Chapter 75: Mixed ‘Invisible’ Messages

Mid-August, 1985

[I’ll see you tomorrow morning Charlie, take care.”

“Till then my love!”]

I was excited for Carl and Anita. Melody had taken care of everything even their rig. She sounded as eager to see me as she was to see them.

Now to figure out how to let Carl and Anita know that I’d already spoken to Melody, when the two of them were sleeping right here on the bed next to Mary and me!

Coffee ... the answer lies in its simple inviting pleasure. After my morning ablutions, I brewed a pot and took a cup and my phone out in the cool morning mountain air.

I reflected on all of the different people I’ve come to know and develop deep feelings for over the few short months since I found my true love. That Mary was always encouraging me to develop these different relationships demonstrated her comfort in my love for her.

It also made my love for her even more resolute.

When I looked up, my soulmate was beaming at me.

Mary gently set down her coffee, then captivated me in a kiss embodying everything we felt for each other. For the next few minutes, we were the only ones in the universe. Our kiss was so impassioned that we both shared a simultaneous, mutual, full-body orgasm. Our knees buckled and we had to hold each other up.

We began laughing, then we saw Jamie, Sarah and Anita padding out to join us, coffee in hand. “Whatever you do, DON’T ever kiss like that if you’re in California”, Anita gasped, “or Arizona will find itself with beachfront property! Wow, that was some kiss!”

“Those only have Mary’s name on them, Anita.” Jamie giggled, “I’m afraid the rest of us just have to settle for ‘toe-curling’ kisses.”

“Where’s my ‘toe-curler’, baby daddy?” Sarah smirked. I laid one on her that left her damp and gasping.

Anita hollered, “Carl? Get your ass out here and kiss me before I make Charlie take me back to bed! We’ve got a lot to do today.”

A sheepish looking Linda, Bob and Greg came slinking out of the rig carrying their coffee. Greg smirked to Anita, “Ummm, Carl said I was supposed to kiss you for him. He needed a quick shower.”

Linda was crimson and biting her lower lip, “I may have gotten a wee bit randy this morning. Greg was taking care of my itch and Bob REALLY needed a blowjob. And, um, well, I sorta ... kinda ... invited Carl to plug my last needy hole?”

“WHAAAT?”, Anita shrieked, “Wait until I get my hands on him! I’ve been BEGGING him to do my ass, but NOOO, he keeps telling me he likes ‘Little Miss Muffet’ too much. Aaaarggh!” She took a deep breath, looking at Linda, “Was he any good at it?” She asked dryly.

“Can I plead the fifth?” Linda asked, timidly smirking.

The girls were all laughing when a hangdog looking Carl slowly tiptoed out of the rig. Luckily for Carl, Anita was grinning, albeit evilly, “Miss Muffet is off limits until you take care of MY needy ass, buster!”

Carl smiled, then lit up Anita’s giggling mouth with a desperate kiss. After parting he asked, “Did Melody call yet?”

He was clearly trying to change the subject.

Anita teased him about it, but it was all in fun. I chuckled before telling him that she had, then I filled both Anita and him in on what she told me. Carl was relieved and excited that his rig would be taken care of. Since we all had a lot to do, we decided to try and have a quick rehearsal around 5:00pm if we had time.

With seven of us working in harmony we quickly had our rig ready to roll, with the exception of the coffee pot that we’d need in the morning. We finished just before noon, so we decided to take the bikes for a quick ride hoping to find somewhere to have a big lunch. Before we left, Bob moved his van so we could easily load the bikes when we got back, using the rig to hide our method of loading them.

We headed west, then south on NM County Hwy 337 through the Cibola National Forest. Even though it was in the mountains, the road was easily travelled at 55 MPH, providing gently curvy roads for a little excitement. We found a nice restaurant that advertised steaks and other family style favorites.

The food was delicious and my steak was perfectly cooked to my desired ‘medium-rare’. With satisfied, full stomachs, we enjoyed our ride back to the campground. After loading our bikes, (Sarah’s was put in FIRST, at her insistence!) we went to see how Carl and Anita were doing.

They were just finishing having lunch.

Roy came over to tell us he was having a barbeque and that we were all invited. He said it would start around 6:00 pm.

After he left Carl said, “We’ve got quite a bit of food, fruits, vegetables and condiments that we’re not going to be able to use. Would you guys like it? I hate to just throw it away and I’d like to empty the frig so we don’t have to mess with it tomorrow morning.”

Mary smiled, “Sure, thanks. We’ll bring a cooler over if you need us to.”

“Thanks, but it will all fit in my big cooler.”

Greg volunteered that he and Bob would carry it over and put it in our refrigerator.

I could feel the anxiousness he and Anita had, trying to get everything taken care of.

They asked what clothes they would need on the boat. I laughed, “For this first cruise, just some soft-soled deck shoes are all you’ll need 95% of the time! Melody has uniforms you can wear the other 5% of the time on the boat! Just some shorts and comfortable tops and maybe a light rain jacket for going to and from the boat.”

Anita giggled, “Does the crew REALLY run around naked most of the time?”

Mary smirked, “Unless you’re in the kitchen, then the girls usually wear shorts and an apron. I think the bartender wears a Speedo and a bow tie on duty! The Speedo is optional.”

Carl was choking back a laugh, “I suppose they DO need a certain amount of ‘decorum’. I think we have that covered, even if we won’t be. Now we can just leave the rest of our clothes in the rig until we get back from the cruise. It just seems like I’m forgetting something. This is all happening so fast!”

“Well, you’re lucky you’ve already got all your possessions on your RV. If you were leaving a house or apartment, this would have been nearly impossible,” I commiserated with him.

They both agreed and all of us helped them get finished up. We helped Carl load his Sportster on the carrier that he had welded to the back of his trailer. He lamented having had to give up his big FLH, as it was too heavy for the carrier.

We had a fun rehearsal at 5:00, then had a great dinner of barbeque. The concert tonight was more laid back than Friday’s had been. Carl played a couple banjo classics that old Kenny enjoyed immensely. We ended with “A Little Help from our Friends” by the Beatles. It was totally appropriate.

Since we needed to be gone by 8:00 am, we decided to forego any amorous relations and just cuddled with our mates to sleep.

***

The alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am. I started the coffee as everyone hustled to use the bathroom. Then Greg and I emptied and flushed the holding tanks, before disconnecting everything except the electric. We would do that last.

By 6:45 we were all relaxing with our coffee. We made sure we hadn’t forgotten anything before we finished getting the trailer hooked up to the truck and on the road.

Carl was already hooked up, his jacks were up and he was ready to roll. We finished our coffee and within minutes were right behind Carl and Anita headed to the airport.

We found plenty of parking not far from the small terminal so we could hog up 6 spots for each of our rigs. Bob parked so we wouldn’t get blocked in. We watched what I knew to be Stan’s jet land and taxi over by the waiting area.

We were in for a REAL surprise when not only Melody, but Jessica and Mikey disembarked and came running over to greet us! By the time all the kisses were exchanged, I was breathless as I introduced Carl and Anita to ‘the Gang’.

Jessica noticed that Carl and Anita seemed nervous (overwhelmed?) and immediately broke the ice, flashing Mikey to give Anita a kiss while she kissed Carl.

That ‘welcome’ transformed our two new friends back into the fun-loving couple we knew. When Melody welcomed Carl and Anita to their ‘Family’, Anita was nearly in tears. “Dreams really DO come true,” she proclaimed quietly, beaming at me.

“When Uncle Charlie and his family gets involved, they SURE do!” Jessica seconded, “Mine sure did.” She gave Mike a hug, smiling brightly.

Melody waved two older guys to come in and introduced Harvey and Jerry to Carl, saying that they would be driving his rig to Miami. She told Carl that the storage lot they would be parking it in was located less than a block from the apartment building they’d be living in.

After some technical questions were asked and answered, Carl handed over the keys, then Harvey and Jerry were headed out. Melody asked Mike and Jessica to help Carl and Anita get their luggage stowed and then seated on the plane, promising she’d be along in just a minute.

Jessica just HAD to give all of us another kiss first, even Linda, before shepherding Carl and Anita toward the plane. The four of them were already talking like long-time friends.

“Oh Charlie’”, Melody simpered, “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. If it wasn’t for you finding Carl and Anita we would have been SO screwed! We’ve got three different groups of 18 each all meeting for a ‘union’ event. The Phoenix contingent is organizing this shindig and we need to get them there to help decide who’s going to sleep where and that sort of thing. I wish we had a little more time so I could thank you properly.”

She kissed me with every intent on showing me what she meant. Since we all had to get somewhere we grudgingly parted, vowing to get together again as soon as we could.

By 3:00 pm we were headed south on AZ-89A toward Sedona. The drive through Oak Creek Canyon was spectacular, if not a bit challenging with our RV. We WERE looking forward to traversing it again later on our bikes. By 4:00 pm we were backed into our site and unhooking the trailer.

Since it was Sunday, the campground was fairly empty. We reserved 3 sites near us. One for Ed and Gracie, right next to us, another one for Steve and Brenda and the last one for Barry and Sherry. The four of them would be coming in on Monday afternoon. The manager was hesitant to let me reserve so many when we told them we were staying for the Jamboree. A hundred dollar ‘tip’ seemed to remove that hesitancy, however.

My new friend was a wealth of information. He showed me where the event was to be staged and advised me they’d be bringing trucks and equipment to begin setting up on Wednesday. Ed and Gracie pulled in shortly after 6:00 pm and they engaged us in an emotional reunion. Ed told us it felt like a month since they’d seen us, even though it had only been a week and a half.

Our first dilemma would be transportation, if all of us wanted to go somewhere together. We wouldn’t all fit in Greg’s truck and Ed didn’t have his bike. He also wouldn’t want to keep driving his little Toyota camper around.

Bob said, “I noticed a Harley dealer right near here. I wonder if they rent bikes?” We quickly unloaded our bikes and the guys rode over to the Harley dealer while the girls started setting up our campsite and preparing the trailer for use. Sarah of course wasn’t letting us go without her. She was every bit the biker that we were.

Wonder of wonders, for $350 Ed could rent a Sportster for a week! We were ALL nosing around the showroom when Ed spied a LOADED Sportster for sale. It was a brand new, custom painted one with every chromed accessory HD (Harley Davidson) had. We started laughing because Ed was drooling like an old bulldog. This WASN’T one they’d rent out! The rentals were all pure stock.

I asked him, “Why don’t you just buy it, Ed?”

“Aaargh! In my dreams. I can’t afford that!”

That’s when it dawned on me that we had never discussed with our best friends what we intended to give them as ‘their share’ of our fortune. I chuckled, “Ed ... if I were to give you two million dollars, would that let you afford it?”

I swear his eyes were popping out of his skull, “Are you serious? Are you REALLY going to give me that much of your booty?”

I snickered, “Well of course and Gracie is going to get two million too!”

Greg had to catch Ed since he’d just passed out.

Needless to say, THAT Sportster was being prepped while Ed regained his ability to breathe. Bob had suspiciously disappeared. We looked out to see him speeding off on his bike. Greg asked, “Where the hell is HE going?”

The salesman who was finishing the paperwork for Ed’s bike laughed. “Your friend just bought that trailer out there.”

He was pointing to a custom painted 8-foot wide by 20-foot long Harley-Davidson enclosed bike trailer. It had a drop-down rear door that was a ramp. The trailer was very low, making it easy to ride a bike right up into it. It had 4 premounted front wheel chock-locks already installed. Tying the bikes down would be a snap.

Bob returned almost immediately with his Step Van and backed up to it. As Bob jumped out he exclaimed, “I was getting tired of the gas smell with having our bikes in my van. This can hold five bikes if we stagger the ones in front and put both Sporty’s in first. They’re going to move the front chocks and add a third. I figured Ed would need us to take his new ‘Baby’ home with us!”

I really thought Ed was going to kiss Bob, who was holding up his fingers in a cross. When Ed looked at me, I put mine up too and we all broke up laughing.

It took longer to add the extra chock than it did to finish Ed’s paperwork.

Ed asked where I planned on parking the trailer when we got back home. When I told him I hadn’t thought that far, he said we could park it in his driveway in front of his third garage door, closest to our house. He wanted to use it to garage his bike, which was perfectly fine with me.

Gracie’s squeal when she saw Ed’s new toy was precious. “No more ‘widdo’ Honda?”

Ed growled, “Hasta La Vista ... Baby!” Then flashed a toothy grin as he put on his mirrored sunglasses!

Of course NOW, we just HAD to go for a ride.

The girls changed into their riding clothes and we took off, just following our noses to see the sights of the Red Rock region.

We rode for a couple hours, having dinner at an old-western steak house. We stopped at a little biker bar right near our campgrounds for a beer before calling it a night. We discovered they served breakfast, with their house special being ‘biscuits and gravy’.

Bob teased, “Well I know where CHARLIE’S going to be having breakfast while we’re here.”

“Incorrigible!” Greg added, laughing.

When we returned to our site, we fixed stiffer drinks and relaxed under the stars. There was a ‘fire-ban’ in effect, so we couldn’t have a campfire. It was explained that this was common during this time of year, due to the dry climate and extensive number of pine trees in the area. (Pine needles ARE Mother Nature’s kerosene!)

I noticed that Gracie, who usually had a Bloody Mary, was drinking Pepsi. Suddenly, the girls all broke into squeals when Gracie announced that she thought she might be pregnant. They had Greg ‘check her out’ and another round of squeals erupted when Greg confirmed they were going to have a little girl. They all had to console Jamie, since she still had another month to go.

Ed was lost in thought. ‘Wow, there’s going to be babies EVERYWHERE. If Sally and Emmy get pregnant, that’s like eight babies! I’m going to have to get a second job,”

Mary scrunched up her face, “Didn’t Charlie tell you about the money?”

Ed smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand, “Oh shit, yeah! I almost forgot.”

Gracie looked bewildered, “WHAT money, Honey?”

Ed was staring at Gracie while biting his lip. “Um, well...” He looked all around before whispering, “we’re rich sweetheart! They gave us EACH $2,000,000!”

“And YOU forgot to tell me?” Gracie shrieked, before whispering, “I had no idea you guys found that much money on that boat! Just how much DID you find?”

Jamie hugged her, “Enough, that we plan on giving Sally, Bill and Emmy just as much and we’ll never miss it!”

Now Gracie looked like SHE might pass out.

I told them, “We’ll need to all get together with Bill when we get back home. If we invest this properly, we can easily live off the interest and NEVER spend the principal. If we do it right, it will even GROW a bunch. I gave Ed a wad of hundreds to tide you over till we get home, so don’t worry about it for now, okay?”

Gracie gave me a passionate kiss, then giggled, “I think I’m ready to ride my prize stallion until one or both of us pass out! Charlie, wanna saddle-up and I’ll save a horse and ride you, Cowboy?”

That started a mass migration into the rig. The lovemaking was special. Carl and Anita were energetic, loving and fun, but now with Ed and Gracie it was passionate and comfortable with no small amount of fun. The way Ed ogled the different traits of each lady only fed into the fun they had with teasing him in return. Gracie’s sweet yet feisty personality made her adorable. They were just as much Family as they could be.

We ended up with all 9 of us sleeping in our trailer. That would undoubtedly be the norm for the rest of the week. Ed joked that maybe Dad could use his Toyota.

Breakfast at ‘Bubba’s Biker Bar’, was also going to become the norm. The food was good and the staff (Ma, Pa and Kids) had already gotten to know us. It was one of those places that served breakfast and lunch till 1:00 then closed up till 7:30 for burgers and drinks.

Over breakfast, we quizzed Ed on what was going on with Dad and Joshua.

He said that Dad and Josh had been spending interminable hours at the University. He assumed it was in Johnny’s lab, doing experiments. He told us that was where he and Gracie had taken the aptitude tests. He said the second test was virtually the same as the one he had first given us, with the shapes and colors.

Dad had coached both of them on how to get just enough right to catch their attention without getting too much attention. They got about 60% of the colors right but only about 30% of the shapes. (They of course could’ve gotten 100%.) They were highly encouraged to come to the Jamboree for further testing with other applicants. They were told with their scores they might even qualify for a prize.

I asked if he and Gracie had met Sherman yet.

“No, not formally. The day Gracie and I were in for our second test we ran across your dad and another guy who I’m pretty sure was Sherman. Your dad was flashing his eyes back and forth between us and the guy walking next to him. You see, Joshua told us not to use our telepathy except for taking the test. He was afraid Sherman might be able to intercept us, so we’ve been VERY careful.

“I can tell you one thing though, he’s kind of a spooky fucker. He doesn’t really look anything like Brad. Where Brad was short and kinda geeky, Sherman is quite a bit taller and kinda looks like the Grim Reaper. If he had been wearing a raggedy, grey, hooded-sweatshirt I might’ve shit my pants.”

“And I could like FEEL him looking into my head. I made sure to look away and it only lasted a second or two, but it squigged me out.” Gracie added.

Greg and Linda had been quiet and pensive. “What’s the matter buddy?” I asked.

“Well, Linda and I were really looking forward to going off for a few days on our own little adventure. Today would be the time to go.”

“What’s stopping you? You bought all that gear and now we’re here in one of the best areas for your adventure. Go ahead. Nothing’s gonna happen around here until Thursday or Friday.”

Linda squealed and the two of them scurried out of the bar headed to pack their gear and git.

The rest of us decided to get suited up in our riding clothes and go see some sights too. I stopped in the office on our way out and reminded them about our friends who would be coming in today. The girl at the counter said we should check out the Montezuma National Monument.