Chapter 6

"Where'd you leave your car?"

"We walked. We can't afford any car, and we don't know how to drive in any case, never learned how. What made you think we drove here?"

"How far did you have to walk then?"

"From our place to here, maybe a few miles, but we cut through the woods and came in the back way. Probably only five or six miles when you come through the short way like we did."

"No wonder you were feeling the cold so much when you first got here. I wouldn't be out walking for more then five or ten minutes in cold weather like this. Get in my car, and I'll give you guys a ride back to your house."

"No, we're fine with walking. Sherry doesn't care too much for enclosed places. She gets upset."

I did notice Sherry shivering in her too light jacket, and could see that her nose and ears were already turning deep red from the cold.

"You can both sit in the back, with the windows opened so it won't feel so shut in to her. I've got a great heater, and I'll turn it up to full blast. It might be a little cold for you back there, but I'll be comfortable enough. You'll be a lot more comfortable in my Lincoln than you'd be if you tried walking back in this freezing cold air."

"You hear that, Sherry? We can sit in the back together, with the windows opened. We'd be home in ten or fifteen minutes instead of three hours. If we got back early like that, maybe we could go over to Cromwell's store and pay our bill down some, and maybe buy something good for supper. If we were to walk it again, the store will already be closed until tomorrow by the time we get there. Jimmy isn't like that other man, Sherry. You don't have to be afraid of all of them, just some."

I stood five or six feet away from the two of them, hoping they'd make a quick decision, because I was just standing there, freezing my ass off. I hadn't come outside prepared to stay out here this long. Tina kept pleading with her sister until, finally, with Sherry's teeth starting to chatter very loudly, she gave in and finally agreed to letting me drive the two of them home.

They got in the back of the Navigator, making themselves comfortable, while they both looked all around at the fancy upholstery the vehicle came with, and all the nice accessories I had, like my back seat DVD player, which I'd never had any occasion to use since I'd bought the car. It took me five minutes to warm up the engine, and to let the heater start putting out a nice warm flow of air. Thankfully, neither woman reminded me about putting the windows down in the back for them.

I put the car into gear and asked them for directions on how to get to their house. Instead of telling me where their house was located, Tina directed me to take them to this little mom and pop grocery store in Drayton, where they then had me leave them. The whole ride over there took less than ten minutes, and my back windows had stayed up the entire way. I guess it had been enough that I'd offered to put them down for them.

On the trip back home I thought about why I was such a perverse person. Here were these two women, both in their early twenties, and identical twins to boot. They had some physical differences, like the length and style that they wore their hair, and the different way they both acted towards people, but they looked so much alike, they were, basically, the same person. Tina was very outgoing and friendly, and Sherry struck me as a scared little mouse of a woman. Other than that difference though, they were eerily similar to each other.

Why was it that I was so drawn to the one where I had absolutely the least chance of having her appreciating any attention I might want to give her? Why not Tina? She might actually enjoy spending some time going out and doing things with me. Like I said, perverse. I knew it said something bad about my personality and the degree of my social adjustment, but I didn't know anything I could do to change the way my core personality was wired. I had a definite case of the hots for Sherry. Tina was all right, but she wasn't anywhere near as exciting to me as I found Sherry to be. I know it sounds sick, but that's how it was.

I decided I wanted to go to Florida over Christmas, mostly just wanting to get away from the unrelenting cold weather we'd been having. A few days before I was planning to leave, Tina showed up at my house, carrying all her art supplies in one of those huge camping backpack things. It was immediately obvious to me that she'd hiked all the way over here again. Sherry wasn't with her.

"You left Sherry home alone?"

"No, she went over to my mom and dad's to spend Christmas. She only lives with me once in awhile, usually when her and my mother have a big fight, or when Sherry does something that freaks the 'rents out. She never stays for more than a week or two, then they all make up, and she goes back to live at home again. She usually only needs to get away from them about five or six times in the average year. I need to get away from them three hundred and sixty five days a year. My parents are so sure they know everything that's best for me and Sherry. I came over to start work on your first painting."

"I hope you're kidding me. It probably isn't more than ten degrees outside right now, and the weather people say it will turn even colder later today. Unless you like to paint with Arctic gloves on your hands, you'd freeze out there."

"I know, but I need to get started if I'm to finish up by the time I promised you."

"Tina I promise you I'd hate to have any picture you painted that caused you to lose even one of your fingers to frostbite. I can wait on the picture. You walked all the way over here again too, didn't you?"

"I walk everywhere, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

"I've go an eight mega pixel camera with real good zoom and a few interchangeable lenses. Do you know how to take pictures?"

"Not with a camera like that. I usually use those throw away cameras they sell in the stores, for five bucks on sale, with free film developing."

"The camera is a snap to use, and it doesn't cost anything to take pictures while you're learning. If you have to get started right now, I insist you go out and take a bunch of pictures with my camera. Come back in where it's warm when you're done, and I'll show you how you can upload them onto my laptop to get a better idea of what you have."

I went to get my camera, demonstrating how it worked and explaining the purpose of all the different lenses. I had her take a few pictures inside first, to be sure she had the hang of it, and then sent her outside to begin snapping pictures. She was gone for at least an hour, having filled up all three of the memory cards I had for the camera.

She'd used up more memory in an hour than I had in the year or so I'd owned the camera. I showed her how to recharge the battery pack while we transferred what she'd already taken onto my computer. I could tell she was pretty excited about my camera, and by the pictures she'd just taken.

"You play around with those while I finish up packing for my trip. By the time you're ready to go out again, the camera battery pack should be charged all the way back up again."

"You're going on a trip somewhere, where?"

"Florida, for about a week. I'll be back before the New Year."

"I bet that costs you a few meals of those hot dogs and beans you say you eat all the time."

She sounded a little angry that I was going on a trip to Florida. Almost resentful in fact.

"Partly it's for business, but mostly I just want to get out of this cold. I'm not used to this type of weather like you probably are."

"Right ... Believe me, no matter how long you live around here, no one ever gets used to these Canadian cold fronts. You should take me along with you, it would save you some money on hookers." She said that last part with her chin thrust out defiantly, like she was daring me to take her up on her offer or something.

"You want me to take you to Florida with me? What about your family? Won't they be expecting you to be home for Christmas? Also, I happen to get really good deals from most hookers. I seriously doubt if I'd be saving any money by taking you with me."

"I was just teasing you. But I'd never go back, for any reason, to my parent's house, not if they were going to be there when I did. We don't even talk to each other anymore. Why would I want to go to Florida with you?"

"Maybe to get out of this cold, and to go swimming at the heated pool this hotel I'm staying at down there has. The advertisement guarantees that the water will be warm enough to comfortably swim in, and the last time I checked, it was eighty one degrees in Miami. That was few days ago though, so it might have cooled off a little." I moved my cursor over to the Yahoo page, clicking it on. I typed in Miami for the weather box, and found out there was a cold spell in Miami too, and the temperature was now only seventy degrees.

"The room I booked has only one king sized bed. If you did decide to come with me, you'd have to sleep with me too."

"Are you being serious, or are you just teasing me back?"

"I'd have to check to see if I can get you a ticket for the flight I'm taking, but if it turns out I can, I'd be willing to take you. You don't even have to fuck me for your part of the fare. I wasn't kidding about there only being one bed in the room though. We'll call the trip your Christmas bonus for the paintings you're doing. Now, since I've called your bluff, do you want me to see if I can still get you plane tickets, or not?"

"I'd have to think about it. I thought we were both just teasing. I've never been to Florida before. What's it like?"

"It was damn hot and very muggy the only other time I was there, but that was in August. From all I've read about it on the internet, its supposed to be nice this time of the year. Even if the real temperature ends up being just a little bit higher than fifty degrees though, it gets my vote."

"I've never done anything like this before, gone off with someone on a trip like that. I'd be afraid that something bad could happen. How do I know I can trust you?"

"You can't trust me. You'll have to be constantly on your guard the whole time we're down there. First chance I get, I'll be going through your purse and stealing you blind. You'll be very lucky to get back here with much more than any spare change that has fallen to the bottom so deep I couldn't find it."

"I never carry any money in a purse. I don't even own a purse, because I never use them. All the money I have is money you gave me for the advance, and there isn't very much left of that. If all I have to worry about is you stealing my money, then I guess I'll chance it."

"So, you want me to go online and see about finding you a ticket?"

"That's what I said, isn't it. When is it you're planning on leaving? If you really are going to take me, I'm going to need some things before we go. Oh, wait a minute, I just remembered I'm going to be getting a visit from my friend any day now. That changes things, doesn't it?"

"You forgot you'd asked someone to come visit you? Yeah, I guess that does change things. Maybe you can come the next time I go off somewhere and can't afford to hire any hookers."

"Not that kind of friend. I meant my period is coming."

"You can't fly, or be in warm weather when you're having a period?"

"I meant it changes why you'd want to invite me."

"I'm really not very squeamish. That's one thing, and besides, I put all my hooker costs on an expense account anyway, and the company never checks to see if I really fucked them or not. We'll be okay getting away with it this time, I think."

"I'm not trying to talk you out of taking me. I just didn't want to go flying off under false pretences. I can still do a lot with my mouth."

"I can too, but not with your friend visiting. Don't worry about it. We can always deal with whatever comes up. Move over so I can see if the airlines has another seat for you."

It turned out they did have another seat, and they even changed my seat around so that we'd be sitting together both ways. They were so nice about it I didn't even object to the extra thousand dollars they were charging because the only seats available for the trip down were both in the first class section. We couldn't even save some money by making the return flight in coach, because it had to be same category for both ways. I didn't tell Tina about all the extra money, knowing it would bother her, possibly causing her to change her mind about going with me.

I ended up taking a very excited Tina back to her place, which was really only a shack that had been converted over from an unused garage. The renter's before Tina had used it as a storage shed. She had a hot plate to cook on, and the electricity came from a real long extension cord the owner had run for her from the main house in back where he lived.

"I'll just be five minutes to get some things, then, if you would, you need to take me over to my parent's house so I can tell Sherry where I'll be. It's only about half an hour's drive to get there, and this is the only chance I'll have to see her, because my parent's will be at home again after five this afternoon." I wasn't really planning on doing much of anything else anyway, so I agreed to make the trip there for her.

Her parents lived in a nice house, one much nicer than any I'd ever lived in. They must have been rolling in money from the looks of it. As soon as we drove up their long driveway, the house being set back about two hundred yards from the street, Sherry came running out in clothing that wasn't close to being warm enough for the outside temperature. Tina got out of the car and the two women embraced before Tina started hurrying her sister back inside where it was, presumably, about sixty degrees warmer.

They were in the house for about fifteen minutes. I kept the engine running while I waited, loathe to freeze without having the heater going, blasting all that warm air out around me. When Tina came back out, she was alone, and carrying a big paper bag that she hadn't gone inside with.