Chapter 22

As time went on and Bob was slowly forgotten by the world again, the need for him to stay at the cabin waned. Still, it had been such a peaceful place that he had Sally make inquiries about buying either a cabin or a lot for the family to build one on to use as a get-away place. One of the original cabins, larger than most, had fallen into disrepair over the years as the owner aged and spent less and less time there. Bob was able to purchase it and had contractors go through it, updating the electrical and plumbing systems and putting a new roof on it. It was a log cabin, and the exterior needed professional work too.

Being frugal, Bob identified things that the family members could do, mostly interior work, and rather than paying a contractor to do them, and enlisted the aid of the women to do those things. That was how Becca and Polly ended up deciding to invite Denny and Brian to the cabin for a working date. Both men agreed.

On a Saturday morning, the clan descended on the new cabin early, to get as much done as possible before the sun was high. While it didn't get nearly as hot up in the mountains as it did down in Sacramento, you could still work up quite a sweat once noon approached. Denny and Brian showed up around nine and stood in the doorway staring around at the women. Four of them were putting up sheetrock, while two more followed with strips of cedar that they nailed to the wall in a diagonal pattern that made diamond shapes. Bob and the remaining two women were tearing apart a big feather bed frame to sand the rust off of it in preparation for repainting it. The huge, thick mattress lay in a heap, moth-eaten and filthy.

Sunny saw the newcomers first and called out a greeting. Polly, who had been helping Bob with the bed, smiled shyly and went to meet them. Becca was holding a piece of sheet rock to the wall while Fran drove screws with a cordless drill, so she couldn't stop what she was doing. She sang out "Hi Denny" with so much joy in her voice that some of the others stopped and looked at her.

"What?" she said, looking around.

"You sure sound glad to see him," said her mother. Gidget had waited up for her daughter, as if Becca were sixteen instead of eighteen, and had demanded a blow by blow account of the date she had gone on with Polly and the men. Polly had warned her it would probably happen, so she kept her temper and answered all her mother's questions. Still, she had been so bubbly and happy that Gidget was still anxious.

"Look at him!" said Becca smiling. "He's gorgeous!"

Gidget muttered something under her breath that no one could understand and pointed at the mattress.

"We have a new cover. The feathers need to be transferred to the new bag. You boys think you can handle being covered with goose feathers?"

Denny walked over to her and stood close enough to invade her personal space. She leaned away from him by habit.

"For you?" he said, his voice mellow. "I'd stand for the tar and the feathers."

Gidget blinked and then snorted. "You're a silver tongued little man. In case you were wondering that does not make a mother feel better." She smiled a hesitant smile, though.

"Mom," complained Becca, drawing the sound out. "You're embarrassing me. I'm not a little girl any more."

"That's the problem." muttered Gidget, going back to her cedar strips.

The men were intelligent enough to go outside to try to deal with the feathers. At first they tried stuffing the new mattress cover with double handfuls of feathers, but they soon found that they were, indeed, covered with the fluffy uncontrollable things. It was Brian who got the idea to stuff the whole old bag down inside the new one and then pull it out a little at a time, allowing the feathers to spill into the new cover. Still, when they triumphantly brought the new mattress back into the house they looked like they had been tarred and feathered, with bits of white fluff clinging to every exposed surface.

"Just like little boys!" muttered June, who loudly announced she had just swept the cabin for the third time that morning and now it was being covered in bits of white fluff. "I swear my boys could bring half of the outside in with them when they came in from playing."

"We weren't playing," said Brian, his voice overfilled with injury. "We were working hard! Those feathers must weigh ... I don't know ... ounces and ounces and ounces!" He grinned.

"Just what we need in this family," joked Martha, "a comedian."

Polly blushed and stammered. "Aunt Martha! We've only been on one date!"

"Well," drawled Martha, "I 'spect he was a lot more lively on that date than Roger would have been." She smiled sweetly.

"He was not!" squealed Polly, blushing harder. "He didn't do a single thing!"

Brian covered his face with his hands and moaned. "My reputation is ruined! I bragged to the whole force what a sweet kisser you were and now I am uncovered."

"You better not have!" squealed Polly, actually dancing with tension.

Laughter, combined with Brian uncovering a grinning face finally got through to Polly that he had been joking and her face flamed so hard she looked suddenly sunburned.

"Oh! You ... you..." she shouted and turned around to face the wall. She almost hit her fingers with the first hammer blow she tried and jumped. There was more laughter as Brian went to her and put his arms around her to "help" her hammer in the nail. She wiggled against him, pushing with her buttocks.

"You get away from me you horrible man." she said, and then giggled.

"I'm just trying to help." he whined.

"I know what you're trying to do." muttered Gidget.

Bob laughed. "I think you need to go on a couple of dates too Gidget. You sure seem to know what to expect from a man."

Now it was Gidget whose face went red and she frowned as hard as she could. She pointed at Brian, whose crotch was firmly planted against Polly's buttocks as she pushed back against him.

"Just lookat them! Why they're ... they're ... they're almost doing it right here in front of everybody!"
Polly gave an extra hard push, laughing now and knocked Brian off center so he had to take a step back. Polly faced her cousin grinning.

"You're just jealous." she taunted.

Bob held up his hands as Gidget took in an angry breath.

"You two girls stop that. You're acting like teenagers."

Neither woman had had much of a father figure in their lives, and you'd have thought that Bob barking at them would have slid right off, but both women looked contrite and went back to their work. Polly took time on the way to push Brian towards the door.

"Go outside and get those feathers off of you. Then find something to do instead of tormenting us." she said, but there was no anger in her voice. Again, her smile was shy, almost girlish.

By noon everyone was ready to take a break. They had covered all but about six feet of the walls with the new sheetrock and the bed frame was outside leaning against various trees and the porch, its new coat of spray paint glistening in the dappled sunlight coming through the trees.

Bob broke out beers from a cooler full of ice. He handed out pop to those who didn't want beer.

"Lunch!" he announced. "I'm famished."

Betty had made sandwiches, and had little baggies with carrot sticks and celery sticks in them. There was a big tray of deviled eggs and several containers of potato salad. She unpacked everything on a beaten up old dining room table in the middle of the room. Her specialty was called ants on a log, and consisted of celery sticks, filled with peanut butter, and topped with a line of raisons.

"I want to go on a picnic." announced Becca. "I'm supposed to be on a date, you know."

"I want to go!" chimed Fran.

"This is a date!" said Becca firmly. "Aunt Polly and Brian and Denny and I are the only ones going on this picnic."

"I never get to have any fun!" pouted Fran.

"Not true," said Bob with a gleam in his eye.

Fran looked at him, and at the tight grin his lips were trying not to expose and blushed. She suddenly had great interest in the pattern of the cedar on the wall next to her.

Bob waved his hand. "Denny showed me a lovely hiking trail the other day with a little waterfall and everything. Why don't you kids take your lunch up there and have your picnic."

While food was being separated out and repackaged for the picnickers Bob slipped down to Sally's and borrowed a backpack and two blankets. He stuffed the blankets into the bottom of the pack and took it back. The food was put in on top, with cans of soda and the two couples left.

"I still don't think this is a good idea." muttered Gidget.

Val talked around a bite of sandwich.

"I think you are jealous Aunt Gidget. Zack has a lot of nice friends at the station house. I bet I could get you a date with one of them."

Gidget turned on her niece. "And you, young lady ... you aren't setting much of an example either ... going out with a man old enough to be your father."

Val didn't flinch. She swallowed carefully and then replied.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told him. I have a father. Even if I don't know much about him, I don't need another one. Zack is just a man, and I like him a lot. He's fun and witty and very much a gentleman. He hasn't done a single thing I didn't want him to do. If you weren't so dried up and bitter you could be having fun like me and your daughter and Aunt Polly!"

"That's enough of that," said Martha firmly before Gidget could make her angry retort. "You apologize to your aunt, Valerie. That was uncalled for."

Val held her head high. "I'm sorry. I think it's true, but I shouldn't have said it."

Gidget's face went through a series of looks that made it twist with what almost looked like frustration.

"Is that really what you think I am? Dried up and bitter?" she asked.

"I said that's enough," said Martha again.

"I'm not." Gidget said, ignoring her aunt. "I have feelings. I get lonely. I just know how men are. They take from you and leave you on your own. If I met a man I thought I could trust I'd love to have dates and ... and ... and ... Oh, never mind." she said dejectedly.

June went to her daughter and took her chin in her hand. "You think all men are pigs?" she asked softly, staring into Gidget's eyes. They were brimming with tears. "How about your grandfather? Do you think my father is a pig too?"
Gidget flinched and her eyes darted to Bob, who was standing nearby, just looking at her.

"That's not what I meant." she said, her voice a little whiny. "Of course not. I love Grandpa."

"So is he the only man in the world who's not a pig?" asked June. "He's rich now. He could go anywhere he wanted to ... live any kind of life he chose."

"But that's different." whined Gidget. "He loves us. I trust him. He would never toss a woman out like she was a dirty rag."

"You had a bad experience with a man who took advantage of you," said June soothingly. "But he was just one man among millions. And you were young. Daddy's not the only good man in the world. I think Denny and Brian are both pretty good men. Why would they come up here and do what they did today if all they wanted was ... well, if all they wanted was what you seem to think is all any man wants?"

"Ohhhh, I don't know." whined Gidget. "I don't know what to think." She pushed her mother back and wiped her eyes. "Besides, I haven't been on a date in almost twenty years. I wouldn't even know how to behave!"

"Maybe Polly could give you a few pointers," said June. "She seems to be having a pretty good time with that young man."

Gidget barked a forced laugh. "Right! That's all I need, is for my younger cousin to tell me how to handle a man."

"Well," said Bob suddenly. "I'm in the same pickle. Look at me. Here I am, looking like I'm twenty five, an eligible widower, and I have no earthly idea how to treat a woman on a date these days. Don't feel so bad."

June turned to look at Bob and a gleam came into her eye.

"There's your answer darling." she said to Gidget. "You and Daddy can go on some dates and practice on each other."

Gidget blinked and then looked shocked and finally laughed. "Me and my grandpa, out on a date!" She laughed again. "You might actually have something there Mom. I can't think of anybody I'd rather go out with on my first date in twenty years than a man who hasn't had a date in over fifty!" She began to laugh hysterically, dragging in great gasps of air as the tension and emotion fled her body through the guffaws. She had to sit down on the floor as she grew too weak to stand.

"Should I be offended?" asked Bob striking a dignified pose.

Gidget waved at him repeatedly as she continued to laugh.

"No..." she gasped. "I'm sorry ... I didn't ... mean it ... that way."

"All right then," said Bob, his voice serious. "What say we go for a moonlight drive tonight. It can be our first ... date."

Gidget went into another paroxysm of laughter at that, waving her hands in the air breathlessly as she lay down on the floor and rolled. The others just stared at her. Finally she stopped laughing and just giggled as she got some air into her lungs.

"You're ... on!" she giggled.

The trail that led to the waterfall wasn't all that long, maybe half a mile, and it was easy going as the path was well worn, except for a couple of steep places. Denny and Becca pulled ahead, as it was a little rougher for Polly, who wasn't quite as used to walking that fast. She turned around to apologize to Brian.

"I'm sorry, but that's what you get for going out with an old woman."

Brian, who had been mesmerized by the shifting buttocks underneath Polly's terrycloth short shorts, looked up, grinning at being caught ogling her butt.

"I'm enjoying the view immensely." he said. "I'm not in a hurry."

Polly pinked up, but felt a glow in her chest at being ogled.

"Just because I pushed it at you doesn't mean you can stare at it." she chided.

"I can't decide if I like looking at it more ... or feeling it against me." he said candidly. "Besides, you're perfectly safe. I heard you myself. I don't do anything." He grinned.

"You didn't really tell anybody I'm a ... what did you say? ... sweet kisser?" she asked, forging ahead.

"Just Denny. He said the same thing about Becca. We think it runs in the family."

Polly looked over her shoulder at him, through her lashes. He was making her feel pretty good. She came to a steep place and began to take longer strides, climbing. Her foot slipped on the gravel and she started sliding backwards. She suddenly felt his hands on her buttocks as he pushed, stabilizing her. She stopped, on all fours now and looked back over her shoulder.

"I'm just trying to help." he whined, repeating his earlier statement.

Polly felt a deeper flush at the feel of his hands. When he had squeezed her butt on that first date she had felt like a teenager again. She knew she should tell him to stop, but all of a sudden she just didn't want to.

"Well push then." she said, her voice low and filled with emotion.

He kept his hands firmly planted on her buttocks until he slipped himself. By then she was able to grab a sapling and turned around to giggle as he labored up the steep slope. She held the small tree with both hands behind her, making her breasts jut out. When he got to her he pinned her against the tree by putting his arms around her to hold it.

"We're still not a hundred percent sure about that kissing thing." he said, his lips inches from hers. "We only got a couple of kisses last time."

"You're terrible." she breathed into his mouth. "You must have kissed me ten times."

"I lost count." he said. "Have to start over, I guess."

He leaned forward and she met his lips with hers. She let go of the sapling to put her hands around his waist and kissed him back hungrily. He pulled on the tree, crushing his chest to her breasts.

He pulled back and licked his lips as she stared into his eyes.

"That's one." he said.

They were up to four when they heard shouting up the trail, Denny yelling to find out where they were.

"We have to go." Polly said breathlessly.

"I don't want to," said Brian.

"We have to." she insisted gently.

"I might lose count again." he threatened.

"We can start over at the waterfall." she smiled.

As she scrambled on up the trail yelling that they were coming. She had to half run as Brian kept reaching out to pat her butt, whining that he was just trying to help. She giggled and slapped at his hands ineffectually and twice ran ahead and then stopped to wag her butt at him, laughing as he leered and growled, chasing her. She was running full tilt when she turned a bend and ran into Denny and Becca, who were engaged in a hot kiss of their own, their hands running all over each other's backs and buttocks.

"Here now!" she laughed, pulling Denny's hands away from her niece. "Stop molesting my niece."

Brian came around the same corner, bent over low, hands in claws reaching out and grabbed her butt.

"Gotcha!" he growled.

Polly squealed and jumped as Becca laughed.

"Stop that!" she said in an imitation of Polly's voice. "Stop molesting my auntie!"

Brian stood up and put his hands behind him, moving his loins forward and back as he looked up into the treetops.
"Who ... me?" he said in a little boy voice. "I'm not doin' nuthin'."

There was laughter all around.

They were in a clearing of sorts, except that there was a huge pine tree in the middle of it, with thick branches low to the ground. Becca insisted that they put a blanket on each side of the tree, so "they could have a little privacy" as they ate. She was surprised when Polly didn't object. Once the blankets were settled and the food unpacked each couple sat down on their own blanket.

Brian started to take a bite of his sandwich and then stopped.