Chapter 9

The next day Brad and Amy took a cab to the Branson home and picked up Amy's car. Evelyn hugged him and he had to eventually pry her off his neck. The computer equipment had been delivered and John was busy setting it up.

Brad had Amy drive the car to the Department Of Motor Vehicles. He was surprised that she drove very well for a neophyte. She drove slower than Brad would have, but all in all, she was driving like she had at least some experience. She took the drivers test and passed. As they walked out of the building she was staring at her driver's license so hard that she tripped and almost fell down the stairs.

Brad made her drive home. He insisted that she drive her car whenever they went anywhere the rest of the week. She was becoming more at home with him and they would spend the evenings talking. Amy told him that she did not have many long range plans because she had pretty much resigned herself to the fact that she would leave home as soon as possible and never return. She regretted that she had not taken more of an interest in school. She had never seen much point in studying for college as she felt that it was out of the question.

Carol came over one afternoon and the two of them spent the entire afternoon and most of the evening talking and trying on makeup. Amy had never been allowed to use makeup and knew nothing about how to use it. Carol made Amy dress up in the dresses they had bought and they went out one evening to dinner. When they got home about nine o'clock Carol told Brad that a couple of guys had hit on her, but Amy told them she was going steady.

On Friday, Brad took Amy out to lunch at the restaurant. Carol was waiting tables and made sure that she got to serve Amy and Brad. Joseph came over to the table and was talking to Brad when Carol came back with their order.

Brad grabbed her arm as she was leaving, "Wait a minute. I was thinking about spending New Years at the lodge. Amy has never been to the lodge and since she doesn't quit trust me yet, I guess she's afraid I'll molest her if I got her up in the mountains, I was wondering if you had any plans. We'll spend the weekend there and come back Sunday night. Amy has to go to school Monday. If you have any plans we can make it another time."

Carol grinned, "How do I know you don't want me along so that you'll have two girls to molest?"

Brad and Joseph both laughed, "Because I saw those big knives he has in the kitchen and I know what he would do with them. I'll be talking soprano. Now, do you want to come with us?"

Carol looked at her father and Joseph nodded his head.

"Well, I was going to spent a quiet evening at home with mom and dad, but I'll go with you and Amy."

"Good I'll pick you up about five and we'll drive up tonight. Be sure to bring heavy clothes, it gets cold up there this time of year. It might be wise to bring boots in case we get some snow."

They drove home after lunch and Brad told her how Carol and her family had spent several weekends at the lodge before Vera died. He told her that Carl Samples also had a key to the lodge. Carl had used it more than he had since Vera's death. He told her that it seemed so lonely up there without Vera.

Brad insisted on checking on what Amy had packed and told her that they would have to leave a little early and pick up some heavier clothes. They stopped at L.L. Bean and picked up a parka, insulated underwear and heavy boots for her. Amy said she was sure that Carol didn't have a parka so he bought one to match Amy's. As they were walking out of the store he noticed the light shoes that she had worn and steered her back to the shoe department and made her get a pair of hiking boots.

They picked up Carol and made the two and a half hour ride to the lodge. The lodge sat in the middle of one hundred and twenty acres of wooded mountainside that had belonged to Brad's father. Brad and his father had built the lodge shortly before his father got cancer. His mother couldn't stand to come to the lodge after her husband died and never saw the lodge after it was completed. She died about a year and a half after Brad's father died.

The lodge had a great room and two bedrooms and a bath on the first floor and there was a sleeping loft at each end of the lodge. Each sleeping loft had four beds. There was a hot tub that would hold eight people at the far end of the great room. The lodge had a front porch that covered the entire front. Brad had built benches on the wall of the lodge so that he could sit outside and relax. The road to the lodge from the county road was a private road, so there was never any traffic to worry about. There was a small garage carved into the side of the mountain that held a John Deere tractor with a snow blade. Brad allowed his closest neighbor to use the tractor in exchange for keeping an eye on the place. The neighbor would clear his own road and then clean the road to Brad's lodge. Brad's father had put most of the money into the lodge and had spared no expense. Deer, raccoon and occasional a black bear would pass the lodge seemingly unafraid of the occupants of the lodge.