Chapter 33: A Morning at the Park

The next two weeks blurred together. Every morning was spent out at the park. Jason, Jessica and I always tried to get some exercises in first before we joined the others in a series of sports related activities. Soccer and kickball were the most common but we tried ultimate Frisbee and touch football as well. Sergeant O'Malley showed up occasionally and would drill us in unarmed combat techniques before having everyone run laps. At first the laps were small, but each time the Sergeant showed up he would find a larger and larger area to run in. The day before our planned trip to the waterslide park, the route we ran was nearly three quarters of a mile per lap and Brandon expected six laps from each of us.

The letter from my mother sat for two days and then Matilda and I met over lunch. I read the full letter to her before we both composed long replies. Mine proved to be a journal of everything that was happening in my life. I wrote about my attachment to Ashley and my growing attachments to Lenore and Kelsey. I informed Mother of Father's trip out of the country and the troubles he found himself in. The only one I did not write about was Mike. He had called home once, but I answered and when I told him about Father's predicament Mike immediately hung up the phone. I had not heard from him since.

Matilda's letter was three pages. I did not ask my sister what she wrote. She had been pensive as she worked on the letter, chewing on her pencil and erasing many lines before finally coming up with a version she was happy with. When I told her that it might be weeks before we heard from Mother again, she hugged me. "I'm just happy that you are still willing to try," she whispered. The next day I dropped an express mail envelope off at the post office.

Lenore started smiling a lot more often. She was still very skittish about sex and my commitment. Beatrice did take the time to drive her to a health clinic so she could obtain a prescription for birth control pills. The security of knowing that the chances of pregnancy had been addressed helped her relax. I still found that I had to spend time just holding Lenore to help calm her great fears.

Finally, the Thursday of our trip to the waterpark arrived. Matilda and Kelsey had spent the night at home with me as Kyle refused to take a day off work to go and Katelyn was not allowing him out of her sight. The girls woke me at three in the morning by jumping onto my bed and causing it to shake.

"Wha?" I mumbled groggily as I grabbed at my pillow.

"Get up!" Matilda shouted. "We need to have breakfast. We want to be at the park when it opens."

"It opens at seven thirty and is only a two hour drive away," I protested.

"Breakfast!" Kelsey demanded.

"Fine," I muttered. "Leave me to get dressed and I'll cook up something."

"Bacon!" Matilda commanded. "You'll cook up bacon!" The bed stopped shaking as the girls got off and started to walk to my door.

"You'll get fat!" I pointed out.

I crawled from under the blankets and sat on the edge of my bed for a moment. I discovered that Matilda had already been in my room as a small pile of clothes was sitting on my desk chair. I could see my blue swimming trunks on top.

I stumbled to the door to make sure it was closed and then put the trunks on. The rest of the pile included a light t-shirt and socks. Finally Matilda had found an old backpack of mine and filled it with a spare pair of shorts, some underwear and several towels.

I finished dressing and picked up the bag to take downstairs. I only paused long enough to add my wallet to the backpack so I would have some money for emergencies. As I opened the door to my room I could hear a conversation from downstairs.

"He won't like this," Kelsey said.

"It's cute, he'll love it," Matilda responded.

"But it covers so much," Kelsey said mournfully. "Ashley and Lenore have suits that barely cover anything."

"They won't be wearing those," Matilda said. "Those suits wouldn't survive a trip down one of the waterslides."

"They still have suits that show more than I will," Kelsey responded.

"They are adults and you are not," I said as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

Kelsey had been sitting in a chair with her back to the stairs. She stood up and whirled around the chair. Her long black hair spun away from her body. She was wearing a black bikini. The top was more of a cropped tank top than the usual bra, and the bottoms had a high waist and low leg holes. It still was surprisingly attractive and I smiled as I set my bag on the stairs.

"You hate it," Kelsey said when she realized I was looking at her swim suit.

"I like it," I replied. "Its right for you. Now, I'm supposed to be cooking breakfast and I think you both wanted parsnips."

"Bacon!" Matilda contradicted me.

"So fried bananas with barley," I replied as I walked past Kelsey.

Kelsey threw her arms around me. "Bacon!" she cried.

I returned her hug and whispered in her ear. "Patience my love."

Matilda stomped her foot. "We want bacon!"

"Fine," I said as I released Kelsey. "Brussel sprouts, Broccoli and Botulism, coming up."

Matilda grabbed me by the ear as I tried to walk past her. I noticed she had a pink bikini of very similar cut to Kelsey's. "If you do not have bacon frying in a pan in the next five minutes," My sister whispered in a monotone. "I shall sneak into your room at night and tie you to the bedposts."

"Ashley might like that," I said with a smirk as I knocked her hand away and ran to the refrigerator.

I opened the refrigerator and searched the shelves. I found a brand new package of bacon along with some fresh peppers, mushrooms and eggs. I pulled these items out and checked the pantry cupboard. There I found a fresh loaf of bread along with a small onion and a can of spam. I pulled these out and went looking for a couple of frying pans. One for the bacon was easy, but it took me a few minutes to dig out the omelet pan.

"What's all that for?" Matilda asked.

"Damn, I forgot to check for shredded cheese," I muttered. "Matilda, can you check the refrigerator for shredded cheese. I need to cut the peppers, onions and spam."

"What's all this for?' Matilda asked again.

"Omelets and toast," I said. "I thought a breakfast of just bacon was a bad idea."

"Oh," Matilda said. "Can I help?"

"Find the toaster and some jam," I said. I pulled out the cutting board and started placing the mushrooms and peppers down on the counter. Mother had always kept a knife block near the cutting board and I was able to grab a sharp knife and begin dicing the vegetables.

Kelsey moved into the room, looking at what I was doing. "You can cook?" she asked.

"Not too well," I admitted. "But I've cooked up a few omelets. Don't expect this to be restaurant grade though.

The two peppers made a small pile of cut pieces. I peeled the outer skin of the onion and started cutting. Kelsey backed away while wiping her eyes. "That burns," she complained.

"That happens when you cut an onion," I said. I used only half of the onion, finding a storage container to keep the other half before moving to open the tin of spam.

"Why spam?" my sister asked. She had set up the toaster and was placing slices of bread into it.

"Ham is a popular addition to omelets," I said. "Did you get the cheese?"

"I left it by the stove," Matilda said.

"Good," I said as I used some plastic bowls to hold my omelet ingredients. I moved to the stove and set everything on the counter next to the bag of shredded cheese before turning on two of the burners.

After getting the pans on the burners I started cooking breakfast. The first two omelets I made were filled with peppers, mushrooms and cheese. I placed these on plates and brought them over to Matilda and Kelsey. They begged for me to bring bacon. I checked on the progress of the bacon before starting a third omelet, this one filled with peppers, cut up spam, onions and cheese.

My omelet finished cooking just as the bacon finished frying. I left my omelet on the counter while I pulled the bacon from the stove and drained the grease into a small metal can. There were eight pieces of bacon, I put two on my own plate and then gave three each to Kelsey and Matilda. Then I turned off the stove and brought my plate over to the table so I could eat breakfast.

"These are good," Kelsey said. She had a mouthful of omelet and was smiling.

Matilda set her fork down. "New rule, Mark cooks breakfast every morning."

I laughed. "You realize that it will most likely be your job to do that in the future. I get a feeling that concubines have to prepare the meals. Perhaps we should have you learn."

"You wouldn't!" Matilda said.

"No," I pondered. "I think it is a good idea. I'll talk to Beatrice later today. She can organize classes for every girl who is interested. I'm sure Ashley will strive to please me with every meal she cooks."

Kelsey and my sister frowned. They ate the rest of their meals in silence as they watched me enjoy my own breakfast. When Kelsey finished she took her plate to the sink and rinsed it down. Then she walked over and carefully slipped around me to sit on my lap as I chewed on the last piece of bacon on my plate.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For?" I asked.

"You're right, I should have cooked breakfast. But I don't know how," Kelsey said with a sniffle. "I'm going to lose you aren't I. You won't wait until I test now."

"I'd be a bad man if I dropped you over something so little," I said. "Now go and get your towel and a change of clothes ready. It's early, but I'll clean up the kitchen and we can walk to Ashley's place. Hopefully, they will be awake."

Matilda put her hands on my shoulders. "You stay there. Kels and I will do the dishes. As for people being awake at Ashley's, I'd be amazed if Angelique let them go to sleep last night. She's looking forward to this trip."

"I'm not sure how much she can do," I said. "She's a bit small for most of the slides."

"We'll take her on the rides" Kelsey said. "She can't do most of the slides, but we can take her on the lazy river or into the wave pools. So we'll allow her to ride with us."

"There also is an area for making sand castles," Matilda said. "Angelique will love that."

"Fine," I said. "Begone wench, and clean my dishes. I must ponder my latest scheme to conquer the heart of a fair damsel."

"Oh? You hoping to find another damsel in distress?" Kelsey asked.

"If it's the invisible one you are holding in your hands, certainly," I said with a smirk.

The two girls groaned and walked into the kitchen to start cleaning up. I walked over to Mother's old computer desk and powered up the system. It took a few minutes to check the various e-mail accounts. There was a message from Walter, complaining that Susan, one of the few girls who had appeared interested in him near the end of the school year, had abruptly left on a vacation and now was not answering her cell phone. He did not ask for a reply, so I did not send one and shut down the computer just as the girls emerged from the kitchen.

"Done," Matilda said. "Let's go Mark."

I stood up and walked over to my bag. As I picked it up I looked at the girls in their bikinis. "Did you pack sunscreen?" I asked.

"What?' Kelsey replied.

"Sunscreen," I said while shaking my head. "I'll get it. Mom always stored it in the main bathroom."

I went into the bathroom and pulled out two tubes of waterproof sunscreen. They were easy to slip into my bag and then I returned to the entry hall. Matilda had already opened the door and was waiting on the porch with her keys in her hand.

"No more stalling," she ordered as I stepped through the doorway.

My sister closed the door and then got behind me and pushed me down our walkway to the sidewalk. There she claimed my right hand while Kelsey took my left and the two girls started to pull me toward Ashley's house. The sky was still dark, although I could see a faint glow to the East as we walked.

I deliberately did not hurry, but Matilda and Kelsey prevented me from slowing our march too much. The sun was still behind the horizon when we set foot on the driveway to Ashley's house. Several lights were on and before we reached the front door it opened and Angelique ran out.

"Unca Mark! You're here!" she cried.

I knelt down to give the young girl a hug. She was wearing a simple one piece swimsuit and had on arm floats and a life jacket. Someone had braided her hair, pulling it tight against the back of her head.

"We go now," Angelique ordered.

"I am not the one driving," I said firmly. "Beatrice and Morgan will control when we leave."

Angelique slapped my chest. "Mom promise, you arrive, we go. You now here."

I tried to think of a way to argue with that when the garage door started to open. Angelique gave a squeal of joy and twisted in my arms to watch as the metal panels rose from the ground. As they did I could see several people moving around two minivans parked in the garage.

"Where is Morgan's truck?" I mused.

"Unca Morgan drove blue minivan home last night," Angelique said.

"They will be backing out soon. Let's get out of the way," I said as I picked up Angelique and stepped off the side of the driveway. Lenore came out from the garage and smiled when she saw her daughter in my arms.

"She didn't want to wait," Lenore said as she walked up to me. My black-haired love was wearing a white bikini that did not leave much to the imagination. The top had thick bands over her shoulders and around her chest, but the material covering her breasts was a bit narrow and the sides of her breasts were clearly visible. Her white bottoms were cut high on her hip and had less than an inch of fabric there before spreading out again to fully cover her ass. She had a light cover-up in her hands as she approached.

I said nothing as I looked over her awesome body. Lenore giggled and turned around slowly, holding her hands out to display her body.

"I like," I said.

"Ashley has this in blue; Letty has one in brown, which you wouldn't expect to look nice, but looks right on her. Bea and Becky have green ones," Lenore said.

"We're going to split up for the drive," Ashley shouted. "Let us back out Mom's minivan and you can get in. Mom will drive you, me, Angelique and Lenore. Morgan will take everyone else.

"Why not have Lenore drive and bring Jason and Letty along?" I asked.

"Maybe for the return trip," Lenore said. "I want to snuggle with my husband."

I looked over at Lenore who had a strangely satisfied look on her face. "You're married? When did this take place?"

Ashley giggled as the red minivan started to back out of the driveway. "Lenore decided that she's married to you," my blond haired lover said. "She said that if she's making love to you and is going to have your babies, she might as well consider herself married."

I looked at Lenore. Her face turned pale for a moment. I saw her raise a hand to her mouth as she bit her lower lip. Just before I could say something she threw herself at me, almost knocking Angelique from my arms. "I'm sorry! I won't ever say that again!" she wailed.

"Hold! Stop!" I shouted, while bending down to put Angelique on the ground. The frightened girl clung to me as her mother held my neck and sobbed. "Lenore, cease the sobbing for a moment."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Lenore kept blubbering.

"Did I say that I didn't like the idea?" I asked.

"I'm sorry," was all that Lenore said, although the sobbing stopped.

"Ashley, do you feel the same way?" I asked.

"Of course," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

"We never had a ceremony," I pointed out.

"I don't need one," Lenore mumbled before wiping her face on my shoulder.

"I want you to have one, but ideally we'd have one once I have all my ladies. That way they can each feel equal," I said.

"But you appeared lost in thought about it," Lenore moaned.

"Of course I was. I had never thought I'd be lucky enough to marry one beautiful woman and all of a sudden I hear that two love me enough to marry me." I snapped. The minivan had finished rolling backward and I slipped from Lenore's arms long enough to open the door.

Angelique gave a cheer and clambered inside. She needed to be lifted into her car seat. In her excitement she kicked her shoes off as I locked in the fasteners. Ashley climbed into the passenger seat as I completed my task.

Lenore watched patiently and once I was sure Angelique was secure, pushed me into the minivan. She stopped long enough to grab my bag and throw it into the backseat before climbing in to sit next to me.

Jason walked up and looked inside the minivan. "Have fun storming the castle," he said mockingly before he closed the door.

The second minivan was backing out of the garage. "I'm sorry you had to drive just us," I said to Beatrice as we watched the other minivan pull onto the driveway.

The door to the second minivan was opened. Jason helped my sister and Kelsey get into the back seat before pulling Letty up into the middle seat and closing the door. "I don't mind," Beatrice said. "Either Lenore or Becky will drive you back. I'll ride back with Morgan. Besides, I wanted to spend time with my favorite son-in-law."

"I'll never be your official son-in-law," I pointed out. "From what we've heard concubines aren't married to the men who own them."

"She will be your wife in everything important," Beatrice pointed out. "And you will love her."

"I try," I said causing Ashley to giggle.

Lenore put her arms around me. "You do more than try. Mark, you know how things were for me. I was convinced that to get off Earth and give my Angel a chance at a future that I would have to accept being a plaything of some arrogant ass who fucked me without caring if I enjoyed it. Instead I find myself thinking of a boy who puts my needs ahead of his when he can and who actually loves my daughter. Tell me, how much time do you expect to spend with my daughter at the park?"

"As much as is necessary to ensure she has a good time," I said. "She deserves some happy memories of Earth before she leaves this planet forever. Who knows when or even if we will return."

"You have ideas for more activities," Ashley said.

"Of course," I said. "I'm going to play sports in high school, but I also want to get out and ski at least once. I was thinking in the early spring we could try to visit Japan when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. We also really should do a long trip to all the Florida resorts."

"And you have tried to get us tickets to two shows," Lenore said. "But can we afford all of that."

"Unless we spend three million in the next four years, we are fine," Beatrice said. "And Mark, you won't need to spend too much time with Angelique. Matilda and Kelsey have said they'll babysit her some, and Morgan and I don't really expect to want to spend too much time on the slides, so we can watch her as well. Make sure that you enjoy this trip."

"Thanks, grandma," I said.

"I'm not a grandmother yet!" Beatrice snapped.

"Jason or I could solve that anytime," Ashley said with another giggle.

"Don't you dare!" Beatrice growled. "I have enough competition for Morgan's attention and love. I don't need him reminded that I'm older than many of the sluts throwing themselves at him."

"Do you really think Morgan is that shallow?" Lenore asked quietly.

"No," Beatrice admitted. "But I do worry some. I'm thirty-seven. Some men won't even look at me because I have two teenage children."

Ashley giggled. "But Jason and I are both adults now. I have a man who will do anything to protect me and Jason has found a gem in Letty. Those two are a riot."

"Letty might start a riot," Lenore said with a giggle. "She's going to have any man's jaw on the floor when they see her walk in that bikini."

"A few girls too," Ashley admitted.

"Is my girl thinking of turning lesbian on me?" I asked mockingly.

Ashley turned to stare at me. There was fear in her eyes. "Never! Mark, I just wonder. Ever since I got my first taste of Lenore, I've wanted to try another woman."

"It will happen," Lenore affirmed. "And I don't think Mark took it badly. He just was a bit surprised. You never said a thing when we are together."

"I am now," Ashley pointed out.

I had raised my hand to cover my mouth and hide my smile. "Very well. Let's concentrate on having fun. Beatrice how about some music we can sing to."

"Not Bohemian Rhapsody," Lenore groaned. "I don't want to headbang in the car today."

Beatrice snorted. "Fine, we'll go with oldies instead." She reached out and raised the volume on the radio. As the minivan backed out of the driveway and started to follow Morgan's vehicle we sang along to the voice of Elvis Presley.

Beatrice had an incredible selection on her player. For the next two hours we sang out song after song as we followed the other minivan down the interstate. There were a few times that Ashley and I stopped and just tried to pick up the words, but Beatrice sang every song. When we finally pulled into the parking lot of the waterpark, Beatrice was serenading us as she harmonized with Gretchen Wilson.

She pulled her minivan into the spot right next to the blue one Morgan had driven. The singing had raised the spirits of Lenore and Ashley. The two giggled as we opened doors and began to exit the minivan. I looked at the other minivan as I put my feet on the ground and could see Letty and Kelsey glare at each other as they retrieved their bags and started to walk to the park entrance.

Matilda ran around the minivan and put her hand on my arm. "We have a problem," she told me.

"Who started it and what is it about?" I asked.

Matilda looked down at the ground. "I think I started it. We were all talking about our plans for next year and I mentioned my efforts to skip junior high."

"How did that start a fight between Letty and Kelsey?" I asked as Lenore lifted Angelique from her car seat. The child struggled and demanded to be put on the ground.

Lenore set Angelique down and the girl started to run towards the park entrance. Ashley gave chase, making sure that no cars threatened the cheerful child. "Park!" Angelique shouted.

"She doesn't have a clue," Matilda observed. "Anyway, Letty mentioned her belief that most children should never skip a grade as it means leaving friends behind and perhaps destroying relationships."

The doors to the two minivans were closed and everyone was now walking toward the entrance. "When we catch up to Angelique we need to stick together," Morgan said as he carried a small cooler. "We want to set up a central point that everyone can rest at."

"Letty is expressing a reasonable concern," I said. "You are leaving friends behind by skipping two grades the way you are. Although, I also believe that you need to do this."

"Kelsey saw it as an attack on you, since it was your suggestion that I skip the two grades," Matilda said. "They argued for the last hour."

I nodded. "Well, I doubt they want to spend much time together in the park. And we'll change up who is in which van on the way home so we don't have a problem."

Matilda smiled. "I knew you'd know what to do. I'll get Kelsey on some of the speed slides first thing. Once she gets wet she won't worry about it."

I nodded again as Matilda ran forward to catch up to Kelsey. The argument seemed easily defused. Lenore caught me and put a hand on my arm. "Mark, don't you ever worry or get things wrong?"

"I worry all the time," I said. "That was why I initially concealed my CAP score. I don't do that now mostly because my father isn't around to cause trouble. But it sounded like the argument was small. I expect Letty and Kelsey will have forgiven each other by tomorrow."

We arrived at the entrance. Morgan made a big production of counting off everyone for the ticket seller. Angelique insisted that she had to go through the turnstile first, so once the tickets were paid for she led us over to the main entrance and held out one of the adult tickets Morgan had purchased. The park employee smiled at the little girl and accepted the ticket. Becky followed Angelique. She had no ticket but pointed to the one Angelique had turned over without speaking. The employee smiled and then the rest of us passed through the gate.

Becky had kept a hand on Angelique as we entered. She was pointing out some of the few rides the child would be permitted on when I passed through and joined up with the rest of the group. Beatrice noticed that I was there and smiled.

"Right," she said. "We haven't been here in ages. I checked and there is a picnic area across from several of the splashdown pools and next to the sand castle courtyard. I figure we can claim a table near the sand castle area and then get started."

Ashley shivered slightly. It was not yet eight in the morning and there was still a chill in the air. "I'm going to take Angel to make sand castles first. It's a bit too cold to jump on a waterslide."

"What's a sand castle?" Angelique asked.

We started walking again. Ashley claimed one of Angelique's hands from Becky and looked down at the girl. "We'll show you. It will be fun."

Matilda and Kelsey ran on ahead. They seemed to be trying to warm up their bodies a little as we made our way past employees who were still sweeping up walkways. We arrived at the edge of a large sandy area. The center of this area was set up as a volleyball court. Beyond that there were several stone picnic tables. Matilda and Kelsey looked around and then ran to one that was positioned beyond the end line of one side of the court. I could see that the bench they chose was in the sun for now, but had nearby trees which would shade it once the sun reached its zenith and into the afternoon.

Becky laughed. "That's a perfect bench. Sunny for now when we want to warm up and shade in the afternoon once it gets too hot to sit in the sun."

"Everyone, someone needs to be at the bench all day to watch things, but otherwise have fun. We have snacks and I'll pay for lunches later," Morgan said.

Everyone cheered, disturbing the peaceful morning. I saw several birds take flight from the nearby trees as everyone moved to the table and began setting their bags and towels down. Ashley's bag was still falling over when she turned to Angelique and picked up the girl, setting her against her hip. "Ready to make sand castles?" my blond love asked.

"What's a sand castle?" Angelique asked again.

Ashley smiled. "Let's show you." She walked from the table and across a pathway that was covered in blue foam that was both rough and soft at the same time. I followed Ashley as she carried Angelique. She headed to the other side of the path where there was a sandy opening in the border. The opening led to a large square pool of sand. A young brown haired woman wearing the teal swimsuit that was the uniform for park employees was standing at the edge of the sand and hooking up a hose.

The woman looked at us. "Oh, you are early."

"We wanted to make a full day of it," I said. "The park is open correct?"

"Yes, but most people wait for the day to warm up," the woman said. "I guess I can understand coming here first."

Ashley set Angelique down on the edge of the sand. The child looked around at the clean sand and then looked up at me. "What's a sand castle?" she asked again.

The woman looked down at Angelique. "What an adorable little girl! You've never made a sand castle?"

Angelique suddenly turned shy. She hid behind me, peeking out from behind my thigh and shaking her head. The park employee smiled and turned the water on, sending a fine spray out over the sand.

"What?" Ashley said as we moved back to avoid the spray.

"We try to keep the sand here moist so that it's perfect for castle making, but it dries out at night. I just need a moment more and I can show your daughter how to make a sand castle. If you want, you can grab some tools from our supply." The woman pointed towards a box next to the entrance to the area.

I walked over there. Angelique stayed next to me and kept a hand on my back as I opened the box and looked inside. The contents were well organized and it took only a moment to pull out a bucket and two small shovels.

Angelique's eyes were wide as I walked back near the park employee. The woman was shutting off the water and coiling the hose. She looked at what I had brought and laughed. "Starting small I see."

"Angelique has never done this before," I said.

"She's adorable," the woman said as she knelt down to look Angelique in the eye. "Hi, I'm Rachel. Do you want to try making a sandcastle?"

Angelique shook her head into my thigh, but did not run away. I knelt down and set the bucket on the now wet sand. Rachel smiled and claimed one of the shovels. She began using one of the shovels to pile sand up against the side of the bucket.