Chapter 6

I finished putting the mower away in the garage and headed inside for dinner. I had remembered this time to clean the mower deck, thankfully. Everything was ready to go for next weekend. I even topped off the gas tank on the old Toro. It would have been really cool to have one of those Craftsman riding lawn mowers, which would make this so much faster and a whole lot less work, but our yard wasn’t really big enough to justify Dad having one. Not that I would have complained if we did—even if it only took two passes back and forth to do the whole yard. Heck I would not only wash that thing, I would even wax it to a mirror shine every time, too.

I walked in the door and immediately I heard Dad call out, “Did you remember to clean it up after you were done?”

“Yeah, I did,” I replied, closing the door, and walking towards where Dad was leaning against the counter in the kitchen with Mom in his arms.

I could hear him chuckle and then say, “I figured you might.”

“This morning’s reminder was enough for me, thanks.”

“Hurry up and go get cleaned up, dinner should be ready soon, Sam,” Mom told me with a big smile on her face.

“Okay, thanks Mom,” I called out as I hurried up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Sara was just getting into the shower when I got there, so the two of us quickly washed the gunk and grime we had accumulated from a day of mowing, weeding, and raking. We didn’t rush, but we didn’t take our time either. There was no funny business, not that there wasn’t plenty of opportunity; we were both tired, and at that moment we just wanted to go downstairs and eat some dinner. It had been a long day and I was starving. Neither Sara nor I stopped for lunch or even a small snack while we worked, so needless to say our focus was on food and not sexual pleasures. Besides, if we had sex there was a very high probability that I would pass out shortly thereafter. That would be bad. I had missed Mary’s phone call last night and I had no intention of missing it again tonight.

My eyes were focused on Sara as we dried off. I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy watching her rub the towel over her breasts, and then between her smooth, soft legs ... I always did and it showed. I may not have really wanted sex right that second, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy Sara’s perfectly tight teenage body. I tried to ignore her and thankfully it worked, partially. We headed down to the kitchen where Mom was almost done cooking. The smell was amazing, I knew what it was the second I smelled it, but I still had to ask,” What’s for dinner, Mom?”

“You already know what’s for dinner.” Mom smirked as she turned from the counter where she was stirring a crock pot.

“I can smell the chili in the crock pot, but I can’t smell the—”

Just then Mom moved to her left and opened the oven door, bent down and the wonderful fragrance of fresh baked cinnamon rolls rolled out of the open door and filled the room. The fact that her smooth sex was on full display didn’t even faze me. What was in the oven had my full attention.

“Cinnamon rolls...”

Sara giggled at my reaction.

“Did you think I wouldn’t make them?” Mom laughed, pulled the cookie sheet from the oven with perfectly golden-brown cinnamon rolls and turned to put them on the counter.

“I knew you wouldn’t, but I was worried there for a second when I didn’t smell them.”

“You should know better.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Give them a few minutes to cool down and then you can come grab a bowl and roll for yourself.”

There has been a long debate if chili and cinnamon rolls go together. For the record, they do and if you haven’t tried it, you’re missing out. Mom’s family had introduced it to her when she was a kid, and she in turn introduced it to everyone else that happened to be around when she made chili. For almost everyone I knew, chili was a winter food, not summer or fall. Hearty, meaty, thick chili was great when it was snowing and cold, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be eaten other times of the year. Besides, when Mom made it, there would be leftovers for days and chili only got better the longer it sat in the refrigerator. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea, it just does.

All four of us made a line with our bowls in our hands as we served ourselves. Each of us took a cinnamon roll and a huge bowl of chili before we went back to our seats around the table. I pulled off the outer layer of my cinnamon roll, dipped it into my chili and shoved it in my mouth. Delicious.

“Mmm, the chili is spicy!” Dad moaned and licked his lips. I had to agree, it really was spicy.

The sweetness of the cinnamon and sugar coupled with the pastry of the cinnamon roll counteracted and mixed perfectly with the spice of the chili. This was one of my favorite meals, different from Mom’s meatloaf or even when Dad grilled steaks, but still just as good. Everyone finished their meal, then it was up to me and Sara to clear the table and do the dishes. It was Sara’s turn to scrub, which left me to put everything away, including the leftovers. When Sara finished cleaning out the remnants from the crock-pot and the cookie sheet of cinnamon rolls, the phone rang. Both Sara and I froze where we were and watched as the phone rang on the wall, once, twice.

“Are you two going to get that or do I have to do it?” Dad yelled from the living room.

“I got it,” Sara replied before I could as she raced to pick up the phone. “Hello, Mary, one second. Sam, phone!”

Sara’s excitement was infectious, drawing a smile from me as I walked up and took the phone from her.

“Hey.”

“Hi, Sam. I’m so excited to see you for Halloween. I already got my costume!”

“You did? What did you get?”

“I can’t tell you, it’s a surprise.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Amy helped pick it out, she said you would love it.”

I knew what that meant, but with Amy one never knew for sure. Couple that with adding Mary into the mix, for all I knew, she was going to say she was the invisible woman and show up naked. I wouldn’t complain at all if that were the case, but we wouldn’t leave the house and trick-or-treating would not be an option.

“Sorry I missed your call last night,” I said to Mary, changing the subject.

“Oh, it’s okay, Sam. Your mom told me you went to bed early.”

“Yeah, it was a really long day,” I agreed.

“But I get to talk to you now, and that makes me so happy.”

“Just how happy are you?” I said in a sultry voice.

“Sam!” Mary whispered. “I can’t do anything right now,” I heard her put her hand on the phone in an attempt to be quiet. “Mom is sitting right next to me.”

“Oh shit, sorry!” I heard her start to giggle on the other end.

Mary and I talked for twenty minutes before she told me that Amy wanted to talk to Sara for a couple minutes, too.

“Sara, phone!” I yelled, covered the receiver so it wouldn’t yell into Mary’s ear.

“Coming!” I heard Sara reply from the living room.

“She’s coming, I will call you tomorrow, okay?”

“I can’t wait, and hopefully my parents aren’t in the room when you call. I have been so—”

“Shh, I know. Me too.” That set Mary into another fit of giggles. “Okay, here’s Sara. Bye Mary!”

“Bye, Sam!”

I handed Sara the phone and she immediately fell into a hushed conversation with Amy on the other end. I spent the rest of the night sitting on my bedroom floor, leaning against my bed, trying to beat Punch Out on Nintendo. I could get to Tyson, but I could never, ever beat him. The third time I went up against him and lost badly. I threw my controller at my television and turned off the game in frustration.

“I think you were close that time,” Sara said.

She had been sitting next to me for the last hour, watching me play, and trying to tell me when to block or dodge and then counterpunch. Somehow, she had beaten the game already. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t watched her do it.