Chapter 11

Saturday morning, after my weekly housecleaning had been completed, I went over to Jill's place to see if they had any plans for the weekend. Donna opened the door to my knock and reluctantly granted me entrance. We both filed into the living room and I was glad to see that Sandy, at least, seemed happy to see me. She jumped up from where she'd been seated on the floor in front of the TV, ran over and gave me a hug. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Donna rolling her eyes and making an unhappy looking face.

"Hi Sandy, it's great to see you, how have you been? Where's your mom?" As I was talking, I looked over to the staircase and saw Jill starting down the stairs with an armload of dirty clothes. When she saw me, she paused for just a second before continuing down the steps.

"Well, hello stranger, we sure haven't seen much of you lately. Where have you been?" When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she dropped the laundry at her feet and walked over and also gave me a warm embrace and a little kiss on my cheek. We both sat down on the couch and I filled Jill in on my week at work and my trip to Santa Barbara the weekend before. Donna interrupted me to ask whether I'd gone to Santa Barbara alone or with someone.

"No, I had hoped to take a friend with me but she decided that she'd rather not go at the last moment, so I just went up by myself. I had a good time by myself but it would have been nicer if I'd had someone with me to share the experience." I paused for a minute before continuing. "Which brings me, interestingly enough, to why I stopped over here to see you guys today. I'm heading over to Disneyland and I was wondering if any of you, or better yet, all of you, would like to come with me, my treat, of course." In half a heart beat Sandy was standing in front of her mom animatedly pleading with her whole being for her mom to say yes. Jill begged off from going, pleading too much to do and too little time to do it in, but said it was all right with her if either or both of the girls wanted to go. Sandy gave her mom an exuberant hug and dashed upstairs to change and get ready. I looked over at Donna and gave her a questioning look. She looked like she was having a hard time coming to a decision, but, in the end, she decided to come.

"Sure, why not? It should at least be better than staying here and watching the mold grow." And with that, she too bounded up the staircase. Her haste in leaving giving something of the lie to her pretended indifference. I couldn't help but watch as that gorgeous tush of hers scampered up and away. Within ten minutes both girls were ready and we were out the door. Jill seemed relieved that she wouldn't have to look after the kids and even said that now, maybe, she'd be able to get some things done around the house.

When we got to my car, Sandy called out "Shotgun" and Donna just made a face and said, "Yeah Squirt, whatever." I felt it necessary to explain and apologize for the car, the air conditioning being out, and the power window motors being frozen. Donna asked me if I had a small blade screwdriver. I fished one out of my glove box and handed it to her, hoping she wasn't asking for it so that she could stab me with it or something. She took the screwdriver from my hand, opened the back door and got out. She immediately started fiddling with the console on the rear door and before I knew it, she had the console pulled up and was telling me to start the engine. I looked at her for a second and then complied. When the engine caught and started running, Donna did something with the screwdriver inside the console and pressed down on the power window button. The next thing I knew, the window started rolling down as smooth as silk. Donna smiled in satisfaction. Jumped in, closed her door and passed the screwdriver up to me.

"Jesus, Donna what did you do? Can you do it on our windows too? She just smiled and ignored both questions. I decided not to press it and headed off to the amusement park.

Sandy and I had a really good time at Disneyland, most of the lines for the good rides were rather long, but I bought her a mouse ear hat with her name on it, took pictures in the photo booth with her and I sitting together, and tried my best to make sure that all of us had plenty to eat and drink. Donna didn't seem to be enjoying herself as much as Sandy or I, but she did go on some rides with us and ate her share of the food. Sandy's enthusiasm was fun to be around, but she bounded about with so much energy that I didn't even try to keep up with her after a couple of hours. I'd let her run on ahead and get into lines for the rides she picked out and then, trailing along after her, would take my place, sometimes with Donna, sometimes without, in the line. We stayed until about 10:00, leaving after the fireworks show was over. I was totally exhausted, but happy that I'd had the idea to include them in my day. On the way home, Sandy, who'd decided to sit in back, fell asleep before we'd even made it to the freeway. After I had pulled into my space and parked, I went around to her door and shook her gently awake.She got out of the car and I walked the two of them to their door. Sandy thanked me for a real good time and gave me a nice hug and a tight squeeze before walking into her house. Donna made no move to either tell me good night or to go inside. After a few seconds I said good night and started back to my place.