Chapter 6

I woke up with a nudge from Dane. “We still on for today, sleepyhead?”

“Ugh. What time is it?” I looked at the alarm clock. Almost ten. “Yes, sir. I’ll be ready in ten.”

“No hurry,” he said, then added, “Franklin and Kim are here.” Great. I was running late.

I made a mad dash for the bathroom, threw on some work clothes, remembering that I’d left gloves behind at a job during the summer. Mom had a protein shake waiting for me in the kitchen.

“Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it,” she said, pointing at the clean kitchen.

“You did all the cooking,” I answered.

“We had a blast. Lots of fun.”

“Any awkwardness gone,” I said.

“Maybe. I’m not sure if they feel like they have to behave when they’re here but I didn’t hear any complaining. Be careful.”

We took Kim’s and Dane’s trucks to Home Depot and loaded them up from Franklin’s materials list. The total for the material wasn’t bad at all and I was pretty happy to pay it. Twenty minutes later, we were on the property with everything we needed to build an oversized run-in for two or even three horses. Hector had dropped off the Bobcat before the party the day before.

Kim pulled out a copy of the lot diagram and we all followed her to the northern side of the clearing.

“If we’re right here,” she said, pointing to the diagram, “I want the house over there and fields between the house and this side of the clearing. It doesn’t have to be but it would work, right?”

We oriented ourselves to the diagram and tried to picture the house and stables on the land. “The creek and the cluster of live oaks are probably twice the distance away from us as the trucks are. There is nothing in the way over here except for a couple of gum trees and a couple of magnolia trees we can easily work around. Lots of room.”

“Which way should it open,” Dane asked. “Wind generally comes from the west. South and west. Do you want the opening on the northeast?”

We agreed that it made sense. Kim took off with her bundle of marker flags while the three of us started working. The largest tree was eight inches in diameter and I was able to cut those down while Dane pulled up stumps with the Bobcat. He might have used one once before. That was his code for he had cleared a rainforest once. Making sure the ground was smooth was a little bit more difficult but altogether, it only took us an hour to have a good surface to work with.

Franklin marked the corners while Dane and I put the post-hole digging attachment on the Bobcat. Both Dane and Franklin had a lot more experience in this kind of thing than I did and I ended up taking directions from them. We planned out a bunch of work, then started the generator from the back of Franklin’s truck and used power tools. We worked for about thirty minutes for every ten minutes of generator time. We had plenty of gas but the thing was noisy. When it came time to put the metal roof on, we realized we hadn’t brought a ladder. Dane just smiled and drove his truck into position so we could work from the truck bed. It was actually a lot easier than using a ladder because of the large area to work from.

We put a metal roof on it, angled down toward the back so that it wouldn’t catch the wind. When I came back to put the sides on, I’d leave a gap near the top so air could circulate. Finished, we stepped back to admire our work. It felt solid and when I added sides to it, it would be even stronger. The roof would protect the Bobcat from rain and I was happy. More importantly, when Kim walked up, she smiled. On top of that, it had only taken us a couple of hours, and putting the sides on was a one-man job that would go quickly.

“Diva gets this side,” Kim said and we laughed.

“Lunch, anyone? I’m starving,” Dane said.

“I know just the place,” I said.

“No, no. We had plenty of Mexican yesterday, Amigo,” Kim said. We were all pretty hungry so Dane and Franklin followed Kim and me to a burger place on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard.

Kim was pretty pleased with the day and told us about a bunch of black cherry trees she’d found. She really liked a spot near some large live oaks for a house location. She described some trees she didn’t recognize but after a couple of questions, I knew just what she’d found.

“Winged elm,” I said. She didn’t sound convinced. “Near the creek? Two-tone bark?” She nodded both times. “Pretty unique. I like them. Did they have multiple trunks? How tall were they?”

“One of them had a couple of trunks close together. How tall are telephone poles?”

“Sounds like elm. They’re good shade trees. If you like them, we keep them. Gum trees go. I haven’t seen any kudzu on the land and that’s good. Also, no Elaeagnus plants. They’re the worst. Terrible thorns. Birds eat the berries and they grow and multiply quickly.”

“There is some poison ivy by the creek. Not a lot,” Kim said.

“You two are cracking me up,” Franklin said. “I know nature boy did landscaping this summer but I keep forgetting about you, Frontier Woman. If Ronnie were here, his mouth would be hanging open.”

He didn’t mean for it to, but it stopped the conversation. Dane didn’t know what to think or say so he ate his fries. I took a couple of bites and then couldn’t stand the quiet.

“I wish he was still here. But I wish he was different, too. I mean, would he even notice? He’s been gone a year and a lot has happened since then. A lot. I’m sad he’s gone, but I’m not sad for me. I’m sad for him, you know? I’m sad he missed all the cool stuff that’s happened the last year but you know what? A lot of cool stuff happened last year and the year before that and the year before that and he missed that, too. Important stuff. I don’t want to miss the important stuff, you know?”

It was quiet for a while and I wasn’t sure how I felt about what I’d said. I meant it, that’s for sure, and I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes but it kind of pissed me off still.

“Nobody has perfect parents,” Franklin said. “Nobody. Every one of them has flaws. I think the best we can do is learn from them and try to carry the good stuff forward and jettison the bad. I have to work at it. I get my priorities screwed up all the time. You know what one of the best things I’ve ever done was? And this was because of Ronnie.” We all shook our heads. “Last summer. All the time we spent together last summer. I bet I learned more than you did.”

“I don’t know how that would be possible,” I said.

“You learned how to do things. I learned what was important. I didn’t expect to.”

Our conversation revolved around that for the rest of lunch and it was a good thing. Ronnie had done what he’d done but Franklin and I learned from it. Franklin was pretty smart, too. Take the good stuff with you and jettison the bad. And then he said something that stopped us all, one more time.

“You know what else we need to do? We need to forgive them for their failures. Ronnie didn’t have the greatest parents in the world. I have to give him credit for doing the best he knew how to do. Benefit of the doubt. That’s it.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Dane said. I looked at Kim but she was lost in thought. That was obviously a topic for another day.

Dane dropped Franklin off at his house while Kim drove us both back to mine. Neither of us said a word. Something in the conversation about parents got Kim thinking and I thought she’d tell me about it if and when she wanted to. We parked and just sat there silently for a moment or two.

“Summer’s almost over. I just want to lay out by the pool and get some sun. Is that okay with you?”

“Gee, my incredibly good-looking fiancée wants to change into a skimpy bathing suit and pose for me. Is that about right?”

“I’ll take that as a ‘fine’,” she said and then looked at me and my goofy grin. “You’re such a dufus. I’m proud of you, dufus. You guys did a great job on the run-in. I know we won’t use it for that purpose for a long time but it will work just fine.”

“We need to run electricity to it, then hang some lights and maybe build a workbench. I didn’t even think about how far away electricity might be. We’ll have to call the electric company anyway.”

Twenty minutes later, we were stretched out on lounge chairs by the pool. I put lotion on Kim’s back and opened A Study in Scarlett. I’d started on the last Sherlock Holmes novel by mistake, and decided to read the rest of them in the proper order.

I’d fallen asleep. Mom nudged me awake. “Gorgeous afternoon, Buddy. Dane and I are taking the boat out. You’re welcome to join us.” I saw Kim look over and shake her head just enough for me to notice.

“Going fishing?”

“No. Well, I don’t know. We might put a line in. But really, we’re taking a picnic supper out to watch the sun set over Charleston. Haven’t done that in ages.”

“Sounds nice but I’m kind of pooped. Enjoy yourselves.”

“There are leftover ribs in the fridge or money in the jar for takeout. Be good,” she said, squeezed my shoulder, and walked back to the house.

“You heard her. Be good,” Kim said when Mom was far enough away.

“I thought I was always good.” We waited quietly for a couple of minutes. I don’t hear Dane’s truck. I wonder if she meant they were leaving in two minutes or two hours.”

“Patience, Baby,” she said and rolled over on her back.

“You are so incredibly good-looking.”

“Better than Lani?” she asked.

“Who?”

“Nice. There it is.”

“I don’t hear it. Are you sure?”

“Yup. Easing forward a bit, now stopped but still running. He’s probably double-checking the hook-up.” We waited for a couple of minutes and then I heard it too, as the truck pulled Dane’s boat down the driveway. “She said to be good.”

“I’d hate to disappoint,” I said and stood up. I reached a hand down to help Kim.

“What time does the sun set?” she asked.

“I don’t know. About eight, I think. Why?”

“Let’s go to the beach.”

“We have the house to ourselves and you want to go to the beach?” I asked as she stood.

She eased forward and pressed her amazing body into me. “Let’s get a couple of blankets and go to the beach and you can be good there.”

“I’m pretty much ready to be good here. Now.”

“Uh, huh.”

“Sunset is in, what, three hours?”

“Yes. Hungry?” she asked.

“For food, or you? Yes. Both. Let’s go inside and make love here, and then we can go to the beach.”

“Poor baby can’t wait three hours?” she asked, and then she reached down and squeezed my butt.

We went inside and made supper without talking. It was pretty funny if you think about it. She was going slow and I was racing around to get stuff done. Then, when we had ribs and salad on the table, she started playing with her food. She licked a rib, then sucked on a rib, then licked it some more, doing everything she could to get me wound up. I pretended it wasn’t working but it obviously was.

We finished and I threw the dishes in the dishwasher and was ready to go. “I’ve changed my mind,” she said.

“Here?” I asked, hopefully.

“No. Better. Why don’t you grab the air mattress and I’ll get some blankets and towels and I’ll meet you at the truck.”

Whatever she had in mind was fine with me. She laughed as I rearranged my pants for comfort and dashed out the back. Running back through the house, I locked the doors, threw my stuff in the back of the truck, and rearranged everything so it wouldn’t blow away. I hopped in and slid next to Kim.

“Uh, uh. Buckle up. In case you don’t remember, we don’t have the best luck on the road.”

I ‘humphed’ but slid back and buckled up. As she pulled out of the driveway, I reached for her, pretending that she was out of reach. I made some disappointed moaning noises but she put an end to it.

“Watch the road, silly. You don’t want to get in an accident now.” I put my hands in my lap and pouted but I watched the road.

Most of the traffic on Folly Road was coming back from the beach. Kim spotted a couple of people we knew and I focused on traffic. Folly Beach was still twenty minutes away when she made a right turn. It caught me by surprise but I figured it out pretty quickly. We weren’t going to the beach. Three minutes later, she turned left onto the path I’d cleared. We bumped and bounced our way back to the clearing.

“Where would the bedroom be?” she asked as we got out.

“I think we should be rebels and do it in the kitchen,” I said, grinning.

I plugged the pump into the cigarette lighter and let it do the work for a change. Kim walked toward our future kitchen with a couple of blankets over her shoulder. “Don’t keep me waiting,” she hollered without looking back. Mattress full, I disconnected it and found that I couldn’t run with the darn thing without it catching air and trying to take off on me. Kim pointed and I tossed the mattress on the ground. She tossed the blankets on top of it and we turned to look at each other.

“This is crazy,” I said.

“Yup. Rather go to the beach?”

We both looked around the clearing. It was late summer and everything was a lush green. It was very late in the afternoon and we could hear giant pileated woodpeckers and tiny chickadees. Carolina wrens flittered around, the way they do. Frogs were just starting to sing and the mosquitos weren’t out yet. The only sign of other humans was a contrail from a northbound jet, probably five miles up. We couldn’t hear cars, or lawnmowers or any other sounds of civilization. We were less than fifteen minutes from downtown Charleston but a world away. It was perfect.

“No. Definitely not. You are so good-looking.”

“You really think so. Tell me,” she said.

“All of you. I love your beautiful, wavy brown hair, especially now that it’s grown out a little. Short was cute for a while but this is better. Take your T-shirt off,” I said and she pulled it up and off, revealing her white bikini top. “Kim, you fill that top so well. Man, you look good. Perfect. I can’t see your freckles very well yet, but that’s okay. I like your freckles, you know, but I love your tan, too. I’ll name the rest of your freckles when it gets colder and your tan fades. You have the mystery biker babe vee-shaped back Mom wants so badly. You look really good. Toned, you know. Super healthy. Turn for me,” I said and she smiled and turned slowly. When she was facing away from me, she wiggled her butt.

“Drop your skirt, please,” I said and she wiggled out of it, leaving her small white bikini bottom. “Damn. You do that and I want to bite your butt. Your legs look long. Really long. They have good shape, you know?” She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled. “I wasn’t done talking about you and you show me your dimples and I’m undone.”

“Well, then, you better make love to me.”

We spread one of the blankets over the air mattress and lay down, then pulled the other one over us. She rolled over on her stomach and I pulled her bikini tie. When she rolled back, she pulled my hand up to cover her.

“Oh, my goodness,” I said when I realized how hard her nipples were. “A wee bit excited?”

“Just a wee bit. One day, we’re going to make babies here. Right here.” I must have looked a little wide-eyed or something. “Relax, Aquaman. I’m not going to ruin everything. Not today. One day, though.”

She reached down and grabbed me through my shorts. I took the hint and slid them off. She stroked very lightly and I moaned. She couldn’t do that very much. I was ready to blow and we hadn’t even gotten started.

“I love you, Jack. I really do. I’m proud of you, too. This is our property and you’re my man. This is a dream.” She looked into my eyes from inches away. “I don’t need any preliminaries. I just want you inside me.”

“I’m not going to last long,” I said.

“That’s okay. It’s so beautiful here. I can hear all the birds and see the trees waving in the breeze. It’s just perfect.”

I reached down and slid her bottoms off. She pulled me over her and I rested between her legs. I could feel her heat against my stomach. I reached down, sliding my hand between us, and stroked her slit, slipping a finger inside to wet it. I kept my body weight against her because I knew she liked that and let my fingers work.

“You’re not going to last long?” she panted. I could almost reach her tits with my mouth. I slid up a little and kissed around her nipple as I continued to stroke her. “Jack, that’s nice but I want you in me,” she said. She pulled on me trying to get me to move up into position but she didn’t try too hard. “Oh, yessss,” she hissed. “Just like that. Oh my. Oh,” she gasped and that’s all it took. When Kim came hard, she arched up like she was doing a sit-up. She did a sit-up. She did a serious sit-up, contracting hard at the top, and then shook. I stopped working my finger against her and just applied pressure to her entire mound. “So good,” she sighed, and collapsed back. “Now. Get inside me. Hurry.” She pulled on me, harder than before. Insistent.

I had already been hard but when she came like that, I practically came with her. I eased up and positioned myself above her. She reached down to guide me in. When I felt her wet heat against my dick, I stopped, poised at her entrance.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Right here. This is just the best place in the world,” I said, looking into her eyes.

“Almost. It’s six inches away from the best place in the world.”

“Six?” I said as I slid into her in one smooth push.

Fully in, I circled, grinding against her. We smiled at each other as I circled, and then she thrust up at me. I started to pull back and she squeezed me in her already tight pussy. I really wanted to last but when she smiled at my reaction, I saw those dimples and lost it. I went from slow and easy to a hard fast, jack-hammer pace, and almost immediately began to cum. I looked at her wide-eyed, as though this was our first time.

“So good, Baby. I love it when you do that. I love it that I make you feel so good you can’t hold back. Just stay in me as long as you can,” she said and wrapped her arms around me.

I tried not to crush her but she held me close. Our breathing synced up but I don’t think she noticed. I could feel myself shrinking and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Oooh. Ick. Out, out, out,” she said, pushing me off. I rolled off to the side and she glared at me. “Ewie! It’s no good to me now. Ick. Get hard and get back in,” she said.

“It’s going to take a couple of minutes,” I apologized. There’s nothing I can do about it.” I must have sounded pathetic.

“You should see yourself. I’m teasing, Baby. You were awesome. You made me feel really good. Special.”

“Don’t mess with me when my dick is tiny,” I said, and we both started laughing. I pulled her to me and she snuggled up into the crook of my shoulder.

“Woodpecker,” she said when we heard the call of a huge pileated woodpecker. “Woodpeckers never get soft,” she said, quietly.

I waited a moment. “You’d get a splinter. I don’t give splinters,” I said and she snorted. I choked back a laugh and waited a moment. “You snorted.”

“Stop it,” she said quietly. I snorted a couple of times, trying to imitate her. She was unimpressed. “Are you ticklish?” she asked.

“I’ll stop.” Nope, nope, nope. We didn’t need to go there.

“You are,” she accused. “You’re ticklish.”

“I won’t snort anymore. It was funny, though. Mosquitoes are coming out.”

“Okay, let’s pack up.” She sat up as though she were about to get ready to leave and I did the same. When I turned my back on her she grabbed my ribs with the ends of her fingers. Fortunately, that’s not one of my ticklish spots.

“See. Not ticklish. Let’s pack,” I said, hoping she would forget about it. I did not want her to know that there were two very vulnerable spots. Nope.

We pulled our clothes on and I took the blankets back to the truck while she uncorked the mattress and rolled around on it as though that would help it deflate faster. She looked ridiculous. I watched for a few moments and wondered if she really thought rolling around on it was helping. There is no possible way someone as smart as Kim would think it was helping. She thought it was helping.

“Put your shoes on and I’ll finish with the mattress,” I said.

“What? What are you grinning about?” she asked as I folded the edge of the mattress farthest from the valve. “I suppose that’s the approved method?” I kept my head down. There was no way in hell I was going to laugh. I folded it again. “Huh,” she huffed and started for the truck.

I stashed the mattress in the back and climbed in. “You guys did a great job with the run-in,” she said.

“It was pretty easy, actually, especially with some help.”

“Yeah. They didn’t have to do that but I’m glad they did. It’s kind of funny.”

“What is?” I asked as she made a big circle to leave.

“Oh. That was weird, the way I said it. I was just thinking that no one thought we were old enough to make decisions like this, you know, planning our future and all. But now they’re all on board.”

“I guess that’s true enough. I don’t want to screw it up, you know.”

“I know you don’t. You won’t. How hard would it be to cut some trails? Oh, and we need to explore the property next door.”

“You know what would be really helpful is a detailed map of the property,” I said.

“We have one.”

“We have an outline. We should take that plan and map out where the big trees we want to keep are. It would be a lot easier to figure things out that way.”

“I can see that. How hard would that be?”

“I don’t even know. I bet Franklin does, though. In the meantime, I can get rid of a bunch of gum trees. Except one. Maybe.”

“Why one?” she asked.

“There’s a gum tree near the northeast corner that’s probably sixty feet tall. I’ve never seen one that big. It’s actually a pretty good-looking tree. There’s just one problem,” I said. She waited. “It pops out little seed doodads that are trying to make more. If we left it, we’d have a constant battle to make sure it was the only one.”

“Ah. I’m going to leave most of that to you. You know what I like.”

“Live oaks, big magnolias, and elms ... yup. Oh, and those black cherries. I think once we trim out a lot of the gum trees, we’ll have a better idea of what we have to work with.”

We pulled into the driveway at my house. Mom and Dane weren’t back yet so I stashed the air mattress and put the blankets away. We’d left a bit of a mess in the kitchen so we cleaned that up. It seemed like I’d cleaned the kitchen a lot this weekend.

“You have plans for tomorrow?” Kim asked.

“Vince plans on coming over. I guess I should start the car and turn the wheels a bit.”

“Just a visit?”

“Mostly, I guess. He’s going up to Coastal Carolina tomorrow night, then talk with their coach on Tuesday morning, before going back to Notre Dame.”

“Lani’s ecstatic, you know?”

“I guessed,” I said, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out.

“Plans for after that?” she asked. I shook my head. “Let’s take Diva and Ghost to Edisto Beach and go for a ride.”

“Okay. Is there a special place for that?” She shook her head. “Is it legal? You know, to ride horses on the beach?”

“Maybe.”

“But you don’t know?” I asked, surprised that Kim would suggest something that wasn’t legal.

“Nope. The Etterlys are renting a house on the beach. We’ll park the trailer there and go riding. If we get kicked off the beach, we get kicked off.”

“I guess I’m okay with that. If there’s a fine for riding on the beach, how much could it be?”

“Besides, they’d have to catch us,” she said, smiling.

“You don’t think a horse trailer might be a give-away?”

“Oh, yeah. Oh well. If we get fined, I’ll pay for it. We won’t get fined.”

We wrapped up and Kim went home. I read for a little while and hit the sack early. Vince’s advice to give myself more time to sleep had been good for me. It cut into my reading time but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been dead for quite some time and I didn’t think he’d be offended if I didn’t rush through his books.

Monday morning, I was up early and ready for anything by eight. Vince showed up a few minutes later and we walked out to the gym. We were barely inside when he gave me a huge bear hug.

“What was I thinking?” he asked.

“You were thinking you’d go to a good college and play some football.”

“Yeah, but I kept asking myself those questions you and Kim asked me. What else did I need to know about Lani before making a commitment? You know how I really knew it was time to come home?”

“After we talked?” I asked, thinking that was it.

“No. Well, yeah, I guess that was it. But even before that. There are a lot of really nice, really good-looking girls at Notre Dame. A lot. I wasn’t interested in any of them. Not even a little.”

“I know what you mean. It’s not like I have hot women knocking on my door or anything but it wouldn’t matter if I did.”

“You’re kidding, right, Aquaman?”

“No. Why.”

“Dude. You are super smart but, no, never mind.”

“Alright, you can’t do that. What?”

He paused for a minute as he sat on the bench. I took a seat in a camp chair we’d brought out months ago. “If you and Kim didn’t work out for some reason, the rest of the cheerleaders would knock your door down.”

“Ha.”

“You think I’m kidding? I don’t want to plant any seeds or anything. You and Kim are doing just fine.”

“I think so. That just sounds so weird. If Lani wasn’t around. No, let’s imagine Lani and I were dating, that gets us both out of the picture. Would you want to ask Kim out?”

“No.”

“That didn’t take a lot of thought. Just curious. I’m happy with Kim and you’re happy with Lani, but I’m curious. Why not?”

“Honest?” he asked, and I nodded. “She’s intimidating. Seriously.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t think anyone would intimidate you. Is it the Frontier Woman reputation?”

“It’s a lot of things, but yeah, that’s a big part of it. I think I’m an outdoors kind of guy, but not like that. Plus, she’s ridiculously good-looking.”

“That’s crazy. I haven’t felt that way. I mean, she’s out of my league, but as long as she doesn’t see it that way, I’m good.”

“She asked you out. At least that’s what I heard. And then you took her on a first date in a limo. Dude. That was a seriously smooth move.”

“Thanks. Is that why she and Birch didn’t work out?”

“She hasn’t told you?” I shook my head. “Same reason. Birch and I were talking about it. He’s confident in the swimming pool and in biology class. Other than that. His words, ‘she’s bigger than life. I’m not.’ Poor guy.”

“Should I be having a confidence thing right about now?”

“Are you kidding? No way. Did you see when she showed me her ring the other day?”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“I think most girls would have been looking at me to see my reaction.”

“She wasn’t?”

“She was looking at you, Aquaman. She was looking at you.”

My heart just about burst. “Whew. Okay, okay. What else do you want to talk about?”

“You got that settled in your head, Aquaman?”

“Yeah. Dang.” I started to say something else and thought better of it. I didn’t feel intimidated. Maybe that was dopey on my part. I guess the fact that other guys did, played in my favor.

“I’m spending the rest of the day with Lani and we’re going to talk about the future, you know. Then, after supper, I’m going to drive up to Conway so I can meet with Coach Strexel. Anyway, if he’s not interested, I might just go to College of Charleston for a semester before Lani and I decide where we both want to go.”

“What’s she going to major in? Does she know?”

“Theater arts, I think. Music and drama. That kind of thing.”

“Kim and I are going to Atlanta but to two different schools.”

“Tell me about that,” he said, so I did. We talked about the decision process. He asked about our near miss in Puerto Rico so I told him about that and apologized for not running his car more. I think he decided to sell it after hearing about our near miss. We’d been hit once and almost hit a second time and both were someone else’s fault. He asked about our land and I told him about that.

When I asked him about boxing it got a little more interesting. “There was a boxing gym there and I watched for a while and was thinking about taking lessons. Then, my roommate said he was taking Tae Kwon Do lessons so I went with him.”

“Is that karate? Same thing?”

“Sort of. It’s a competition art. I watched and it was interesting but it didn’t seem very practical.”

“Sounds like my trip to the James Island School of Empty Hand. Interesting but not practical.”

“Exactly. With Tae Kwon Do you get extra points if you kick someone in the head. Who cares? I want something I can use.”

“I went to a Wing Chun school. Definitely practical. The instructor, sifu or whatever had me try to punch him.”

“No kidding. How did that go?”

“I wish I could tell you. I ended up on my back wondering what had happened.”