Chapter 26

Zack pulled to the right and put the car in park. He twisted the key viciously and sighed. Then he tried to put the window down, but with the key off the button did nothing. He was reaching for the key when there was a knock on the window. He turned the key and the window slid down. A flashlight shone into the back from the passenger’s side and then played over Val as the second man in the patrol car inspected the interior of the car for danger.

“Good evening sir,” came the deep voice of the policeman standing beside the car. “Oh!” said the voice in what sounded like surprise. “It’s you Sarge.”

Zack looked up and out, shading his eyes from the light of the flashlight that was shining into the car.

“That you Paul?” he asked.

“Yeah, Ricky and I have the lower east side tonight,” said Paul.

“So ... what’s up?” asked Zack.

The voice returned to its professional deep tone.

“License and registration please.”

Zack sighed and fumbled for his billfold. He reached across Val, who was sitting back, feeling bad for having distracted him. He flipped open the glove box and pulled out the registration. Then he handed that and his license out the window.

“Sir, the reason I stopped you is because you were weaving and almost crossed the center line. I thought there might be some problem in the car. Have you been drinking sir?”

“Of course not Paul,” sighed Zack. “You know me better than that. I was just ... distracted for a minute.”

“Step out of the car please sir,” ordered the grim voice.

“Come on Paul, you know I haven’t been drinking. Give me a break here.”

“Step out of the car Sir!” came the command.

Zack snarled and pushed the door open to get out.

“What the hell is going on officer Jackson?” he said, his voice rising.

“Gee Sarge,” came the voice, “You sure look all... hot and sweaty. Are you sure you’re okay? You want me to call you an ambulance or something? I wouldn’t want you to have a heart attack or anything.”

Zack fumed as Paul’s partner Ricky called over the car. “Paul, I don’t see a goat in there anywhere.”

There was a burst of laughter as Zack got back in the car and slammed the door much harder than he needed to. He started the car and a hand was thrust through the window holding his license and registration.

“Here you are Sir,” said the laughing officer. “Oh, and you might want to zip up so you don’t get distracted again.” There was maniacal laughter as Zack took off so fast that his tires spun, screeching.

Before Zack got a block there was a line of at least ten police cars following him, their lights flashing and the occasional siren bleeping. Zack didn’t stop this time, but no matter which way he turned they followed, sometimes honking. The only way he could get away from them was to head out of town.

“I’m sorry,” said Val, her voice high and contrite. She giggled.

“I just bet you are.” Zack growled. When they left the city limits the last squad car finally peeled off with a triple warble of its siren. “Well I said you’d pay, and you’re paying now. No way we can go back to my apartment. They’ll be waiting to ambush me there too, knowing those guys.”

“We could go to our family cabin.” she suggested. “Up in the mountains. I’d rather pay up there.”

Zack laughed. This would make a good story to tell someday.

If it wasn’t already a legend by then.

When they got to the cabin and got inside, Val attacked him. She stripped him efficiently and took him into her mouth hungrily. Then he pushed her off and stripped her. They tumbled onto the feather bed, bouncing as she crawled onto him, eager and anxious.

“Are you like this every time you’re ovulating?” gasped Zack.

“I’ve never done this while I was ovulating.” she panted, finding what she wanted and putting it where she wanted it. “Besides, you just asked me to marry you. A girl gets excited when that happens.”

There was a point, about ten minutes later, as the pressure increased in his body, that Zack wondered if he might have a heart attack after all. His balls solved the problem by emptying themselves in the woman who would have his children ... starting tonight, if possible.

The clan was together at June’s house on a Saturday afternoon for another reading of Rip’s journal. Bob had just closed the book after reading Rip’s description of waking up, and how the world had changed. He had peppered this reading with his own observations about how his world had changed in many of the same ways, and pointing out how important it was that his experience was much better than Rip’s.

“Ohhh what happens next?” moaned Polly. “You always stop too soon.”

“We know what happens next!” called out Fran laughing and referring to her cousins. Everyone knew they had already read the journal front to back. Still they listened just as carefully whenever Bob read from it. “You won’t believe how close it is to what happened to Grandpa.” she teased.

“You’re being impertinent, young lady,” said her grandmother. “It isn’t nice to tease your elders.”

Fran laughed. “Okay, okay, he moves in with his daughter!“ she squealed.

“Oh my!” sighed Betty. “I don’t remember that part of the story I heard when I was a little girl.”

“Well he does,” said Fran. “And he lives with her the rest of his life. At least for the rest of her life. It wasn’t too clear.”

“Speaking of which, there’s something I need to talk to you all about,” said Bob. He looked around and went on. “I’m thinking that this moving around and living in different places is a difficult way to live. So I’ve decided to buy a house.”

Only Gidget knew the details of his vision. The rest displayed varying attitudes about it. His daughters objected that it was no imposition on them to have him live with them. Others wanted to know where it would be, and if it would be too far away for them to visit him. Sunny wanted to know why he wanted to live alone.

He waited until they ran down.

“Actually, I was thinking of more of a family home.” He looked around. “Something big enough that all of you ... at least all of you who wanted to ... could live there too.”

That shut them up ... for all of fifteen seconds. Then it was a jumble of voices, some doubtful, some excited, and some with questions.

It went back and forth as he said that since he had the money, and since living together would be both more efficient, and more luxurious, and would give them a base for whatever family business they ended up pursuing, it just made sense.

“You all would be able to come and go as you liked, of course, and could still have your own lives. Your part of the house could be as private as you want it to be. We could hire a cook and some maids and things like that. It would free you up to do the things you want to do, but don’t have time for now.” he argued.

Then there was another hour of arguing about how such a house should be laid out, and whether it should be custom built, or whether they should move outside of Circleton, which didn’t have anything remotely like what Bob was describing available. Little by little they came on board, as the possibilities expanded and the problems were given solutions.

Gidget finally stood up. “Well I’m all for it.” she said. “I need to remodel my house anyway, and this way I won’t have to worry about it. Besides, if I’m going to start dating, I’d much rather have a man pick me up someplace nicer than my poor old house.”

Sunny snorted. “Are you really going to start going out?” she asked, clearly unbelieving.

“I had fun with Bob.” Gidget said with dignity, though her cheeks pinked up a little. “And I intend to have more fun. You should try it yourself!” she said with a little heat.

Sunny rolled her eyes and June spoke.

“Sunny, dear, I haven’t seen Gidget as happy and carefree as she was after her date with Daddy in just years and years. Don’t make fun of her for trying to find some happiness.”

“That must have been some date,” said Sunny, still unconvinced.

“I try to show a girl a good time,” said Bob, smiling. “And I learned a few things from Gidget too. I’m sure it will make my own future dating experiences much more positive than if I’d have tried to just go out and try it on my own.”

“Me too,” said Gidget. “If I’d have tried to go out on a regular date it would have been disastrous. He helped me understand things about men that I didn’t know. I was afraid of men. But Bob put me at ease and I ended up having a wonderful time. In fact, we’re going to do it again.” She started to blush. “Just to brush up on things.” she said weakly, and turned away, going to the kitchen.

Sunny watched her younger cousin walk away. Her eyes narrowed. Gidget’s whole attitude had changed. Sunny held some of the same opinions about men and dating ... or they had held them ... and both had agreed that men were more trouble than they were worth. If Gidget had changed this much after being with grandpa just once, he must be a very interesting man.

Sunny looked at Bob, who was in conversation with Martha about whether the new house should be a condo style kind of structure, or something with radiating wings where each wing would be a more or less separate residence connected in the middle by a common area for family gatherings like meals, parties and such. She looked at his hair, and the shape of his face and his shoulders. She’d always thought he was a nice looking man, but he still seemed strange and exotic to her, more so now that he had worked some kind of magic on Gidget. He piqued her curiosity in a way that men just didn’t. Her divorce had been painful, and her former husband’s disinterest in both her and their daughter had been painful too.

Yet, here was a man, a stranger for all intents and purposes, who cared enough about women he hardly knew to offer to give them a luxurious lifestyle and pursue whatever interests they wanted to. And there didn’t appear to be anything in it for him other than the company of those women.

She frowned. She “knew” men better than that. There had to be something in it for him. She thought about Val and her new detective boyfriend. Val was acting like she was in love, and that worried Sunny. The man seemed nice, but he was old enough to be Val’s father. After their latest date Val had been on cloud nine, humming and dancing around the house. Sunny had asked her about it and learned that Val was transferring to Cal State to be near the man. She had gone into “mother mode” then, warning Val about men and how they manipulated women.

“Mom, he hasn’t asked me for anything,” said Val. “In fact he keeps trying to tell me I should find a younger man.”