Chapter 18

When Dad and I left Leldon's late Sunday afternoon, I was bummed out over Maggie being with George. I was also tired from the lack of sleep from the night before, so when we got to the house and there were three of Dad's buddies waiting for us on the front porch, I was a bit cranky with Dad. When he informed me they were staying a few days to help him with the house, I went from cranky to livid without much effort.

Biting my tongue to keep from lashing out at him, I took a couple of breaths and then told him I was getting my things together and staying at Maggie's until things got back to normal.

He laughed and said, "Things are normal, Son."

I had to admit that he was close to the truth, but all the same I needed to get away from the house so that I could keep what little sanity I had left.

I should have known things would go berserk.

Things started out okay on Monday morning, but by the afternoon, Maggie and I were fussing at each other like a couple of old crows; and our temperament didn't improve. We were barely speaking by Wednesday night, but somehow managed to get into a squabble over my eating the last of the chocolate ice cream. Maggie and I rarely argue over anything and we were using some pretty choice words until Sergeant Leldon came into the kitchen and bellowed.

"I don't what the hell has gotten into you two," he said, glaring at us, "you've been at each other like a couple of old bulls. You sound worse than Mom and Dad."

"I'm sorry," we both said to him at the same time. We wouldn't have apologized to each other if hell had been knocking on the door for us.

"I've been thinking things over," he continued, "and I've decided that you two are gonna' stay in the basement together until you work things out."

We both squawked, but he held up his hands for silence.

"The basement has everything you'll need but food for meals and you can come up for those. You can also come up to go to school. Other than that, you'll stay downstairs."

"What about my date with Tammy Sue on Saturday?" I asked, letting Maggie know I wasn't giving in anytime soon.

Leldon gave me one of his looks and said, "You can go out for that. Maggie can go out with George, too. But only on Saturday. You can also go to church. The rest of the time you stay together in the basement."

Yes, I could have left the house, but my options weren't much better than where I was; besides, being with Maggie, no matter what the circumstances, was better than being without her at all.

Thankfully, the basement was finished out and had a television and a computer. And there was a full bathroom with a shower. There was also a fridge and plenty of junk food in a two door cabinet. Leldon assigned me the twin bed and gave the sofa bed to Maggie, which was fine by me. I would have given her the bigger bed myself.

Maggie and I didn't kill each other by Saturday, (of course, we weren't speaking, either), and that afternoon around four Tammy Sue and her parents picked me to go to a birthday party. Tammy Sue's Great-Auntís, Millicent and Madeline, were celebrating turning eighty years-old. The twins lived in the mansion their wealthy lover, Victor Addison, had built for them as a gift for their twenty-fifth birthday.

On the two hour drive Tammy Sue told me about the two sisters and their decision to share Victor; and that he had happily gone along with them. Sadly, he had died at the age of fifty. He had been making love with the two of them when his heart went out on him.

The sisters had never married or had any other male companions since his death and had taken care of the wealth that he had provided for them. The wealth was rumored to have come from some unsavory business dealings, but no one in the family cared. Money was money, after all, and it would be divided up one of these days between the nieces and nephews. Tammy Sue assured me that her daddy was their favorite nephew.