Chapter 117

I woke up at 5:00 and decided it wasn't worth forcing myself to go back to sleep. I figured my body was telling me I'd gotten enough sleep while I was sick. Bozo perked up when I went out to the kitchen. I scratched behind his ears and told him to hang on while I put on the coffee and took care of my own bathroom stuff.

Mom had gotten us a coffee pot that brewed a pot in about three minutes. I heard the beeps indicating it was ready as I was drying my face.

Once I'd poured my coffee, Bozo's patience wore out and he nudged me, letting me know that he wanted out. We went down the hall and through the living room where Wanda was still sleeping and I opened the door for him. He took the stairs at least three at a time and went out to the front lawn. He had discovered how to lift his leg some time in the last week or so and wasn't interested in squatting near the back gate anymore. Jill had already had a talk to him when he'd tried to water the tires on Mom's Lexus and he decided that the block wall separating us from the next door neighbor made a good target.

I made my way over to the gate and let Queenie out. She came up to me for her scratch behind the ears, then headed out to the front yard to explore. Bozo saw her and decided to get amorous. He tried to insert his hot throbbing love rocket into her moist heat. Queenie growled and turned around to bite him. He thought better about the whole thing and left her alone.

I started to get cold and was out of coffee, so I gathered up the dogs. Queenie went back through the gate and Bozo headed upstairs, waiting for me at the door. I made a quick detour into the house to get some things out of the refrigerator that I'd had Mom pick up and hide for me.

The girls were still both asleep, so I grabbed a second cup of coffee and took a quick shower. I threw my shorts on and headed to the bedroom to get dressed for school. I'd just sat down on the bed to put on my shoes and socks when I felt Jill roll over. I reached over and caressed her cheek.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"What are you doing up?"

"I had enough sleep. I just took care of the dogs and showered and now I'm getting dressed for school."

"But Jack, it's my birthday. Come to bed."

"Tonight. We don't have enough time before we have to leave for school."

"But it's my birthday. I don't want to go to school."

"Come on, Jill. We arranged to take tomorrow off. We've already missed too much because I was sick. Now go brush your teeth so I can kiss you."

I swatted her on the butt and she tried to look offended but she couldn't keep from smiling. She went out the door towards the bathroom. I followed and got the heavy cream I brought up from downstairs out of our refrigerator and put it in the food processor I'd borrowed from Mom. While it was whipping, I went out to the living room and shook Wanda's shoulder. I guess she wasn't ready for that; she took a swing at me. When she realized who I was, she put her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, God, Jack. I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry."

"That's OK. No harm done. Time to get up. I've got something special for breakfast in the kitchen."

"It's Jill's birthday. I don't want to intrude."

"Wanda, tonight you'd be intruding. Come on, you two are friends. Don't you have something to give her?"

"Well, yeah, I did get her something."

"I figured you did. Now's the time. Besides, she might not be as pissed off about going to school if we give her presents."

"You're not going to force her to go to school on her birthday, are you?"

"No, I'm not going to force her. But I've taken off enough time and I already arranged to take tomorrow off, so I won't be home with her if she decides to stay."

I went out to the kitchen. Jill was sitting down at the table, drinking her coffee.

"I turned off the food processor. What's the cream for?"

"Breakfast. Sorry about that. I was so busy trying to keep Wanda from knocking my head off that I forgot about the whipped cream."

Wanda came in while I was talking. "I said I was sorry," she said.

I ignored her and pulled Jill out of her chair and into my arms. She grinned and closed her eyes, tilting her head back for her kiss. I could feel her heart speed up as the kiss went on. Or was that my own? I'm pretty sure the moan was hers, though I know I didn't keep silent the whole time we were kissing.

We broke off and I told both of them to sit down. I poured Wanda a cup of coffee and topped of mine and Jill's. Next, I put whipped cream in three bowls and put one on the table for each of us. Finally, I took the bowl of strawberries out of the refrigerator.

Both girls went "Oooh" as I put down the strawberries. I know they're impressive; that's why I got them.

There are several strawberry fields grouped together about 25 miles south of where we live. They've been farmed by the same set of families since just after the second world war. While the majority of their crops go to grocery store buyers, they also have roadside stands that are open whenever they have fresh berries. While most strawberries ripen around June, there are some varieties that come out later in the summer and even in the fall. Two of the growers have found it profitable to raise these varieties, and Mom had been getting strawberries from them during the regular season and later in the year since before my father died.