Chapter 3

We dried off and resumed our clothes. By this time, it was nearly noon, so Mom called us into the kitchen for some lunch. She fixed us BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato) sandwiches and ice tea. She sat with us, and she surprised me when she asked Tommy, "So what do you think of my daughter now that you have seen her naked?"

I had not told Tommy how much of a teaser my mother was, and he exploded when she asked him that. Pieces of sandwich flew everywhere and Tommy began to cough. I pounded him on the back to help him recover from his surprise while Mom cleaned up the mess she had caused. I felt that she deserved having to do that work.

Once Tommy had recovered enough to listen to what I said, I explained how Mom liked to tease people, and she had not meant anything else but a joke over what she had said. He calmed down enough to think of a suitable answer, "Mrs. Jones, I liked very much what I saw this morning, and I am looking forward to seeing her the same way in a few years time."

Mom blinked and choked at that, and I laughed and applauded Tommy for his answer. Mom had been answered in the best way possible, and Tommy's stock went way up over what he had said. She was impressed by him and surely approved of him even more than before. Later, after Tommy left, I was going to tell her what he had said about not telling his friends about the hot tub episode.

We finished eating, and the conversation had turned to more common subjects. Mom was not out to embarrass Tommy any more than she had, and I could tell that she actually liked him. He thanked her for the sandwiches (3), and we went back outside.

Dad had marked a section of the yard as my practice area and had installed a home plate and a pitching rubber. I threw and Tommy caught every pitch; he never missed one. We practiced him flashing me the pitch signal with every pitch, and we got so that we didn't have to think about it, we just did it. Every once in a while, I would shake him off, and he would laugh at me. This was fun, and we kept it up for over an hour.

About 2:30, Tommy said, "I have had a great time today, but I have some chores that I have to do before dark, so I had better be getting home. Thanks for inviting me, and thanks for letting me use your hot tub. I had fun for more reasons than one. I hope you invite me back to use it again. When can you come swim in my pool?"

"It was great to have you here, and I enjoyed the hot tub, too. We'll do the hot tub every time we can whenever you visit me. It should last into October before it gets too cold to be any fun. Would Friday be a good day to come to your house?"

"I think that Friday would be fine. I'll call you this evening with the firm yes or no. It will depend on what my Mom has in mind. We'll have to postpone your visit if her friends come over to swim on Friday like they do sometimes. When they come over, they don't want me around and Mom packs Sid off to visit Grandmother. I suspect skinny dipping, and they may do other things I don't want to know about. Anyway, I'll call you this evening. 'Bye for now."

"Goodby for now, and thanks for coming."

Tommy called me after supper and said that his mom was going to another swim party, so I could come over if I wanted to. She would leave about 1:30, so I could come over any time after that. I gave Mom the word, and it was a date.

By the way, Dad said that he would look into the swimming pool situation. He might go with an above-ground pool because they were so much cheaper, but he would think about it. One thing for sure, the above-ground pool would be installed quicker than one dug in, so I should give that some thought. I was caught on the horns of a dilemma: I was in a hurry for the pool, but I wanted one that could have a diving board. Darn it, decisions, decisions, decisions.

Thursday came, and I was the DH. I batted for the second baseman who could not hit his way out of a wet paper bag. Not only that, he was barely adequate at his position. I couldn't replace him permanently because we had to have a second baseman on the days that I was pitching. Yes, Mr. Forbes had a problem. However, we won the game 6-2, and I drove in one of the runs.

Mr. Forbes told me that I would be pitching on Monday, and he wanted me to bat second. He also told me that I could throw as many flutterballs as I wanted to. I didn't know if Tommy had gotten the word, so I would tell him on Thursday.

I showed up at Tommy's house on Friday about 1:45. I had ridden my bicycle, more on a whim than anything else. I rang the front door bell a couple of times with no response, so I went around to the pool. Tommy was there, so that was why he had not heard the doorbell. Thank goodness, Sid was not home so that we did not have to worry about the minimal babysitting that he required.

This time, I was wearing my same swim suit under a tee-shirt and shorts. I didn't want to risk damaging that expensive wrap, a gift from my mother's mother on my last birthday. I pulled off my tee-shirt and shorts and left my flip-flops on the ground beside a lounge. I said hello to Tommy and jumped into the water in cannonball fashion to splash him as much as possible. He returned the favor by splashing me, and a major war broke out. Between the laughing and the splashing, we both tired out pretty fast.

We swam to the steps leading into the pool and sat on a step just so that our waists were level with the water. That was the first time I noticed that Tommy was not wearing a swim suit, and that explained why he had never left the pool when I came up. He was planning a surprise for me. I laughed and slipped off my outfit that I tossed on the ground. I sat back where I had been and he stared at my budding breasts.

I think that I must be a bit precocious in my growth because I had obvious breasts beginning to show. My nipples and areolas were very obvious, and the cold water had made my nipples stick out noticeably. Tommy stared at my chest and licked his lips, but that was all that he did. We sat there for a while talking about this and that, but we were both basically 9-year-old children, so we went back into the water to splash and horse around some more. Finally, we tired of the water and left the pool to lie on the lounges. We were both still nude, but that was now nothing new for either of us. I did put my suit back on because I didn't want Tommy's mother to find me naked with her son and no adults around.

We lounged around for a while until Tommy said, "I saw you come here on your bicycle. Would you like to ride around a little bit."

I figured that was a good idea, so I put on my tee-shirt, shorts, and sandals. Tommy dressed the minimum and got his bike from the garage. We rode around the neighborhood for a while before I suggested that we ride to the park that was about a mile away. That was a nice ride, but we locked our bikes to the rack so that we could play with the swings and other stuff that was in the park.

Kids our age rarely used the swings, but there was no rule against it, and we were the only ones in that part of the park at the moment. We got carried away and started to swing higher and higher until we were nearly even with the cross piece that held the swings. I suddenly realized how dangerous this was and backed off to a more sedate level, but Tommy kept going. I wondered if he was trying to impress me.

"Tommy, that's enough! You could get hurt pretty badly if you fall, and where could I find another catcher as good as you?"

That was enough to get his attention, and he started to laugh, but he did drop back on his pumping so that he and I were swinging together.

"Do you really think that I am a good catcher?"

"Yes, I do, but you wouldn't do much catching if you broke an arm or a leg in a silly fall."

"Okay, I can take a hint. I won't swing like that again."

"Good. I am glad that you have more sense than the average bear."