Chapter 9

Saturday morning, I woke up to my alarm going off at 7:30. Since the away game had been an out of conference one, we had not gotten back to the high school until 1:00 so I was still rather tired. Maybe my fatigue resulted with me taking a shower while I still had my cigarette in my mouth. I had let out a mild Arabic curse at the lost of a precious cigarette. I had yet to find a supplier for my filthy habit, and I was beginning to run low. Since I still had my band uniform from last night, I was able to slip that on when I went to the kitchen.

Rose and Pollyanna were just finishing setting up the table in the breakfast nook when I entered. I gave an exaggerated yawn and complained I could hardly get any sleep with all of the moaning and screaming. The two girls got quite flustered as I sat down to eat. They grew even more embarrassed when I answered their question regarding what time I returned last night. I suggested that there were plenty of other rooms in the house they could have chosen. I almost choked on a forkful of eggs when Pollyanna had said it was my fault they had ended up in the living room.

"How could it possibly of been my fault?" I wondered.

Rose answered, "Pollyanna and I were decided to watch some of your cartoons and we found a directory named something like 'Hindu'."

I started to chuckle at Rose's mistake. "It was called 'Hentai'. It's a Japanese word and I guess from what you found there, you can guess what it means."

Both girls nodded and while still slightly embarrassed, they had a few questions for me. I explained why some of the pornographic anime had pixilation over the privates while others did not. They also wanted to know if some of the manga scans that they had seen was black market since they had depreciated minors having sex with adults. I told them that it wasn't and that in Japan people sometimes read that stuff in public, like while riding the subway. They didn't believe me at first, but I assured them that I wasn't lying to them. Traci had used her key and let herself in and was slightly surprised to see Pollyanna. Pollyanna explained that her parents were cool about staying the night with Rose as long as it wasn't a school night and that she kept up her grades. I asked the lovers if they were going to the Harvest Festival but Rose insisted that the two of them had more 'studying' to take care of. They both kept innocent faces for about thirty seconds until we all broke up laughing. Traci and I said we would be back by twelve for lunch and hope they wrapped up their 'studying' by then.

It was easier to walk to the start of the parade rather than dealing with the traffic congestion and we got to the rally point with plenty of time to spare. The parade started at 9:30 and we were done by 10:15. Traci and I ended up walking hand and hand through the booths that were set up at the end of the parade route. They were the typical fundraising type setups where you could win prizes like goldfish or buy food items. I was able to purchase a handmade bracelet when Traci had to duck into the restroom. When she had returned, she was none the wiser of my secret transaction. There was a group playing taiko, Japanese drums, at 11:00 so we headed to their pavilion. While I have heard better, this was my first time experiencing it live. It was awesome, the sound was able to resonate in my body and I knew that this was not going to be the last time I saw a taiko performance. When they were done, Traci and I decided to head back home, after a quick detour to an automatic teller machine.

It was after twelve when we got back to my house and we made a big production of our entrance, making sure that Pollyanna and Rose had plenty of warning. The two of them were in the living room watching the plasma with Michelle and the three of them had turned to see us come in. Rose rolled her eyes and Pollyanna stuck out her tongue at the little show the two of us were making. I made a comment to Rose that I understood what she saw in Pollyanna after seeing her tongue. I easily dodged both sofa pillows that were thrown at me, but regrettably Traci had not expected projectiles to be hurled in her direction and was caught in the crossfire. She gleefully picked up the pillow that had stuck her and threw it back at Rose. I think Rose was still shocked that it had hit Traci instead of me that she did not dodge it and her face ended up catching the pillow. I suggested we stop otherwise Rose might end up having a big mess to clean up.

When we had sat down at the Dining Room table, Rose informed me that a package from Amazon had arrived and she had taken it to the master bedroom. Pleasantly surprised that it had only taken six days for my order to arrive I thanked her. Everybody commented on what a good job Rose had done with lunch and when we had finished, I suggested that we all should go for a swim. Traci still had on her band uniform so she dashed home to change. When she returned, she did so with Lori and the two of them joined the rest of the girls in the pool. I took this opportunity to transfer the contents from the package I had received and set them out over Rose's bed. I also put the envelope that I had prepared the night before on her dresser. Realizing my absence might result in a recon party; I hurried back downstairs and joined the girls outside. It turned out that I had not been missed because the girls were playing a game of Marco Polo. I silently slid into the pool and swum underwater to Traci. The next time she cried 'Marco', I whispered into her ear 'Polo' which caused her to recoil in surprised. I was way too close to avoid her tag so I ended up being 'It'.

Since I had been trained not to rely on all of my senses, detecting the direction and distance of osomebody with my eyes closed was simple. I was not 'It' for long but regrettably when I did tag Michelle, it resulted in a loud scream. I apologized to the red faced teen swearing that my hand had not meant to squeeze like it did. Everybody was laughing at us, but Michelle saw that I was sincere and accepted the apology. While Michelle was trying to find somebody, I decided to get out of the pool and catch some rays. Also, it was easier to have a cigarette while getting a tan rather than trying to have one while playing Marco Polo.

I think I drifted off to sleep somewhere after my third cigarette. I woke up when shadow passed over my face. Rose was standing there still wearing her bikini with her left hand on her hip and the envelope I had left for her in the other.

"What the heck is this!" she demanded, waving the envelope in the air.

I let out a soft sigh and had predicted this reaction. "It is your salary."

"I told you before that I didn't want charity. You have already done enough by letting me stay here," shot back Rose. I thought that it was a myth that red heads were fiery, but Rose was proving to me that it was fact.

"Listen, you cook my meals, you clean my house, and you do my laundry. You took on the roll of my housekeeper. Trust me that a hundred dollars a week is cheap for a live-in maid."

"It's too much. There is no way I am going to take this money."

I could tell by the determined look in her eyes that I was losing the battle. I decided that a compromise was in order. "Okay, tell you what. The hundred dollars will be the food allowance and whatever is left over, is yours to keep."

Rose's look matched my tone of voice so she paused and thought about it before replying, "I think I could live with that. I still think that it is too much though."

"And I still think it is not enough. Not only have you been doing what I had already mentioned, you also went grocery shopping with Lori. One hundred dollars is cheap for a forty hour work week."

"Where the heck do you get forty hours? At most, I did about twenty hours worth of chores."

I countered, "Except if you had not done that, then I would have had to do it. That would have been twenty hours of me not being able to watch anime or hang out with Traci."

She finally stopped waving the envelope in the air and allowed her arm to drop to her side. She decided to change the course of conversation and I saw the corners of her mouth twitch, trying to suppress a smile. "I suppose you'll want me to wear those skimpy clothes?"

I returned the smile that she was trying to hide. "Actually, that was a spur of the moment purchase. I thought they would be cute on you, but you can wear whatever you want. Actually, I thought Pollyanna might enjoy you wearing a couple of those outfits."

The grin that she was trying hard to hide finally broke across her face. "Actually, she was kinda excited about the outfits. I was too until I found the envelope."

"Well, don't let our little disagreement stop you from having fun with your girlfriend. We cool?" I asked her.

Smiling, she replied, "Yeah. Five by five."

When she left, she was laughing at my puzzled expression. I reached for Camel when I felt a hand rest upon mind. I turned to see Traci, apparently she had come out from the house during the course of the argument that Rose and I had.

"If you love me, then you'll stop smoking," she said.

Maybe it was seeing me cave in to Rose that caused Traci to think now would be a good time to confront me about my filthy habit. I told her, "And if you love me, you will never say 'If you love me' again."

A puzzled look crossed her face and she wanted me to explain so I did. "Only two things can happen when a person tells another person that. One, the person does what is requested and then resentment builds because they are not allowed to do what they want or two, the person ends up not doing what was requested and the other person wonders if they don't love them enough to do what was requested. It is a Catch-22. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

"You should know by now that I am truly and utterly in love with you Traci. I know that my love is strong enough to accept your flaws and I hope that you can do the same with me."

"What flaws?" she asked.

Now, I might have lived my entire life in a government compound, but I had enough sense not to answer that question, at least not honestly. "Well, for one, you snore. Two, your feet stink. Three, you don't taste as good as Rose. Four, you don't taste as good as Lori. Fiv..."

The kick in the shin that I received was not that strong, but it did stop my mouth. Traci stated, "Since you do not like my taste, then you could go without."

"I could always be wrong since it had been a while since I tasted you. Perhaps I should revaluate my position."

Traci grew serious and asked me, "Please consider not smoking. Every cigarette meant seven less minutes of you growing old with me."

I said, "Actually, it would be seven less minutes with my future wife, Michelle."

That earned another kick in the shin and a roll of the eyes. She went back into the house and I did think about what she had said as I lit up the Camel Wide. When I was living in the Compound, I had always believed that because of my line of work that I would die before reaching forty. In addition, I did not really have much of a reason to grow old, except for the basic desire to survive that everybody possesses. Now, I did have a reason to quit smoking. As I took a deep drag on my cigarette, I thought at least now I have a New Year's resolution.

The Huningtons had invited Rose over for supper that evening so she went home with Pollyanna. Rose had been instructed to bring an overnight bag, but before she left, she informed me she would be back in time to take care of my guests tomorrow. Lori was meeting some of her cheerleader friends at the mall and offered to drop Michelle off and the two of them had left before Rose.

Traci and I had just finished watching an episode of Sailor Moon when she started to get up and ask what I wanted for supper. I pulled her back down and said what I wanted to eat was right in front of me. She let out a giggle that I truly adored but only weakly try to get up again. This time I pulled her into my arms and kissed her deeply. As our tongues danced with each other in our mouths, I ran my hand along her back. My touch confirmed what I had been thinking; she was not wearing a bra under her tee shirt. I slid my hand under her shirt and started to caresses her back, savoring the feel of her flesh. When she broke the kiss, I saw that look of desire in her eyes, which always weaken my defenses. I swore to myself that I would never look at her that way until I knew she was ready. She reached down and pulled her tee shirt over her head.