Chapter 70

"Jill? How come Wanda didn't make it today?"

"She's here someplace."

"Oh, yeah. Now I remember. She was helping you guys bring out the food."

"Come on." She took my hand and we got up from the table.

We went in the house, checking the TV room and bathrooms first. No Wanda. Jill took the second floor while I went from room to room on the first. I felt pretty foolish looking in the closets, but what the heck. When I caught myself bending over to look under the bed in the guest room, I decided enough was enough.

Jill and I met at the bottom of the stairs. She'd had the same luck as I had.

"Now what?"

"Let's ask Daddy."

We went out to the patio. John was talking to Mom and looked bothered when Jill shook him on the shoulder.

"What?"

"Daddy? Do you know what happened to Wanda?"

"She's got to be around somewhere."

"Daddy, we looked all over."

"Geez, she can't just disappear. She was fine when I went to... Oh. Shit! Charlie. Do you remember Wanda coming back with us?"

"Uh, uh. I figured you knew she was talking to my parents."

Jill dragged me back into the house. She picked up the phone and listened, then put it next to my ear. Stutter dial tone. Voice mail messages.

She took the phone back and put it on speaker, dialing the voice mail number. She entered her code and was told that she had twelve messages. All twelve were from Wanda. Depending upon the message, she was either frustrated or angry or both. It got worse as the messages went on. She had a couple of names for John that surprised me in one or them.

We went outside.

"Twelve messages, Daddy. How could you?"

"How could I what? I've been outside with you since I got home."

"Well, I don't think it's OK for you to abandon her like that. I don't know what you were thinking."

"I was thinking about getting Charlie and Mary together. Which seems to have been a pretty good thing."

"Well, that's all well and good. But you shouldn't have left her all by herself to starve."

"Oh, give me a break, Jillian. I'm sure there's food over at Charlie's house. She's not going to starve."

"Well, you need to go pick her up."

"After we eat."

"Now, Daddy."

He looked over at me. "See what you have to look forward to?"

I chose survival over giving him an answer. I looked at Jill and smiled, taking her hand. I got a smile and a squeeze in return.

John convinced Mom to leave her food behind until later. She put the sun dress on over her bathing suit and the two of them left to rescue Wanda before she starved to death.

My plate was empty so I speared the steak on Mom's with my fork. What the hell. I knew she'd rather have one fresh from the grill than try to heat up hers when she got back.

Jill had chosen steak when I asked what everybody wanted. She had two drooling companions as she fed Bozo and Dino pieces of fat. That got an almost simultaneous "Oh, how cute" from Mary and Sara.

Once Jill was done they made the rounds and got half the hamburger on their plates. I sliced the fat off mine and pushed it onto Jill's plate with my fork. That got me a quick kiss.

Jill was feeding the last of it to the two scavengers when Mom and Wanda came out, followed by a sheepish John. Wanda took every opportunity she got to glare at him for the rest of the day. My mother seemed to find it very amusing, talking about "Poor John" on several occasions.

Wanda made a big production about how hungry she was, she never thought she was going to eat again, watching John try to pull his head into his body as Mom smiled.

I put the food on. John complained about how he never got to eat a hot meal because of 'some people' and I put a new steak on for him, as well. The boys got almost a whole steak between them. I wondered if they'd ever settle for dog food again.

Once the three of them were served, I asked Charlie how long he had been out of the hospital.

"A couple of days now. It's strange being back home."

"What, after being in the hospital for so long?"

"That's part of it. But things are different at home. My parents have really changed."

Mary asked, "How are they different?"

"My father used to leave most of the daily things up to my mother. Since that night Mom's been on medication and she just sits around, staring into space."

Mom perked up at that. "What kind of drugs?"

"They say she's got some kind of chemical imbalance. These are supposed to correct it."

"What kind of tests did they do?"

"I don't think they did anything. She was upset the night we were brought into the hospital and they gave her something. The next few days she was in the hospital for observation and they said she needed to be on these drugs. She was diagnosed with post traumatic stress."

"God Damn it, of course she was stressed. She didn't know if her only child would live through the night. She had every reason in the world to be upset. Her whole life was falling apart. I'd sure like to know which chemicals aren't balanced and how they can tell when they are."

"I don't know about that. All I know is she can hardly do anything by herself now. My father does most of the cooking and housework. I almost feel guilty being another person he has to look after."

By that time everyone was done eating and the girls cleaned up. One thing about this crowd, there weren't many leftovers. Mom's potato salad bowl looked like one of the dogs had licked it clean.

We were all laying on chaise lounges and Chris asked, "How come you don't have someone here, Wanda?"

She got a faraway look. "Oh, I don't know."

"You've got someone, don't you?"

"Yeah, there's someone."

Jill was surprised. "Really? How come you never told me anything?"

"I don't know that there's really anything to tell yet."

"I thought you were going to take a vacation from men."

"Vacations don't usually last forever, Jill."

"I know, but I thought you would..."

"Jill, there's really nothing to talk about. Please."

I took her hand and she glanced over at me. She looked troubled.

"Well, I don''t know about the rest of you, but I came here to get some sun." Wanda stood up and slipped off her top and her shorts, revealing a bikini. She got a towel off the stack in front of the changing room, spread it out and lay down in the sun.

Mom was next, pulling the sun dress over her head and joining Wanda.

Mary looked at Jill and Sara. "What do you think?"

"We might as well."

The three of them doffed whatever they had on over their suits and joined Wanda and my mother.

John, Charlie, Chris and I sat back and took in the view. All five girls were facing away from us, lying on their stomachs. I marveled at the variety of backsides.

Mary and Jill were about the same age but were shaped completely different. Mary's hips had just started to fill out. She was still skinny but the woman in her was beginning to come to the surface. Jill, on the other hand, had matured earlier than my sister. Bubble butt was the best way to describe it. Rounded, firm, smooth and so touchable. You could bounce a quarter off my girl's ass.