Chapter 8

Tanya and Natasha were, of course, unaware of Melanie Brewster's assessment of her son's — and Mike's — lack of social awareness: the fact was that the boys were the girls' boyfriends but didn't know it. They hadn't yet really thought about sex. That being the case, the girls decided that stronger measures were called for. If they waited for the guys to ask them out, they would have a very long wait, so...

When school was back in session following the Thanksgiving holidays, they wasted no time. Since by then it was assumed by everyone in the school that Tanya, Tasha, Mike and Ben always ate together, that's the way it was. There was another major point of difference between their little group and the rest of the kids: what they ate. While most of the kids bought what passed for lunch in the cafeteria and some brought their lunches from home, this little group did the latter, but with a very big difference.

Jessie Johnson, their gourmet cook, prepared lunches every day for the four. Tasha brought hers and Ben's, while Tanya had hers and Mike's. The fact was that Jessie made two complete lunches every day: one for the girls and another one for the guys. She recognized that the boys were growing far faster than the girls at that point and Jessie's lunch preparation reflected that fact. The reality was that no one in that school — and possibly in any other — ate as well as those four.

The girls had prepared for the lunchtime meeting the way a general prepares for a battle. They hoped they were prepared for any contingency. They had two primary concerns. The first was just the fact of actually going out on a date. The second was the matter of appropriate clothing for the dance.

Months earlier, the girls had given the guys satellite cellphones, and it seemed that they spent virtually every waking hour when apart talking on them. But never had they discussed a personal relationship even though there really was one. The fact was that the foursome was very different, but even they didn't realize how different from the other students they were. For example, because their social interactions were confined almost totally to their own little group, they never realized that often the assignments they were getting were very different from — and far more advanced than — those of their classmates.

Their social interactions with others were complicated by their remarkable intellects. The fact was they were interested in things that their classmates often didn't even know existed. Conversely, most of the things their classmates were interested in bored the foursome to collective tears.

The girls realized that they were really raising the bar in their relationship, but because they now knew the boys so well they thought that could be easily handled.

Clothing for the guys was another matter entirely. It had been clear to the girls almost from the very beginning that money was in very short supply with the Barnes and Brewster families. Furthermore, the girls had guessed that the boys were living with single mothers. There was never a mention of a father on the part of either of them. They knew the mothers worked, but also knew that at least one mother was home with the boys at all times. Finally, the girls knew that the guys took every opportunity to make a few dollars mowing lawns, baby sitting, running errands, and doing anything else possible to earn money. Because the boys were under 16, any formal employment was out of the question.

From a comment Mike Barnes had made to Tanya, she knew that neither boy had any good clothes at all. Mike had mentioned that when they went to church they would always sit in the back because they were embarrassed at being so underdressed. But the girls thought they had worked out a solution to that problem, too.

Tanya kicked things off. "Hey guys, guess what?"

"What?" Mike responded, unwittingly following Tanya's mental script.

"We're going to the Christmas Prom!" Tanya announced happily. "Isn't that neat?" (Kentucky is sufficiently benighted that not all of its school districts had gotten the news that the word Christmas was an educationist's no-no.)

Mike's face fell almost to the tabletop. "Who are you going with?" he asked, thoroughly dejected. Suddenly, Mike became painfully aware of the fact that girls were social creatures.

"You, of course!" Tanya happily replied.

"But ... but..." Mike stammered. "I didn't ask you, did I?" He was totally confused.

"No, you didn't."

"Well ... Are you asking me out?"

"Of course not," Tanya replied primly. "You and Ben are taking Tasha and me to the Christmas Prom. That's all there is to it."

"But we can't dance!" Ben wailed, entering the discussion.

"So learn!" Tasha demanded, brooking no argument. "You told me once that both of your mothers are great dancers, and I'm sure they'll teach you."

The two boys exchanged thoroughly dejected looks and then Mike noted, "We have nothing to wear." Then he changed the subject. "And besides, freshmen don't go to the Christmas Prom." Mike was proud of himself for that one. He thought he had just managed to get Ben and himself off the hook.

"I suppose that's right, too," Tasha admitted, "but most of the varsity football players go. And among us we have four earned varsity letters in football, and Tanya and I have letters in soccer besides, not counting our positions as co-captains-elect of the girls soccer team." She was tempted to stick her tongue out following her last line but resisted the temptation.

"But we're only freshmen!" Ben wailed. "The upper classmen would kill us!"

"With Tank Brown there with Deann? I really don't think so," Tasha smirked. "Not to mention the fact that the present whereabouts of the last three guys who tried to give Tanya and me a hard time is well known."

The boys were crushed. All their best arguments had just gone down in flames. But Mike revived the only one the girls hadn't really handled. "We have nothing to wear."

"At least one of your mothers will be home tonight, won't she?" Tanya asked.

The fact was that The Girl Spot was closed on Mondays so both mothers would be home. Mike admitted as much.

"Neato! We'll call you after dinner and explain things to your mothers."

The fact that the boys had not agreed to go to the prom did not faze the girls for a moment. The way they interacted, if one could not refute an argument raised by another, he or she lost. And since the girls had handled all of the boys' objections...

When the boys returned home, as was their wont they unloaded all of the day's events on their mothers. And the reality was that the mothers were effectively interchangeable. If Mike had a problem and Jill was working, he just told Melanie, and the same was true in reverse for Ben.

The first item of business was the invitation to the prom. And the poor young men were crushed! Expecting sympathy, what they got was essentially cheering. The two young mothers were utterly elated. Furthermore, even though it was only four in the afternoon, the mothers immediately began their dancing lessons.

And that, too, was a revelation to the two boys. For the first time in their lives they recognized that their mothers were utterly gorgeous. It was Mike who realized that his mother was just an older version of Tanya, only with fully-developed beauty. And by the time dinner was ready, the boys were actually dancing. Another revelation.

That evening, Tanya placed the call. When Mike answered, her first question was, "Is your cellphone fully charged?"

"Uh ... Yeah. I charged it when we got home," he replied dejectedly. "So did Ben."

"Neato! But why do you sound so down?"

"I told Mom about the prom."

"And... ? What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything and neither did Aunt Mel. All they did was to immediately start to teach us how to dance.

"But why the concern about batteries?"

"Because we want to set up a conference call between your two moms and Jessie Johnson, our cook and housekeeper."

She gave Mike the instructions and a few moments later both mothers were on the phones talking with Jessie.

Jessie's first words were, "Is there a place you two can go where it's private? I'm going into the study, because what I'm about to tell you is for your ears only. The girls don't know, and I don't want your boys to know either.

"Is that possible?"

The two mothers took the phones into their bedroom and laid down on the bed. Before leaving the boys, they had told them that the conversation was to be strictly private. And knowing them, they knew they would remain in the kitchen.

"I'm Jessie Johnson," she began. "I'm the cook and housekeeper to the two girls. They live — they own — Bluegrass Farm. Are you familiar with it? On the south side of town?"

"Familiar?" Jill exclaimed. "How could we not be? Your place is enormous! Out of curiosity, how many miles of white-painted fence do you have, anyway?"

Jessie just giggled. "I really don't know. I do know, though, that there are three crews working full time just painting the damned things.

"Beyond that, though, my husband, Dan, is chief of security out here. And he has a very large security force." She paused and then continued, "I hope we didn't unduly invade your privacy, but as you may know there have been several attacks directed at us so we don't take too many things for granted.

"Anyway, we know that you both dance at The Girl Spot."

Jill and Melanie exchanged sad looks and simultaneously both women extended their fists with their thumbs pointing straight down. "Oh, shit!" Jill fervently murmured.

For her part, Jessie just ignored the expletive and, as if nothing had been said, continued, "One thing we haven't figured out, though: We know that you two are the stars and you even share a name, but how is it that you also handle all the entertainers? We know you hire, train, and fire. How come?"

Mel made some noncommittal sound, and Jessie continued, "I'll tell you one thing, though: Those girls worship the ground you two walk on. Our investigators are pretty good at finding out dirt, but the more they probed, the better you two looked."

She paused and then continued, "There's one thing that's puzzled us, though. We know most of your girls are in college or graduate school. We also know that neither of you finished the seventh grade. But the most common remark we heard was how smart you two are. One girl — a doctoral candidate in political science — said you two know more than any professor she's ever had. She's impressed."

To Mel, Jill mouthed, "Connie," and Mel just nodded.

Jessie continued, "And we know you two are single mothers and gave birth at the age of 13."

Melanie couldn't control herself. "I guess that really tears it for our boys, doesn't it? The girls don't know any of this, I assume, so you had to tell us personally why our boys can no longer see your girls."

There was silence on the line for a few moments and then Jessie continued, but the two women were convinced she was crying. And then she appeared to be changing the subject. "My husband, Dan, spent his career as an Army Ranger. He's courageous, and he's seen brave men in action.

"But you know what? When he was telling me about you two, he was crying like a baby! He described how he had seen men do very brave things taking a few minutes or possibly and hour or so.

"But you two? For years and years beginning when you were only 13! And being thrown out of your homes for doing the right thing! Do you know what he said?" By this time the sound of Jessie's weeping was unmistakable, but she continued, "He said that having boys as good as your two is God's reward for your bravery.

"And you know something else? When I told the girls' mother, Caitlin, about you this afternoon, she bawled! In order to get some money for her students, she allowed herself to be tortured and raped for an entire night. But to do what you two did — to prostitute yourselves when you were still children to get jobs and to keep them — was beyond belief.

"Incidentally, she agrees entirely with Dan's assessment. Your sons are as good as they are as God's personal tribute to your bravery and suffering. Okay?"

The two women were stunned speechless. And it was an all-time first. Clearly, the twins' family knew everything about them in incredible detail, but not only didn't mind, they apparently had limitless respect for them for what they had done.

Before Jessie could continue, Melanie had a question. "Tasha introduced you as their cook and housekeeper. Are you the one who prepares their lunches?"

"Yes, I am. Is there a problem?"

"Awhile ago, Ben described something he had for lunch. 'A creamy meat-sort of thing, ' he called it. When he described it further, it sounded like paté de foie gràs, and loaded with truffles. Was it?"

"It's very high in protein," Jessie replied defensively, "and fat is absolutely loaded with energy — the highest concentration around — and they seemed to like it..."

"But then, Mrs. Johnson," Melanie continued very formally, "you really had to tear it, didn't you? I'm pretty proud of my Southern fried chicken, but one day Ben came back raving about the fried chicken in his lunch that day." Mel faked a sniffle and wailed, "I was crushed!"

"It was the gold-medal winner for food two years ago at the State Fair," Jessie explained diffidently, "and of course won the blue ribbon for the best fried chicken."

"Is there anything you don't do, Mrs. Johnson?" Mel asked acerbically.

"I ... I'm a diplomate of the Cordon Bleu School in Paris, and I've completed the course work for my doctorate in nutrition."

"Sheesh! Is that all?" Mel asked. "I mean ... it's not like you had a practical job ... like flipping burgers at McDonald's or something."