Chapter 27

Deena’s turn:

Deena’s horny. I’m in the car with Haley; this afternoon’s schedule calls for us to make a stop at the beautician for haircuts.

Horny? I know myself. Two days before my period, that’s MY peak. Haley’s is a few days AFTER hers. Bill? We keep him pretty much worn down, but he’s at HIS horniest when he walks into the house after being out of town overnight.

Oh, wait ... I’m supposed to be thinking about my academic progress and intersocial relationships or music and entertainment, right?

Nah. Academics is in that ‘exceeds expectations’ range. No, take that back. I’m turning fifteen and I’m part-way through college. Make that ‘beyond your wildest dreams’ range.

Intersocial relationships? I have friendships that span states and ages.

I only wish I was a bi t more musical. I’m a little jealous there. Sandy’s piano skills bring me joy. Any time we show up at her house, I push her to playing something. She can do Bach to boogie.

I can hum.

But if my winkie tingles, that’s supposed to be reacting to my baser instincts? Bullshit. It’s MY winkie and I have people who love me and thinking of them is perfectly normal and if thinking of them makes it tingle, I’m good for it.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Haley says.

“One of the advantages of not having a driver’s license is that I’m ALWAYS the passenger and my mind can drift up whatever stream it wishes.”

“You drift DOWN streams. With the current.”

“Don’t harsh my mellow,” I snickered. “Besides, next week Dad’s taking me to get my learner’s permit.”

“Which is of limited utility,” she said. “You can only drive with an adult or a sibling over eighteen. I’m not eighteen.”

“I know,” I said. “But I still need it. If I crash without it...”

“Lovely,” Haley said. “You’re a college student. You can fly an airplane. but you can’t drive by yourself.” She paused. “So what’s REALLY wrong?”

“Period in two days...”

She smirked. “You’re horny.”

“Uh, I have an itch that needs to be scratched.”

“Lovely as it is with you, when I have that itch it needs to be scratched from the inside.”

“We’re the same about that.”

“I’m sure we can talk ‘im into something,” Haley giggled. “You KNOW he’s spoiled.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “So are we. Wonderful, ain’t it?”

So that means that my itch is going to be scratched.

“Home? Or office?”

“I know what you want, Haley...”

“Oh, just an HOUR, that’s all.”

“You’re an addict...”

“Let’s go. I can watch. Study. Talk to somebody.”

“I’m sorry, Deena. Your ultralight’s coming...”

“I know. Then we have to put it together...”

“It’s just a matter of putting the surfaces on. We talked to ‘em, remember?”

“I know...”

“Maybe Dad’ll take you...”

“Yeah, but I kinda wanna get home...”

She smiled. “You really ARE horny...”

“Nah ... You’re the one that said I get flakey before my period. Sometimes it’s worse...”

I did watch Haley pre-flight our little trainer and take off.

Our new fuel tank is in place, but it hasn’t been piped in yet. There’s a trench to the new pump pad. It’s a big above-ground tank. I thought Mister Russell told us six hundred gallons but the number on the side says ‘800’.

I watch Haley fly off before I go into the office.

Maddie’s there. Maddie’s a hoot.

“Haircut?” she asked.

“Yeah. Needed it. I like it kinda short ... It was getting ragged. Haley did, too.”

Haley was evidenced by the sound of her shooting touch and goes. Maddie looked out her window. From there she gets a view of the south end of the runway as well as a section of the adjoining rice field/crawfish pond.

“My view of the zoo,” she says. “It’s beautiful, I mean for a business office.”

“Yeah. I’d have a list of the birds I’ve seen,” I said.

She smiled. “Here!” handing me a list. “I’d put out feed but Bill says that we don’t want more birds out there than necessary. Air strike.”

“Would be a definite downer,” I said.

“It’d be hard on the bird, too ... So what’s up today?”

I shook my head. “You were sayin? About my hair...”

“I noticed. Same cut, though...”

“Yeah, I like it. I don’t have to spend a lot of time...”

“That’s a ‘Community’ thing, I think. I used to wear more makeup and spend time doing my hair, but watching THEM made me rethink...”

“What’s Scott say about it?”

“The boy walks around in a daze ... He likes me this way...”

I laughed. “I’m sure he does. Dad says that most guys would rather NOT have to put up with hairspray and teasing and perms and makeup.”

“That’s my Scotty,” she said. “Mom’s old-school. She flips out.”

“My mom’s the same way. She blames my association with Haley. I don’t think Haley’s EVER had makeup or hairspray.”

“And Bill adores ‘er,” Maddie said. “It’s obvious. ‘Course, he adores you too, but you have a head start, bein’ ‘is daughter.”

“And I seldom play that card,” I said.

“I’m sure you don’t,” she laughed. “I didn’t either. Much.”

“There are so many perils to being an only child,” I sighed.

“And now you have a sister.”

“Who’s my step-mom. Weird.”

“Y’all get along together.”

“We do. We were friends for a long time before they got married. When I heard she was getting married, I KNEW it was Dad. They might look strange with the age difference, but they just sort of mesh together.”

“You fit in there, too, don’t you?” she asked.

My brain went CLICK! I don’t know what she imagines, but I’ll play stupid. “We make a happy family. Same goals, a lot of the same likes and dislikes. All that.”

“Mmm-hmmm.”

What a non-commital answer. Well, I’m not going to push things. It’s kinda like with Johanna and with Sandy.

Well, Johanna KNOWS. Sandy knows, but she has no idea of how far we’ve gone. I’m pretty sure that Johanna understands that there have been no limits between me and Haley and Dad.

That bit of stress is the biggest hassle I have in life. I know that if it got blown out the wrong way, it would be catastrophic to our little family. Bill would be branded something that’s just totally wrong and he’d possibly end up in jail. Haley and I, well, reputation - no matter what happened – would be wrecked.

And I can’t imagine life without my Dad and my Haley, just the way we are.

I’m knocked out of my thoughts by Dad’s SUV pulling into his parking slot. In a minute he’s inside.

“Hi, punkin. Hi, Maddie. The 152’s missing, so I won’t ask about Haley.”

“Got a stack of stuff on your desk,” Maddie said. “Nothing earth-shattering. And you didn’t even notice your daughter’s hair...”

He smiled. “Yes, I did. My favorite cut.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I said.

I guess Haley saw his car pull in, because she hit the pattern, made one touch and go, then taxied in to put the plane away.

We walked out to help her push it. She took that as an opportunity to jump up and wrap her legs around him and kiss him. That part, that they can do that in public, is the thing I’m jealous of.

“Fresh haircut,” he said.

“Yeah. Get to try it out later...”

“Am I to take it that we’re going to dine out this evening?”

“Yes,” I said. “We haven’t picked a place yet.”

“Who else is coming?”

“I dunno,” Haley replied. “Nobody said anything.”

“Y’all need to step your act up. The Auburn bunch has all that scheduled.”

“Yeah, but they got that lady that takes care of the pavilion. We need staff,” I returned.

“You ARE staff...”

Oh yeah, we hit Maddie up, too.

“Mom and Dad’s,” she said. “Mom loves it! She feeds us all.”

I’ve met Maddie’s folks. Good people.

Funny. We walked into a seafood joint. I did a quick scan. “There’s Carl and Sunny.”

Haley waved like a nutcase to get their attention. Sunny waved back with a beckoning motion. We pointed them out to the hostess. Five of us moved to a bigger table.

“Thank you, Sunny,” Haley said. “We get a last supper with ol’ Carl...”

“Last supper?” Carl questioned.

“Yeah,” Haley snickered. “We figure a week of ‘er putting up with you and she’ll buy a chainsaw to hack up your body.”

“I thought y’all were my fans,” Carl said, sounding as hurt as he could fake.

“Carl,” Haley said, “You’re useful. Like an old, bent screwdriver that you keep around just in case you need to open a paint can.”

“Wow, Carl,” Sunny giggled. “You have fans!”

We had a pleasant dinner, eating, talking, the adults each having a beer while Haley and I had soft drinks. That’s no big deal, really. I’ve tasted beer. I’m apparently not mature enough to appreciate the taste. Neither is Haley.

The evening ended with us saying good-byes in the parking lot. I noticed both of them got into Carl’s big pickup truck. Also noticed that he didn’t open the door for her.

In the car heading home, Haley popped, “Cute couple.”

“They’re not a couple,” Dad said. “Two technicians going off on a job.”

“Yeah, that’s NOW.”

“I think it’d be cute,” I said. “She is. Carl’s just Carl, though...”

“Yeah, total loser,” I said. “Good job. Responsible. Intelligent, reasonably personable ... Loser.”

“And she’s a divorcee.”

“And we really don’t know about Carl, you know.”

“He’s divorced,” Dad said. “Wife works at one of the casinos.”

“See?!?” Haley squeaked. “Something in common.”

“Both of ‘em being screwed over by former mates is not exactly something on which to build a relationship,” Dad said.