Chapter 3: Boyfriend Trouble

Lara woke up needing the bathroom and found she could not roll out of bed as she did normally. “Oh, yeah, I slept over with the Kmetko kids,” she opened her eyes and found Ellie with her right hand on Lara’s tummy snuggled in closely, and on the other side, Emma was snuggled close to her left. All three being under discipline, were nude.

She slid down the bed and got up at the foot. Padding down the hall, she bumped into Gloria Kmetko, equally naked. “I see we both have tiny bladders,” Mrs. Kmetko giggled, “I’m done so you go right ahead.”

Finished with her pee, she availed herself of the shower. Dried off, Lara wandered downstairs following the smell of fresh coffee. “I hope this is not a problem, ma’am, the girls and I were up a little beyond their bedtime last night. I put them in at the right time, but, they found something on YouTube they showed me and we were up trying to find the source for it. I thought I was a good computer person, but Ellie, wow, she could go into forensics she is that good.”

“Why in the world would you keep the girls up for that?” Gloria asked. Seeing the laptop Gloria used for work sitting on the counter, with Gloria’s permission Lara opened it and went to the correct YouTube page. Gloria watched as the humiliating sequence played repeatedly with the zoom effect at certain points.

“They were helping me, and they were very sweet about it. I was blaming my ex-boyfriend, Todd, who was there when it happened. Ellie was able to show from the IP address and routing, don’t ask me how she does it, that the shots were entered from the Grady wifi system. The problem is the Grady family never password-protected their wifi so anyone could have pirated their system. Even Todd,” Lara explained to the girls’ mother.

“Ellie is clever, and she is on the verge of being a beauty. Emma is already there, boys want to date her thinking she is sixteen or older. It is the height. Now, take a look at the angle from which the footage was shot.” Gloria waited for the light bulb to go on in Lara’s head. “I bet it was shot from my bedroom window. I will further bet that my husband or one of the girls is the videographer. The red herring of using the Grady wifi to post had to be Ellie’s idea, Bud would never think of it. If I am right, you may punish them as you see fit. Not Bud, I’ll deal with him, but those two conniving children of mine are yours to discipline.”

“Could this wait until after school tomorrow? I have my Gramma’s church service and birthday party to get to,” she giggled, “not that I have to get dressed or anything. So I need to get home, right after I drain this.” Lara sucked down the last of the coffee in her mug and rinsed the mug in the sink to await the dishwasher.

“Come over when you are ready,” was all Gloria Kmetko told her sitter, who left with several more dollars in compensation than she had expected.

When Kayla and her mother saw Lara come in the mudroom door they were both ready to take the drive to church. Both were wearing sundresses and sandals. Lara grabbed a piece of toast; put the cash from the Kmetko’s on the table and ate the toast and gulped a glass of juice. “Washed up over at Gloria and Bud’s, Mom, so I’m ready when you are,” Lara smiled.

“Under the rules, they are Mr. And Mrs. Kmetko, Lara. You may no longer refer to them in the familiar of first names.” Carla reminded her. The frown on Lara’s face showed she still did not get the hang of this new order.

Gramma’s church was ten miles away from the Finn home and took the Finn family half an hour of travel time. Parking the Enclave took another ten minutes. The Finn women made it into the church five minutes before the doors closed and services began.

Lara thought she was free and clear, the seniors were recognized, Gramma Finn had a hymn dedicated for her birthday and then the preacher stood and announced his sermon topic, “Obedience is better than Sacrifice,” he began.

Lara zoned out seven minutes into the sermon until a nudge from her mother brought her back into the moment. “I see we have a live example, young lady please step up here. I’m sure your testimony will act as a deterrent for the youth of this congregation.”

“Go up there, he wants you to tell everyone what happened to you,” Kayla stage whispered.

“But, I’m naked,” Lara responded.

“I believe that is the point,” Carla Finn told her daughter, “go up front now.”

The center aisle of the church might have been seventy-five feet long. To Lara with every eye upon her, the walk up that narrow lane felt like it was a marathon course.

The Pastor smiled at her and kept his eyes on hers, “This is Lara Finn, granddaughter of Silvia Finn. Let’s give her a warm gospel Chapel welcome.” Polite applause for the ‘sinner’ in the front of the church came from the congregation. “She will now give us her testimony.”

“Hi,” Lara began nervously, “Most of you know that some new laws and ordinances were voted into law recently. I was one of the slackers who did not know nor care about those things. I had a boyfriend, nice clothes, and an attitude that nothing mattered in life but me. I let my chores pile up at home, did the bare minimum to pass in school, and generally believed life was something you slept through between parties.