Chapter 4: Sitter Trouble

Lana finished the last load of laundry just before one o’clock in the morning. She had every item folded or ready to hang (her mother’s work clothes were already on hangers) and decided to call it a night. She planned to rise early enough to sort all the wash and place her clothing back into her drawers and closet before going to sit for the Kmetko girls.

Her surprise was finding her mother, who usually slept in on Saturday morning, already up and about at seven a.m. when she padded down to the laundry room. Her second surprise was to find her father’s old military duffel bag in the laundry room. It was empty.

“Hi, Mom, what gets you up this early?” Lana cheerfully greeted her parent and reached for the carafe of coffee in the brewer.

“There were three things that needed emptying, dear one, my bladder, my head, and the laundry room.” Her mother did not sound upset. Instead, she continued to fill her late husband’s duffel bag with her youngest child’s freshly laundered clothing.

“Mom, I got up early to finish this and put things away, thank you for helping, however...”

She was cut off by her mother. “However, I gave you the instructions to have the laundry room emptied last night. However, I rose this morning to find you had once again modified instructions to suit your own purposes and you went to bed leaving the job almost but not quite finished. Therefore, I have packed all of your clothing in Daddy’s duffel bag and I will return them to you when I see more of an effort on your part to improve.” Carla Finn shouldered the bag with her youngest daughter’s clothing in it and went to the locking closet that hid the water heater and HVAC unit. After locking the duffel in the closet, she turned to her stunned daughter and calmly told her, “Effort and improvement will earn you clothing. It would seem you want to go to Gramma’s party as you are now, so that wish is granted. Prom is coming up as are all of the graduation parties and the end-of-the-year class trip. It is up to you how you attend.”

Kayla stomped down the stairs about then. Clad only in panties, she was stretching out the cramps of her period and sleep, “I smell coffee. Did some earth goddess in this house make a pot of coffee already? Oh, thank you benevolent deity.”

The clang of a cup on the rim of the carafe followed and a sigh that indicated the ingestion of caffeine had successfully begun. “What’s going on between you two?” The older sister asked of her mother and younger sibling.

“Lana has extended her punishment period for failing to complete the assigned task in the time she was told to finish,” Carla told Kayla.

“Uh, Mom, maybe due to the time we spent sorting out the legal stuff with the JPO you could...”

Her mother cut her off. “Extend the time, and give her some slack? No, Kayla, just as your CU rules clearly state for your class assignments the time limit and due date are final. Penalties must be imposed for failing to abide by the due date.” Carla was not angry, there was no need. She had determined that she would apply the new rules completely but fairly, so it came as no surprise to Kayla when she added, “You know the conversation we had when Lana first went under discipline. I told you and you agreed that until you finish your sophomore year at CU while living at home both JPO and CU rules apply to you as well. I understand you wishing to defend your sister, but arguing with me, if you do it again, will have consequences.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kayla replied. “I have that summer job interview on Monday; I just wanted to remind you both that I’ll have the Pontiac over at the country club from early in the morning to later in the afternoon. I can drop Lana off at school on the way if that will help you, Mom.”

“Let’s call that a plan for now and we’ll talk about it after Gram’s party tomorrow. If that falls through we have a summer clerk job open at the real estate office. It might not pay as well as the club job, but it is still open.” Carla Finn subtly pushed for this. Kayla wanted to work outdoors and the country club job was groundskeeping for the golf course. Carla feared the college-age boys, both workers, and sons of club members, would hit on her and coerce her into acts she might otherwise not entertain. Kayla, who had lost her virginity shortly after pledging EXPOSD, was hoping for just that type of encounter, a nice summer romance with no fall strings attached. If she took the job in her mother’s office, well let us just say the prospect of a happy summer diminished greatly. She saw the light at the end of that tunnel very well.

Lana worked the next three hours, towels placed in all the linen closets and neatly stacked, and her mother’s clothing hung in the correct closets and folded in the correct drawers, Kayla had a few things from college on her bed. Kayla liked to put her own things away. Lana stripped the bed linens in all three bedrooms remade the beds with fresh sheets and pillowcases and started the laundry for soiled linen.

“Is it okay if I go sun by the pool while the wash cycle runs through?” Lana asked her mother.

“Okay, but pay attention to the timing,” her mother responded, then added, “Todd is on his way over. He says he has something important to show you.”

The hinges on the gate leading to the fenced-in pool squeaked and then slammed shut.

Looking up from her lounger pillow, she was on her tummy sunning her back, Lana grinned at her boyfriend. “Hey, move over you are blocking my sun,” she teased. The look on his face was not an amused one.

“What the heck is this,” Todd was controlling his anger, barely, “It is all over YouTube, something like fifty thousand hits so far.”