Chapter 4: Negotiations

As tired as I was, I was almost afraid to go inside the Jeffreys house and find out what the women had been talking about. We’d all gone in to use the restroom during the break, and I’d noticed that Sally hadn’t come back out again. Well, she was only 13. She may not be up to four hours of exercise. Neither were Cindy, Ginny, Matt, and Doug, but they all stuck it out with the rest of us ‘adults’; me, Eric, George, Margie, Jeff, and last, Mr. Jeffreys driving us to continue, doing everything he was telling us to do.

That was good. I’d have had a hard time trusting someone who quit on us during a practice session. Mr. Jeffreys wasn’t THAT hard on us. And he was trying to teach us how to stay alive in the Portals. As long as he was willing to teach us, we needed to suck it up and work with him.

Another good thing about Cindy hanging in with us out in her back yard was that she hadn’t gotten to talk to my Mom about the way she thought our marriage should work. If Mom got the same story from her mother and grandmother as I had gotten from Cindy, well, it was probably true. Now, what my Mom would have to say about it? I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.

We were all hot and tired and thirsty, though, so we all trooped in through the dining room into the kitchen where Cindy and her dad got us drinks. I wasn’t sure where I should go, but I heard Cindy’s mom call out “Can we have Cindy and Sam in here?”

Dammit. After we got our drinks, I just wanted icewater like Cindy, we went into the living room where my mom and every female in Cindy’s family were waiting for us. Mrs. Jeffreys asked “Sally, can you tell your sister what Sam told you Friday night when you stole her spot on the couch?”

Sally said “He said something about losing weight. I didn’t understand it, it didn’t make any sense.”

Cindy hugged me and kissed my cheek. “You really said that!”

Her mom nodded. “Not only did he do the right thing, he stood his ground and told the truth about it when you asked him about it later. That’s the kind of man he is. Cindy, you have my approval and Aaron will accept it as long as Sam is good to you.”

Sally said “Wait. What did he really say?”

Everyone looked at me. “Cindy had been in my lap, and I really liked that. I’d had to get her to get up because I needed to use the bathroom. When I got out, she went in after me. While she was gone, Sally sat in my lap the same way that Cindy had been. I already knew that they were both troublemakers so I didn’t want to cause a big scene, but I wanted her to know that I could tell them apart without even opening my eyes. I said ‘If you lose that much weight just going to the bathroom, you need to go see the doctor.’ Or something like that, I probably don’t have the exact words right.”

Everyone smiled at me. Except Sally, I guess. She looked pretty annoyed.

Mrs. Jeffreys said “Sally, that’s all we need you for. Can you close the doors on your way out?”

Sally looked even more annoyed at being dismissed like that, but she slammed the doors after she went through them.

After the doors were closed, my Mom turned to me. “Sam, there’s an old saying about how lucky some people are. ‘You could fall into a cesspool and come out smelling like roses’. All you were looking for was a girlfriend, and it looks like you’re getting two wives out of it.”

I couldn’t help it, I had to do it. “I’m getting both Cindy and Sally?”

Why does Cindy keep hitting me? She pushed me towards a big chair with way too many cushions, saying “Sit!” I sat, and she sat in my lap. Yeah, the same way she had Friday night. And, the way that Sally had when she wasn’t there.

She had to turn her head to talk, but she said “You’re getting me and Grandma. Sally is ‘way too young.”

I can answer that. “I’m too young. You’re too young. Aren’t those problems, too?”