Chapter 17

The Southern Kitchen was packed that night as every table was taken and each table was filled. Glen was happy to see that business was good. He liked Oliver and was pleased to see that he was doing well with his business. Oliver greeted them at the door. The twins kissed him on the cheek and Cliff gave him a handshake with a manly hug.

CJ looked around the restaurant with wide eyes. This was only her second time here and she was very impressed. Intimidated by the class of the place, she whispered, “This is amazing. Real crystal service on the tables.”

Oliver smiled at the twins and said, “So it is your birthday today? Twins born under the sign of Gemini. I don’t know what it means, but it must be significant.”

Grinning and winking at the twins, Glen answered, “It means they are actually one person with two bodies. Very nice bodies if I may say.”

Sandra, nudging him with her hip, answered, “You may say that all the time.”

Wanda, on his other side, ran her hand across his back as she said, “However, we may ask you to prove it later.”

Cliff put an arm around CJ and said, “I don’t know about that. I’m rather partial to CJ here. Now that is a body!”

As CJ nuzzled him, she said, “He knows just the right thing to say.”

Oliver laughed at their antics. He knew it was not right, but he actually envied the five of them for their relationships. He hadn’t seen a couple as close as CJ and Cliff. He was amazed at how Glen was able to keep up with the twins. All three women were beautiful and acted totally unaware of the effect they had on others. Looking around the restaurant, he realized that spending seven nights a week here had really affected his chances of finding love. He wondered if it was worth it.

The five were taken to a nice table in the special dining room. Oliver had realized that having a private room where business executives could talk business over their meal without fear of being overheard would improve business. He had been correct, that room had been the most demanded of them all. Glen looked around and whistled, “Wow, this is nice.”

Oliver, smiling at his good friends, answered, “Only the best for you guys. This is a very special day for the twins.”

The twins were jumping up and down excitedly. Wanda giggled as she cooed, “Oh, my. Glen could spend the whole evening under the table and no one would know.”

Sandra corrected her, “Except for us, of course.”

Cliff groaned and turned to Oliver saying, “Don’t mind them. Their hormones always act up on their birthday. Actually, their hormones are set on high every day.”

Oliver shook his head and said, “Take a seat. I’ll get things started. I have a special bottle of wine that I set aside for you.”

The meal was delightful and came after a long period of tension in their lives. The threats against them had doubled in frequency. The chance to relax and unwind in an environment in which they felt safe was just as much fun as the meal. Oliver brought in some dishes that they wanted to add to the menu. While the twins didn’t like the fried oysters, Glen and CJ raved about them. Cliff was indifferent to them. The fried alligator tail was a big loser at the table. It tasted so much like Chicken, that the consensus was that it was more bother than it was worth. The corn fritters disappeared as fast as they could appear. Oliver smiled as he realized that he had just found another dish to add to the meal.

The diner was great and the twins enjoyed themselves tremendously. Glen reached into his pocket and pulled out two little envelopes. He handed one to each of the twins. Wanda opened hers with hands that trembled from anticipation. Wanda looked inside hers and cried out, “Tickets to the Broadway play that I wanted! They told me they were sold out for that day.”

In her excitement over the gift, she practically climbed over the table to hug Glen. She plastered his whole face with kisses. CJ and Cliff laughed at the expression on Cliff’s face. He looked like he was in serious pain as she was pulling him in an unnatural direction. She finally stopped and sat back in her chair.

Sandra had watched with a grin. She was tempted to climb over the table to kiss him as well. She opened her envelope and peeked inside. A huge grin spread over her face as she launched herself over the table. Glen was subjected to another bout of kisses. Wanda was dying of curiosity about what was in the envelope.

Finally Sandra sat back and pulled out a sheaf of papers. She flipped through them one by one as she said, “We have gift certificates to the Russian Tea Room, tickets to a boat tour around the city, and gift certificates to the spa at the hotel we’re staying at.”

CJ was impressed. She said, “Wow, you guys are going to have a great time in New York.”

Cliff joked, “Makes me wish I had decided to cover that conference on marriage studies.”

Glen smiled and said, “Hey, they are going to the big city. They should be able to have a little fun while they are there.”

CJ felt a little embarrassed by her little gift to the twins, but she pulled out two boxes. She handed one to each of the twins. The twins grinned as they ripped the wrapping off the boxes. Opening the boxes they squealed in tune. Wanda pulled out the dress and smiled. It was a shirt dress with lots of buttons. The great thing about the dress was that a woman could control just how much she showed of herself. Button it up to the top and all they way to the bottom and she could look prim and prude. Unbutton the top and up from the bottom and she could be sexier than a Las Vegas showgirl. She looked across the table to Sandra’s present. It was the same dress, but in a different color. Wanda said, “Oh, this is lovely. Poor Glen.”

Sandra seconded that statement, “Yes, poor Glen.”

CJ asked, “Why poor Glen?”

Wanda giggled while Sandra answered, “He’s not going to get any rest when we wear these dresses.”

CJ burst out in laughter. She said, “I know the effect. Cliff can hardly keep his hands off me when I wear mine.”

Cliff grinned and retorted, “I can hardly keep my hands off you regardless of what you are wearing.”

“You are just a sex fiend.”

Glen laughed as he said, “The hardest times to resist are when they are wearing nothing.”

Cliff disagreed and said, “No, the hardest time is when she’s wearing my shirt and nothing else.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s definitely tough to resist. I’m at the point where I don’t even try resisting anymore.”

The twins exchanged a glance and then looked over at CJ. CJ winked back at them. The women knew how they were going to dress around the house from now on. The men didn’t have a chance. Cliff and Glen exchanged a look as they realized they had said too much.

Cliff brought out two boxes for the twins. They each reached for a box, surprised by the weight. Faces showing their confusion, they held up the box. Wanda laughed and said, “Do you remember when he put a brick in the box with our present?”

Sandra answered, “Yes. Remember what we did those bricks?”

Cliff groaned and replied, “Yes. I didn’t put bricks in the present this time! I wouldn’t ever do that again.”

Sensing a good story here, CJ asked, “So what happened with the bricks?”

Cliff answered, “I was a good little Boy Scout at the time. Every year our troop made a rather long hike with an overnight stay in the woods. Well, I spent all day of their birthday packing my backpack and getting ready for the trip. The next morning I get up and head out to meet my fellow scouts.”

Wanda and Sandra giggled. Sandra said, “He was so cute in his little costume.”

Cliff grimaced and said, “It’s a uniform. Anyway, I’m hiking and my backpack is just getting heavier and heavier. We stop for lunch. I open my pack and look through it. I don’t see anything inside it. After lunch, I’m walking along and my back is killing me. I couldn’t believe it.”

The twins were smiling at each other. Cliff continued, “We get to the camp site and I start to unpack my pack. There at the very bottom of the pack were two bricks. The entire troop enjoyed the joke.”

Wanda and Sandra turned their attention to their presents. Ripping off the wrapping paper to see what was inside, their mouths dropped at the sight. They had both received laptop computers. Cliff smiled across the table at them, happy that he had surprised them. He said, “Well, you two are in the business and I felt that it was necessary you have all of the proper equipment.”

Wanda and Sandra both got up and hugged their brother, very pleased with their presents. Each person had given them a present that would mean the most coming from them. Glen wanted to make sure that they would have fun, CJ had wanted them to look sexy for their men, and Cliff had wanted to make it possible for them to get through their work.

Oliver came back to visit before they left. He smiled and said, “I’ll be over this week for some fishing. I’ll call Cliff and let him know when.”

Cliff smiled and said, “I’ll be sure to leave a morning open for fishing.”

Oliver said, “great. I’m looking forward to it.”

Glen paid for the meal. The wine had been on the house as the restaurant’s gift to the twins. He took the twins out to his truck carrying the two laptops while the twins carried the rest of the presents. Cliff and CJ went to Cliff’s truck.

It was night, but the drive home under the full moon was outstanding. Glen asked the twins if maybe they should park somewhere and let nature take its course. They giggled at the idea, but wanted to spend the night in a nice comfortable bed. Glen gave in and took the route that would take them straight home.

He sped up to catch up with Cliff when he saw Cliff stop and back up. Cliff got out of his truck and removed his gun. Glen stopped next to the truck and got out as well. He took out one of his guns and then joined Cliff. When he reached Cliff, he asked, “What’s up?”

Cliff made a gesture like he was wanting silence. He pointed down the road and made a motion suggesting that Glen follow him. When they got to the bend in the road, Glen understood what had stopped Cliff. The place where their mobile home was located glowed. The men moved back to the trucks. Glen went to his and told the twins, “Drive straight to the Sheriff’s office. Don’t come back without a police escort. We are going to make our way towards my place.”

After CJ got into the truck with the twins, he and Cliff headed back towards the mobile home. There was no one around when they reached it. Cliff sighed as he watched his home burn. Once again he was left with nothing. At least he had a business and accounts with money. He turned to Glen and said, “We better get down the road and check out the other house and your place.”

Glen nodded. He hated the idea of his home getting burnt down as well. They walked slowly up the road, watching the woods around them for movement. The eyes of animals shining from the light of the full moon gave the trip an eeriness that set both men on edge. Several times, the movement of a raccoon or possum nearly caused one of them to fire a shot into the dark.

They approached the new house. It was hidden from the road by a curved driveway. Unless you knew where it was, it would be very easy to miss in the dark. The two men approached and found nothing out of place. Glen whispered, “It’s going to be very nice when it’s done.”

“Thanks. We only have two more months before it is supposed to be completed.”

Glen nodded. He stated, “Let’s get back to the road. We’ve got to get those bastards.”

The two returned to the road. Rather than walk down the open middle, they kept to the side where they could duck into cover if necessary. They moved forward slowly and were almost blinded by a van driving down the road from Glen’s house. Both men raised their rifles at the same time, but neither fired. They walked quickly towards Glen’s house to see what was going on there. There was no glow from the area where his cabin to indicate that it was burning. They arrived to find everything was alright except for the front door. They had burned a cross into it and left a note.

Glen and Cliff looked at the note without touching it. It was simple and to the point, “You are next.” Glen looked at Cliff and stated, “I bet they think that you guys were in the mobile home when it went up in flames.”

Cliff swallowed heavily and wondered if that were true. The two men scouted around the place making sure that no one was around. They went together, in part, to keep from shooting each other, and, in part, because they were afraid of having to face the fanatics alone. Returning to the porch of the house, the two men waited for the sheriff to arrive. Neither man wanted to go inside the house.

They waited outside for more than an hour before they heard the sirens of the cars stop at the mobile home. They didn’t move from their position. It was about ten minutes later before a troopers car came up the drive to the house. Glen and Cliff moved to intercept the car. When Jim James got out of the car, he walked over to them. He asked, “Did you see anything?”

Glen nodded and answered, “We saw a van leaving my place. We came up here and found a cross burned in the door and a note. We haven’t touched anything, but it says that I am next. We think that they may have thought that the Metchettes were in the house when they burned it.”

In disgust, Jim shook his head. He stated, “The Sheriff is up at the mobile home. He’s livid with rage. I think that he’s mad he’s a lawman and can’t just kill them.”

Glen snorted and stated, “I can think of four law abiding citizens that wish they could start hunting them down and I’m one of them.”

“Don’t talk that way.”

Glen glanced at the trooper and nodded. He answered, “You’re right. Not too much I can do about it.”

The deputy took the note off the door and put it into an evidence bag. Finished collecting evidence, he motioned with his head that they were to get in the car with him. Glen sat in the front seat while Cliff sat in the back as they rode to the mobile home. There were half a dozen troopers gathered around it, waiting for the fire trucks to arrive. The trailer was totaled. The only thing the fire trucks could do now was to keep the fire from spreading into the woods.