his
body against the couch back.  Cinnamon sat on the edge,
next to his chest.  She looked like the combination of
almost-teenager and Imperious Kennedy that she truly was.
He tried to concentrate on that instead of all the round
pinkness covered by two blue postage stamps hovering above
him.  Her small body and the tiny pieces of cloth made them
look even larger.

      "Thanks.  I told them I was going to drain the swamp,
so I just have a moment.  I need to talk.  I'm not sure how
it's going to come out, but don't jump to any conclusions
at first because you're probably going to be wrong.  Okay?"

      He gave her a genuine smile of affection.  "If
Angie's your mother, then I'm your step-dad, and I'll give
you the same full consideration I'd give Wynter."

      She nodded and smiled.  "I couldn't ask for more."
She rested her left forearm atop his right arm and stared
down at him.  The look was loving and friendly but at the
same time disturbingly analytical in the way that was
characteristically Cinnamon.  "How much has Sis told you
about Hailey?"

      "The hot tub last night?  She said Hailey had, shall
we say, an overactive abundance of enthusiasm and a
deficiency of self-control."

      Cinnamon grinned at his word choice.  "You're too
diplomatic.  She acts like a slut.  Actually, she's not.
She's not a textbook nympho, either.  She just loves to
fuck.  In her own way, she's actually quite choosy, though
she appears as easy as Caroline.  The difference is that
Caroline wanted the attention, not the sex, so she'd take
anyone.  Hailey wants to get her jollies, but at the same
time she wants the guy to have his, too.  Even when she
can't fuck, she'll get a guy off so that he has a good time
because his good time makes her feel good.  Sort of
vicarious osmosis, which means he has to have some appeal
to her.  Understand?"

      "Yeah," he said, impressed with her descriptive term.
"I knew a few men like that."

      "She's Kenny with a cunt."

      Richard was more politic in his word choice, but he'd
long ago stopped being shocked by what words manifested
from Cinnamon's vocabulary.  He'd come to realize that
Cinnamon used whatever word was best for the situation and
damn the proprieties.  She didn't use "vagina," "goodie
box," "pussy," "twat," or "cunt" interchangeably, and she
used them for shock effect only when she was testing
someone to learn the person's make-up and boundaries, or
when the situation demanded shock effect.  Her word choices
seemed almost as if she'd analyzed the situation and then
selected the precise word that best conveyed her meaning.

      "She is," he agreed.

      "She wants you.  You appeal to her.  That may not be
much of a compliment given her apparent lack of standards,
but she thinks it's an honor for you.  In a way it is,
because she does have standards as well as good taste, and
you are very desirable."

      She watched the suspicion coalesce in his eyes, then
said, "You said you wouldn't jump to conclusions."

      "Sorry," he said.  "I guess Hailey has me on edge.
Forgive me?"

      She smiled.  "Always.  I'll try to keep her in line,
but it's going to be difficult.  We can't let her know
about you and Wynter, or she's liable to sneak into your
room and climb in bed with you tonight.  Or even some night
when we're here and Mom's home.  It would help if you stop
her when she gets out of line.  Or let me know and I'll
stop it.  But she will keep going after you the way she'll
keep after Jimmy.  Understand?"

      He did.  "It must be difficult keeping her from
knowing about you and Mitch," he said.  "That has to put
limits on how much you can do and when during her visits."

      Her face went neutral.  She lowered her chin and
stared at him from beneath raised eyebrows until the lights
came on.

      "Oh.  Then how do you...."  The rest of the lights
came on.  "Oh."

      The eyes went Imperious Kennedy stern.  "I want it
stated for the record that I didn't say a word about my
father and Hailey to you."

      He nodded and gave her a fatherly smile, something
that required no effort.  "So stated.  I won't tell Mitch I
know about their relationship.  I won't tell Hailey,
either.  I promise."

      The round-cheeked smile appeared.  "Thanks."  She
bent to give him a gentle daughter-type kiss.  When she
pulled back she read the relief in his eyes.  It was as if
she were thumbing through a book until she found the
paragraphs she wanted and then read them.  "You should
already know that I wouldn't kiss you like that now.  No
mistletoe."

      He'd flashed back to New Year's Eve, when he'd found
his mouth filled with her tongue under the mistletoe.  "I
know," he said.  "But Hailey would."

      "Hailey would."  She smiled.  "And thanks for trying
to pay attention to what I was saying instead of these
babies."  She wiggled her tits in his face.  "You have seen
them before, you know."

      He wondered if he was blushing the way Wynter once
did.  "Well, yes, but..."

      When he didn't finish the thought, Cinnamon's face
pulled into a frown and the Kennedy Imperious Voice
returned.  "You listen to me, buster.  Don't you EVER feel
that you can't say to me what you'd say if I were Wynter.
If you don't want to say it when Mom or Jimmy or anyone
else is around, that's okay and I understand.  But since
Wynter is my adopted sister, you don't have to bite your
tongue when it's just us.  You told me yourself that I'm
not a guest, I'm family.  Clear?"

      He smiled.  "If we'd been able to have a second child
and it hadn't been Jimmy, I'd want it to be you."

      The smile returned immediately.  Although the
circumstances were different, at the root of the change her
mood shifts were as automatic and totally complete as
Hailey's.  "And don't you forget it!"

      Her head suddenly tilted sideways a little, and the
unblinking eyes narrowed in concentration.  It was what
Wynter called Cinnamon's 'Curious Pose.'  She bent forward
and gave him a gentle kiss on the tip of his nose and then
another on his lips.  "I don't do it as well as Sis, do I?"
she said.

      "I'm afraid not," he admitted.  "But if it's any
consolation, you're first runner up."

      The grin exploded.  "That's okay.  Being number two
to Sis means I'm ahead of everybody else in the world."

      After they both laughed, her features suddenly became
sly.  "So, answer my question.  What about my gorgeous
tits, Mister Tit Man?  Unlike you, I won't jump to any
conclusions."

      He laughed, yet he knew she'd spoken with devastating
honesty.  "That's true.  Okay, something about their being
partially covered like that increases their allure, even
though I know what they look like and know that I'll
probably see them again later today or tonight.  Okay, step-
daughter?"

      She giggled.  Imperious Kennedy woman and young girl,
all in one enormously complicated but well-designed
package.  It boggled Richard's mind until he remembered
that Wynter, in her own way, was every bit as complex as
her adopted sister.  This really wasn't some new experience
for him.

      "While we're being honest with each other," she said,
"may I be blunt?  I have a habit of being blunt, you know."

      Richard shrugged his free shoulder.  "No kidding?  I
don't believe I've ever heard about your being blunt!  But
I've already said I wouldn't jump to any conclusions.  This
time I'll keep my word."

      She giggled again, and then her grin shifted to a
serious look.  "Yeah.  You do know how I won't go after
Jimmy out of respect for Sis, even though I'd slam one of
my tits in a screen door again for the opportunity to do
him, don't you?"

      Well, he'd given her permission to blunt.  "I don't
think that's any secret to anyone who really knows you,
Cinnamon."

      "Do you also know that respect for Sis and for Mom is
the only reason I haven't made a play for you, and why I'm
trying to protect you from Hailey?"

      She read his eyes again while he struggled for words
and then gave him an ageless smile.  "Well, now you do."
She patted his arm and started to rise, then stopped and
bent her face to his.  She gave him a final daughter-type
kiss.  "But just between you and me, I sure hope you don't
ruin ALL the mistletoe this year."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Huntly paid for his hot dog and chips and Coke.
"Can't believe you ran out of brown mustard," he grumbled
to the vendor as he turned.

      Kenny looked at him and then jumped, as if Huntly had
suddenly materialized out of thin air.  "Hey," Kenny said.
He didn't sound happy.  "I didn't realize you were standing
there.  You watching the T-Ball game, too?"

      "Unh uh."  Since his hands were full, he jerked his
head to point to another field.  "Little League.  But this
stand has better hot dogs.  Wanna join me?  I'll grab us
that table."

      Huntly was taking his second bite when Kenny sat
down.  Kenny looked miserable.  "What's up with you?"

      Kenny shook his head.  "Guts started hurting this
morning.  I thought I was going back to the hospital.  Two
hours later it was like turning off a switch.  Pain one
second, none the next.  It's a bitch planning anything from
one moment to the next.  You're not with Cinnamon?"

      "Have some of my chips if you want.  Nah, she'
staying with Wynter while the Doc and his housekeeper-honey
are out of town.  Who wants to watch three half-naked girls
lying in the sun."

      Kenny frowned at him and spoke around a potato chip.
"Your last working brain cell just died, didn't it?  You
DON'T want to watch three half-naked girls lying in the sun?"

      Huntly waved his hot dog in dismissal of the idea.
"Of course not.  I'd rather wait until they head for the
hot tub and watch three fully naked girls in the bubbles."

      Kenny's eyes narrowed.  "Maybe you aren't so stupid
after all."

      Huntly shrugged, then pushed himself backward to
avoid a falling dollop of the hated yellow mustard.  "Many
people didn't realize Einstein was a genius at first.
Something else he and I have in common.  Just like many
people didn't realize you were a hero again because you
didn't tell us."

      Kenny stared through the table.  "Yeah."

      The quirky intestinal problem wasn't the reason Kenny
was miserable, and Huntly knew it.  "So.  You miss her, huh?"

      Kenny sighed.  "Yeah."  His eyes lifted and focused
on Huntly.  "Who?"

      "Nice try.  You know she's out of town, don't you?"

      "No.  Where?  For how long?"

      "The Springs for a month.  Miss Jackson picked her as
the replacement when one of the coaches couldn't make it.
Mom found out that Miss Jackson called in several favors
and also threatened to quit if she didn't get Suzie."

      You didn't need Cinnamon's power's of observation to
see the pride in Kenny's face.  "No shit?"

      "Constipation."

      Kenny first frowned and then groaned.

      "That's a doctor joke," Huntly said.  "Hadn't you
heard it before?  Man, Doctor Cutie's going to wipe your
ass in medical school."

      Kenny's face twisted with a grin.  "She'll do great."

      Again Huntly didn't need Cinnamon's skills.  Kenny
had changed back to the original topic.  He wasn't talking
about Wynter.  "So, what are you going to do when you get
her back?"

      Kenny gave him an angry frown for a moment, then
relaxed.  "Well...  I guess I'd better make damned sure I
know where she is when I get a little action."

      Huntly nodded and reached for his Coke.  "Uh huh.
Just keep thinking about it.  Sooner or later some sense
will sneak up on you, unannounced and uninvited.."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter was still giving Jimmy his welcome back kiss
when she heard a yell from the street.  They glanced
through the storm door.

      Jimmy groaned.  "What are THEY doing here?"

      The pair scrambled up the steps.  As Wynter opened
the storm door, Huntly jerked a thumb to point over his
shoulder and asked, "Putting on a little show for the
neighbors?"

      "Yes," Jimmy said in a cross voice.  "Their
television's broken, so they're paying us."

      "Hey, I tell you what," Kenny smirked.  "When you get
tired, I'll take over for you, and you won't even have to
split the money with me."

      "Sorry," Jimmy said, wrapping an arm around Wynter's
waist, "but my girlfriend has standards.  High standards."

      "In that case," said Huntly, "I won't ask for a
split, either."

      "Future Doctor King," Jimmy said, "please make a
note:  becoming a teenager doesn't automatically improve
your total lack of comedic ability."

      Wynter giggled.  "What do you two bozos want?"

      Huntly's face softened.  "My knee requires medical
attention again."

      "You want to get me in the hot tub again," she
translated.

      Kenny leered.  "You talked me into it."

      Wynter and Jimmy ignored him.

      "The truth?" Huntly asked.  "Or a story that sounds
good?"

      Her left hand made circles on Jimmy's back in an
effort to calm him.  "You already know that answer."

      Huntly smiled.  "And that's why I like you, Your
Doctorness.  The truth is, I don't care if we get in the
hot tub or not, but we were at the ball fields in Otter
Park..."

      She automatically shifted into professional mode.
She shook a finger of her right hand at him.  "Huntly
Sheridan!"

      "No, I didn't.  I know better.  But I was playing
catch with Charlie after his T-Ball game because he wanted
me to, and you know how he throws."

      "Yeah," said Jimmy.  He'd been on the receiving end
of some of Charlie's wild tosses with snowballs.  "And you
went for one of the wild ones?"

      "He threw just as some elderly ladies passed by.  It
was headed right for them."

      "I went for it, too," Kenny said, "but I was too late."

      "Oh," Jimmy said.  "Well, I would have done the same
thing you did."

      Wynter knelt and gently palpated the knee with her
fingertips.  The edema was evident when she bothered to
notice.  She chastised herself because Sis would have
noticed it at once.  She sure wasn't very observant.  Maybe
she'd best forget about emergency medicine if this was the
best she could do.

      The injured joint felt rigid and warm.  "Ice
first,"she said, "then we'll loosen it in the hot tub and
I'll massage it, then ice it again.  Jimmy, would you mind
getting me one of Daddy's ice packs from the freezer,
please?  Kenny, Sis and Cuz are in my room.  Tell them
what's up, please?"

      As Kenny raced upstairs in what Wynter thought was an
unsafe manner, she said, "Come on down to the family room
for now.  Do you need help getting down the steps?"

      Huntly arched his eyebrows and shrugged.  "I dunno.
Do I get to lean on you?"

      "I might not be able to support your weight," she
said.  "But you can lean on Jimmy, or I can get Daddy."

      He sighed.  "I think I can manage with the handrail."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Richard clicked the 'Delete' button.  A soft knock at
the library door brought his head around.

      A wet Cinnamon, hair pinned up, held a towel around
her body and smiled at him.  "Am I interrupting?"

      He swiveled the chair around to face her.  "You're
family.  You're Wynter's sister.  You're never an
interruption any more than she is.  Besides, you can't
interrupt somebody who'd rather do anything than check
e-mail from idiots who can't read a simple report and
understand what's right in front of their noses.  What's up?"

      Her face could have been sympathy or empathy.  "It's
not easy dealing with the brain dead, is it?"

      "Are you speaking of anyone specific downstairs?" he
asked.

      That brought back the smile.  "Not this time.  Yet.
But give them a minute or two.  Since we've crowded you out
of the tub, I brought you something."

      Richard returned the smile."If there's one thing I
love more than presents, it's surprise presents.  What?"

      "These," she spread her arms and held open the towel,
"since you won't get to see them in the hot tub as you
expected.  The rest of the view is just a bonus."

      Maybe he was wrong about surprise presents.  Nervous
anxiety flooded through him.  "Cinnamon..."

      She rewrapped the towel and tucked in a corner to
hold it in place.  "I thought so," she said in a measured
voice.  "Do you know why I did that?"

      He shrugged and vertically circled one hand in the
air before him, as if he were trying to fan up an answer.
Maybe that's because it was exactly what he was doing.
"Because... you thought I'd be disappointed and were trying
to keep me from feeling bad?"

      The way she shook her head caused an immediate
flashback to old Mrs. Sutherland the day he hadn't done his
civics homework and had tried to fake an answer in class.
He halfway expected the little redhead to tut-tut-tut him
and ask how expected to be a good citizen if he didn't
understand how the country worked.

      "Granted you don't have the right plumbing that goes
with the ability for deep thought," she said in a withering
voice, "but you sometimes fake it very well.  Try again."

      He idly wondered if Mrs. Sutherland had been a
redhead before she turned gray.  "Because... Because it was
a test?"

      Half of her mouth quirked upward.  "Very good.  And
what was the objective and the lesson?"

      That was the difficult part.  He imitated Wynter and
turned the events over in his mind, examining them from
every possible angle.  Cinnamon clearly understood what he
was doing because she smiled and nodded to herself while
patiently waiting.

      "The objective was... uh... hmmm.  The objective was
to see if I would jump to conclusions even though I'd said
I wouldn't."

      "And the lesson?"

      That meant he'd gotten the first part right.  "The
lesson is that while I said I wouldn't, I did.  I need to
trust you in my mind, not just in my words."

      She smiled.  "I can see why Mom married you.  You
have potential.  Maybe in a few more years you'll be as
smart as Mom, if not your daughter.  Anyway, Sis asked me
to apologize to you since she forgot to.  She said you'd
understand that it's a medical emergency, and that she's
sorry there's not enough room for you in the tub, too."

      "I understood when I was preempted.  She didn't need
to apologize."

      Cinnamon nodded with a wry grin.  "You and I know
that, and so does Jimmy, but you know Sis.  She was about
to worry herself into an ulcer, so I left Kenny supervising
Hailey and ran up here to tell you."

      "You left KENNY supervising HAILEY?"

      She grinned.  "Keeps her off Jimmy.  But maybe I'd
better go pry them apart."

      "Let me know if you need a crowbar," he said.  "Oh,
and Cinnamon?  Thanks."

      The corner of her mouth quirked up again.  "For the
show?"

      "For the lesson."

      She nodded and smirked.  "I knew that.  I just wanted
to hear you admit it," she said as she turned and vanished.

      He supposed she knew he also meant for the show, too.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter's fingers sprang from the bass keys as Jimmy's
bounced from the trebles.  She loved playing four-hand
piano with him almost better than anything else.  Almost.
But she really and truly was sorry that this was their last
piece and that he had to go home.

      She turned to the applause from Sis, sitting on the
end of the love seat nearest her and with her body turned
toward the two performers, and Hailey, who was facing Daddy
but had her head and upper torso turned toward the
performers.

      She was sorry Kenny and Huntly couldn't stay, but
Huntly had needed to get home quickly.  He'd called his dad
to pick up himself and his bicycle, and Kenny had gone
along to provide medical care if Huntly needed it while
getting up to his room.

      Kenny was becoming as big a mystery to her as
Cinnamon had once been.  Maybe he was twins and Doctor
Taylor had kept that secret from her.

      She thanked them and turned to her father.  He was
applauding from his recliner, but he had a look of nervous
concern, and his eyes were on Sis.

      The little redhead must have read her face because
she looked at Daddy, too.  He said something to Sis using
non-verbal communication that Wynter didn't understand.
Whatever it was, Sis understood it.  She lifted her right
arm and looked under it and behind herself.

      "WHITNEY GWYNETH!  CLOSE YOUR LEGS!"



Thirteen

      Kenny froze halfway through the door to Huntly's
room.  "Well," he said, "I didn't expect to see you here."

      Huntly placed his new guitar beside him on the
mattress and shook his head.  "I told him the same thing.
I've already asked him why he's here when he could be with
Doctor Cutie and her two friends.  He's not given me an
answer yet."

      Kenny frowned in thought as he continued into the
room and stopped beside the bed.  "Maybe it's because his
girlfriend went on the rag today."

      Jimmy jumped from Huntly's desk chair to his feet,
and his face clouded.  "How'd you know that?"

      Kenny shrugged one shoulder.  "That's what she told
you last night in the hot tub.  Weren't you listening to
her?  You were sitting closer to her than I was.  Huntly
heard her, too."

      Huntly nodded.  "I did."

      Jimmy shook his head and cooled sightly, then sank to
the chair again.  "You putz.  What are you doing here?"

      "Wynter asked me to check out her patient's knee."

      Huntly drew his hands to his chest in mock horror.
"Oh, crap!  Did she tell you to kiss it?"

      "Kiss it?  I thought she said piss it.  Damn.  I
wasted a trip."  He turned his leer back to Jimmy.  "Just
because you can't pork Wynter doesn't mean you have to do
without, you know.  Hailey's available, and she's good."

      "She's damned good," Huntly added.  "Three holes, no
waiting."

      "Five."

      Huntly frowned at Kenny.  "Five?" he asked in a voice
as puzzled as his face.

      "Yeah," said Kenny.  He curled his fingers around and
used his thumbs to make tubes of his hands.

      Huntly smiled at Jimmy.  "Five," he agreed.  "But to
be tight enough for Kenny, she has to close her fists."

      Kenny threw up his hands.  "Cinnamon's right.  You
are a shithead."

      Jimmy rose to his feet.  "Two putzes, no waiting."
He started for the door.

      "Wait a minute," Huntly protested.  "You didn't say
why you'd come."

      Jimmy stopped.  His shoulders slumped, and he looked
at Huntly over his right one.  "I wanted some advice.  But
I need it from somebody more mature.  I'll go over to
Kenny's house and see if Charlie's busy."

      "He's at the optometrist's," Kenny said.  "Gets his
glasses today.  Guess you're stuck with us.  What's your
problem with Wynter?  Except that you're cut off, of course."

      "You know, Kenny, there's a reason I still have my
girlfriend and you're shopping around.  There's more to
life than just fucking."

      "Of course!" Huntly said, slapping his forehead.  He
turned wide brown eyes to Kenny.  "There's BLOWJOBS!"

      Kenny slapped his own forehead, hoping that he could
avert any discussion of Suzie.  "EARTH TO KENNY!  DUH!" he
said in his weird voice.  "How could I forget that?  Maybe
because it's been almost fourteen hours since my last one."

      Jimmy folded his arms across his chest.  "Well, if
you're in a hurry to give another one, I'll leave you two
alone."

      _Damn it!  I walked right into that one!_  "Look, I'm
here to see about a patient."  He didn't think changing the
subject would help, but he could always think of a retort
later and use it, saying that Jimmy had kept the topic
going when he'd tried to drop it.  And maybe he could avoid
questions about Suzie.

      Jimmy surprised him.  "Then examine him."

      Kenny went around to the other side of the bed,
saying, "Put his guitar in the stand for him, please.  I
need him to scoot over to this side of the bed."

      Kenny gave the guitar to Jimmy and sat on the edge of
the bed.  Huntly eased over.  Kenny gently probed the left
knee with his fingertips.  "Feels better than I expected,"
he said.  "I'll massage it for you, but I won't be as good
as Wynter.  It should help anyway.  You stay off it this
week and you should be able to go on the boat ride
Saturday.  You put any strain on it and you won't."

      "I'll be good, Daddy."  He moaned softly as Kenny
found the right spot.  Something inside shifted, and relief
flooded the area.

      "Just don't expect me to play with your dick like
Wynter does."

      Although he was looking at Huntly's knee, he saw the
change in the boy's face and the look he gave Jimmy.
_Mistake, dude_, Kenny thought.  He didn't know what it
meant, but he was sure it was some kind of leverage.

                            ~ ~ ~

      As he rode past the middle school and pondered what
Huntly had told him, Jimmy heard a familiar clipped voice
calling his name.  He saw Mister Shelby waving at him from
across  the parking lot, checked for traffic, and made a
quick left across Seabridge Trail, stopping in front of
Mister Shelby's Volvo.

      After a quick exchanging of greetings, Mister Shelby
said, "I was on my way to your house to see you, if you
were home.  Do you have a minute?"  When Jimmy said that he
did, Mister Shelby said, "I just learned that Finnegan is
recovering from an appendectomy.  I was going to ask him to
build something for a presentation I'm giving at a
teacher's conference next week.  I'm not all thumbs," he
held up the index finger he waved to illustrate or
emphasize points in class, "thanks to this one.  But the
rest are."

      "I'm not very good with electronics..." Jimmy began.

      Mister Shelby waggled the non-thumb back-and-forth.
"No, no.  This is strictly mechanical.  Mostly a little
carpentry and some polystyrene plastics work.  Kenny has
said several times that you were almost as good as Finnegan
with most wood and metal construction and better with
plastics."

      Jimmy shrugged.  "I'm okay, I guess."

      "Well, I got a second opinion from another qualified
future doctor on several occasions.  She was quite
unbiased, I believe."

      "That's one thing about Wynter," Jimmy said with a
wry smile.  "She'll tell you exactly what she thinks, good
or bad, if you insist, and I don't know anyone else who
goes as far as she does to be unbiased."

      "I've... noticed that," Mister Shelby said with a
sympathetic grin and tone that made Jimmy wonder what he
WASN'T saying.  "And I've also noticed that she isn't as
bothered or embarrassed to make negative comments as she
was at the beginning of school.  Cinnamon's influence, I
suspect?"

      "We like to think it was both of us," Jimmy's hands
spun about each other, "working in concert, but to tell the
truth, I'm beginning to think the actual agent of change
was Huntly."

      Mister Shelby's eyebrows raced up his increasingly
taller forehead.  "Really?"

      Jimmy shrugged.

      "Well, I'll be."  Mister Shelby shook his head.
"Well, if you have a minute, could you come with me to my
classroom, please?  I'll show you what I need, and you can
tell me how much you'll charge."

      Jimmy waved off the idea.  "Oh, you don't have to pay
me anything.  I'm happy to help."

      Mister Shelby grasped his left wrist in his right
hand and rested them atop the "self-contained armrest," as
he called it, of his round protruding abdomen.  "First of
all, never agree to work for free until you understand the
magnitude of the job involved.  Second, in addition to the
cost of any materials you might have to purchase, always
add an amount for the value of your time.  Third, you have
to accept payment or people will think you're getting A's
because you're buying them with your labor."

      Jimmy scoffed at the idea.  "Mister Shelby, people
know you wouldn't do that."

      Mister Shelby's face became as serious as Wynter's
during one of her safety lectures.  "Jimmy, you know that,
I know that, and Wynter knows that, among others.  Things
aren't always what they seem when dealing with people and
perceptions, unlike science.  For that matter, not even
science is always what it seems."

      One of the things Jimmy liked about Mister Shelby was
that he was always teaching you something new, whether in
class or not.  "You mean like phlogistion or the ether that
people once thought existed?"

      Mister Shelby's hands moved to his red paisley
suspenders where they were buttoned to his pants.  "Nothing
that exotic.  What do you get when you add one mole of
oxygen to two moles of hydrogen?"

      Jimmy grinned.  "One mole of water."

      Mister Shelby raised one eyebrow.  "Always?"

      The answer was too obvious, so he was obviously
overlooking something.  He frowned.

      Mister Shelby shook his head.  "My job is to teach
you to think, not to think for you."  Jimmy said the words
in unison, causing Mister Shelby to smile.  "At least you
remembered something from science class," he said with a
smug look that always reminded Jimmy of Kenny.

      Jimmy knew how sneaky and devious his teacher could
be.  He put on this thinking cap while Mister Shelby waited
patiently.  After a few moments the lights came on.  "One-
half mole of hydrogen peroxide plus a mole of hydrogen."

      Mister Shelby smiled.  "See?  Water is obvious and
it's correct, but it's not always correct.  Your buying A's
is obvious to some people, but while it may be a correct
assumption for some, it's not a correct assumption for us.
But many people will BELIEVE the appearance rather than the
truth.  Others will see the truth and believe it, but will
also believe that other factors are at play when they are
not."

      Jimmy frowned.  "That's not a very good analogy..."

      "Of course it isn't.  I was checking to see if you
were paying attention."

      "Uh huh.  Right.  But I understand.  Okay.  So show
me what you need."

      As Jimmy accompanied Mister Shelby to the classroom,
he told his teacher about their observations at the flat
rock overlooking Porcupine Creek.  And somewhere deep in
his mind, Mister Shelby's comments began making
subconscious connections.

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Yes, sir, I understand," Wynter said.  "Just tell
Jimmy what you need, and I'll draw it for you.  I gotta run
now, because I have visitors."  She gave Mister Shelby a
brief farewell and hung up the phone, then threw a cloth
over the oil painting on the easel.

      Hailey appeared in the hall, stopped in front of
Daddy's office, and greeted him before turning around to
Wynter's door and bumping her butt at Daddy.  "Hey!" she
said when she saw Wynter looking at her.  "Can you, like,
spare a minute for me?"

      Wynter was surprised that Sis wasn't with Hailey.
Well, that explained the way Dragon looked, and the way he
didn't look, when he raced out of the room.  "Sure," she
said.  "We're cousins now.  I always have time for family."
_Including Aunt Dumb and Uncle Bozo_, she thought, though
she sure didn't WANT to make time for them.  But, it was
the polite thing to do.

      Hailey entered and exchanged hugs and a sisterly
kiss.  "Are you, like, still working on Cuz's birthday
present?"

      "Uh huh."  Cinnamon had diagnosed that it was a
painting of her because Wynter had shown her the painting
of Jimmy she'd made for his birthday, but she hadn't shown
Sis the current project.  But Sis never asked and, like
Jimmy with his painting, never sneaked a look under the
cloth at it while it was unfinished.  "It's almost done.
Want to see it again?"

      "Sure!"

      Wynter carefully removed the cloth, insuring that it
didn't smear the fresh paint.

      "_Holy shit!_" Hailey murmured as she stared at the
painting of Cinnamon in the dress she'd worn for the talent
show.  The little redhead was seated on her throne, framed
between two cymbals and holding her drumsticks upright in
clasped hands.  "That is SO the absolute MAX!"

      "I'm having trouble finishing her hair."  She
retrieved a paper and turned it face-up before handing it
to Hailey.  "I can do it the way she had it pinned up in
colored pencils, but I'm having trouble translating that to
oil."

      Hailey looked at the colored pencil drawing, then
idly scratched her bare midriff as she leaned forward to
peer close-up at the painting's hair.  "Yeah," she said,
"but it's, like, not really noticeable unless you know to
look for it."

      "Well," Wynter said, taking the paper back and
returning it face-down to its original resting place, "I
know, so I notice it.  So, how come Sis isn't with you?"

      "She, like, went to see Finnegan.  Hey, can we, like,
talk where we SO won't be overheard?"  She glanced at the
open door.

      "Sure," Wynter said.  "Daddy will be busy in his
office for a while, and I don't have to start lunch yet
because we slept late this morning."  Too late, Wynter
realized that she'd probably not worded that the best way.
At least she hadn't used the word "together."  But,
fortunately, Hailey seemed preoccupied   "And Mother will
be busy playing catch-up in her office and won't want to be
bothered."

      Poor Mother.  She'd arrived home maybe thirty minutes
ago and with her usual headache after dealing with Aunt
Dumb and Uncle Bozo.  Wynter and her father hadn't pressed
for details, but the situation had to be bad since Mother
had left Grand Island around three that morning.  And now
she was on the phone with her boss, who Wynter thought of
as inflexible, scatterbrained, and other terms that weren't
nearly that nice.

      Hailey spoke softly.  "It's, like, about Cuz."

      Wynter had diagnosed that much.  They covered the
painting, told her father they'd be in the back yard, and
retrieved glasses of lemonade en route to the picnic table.
Wynter watched Dragon patrol the perimeter of the yard
while Hailey worked her way up to the real issue.

      Finally Hailey reached across the table and closed a
hand around Wynter's wrist.  "Like, how much of what
happened with the guy who attacked her do you know?"

      Well, that certainly was a surprise question.  "Not
much.  Sis doesn't talk about it."  Wynter hoped that
Hailey would accept that, but she suspected the opposite
would be true.  It was.

      "How bad did it, like, shake her up?"

      Wynter shrugged.  "People react differently to
stress.  Sometimes what you see doesn't really reflect
what's in their thoughts or feelings.  People..."

      Hailey gently squeezed her wrist to stop her.  "That
is SO not an answer.  Wynter, I love her as much as you do,
and, like, I SO am worried.  I think you are, too.  Well,
I've known her, like, longer than you have.  If there's
something we can, like, do to help, then we SO can do more
working together."

      Wynter thought about that as Dragon trotted to her.
She patted his head and worried about patient
confidentiality.  Hailey was, in a way, a qualified
external consultant with the patient's best interests at
heart.  She sure hoped she wasn't making a mistake when she
finally said, "It didn't seem to shake her up at all.  She
seemed to be almost totally unaffected."

      Hailey nodded.  She seemed to be responding to
something she suspected instead of what Wynter had said.
"She, like, set him up."

      "Well, I don't know that's true," she said as Dragon
sprawled on his side in the sun at the end of the table.

      "No WAY!" said Hailey, sounding like she knew exactly
what Wynter was thinking instead of what she was saying.
"No way could you know.  No way she would, like, tell you.
But you SO suspect that she did."

      Wynter was still wondering whether she'd given away
too much through non-verbal information when Hailey laughed.

      "Uncle Mitch and Kenny both said she, like, almost
bit his dick off, but didn't.  She left it attached, but SO
worse than useless."

      Wynter nodded and scowled.  "And as far as I'm
concerned, it was better than he deserved!"

      Hailey nodded.  "Yeah," she said in a disdainful
voice.  "He might as well, like, keep it.  Some dicks even
I don't want."

      Wynter decided to ask something that had been on her
mind, but Hailey spoke first.

      "Like, how much of her life with Aunt Bitch do you
know about?"

      Wynter guessed that wasn't a surprise question,
either way she interpreted it.  She forced her eyes to stay
focused on Hailey's, though she wanted to look anywhere
else.  She tried hard, but she couldn't stop her lip from
curling.  "Probably ten percent of it, maybe less.  Just
what I saw and what others said they saw.  She was a HORRID
woman.  How can anyone hate her own daughter?"

      Hailey slowly shook her head.  "No way.  You probably
know, like, one percent of it, max.  It was SO much worse
than you can imagine.  I've lived in it, while you were,
like, passing through.  All ten of Gran Millie's kids were
sorta like Aunt Bitch, except for my father.  Well, there's
Aunt Samantha, but she, like, didn't make it to her first
birthday because of birth defects.  Hey, you think Aunt
Bitch hated Cinnamon?  You should hear the family stories
about how Gran Millie treated Samantha for being deformed."

      Wynter guessed she shouldn't be surprised, but she
still had trouble forcing her mouth to close.

      "The whole bogus family is SO fucked up except for
Dad and Great Aunt Victoria on Gran Millie's side.  That's
why both are, like, family outcasts:  they SO act like real
people.  Well, good riddance to the rest.  On Grandfather
Grenville's side there aren't any exceptions, and, like,
good riddance to them, too."  Hailey turned her head and
spat.

      Wynter was morbidly fascinated.  Not only had she
learned more about Cinnamon's family in the last few
seconds than she'd learned since she'd met Cinnamon, but
she'd just discovered that Hailey also possessed an innate
ability to use the Kennedy Imperious Look, not just the
regal demeanor she'd worn at the airport.  She knew she'd
have a hard time explaining the difference to anyone who
hadn't seen both, but anyone who had seen both looks would
implicitly understand.

      "Well," Hailey said with a soft sigh as she relaxed
back into a normal person.  Or as normal as Hailey got,
Wynter decided.

      _Well, that wasn't very nice, was it?  She's here
because she's worried about Sis, and I'm thinking unkind
things about her.  Maybe I should apologize._

      Before Wynter could speak, Hailey began listing some
of the incidents from Sis's life in Boston.  Both were
wiping tears when Hailey finally choked to a halt.

      "I, um, I guess you don't mind being here instead of
Boston this summer," Wynter said.

      Hailey shook her head.  "No.  It's, like, too damned
cold here for me right now, but this place is SO the warmth
compared to the cold-hearted freezer I'd have, like, been
living in there.  Cuz was, like, the ONLY reason I'd want
to go there.  And Uncle Mitch, of course."  She sniffed.
"Cuz SO loved visiting me in Hawaii because it, like, got
her out of that situation for a few months, but she, like,
couldn't enjoy it because she SO worried about Uncle Mitch
back there alone with that bitch.  I, like, had a real
family, and she'd have, like, given anything to have one,
too."

      Wynter shrugged one shoulder.  "Well, now that Doctor
Brees is free of that horrid person and has Mrs. Vasquez,
Sis is finally going to have a real family, too."

      Hailey wiped a stray tear and smiled.  "Cuz has had
one since she, like, got you for her sister and your mother
for her mom."

      Wynter's mouth spread in a warm smile at the idea.
"We certainly feel that way."

      Hailey's next lurch in a new direction caught Wynter
completely off guard.  "She set up Aunt Bitch the same way
she set up the Wylie bastard, didn't she?"

      "Um..."  How the heck should she respond to that?

      Hailey grinned.  "Hey!  Of course you, like, don't
KNOW.  But you, like, suspect, don't you?"

      Obviously Hailey did.  Wynter saw no reason to
pretend she didn't.  "Yes.  Well, sorta.  I mean..."

      "That's okay.  I understand.  She SO wouldn't do
anything that was obvious or, like, could be traced.  Hey,
I SO can't say why I feel that way, either, except that it,
like, fits her pattern."

      A tiny shiver raced in icy footsteps from Wynter's
first cervical vertebra down to her coccyx and back.
"Pattern?"

      Hailey raised an eyebrow. "Do you think these were,
like, the only times she'd resorted to extreme measures?
The first one I'm pretty sure she set up was, like, five
years ago, on her eighth birthday."

      Hailey's topic lurched again.  "Hey, Cuz SO believes
in letting the punishment fit the crime.  Did you know that
two of the family's doctors may, like, lose their licenses
for supposedly helping Aunt Bitch get her drugs?  One for
sure will.  And they, like, just happen to be two who
helped keep Uncle Mitch from getting the job he wanted in
Denver.  Coincidence?  Hey!  Personally, I SO wouldn't be
surprised if Cousin Simon soon finds his pulled, too.  Or
at least, in jeopardy."

      _That just doesn't make any sense.  How could Sis
manage that?  She was in Colorado and everyone else was in
Boston.  Sis couldn't..._

      It was the moment the lights came on.  With another
shiver, Wynter at last understood the true meaning behind
Sis's often-used phrase, "You can never have too many
friends."

      "Do you, like, know why Cuz is an only child?"
Hailey asked in yet another sudden conversational lurch.

      "Sort of," Wynter admitted.  "She said that her... I
mean, that woman let Doctor Brees have intercourse only
once on the honeymoon and then was mad because he
impregnated her when he was supposed to be infertile.  He
never had intercourse with her again."

      "No poley in the holey, no swelly in the belly."

      Wynter rolled her eyes.  "That sounds like something
Kenny would say."

      "He did.  I was, like, quoting him.  Hey!  Do you,
like, know why I'm an only child?"

      "Well... no.  But I suppose it's not for the same
reason."

      "Unh uh.  Cuz and I are, like, guessing, but we think
it's SO because all the others except Aunt Bitch had large
families, and that my parents were afraid that we'd turn
out to be, like, little shits, too.  Yeah, it makes you
say, 'No way!' but Cuz says people will, like, believe the
most bogus things."

      Wynter sure couldn't argue with that.

      "Hey!  You want to get in on a bet?  I'm starting a
pool.  Do you think Uncle Mitch and Rosita will have a
baby, and if so, when will it be born?"

      "Um..."  It did sound reasonable.  "Let me think
about when for a little while.  Okay?"

      "Five dollars to get in," Hailey said.  "Hey, I think
it would be nice if they, like, had one of their own.
Well, it's not like Cuz wouldn't be 'theirs,' but...  Hey,
you know what I mean."

      Wynter did, from a genetics point of view and from
her diagnosis of Hailey's intent.  "A real sister instead
of me, even if she was only a half-sister."

      "No WAY!" Hailey barked in that Kennedy Imperious
Voice while using the Imperious Look.

      The sound made Dragon spring to his feet and stare at
Hailey, his hackles rising around his collar.  Without
taking her eyes off Hailey, Wynter snapped her fingers at
him and pointed down.  He lay down again, but this time
upright instead of on his side.  His eyes stayed locked on
Hailey, who appeared not to notice.  He would obey Wynter's
command, but he would decide for himself whether she was in
danger from another human.

      "Don't you DARE say you aren't, like, a real sister
to her!" Hailey continued, but in a normal voice, though
she shook a finger at Wynter.  "Cuz heard that, she'd SO
turn you over her knee and beat your butt!  And I'd, like,
help her, and not for kinky reasons, either!  Hey, next to
Uncle Mitch, you're SO the most important person in her
life, even more than me, and I, like, don't blame her.  I
am SO the jel that she has a sister and I don't, and I can
SO understand why she, like, feels that way.  Especially
now that I've met you and understand, like why you are so
good for her!  I can't imagine any girl NOT wanting you for
her sister."

      Wynter felt her heart swelling in her chest just
before an idea arrived.  "Um, Hailey, could you excuse me
for a minute or two?  You can play with Dragon if you want.
I'll be back shortly."

      Hailey gave her that characteristic mischievous grin.
"Hey!  I'm kinda horny.  You think he'd like to do me
doggie style?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter led her parents onto the patio.  She stopped
at the edge, with her father behind and to her right and
her mother behind and to her left.  Each rested the closest
hand on her shoulders.

      Hailey was in the middle of the yard, letting Dragon
fetch a stick.  She raced him back to the patio, losing by
only half the distance from where they'd been to the patio
itself.

      "Mother has a question," Wynter announced as she
scratched Dragon's ears.

      "Whitney Gwyneth Kennedy, we've held an emergency
family meeting with three of four members in attendance.
We've analyzed the following facts:  you are going to be
without parents for a year; you are, and will continue to
be for a year, a couple of thousand miles from home; and
you have no younger siblings to pick on.  We have concluded
that you meet the criteria for adoption into this family.
Therefore, we formally ask, will you agree to our adoption
of you?"

      Wynter didn't know Hailey's eyes could get that big,
but they did as she replied, "No WAY!" in disbelief.

      "Way."  Wynter could hear the smile in Mother's
voice, even if she was standing where Wynter couldn't see it.

      "What if Cuz objects.  She's not here to vote."

      "Three out of four," Daddy said.  "She loses."

      Tears flooded her eyes as Hailey smiled.  "I'd love
it!"

      Wynter had to glance up at her father before he
remembered he was to speak.  "Oh.  Then by the very limited
powers granted to me by the females in this family, I
formally welcome you as a member and my adopted daughter,
Whitney Gwyneth 'Hailey' Kennedy-King, as yet another
female to further reduce my influence."

      "Smarty pants," Wynter said.  She smiled at her
newest sibling.  "Hi, Sis."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie put on her most serious face, partly as a way
to keep from laughing with glee or something.  The Swim
Camp Director and all of the coaches except one were seated
at one side of a long table.  Facing the table from the
other side were Coach Nancy Dale and her star swimmer,
Amber Vallarta.  Amber was furious.

      "Well, why is SHE a coach and not me?" Amber growled,
pointing a finger at Suzie.

      "Because Coach Kowalski couldn't make it and Coach
Jackson demanded Coach Middleton as her replacement,"
Mister Berger, the Director, said.

      The little witch's face turned a shade of red that
was very familiar to Suzie.  Well, to those who knew Suzie,
that is, since she rarely was looking at herself in a
mirror when she was that mad.  "Middleton's a SWIMMER, not
a COACH!"

      "COACH Middleton is now a coach as well as a
swimmer," said Mister Berger.

      Suzie heard the warning in his voice, maybe because
she'd had so much practice hearing it in her parents'
voices.  But Amber seemed upblivious to it because she
turned to Coach Dale--Jennifer had explained to her that at
official meetings she was Coach Dale and not Nancy--and
barked, "Why didn't YOU insist on ME instead?"  She sounded
like Mrs. Robinson's little yip-yap Yorkshire terrier back
home.

      Coach Dale sure as heck wasn't hearing THAT question
for the first time.  She looked like she was ever so ready
to strangle the little witch or something.  "I told you,"
she said, confirming Suzie's suspicious.  "Because Coach
Middleton ACTS like a coach.  Coach Jackson says she's been
helping other swimmers on her girls' teams as well as the
swimmers on the boys' teams, too.  You never help anyone
but yourself."

      Suzie had to fake a coughing fit to hide the laugh
that snuck out.  "Sorry," she said.  "I must have swallowed
wrong or something."  Jennifer's--Coach Jackson's, she
meant--warning look wasn't very good because she was trying
not to laugh or something herself.

      Suzie wished she had a camera to catch the look on
the cheating little witch's face before she looked back at
Coach Dale and yipped, "And I'm supposed to listen to
MIDDLETON in those drills?  She'll be telling me the wrong
stuff just so I'll lose to her again."

      "COACH Middleton," Mister Berger warned again in the
voice Mom used when Suzie was about to be grounded for a
month.

      "Coach Middleton won't do that because she's a
professional," Coach Shear from Lamar said.  "She doesn't
even resort to cheating to win."

      Amber jumped to her feet.  "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO
MEAN?"

      Coach Dale put a hand on the little witch's shoulder
and not-too-gently pushed her back into her chair.  "MISS
VALLARTA," she said, "just because I don't agree with Coach
Jackson in competition on that point, that doesn't negate
the fact that I've warned you repeatedly about launching
too soon in private.  THAT is what Coach Shear means.
Coach Middleton will do the right thing in training because
it's to her advantage in the long run.  The better you do,
the more she has to improve herself to stay competitive,
and that's going to help her when she's in the Olympics."

      Suzie thought she was going to wet herself.  First
Miss Jackson--Jennifer--Coach Jackson... whoever--said
Suzie was a future Olympic swimmer, and now the little
witch's OWN COACH had just said THE SAME THING!

      Amber snorted.  "That dogmeat MIDDLETON in the
Olympics?"

      "Miss Vallarta," Mister Berger said, "this is your
last warning.  You will address Coach Middleton by her
title or as 'Miss Middleton,' or you will be excused from
this camp.  Think about that while you do an extra fifty
laps this evening."

      Suzie would have had to hide a giggle if she'd heard
that, but she was still too stunned by what Coach Dale had
said.  She even missed the part about her supervising
Amber's fifty laps.



Fourteen

      Nancy Dale sighed in frustration and glanced at the
clock on the competition display board.  Five more minutes
until noon, and then the swimming would be over.  She had
been looking forward to chaperoning the group going to the
Cave of the Winds until she learned that her star pupil had
signed up for that trip that morning.  Maybe she could find
somebody else to take the sightseeing group while she
toured every bar in El Paso County and had a drink in each.

      Make that a double in each.

      Neat.

      She finally heard her star pupil go silent.  She had
no idea what the girl had been saying other than the
general nature of her complaint.  "Amber, give it a rest.
You aren't learning anything standing here bitching.  Get
back in the water and learn something."

      Amber threw up her hands in frustration.  "That's
what I'm TELLING you!  MIDDLETON says I'm holding my hands
WRONG and kicking WRONG when I roll on my side in the
freestyle!"

      Nancy massaged the bridge of her nose between a thumb
and two fingertips.  "Have you tried it her way?"

      "Well, of COURSE not!"  Amber didn't say it, but
Nancy could hear the final two words in her tone:  "you
idiot!"

      She sighed.  "Then try it her way.  If it doesn't
work, you can always switch back later."

      "COACH!  How would SHE know what works?  Why should I
listen to HER, even if I am doing it WRONG?  SHE wasn't
even SMART enough to know that she DIDN'T have to swim my
extra laps with me!"

      Nancy shook her head.  "Amber, you're blind!  You
have it completely, totally wrong.  She ASKED Mister Berger
if it was okay for her to swim them with you.  The lesser
reason was so that she'd have the same training as you, not
letting you get stronger than her.  The primary reason,
though, was so that she could watch you one-on-one, without
the distraction of others in the pool, and HELP you."

      Amber raised two fists and slammed them downward.
"She was trying to learn how to BEAT ME!"

      She'd have two doubles in each bar.  Followed by beer
chasers.  "She already knows how to do that.  Remember?
And without launching early?  She's trying to insure that
you swim well enough to be competition next year, because
nobody else has a chance to beat her and make her try
harder."

      Amber laughed in one raucous bark.  "Well, that's
just SILLY!"

      Nancy sighed.  "Amber, get back in the water and do
what COACH Middleton says, or she'll be asking to swim with
you tonight while you do another fifty laps.  Not one more
word out of your mouth, or it will be a hundred.  Clear?"

      Nancy watched her star swimmer huff and stomp her way
to the pool edge, plunging in with a cannonball.  She
decided to say nothing about the forbidden dive.  Maybe it
would cool Amber down.

      She wondered how much it would cost her to bribe
Jennifer into switching schools and coaching jobs with her.
She supposed that the Denver Mint didn't handle that much
money in a year.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Jimmy shook his head in disbelief.  "You're kidding!"

      Josh leaned over the shopping cart's handle, blocking
it from rolling with one foot while his mother sorted
through the bulk potatoes.  "No," he said.  "Those were the
Alamosa coach's exact words."

      While he stared at the Bermuda onions and wondered if
Suzie might have possibly misinterpreted any of the words,
he decided it would have been impossible for her to
misinterpret the meaning of the sentence.  After all, Miss
Jackson herself had said that Suzie would be a future
Olympic contender.  And Suzie's record-breaking
performances after that gave him no reason to doubt Miss
Jackson's judgment.

      Jimmy looked up when his mother hummed the grunt that
meant she'd just realized something.

      "I think," she said with a frown as she rubbed her
chin with a thumb, "that we are guilty of letting Suzie's
past emotional immaturity cloud our judgment.  And I think
we are also guilty of a tremendous disservice by comparing
her to Wynter all the time, even though we don't do it
consciously.  "The fact that she swam punishment laps with
the girl proves that."

      While Jimmy wondered how the heck THAT proved Mom was
right, Josh nodded his head and voiced agreement.  He
couldn't make sense of that.  "Okay," he admitted.  "I
don't understand."

      "That's because you don't compete in sports," Josh
said.

      "Or think like a girl," his mother added as Mrs.
Carter placed a bag of potatoes in Josh's cart.

      Jimmy decided that if the answer had to be derived by
thinking like a girl, he'd remain ignorant forever.  As far
as he was concerned, the three biggest mysteries in the
universe were what is the solution to the grand unification
theory, how can you get around Einstein's ultimate speed
limit, and how do girls think?  And that last one was the
biggest mystery of all.

      Mrs. Carter smiled at him and patted his shoulder.
"Think about it.  You're smart.  It will come to you
eventually."

      Josh nodded.  "Eventually."

      While their mothers picked through the apples,
discussing the merits of Fujis versus Granny Smiths, Josh
asked, "So, are you doing anything after this?"

      Jimmy looked at his watch.  "I'm supposed to meet
Wynter, Cinnamon, Hailey, and Kenny in forty-five minutes.
We're going up Buffalo Peak to show Hailey and Cinnamon the
view from Panorama Point.  Wanna come with us?"

      Josh looked uneasy.  "I don't want to butt in."

      "Who's butting in?  You can't get all the way there
on bikes, and an extra pair of hands to help the girls with
that last two hundred foot climb wouldn't hurt.  We're
short a pair because of Huntly, and we like having company
anyway."

      "Well..."  Josh thought about it for a few moments.
"If it's just Cinnamon and not Hailey who needs my help..."

      Jimmy shrugged.  "Why do you think we invited Kenny?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon looked over her shoulder and down.  "Maybe
if instead of trying to lift my waist, you pushed my butt?"

      "Well, I... I... I mean," Josh stammered as his face
reddened.

      "I know," Cinnamon said.  "You didn't want to act
like those two."  She jerked her head to indicate Hailey
and Kenny on the flat area just above her, inspecting each
other for tonsil problems.  From the way they were
standing, it was also possible that Kenny was doing a
pelvic exam, too.   "Don't worry.  Sis can... No.  NO!
Jimmy, YOU explain it to him."

      Jimmy smiled.  "According to the smartest person I
know, normal rules don't apply in an emergency situation.
While it's not an emergency yet, it could become one if
Cinnamon falls and hurts herself.  Therefore, by inference,
the normal rules don't apply in order to avoid the
emergency situation.  By pushing on her butt, you aren't
copping a cheap feel the way SOME members of this
expedition would do but are, instead, helping her avoid
pain and suffering."

      "Good," said Cinnamon as her smile pushed her cheeks
higher, narrowing her eyes.  She raised her head to search
for the best handholds.  "Now, push.  If you want to play
with my butt, you'll have to do it in a more romantic
atmosphere than this, but then you would anyway."

      She didn't have to see his red face.  She heard his
reaction in his voice as he spoke to Jimmy and pushed.

      "If you can figure that out, then you shouldn't have
too much difficulty solving the Suzie problem," Josh said.

      "What Suzie problem?" Wynter asked as Kenny's face
suddenly broke away from Hailey's and looked down.

      "Jimmy can't understand why Coach Suzie would swim
punishment laps with Camper Vallarta.  I said he needs to
think like a sports competitor.  His mom said he needs to
think like a girl."  He moved his hands from Cinnamon's
butt to her feet and steadied her heels, helping her as she
moved her feet and giving her the final boost to the ledge.

      "Hey, boys SO don't know how to think anyway," Hailey
announced, literally from on high.

      "Really?" Josh asked as he scrambled up unassisted.
"Then how did I work it out?"

      "Like, your MOM explained it to you?"

      "Cuz!" Cinnamon said in warning.  "This might not be
the best place to piss off the inferior sex because we
might need help getting down from here."

      "That is SO not the prob!  Guys, a free blowjob for
everyone who helps me down!"

      Josh handled that better than Cinnamon had expected.
Maybe he was merely thinking of Hailey as 'Kenny With
Alternate Plumbing,' the way Jimmy now seemed to cope with
her outbursts.  Although, Wynter had said that Jimmy had
postulated a theory that Cuz's outrageous statements were a
version of Tourette's Syndrome.  She'd bet a thousand
dollars cash that Wynter was now giving the idea serious
thought.

      Josh extended a hand to help Wynter from above as
Jimmy pushed from below.

      "See?" Cinnamon said, backhanding Kenny's arm with a
loud crack and then pointing at Josh.  "You could have
helped me that way, buster!"

      "Nah," said Kenny, rubbing the painful spot with a
hand that had two wet fingers.  "I thought Josh would
rather have the opportunity to feel you up."

      "Hey!  It, like, wouldn't do him much good," Hailey
said.  "Cuz's coozie went out of commission this morning."

      Cinnamon looked at Josh's stunned red face as he
extended a hand down to Jimmy.  "If you want me to yell at
her, I will, but the results are only temporary.  I'm sorry
that I forgot the primary rule:  don't encourage her or
give either of those two an opening.  Of course, sometimes
even that doesn't stop Hailey.  It's best to just ignore
her the way you do Kenny."

      Wynter nodded.  "Even I figured that out, Josh," she
said.  Then she smiled.  "But I've been known to think like
a girl."

      Jimmy put an arm around her and squeezed.  "Doesn't
your newest sister think like a girl, too?"

      Wynter's ponytail lashed as she shook her head.
"Only when she thinks, and that's not very often."

      "Newest sister?" Josh asked.

      They explained Hailey's adoption as they climbed the
remaining distance to Panorama Point.

      The view was breathtaking, literally as well as
figuratively, because Hailey, still used to sea level, was
having even more trouble with the additional height of
Buffalo Peak.  The bare rock promontory gave an excellent
view along the north valley all the way to the interstate
and down the southwest valley to the sharp bend a mile
away.  Buffalo Peak itself blocked the view to the
southeast, toward Wynter's former mountain home.  To the
northeast they could see not only the lake on this side of
Rainbow Peninsula but almost all of the huge cove on its
far side.  And they had to look down to see the tops of the
ski runs at Wizard Basin.

      "This calls for a drink, Pilgrim" Jimmy drawled in
his bad imitation of John Wayne.  They passed around a
container of lemonade.

      The wide promontory had a natural flat rock seat.
While Hailey and Jimmy photographed the scenery and the
climbers, the rest sat down. Wynter pulled a sketch pad
from her backpack and began drawing.  Kenny and Josh
pointed to different areas and discussed them.  Cinnamon
sat next to Wynter and watched the deft movements of her
sister's pencil.

      "I sure wish I had your talent," Cinnamon said with a
wistful sigh.

      "Sis!  You have your own talent.  I couldn't play
drums like you do."

      "Maybe," she agreed.  "But my efforts die when I put
down the sticks.  What you do can last for generations."

      Wynter roughed in a faint outline of the lake.  "You
can always record your performances."

      Cinnamon laughed.  "That's like seeing a picture of
your art.  It's a representation of what you've done, but
it's not the real thing."

      Wynter's head slowly turned, realization dawning in
her eyes.  "I never looked at it that way before."

      "I know.  That's the advantage of being sisters.  We
add to each other synergistically.  One plus one equals
three."

      Wynter resumed sketching.  "I hope I can do that for
Hailey, too."

      "Uh huh.  You know, at first I was worried about your
adopting Hailey.  I guess it was an emotional reaction
about OTHERS in your life."  She didn't want to say
Wynter's father as well as her boyfriend, but she didn't
have to.  Wynter was more than bright enough to understand
her meaning on all its levels.

      As if in confirmation, Wynter glanced at her and
nodded.

      "But now I realize it's the best thing that could
happen to her.  Daddy surprised me when he said he'd
changed his mind and wants to postpone the wedding until
after Hailey goes back to Hawaii.  Now that she has a
family here, he won't be so inclined to delay."

      "Good!"  Wynter flashed her a quick smile.  "He needs
somebody besides you to care for him and make him happy,
and the sooner the better."

      "It's nice having a sister who's as smart as I am."
She gave Wynter a hug, though she was careful not to jostle
her sister when she had the pencil on the paper.

      After a period of quiet discussion and observing
Wynter's talent at work, Cinnamon glanced around and
lowered her voice to a near-whisper.  "Do you realize
what's happening over there?"

      "Uh huh.  That's why I haven't interrupted."

      Hailey was listening to the three boys tell her
stories about the different parts of the area.  Josh was
pointing to the slope where Huntly's sports participation
had ended with his skiing accident.  Cuz was wrapped up in
the tales and hadn't made any of her typical crude
statements or outrageous remarks in at least fifteen minutes.

      "I don't think we're making any progress on Jimmy's
prudectomy, but we seem to be civilizing Cuz.  Maybe.  I
hope.  You know, I think that..."

      The gentle breeze suddenly turned cooler, not by a
lot, but by enough to be noticeable.  When that happened,
Wynter's head had shot around to look at Jimmy.  Cinnamon
glanced over her shoulder.  All three boys were frozen in
place and looking up, swivelling to look at different parts
of the sky.  Then Jimmy's head lowered, and he nodded at
Wynter.


      "Time to go," Wynter said as she closed her drawing
tablet and stuck it and her pencil into her backpack and
sealed the flap.  "The weather's about to get ugly.  It'll
be coming down from back where I used to live."

      Cinnamon didn't doubt that, given the way all four of
the locals had reacted, but she didn't know what the clues
were other than the cooling of the air.  The breeze wasn't
blowing from the direction of the indicated bad weather.
But her friends, she reasoned as she slipped into the
straps of her backpack, probably couldn't predict Atlantic
coastal weather changes the way she could.

      "The weather forecast didn't, like, say anything
about bad weather."  Hailey sounded genuinely puzzled.

      "HELLO?  EARTH TO HAILEY!  DUH!" Kenny said in his
weird voice.  "Don't you know how weather forecasts work?
You look at all the data available, analyze the
probabilities based on past actions, and then take a wild-
assed guess."

      Jimmy agreed as he helped Kenny get her into her
tangled pack harness.  "Most times you are right, or are
close enough to being right that people don't notice the
mistakes.  You have the advantage of living in the middle
of the Pacific instead of the middle of the Rockies.  Your
weather is generally constant, and the changes are much
easier to predict.  At ten- to fourteen-thousand feet, with
these big rocks channelling air flows out of their
otherwise normal and predictable patterns, and causing
lateral movement to suddenly go vertical and affect winds
even higher up, the guess becomes even wilder."

      Jimmy let Kenny finish the last strap and turned to
Wynter, who was already in her pack and ready to begin the
descent.  Cinnamon thanked Josh for helping her and then
nodded thoughtfully to herself.  Jimmy didn't just preach
the philosophy about normal rules and emergencies, he
practiced it.  He knew that Wynter could take care of
herself and that Hailey would need additional help.
Consequently, he'd ignored Wynter and had immediately begun
helping Kenny with Hailey.  Under non-emergency
circumstances he'd have waited until Wynter was ready
before asking if Kenny needed help with Hailey.

      "We'll get rained on before we get home," Wynter
said, "so there's no use rushing and causing an accident.
Quickly but not negligently.  Okay?"

      Though she knew that Wynter was addressing everyone,
Cinnamon had the distinct feeling that the lecture was
primarily aimed at Wynter's sisters, especially the newest
one.

      They hadn't reached Turtle Mountain Road, where
they'd left their bikes, before the rain hit.  Wynter had
said that early June rains were cold, and this was no
exception.  When they dug waterproof windbreakers out of
their backpacks, they discovered that Hailey had forgotten
to pack hers.

      "Here," Wynter said, handing hers over.  "It will fit
you, and you need it worse than I do.  I'm used to this
weather.  You aren't."

      Jimmy started to remove his for Wynter.

      "No!" she said.  "You need it worse than I do."

      "I don't want you to get sick," Jimmy argued.

      "I rarely get a cold.  You get them every year.  The
exercise will keep me warm, and the bicycle will keep me
even warmer pedalling it."

      "There's a lot of coasting downhill."

      "I'll be fine.  Hurry up and get her back in her pack
so we can get to the bikes."

      One of the things Cinnamon admired about Jimmy was
his quickness to realize when he couldn't win and to stop
arguing, especially in an emergency situation.

      As they sped down Dunne Drive past Hargus Road, it
was Jimmy who said they should continue on because Wynter
would be warmer pedalling than she would be if they stopped
and called for someone to come get them.  Josh left them at
Timmers Trail and headed west.  The rest continued north
toward the Brees house.

      The wind picked up as they reached Cheyenne Road.
Jimmy had second thoughts and suggested they turn into the
hospital lot and call Wynter's dad.

      "No!" Wynter said.  "Not unless Hailey can't make it.
It won't make any difference now, and I'll be better off at
Sis's house."

      "Sauna," Cinnamon said.  "She's right."

      "I'll make it," Hailey gasped.

      Kenny pointed ahead with his chin.  "Let's go."

      Cinnamon thought for a moment.  "Kenny, you're the
fastest.  Go open the garage door so we can park inside out
of the rain and get her upstairs immediately."  She gave
him the keypad code, and he raced ahead.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Jimmy stripped off Wynter's pack at the north
entrance, dropped his beside it, and hugged her to him
while the garage door rumbled down.  Her legs had generated
a lot of heat, but her upper torso and arms were chilled.
"Go!" he said.

      Kenny picked up the two packs and followed them up
the stairs to the main floor, where Mrs. Vasquez was
approaching.  Jimmy turned Wynter to the next flight and
led her onward.

      "Rosita!" Hailey called.  "Something hot.  Tea,
cocoa, whatever's fastest."

      As they made the turn at the landing, Jimmy noticed
how dark it was out the window and through the skylight
above.  _So much for the damned fair and mild forecast_.
He was mad at himself for not insuring that everyone had
the proper gear packed for emergencies.  Yes, everyone's
gear was each person's own responsibility, but he was the
leader of this expedition.  It was his own responsibility
to insure that all the others had lived up to their
responsibilities.

      Wynter was shaking at the top of the stairs.  He
turned her left, toward Cinnamon's room.  "Hailey, turn the
shower on.  Hot."

      Hailey cut through her bedroom, the fastest route to
the shared bath.

      "Cinnamon, go fire up the sauna.  Kenny, help me get
her out of these clothes."

      Kenny the Putz could be more crude and obnoxious than
Hailey when he wanted to.  But Kenny the Future MD was all
professional, especially when one of his friends was in
trouble.  Kenny worked with speed and precision.  No wasted
movements, no hesitation to ogle, no seconds wasted copping
a feel.  It was as if he were performing a martial arts
maneuver.

      Who'd have thought that martial arts training would
be an asset to emergency medicine?

                            ~ ~ ~

      Cinnamon mixed eucalyptus and two other fragrant oils
in the small pan of water after the small sauna reached an
adequate operating temperature.  As she finished, Hailey
escorted the other three through the master bedroom and
into the sitting room.  "Jimmy!" she called.  "Drop your
clothes on the couch, next to mine."

      She placed the pan on the lavatory base and padded
naked through the make-up area and into the sitting room.
"Cuz," she said, "there's barely room for the three of us.
There's not room for you and Kenny, too."

      Hailey, clad only in shorts and panties down around
her knees, halted.  "You sure?"

      "Cuz!  You know how big it is.  Kenny!  Didn't you
hear me?"

      He hadn't stopped and was pulling off his shoes and
socks.  "She may need medical help in there.  I'm the best
you have until your dad gets home."

      "But there's not room for four of us," she argued.

      "Then our choices are to leave you out, Jimmy out, or
Wynter out.  You want to throw out Jimmy, then go ahead and
try." Fat chance of that since he was setting a speed
record for undressing.  "And leaving Wynter out kinda
defeats the whole purpose of the exercise."

      "You can leave me out," Wynter said.  "I'm fine now."

      "Unh uh."  Kenny shook his head in emphasis.  "We
gotta raise your core temperature.  The hot shower helped,
but it's not enough, and you're cooling down now despite
Hailey's bathrobe."

      "My core temperature is fine."

      "I'm your doctor, and I don't know that.  So, do you
wanna pull out that plug and lemme check it with my SPECIAL
PURPOSE THERMOMETER?"

      Cinnamon really expected Jimmy to detonate.  Instead,
she saw him smile and relief wash over his face.  She
frowned, and then the truth hit her.  Kenny wouldn't have
said that if he thought Wynter was in any danger.  His
crude joke was more revealing of her condition than a five-
minute medical summary.  Kenny could act civilized in an
emergency, but this was no longer a full-blown emergency,
so he'd reverted to the original Kenny.

      _Just like Hailey_, she realized.  Although Cuz
hadn't moved, she wasn't being... Hailey.  She was being
normal.  Cinnamon's unblinking eyes narrowed as she studied
Hailey's.  Her cousin was frightened.  She was hiding it
rather well, but in truth, she was almost terrified.

      Rosita rushed into the suite, carrying a tray of hot
tea and new cups.  "I thought you might need refills, and I
assumed you'd left the cups in your room," she said.

      Trust her father to pick a smart woman.  Oh, Millie
was smart, too, even if she was a total bitch.  In her own
way, that is, she was smart.  Fortunately, Cinnamon was
smarter still.  But this wasn't the time for her to
contemplate old grievances and revenge.

      If Rosita was surprised to find Cinnamon naked,
Hailey wearing only her shorts and panties around her
knees, Jimmy stepping out of his underwear, and Kenny
removing his pants and underwear while Wynter stood there
wearing only a bathrobe, she hid it perfectly.  But, no.
Rosita was too smart for that.

      Instead, Jimmy was the one who surprised Cinnamon.
He'd been terrified of being nude in the presence of his
Future In-Laws the first time and nervous about it for some
time thereafter.  He was acting as if he were fully clothed
in front of Rosita.  Normal rules and emergency situations,
indeed!  Jimmy knew no higher level emergency than a risk
to Wynter's safety and health.

      "Wynter!" Kenny barked.  "Drink another cup.  Fast.
Then get in the sauna.  Doctor's orders."

      Cinnamon nodded in approval.  Kenny had used the two
words that would, more than any others, get her to comply
with what he said.  Sis drank.

      Jimmy took Wynter's robe at the sauna door and placed
it on the lavatory base, next to the small pot of water  He
frowned at Cinnamon while Wynter and Kenny entered.

      "I need to come in for a moment," she said, lifting
the small pot.  "The steam from this will transmit the heat
better, and it'll help open her airways, too."

      He nodded.  "Go ahead."

      "You have to go first.  I'll be leaving."

      He gave her his grin-and-nod, the one he usually gave
to Wynter.

      She followed him in and closed the door.  She watched
the sweep hand on the clock while the outside air mixed
with the inside air and the mix stabilized its temperature.
She threw the water on the hot rocks at precisely the right
moment.  Steam exploded, as did sweat from her body, and
her nose and lungs opened to let the warm air in.

      She watched the clock a moment longer, then pointed
and said, "If you need anything, push that button for the
intercom.  Don't open the door and let the heat out.  We
don't want her catching a cold."

      "Sis!" Wynter grumbled.  "I don't get colds!  Well,
most years I don't."

      "Hush!  Don't make me yell like Suzie!"  She gave her
sister a quick kiss, then slipped out of the sauna.

      Rosita smiled relief at her nod and turned to Hailey,
pointing at Cuz's shorts and panties.  "Couldn't get an
offer from the guys?" she asked.

      Cuz frowned, then looked down.  She laughed in
surprise and pulled her garments up.  She kept laughing
until she threw an arm around each of them and started
crying.  She buried her face in Cinnamon's neck.  "This is
SO all my fault!"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter had been out on the lake once or twice in
small fishing boats, but she'd never been in anything like
Doctor Brees' boat, the 'Summer Breeze.'  Cinnamon was at
the wheel, with her father in the seat beside hers as she
piloted the boat back to its... well, Wynter didn't know
what the word was.  Anchorage?  Mooring?  Slip?  She
guessed it was berth, since it was called Berth 12.  She
wondered if the words 'berth' and 'birth' were related in
some way.  She'd have to look that up.

      Huntly stood in the opens space beside Doctor Brees,
talking quietly to him and apparently asking questions.

      Jimmy squeezed her hand.  When she looked, he
indicated Hailey with his head.  She was in her element
now, and she was still explaining the boat and its features
to Mrs. Vasquez and the Taylors.  Charlie looked to be
hanging on her every word.  Doctor Taylor looked to be
deliberately ignoring the bikini Sis Two was almost
wearing, though he did take notice whenever Mrs. Taylor's
eyes were elsewhere.

      "Maybe we should get us one of these," Daddy was
saying to Mother as he caressed the gunwale with the palm
of his hand.

      "No problem," Mother replied.  "We can use Wynter's
medical school fund and two more mortgages on the house."

      "Go ahead and use the school fund," Jimmy said.  "Any
school worth going to will pay her to attend."

      Wynter's heart swelled in her chest.  She pushed
sideways against him in a hug.

      "See?" Daddy said.  "My son says it's okay."

      "The females still have you outnumbered," Mother said
in reminder.

      "Yeah," he drawled with a shrug.  "But it looks like
I'll have Hailey's vote and I'd guess Cinnamon's too."

      "Asshole."

      Wynter giggled.

      Cinnamon backed the 'Summer Breeze' into the berth
and docked it with the gentlest of thumps.  Sis Two and
Doctor Brees jumped out and tied the boat in place.  Sis
One killed the engine.

      When Daddy rose and offered a hand to Mother, Jimmy
rose and offered his to Wynter.  "Maybe after you graduate
from Medical School, we should get us one of these, too."

      Wynter squeezed his hand and opened her mouth to
reply.  And then it happened.

      She sneezed.



Fifteen

      Jimmy looked down at the surgical mask and then up at
Mrs. King's face.  "You're kidding?"

      "Nope."  She shook her head and added, "Neither is
the patient."

      Jimmy sighed and took the mask.  He had a thought and
frowned.  "Is it like this every time she gets sick?"

      Mrs. King smiled.  "Oh, it gets worse.  Would you do
me a favor and please take this orange juice up as you go?
I don't have the time for...," she waved her hand about,
looking for the right word. Finally she said, "Everything."

      Jimmy wondered what THAT meant, but he said, "Sure,"
and reached for the glass.

      "You might find it easier to put the mask on first."

      Mrs. King adjusted the mask after he took the glass
of juice, saying, "You'll thank me later."

      He was still puzzling that when he reached the top of
the stairs and turned left.  And stopped.

      Just before the hall bathroom were a small table, a
trash can, and a line of yellow plastic tape on the floor.
Three boxes of disposable rubber gloves marked "Choose your
size and use them!" and a quarantine sign sat on the table.

      "How the heck does Mister King use his office?" he
muttered.

      The drumming of Dragon's tail on the wall to his
right also echoed from around the corner.  It was
accompanied by, "You'd better not even THINK of trying to
come in here without the gloves!"

      Jimmy sighed and chose a pair.  As he slid them on he
muttered, "Nobody told me married life with her would be
like this."

      "I heard that!"

      He was startled for a moment, then realized that she
knew he'd say something.  She'd just waited long enough and
then had pretended she'd heard him.  He told himself that
story four more times and still wasn't convinced.  He
dropped the paper wrapping for the gloves in the trash can
and pulled Dragon's treat out of his pants pocket.

      He clapped his right fist, the one holding the dog
biscuit, Roman style to his left shoulder and whispered,
"_Ave Caesaria!  Morituri te salutamus_."  He definitely
hoped that she hadn't heard that one.  He picked up the
juice glass and tried to avoid looking fearful as he
crossed the yellow line.

      He turned the corner and looked in Wynter's door.
She was sitting up against her pillows on the right side of
her bed, apparently to make it easier to use the phone and
intercom, and had the sheet pulled up to her lap.  She was
also wearing a surgical mask, as well as her white flannel
nightgown with the tiny columbines dotting it.  Her hair
was down and reminded him of the girl's in 'The Exorcist'
when she was possessed by the demon, no doubt an impression
emphasized by her red eyes.

      A window fan running at low speed was set to suck air
from the house through her room and  exhaust it, providing
negative pressure to keep her germs from escaping the room
into the rest of the house. A box of disposable tissues sat
on the night stand next to the phone, another sat in the
middle of the bed, and another in the bookcase of her
headboard.  Two books, obviously medical texts, were in the
bed with her, along with two of her notebooks, one open and
lying face-down.

      She pointed at him with her pen and said, "Stop right
there!  Turn your head so I can see the mask's fit.  Now
the other side.  Now look down so I can see how it's sealed
around your nose.  Now look up.  Okay, you can come in, but
don't get too close.  You can give Dragon his treat, but
don't pet him.  He's probably covered in my germs by now."

      "What if I put him in the autoclave first?"

      If the rest of her face looked like her eyes, he was
glad that she was wearing the mask.  "Okay, bad joke.  Your
mom sent up more juice."

      "I see it," she snapped.  "I'm sick, not blind."

      "Ooookay.  I forgot.  Um, what do you want me to do
with it?"

      The pen flicked to point across her body.  "Put it on
the nightstand.  Don't touch anything.  When you go, you
can use a tissue to take the other one down to the kitchen
after you wash it in the bathroom with the antibacterial
soap."

      "Ummm...."

      "What?"

      He shrugged.  "Wynter, it's viral, not bacterial."

      "So?  The soap will kill the viruses, too."

      "Yeah, but..."

      "DON'T SIT ON THE BED!"

      He jerked in surprise.  Despite the weird situation,
he'd gone on autopilot and had acted out of habit.  He
stood between the bed and the bookcase and clasped his
hands together behind his back to keep from accidentally
reaching for anything.  "Sorry.  Soap and water will do the
job.  Antibacterial soap isn't a good idea because of the
naturally occurring streptococcus and staphylococcus.  Most
of them will die, too, and from the soap and water.  Those
that survive the soap and the antibacterial ingredient will
reproduce and pass on that trait.  You know that.  That's
how the penicillin-resistant bacteria evolved."

      For a moment she looked surprised.   Then her brows
drew together.  "Better safe than sorry!"

      _Ooookay.  When she's sick, give her hints or
questions and let her figure things out for her to lecture
me.  DON'T tell her myself!_  "Yeah.  So, how are you
feeling?"

      "I have a temperature of one hundred point five
degrees, I feel like I'm breathing fire out my nose when
boiling lava isn't coming out, my throat's scratchy, and
what are you laughing at?"

      Jimmy arched his eyebrows and looked for an escape
exit.  He hadn't realized he'd been chuckling.  "It's just
that it's the first time you've ever described your
condition to me as physical impressions instead of as a
medical presentation.  I guess it reminded me of how much I
love you, and that made me happy."

      Her skeptical look of suspicion was more unnerving
than having Cinnamon analyze you like a bug under a
microscope.  "Maybe."

      He shrugged.  "The truth is what it is, whether you
choose to believe it or not.  I came over to give you a
special prescription to make you feel better, like the one
you gave me when I was hurt."  When Will and Dick had
caused Jimmy to land or the bar of his bicycle and crush
his nuts, Wynter had given him a special prescription of
kisses to make him feel better."

      "Jimmy!  We can't kiss!  You'd catch what I have."

      He shook his head.  "You caught it because your
resistances were down.  Mine aren't, or I'd have caught it
by now, too.  You were infectious yesterday before we went
on the boat ride and Friday afternoon when we celebrated
the end of your period."

      She hesitated for only a moment.  "Yeah, but now it's
super-concentrated, making it that much easier for you to
get an infectious dose count of germs.  You'll just have to
wait for your fun."

      That hurt.  "Wynter, all I wanted to do was make you
feel better.  Well, yeah, I'd enjoy it, too, but... Are you
saying when I was hurt you were kissing me just for your
own enjoyment?"

      "Of course not!  What kind of a doctor do you think
I'm going to be, anyway?"

      His reply was preempted by Mrs. King calling his name
as she climbed the stairs.  "Excuse me," he said.

      "Don't you touch her until you've disinfected!"

      "Of course not.  What kind of a son-in-law do you
think I'm going to be, anyway?"  He didn't wait for a reply.

      Mrs. King reached the yellow line before he did.  She
stopped, then offered the floral spray to him.  "Would you
be a dear SON and carry these in for me?"

      She'd heard what he'd said and was reminding him of
what she'd said one night in the hot tub:  that she thought
of him as a Future Son, not as a Future Son-in-Law.
"Flattery?  Or fear of...?"  He indicated the other side of
the wall with a nod.

      She gave him a sly smile and whispered, "A message.
Think about it."

      He guessed he needed to think like a girl for that
one, too.  He smiled at her anyway, thinking that was non-
committal enough, and retreated back to the asylum.

      _Asylum?_  Well, technically an asylum was where they
treated any illness, respiratory as well as mental.
"Floral City has delivered," he announced.  "Columbines and
white roses and baby's breath.  Where do you want them?"

      "On the desk, I guess.  Those are from Sis?"

      "I guess.  Or maybe Doctor Taylor.  I haven't looked
at the card, since it's addressed to you."

      "Remove it."

      He did, unfastening the card and holding it out to her.

      "You read it to me.  My eyes hurt."  She slid down to
a reclining position and put her forearm across her eyes.

      That was new.  It wasn't that easy through rubber
gloves, but he pulled the small, folded card out of the
envelope and flipped it open.  "_Doctor Cutie_," he read
aloud, "_I wish I had some good way to pay you back for all
you've done for me.  Since I'm not a composer like Jimbo, I
hope you can find some enjoyment in the flowers.  I wish I
could do more to make you feel better.  All my love,
Huntly_.  Well, that was nice."

      "Huh," she grumped and slapped the pen against her
stomach.  "If he really wanted to make me feel better, he'd
take the rest of this horrid cold for me."  She dropped the
pen and adjusted the sheet without removing her arm from
her eyes.  "Don't forget to sterilize the glass before you
take it across the line."

      He guessed that meant he'd been dismissed.

      She didn't move until she heard the sound from the
rubber glove.  Before she could move her arm away from her
eyes he pulled her mask down and pressed his lips to her.

      As the arm across her eyes jerked away, the hand of
the other hit him in the chest to push him away.  He'd
thought about using his tongue, but a small-yet-rational
fear kept him from doing so.  He straightened as she
spluttered, then shouted, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?
YOU'LL CATCH THIS RHINOVIRUS!"

      Jimmy pulled back from her furious face and gave her
a warm smile fueled by his love for her.  "I'm trying to
take the rest of that horrid cold for you so you can be
happy again.  It's a small sacrifice that will benefit so
many people, including the love of my life and me, too."

      He wadded the mask and rubber gloves in one hand,
then knelt and held his arms open to Dragon, who had come
to investigate the anger in his mistress's voice.  He
sniffed her a couple of times, then licked Jimmy's face as
Jimmy hugged him.

      "Thanks, Dragon," Jimmy said before he rose to his
feet.  "That's the best kiss I've had all afternoon.  I'll
bet that's your best hug, too."  He lifted the empty glass
from the night stand and drank the remaining few drops.

      "JIMMY!" Wynter shrieked.

      "I love you."  He put the glass in the hand with the
mask and gloves so that he could scratch Dragon's ears and
left without another word.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Angie looked up from the cake she was icing and
smiled at Jimmy.  "Other than your eardrums, you appear to
have survived."

      Jimmy nodded.  "Is she always like this when she
catches something?"

      She laughed at the incredulous sound in his voice.
"Sometimes it's worse."

      "Much worse," said Richard as he ascended the steps
from the family room.  "Kevin once told me that the one
advantage of all my accidents is that I made a good
patient.  He said that people who never get sick are the
worst patients because it's a new experience as well as an
unpleasant one, and they don't like it.  They expect to be
well in ten minutes and get mad when that doesn't happen."

      "At least you understood my message and took my
advice."

      She saw the surprise in his face.  "Uh, yeah.  I
mean, yes, ma'am."

      _Okay, so he didn't_.  "She expects the tough love
treatment from us, but getting it from you will be a
surprise and might make her think.  Perhaps she'll realize
that what was good for Richard will also be good for her."

      Understanding flashed in Jimmy's eyes as Richard
said, "It worked for me.  I don't ever want to get her that
mad at me again."

      Jimmy rinsed the glass in hot water and put it in the
dishwasher.  "Well, I didn't exactly get mad at her.  She
sorta got mad at me instead."

      "Doesn't matter," Richard said.

      Angie agreed with him.  "The details don't matter.
What does matter is that you did what you thought was
necessary to get your point across, just as she did.  If
you get results like she did, then that's what counts."

      Angie knew that Jimmy hadn't deliberately thought out
that course of action and followed it.  However, he had
acted on instinct and had come up with the right solution
anyway.  Intuitive response rather than rationally-derived
response carried greater weight with her.  She took her
impression of Jimmy off her top shelf and added a higher
one, then put it on the new one.  Her son, indeed.

      Richard clapped Jimmy on the shoulder.  "I suppose
you don't have any plans for the next couple of hours.
Want to play some catch?"

      "Sure.  Maybe I can improve my throw."

      A minute later Dragon trotted down the stairs, turned
to the family room steps, and then raced outside.

      Angie grinned and tossed the spatula in the sink.  "I
know how you feel," she said as she scooped out the
remaining frosting from the bowl with her finger and sucked
it clean.

                            ~ ~ ~

      "Yes, I know," said Cinnamon as she handed a glass of
lemonade to Jimmy across the patio table.  "Doctor Taylor
warned Daddy.  I told him not to call Wynter with the bad
news, too, but he did anyway."

      His hand froze and he frowned at her.  "What bad news?"

      "She didn't tell you?"

      Hailey looked equally surprised.  "Hey, it was SO the
major big!  Wynter was like, 'OH NO!' and you could hear
her even though Uncle Mitch had the phone to his ear."

      "What bad news?" Jimmy repeated, though more slowly
this time.

      "It's all my fault for not listening to Cinnamon."
Her father closed the lid of the large barbecue grill and
said, "Mickey Findley went into labor this morning.  Wynter
was supposed to assist when Peter Allen Junior was born,
but since she was contagious..."

      "Oh."  His voice said that he'd just heard the answer
to several questions.

      "Well," Hailey drawled in that certain breathy, husky
tone that told Cinnamon all her cousin's plans in detail,
"I'm SO thrilled that you could change your plans and join
us for dinner."

      _Best to stop this before it gets started_, she
decided.  "Put your tits back in your blouse, Cuz."

      Hailey frowned and looked down.  "I don't have them
out.  See?  They're, like, still in my blouse."  She leaned
forward and pulled the wide neckline open.  "See?"

      "No, but you'll have them out in two minutes."
Fortunately Jimmy was gaping at her father, unable to
believe Hailey had done that in front of him, which gave
her an opportunity to glare at Cuz and indicate the two
males with a jerk of her head.  "And you're out of line!"

      Sudden understanding appeared in the gray-green pools
under Cuz's just-trimmed eyebrows.  She was giving Jimmy
faint clues that might lead him to suspect her father's
relationship with Cuz, if not with both of them.

      "Honey, behave," her father said.  "If Jimmy wants to
look at your mosquito bites, you can take him up to the
sauna later, but I think he had enough of that on Thursday
to last him a while."

      Cinnamon knew the truth of that.  Instead of sitting,
Jimmy had stood, with his head in the hotter air higher in
the small chamber, letting Kenny have the other half of the
seat so that he could provide medical supervision until
either Cinnamon's father arrived or Kenny was satisfied
that Wynter's core temperature was high enough.  When the
session ended, Jimmy was suffering from heat exhaustion
that had worried both Kenny and her father.  But other than
a weakened condition, Jimmy had shown no ill effects.

      "Come on," Cinnamon said, rising to her feet.  "They
stocked the new fish pond this afternoon.  You can tell Sis
what she's missing."

      She and Hailey hooked hands around Jimmy's elbows
and, with the help of Ghost, escorted him to the right side
of the gazebo at a run.  Cinnamon noticed that he seemed to
lean toward her--or rather, away from Hailey.

      The sidewalk from the patio to the gazebo curved
moderately to the left.  Beyond the gazebo it curved more
gently to the right until it stopped at the trees bordering
the left fence about halfway from the gazebo to what Huntly
had called the "mini-forest" at the back.  To the right
side of the gazebo, roughly straight out from the patio,
was a five-foot high natural rock wall.  A small waterfall
cascaded down it into a long pond about five feet deep and
the length of the gazebo, or eighteen feet.  Near the mid-
point an arm gently curved about fifteen feet to the south,
ending at a small circular pool.  The walls were natural
rock and had ledges holding potted water plants.

      The circular pool was not visible from the patio
because a branch from the sidewalk led to a rock garden in
front of the pool.  Rose vines and other plants grew on the
stack of huge rocks.  At the far end of the main sidewalk
was a similar rock garden with a bubbling fountain alongside.

      Plain and fancy goldfish up to three inches long,
with colors ranging from solid gold to almost solid white
with small gold patches, swam about in the pond.  Some
skimmed possibly edible bits from the surface.  Others
searched through the plants at the bottom and on ledges.
Hailey explained how the depth of the pond and the
circulation pump would keep it from completely freezing and
would allow the fish to survive the winter months.

      Cinnamon let Cuz talk, fascinated by how she'd
suddenly become "normal" while in her element.  Jimmy
relaxed and allowed his natural curiosity to take over.
Cuz answered most of Jimmy's questions about the pond,
referring them to Cinnamon only when she didn't know the
answers.  Cinnamon was duly impressed, both with Hailey's
actions and the way she caused Jimmy to relax around her.

      When his curiosity had been satisfied, the cousins
escorted him to the lawn swing midway along the gently
curving flagstone walk from the gazebo to the north side
gate by the house.  They sat to either side of him.  He
still showed none of his usual unease with Hailey.
Cinnamon invited Ghost to sit in the swing, but he spotted
a squirrel and streaked off like a rocket.

      "Well," Hailey said gesturing over her shoulder,
"you've seen it.  So, like, what do you think?"

      Jimmy opened his mouth to answer.  Instead of
speaking, he sneezed.



Sixteen

      Wynter said she felt much better and was no longer
infectious, thanked Mrs. McCauley for her concern, and cut
through the McCauley family room to the patio door.  Jimmy
was out in the sun, sitting in his lawn chair next to a
folding table, wearing shorts, and fully absorbed in a
book.  Well, the warm sun would be good for him this
afternoon since no breeze was blowing to chill his
shirtless torso.  And Mrs. McCauley had said that he was
already over most of his cold.  He should be non-
infectious, too.

      She watched Jimmy's right hand blindly search for his
glass of lemonade, then attempt to set it back on the table
after he'd had a sip.  She wondered if he'd even realized
that he'd had a drink of it.

      She slid the screen door open and slipped out,
closing it behind her.  Jimmy didn't move.  She'd
occasionally seen him so fully absorbed in something that
he lost awareness of his surroundings, sort of like he'd
gone someplace else.  But she couldn't help wondering if he
knew she was there and was ignoring her because of the
horribly yucky way she'd treated him.  The thought made her
heart feel heavy in her chest.

      The rubber soles of her white tennis shoes made no
sound on the redwood boards as she moved across the patio
deck and down the steps, then crossed the lawn to a spot in
front of him.  She watched his eyes flick back-and-forth
across the page.  Then his hand turned the page and blindly
searched for the glass again.

      A thought suddenly formed.  _Does he not see me, or
is he really and truly mad at me and ignoring me?  He...
Wait a minute_.

      Her eyebrows drew together and her head tilted
slightly to one side as she squinted at the book's cover.
_Huh!  I guess he's mad and ignoring me._  She took a deep
breath.  "I thought you didn't like 'Star Wars' books," she
said in a soft voice.

      Jimmy jumped, almost knocking over his glass, and his
head shot up to stare at her with wide eyes.  "I didn't
hear you sneaking up on me!" he gasped.  But his eyes said
he loved her with all his heart, and he rose to give her a
kiss.  "I sure am glad you're well now," he said.

      The look in his eyes made her heart feel too big for
her chest.  She wondered if some day her patients would
feel this wonderful when she told them the tests were
negative for cancer.

      Jimmy moved a chair from the other side of the table
to a spot beside his so they could hold hands.  He waited
until she was comfortable before he took his seat.  "No, I
don't like the books, just the movies," he said as a
puzzled look crossed his face.  "Why did you say... oh!"
He handed the book to her.  "That's not Darth Vader on the
cover, that's Soulcatcher."

      Wynter's brows pulled together.  She pursed her lips
and pushed them to one side as she studied the black-clad
figure wearing a grotesque black mask.  He rested a dagger
on a table top, its point within a glowing outline of a
star within a pentagon.  A white rose looked really out of
place on the table in front of the outline, like a tiny
spot of purity in a universe of evil.  "Soulcatcher?  I
thought something looked wrong from back there.  'The Black
Company by Glen Cook.'  Huh!"

      "Yeah.  Huntly loaned it to me.  It's the first in
the series, and it's really good!  I've ordered all the
books.  I hope they get here tomorrow, 'cause I'll have
this one finished then, and Huntly's not through with the
second one."

      Wynter grinned at the excitement in his voice.  "Is
he like Darth Vader?"

      Jimmy shrugged.  "I'm not really sure he's a he, but
the Ten Who Were Taken wear masks and all are called  he,'
though three of the originals are supposed to be female.
They were powerful wizards taken by the evil Dominator and
the Lady in ancient times.  They were all buried alive by
the White Rose.  Now the Lady is loose in the world again
and has freed the Taken to help her build a new empire
without her husband."

      Wynter returned the book with a sly grin.  "Yeah,"
she said.  "That's the way it is.  The men get to lie
around while the women do the hard work, like conquering
the world.  I guess he'll take all the credit when he wakes
up, though."

      Jimmy returned his own sly grin.  "She doesn't want
him freed.  She wants to rule the world herself.  You know
the type."

      Wynter giggled.  "She's like Sis, huh?"

      "Personally, I'd rather have the Lady mad at me.
She'd just zap you on the spot.  Cinnamon would let you
suffer while she came up with a complicated plan and then
make you wish she'd just zapped you."

      She sure couldn't argue with that diagnosis,
especially after her talk with Hailey.

      "Didn't Mom offer you any lemonade?" He sounded so
concerned that she knew once again that she'd been right to
fall in love with him.  And that she'd been wrong to treat
him the way she did.

      "Oh, she did, but I'm not thirsty right now.  I...
um... I didn't come over to drink lemonade anyway.  I...
um... I came over to apologize because I was wrong.  You
sure didn't deserve how I treated you," she said, hoping
she sounded as contrite as she felt.

      He gave her his special grin and nod.  As usual, she
knew its exact meaning, which he repeated in words.
"That's okay.  I understand."

      She sighed, her heart feeling heavy in her chest.  At
first she had to fight the urge to look anywhere but his
blue eyes, but then she saw the sparkle in them and didn't
want to look at anything else for the rest of her whole
life.  "I really and truly am sorry I got mad at you.
Honestly."

      His left hand reached for her right and gave it a
squeeze.  "Actually, I'm sorta glad you did."

      "HUH?"  Her mouth didn't want to close, but she made
it.

      He shrugged.  "Sometimes you're too perfect.  It's
scary, really.  But now I know you're a real people who
looks like an angel instead of an angel who's too good for
someone like me.  But, um, just don't think that you need
to remind me of that very often, okay?"

      She nodded and grinned softly.  "Okay."

      His head tilted to one side.  "I still wonder why
someone as wonderful as you would want me when there are
better fish in the creek."

      She squeezed his hand.  "Not for me, there aren't,"
she said.  "Are, um, our keyboards up in your room or down
in the practice room?"

      "Practice room.  Huntly and Dad and I worked on a
couple of rough spots and our solos in 'Caravan' last
night.  My Future Sister-in-Law wants us to play it for our
encore when they open the band shell in Otter Park."

      "Encore?"

      "She thinks we'll be asked for an encore.  If they
say no encores, then we'll do it as the third number
instead."

      She smiled and lowered her head, looking at him from
under her brows.  "The practice room is mostly
soundproofed.  If we closed the door, your mom wouldn't
hear us."

      "Really?"  He flashed her his smarty pants grin.
"You want to practice some music?"

      She stared pointedly at his shorts and then got lost
in his blue eyes again.  "It's been too long since I played
the skin flute," she said.

      She gasped as she realized the words she'd just used
and wondered if she'd been spending too much time around
Kenny and Hailey.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie gave Kendra Knowlton a high-five, wiped her
hand on her shorts, and wrote the time on Kendra's form on
her clipboard.  "See?  I told you that would make you
faster, didn't I?"

      Kendra giggled, said, "Yeah!  Thanks, Coach!" and
scampered off.  Suzie wondered if Kendra would break her
state records for the eleven-twelve age group in five
years.  She signed the form and thought about Josh.  She
was going to use Jennifer's computer to e-mail him after
lunch, and maybe she'd be able to call him that night.  She
took one step forward, and then...

      "Coach?" asked a hesitant voice that Suzie knew all
too well.

      _Fuck!_  She turned around.  "Yes, Miss Vallarta?"

      Amber's face was one of confusion.  She was twisting
the fingers of one hand around the fingers of the other
down where none of her stupid cunny hairs were peeking out
of her suit this time.  Suzie guessed Amber only let them
out when she was trying to charm the stupid men judges and
that stupid woman guest judge from Albuquerque.

      Amber's voice was hesitant.  "I don't understand
something."

      _Well, remind me to look surprised next Tuesday.  The
little witch doesn't understand _anything_ except how to
cheat!_  She kept her voice normal, though she wanted to
goat, even though she didn't understand what those stupid
animals had to do with how she felt.  "What's that?"

      "I'm swimming one point five seconds faster in the
hundred," she said.  "Average, with a best of two point
four."

      Suzie gripped the bill of her coach's cap and lifted
the cap higher on her head.  "You don't understand how
getting more of your body out of the water reduces drag?"

      "No!" she barked, her face twisting into a snarl.
"I'm not stupid, you know!"

      Suzie raised one eyebrow the way Miss Jackson did
when one of the swim team was getting too big for her
britches.  Amber's angry look vanished, and she suddenly
looked tripe.  Or whatever that stupid word was.

      "No, I just... I don't understand why you helped me
swim faster."

      "I thought you came to swim camp to get better.
Well, that's what coaches do:  they help you get better."

      "But..."

      The stupid little witch really was too stupid to
understand.  Maybe she had male chrono zones or something.
"Look, Amber, they made me a coach because that's what I
do.  I act like a coach.  I help the other girls on the
team do better, and I help the boys, too."

      Now she really looked confused.  "But what if they
beat you?"

      "It's the school team.  It's important that the
school wins, not that I win.  Besides, if the school wins,
then I win, too.  There's no  I' in team."

      Amber frowned.  "That's what everybody says, and I
don't know what the hell it means!"

      Suzie nodded.  It had taken her a while to learn the
hard way.  "It means they aren't going to take you as a
coach, too, until you realize that you have to help others.
It's a school swim TEAM, not Amber Vallarta's Solo Swimming
Show.  Because I help others, Miss Jackson wanted me here
to be her assistant.  If you helped others, Mrs. Dale would
probably be ever so grateful and want you to assist her
next year.  Maybe we could both be coaches."

      The little witch looked even more confused, like she
was trying to do algebra or something.  "But, I'm not on
your team!  You helped MY team, not YOURS by helping me
swim better!"

      Suzie placed the bottom of the clipboard on her left
hip and pointed it out to the side, holding it at the top
with the inside of her elbow.  She laughed.  "What makes
you think I didn't help my team, too?  The only reason I
beat you in the butterfly at State was..."

      _Fuck!_  She didn't WANT to think about the stupid
dolt.  "Well, I had a personal reason to beat you.  I
wasn't as good as you, not really.  But I'm a whole lot
better now because I've watched you up close and know what
my mistakes are.  Miss Jackson didn't teach me, you did."

      "ME?"

      "Uh huh."  Suzie had to try ever so hard not to laugh
at Amber's stupid expression.  "And by helping you swim
better, I learn what to look for in how I'm swimming and
how I can make myself better."

      Suzie watched while the lights came on inside the
dark, empty cave of Amber's head.

      "I never thought of that.  I thought you were just
trying to get an advantage over me."

      This time Suzie did laugh.  "Unh uh.  I WANT you to
swim better.  You HAVE to swim better."

      "Why?"

      "So you can be in the Olympics, and I can beat your
butt there too, of course.  See you later."

      She flipped the clipboard down to carry it in her
left hand and turned around to leave.  She saw Jennifer
standing ten feet away, smiling at her.  Jennifer waited
until Suzie was stopped in front of her to say in a quiet
voice, "You may start out working for me some day, but it
won't be long after that before I'll be working for you."

      "I don't care if she gets all the silver and bronze
medals," Suzie said.  "I won't need them to go with my gold
ones.  But I think we can be sure that our girls win those,
not Amber."

      Suzie was ever so happy that the rule books didn't
say that coaches couldn't hug each other.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Huntly highlighted the next file, then paused for a
sip of his Coke.  He rotated his head to relieve the strain
in his neck and punched the play button.  The opening drum
sequence caught his attention.  "Cinnamon will like that,"
he muttered around a yawn.  They'd spent enough time
listening to and discussing music that he knew with ninety-
five percent certainly what she'd like and what she wouldn't.

      It quickly became apparent that the sequence repeated
throughout most, if not all, of the tune.  She'd like it
anyway because it made for a "showy" performance, as he
called it.  He was concentrating on seeing her playing it
when the synth kicked in the organ music.  Very simple and
very repetitive.  And very boring.  Maybe okay for Jimbo,
but not what he was looking for.  He almost stopped and
moved to the next file, but paused just before he clicked.
The title was 'The Enchanted Harp,' and he'd heard nothing
harp-like.  He'd give it a few more seconds while he chewed
a bite of cookie and then washed it down with more Coke.
He was reaching for the can when the organ cut off.

      "Holy shit!" he whispered as the harp began over the
continuing drum and bass pattern.  He stopped the piece,
slipped on headphones, and shut down the speakers.  He
kicked up the volume, hit the play button again, and
listened, fidgeting through the organ music until the harp
kicked in.  He'd been looking for something that Doctor
Cutie could play with the fist-finger hammer she'd used on
the 'throat condition' song.  He'd just stumbled onto a
Super Bowl winner.  The repetitive, boring organ theme made
the harp sections that varied each time all the more
interesting.  Sure, she'd need both hands, and some of the
notes came awfully close together, but Wynter was as smart
as she was beautiful.  She'd think of some way to play it
that would be as entertaining to the eye as she was.

      There was no guitar part, but that was okay.  He
could happily sit back and watch Wynter play.  He glanced
at the framed photograph Mrs. McCauley had taken of Junior
and the Twins with a guest musician sitting behind her
keyboards.  His mind drifted back to another part of the
performance at the Brees's house, when he and Wynter had
played 'No Borders' together and the rest of the world had
vanished.

      "This one's definitely for you," he said as he made a
note.  "Now I'll find another one for us."

      Huntly kissed his fingertip and gently pressed it to
the image of Wynter's face.

                            ~ ~ ~

      On a bad night, the main station of the Amarillo
Police Department was a noisy place.  This night was worse
than most.  Sergeant Carmine DeSalvo had lost track of the
number of times over the past twenty-six years that he'd
said he'd never attend another promotion party when he'd
have to work the next night.  He said it again as he placed
his elbows on the arms of the chair and tried to hold his
head together.

      "Carmine!  Did you hear what I said?"  Sergeant Dave
Watson asked as he gathered his things.

      "Yeah," DeSalvo grunted, though with little volume.
"I got it.  G'night."

      "I hope so," Watson said.  "Got a hot date with
Arakawa.  I'm taking her to The Spur for some drinks and
dancing.  Bet you wish you could go drinking and dancing to
loud music tonight, huh?"

      DeSalvo groaned in pain.  "Get out, you fuckin'
sadist.  You're relieved."

      Watson chuckled and left.

      DeSalvo growled, "Thompson!"

      From somewhere to his rear he heard, "Yeah, Sarge?"

      "Coffee.  Black."

      "Sarge!  I'm not your..."

      "You want to see how many shit jobs I can find for
you tonight?"

      "Large one?"

      "Uh."

      After three cups and a handful of ibuprofen, DeSalvo
straightened in his chair, opened his eyes, and started
shuffling through the papers on the desk.  Butch Thompson
continued handling bookings and other routine actions.

      Twenty minutes later, his head propped in his left
hand, he tried to focus on a stack of papers Watson had
left clipped together on the edge of the desk.  He moved
them to the desk pad, finished the last of his coffee, and
sent Thompson for more.  He lifted the papers by the top
sheet as he leaned back.  The clip popped off and papers
scattered.  Moaning with his hangover he gathered sheets
together, attempting to sort the unnumbered pages into some
semblance of order.  When he was finished he waited for the
room to stop spinning and then tried to focus on the blurry
words.

      "Damn it."  He grabbed the phone and punched a
number.  After suffering through Immel's alleged humor he
asked, "Has Juan Rodrigo De Ramirez y Sanchez been released
yet?  No?  Shit.  That asshole Watson left it for me to do,
as I expected.  Huh?  No, the charges were dropped. Fuckin'
public defender'll be all over us again if we don't get him
out of here immediately.  I'll send Thompson down with a
release order, soon's he can type it up for my signature."

      He hung up and then cursed Thompson for being slow
bringing that fourth cup to him.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie sighed and twisted the hem of her nightie
around a finger.  She and Jennifer had discussed her
relationship with the stupid dolt in bits and pieces, so
that Jennifer knew most of what had happened.  She guessed
that by now Jennifer knew everything except the names of
Tiffany Jones and Judy Chase.  She tried to organize her
thoughts to answer Jennifer's question when Nancy stuck her
head in the door and asked if she was interrupting or
something.

      "Just girl talk," Jennifer said.  "What's up?"

      "I just had a shock and thought I'd share it with
you," Nancy said, pulling a chair away from the table and
having a seat.  "Amber just asked if she could help me with
the team next season so that she might get to be a coach
next year."

      "Wow!"  Suzie said in surprise.  "That would be ever
so great!"

      Nancy's look was at best spectacle or scalp-tickle,
or whatever that stupid word was.  "I'm not going to hold
my breath.  She's enamored of the idea of being a coach,
but I don't see her changing her ways.  Maybe it's just
another way of competing with Suzie in her mind.  But I
don't see that tigress changing her spots."

      Suzie frowned.  "I thought tigers had stripes."

      Nancy laughed.  Her laugh was ever so nice when she
got a chance to use it, which wasn't often thanks to her
stupid star pupil.  "They do.  I wasn't thinking about what
I said and got it all mixed up."

      Before Suzie could ask if Nancy had dyslexia too,
Jennifer asked, "Suzie, would you mind if I told Nancy
something personal about you back when you started?"

      Well, that was a surprise.  "Of course not.  We're
friends while we're here, aren't we?"

      Jennifer gave her a smile that made her feel warm and
happy all over.  "I hope we're friends everywhere now, but
when we're in school or practice or at meets, I'm Coach
Jackson and you're my student."

      "Well, sure," Suzie said, thrilled with the first
part of what Jennifer had said.  But that last part was
like saying the sun rises in the east or water is wet or
men are dolts.  "You have to be the coach if I'm gonna do
better."

      Jennifer looked at Nancy but pointed a finger at
Suzie.  "She just made my point for me.  Suzie started
out... well, difficult."  She mentioned a couple of things
Suzie had done when she'd first started swimming with the
team.

      Suzie was sorry she'd done them now, which is why she
didn't object to Jennifer's mentioning them.  Of course,
Jennifer had asked first and she'd said it was okay for her
to say something personal.  But Nancy could learn them from
anyone on the team if she asked, especially from Megan
McNeal, who Suzie had really pissed off for most of that
first year.

      "But look at Suzie now.  She's a natural coach and my
unofficial assistant with the team.  She's done more for
some of the girls and a couple of the boys than Barry
Wallace and I have been able to do.  If this tigress can
change her spots, then maybe Amber will, too."  The hand
that had been pointing dropped to cover Suzie's hand with a
warm and affectionate squeeze.

      "Maybe," Nancy agreed.  "But I won't bet on that."
She rose and said, "I'll let you get back to girl talk.  I
just had to tell someone, and I knew you'd appreciate it
the most.  I'm off to bed."

      After they'd wished Nancy a good night and she'd
left, Suzie lowered her head and again twisted her nightie
hem around a finger.  "I dunno," she said, answering
Jennifer's earlier question.  "I guess I'm happy without
him.  I'm sorta seeing Josh now, and he's really nice."

      Jennifer nodded.  "Yes, he is.  Josh is more like
Jimmy than Kenny.  Somewhere between Jimmy and David
Corman, I guess."

      "Yeah," Suzie said, lifting her eyes to look at
Jennifer without raising her head.  "Several of the girls
think so."

      "Since we're friends, I'll tell you a secret.  You
know David's cousin John?"

      Suzie's eyes got big.  Jennifer was going to share a
secret?  "Uh huh.  His family lived down the street from
you.  He was real nice and kinda cute, too.  I really liked
him.  I hated to see him go to college  cause my dad said
he'd end up in Denver or Los Angeles or someplace big."

      "Well," Jennifer said, lowering her voice to a little
above a whisper, "I thought he was more than just kinda
cute.  He was AWESOME cute!  And thanks to him, I haven't
been a virgin since we were in the ninth grade."

      Suzie covered her mouth and giggled.  "No way!  John?"

      Jennifer nodded.  "Uh huh.  We dated off and on
through high school, then I went to CU and he went to
Stanford."  She gave Suzie one of those  I've-got-a-secret'
grins and said, "I saw him in Chicago last summer after
Camp, when I went to a teacher's workshop.  He looks even
better now."

      "Uh huh.  And...?"

      Jennifer glanced at the open door and kept her voice
down.  "I didn't sleep much, but I slept good because I was
exhausted."

      Suzie giggled.  "He learned some new ways to do it?"

      Jennifer's smile slowly faded, like waves dying out
in a pool.  "Yeah.  From his wife."

      Suzie felt her forehead twitch when her eyebrows
slammed together.  "His WIFE?"

      "It seems he spent three days a week in Chicago,
where he had an apartment, and the rest in San Francisco,
with his wife and family.  I learned that the next night
just before we went to sleep.  Or he did.  I was awake most
of the time."

      Suzie slid her right foot from the chair seat to the
floor and stamped it.  "All men are stupid jerks!"

      Jennifer shook her head.  "Suzie, that's not true.
Would you say that about all the people from Alamosa now
that you've met Nancy as well as Amber?"

      "Well, no."

      "Or David?"

      "I guess not."

      "Or Josh?"

      "Well, no."

      "See?  You can't say all of a group are jerks because
groups are composed of individuals who are different.  It
would be like saying, "All Middletons have red hair."

      "Yeah."  She thought for a second and then giggled.
"But all jerks are jerks."

      Jennifer laughed.  "Okay.  That's the exception to
the rule."

      Suzie's smile faded, and she returned to twisting her
hem around her finger.  "So, Mrs. Corman doesn't know what
he's doing?"

      "I think she knows.  That wasn't the first time.
Apparently she loves him and keeps forgiving him.  She'd
rather have him with his faults than not have him at all.
At least he uses protection, so that he won't end up like
your sister."

      "Yeah."  She sighed.  "And giving it to his wife.
But... after what Caroline did to me about... HIM...
before, when I thought she was being my sister for a
change, I don't think of her as my sister any more.  Sorta
like Cinnamon doesn't think of Mrs. Brees as being her
mother."

      One of Jennifer's hands closed around Suzie's in a
gentle squeeze that felt ever so warm and comforting.
"Maybe she'll change now and actually become your sister.
Having the disease and being away like that sometimes
change people.  Maybe it will change her for the better."

      "I'd rather bet on Amber's being a coach," Suzie said
in a voice that sounded to her like a dark, rainy day in
late fall.  She looked around the room as if she could find
the words she wanted hiding in a corner or something and
saw the clock.  "I'm sorry!  Tomorrow's the last day of
Group One, and I'm keeping you up late!"

      Jennifer's hand squeezed hers.  "I was up later than
this with John, and for a lot worse reason.  Some things
are worth missing a little sleep."

      Suzie thanked her and they prepared for bed.  "My
turn to get the light," she said.  She waited until
Jennifer was settled, turned out the light, and then
climbed into her bunk.  She was ever so glad that Jennifer
was her roommate.  It was like bunking with a sister--but a
real sister, not the stupid cow.

      Sure, she and Wynter were like sisters.  But Wynter's
interests were different.  She had more in common with
Jennifer.  And Wynter was younger by a couple of weeks.
Maybe Wynter could be her little sister or something, while
Jennifer was like a big sister.

      They wished each other a good night and drifted off
to sleep.

      Suzie had nice dreams about having a real big sister
and about having a boyfriend.  And while the last one
started out as Josh, before the dream was over, he had
crooked black-framed glasses and was a lot shorter.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Carmine DeSalvo was famous for how long he could hold
it, even after eight cups of coffee, but eventually his
bladder reached its limit.  He gulped two more ibuprofen,
washed them down with another swallow of coffee, and made
his way to the john.  He managed to make it there and back
without experiencing an explosion of his head.

      As he approached his chair he noticed a sheet of
paper under his desk.  He sat in his chair, leaned over,
and attempted to reach for the paper.  He groaned and then
put his head on the desk until the wave of nausea passed.
"Thompson," he said, trying not to retch, "get that paper
down there."

      He ignored Thompson's snide remark.  When Thompson
rose, DeSalvo snatched the page from him.  A minute later
he raised his head and waited for the world to steady
itself.  He glanced at the page.  It was from the Juan
Rodrigo De Ramirez y Sanchez stack.  _Odd_, he thought.  _I
didn't notice any of the pages missing_.  He retrieved the
stack, removed the paper clip, and thumbed through it.

      None were missing.  He picked up the errant page and
read it.

      "Oh, fuck!  Oh, shit on me!"  He grabbed the phone
and punched Immel's number.

      "Herb?  Have you released De Ramirez yet?"  He waited
for Immel to check.

      "What time?  Oh, fuck!  Shit on me," he groaned.
"Shit on me!"

      He slammed down the handset and dropped his head into
his hands, ignoring the sudden silence around him.  How the
hell was he going to explain to the Captain, the Chief, the
Texas Rangers, and the DEA that he'd ordered the release of
a prisoner who was supposed to be transferred to San
Antonio later that morning to face federal drug charges in
lieu of local ones?



Seventeen

      Suzie penciled a check mark beside each girl's name
as she boarded a bus, making double-sure that the bus
destination card matched the destination beside the girl's
name and then putting another check mark by the
destination.  That wasn't required by her instruction
briefing, but she was responsible for getting the
seven/eight year old girls group to the proper busses, and
she was being ever so careful to make sure that no girl
missed her bus or got on the wrong one.

      Two coaches had thought she should have a supervisor
in charge of her, but both Jennifer and Nancy as well as
Sabrina Shear from Lamar had strongly insisted that Suzie
was able to handle the task herself and that she knew to
ask for help if she needed it.  Mister Berger had sided
with them.  Suzie found it ever so hard not to float off
into the clouds, but she made herself stay focused on what
was required so that she wouldn't disappoint Mister Berger
and Nancy and Sabrina, but most especially Jennifer.

      Besides, she didn't want to give that stupid little
witch something to goat about at the last minute if she
messed up.

      She was kinda goating herself over the fact that
three girls had given her big hugs and thanks for helping
them ever so much before the got on the busses.  At least,
she thought that was what goating was.  She still wasn't
entirely sure.

      Some of the parents picked up their kids rather than
having them ride a bus.  One young boy was waving his arms
around and telling his parents in an all-excited voice
about his experiences or something when the father saw
Suzie walking past and said, "Excuse me.  Aren't you Suzie
Middleton?"

      "Uh huh.  I mean, yes, sir," she said, thinking it
was someone else who remembered her from the television
news broadcasts about the mine incident.

      "Well, I'm VERY pleased to meet you," he said.

      "Me, too!" said his wife, who didn't look to be any
older than Jennifer, if that much.  "We're from Fort
Collins.  We saw you at State.  Congratulations!"

      "Congratulations from me, too," the man said.  "I'd
be happy if Bobby turns out to be half the swimmer that you
are."

      "Thank you," Suzie said, astonished that they knew
her from the state swim meet.  "Bobby, I'm sorry that I
didn't get to work with you.  I didn't get to work with any
of the boys.  But you can be a good swimmer if you practice
hard and decide you want to win bad enough."  She didn't
want to think of the stupid dolt at this time, but she was
a coach and it was her job to help and encourage swimmers,
even if the camp was over.  "Find a reason to win and try
hard and you'll it."

      "Yeah, thanks, coach."  Bobby didn't seem to be very
happy that Suzie had taken his parents' attention away from
him.

      "Suzie, could you do me a small favor?" Bobby's
mother asked.  "If it's not too much trouble, I mean."

      "Sure, if I can.  That's my job."

      She shook her head.  "No, this is personal. Could I
please have your autograph?"

      Suzie just KNEW she'd misunderstood the woman.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter gave her parents a big smile as she slid onto
the long bench seat at the breakfast nook table.  Mother
returned the smile, but Daddy looked at his watch and said
in a smarty-pants voice, "You're late.  I was going to give
yours to Dragon."

      "That's okay," she said with a shrug.  "I'm not very
hungry anyhow.  And I'll invite just Mother up to see it
after her lunch."

      Her mother arched her eyebrows.  "You finished it?"

      "Uh huh," she said with a nod.  "I finally got the
hair right.  It looks so much like Sis that Daddy would say
'Yes, ma'am!' to it if he got to see it.  But since he's
being a smarty pants, he doesn't get to."

      She giggled at the way he got very contrite.  But she
decided he was sincere, so she invited him to join Mother
after they had cleared the table and stored the leftovers.

      "_Holy shit!_" her parents whispered together.  It
was the first time either had seen the painting.

      "She looks like she's ready to play," Mother said.

      "Uh huh," Wynter agreed, thinking that this wasn't
the time for modesty because her parents always discussed
her drawings with her in an honest, forthright manner, like
doctors discussing a patient.  "It's the smile.  Sis always
smiles when she's drumming and it's always that smile or
one of two others."

      Daddy looked at her in surprise.  "It is?  Well, wait
a minute."  Wynter waited while he thought about her words.
"You're right," he said.  "I never noticed before."

      "That's okay.  I didn't either, until Huntly's
birthday party," she admitted.

      "For piss' sake!" Mother whispered.  She asked in a
louder voice, "Those are painted diamonds, aren't they, and
not real ones you stuck in the paint for sparkle?"

      Before she could answer, Daddy said, "Wait just one
minute!  I distinctly remember the top of her dress being
lower."

      Wynter rolled her eyes.  "Maybe in your mind, but I
helped her lock it in place with that 'tricky titty tape.'
That's exactly how low it was."

      Mother elbowed him in the ribs and shook her head,
then sighed.  "If he had his way, you'd have to paint a
copy with her bare tits hanging out."

      Daddy made an exaggerated 'I never thought of that'
face and said, "Hmmm.  Now that's an idea.  Say, you're not
all that busy right now, are you, honey?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Mitch listened carefully as Ed Pickett explained the
controls for the hot tub.  Rosita, Cinnamon, and Hailey
said they, too, understood.  He handed Ed a check for the
balance due.

      "We ain't quite finished yet," Ed said, looking down
at Mitch from his six-and-a-half foot height and not
reaching for the payment.  "Well, my part's done, but it'll
be tomorrow at the earliest before Bill's boys can finish
the tiling on those two walls. They done run into problems
out at Miz Bell's place yesterday morning."

      "Yes, but I know I can trust you.  Richard King said
that if I'm not happy, you'll keep coming  back until I am.
Any endorsement from Richard carries a lot of weight with
me.  No sense holding up the payment for something I know
you'll do whether I pay you or not."

      Ed conceded the point and took the check, noting the
payment received on his clipboard's invoice before he tore
off Mitch's copy.  "Well, I appreciate that.  I still owe
the balance on the special order of that sucker.  Richard
got himself a family-size hot tub.  You got yourself a hot
olympic pool by comparison.  In fact, an indoor swimming
pool might have been cheaper."  He grinned and shook his
large head.  "That's a lot of room for four people."

      "Yes, but we're not a very close family," Mitch said.
"We need room to spread out."

      Ed laughed with the deep, hearty sound of a man who
enjoyed life.  "Well, maybe until after the wedding.  You
two set a date yet?"

      Rosita hooked her hand around the crook of Mitch's
elbow and said, "September first, Ed.  Maybe.  If Hailey's
parents can be here then.  We should know by the end of
next week."

      "Really?"  He smiled at Hailey.  "Wouldn't that be
nice.  Well, I gotta run.  Got a truck due in about now.
Give it at least another half hour for it to warm up and
stabilize."

      Ed left.  Rosita grabbed the shopping lists as the
clothes dryer buzzed.  Cinnamon said she'd take care of the
things in the dryer.  She joined Mitch and Hailey in a
farewell kiss for Rosita, who left as the postman arrived
with a letter that required Mitch's receipt signature.

      It was another letter regarding the lawsuit in
Boston.  "I'll drop this at Burke's on the way back to the
hospital," he said.  "You two stay out of mischief."

      "We'll be good," Cinnamon said.

      "Hey!  Of course we will, Uncle Mitch.  Cuz and I
will, like, finish the laundry, and then we're SO going to
shave each other and, like, catch rays in the back yard."

      "Uh huh," he said, tapping the letter against his
leg.  "And are you going to wear your bikinis this time?"

      Hailey's grin turned feral.  "Not if you'll join us."

                            ~ ~ ~

      FUCK!

      There was no mistaking THAT tone.  She took a deep
breath and turned around.  "Yes, Miss Vallarta?"

      The stupid little witch's sneering voice didn't
change.  "Oh, camp is over... COACH.  I have my
certificate... COACH.  My parents are right over there,
waiting to pick me up... COACH.  You don't have to call me
Miss Vallarta now... COACH.  And _I_ can call YOU whatever
I want... COACH.  Especially since _I_ plan to be a coach
next year."

      Suzie flipped her clipboard to the resting position
on her hip and held it with the inside of her elbow.  She
ignored Amber's announced plan.  "That's right, Amber.
Your camp is over.  You can call me Suzie now, if you want
to."

      "HA!  Maybe I'll call you DOGMEAT... MIDDLETON.  I
can go back to swimming the way _I_ want now instead of
doing things YOUR way."

      _The stupid little witch wants to argue.  No way I'm
giving her the satisfaction, and no way I'm letting her
ruin my day!  After all, nobody asked for _her_ stupid
autograph!_  "Well, if you want to go back to swimming the
way you did, that's up to you and Coach Dale," she said,
using JUST the right amount of disappointment in her voice.
"But that's a shame.  I was hoping that beating you next
year would be a challenge.  Have a nice summer."  She
turned and walked away from the sputtering girl, resuming
her trip to the dining hall with feet that didn't want to
stay on the ground, even after almost an hour later.

      She put Amber out of her mind and thought about
someone actually asking for HER autograph!  She'd been too
busy to tell Jennifer yet, but now she could.  She wondered
what Jennifer would say.

      "Suzie?"

      Jennifer's voice made her stop short.  "Oh!  I was
looking for you."

      Jennifer's laugh was ever so nice, just the opposite
of the little witch's.  "Well, you walked right past me,"
she said with a chuckle, resting a warm hand on Suzie's
shoulder.  "You certainly were deep in thought.  Is it
something good?" she asked, her voice changing slightly and
her face taking on that 'I got a secret' look.

      Suzie told her about the autograph.  Jennifer looked
like she'd won a gold medal or something and said real
excitedly, "Congratulations!  Your first one!  I'm so happy
for you!  You'd better get used to that, though.  Everybody
will want your autograph after you win in the Olympics, you
know."

      She'd never thought about that!  "They will?"

      "Uh huh.  So, are you done for the day?"

      Suzie wondered if Jennifer's excitement had caused
her to forget about the schedule or something.  "I was
going to have a quick bite and then go help with the Group
Two bunk assignments at one-thirty.  They aren't done yet."
She suddenly realized that she'd walked right past the
stupid dining hall, too.  That was the building over there.

      Jennifer put one hand behind Suzie's shoulders and
gently pushed her away from the dining hall.  "Then you're
through for the day.  And forget about eating here.  You're
going out for lunch."

      "I am?"

      "Yep."  She stopped and pointed to the door of the
admin building.  "And you won't be back until tonight.
I'll see you then.  Visitor's lounge.  Have a nice time."

      "But..."  Suzie was confused.  "I'm a Coach.  I'm
supposed to..."

      "I spoke to Mister Berger personally.  You have the
rest of the day off.  Now, go on.  You can tell me about it
tonight.  All the details!"  She gave Suzie a big wink,
hollered at Coach Ken Williams to wait for her, and hurried
away.

      Visitor's lounge?  It couldn't be her stupid parents,
could it?  Maybe they'd gone to the stupid girls'
correctional thingy to see the stupid cow or something and
had come by here next.  It would be just like THEM to not
tell anyone.  She pulled the door open and stepped into the
cool air of the building.

      She couldn't see into the lounge yet, but she could
hear Coach Wallace--she just couldn't bring herself to
think of him as Barry, even though he and Jennifer had said
she could call him that--talking to someone.  She adjusted
her coach's cap, took a deep breath, and hesitatingly
walked inside the lounge.

      "JOSH?"

      As the entire Carter family rose to greet her, Coach
Wallace turned around and said, "Well, it's about time!
They were getting bored to death listening to me.  Folks,"
he turned back to the Carters, "you have a good visit.  And
you, young man, give serious thought to what I said.
Thanks to COACH Middleton here," and the way he said her
title was just the opposite of the way the stupid little
witch had said it, "Mister Berger is very receptive of the
idea of using more top swimmers as assistants and student
coaches.  I'd rather have you working here next year
instead of lying around getting fat and lazy."

      After Coach Wallace left, everyone hugged Suzie in
greeting.  Josh hugged a little longer and harder than the
rest.  Then Lori tugged on her mother's arm and whined,
"I'm STARVING!  Can we go eat now, before I die of hunger?"

      Mister Carter laughed.  "She's been near death for
two hours.  How does Giuseppi's sound to you, Suzie?  Have
you heard of it?  It's our favorite place here."

      Suzie had trouble taking her eyes off Josh.  "The old
train station?  Sure!  I love it, too.  Jennifer and I went
there last weekend."

      "Great!"  Lori cried, jumping up and down with
unpatient glee.  "Let's go!  Well?  Hurry up!"

      "Um," Mrs. Carter said, "we'll wait for you two at
the car.  Hurry along, or we'll have to stop and bury Lori
at that cemetery down the way.  Come on, Bill."  She pulled
on her husband's arm and followed Lori out the door.

      Josh's eyes looked ever so nice as they danced
around, looking at all of her face.  "I missed you," he
said in a quiet voice.

      "Me, too," she said, and then pulled his head to hers
for a long, wonderful kiss.  And then another one.  They
needed a third one before they were able to leave.

      "So," Josh said as he held the door open for her,
"how was two weeks with Amber?"

      Suzie just couldn't believe it.  First she gets asked
for her autograph, and now she gets to spend the afternoon
with Josh!  She smiled up at him with dreamy, far-off eyes,
slid an arm around his, and asked in a puzzled voice,
"Amber who?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Kenny put on his patented shit-eating grin.  Even
though they couldn't see it through the intercom, they
could hear it in his voice.  "It's your favorite Future
Doctor," he cooed.

      "You don't sound anything like Sis.  Is your cold
back again?"

      He sagged.  "No wonder Huntly calls you a bitch."

      Two giggles exploded from the speaker before Hailey
said, "Gazebo," and the speaker died.

      Kenny had half-expected to find them there.  That was
why he'd gone to the north entrance instead of the front,
since it was closer to the gate and didn't require
backtracking.  It was also why he'd decided to pay them a
visit.  He closed the gate behind him and crossed his
fingers inside his shorts pockets, hoping he'd be lucky.

      He tried not to run as he walked quickly around the
corner of the house and saw lots of skin beside the gazebo,
where the two cousins lay face down on their lounge chairs.
The trees lining the property made an effective privacy
wall that prevented the adjoining houses from seeing into
the yard.  Because of that, the girls frequently sunbathed
topless.  That was what he was counting on.

      "I saw that Pickett's had left," he said as he
reached the lawn swing, where he started walking a little
faster because he saw no ties holding on Hailey's top. "I
thought you might want to test the hot... HOLY SHIT!"

      Hailey had risen to greet him, allowing him to see
that she'd removed more than her bikini top.  The three
small pieces of green cloth and attached slender green
strands lay on the corner of her lounge chair.  Some corner
of Kenny's mind noted blue cloth on the corner of
Cinnamon's lounger as Hailey cocked her hips to the right
and placed her hands atop the points of her pelvis, elbows
out to the side.

      "Man!" he said.  "You look good enough to eat."

      "What a coincidence," she purred.  "Nobody's eaten me
since Cuz shaved my coozie a half-hour ago.  I'm getting
DESPERATE."

      "Go up to your room," Cinnamon mumbled without
looking up.  "Rosita will be back any minute now, and she
doesn't need to see you two going at it in the yard."

      Kenny glanced down at her.  No blue butt floss
crawled up from her crack.  _Man, if only she'd roll over!_
He knew that Hailey had shaved Cinnamon, too, and he'd not
seen that shaved snatch yet.  Though, he had to admit,
Cinnamon had put so much effort into growing hair on her
head that she had little left over for decorating her
cootchie, so it almost looked shaved anyway.  But it was
the principle of the thing.

      "We could make it a threesome," he said with a smirk.

      Cinnamon's round butt wiggled with a shiver.  "I
could use a threesome," she purred seductively, again
without looking up.  "Maybe I'll arrange one for us after
you leave."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter wasn't aware that the elevator had stopped
until the doors opened.  Maybe that was because her feet
weren't touching the elevator's floor.  Doctor Brees, still
grinning broadly, bowed slightly and swept his hand out to
indicate she should precede him into the emergency room
lobby.  She still couldn't believe that Mrs. Pierce had
insisted that Wynter cut the umbilical cord--if Wynter
wanted to.

      A new nurse, who hadn't seemed all that thrilled
about having Wynter in the delivery room in the first
place, started to explain why a "civilian" couldn't perform
a medical procedure, but Doctor Brees had just handed
Wynter a clamp and started explaining where to position it.
Then he handed her the second clamp, and then the surgical
scissors, ignoring Nurse... well, Wynter wasn't sure what
the woman's name was.  To be perfectly honest, she didn't
care, either.

      Doctor Brees had her practice the cut in the air
above the cord a few times and then told her to proceed.
Wynter, determined that she wouldn't prove the new nurse
right, didn't hesitate.  All she could see of Doctor Brees'
face was his eyes, but she knew he grinned at her the way
he did at Cinnamon after one of her performances.  Did that
EVER make her heart feel too big for her chest!

      His hand settled on her shoulder and squeezed gently,
bring her back from someplace else.  "Do you want me to
wait with you until your parents pick you up?"  Mother and
Daddy were taking her to the Bighorn for a celebration
dinner.

      Her ponytail lashed.  "No, thanks.  I can bother
people here whom I know," she said with a giggle.  "Besides
you have a daughter, a niece, and a Future Wife who need
you at home.  And thanks again!"

      She pulled him down for a BIG hug and a kiss on the
cheek.  She wished him a good evening, then turned to Jax
at the ER Desk.  Mrs. Erland's replacement for the swing
shift was Chuck Jackson.  He was somehow related to Suzie's
swimming coach in a way that was more complicated than the
way Ron was related to Mrs. Vasquez.  He was holding the
phone to his ear with one hand and wildly digging through
papers on the desk with the other.  Jax, as he insisted
that nurses and ALL doctors including Future Ones had to
call him, was a nice man and very competent, but he was
also extremely disorganized.  He sure could use a course in
desktop management.

      "Wynter!"

      She looked over her shoulder.  Doctor V was
approaching at a rapid pace.  "I heard you practiced your
surgical skills today."

      "Well," she said with a shrug, "it wasn't much,
really."

      He waggled a finger side-to-side in admonition.
"Unless it's an emergency, the first time usually isn't.
But it's something you'll remember all your career.
Listen, how'd you like to be present for Pastor Digby's
echocardiogram?  You'd have a week to read up on the
procedure.  He said he'd be happy to be the guinea pig for
your cardiology training."

      Wynter forced her mouth to close.  "Sure!  I mean,
I'd love to.  When is it?"

      Doctor V smiled from ear to there, as Grandpa Wolfe
always said.  "One o'clock on Tuesday the thirteenth."

      Wynter's grin faded.  "Oh.  I'm sorry, but I'm
already scheduled for Cinnamon's birthday party.  I'll be
tied up all day."

      Doctor V's face turned thoughtful.  "Let me see what
else I can come up with."  He vanished almost as instantly
as Ron when the younger half of the Flying Lopez Circus was
being stealthy.

      "Future Doctor King!" said a familiar voice.  She
tried to fight the smile into a professional face as she
turned to ask Mister Sanders why he was working nights.
Miss Maurer waved from the door with her free hand.  The
other held an equipment box that she took out to the
ambulance.

      She learned that it was Mister "Zoomie" Blair's night
off and Mister "Slugger" Kwan was taking his wife, Nurse
Kwan, out for an anniversary dinner.

      "I didn't want Ace to be stuck with Bedpan or Hypo,
so I volunteered to work with her tonight," he said in
conclusion.  "What are you doing here?  It's not your dad
again, is it?  Not with that look on your face."

      She told him about the delivery.  As she finished,
Doctor V returned.

      "Okay," the cardiologist said, "he agreed to
reschedule just for you.  Wednesday the fourteenth at ten.
How's that?"

      She nodded and pulled a small notebook out of her
pants pocket, removing the pen from its loop.  "Yes, sir.
I'll be here."  She wrote the information in the notebook,
along with the reference material that Doctor V recommended
she review.  He wished her a good evening, nodded to Mister
Sanders, and vanished again.

      Mister Sanders shook his large, round head and hooked
his thumbs in his waistband at his hips.  "By the time the
summer is over, you'll be able to write your own ticket the
way they'll be fighting over you.  Just when do you plan to
take over from Doctor Taylor as head of the hospital?"

      Wynter opened her notebook and scanned a page.
"Well," she said with a serious frown, "I'm busy until the
end of July..."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Suzie loved the way Jennifer laughed while listening
to Suzie's decap of the day's events.  Jennifer wasn't
laughing at her like the little witch; she was laughing
with her, the way real friends did.  And, she supposed, the
way real sisters did.  They were both having such a good
time that neither cared that it was almost eleven and time
for lights out.

      Jennifer held up her hand as a signal for Suzie to
stop talking and took a sip of her Diet Coke.  "Okay," she
said as she put the can back on the table, "then what?"

      Suzie giggled.  "So then Lori noticed Josh and I were
holding hands when the waitress showed us to our table and
goes so everybody can hear her, 'What's the matter, Josh?'
And she goes all serious-like,  'Are you afraid Suzie will
get lost if you don't lead her the way?'  Well, Josh gets
so red you'd think he'd farted in church, and his mother
goes, 'What makes you think it isn't Suzie worried that
Josh will get lost?'"

      Jennifer wiped her eyes and tried to speak while
giggling.  "Well, if she was serious, maybe she's so young
that she didn't understand you were..."

      "NO!" Suzie said, shaking her head and trying ever so
hard not to laugh so much that Jennifer couldn't understand
her words.  "She understood, all right, because after the
waitress took our order, she suddenly bent sideways to look
under the table.  We were holding hands--but they weren't
in each other's laps or something--and Lori goes in an even
louder voice, "If you keep holding my brother's hand like
that, he's going to get a boner!"

      Jennifer laughed so hard she almost tipped her chair
over backward.  She rocked forward and pounded her hand on
the table.  "Maybe..." she choked on her own laughter and
tried again.  "Maybe you shouldn't go back there for a few
months.  Give them time to forget you."

      "Maybe a couple of years, because Josh got even
redder and got up and went toward the bathrooms.  Lori
ignored her parents trying to shut her up and goes, 'I
guess he got one.  He always goes to the bathroom when he
plays with it!'"

      "Oh, NO!" Jennifer shrieked.  "Did he come out before
you finished eating, or did he wait until you'd all left?"

      "Well, he never made it there because some man behind
us stopped him and goes, 'Son, relax.  I understand.  I
have a little sister, too, and she's still just like
yours.'  And some other men agreed, and one woman goes, 'I
don't have a sister, but that's the way my little brother
acts.'  And another man agreed with her, and Josh finally
sat down again, but he was ever so red and never spoke to
Lori the whole time we were there."

      Jennifer wiped her eyes and shook her head.  "I guess
it could have been worse," she said.

      "Oh, it was!  When the waitress asked about dessert,
Lori goes, 'Don't give Josh any spice cake.  It makes him
fart like a horse!'"

      Jennifer put her forearms on the table.  She rested
her forehead on one and slapped the table with the other,
her whole body shaking like an earthquake or something.
Then she looked up at Suzie, whinnied, and made a fart
sound.  Both exploded in laughter.

      For the next several minutes they'd just get the
laughter under control and then one or the other would
whinny-and-fart, and both would break up.  All the coaches
in the building came to investigate the uproar before it
was over.  Jennifer had Suzie tell each group the story,
and then the whinny-and-fart sounds started up again.

      When everyone had finally left, Suzie's throat hurt
from laughing so hard.  But it was a good hurt.  Suzie
never got to laugh like that at home.  She reached for her
Diet Coke can and took a big swallow.

      Jennifer whinny-and-farted.  Suzie discovered that
Diet Coke in your nose burned worse than heavily
chlorinated pool water as she laughed and sprayed it all
over herself and half the table.  But that got Jennifer
laughing and beating the table again.  Suzie's can had just
a swallow left in it.  She jumped up and poured it on
Jennifer, who stopped laughing long enough to shriek.
Several minutes later, after loud threats from other rooms,
they grabbed clean night clothes and, arms around each
other's waists, headed for the showers.

      Suzie felt ever so good as she lay in bed after
Jennifer turned out the light.  She wished Jennifer a good
night and rolled over on her side.  From somewhere down the
hall she heard a faint whinny-and-fart and some muffled
laughter.

      Suzie didn't want to ever go home.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter was surprised to find her father awake and
sitting up in her bed when she returned from her morning
trip to the bathroom.

      "I was all alone," he said.  "Even Dragon was gone."

      Wynter slipped under the sheet and gave him a big
squeezy hug.  "I thought after last night, you'd sleep
'till noon," she explained, "and I couldn't wait that long.
Dragon couldn't either, so he went outside."

      They shared a dragon breath lover's kiss, during
which Dragon returned and curled up in the doorway.  When
they broke apart he sighed with contentment and said,
"Weren't you worried that I would get lonely without you?"

      "If I hadn't gone, we'd both be in a huge wet spot,"
she said, trying without success to sound scolding.
"But... if you get lonely, then next time I'll call Hailey
to come keep you company until I return."

      "Uh, that's okay.  You won't be gone that long," he
said in a rush, somehow reminding her of Huntly in the way
he said it.

      "I see," she said, rubbing her chin between her thumb
and index finger.  "I should have thought of it first.
You'd rather have Cinnamon because she has your favorite
tits."

      Although she was teasing, she saw that her words had
somehow disturbed him.  While she waited as he explained
that of the three she had his favorite tits, she diagnosed
the available symptoms.  When he finished, she asked,
"Okay, so what happened to you with Sis One?"

      His eyes dropped, then fixed on the covered painting
on the easel.  "I've been trying to decide how to tell you,
or even if I should tell you, since two Sundays ago."

      She used a fingertip to pull on his chin until he was
again looking in her eyes.  "Would you be breaking a
confidence by telling me?"

      "I don't think so.  Well, it was just the two of us,
but, that was because Cinnamon had left you with Hailey out
in the yard so that she wouldn't interrupt us."

      She pursed her lips and pushed them to the right.
"Okay.  Well, if Sis thought that I shouldn't know, then
you shouldn't tell me.  Otherwise, you can tell me if you
want.  It's up to you."

      He gave her a curious frown and searched her eyes,
then cupped a hand over her right breast and squeezed
gently.  "Yeah," he said, "you're only twelve years old,
all right."

      "Twelve-and-a-half," she corrected.

      His laugh seemed to help him decide.  "We had a talk
about Hailey."

      "Oh.  That?  She told me that at school the next day."

      "Did she tell you what she also said?"

      Wynter thought for a moment.  "No."

      "I was afraid of that."  He sighed.  "Well, you know
how she's never made a move toward Jimmy because of you?"

      Wynter brightened.  "Oh!  You mean she told you she
has a bad case of the hots for you?"

      "You knew?"

      She rolled her eyes and counted on her fingers as she
spoke.  "I know.  Mother knows.  Dragon knows.  Doctor
Brees knows.  Hailey probably knows.  Mrs. Vasquez surely
suspects if she doesn't know.  Jimmy doesn't know, however."

      He looked so relieved that she had to kiss him.

      "Okay," she said following a long sigh of pleasure
afterward.  "So you know she has a bad case of the hots for
you and she knows you have a bad case of the hots for her
tits.  Do you want me to distract Hailey for the two of you?"

      "WYNTER!"

      "Is that a 'no'?"

      He finally realized she was teasing him and relaxed.
"Even if I wanted to, and I don't, I'd never survive the
experience.  Your mother barely tolerates our relationship.
If I started one with Cinnamon, she'd unseal Hargus Mine
just so she could throw me in and seal it up again."

      Wynter sure didn't need a second opinion for that
diagnosis.  That was why she'd already made plans for the
morning.  She kissed him again.  "Time to get up," she said.

      He frowned at her.  She thought the suspicion in his
eyes was cute.  "No morning quickie?  Why?"

      "Because," she said, "I decided I was going to serve
Mother breakfast in bed today, and I can't do it if I'm
here in my bed with you."

      His eyes grew wider.  "She gets breakfast in bed?
What about ME?"

      She gave him a dreamy-eyed grin and a nose-and-lips
kiss.  "You got to eat in bed last night.  Several times."

      He shrugged and then nodded.  "I certainly did.
Okay.  What can I do to help?"

      Her hand slid down his chest and kept going until she
gripped the Beast.  She pumped it erect and said, "You go
wake her up and distract her until breakfast is done.  She
hasn't said anything, but she's still worried about Aunt
Diane.  I offered to give up last night with you because I
thought she might need you, but she said she didn't."

      "Really?  You didn't say anything to me about it last
night."

      "Unh uh.  She asked me not to.  But she didn't ask me
not to say anything this morning."

      He squeezed her to his scarred chest and kissed the
top of her head.  "The world has never seen a doctor like
you're going to be."

      She didn't quite understand why he said that, but her
heart swelled in her chest and she felt too good to care.



Eighteen

      Jimmy blinked, trying to see in the sudden brightness
outside the Aspenleaf Theater.  Wynter slipped sunglasses
onto her face and then smiled and took his hand.  He
squeezed and said, "Well, I think Cinnamon missed a good
movie," as they led the way to the Elk Crossing Sundae Shop
located in a small building across the parking lot.  He
heard a siren in the distance, its sound steadily growing
louder as it moved closer from somewhere off to the right.

      "Yeah," Hailey said as she and Kenny moved beside
Jimmy.  "I don't know why she, like, decided to spend the
afternoon with crazy Finnegan.  Cuz SO loves movies like
that."

      Huntly slid up beside Wynter and squeezed Megan
McNeal's waist as she said, "How would you know, Hailey?
You two never came up for air long enough to see what the
movie was about."

      Kenny snorted.  "Jealous because you got left out and
Hailey didn't?"

      Megan stroked Huntly's chest and let out a breathy
sigh.  "Who says I got left out?  That just proves that you
weren't paying attention to what was going on around you."

      Wynter tried not to laugh at the startled look Kenny
gave Huntly, but her silent shaking gave her away.  Jimmy,
however, did not attempt to restrain his own laughter.
"You putz," he said, then gave Hailey a suspicious look.
"Are you sure you don't know why she's spending the
afternoon with Finnegan?"

      "Maybe," Kenny said, "she's looking to trade up from
Huntly."

      "Ha!" chortled Megan.  "There's NOTHING wrong with
Huntly."

      Jimmy returned the squeeze Wynter gave his hand.
She'd named Huntly the Best Kisser at her birthday party to
get girls to show more charity, if not more interest,
toward him.  Megan had been one of the girls making the
snide comments, and now she was defending him.  It was all
thanks to Wynter.  Jimmy still had trouble believing that
somebody as wonderful and caring as Wynter was in love with
him.

      Huntly blew on his fingernails and buffed them on
Megan's blouse, just above but not touching her breast.
Jimmy noticed Megan didn't flinch.  He assumed that was
because she knew he wouldn't cop a quick feel the way the
shortest male in the group would have done.  He assumed
that because he was too gentlemanly to consider the other
possibility.

      "All I know is that it has something to do with the
band and probably with her drumming," Huntly said.

      Wynter's head jerked around to face Huntly.  "You're
right," she said.  "Sis was wearing one of her drumming
smiles when we left.  I'm surprised I didn't notice it
right away."  She sighed.  "Some doctor I'm going to be if
I keep overlooking the blatantly obvious."

      Jimmy wondered if Wynter would ever get over her
perceived inadequacy issues.  He opened his mouth but said
nothing because a rusty old Pontiac GTO raced into the
parking lot from the street, tires smoking and squealing.
A police car, the source of the siren, was hot on its tail.
The old clunker flew past the group not more than twenty
feet away, clipped a light pole, and went out of control.
It smashed into a parked car, slamming it into the one next
to it, and spun to the side, coming to rest with its
passenger side against yet another car.  Several people
screamed in terror.  One, on the other side of the first
two cars, screamed in pain.

      They stood frozen for a moment.  Then he heard Wynter
say, "Doctors don't panic!" before she released his hand
and raced toward the crash site.  The rest followed.

      The police car squealed to a stop beside the rusty
clunker.  Officer Sam Peters jumped out, saw the six
rushing toward him, looked toward the sound of the
continued screaming, and pointed at the Pontiac clunker.
"Kenny!  See about him!" he shouted.  He rushed toward the
screams.  He stopped, looked down at the sight before him,
and shouted, "Wynter!" as Kenny broke away toward the other
car.

      Hailey hesitated while the others continued onward,
then followed Kenny.

      Jimmy couldn't believe that Wynter, despite her
initial lead, had arrived before the rest of the group.
Normally he and Huntly, even with his bad knee, would have
beaten her.  She was kneeling beside a boy about their age,
one he didn't recognize.  She was telling Officer Peters to
keep the woman from trying to remove a jagged piece of
metal stuck in the boy's bloody right leg at mid-thigh.
"She might cut the femoral artery!" she said.  "It may
already be nicked because of all the blood.  Jimmy!  I need
your belt!"

      _Tourniquet_, he realized as he unfastened the buckle
and yanked the belt free.  _But how to tighten it?_
"Officer Peters!  We need your nightstick."

      "Take it!" he said.  He needed both hands to hold
back the woman, who was struggling to get down to her son.

      "I got it," Huntly said.  "Help Doctor Cutie."  He
slid the nightstick out of its holder while Jimmy,
following Wynter's directions, knelt and slid the belt
under the boy's leg above the shard of metal.  She was
using both hands to clamp the boy's thigh, slowing the flow
of blood.

      Huntly leaned over and grabbed the boy's hands so
that the other two could work.  When Jimmy was ready,
Huntly knelt and winced at a sharp pain where his left knee
hit the pavement.  "Other knee next time, dipshit," he
whispered to himself.

      Jimmy slipped the stick into the loop and twisted,
tightening the belt so that Wynter could relax.

      The boy passed out.

      Officer Peters had had his hands full before.  When
the boy went still, she tore away from him.  He grabbed her
from behind and yanked her back.  She screamed and cursed
him while he ordered the gathering crowd to move back and
give everyone room to work.

      "He's okay," Wynter said, her fingers taking his
pulse.  "He just fainted."

      "Somebody call 911," Officer Peters shouted.  "I
can't get to my radio because of her."

      "I did," Kenny said as he appeared and knelt beside
Wynter while sliding his new cell phone into a pocket.
"Nothing anyone can do for that driver except Maurer's.  No
seatbelt.  I'm not sure which head impact broke his neck."

      Hailey, looking as if she couldn't decide whether to
turn green or white, released Kenny's other arm and
clutched Megan's for support.

      At the comment about the broken neck, the woman
screamed again and fought harder, demanding that somebody
get her son proper medical attention and get those kids
away from him.  The gathered crowd started murmuring.
Those who didn't know Wynter began mumbling that somebody
who knew what he was doing should help the boy, but for the
moment it was only talk.

      As a siren came to life in the distance, Officer
Peters shook her to get her to listen.  "The boy's father
runs the hospital.  He'll tell you that if he was the one
injured, he'd rather have the girl treating him than half
the doctors on his staff!  Lady, she KNOWS what she's doing
better than I would or any of the other people in this
crowd!"

      Jimmy heard Wynter's soft gasp as Officer Peters'
words sank in.  But the word 'crowd' was the sound that
stuck out for Jimmy.  He looked up at the faces crowding
around and listened to the grumbling.  He straightened and
said, "Everybody, move back, please.  Wynter's an expert in
first aid.  There's nothing you can do, and if one of you
falls on him, you'll make it much worse."

      Huntly also faced the crowd and spread his arms,
attempting to push them back.  Neither was having much
success as the looky-loos ignored them and the grumblers
became emboldened by their increasing numbers.  They also
ignored Officer Peters and surged forward again, the ones
in front pressed forward by the ones in back trying to see.

      "You got him for a minute?" Kenny asked.  When Wynter
said she did, he rose.  "Move back now," he said in a calm,
quiet, deliberate voice that grabbed everyone's attention
and quieted the crowd.  "Back.  Off."

      They backed.

      His eyes swept around the front rank.  "Don't you
dare make me get up again."  He sounded like lightning
quietly looking for a place to strike as he sank to his
former position beside Wynter.

      The woman watched in horror as the people backed away
at Kenny's threat, then looked with wild eyes at Officer
Peters.  "What kind of town is this?"

                            ~ ~ ~

      Wynter was thrilled that Doctor Malenkov had asked
Kenny and her to observe while the ER team treated Jordan
Miller's leg.  They weren't sterile, but they did wear
paper gowns and masks.  Once the piece of metal had been
removed and a small slice along the femoral artery had been
sutured--fortunately the artery hadn't been completely
severed--Doctor Malenkov had them approach.  She noticed
that he didn't warn them not to touch anything because they
weren't scrubbed.  He knew it wasn't necessary to waste his
breath with things they already knew.

      "You were right about the artery," he said, pointing
to the exposed, sutured vessel where the retractors pulled
the muscle aside.  "The way those some of those jagged
edges pointed backward and gripped the muscle, sort of like
fishhook barbs, I don't see how she could have removed that
hunk of metal without wiggling it and cutting through the
artery.  Your cool thinking may well have saved his life.
See how it was cut anyway?  Here to here?  That's about
forty percent of the way through.  If it had been severed
and had withdrawn, we'd have had a devil of a time getting
the ends back together so we could suture it."

      He looked at the two of them and then his eyes smiled
at Wynter.  "Although," he added with a wry twist of his
mouth, "we wouldn't have needed to because he'd probably
have bled to death before the ambulance arrived.  He's
lucky that you were there."

      "Here it comes," Nurse Carter said in a smarty-pants
voice from the other side of the operating table.

      Doctor Malenkov gave Nurse Carter a cross look, and
then his eyes smiled at Wynter again.  "I understand you've
been exploring the possibilities of obstetrics and
cardiology.  If you want plenty of excitement and are
impatient for instant results for your efforts, you might
consider emergency trauma medicine instead."

      She smothered a giggle when Kenny looked away and
grumbled, "Aw, man!"

      Doctor Malenkov ignored that and explained how the
artery had been sutured, pointing to each area that
illustrated his point.  They stayed to observe the suturing
of the thigh.  As they were about to leave, Nurse Carter
said, "Wynter, don't run off.  I'll be out shortly."

      She and Kenny discussed suturing techniques as they
removed and discarded their gowns and masks.  When they
entered the waiting room she wasn't all that surprised to
see newspaper reporter Maynard Sillerman with his notepad
and radio reporter Junior Arnold with his tape recorder.
Both of them grinned and waved from the corner where they
were interviewing Huntly.  But she was surprised to see
Doctor Taylor sitting with the others and talking with Mrs.
Miller.  His face lit up like downtown Las Vegas when he
saw Wynter.  She just knew that some day he'd do that and
it would catch fire.

      He rose to greet her.  "I was telling Monica how
Mitch and Mike have been giving you sales pitches.  And
from that look on your face, I'd guess that Fred just gave
you one, too?"

      "He did," Kenny said for her.  "He told her she'd be
bored doing anything but trauma cases."  Kenny's eyes fixed
on Mrs. Miller's.  "He also said that Wynter's quick
thinking is what saved Jordan from bleeding to death if
you'd removed that piece of metal.  He doesn't even need a
replacement transfusion, thanks to her.  He'll be fine."

      The woman turned cadaverously white when she realized
that Wynter had saved her from accidentally killing her own
son, then tried to apologize to Wynter and thank her at the
same time.  The jumbled words were worse than anything
Suzie could have created.

      When Mrs. Miller finally wound down, Wynter said in
her most professional voice that it was her responsibility
as a Future MD to help in an emergency and that she was
just doing her job.  "Oh, has anyone figured out what that
piece of metal was or where it came from?"

      "No," said Jimmy, giving her a look that said he
loved her with all his heart.  "Officer Peters is working
on that.  He said it was obviously a fragment and might
have come from one of the cars.  By the way, he said he
needs a statement from you, but I told him you already knew
that.  He said you can drop it off tomorrow."

      She looked at the others, about to ask how they
enjoyed giving statements, when she noticed something was
wrong.  "Megan?"

      "I'm okay," Megan said, though she looked pale and a
little weak and her voice trembled slightly.  "I just
fainted."

      She frowned at Huntly, who was returning from his
interview.  "Fainted?"

      Huntly did his one-shoulder shrug and single-eyebrow
lift.  "After things calmed down and she had time to think
about it, she fainted.  She's okay now.  I offered to give
her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but Hailey said Megan
didn't need it.  You want to get the interviews over with
so we can leave?"

      Wynter thought Hailey did a good imitation of Kenny's
'Patented Shit-Eating Grin.'  She guessed Hailey assumed
that Huntly wanted the same thing Kenny did.  "You can go
if you want," she said.  Then her grin faded.  "Or do you
want me to massage that knee here?"  The way he was
favoring his left leg indicated that he's somehow re-
injured it in the excitement.  Then she remembered his
comment to himself when he knelt to help.  "Nurse Carter
asked me to wait for her anyway."

      "We'll wait," he said, indicating to Megan with his
tone that she agreed unanimously.

      "Oh, yes," Doctor Taylor said, suddenly remembering.
"Ellen.  Actually, I think you're waiting for Kimberly
Rider."

      _Nurse Rider!_  That was her name.  She was the one
who wasn't happy with Wynter's presence in the delivery room.

      Doctor Taylor smiled at Mrs. Miller and gently
squeezed Wynter's shoulder with a warm hand.  "I told you
about Wynter's participation in the birth of Robert Andrew
Pierce, Junior?  Well, Nurse Rider wasn't happy that a
'civilian' was in the room, and she was even more upset
that Future Doctor King had performed 'surgical procedures'
on a patient.  She complained to Mitch Brees, the
obstetrician, who told her to get used to seeing Wynter
preparing for medical school around here.  She didn't like
that response, so in her ignorance she complained to me.
Ellen found out about that and had a few words with
Kimberly about going over the heads of both the chief nurse
and Doctor Brees.  That left Kimberly groveling and
whimpering.  Then Ellen got really unpleasant and had a few
words about her attitude toward Wynter."

      Wynter cringed at that announcement.  Ron Lopez
always said that the only person in town whom he was afraid
of was Nurse Carter.  Wynter was convinced that Ron was
serious.

      "Note to self," Mister Arnold said into his
microphone.  "Follow up on antipathy of new nurse toward my
beloved girlfriend, Future Doctor Wynter King."

      "Junior, I'm impressed," Mister Sillerman said as he
squinted and rubbed an itchy right ear between index finger
and thumb. "I wasn't aware that you knew the word
'antipathy.'  Do you have any idea of what it means?"

      Wynter always thought Mister Sillerman's voice
sounded a little high for such a large man.  She felt that
somebody who looked like a clean-shaven Santa Claus, except
for dark hair fringing a bald pate, should have a much
deeper voice.

      "Note to self," Mister Arnold quipped into his
microphone.  "Check on rumor that the newspaper refuses to
hire reporters with IQs above seventy."

      Wynter shook her head.  Those two went after each
other the way Huntly and Sis did.  Their arguing had no
more real meaning than that between Sis and Huntly because
they respected each other.  Mister Arnold, a man in his
late twenties who Daddy said had been a class clown in high
school, had become quite competent in the relatively short
time since the mine incident, when he'd been an intern
reporter.  Daddy also complained that Mister Arnold, like
Huntly, usually refused to act his age.  Wynter guessed
that was why she liked him.

      Kenny, who was playing with Hailey's butt because he
thought nobody could see, looked away from Hailey to the
two reporters.  "Don't make me separate you two and send
you to your rooms."

      Mister Arnold faked a frightened look and held up his
hands.  "We'll be good, Daddy!"

      Kenny grunted and returned his attention to Hailey
while Mrs. Miller looked back and forth, trying to decide
whether Kenny had been serious.

                            ~ ~ ~

      Jimmy watched with quiet pride as Wynter, in her most
professional voice and bearing, answered questions for the
reporters.  She'd had practice after the mine rescue, of
course, but this was different.  He didn't expect that
she'd be rescued from any more mine collapses--he certainly
hoped that she never would--but as a doctor she would have
to face reporters.  He couldn't think of more than one or
two he'd seen interviewed on television with half the poise
and assurance of the future Wynter McCauley, MD.  Maybe it
was a sign that now she'd forget about those silly imagined
inadequacies.

      He wasn't sure at exactly what point he realized he
had Megan and Hailey sitting in the chairs to either side,
each holding one of his hands.  Well, neither was attacking
him.  And he was sure Wynter would understand that they
were sharing not mutual anxieties but mutual admiration and
affection for her.

      The word "Hargus" penetrated and drew Jimmy's
attention.  Doctor Taylor was talking to Mrs. Miller and
pointing at him.  Mrs. Miller had an astonished look on her
face.  He realized that thanks to Doctor Taylor, she had
just learned who they were.  She'd known about the rescue
but didn't remember any names or faces.

      Kenny spoke quietly in his weird voice.  "EARTH TO
MRS. MILLER!  DUH!"

      "Quiet, putz," he whispered, "or I'll have Hailey
send you to your room."

      Kenny started a smartass reply, but suddenly focused
a frown across the room.  "Well," he murmured.  "This looks
unpleasant."

      Jimmy followed his eyes.  An angry Nurse Carter was
approaching from the elevators in rapid, deliberate steps.
Her left hand gripped the upper arm of a young nurse who
looked like she'd rather be on her way to her own hanging.
"It may start out that way," he agreed, "but I expect it
will get much worse."

                            ~ ~ ~

      Huntly escorted Megan into the Brees family room
behind Ghost, Doctor Cutie, and Jimbo.  Kenny's and
Hailey's tongues had gotten into an argument and were
wrestling each other in the kitchen doorway.  He froze in
mid-step and gawked at what he saw.  "Holy guano, Bat
Bitch!  What's that?"

      "Prototype," Cinnamon said, her narrowed eyes not
leaving Finnegan Burke's hands as he adjusted the hoses on
some contraption sitting next to the bass drum.  Its twin,
but without hoses, sat on the other side.

      "Wait 'till you see it in action," Mrs. Vasquez said,
looking down from the gallery above.  "It's already
impressive, and I'm sure the final version will be more so."

      "I agree," said Huntly as everyone gathered around
the devices.  "I haven't seen anything that impressive
since the field trip to the sewage treatment plant."

      Everyone but Cinnamon and Finnegan laughed.  Cinnamon
spoke without looking up.  "Maybe you'd like to visit it
again.  Cuz, do you and Megan want to flush him for me?"

      "Hey!  SO not the prob!" Hailey said as she entered
through the doorway.

      "Not until after I massage his knee," Wynter said in
her commanding doctoral voice.  "He hurt it again."

      Cinnamon finally looked up, scowling. She threw up
her hands.  "Good grief, shithead!  What did you do THIS
time?"

      He shrugged.  "Not much.  Just helped Doctor Cutie
and Boy Blunder save some out-of-town kid's life.  With a
little help from Jimbo, of course."

      The angry look vanished.  "What?"

      Kenny began explaining before anyone else could draw
breath.

      Huntly was impressed with how Kenny had almost gotten
the facts right.  He guessed it would be a couple of days
before Wynter was an assistant who held the boy's hand for
comfort while Kenny did... well, everything else, including
restraining the mother.  No doubt with his own belt while
simultaneously using it for a tourniquet.

      Cinnamon raised an eyebrow.  Huntly gave her a shrug-
and-nod that indicated Kenny had it mostly right.  This
time.  She shook her head and said, "How do you expect me
to get mad at you when you keep having a good excuse every
time you hurt it again?"

      "Maybe it's because I realize that if I don't have a
good one, the knee injury will be the least of my
problems."  He waited until after the laughter from the
others died before he waved a hand at Finnegan.  "So what
is... THAT?"

      "Show him," Finnegan said, rising to his feet.  "I
think it's fixed now."

      Kenny had a very impressive patented shit-eating
grin, but his was amateurish compared to Cinnamon's.  She
looked up and pointed at Mrs. Vasquez.  The woman nodded.

      _Now what?_

      Cinnamon took her throne seat, fluttered her hands in
a shooing motion to indicate everyone should step back, and
drew sticks.  She played a new solo she'd been working out
with Huntly, quickly working to a frenzy and then suddenly
stopping before changing beats.  Everything was normal
until that point.

      When she stopped she tossed her sticks, one to him
and one to Jimmy.  He caught his, barely noticing that two
other sticks had shot up from the floor contraptions to
hover in front of her.  The little redhead grabbed them and
went back to work on the drums, not even a tenth of a beat
off.

      Everyone but Cinnamon and perhaps Ghost looked at
Finnegan.  The grinning boy inventor pumped his right fist
up-then-down and jerked his left foot off the floor,
grinning in triumph.  "YESSSS!" he hissed with glee.

      Cinnamon was approaching another transitional pause.
Huntly's eyes moved back to her.  When the pause arrived,
she tossed the sticks straight up, two perfect vertical
spiral passes that paused for a moment in front of Mrs.
Vasquez.  She snatched them out of the air as Cinnamon
resumed with two more sticks that had shot up in front of
her.  From here the solo would be in ever decreasing
intervals between the pauses.

      When the pauses arrived, Cinnamon tossed sticks to
Wynter and Megan, then to Hailey and Kenny, and then simply
tossed the sticks aside and grabbed new ones as they popped
up after that.  The solo ended with three paired cymbal
crashes, a brief snare workout, and a final paired cymbal
crash.  Each was done with a different pair of sticks.

      After the applause, Kenny looked at his drumstick and
read the gold inscription on the school colors.  "Griffin
Middle School Knights Band," he said.  "I'd think you'd at
least have your name on them, like Huntly's guitar."

      "Hey!  Like, turn it over, pickledick."

      Kenny did.  "Cinnamon Brees."  The little drummer's
signature was also embossed in gold.  "Where'd you get
these?"

      "Vic Firth sells seconds for souvenirs."

      "Oh," said Megan.  "Then these are practice sticks?"

      "No," said Wynter and Jimmy together.  Doctor Cutie
nodded at Jimbo to continue.  "These aren't birch or pine."

      Cinnamon laughed, pleased that he had remembered the
comment she'd made during her audition for the stage band.
Huntly had heard the story soon after it happened and now
knew that it was made to put the band director, Mister
Howard, at a disadvantage.  Cinnamon always negotiated from
a position of strength.  "No, they're quality sticks, just
with blemishes in the grain.  You buy a minimum of a
hundred-forty-four pairs and the imprinting is free."

      "You're going to give away a couple hundred bucks
worth of sticks every time you play that?" Huntly asked.
The way she blinked as she deliberately turned her head to
look at him conveyed her message.  "I said a stoopid,
didn't I?"

      "I think I know," Wynter said, her beautiful face
bright with intuition.  All eyes turned to her.  "The
school band name is on these.  You'll give a way a few
samples to increase demand, and then sell the rest as band
fund raisers."

      "Oh, Sis," Cinnamon said in an exaggerated tone of
relief, "if only the males of the species could think ahead
as well as we do.  And, by the way, these cost the school
only two bucks a pair."  Then she focused on Finnegan and
went seriously serious.  "The compressed air is the most
reliable.  The springs are still off one to three inches
from the previous shot each time."

      "Got it," he said.  "I can have the next version in a
week.  I'm waiting for some parts.  So, is it hot tub time?"

      "It is for Huntly," Wynter said, causing his heart to
skip a beat.  She looked a question at Cinnamon in their
non-verbal communication and got a nod in response.

      "Good," Wynter said.  "I can't wait to try out your
tub.  Is everyone else joining us?"

      Megan suddenly looked disappointed.  "I don't have a
bathing suit with me."

      "SO not the big!  We, like, don't wear them," said
Hailey before Cinnamon could speak, earning her a glower
from the little redhead.

      "WHAT?"

      Cinnamon smiled at Wynter.  "Sis, could you explain,
since you've had the most practice?"  While Winter spoke,
Cinnamon continued to grit her teeth and glare at Hailey,
who appeared oblivious to the admonition.

      After Her Doctorness finished, Megan still was
hesitant, looking at each of the boys.

      Hailey threw up her hands.  "Hey!  Holy shit, Megan!
Like, what's the drama?  The only ones here who haven't,
like, seen you naked already are Jimmy and me.  Jimmy's not
going to do anything with Wynter here.  He, like, won't
even do anything when she's not around," she said with deep
disappointment.

      "WHITNEY GWYNETH!  YOU'RE OUT OF LINE!"

      Hailey looked honestly puzzled as she tilted her head
to one side and stared at her cousin.  Huntly squeezed
Megan to his side as Hailey said, "Well, it's SO the truth!"

      "It's not about Jimmy!" Cinnamon barked, her eyes
flaring.  "Who has or hasn't seen Megan is nobody's
business but hers and the people involved.  It's up to THEM
to decide whether others need to know that publicly,
whether or not they already know privately, not YOU!"

      Hailey lowered her head in contrition, the sentiment
echoing in her voice.  "I'm sorry, Megan.  I was, like,
just SO trying to help."  Then her head sprang up and she
said brightly, "So! How about joining us?"

      Huntly recognized the look on Cinnamon's face,
unfortunately.  Time to prevent a homicide.  "May we have a
moment?"  He took Megan into the breakfast area, discovered
Mrs. Vasquez was in the kitchen, and escorted Megan into
the living room.  In two minutes he had her agreement,
along with an understanding that if she felt uneasy, she
could leave and he'd see to it that nobody ever said
anything about it to her.  He knew that he had only one
worry on that point, but he also knew that Cinnamon would
see to it that Hailey wouldn't think of uttering a word if
she wanted to live.

[continued in part 2/2]

Copyright Russell Hoisington 2007

***********************************************************
                   Concluded in Part Three
***********************************************************

      We who write the stories you like to read have received, and
continue to receive, a great amount of support from the people here
at ASSTR (The Alt Sex Stories Text Repository).  ASSTR's major
service is the archiving of our stories to make them available to
you, the readers.  ASSTR is a non-profit organization and is
staffed by volunteers.  This operation is costly, and the only
source of operating income is from donations.  I ask that you
consider donating if you have enjoyed my stories.  Your donation
will help insure they remain available for all to read at no cost.
You can learn more about donating at this link:

      http://www.asstr-mirror.org/donations.html

Russell Hoisington
State of Confusion

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+