Chapter 20

Time flies when you are having fun. Especially when you are enjoying and settling in with your new instant family.

That's what I had. My new instant family!

Tuesday went by in a flash. The tree surgeons arrived early. I figured they wanted to be called that as indicated by the title emblazoned in very bold lettering on the side of their similarly huge truck sporting, you guessed it, an over-sized, extra long bucket boom.

They said the tree would never come back from the strike. Even though it looked like the tree would still grow, with such an intense strike, the tap root was most likely damaged and the tree would wither in a short time.

That was the bad news. The good part was the tree was an old but very sturdy Red Cedar. Very straight and very prime lumber. The said they would not charge us for the removal of the tree.

Plus they would sell the pieces to a furniture manufacturer who used the wood for closet linings and Hope Chest construction. After deducting their usual cost for removal of a tree the size of ours and a finders fee of twenty-five percent, they would pay us the difference.

Needless to say, I signed their contract. Well, I signed it for Lindie. After all, it was her tree now.

It was a very nice bonus. Not that I was tight for money. I'd saved everything I could while working at SM & J so I had a nest egg. Plus they had given me two months severance pay. All that could tide us over until both Lindie and I got new jobs.

Another nice bonus was that Lindie had prompted me to put the U-Haul van into the garage until we could deliver it on Tuesday morning. It would have been trashed, or partially so, as a couple of large branches had fallen where I'd parked it to unpack. Even though I'd taken the insurance, we avoided the hassle.

Tuesday morning, we ran the van back early to U-Haul. Then Lindie drove me home and immediately left with Michelle to get her registered in school. Actually she wound up in class that day while the tree surgeons worked.

She was a little disappointed she didn't get to see all of the trimming and cutting but she excitedly told us she liked her new teacher and classmates. She looked forward to school and of course the freedom she had now that she wasn't confined to a bedroom with her mom.

Well, our house was a little confining she told us. It was lonely in her room and she wanted to sleep with us. We told her that she had to spend some time in her room each night, at least studying and then nap in her own bed until Lindie and I were ready for bed ourselves.

By Friday, she was sleeping for several hours in her own bed before she appeared with us. She did mention frequently she missed having her mother as a partner in bed. After all it was the only way she had slept for all of her life.

Lindie and I knew it would take a while for us to have full privacy. Not that it mattered, because by the end of the week, there was not much that Lindie and I did together that she hadn't stumbled in on or woke up to while we were having fun.

It wasn't that we were flaunting ourselves. First, it was just we all three slept in the nude. Plus, she had been given the charge of her young cousins from time to time so she knew what boys plumbing looked like. And what eleven year-old doesn't know a little about sex. You know, what parts go where.

Lindie and I didn't make an issue of our privacy at the start. But we began to mention to her that intimacy was sort of private. We also made a point to tell her if she was coming into our bedroom and the door was closed, knock.

Wednesday brought on a shopping trip to get Michelle clothed. I stifled any comment when I found out that Michelle's entire wardrobe was contained in the single suitcase she had arrived with. Two changes of clothing would not do for a daughter of mine.

Of course, with very limited funds, Lindie was pretty much in the same plight. I could easily predict, anything she had went to Michelle and Lindie did without. So while we were in our local Target, I made sure we bought a bunch of things for Lindie too.

Michelle was getting a little antsy as we neared the end of our shopping so I suggested to Lindie they go into the in-store McD's for a cone instead of waiting on line with me. Michelle's eyes grew wide as did her smile.

"I wonder if it will be as big as the ones we had the other night," Michelle asked.

I gave Lindie a twenty and sent them off while I stayed in line at the checkout. I knew Lindie was concerned as I was sure she mentally added up all of the price tags as we picked out things they both needed. When I saw the look of concern in her eyes, I kissed her and told her it was OK and I'd take care of it.

I secretly didn't want her to know the total. So sending them both off from the checkout line made sense to me. I knew it would be more than she felt we could afford and I didn't want her to feel she should put anything back.

Michelle desperately needed everything. Also, her body would soon begin to blossom so we'd have to do it all over again when she hit this summer's growth spurt.

Thursday was a quiet day and I took everyone out again for a special dinner and play time at our favorite McD's. This time, Michelle was excited but there was no scream. Although, at the end of the meal, she politely asked if she could have another cone. I said, so long as you don't 'Scream' for it.

We all laughed. Then when she brought back cones, it was a nice surprise. She had a huge grin spread all over her face as the cones were just as huge as before. Plus, she still had the five I'd given her a second time, dangling from one hand. Dangling from the other was a piece of paper.

"The manager said for you to fill this out pronto," Michelle said excitedly. "They have an Assistant Manager position that just opened up and he's holding it for you!"

"That's cool," I commented.

"Wow!" Lindie said in surprise after she read the note on the application from the manager. She read it to us.

"I checked with your old store and they said you were the greatest. I want you as part of my team!" the note said.

"I'm not sure of the hours, but I could use the hospitalization," Lindie explained. "I have my current insurance for just three more days. If I start by Monday, my insurance would just continue forward."

As Michelle said, "Do it!" I nodded my head.

Even if it was not the best pay or the best hours, it would give Lindie the feeling she needed. The feeling that she was contributing to US. Just like I felt when I made sure they both had things they needed while we had shopped at Target.

Of course, Lindie was set for a visit to the local Woman's Clinic the following day to get a birth control prescription. Condoms were a great preventative but both of us preferred "Au Natural!"

We'd planned to spend Sunday celebrating Michelle's birthday a little early. June third was coming up on Wednesday.

Thinking about it, I suggested moving everything up a day so Lindie could have Sunday, the last day of May as a cushion with her medical insurance. It would just insure everything would move forward nicely.

Also, when Lindie turned in the application when we were leaving McD's, the manager liked the time frame as he needed an extra hand on Sunday. Nothing like making a new boss happy right from the start.

We were then set to celebrate Michelle's birthday on Saturday. "The best laid plans often go astray," I thought.

I'd planned to get a special present for Michelle on Saturday and now, with Lindie going to be at the doctors on Friday, I'd have to be sure to be home when Michelle returned from school.

There just wasn't enough time for me on Friday to do what I wanted. Not enough time to get where I needed to get. Nor would there be enough time to get what I wanted and then get back in time for Michelle's arrival back home. There was one solution though.

I alerted my mother that I might need her to watch Michelle for a while on Friday and needless to say, she was anxious to do just that.

"I'd love to," she said. "Any time. All the time. Send her over. Let her live here!

"How else am I going to get to know my Granddaughter!" my mom said with great enthusiasm.

On Friday, we reminded Michelle Mom and I had some things to do and no one might be home after school. "So. Go straight to Grams," I confirmed as I dropped her off before class. " She's expecting you."

"Great," Michelle said as she hopped skipped and jumped, happy as the clam I've mentioned before, on her way up to greet her classmates, looking forward to her day at school.

I'd also asked mom if we could borrow her car for a bit as I had errands to run and Lindie had her doctor's appointment.

The hoped for answer was, "Sure."

I'd kept where I wanted to go sort of secret. It was a special store in Stewart City. I wanted to get Michelle a nice bike. I figured she'd never owned one and that for me would make it a great birthday present.

Downtown Rock Creek didn't have a Bicycle Store and when I'd looked in Target they just didn't seem to have any. If I had missed them, it probably wouldn't have mattered as I wanted to get an upscale one. So anyway, a trip to Stewart City was in order.

I planned to get a five hundred foot length of twine too. I'd hide the bike in the garage and string the twine around the yard, like a treasure hunt. Along the way, I decided to put notes.

You know, like, "Keep Going." "You're Halfway There." Or my favorite one, "Go Back. You Went Too Far." Then in small print below that I'd write, "Just Kidding!"

When I got back from Stewart City, I put the Bike into the garage under a tarp, the end of the string tied to the handlebar. Then I strung the twine about the yard and tied the end to an eye-height rung on the Tree House Ladder. The note there, said. "Happy Birthday. Find Me."

All I had to do was to make sure no one went out too early to the Tree House in the morning. At least the plan was set and the game ready to be played.

Mom had done herself proud and dinner was at her house. We'd been busy all week and somehow I'd only been able to talk to her on the phone. How sad is that. We were living right next door.

It had been quite a week. As I thought over it, the last seven days had perhaps been the best in my life. My mom was rejuvenated too. I looked forward to Michelle's birthday party and the additional set of hand prints that would appear on the Tree House wall.

It was a little strange though. Lindie was just a little quiet during dinner and later when I asked her if she had gotten her prescription, she said, she had to wait until she started her next period before she could take the pills.

"Perhaps, next week," she said. Then she added, "We'll have to wait for a month before we can ride Bareback though. At least that's what the doctor said."

Well, a month was not that bad. We'd been at it a week and everything was fine, so a few, well four more, was something that was not impossible to deal with.

It was fun being over at my mother's for dinner and there was plenty of banter about all of our going's on. Michelle confessed she liked her teacher and loved all of her new clothes.

We also talked about the big storm and the loss of the tree. My mother had slept through it and had been out at a friend's on Memorial Day for a barbecue so she missed our preliminary cleanup. She'd heard the racket when the tree was removed, but didn't realize it had come from Lindie's house.

As we left mom's to go home, she offered dinner and an Ice Cream Cake for Michelle's Birthday. I clued her in on what I planned to do for a meal and she said she'd run to McD's for a takeout surprise.

With all of that planned, we went home and had a communal shower, then headed off for bed. Even though Michelle was very excited and I figured she would be up half the night, she drifted off fairly quickly.