Chapter 72

Jack followed me into the kitchen when I went to get the coffee pot for refills. He grabbed the roasting pan and put it down on Dino's rug. All three dogs had been lying on it so he yelled at them to get out of the way before he did it.

You probably couldn't have gotten more that a quarter cup out of it, no matter how thoroughly you scraped, but all three of them licked for a good three or four minutes. It was like musical dogs. One of them would stop licking and another would move in his place and they'd just rotate around the pan, licking where the last one had licked, hoping to find something that was missed. It was kind of neat to see the three of them cooperating like that. I imagine Dino's brothers, the two that Old Lady Simpson adopted, would rip each other's throats out to be able to lick the whole thing.

Once our cups were topped off and we were all back at the table, I said, "Do you still have your DSL? I could bring my laptop down here and show you my surprise."

Mom said, "Nope, no more DSL. We canceled it when we put in the order for the service upstairs."

"Well, whoever wants to come up and check it out is welcome to," Jack said.

Everybody agreed they'd like to see it.

I said, "Mom, shouldn't we help you clean up before we leave?"

"That's OK. You were a big help in fixing dinner. These two lumps can help out." She indicated Mary and Charlie. He grinned but she didn't look too thrilled with being classed a lump.

Jack opened the back door to let everybody out. All three dogs went outside. Mary called out, "Dino. Where do you think you're going?"

"It's OK if he goes up, Mary. After all, Bozo's down here all the time."

"All right. I just don't want him claiming your apartment as his own."

I didn't yell but I said, loud enough for Dino to hear me, "You pee in my house, Dino, and I'll beat your butt."

He glanced up at me, then went over to the stairs and lifted his leg. He didn't get the first stair wet but he got the metal going into the ground that was attached to the rail. He looked over at me. "I mean it," I said.

We all trooped up the stairs. The dogs took off into the kitchen while we stayed in the living room. It was a little crowded for that many of us with only the couch, my wooden rocker and Jack's computer chair, but most of them were standing behind Jack anyway.

Charlie said, "Where do you want this?" I hadn't realized he brought my coffee machine up.

"On the counter in the kitchen, Charlie. Thanks."

He grinned at me. "No prob."

Jack booted up the computer while Laurie took off for my room. As soon as Windows finished loading, he selected Firefox, then clicked on the bookmark for the volleyball site. It was the same page I'd seen: the picture of me eating wood while saving the ball and the scoreboard with our losing score. There was a chorus of "oohs" and "aaahs". Jack clicked on my picture and it went to the award page.

Laurie came out of the room with her book in both hands, up against her chest.

Daddy said, "You had to remember it, didn't you?"

"Uh huh."

I said, "That's one thing Wanda never got. No comprende sarcasm."

He said, "Yeah, I know."

I heard Mary ask Jack, "Did you take all these pictures?"

"Yup."

"Gee. You're pretty good, aren't you?"

I said, "He's unbelievable. Show her the one you did of Maria, Jack. And Gina's."

He pulled up the shot of Maria with Bozo leaning against her.

"Damn, she looks like she's had a revelation," Daddy commented.

"I think she was remembering a time she did," said Jack. "I was talking to her about what she talked to her god about."

Mom said, "Bozo looks like he's having a religious experience, too."

Jack said, "You know what an affection whor ... how much Bozo loves affection." He glanced over at Laurie, guilt all over his face. She wasn't paying any attention to him. She had her face buried in her book, pointing at the pictures and talking to herself. Mom was trying not to smile as she shook her head back and forth.

"Here's the one I took of Gina," he said, trying to change the subject.

It was the shot of Gina in front of the snowy mountain mural. Just taking off her hat, her sunglasses in her mouth.

Mary let out a low "Damn!" then said, a little louder, "Cover your eyes, Charlie."

Mom said, "Jeez, Jack. Could you do that for me?"

Daddy said, "June, they have laws against sons doing that for their mothers."

She punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up, Dr. Asshole."

He rubbed his shoulder and said, "Damn. Lighten up, Woman! I have to deliver babies with that arm."

Jack said, "I could probably get something just as good, Mom." He glanced at my father. "And if you want a chaperon, I'm sure I could get one."

She said, "There's absolutely nothing wrong with that picture. Anything sexy or suggestive is strictly in the mind of the pervert who's looking at it." She was looking right at Daddy as she said that last part.

Jack said, "Sorry, Mom. I captured exactly what was going though her mind. I can tell you that because I'm the one who put it there."

"You told her to think of you that way?"

"No. I told her to imagine she'd just finished skiing with her boyfriend and that he was talking about taking off with some of his buddies. It was up to her to convince him to stay."

"I'd stay," said Charlie. That earned him a hit on the shoulder.

Mom said, "Time for me to head on home. Come on, you two, you've got a lot of cleanup."

"June, could you stick around for a minute?" my father said.

Mary and Charlie got Dino and headed downstairs. Daddy took Mom aside and he talked to her for a minute. She started to argue with him at one point but he stopped that quickly. She left saying, "I still say it's too much, John."

Jack called downstairs.

"Hey, Mare. Could you two come up when you're done? I've got something I wanted to talk to you about without everyone else around. Thanks."

Daddy and I went around the place with Laurie, making sure there wasn't anything she needed to take with her. She was going to wear the sweater she brought with her and Daddy said we should keep the rest of the clothes over here. She had three sets of bathroom stuff: one at Daddy's, one downstairs and one here. Daddy figured it was easier than carting everything around with her.

She took The Little Mermaid home with her but left Antz so it would be here the next time she and Annette were both here.

"She seems to like this Annette," Daddy commented when she was out of the room.

"I think any girl close to her age would fit the bill," I answered, "but yes, they got along pretty well. I'm pretty sure Annette's in the same boat."

"You think her mother's pretty good, right?"

"She wants to do the best she can for us and I'm sure it's the same with her kids. I've only known her a couple of months but I'm impressed with her. She hasn't gotten everything at school but she isn't afraid to speak up and get it straightened out. Why, Daddy? What have you got in mind?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking out loud."

"That's a line of BS if I've ever heard one."

"Jillian, I'm surprised at you. Me?"

"Oh, knock it off. That pretending to be all innocent works for you just about as well as it does for me."

"Whatever you say, Jill. Come on, Laurie. Time to go. Say goodbye to everybody."

She had a book and a DVD in her arms when we got done kissing her goodbye. Daddy got to carry Posie.

I was in the kitchen, putting my coffee machine back where it belonged and cleaning it out when Mary and Charlie came back. I went out to the living room when I was done.

Charlie said, "I appreciate it, Jack, but it just doesn't seem right to me. What if I have to move or get another job or just decide I don't want to work for you anymore? It's not fair to either of us. I'll be happy to work for you whenever you need me, but I want to get paid for it. I'll probably use the money for our karate lessons anyway, but if I did what you want I'd feel like an indentured servant."

Mary said, "I'll be glad to do anything I can. I can always use money, and not just for karate."

Charlie said, "I still think you should say something to Mr. O'Hara. It's not fair making you watch Laurie all that time and not give you anything for it."

"I've told you. I'm only watching her until Wednesday. He'll be over for dinner on Thursday. If he hasn't done anything about paying me by then, I'll talk to him about it."

"Sure you will."

"Charlie, cut it out. If I have to, I'll talk to him."

Charlie looked at me. "What do you think, Jill? It was your idea."

"Hey, any payment for watching Laurie is between Mary and Daddy."

There was a knock at the door and Jack went to get it.

Charlie said, "If there isn't anything else, we're going to take off."

Jack said, "Nah, that's fine." He opened the door and ushered Myra in.

Charlie said, "You're OK about this, aren't you?"

"I'm fine, Charley. I figured I'd give it a shot to help the guy out. Don't worry about it."

Charlie and Mary went out and Jack closed the door.

"Hey, Myra. What's up?"

"I brought this CD over. It has the proofs."

"Let's see." He loaded it into his computer and opened it. "Any that you think are winners?"

"There are a couple of them. I'll let you know when they come up."

The pictures she brought were the shots of Nicky he'd taken at the game earlier. All of them had the word PROOF spelled out diagonally in outlined hollow letters across the picture. The bottom right corner said Jack's Pics - Copyright © and the year along the bottom.

"These came out good," he said. "How difficult was it?"

"Not hard at all. It took a few minutes to set it up. Now that that's done, I just have to select a picture and paste it on top. I can select all of them and do it all at once."

"Wow. Not bad at all for a free program. I always wonder how those guys can afford to give away their stuff."

"I think they take donations where I got it."

"Remind me in a few weeks after I have a bank account and there's some money in it. The guy deserves to get paid for his work."

He clicked on the next picture and she said, "There."