Chapter 27

"What about it Big Boy, do you know anything about any of this?" I thought.

"Yes, and it seems that Ethel was closer to the mark than you might think. The banker intended to pay them twenty thousand to forget about the entire deal and he had a straw man set to buy the property from the bank. He and that individual would have then sold the land," he said.

"In other words, he was getting ready to wind up in jail?"

"Probably, and the additional illegal dealings would have probably been a death knell for the bank."

"I have a hard time believing he was so stupid," I said.

"He seems to have acquired some of those attitudes from the last president. Many people from the northern states of your country have little respect for those that live in the southern states," Big Boy said.

"Ain't that a fact?"

"Yes, it is. Of course he had no way to know that we wouldn't allow something like that to go unnoticed. What do you have in mind regarding the timber?" he asked.

"I'm wondering if you could provide a few trees to sell. Would that be a bother?" I asked.

"Not in the slightest. We wouldn't even need to make the house take "a trip" as you sometimes call it," he said.

"If I left the trucks and trailers parked outside could you just have them loaded when morning came around?" I asked.

"Of course, and that would probably be easiest, though we are not sure which trees would be best for you," he said.

"Can't you just look around in my head and find out?" I asked.

"If you allow it we can," he said.

That was reassuring. I had no doubt that They could do it whether I allowed it or not. What the hell, if they kept up this attitude I might eventually trust them.

"Go ahead, have someone take a look and get the information they need," I said.

"Very well. It's done, and I assure you that is all they explored. I have also forbidden any other access without your explicit approval," he said.

"That is even better. I don't want to be unreasonable, but I don't want to be manipulated unreasonably," I said.

"There has been what you might call a "change in management" on our end. I have responsibility for this project now, and I have made a few changes. Actually, I have removed a few changes that had been made," Big Boy said.

"Oh," I said, not elaborating but hoping he'd get the hint and do a little of that on his own.

"In my opinion the "fog" as you sometimes call it was being over used. You may notice that others no longer get along so smoothly as they did before," he said.

"I believe I might already have seen some of that," I said.

"I'm sure you have," he said, and then I could almost feel him leaving.

With my company gone, I lay down and took a nap.

The front door opening woke me. Well the one coming through it first woke me. Tutsie jumped right up onto my chest and barked, wagging his tail and looking for all the world like he was laughing about it. Meka was right behind him.

"Daddy tired?" she asked.

"No, not a bit. I was just resting my eyes," I said.

"Eyes tired?" she asked.

"No, not really. Daddy is just lazy and he was having a nap," I said, being honest finally.

"Good, get up lazy Daddy. Come show Ethel," Meka said, grinning.

"Show Ethel what?" I asked.

"Show me everything you were bragging about at dinner time," Ethel said.

I noticed that they were all inside and I wondered how long they'd been watching me sleep before Tutsie woke me.

Getting to my feet, I led the way to my bedroom first. As soon as we walked in I wished I hadn't but it was too late.

It hadn't dawned on me how this would look or what someone might think of it. In fact I was afraid that Ethel and Wanda might get the right idea.

"Well, I can see that someone has made our friends happy. Looks to me like that bed is just about big enough for all of you, with plenty of room left over for fun and games," Ethel said, trying to sound stern but grinning in spite of herself.

Even more interesting was Wanda. She had a little grin too, but a blush was also climbing up from her breasts. I had an inkling that she was not at all shocked by what she was seeing.

"I like it this way. This big room looks a lot better than the two separate rooms did and it will be handier," Ethel said, getting just a hint of flush herself.

"They didn't do anything to the bed that was here, I'm pretty sure it's down in the storage now. They did tell me this one was a handmade antique too," I said, trying to get everyone's mind off the facts of life.

"Wonder how they do that? Maybe I don't want to know though. The bed looks perfect, just like the other one did, just wider," Wanda said.

"See Meka flusher now," Meka said then, making me want to kiss her, and buy her another whistle or two to boot.

We trudged to her bathroom where she gave us several demonstrations of how well her new potty flushed. I was impressed, but it didn't take us long to look at a bathroom.

Out to the pool was next, with Meka and Tutsie leading the way. About half way to the water I saw evidence of the shopping trip. Meka had been shedding clothes as we went and finally she was down to her brand new thong. She broke into a run then and headed right for the diving tree.

"This is beautiful," Ethel said.

"It is a first class job," I said.

"Where did Meka go, it looked like she just disappeared at the tree?" Wanda asked.

"They did a bang up job on the diving board too. The tree is hollow inside and has a spiral staircase up to the diving limb," I said, proud of it even though I hadn't known about it before it got here.

Just then Meka came running out onto the limb and gave us an excellent cannonball. Ethel laughed and when we got to the tree they all took a look inside.

The beach was next and when we got there Meka was treading water out about twenty feet from it. Tutsie couldn't stand it and he took off for her, doing his dogpaddle til he was right there with her.

"Isn't the water too cold for her?" Ethel asked, switching to mother hen mode.

"Nope, it's all heated and perfect for swimming. In case you were wondering, no creatures can live in the water either. It looks like a normal small lake, but really it's cleaner than a pool," I said.

"I can hardly believe it, it's so perfect. I think we should have a party tomorrow afternoon. A swimming party, with plenty of food too," Ethel said.

"The swimming sounds like fun but the food sounds even better. One thing I forgot to ask for was some picnic tables though," I said.

"We've got some up at the house, I'll have 'em brought down. In fact, Wanda and I need to get on back to the house. Some people up there need to be reminded of exactly how the cow eats the cabbage," Ethel said, and Wanda laughed.

"Maybe we should just see about fixing our own supper down here tonight," I said, trying not to make a big thing of it.

"You know, that may not be a bad idea. We always love for you to eat with us, but it might not be so pleasant tonight," Ethel said.

With everything settled, Ethel pulled out her cell phone and called Jake. He came for she and Wanda in a Silverado. I thought that Jaycee would make an excellent cook tonight so I parked the limo and let her deal with the wet naked Meka and the three French Floozies. She seemed happy to do it.

Jaycee did a whale of a job too. We had brisket sandwiches and "Ranch Style Beans" and it was great. Meka had been right about the girls and Cokes too. They all wanted a Coke with their supper; they couldn't get over how much they liked them.

I was wondering if bedtime would ever get here. The girls seemed more lively with just our little family group and the silky looking gym shorts and tank tops that Ethel had brought them home in were making me nervous, especially one centrally located part of me. It was practically trembling.

Wouldn't you know it? We'd all helped cleaning up after supper and the dishes had just been put in the washer when thunder rumbled. I could have passed it off as a normal afternoon or early evening storm, but it wasn't and I knew it.

"Come Daddy, Tutsie need walk," Meka said, and I could tell she knew we wouldn't be getting up in the middle of the night to relieve him.

Meka and I headed out the front door and I left Jaycee to try to explain to the girls.

As if even he knew that there'd be no late night walk, Tutsie made up for it by taking his time now. He sniffed plenty and did some extended showboating after he finished his business.

Back in the house, the mood was a little somber for our new arrivals. Finally Cécile spit it out.

"We're sorry if we've offended you. Please don't take us back to the Indians," she said, lower lip trembling.

"This has nothing to do with that, Cécile. Your company has been delightful and we wouldn't let you get away now if you wanted to. I didn't know about this trip any more than you did, and I have no idea what it is for. We'll all find out at the same time, tomorrow morning when we wake," I said.

It must have been a relief for the three of them, since they rushed me, all of them trying to hug me and kiss me at once. It's nice to know you're appreciated.

Even though I knew nothing was going to have time to happen in bed, it was also nice to see the naked group that joined me. Thankfully, Meka at least kept her new thong on.

None of the others had a stitch on though, and they made sure to give me several friendly pats and kisses as we settled under the covers. For a few minutes I almost forgot what was about to happen. I was reminded as soon as I was asleep.

"I apologize for this unexpected event, John. We are not sure how you will decide but if you don't want to do anything that is your choice," Big Boy's distinctive tone thought.

"I live to serve. Is Jahedo in more trouble?" I asked.

"No. This concerns Cécile's mother. The Catholic church of her time has decided that Alphonse will not be returning. Actually they merely hope he will not be returning. They intend to confiscate all his wealth. So that there will be no embarrassing loose ends, they are going to put Cécile's mother to the extreme question, beginning tomorrow night."

If anyone should have known I should have. When there is money to be had you can always depend on some type of religion to make a grab for it. So, it was the Inquisition for Cécile's mother was it. Not on my fucking watch.

"I assume that you think I can do something to stop it."

"We are sure you can if you decide to. We will be able to put your house within three miles of the facility where Fawne is being held," he said.

"That will be good. I believe Jaycee and I can take it from there," I said, and then I was back to normal sleep.

Unusually, I was the first one awake the next morning. I had already bled my lizard and come back into the bedroom to dress before the others started stirring.

"We're in France," I said, without preamble.

"Cécile's mother is scheduled for a date with the Inquisition tonight," I said.

Cécile burst into tears and I knew she was getting ready to really wail.

"Cécile, don't worry. We are here to take her back with us," I said.

She looked at me like she couldn't believe it and she probably couldn't. Jaycee didn't give her time to get going again though.

"All right girls. Out of bed and into the bathroom. No doubt our man is hungry and we need to wash up a little before we start breakfast," she said, and she was obeyed.

Meka and I were left to take care of Tutsie. We dressed quickly, just enough to go outside for a few minutes, and then we did it. As always I grabbed the Marlin on the way out the door.

The first thing I noticed about France was that it wasn't impressive. Not the part we'd come down in anyway. We were in a little valley, if you could call those things around us hills, and everything was very peaceful. If there'd been some yellow pines I could have convinced myself we were still in East Texas.

Tutsie must not have though things were so peaceful. At any rate he didn't tarry, he did his thing and headed back for the door. Meka gave me a look and then we followed.

Wonder of wonders, the girls were all dressed and breakfast was cooking when we got back inside. Meka, Tutsie, and I sat at the table and there was coffee for Meka and I. Tutsie didn't like coffee anyway, and besides, his high stool wasn't down here. He was having to make do in Meka's lap.

After we'd eaten I took a stab at getting things set up. The truth of the matter was I didn't know shit about France. I didn't know where Cécile's mother was being held and I didn't know how many people we'd have to deal with to get her out.

I wasn't completely ignorant about the Inquisition at least. Well, I was mostly ignorant about it, but I had the notion that it was run by a bunch of assholes, at best. I didn't think our chances of talking her out of their hands were good.

What I did know was there wasn't a way in hell anyone in this day and age could stand off Jaycee and I in armed combat. Even if they were in a fortress, one of the mortars would open a door for us, fast. I hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

Deciding that everyone would stay in the house except Jaycee, Cécile, and me, I was surprised when I didn't get any arguments. Apparently Delphine and Adèle had no desire to go home.