Chapter 17

It was a cold morning although there was no new snow. We talked as we walked to school, and I was worried about the girls.

"Jennifer, why don't you set aside some time for music? You too Susan. You can still have your social gatherings but you did start the other tasks."

It was Susan that answered. "I guess we could." She looked around at the other girls and they seemed to nod in acceptance. I guess they were looking for a way to get back to their old routine, they just needed a small push in the right direction.

I started to sing the songs I had done on the bus. I sang 'Morning Has Broken' and 'Time In A Bottle'. They were done by the time we arrived at school. I think this encouraged the girls to continue with music.

"Let's have a hootenanny in the near future.?"

Paige was holding my hand and she shook it to get my attention. "What is that?"

"Hootenanny can mean something you don't know the name for like a 'dingus' or a 'doohickey'. It also means a sing along where the audience participates with the musicians. Your political and cultural aspirations could get a tremendous boost by making everybody happy at a gathering. Singing can do that. Get the boys to play too and then they are seen as sympathetic to your cause." The girls really seemed to like this idea.

As I walked to class I knew it was not a good idea to have any hootenannies at our house. It was not big enough.

I studied from the new books I got from Mr Berger about cyanobiphenyl materials. I was still after the super twist variety and ones that could work in other temperature ranges. Mr Berger had given me half a dozen ideas that I wanted to pursue. I knew that there were literally hundreds of thousands more waiting for me or any other researcher.

Gym was not quite the chore it once was. My exercising at home and the little I was able to get at school was building up my stamina and strength. Sam was more apathetic in his efforts but he was getting better too. Ian was progressing faster. He washed more and his acne was clearing up a bit. He looked less of a slob now and I saw that he was responding better to what others saw in him.

I played the sax as usual during Music. I wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to play with real musicians. Miss Floit asked about my music writing.

"I wrote some more songs but I think I should find some that will bring a audience full of people together."

"Why are you going that way?"

"Music and singing promote community. One song that I am calling 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing' could be the first. A movement needs a theme song and I am just trying to throw songs out until one fits. People will hear the song and think of what the people singing it are striving for."

"We don't need songs we need things done."

"To get things done you have to be in the public eye. What better way than singing songs that promote brotherhood and understanding?"

This she seemed to grasp but the next part was difficult. "We need a place to meet where we can sing and play instruments. My house is too small and only suitable for small groups. The gym is big but the walls will distort the sound. Do you have an idea?"

"I can't think of any. In the summer we could have it outside but that is no good for now."

The summer and outside reminded me of Woodstock New York. I made it to the event in 1969. The thought cheered me up for not only was it a good way of making money because this life's Woodstock would showcase my songs after I was well known.

I learned about doing laundry in Home Ec. Rather, it was teaching the subject. I, at one time did all the laundry and now I did it when it was my turn. Paige usually got in and did this for me while trying to prove that she was going to be a good wife. I let her only do this some times because I had to show her and the other girls that I could, and would, do this work also.

We did learn that there was going to be a new student tomorrow or the next day and the gender was not going to be female. The girls were well pleased with this. I fell into my own trap wondering if the guy was queer or wanting to learn to be a chef. I kicked myself mentally for being so biased when I wanted others to think first before acting.

After school, the music room was busy again and I just stopped in for a moment. The boys were back to playing and perhaps this political sidetrack would not hurt them.

During the day I filled out my newest booklet on my fictional life with the mob. I stuck the photos in the back where they could be found. In a way, I felt bad about my duplicity. I had sex with Alice and I couldn't help feeling bad about tricking her now. I justified it with myself by thinking that it would make her think a lot more before spreading rumours. I hadn't heard of any so far but that was the only thing it could be.

During our walk home, I let slip the last name of the deceased mob figure. Carlo and I had argued for a while about my simplistic ideas and things had changed a great deal. Erminia was now a granddaughter that came over to Canada because her parents were killed in a bomb attack in Italy. These murders were for control of a lucrative gambling empire in a large Italian city. Many other things were altered but now it looked much more plausible.

Today, I just came back from designing a large gnocchi making machine that would put all the competitors out of business. The product would be shipped all across Canada and make the mob leader even richer. This was to enrich the legitimate part of his empire.

"I was just doing a job that could make a lot of money, now stop asking about what I was doing. It's dangerous."

Alice wore a ring and when I released her hand, she turned to say goodbye. I looked at it for a moment and paused until she got curious.

"It is only a ring Jeff. Jeez it is like you haven't seen one before."

"Erminia has one just like it," I said mildly then looked surprised that I had said this.

"Who is that?"

"I can't tell you. I shouldn't have let it slip. Forget the name. It's dangerous to know."

She now had a last name as well as the fictional name of a woman. A mafia run food industry was now involved that was poised to take over the world with good noodles.

When I got home, the house was quiet. Jane was not around but there was a note to call Sam Johnson. Jane came running in with an armload of groceries and gave me a kiss before going out to get the rest. I debated letting the man wait but a deadline was approaching.

I phoned Sam before the girls came home and this time I got to him very quickly.

Sam said, "I thought you would have been back to me sooner Mr Congdon."

"I wanted to give you enough time to consider the material."

"I thought you wanted the money."

"Oh, I do but it is not important right now. I wrote eight songs yesterday that should bring in quite a bit of cash. You only want to purchase a few."

"Eight in one day? That sounds impossible. I have been in the business for quite a few years and never heard of that before."

"It is not nice to call me a liar, Mr Johnson. You know next to nothing about me. The one thing you do know is that recently you purchased some of my other songs at an auction. My name was on every one of those sheets of music."

"I am sorry Mr Congdon. You're right; I don't know you very well. A great many musicians are using your name now. Your agent is doing a good job of telling everybody how you find doing everything so easily. If you will excuse my curiosity, did you really rescue that girl and kill that guy?"

"That is a subject I don't like to talk about. You are correct in that I killed a guy bent on killing the little girl and me. At the time I had enough running. I had just been shot in the shoulder and knew I could not travel very fast. I did what was necessary and only wished I was able to see the other two die as well."

Sam didn't speak for a moment but then cleared his throat and said, "Mr Sackman says you are just twelve too."

"That's correct."

"He also says one of his clients is looking at a screenplay you wrote."

"That is true also. In a while the book will come out and you will get a chance to read the story. I'm working on a few more novels that could can be converted into movie scripts. They're more work than writing songs but gives me an alternate source of income."

"You sound too good to be true," and he very quickly added, "but I know it has to be. Tell me what you want for the songs you sent me?"

"I will take forty thousand for the four songs. For a favour I will drop the figure to thirty five."

"Thirty five thousand! Are you crazy? I might be able to see twenty for them."

"Mr Johnson, You asked for specific songs that would work well for your client. I supplied those songs. There are even more but I expect that your client will work with the new material he now has before biting off a bit more. As you know, my name is more respected now and I can command a better price. I know that the songs I sent you may not fetch quite what I stated if sold to others but they will still purchase them and make me a considerable amount of money."

"I have overhead here, Mr Congdon. I simply cannot afford thirty five thousand."

"It is thirty five thousand and a favour Mr Johnson."

"What is the favour?"

"Your client sings 'Happy Birthday' to my sister and talks for a few minutes from a script I will give you. I then want the song pressed into a hundred forty fives so I can give them away as gifts."

"Do you know how much it costs to make one pressing?"

"As a matter of fact I do. That is why I dropped the price by five thousand dollars. It is more work but the cost will not be the full five thousand."

We argued over the phone for a half hour. The girls came home and stayed out of the way while I negotiated. I explained how November 28 was coming up fast and I needed to have the records in my hand before that.

The songs were not sold. I wasn't concerned because somebody would buy them. I figured it was just a way of Sam saying he really didn't want the songs that much.

Just before five o'clock someone knocked on the door. Susan let in a tall, well built man and a short woman with large glasses. From their expressions alone I could see that they were trouble. I inspected their identification and jotted down the details on a piece of paper. My note taking seemed to anger them. Susan went out and investigated the car on the street and brought back the make and licence number. It wasn't a black Buick.

It seemed that the provincial authorities didn't want to pay Jane for her and our family's upkeep. They wanted to exclude me from their talk with Jane but I refused, though I did send the girls off.

The man, Mr Peak said, "How can you afford a house like this? Most of the funds given you must go for rent."

Jane had been paying the owner under the table to hide her former income so the house really looked like a bargain. Neither Peak nor Miss Pringle believed the figure but couldn't do anything about it.

They worked on Jane trying to get her to admit that she had an alternate source of income. The way the woman looked at Jane I knew she had heard of Jane's former occupation.

Miss Pringle said, "You are making far more income than allowed."

I said politely, "How is my mother making more income than allowed? You saw the figures. She made less than two hundred dollars total and at no time did she make more than the twenty five dollars a month that she is allowed to earn."

"The income in this home is much larger than two hundred dollars."

I asked casually, "What provincial statute allows your agency to add the income of a dependant child to that of the mother?"

"There are many instances where it combined income is mentioned. Your own income allows you to support yourself."

"Are you suggesting that a twelve-year-old boy move out on his own Miss Pringle?"

"I don't know why I am talking to you. I am not suggesting that. I just think you should do the supporting of the family if you are able."

"My company is set up in full accordance to the laws of both Ontario and Canada. The money specifically stays in the company. My lawyer and not my mother handle all legal matters. Furthermore she has no say at all over the company. That is all in my lawyer's hands. My mother signed away that right when the company was set up. I get a small salary and my sisters get one as well. It so happens that the majority of the money that they should get is fully protected in separate trust accounts."

The woman said, "The fact remains that you are going to be taken off the welfare roles."

"That sounds very final."

"It is."

"What is the name of your superior, please? I may also need his or her phone number and address to fight this."

"You cannot fight this. It is final."

"Oh, but you're mistaken. I can and will fight it on my mother's behalf. The courts may well be avoided but in the end the true legal decision will be given. By the way, are you refusing to give me the information I requested? I thought a government official had to give me this if it is requested and I certainly did."

I got the information and the couple left. I watched them go. Mr Peak was pissed and he tried to accelerate too quickly and almost slid into another car going by.

I never liked living on the dole. At this time of the century people hid this information if they could, along with other things like being fired. People had a great deal more pride in their lives and some even refused a government handout because it meant that they could not support their own family. Things changed rapidly until social assistance was not seen with a certain stigma, it rated as an acceptable way of living.

What I had said was correct. My family made very little direct cash. It was all protected the best way I knew how. Congdon Electronics sent much of its profits to CanAm Industries, Inc, and had little left to tax. I was not quite ready to fledge though.

Jane was very worried now and was crying as she sat at the table. My sisters, along with Paige and Jennifer were the only ones that remained. I held Jane from behind and she had to sit up now.

"Jane, you know I have enough money to take care of us if worse comes to worse." The girls had no idea how much I made or even how much I made for the one song they knew that I sold. "Girls, you all know that I have been sending in a great many songs. I sold more than one song and I have enough money to buy this house if I must. I also have enough money to keep my family fed and clothed. If you think about it now you have had more money than at any other time during your lives."

Maggie asked, "You can buy this house? You have that much money?"

"Yes I do Honey. I was putting off buying a home until my other businesses started to produce. When Paige and I are married I plan on moving to Toronto to keep a closer tabs on my businesses. I will provide for all of you and that also means Jennifer and Angela. Of course Paige too. That means I have some important jobs later for each of you."

Susan asked, "Are we going to have to move?"

"Not unless we want to. I do want a nicer home though, with room for me to work, and a lot more space for each of us. I don't want to leave anybody to get there." The last was said as I put my hand on Paige's shoulder.

Everybody was depressed. It was martial arts night though and the girls left. They bitched at having to go, but did for me. I exercised, finished up the details on the songs and then studied. I turned into bed earlier than usual and took Jane with me. I made her happy for a while. Later Susan and Maggie got in with us. I hugged my girls and knew that the most important things were still under control.

The next day I mailed the songs to Mr Sackman on the way to school. At lunch, I called Mr Mason and told him of the problem with the authorities. He was honest with me and said he would get back after he read up on it a bit more.

In my chemistry class and one of my spares I found a second variant of cyanobiphenyl. Its temperature range was different and didn't fully overlap the other one I found. Again I cleaned up and made sure my notes were kept hidden. I may be the only one to know how important this was but, with more people interested in me, I had to remain cautious.

We had a new guy in Gym class. He had long blonde hair and seemed to be very outgoing. When I saw his face I thought he was a girl at first. He seemed to make friends very easily.

Jamie Sutherland was in my music class, too; the teacher and the girls fussed over him. He seemed to be well used to this kind of treatment.

Alice was fingering her ring as we walked home. I watched her and had to smile to myself. She said, "Is Erminia pretty?"

"She is a beautiful young lady with long blonde hair but she knows when to remain quiet. You always have to ask questions."

"I am just sizing up the competition Jeff. A girl is allowed."

"Alice, I like you but we are not boy and girlfriend. I told you that Paige is for me. We can be friends though."

Alice looked sad and I didn't know if it was an act or not. "Friends can keep secrets. You know I am your friend because I bopped that guy for you."

"You certainly did and I would do the same for you but that doesn't mean we share the same interests."

"I could get to know you better. It was fun making love."

"It was fun for me too but even if you were faking it when we started."

She looked surprised for a moment. "Guys I found get hurt if they don't think they are good with the ladies. I was just letting you get used to me. I hope you know that after I was not faking anything."

"Yes, I know that, and that was when I enjoyed myself too."

"Jeff, you talk like a guy at least my age. You understand things that adults cannot comprehend and you know more about pleasing a girl that most men I've met."

"What does that tell you Alice?"

"That you are a person going places and if your friends help you they will go with you."

"I do rely on friends for a lot of things. If they are capable and trustworthy, I see them getting ahead even if it has nothing to do with me. It's just hard to see where everyone fits because I haven't found a secure place for myself yet."

"Mom has gone shopping Jeff. We can make our own friendship grow."

I smiled and said, "More than friendship can grow."

There was no smell of fresh perfume in the house but Alice dragged me upstairs without a chance to look. We took off our winter clothing and placing our books on a nearby table. Within minutes we were naked and I pulled Alice to the showers. Her talk of other lovers made me want to at least start with a clean slate, so to speak.

Alice started on me when we were in the tub. She sucked me expertly while her hands went around to play with my anus. In a short time we were half dry and on her bed. She made sure to close the door this time.

When we resumed she had a small jar of lubricant and she put some on her finger. She sucked me again and her finger worked into my back passage. She either had more experience or I was more sensitive than I would be in later years for it felt much more erotic than it ever had before.