Chapter 65

My body tried to jump up but something was holding my right arm down. I came up to consciousness and saw that it was Jill. She moved a bit and moaned. The banging that had awakened me started up again.

"Amuhmfamfh" was as about as coherent as I could be this soon after waking.

"Jack. Jill. Come on, breakfast. Mom wants to talk to us."

I was able to get out a fairly understandable "In a minute, Mary."

I reached over to get my underpants but they felt stiff.

"I used them to clean you up last night."

Jill was sitting up, slipping her nightgown back on. I got out of bed and hopped on one foot, then the other, putting on my shorts. I went over to the wardrobe and found a t-shirt and slipped it on. I noticed Jill had on her robe and fuzzy slippers as she slipped out the door.

I went into the house and saw Mom, Mary and Sara sitting at the kitchen table. I mumbled a hello in passing and went down to the bathroom. I had an urgent need to use it. The door was locked. I tapped on it.

"Yes?"

"Jill, I need to use the bathroom. How long are you going to be?"

"I'll be a few minutes, Jack. And I don't think you'll want to come in her for a while after I'm done."

Well, that answered one question. To put it delicately, my angel did have normal bodily functions.

I went into the kitchen and got a special dispensation from Mom to use her bathroom after standing in front of her and doing the pee pee dance for close to a minute. Mary and Sara found it to be very funny. Well, Mom had a smile on her face, too.

I got back into the kitchen and Jill was cooking French Toast. Mary was getting butter and maple syrup from the refrigerator while Sara was handling the plates and silverware. Mom was sitting back, drinking her coffee. I sat down and poured myself some orange juice.

"Did you sleep well, Jackie?"

"Yep. Much better than when I'm by myself on the couch."

"It's interesting you said that. You're not going to be able to use the garage after tomorrow. I approved the plans yesterday and Alex called to let me know he pulled a permit and will be here at 6:00 Monday morning. He plans on being here six days a week for two weeks. They're bringing a dumpster in first thing Monday, so we won't be able to use the driveway for the duration of the project."

"Boy, that's going to be a pain."

"It is. That's why John and I talked about getting rid of you for a couple of weeks."

"What do you mean, get rid of me?"

"I told John I didn't want to have to put up with you bitching and moaning for the next two weeks and he said I should just send you away someplace. I told him I couldn't afford to do that and he said he'd take care of it."

"Huh?"

"He said he'd take care of it because I can't afford it."

"What are you talking about? A hotel or something?"

"Yeah, or something."

I must have had a real stupid look on my face because all four of them started cracking up. I had absolutely no idea what Mom was talking about. I started to turn red.

I think Jill felt sorry for me. "We have room at my house, June."

"I know. That's what John said. I told him I didn't know if Jack could handle being away from us for a couple of weeks. We decided you could stay at the O'Hara's if you promise to come over and keep us company on Tuesdays and Thursdays while Jill's at her night classes."

Jill was grinning like a... Heck, I don't know what she was grinning like. But she looked happy that I was going to stay with her. She brought a huge serving plate full of French Toast over to the table and sat down next to me, hugging my arm. I tilted up her head and gave her a kiss.

"I understand you're going to look through the stuff on the the platform today."

"Yeah. I wanted to make a list and take some pictures, then post it on ebay."

"That's fine, but Alex told me he wants to make sure that everything out there stays covered in plastic. They're going to start removing the original roof on Monday. He'll cover up anything they missed last week but he doesn't want to have to do a bunch of stuff over again."

"I can make sure of that."

"Good. Tomorrow when you get up, I want you to put the mattress back where it was and put the plastic back on it. And get your clothes out of the wardrobe and anything else you think you may need and take it with you when you and Jill go over to her house for the barbecue. If you do it right, there won't be any need for you to come home afterward."

"What about Sara's homework?"

"Sara? Do you think you can persuade Chris to bring home any homework?"

"I think so. Jack? Would it be OK with you if I took Chris with me to give away the puppies? I know you were going to go with me, but I..."

"I'm fine with that, Sara. I know when I'm not needed. I'll just pack my clothes and move out."

"I didn't mean that. You don't have to... Oh."

She finally saw the smile on my face. Everybody laughed.