Chapter 4

Wow! What a family. Eddie Howell, balding overweight salesman, Mrs. Howell, small mousey submissive wife, Robin Howell, petite blond cheerleader doted on by daddy, and Rachel Howell, tall attractive café au lait girl. By the size of her, Rachel's dad was a big, big man.

Rachel was still talking as she approached me where I was standing by the Falcon. "So this is the junk heap I am supposed to drive, huh?" She looked into the car, "well, maybe one of the guys from school can work on it enough to get me around."

I had to speak up then, "you don't need to do that, my dad and I already worked on it. This car is good for another 40 or 50 thousand miles."

Just then Robin honked the horn, "Come on Mark, you can talk to her when we get back."

"Sorry, I guess I had better go with her before she makes a scene. It was nice to meet you Rachel. I hope that we get to talk more while I am here." Robin honked the horn again.

"Nice to meet you too Mark, you're right, you better go. She is just getting started."

"No, she is done." I leaned over to be at eye level with Robin, "cut it out Princess, daddy spank."

Her only response was a totally shocked expression, and as I rounded the car to get in, I saw the same expression on her sister's face. I got in the car and Robin drove away while I was buckling my seat belt.

"Would you really spank ME? I've never been spanked before. Daddy would never do that to me."

"He probably should have. What about your mom, didn't she ever spank you?"

"Momma takes care of the house and daddy. She doesn't do anything else very well. Momma is a little slow."

That's a hell of a way to think of your mother.

Robin drove me around town and talked to me about all the stuff she used to do here. I saw the high school, the football field, the shopping mall her dad's store was in, the shopping center she liked to hang out at with her friends, the shoe store with the best fashions in town, and numerous other places which held no interest for me at all. We passed a sign for the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Field, and I discovered that Robin had lived here all her life, and had never gone to the museum. I simply could not imagine that. Having such a fantastic resource available and not using it. I was hoping to get a chance to go to it while I was here.

Robin finally headed home. The Falcon was gone when we got there. I guess Rachel had someplace to go. We went into the house and Robin thanked her father again for the new car. He asked me my opinion, and I told him that I would go out to the garage later and check it out. I wanted to hold my approval until I had a chance to examine the inner workings a little better. Eddie just gave me a baffled look.

"Do you know anything about cars? I just send them to the dealer and let him take care of them."

"Yeah, that's probably why that Falcon was 30 thousand miles overdue for service, the dealer charged you for work he never did. He knew that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You need to change dealers; and then get another mechanic to check on any work done. You have to be able to trust your mechanic to do what you pay him for. Dad and I do all our own routine maintenance, and one of my cousins runs a garage."

"Wow, you have it all under control, don't you? Well I won't worry about my baby's car then, with you looking after it."

The smile Eddie gave me never reached his eyes. I don't think this man trusts me. Well, that was good, because I wouldn't trust him with my dog, and he died 10 years ago. Maybe he was just upset because I was boinking his little girl, the one he cared about.

We sat down to dinner and Mrs. Howell appeared again, with the food. Her only comments were to ask what we would like to drink. Eddie kept up a running commentary during the meal about the local happenings with Robin while pointedly ignoring me. Mrs. Howell never returned, and when I asked about it, I was told that she ate in the kitchen.

Halfway through the meal Rachel came in and went directly into the kitchen. She came out in a few minutes with a filled plate and a drink. She sat across from me and listened to the discussion between her sister and father. Every once in a while she would interject a comment about one of the people Eddie was talking about. He and Robin seemed to not hear her; they never said anything back to her. This was surreal. We were supposed to stay here for a full week and head back on the 30th to avoid the holiday traffic. I wasn't sure that I could survive that long, I might have to call Don to come pick me up. I looked up at Rachel, and she leaned back in her seat and laughed.

"Welcome to purdah Mark. When these two are in a room, no one else is present. Would you like to talk to me for a bit? We can go into the living room and give them some privacy."

"Rachel, you leave my boyfriend alone, he doesn't want anything to do with someone like you."

"Hold it right there Princess, I will be the judge of who I talk to, not you. Your sister seems to be very nice and intelligent; at least she is not ignoring others at the table. Common courtesy would have you or your father address comments to us once in a while. Now I need to get my pills and such from my coat." I got up to go into the hall for my coat. I had a pint of blackberry brandy to take my pills with.

"Maybe you had better move to the living room boy, I'll not have you instructing me on courtesy in my own home. Go along with him Rachel, you have already shown your contempt of us." Eddie stood up and stated this firmly. Robin had a kind of smug expression on her face and said nothing. The sheer force of will required to keep from smashing the big bore at the end of the table into next week was astounding. If Rachel hadn't taken my arm and guided me out of the room, I probably would have ended any chance of a pleasant holiday right then.

After a stop in the hallway closet, Rachel sat me down on the couch and then sat beside me.

"Take it easy Mark, they are always like this and getting mad does nothing. You just have to get used to it, because they won't change."

"Get used to it my ass. If they go on like that I'm likely to lose it, and that won't be very nice."

"Just take it easy Mark. You have been good for Robin, but at heart, she is still daddy's little darling. She can do no wrong in his eyes, and he can do no wrong in hers. I would say that coming here was a mistake for you, except that you really needed to see this. You may have control over her in Indiana, but when she's here Robin belongs to Eddie. I have had to put up with it my whole life, and finally I have a chance to get away."

This broke through my darkening mood for a moment, "and what are you going to do?" I opened the brandy and started taking pills.

"I graduated last week and my teacher found me a job. I was at the interview today. I took the job and I am due there to start on the 3rd. The odd part is that the job is in Lafayette, at the 84 Lumber Company. They want me to work with contractors and customers as an interior designer to get the best use of their products. I was going to have some friends work on that Falcon Eddie gave me and then follow Robin when she went back. The company is going to help me find a place to live. Robin said something about this," she pointed at the brandy, "do you have to do this with every meal?"

I was calmed down quite a bit by then. "Yeah, but only about half a pint for breakfast and lunch, I need a full pint for supper. It can be a bother sometimes, but you get used to it."

About then the doorbell rang. A few minutes later I heard Mrs. Howell's voice murmuring by the front door. A much louder male voice said, "Where is she, Bill told me she was running around town today with some guy. Is he here too?"

I started to get up, but Rachel grabbed my sleeve and held me back.

"Wait a minute Mark, you need to hear this. That is Brent Baldwin, Robin's boyfriend all through school. He was the captain of the football team, and still thinks that he is hot shit. He can't get on the State team because he isn't nearly as good as he thinks he is. He is almost as big a blowhard as Eddie, and that is saying something."

I was looking at her when Brent spoke again, "Robin baby, who is this guy you were running around town with?" There was a pause and Robin's voice murmuring quietly, "Your what?" More murmuring from Robin, "No I will not be quiet. When we got together after that football game I knew we were still a couple. Where is this wimp, I'm gonna show him whose woman you are."

That was all I needed to hear, I shook my head at Rachel as she tried to keep me from going out of the room. I stepped to the door and heard Robin saying as I did, "No Brent, you and the other guys at the games didn't mean anything. I like Mark and I want to keep him for a while yet. The next time you are in West Lafayette we can get together again."