Chapter 11: The town takes new form

The first two weeks of summer vacation went by without incident. I stopped by the pool every afternoon to help Jane with the closing, but we didn't take advantage of having the key to the house the way I'd planned.

Jane was patient with me. She must have known I was having trouble ridding my mind of the image of her with Berry, responding to his touches, urging him to 'put it in.'

By the same token, it didn't seem to bother her that I'd been intimate with Janet, the girl that had taken my virginity.

I could see that even Claire noticed that things were strained between Jane and me. I walked her home, kissed her, and we laughed often. What Claire must have noticed was that we didn't make use of the two air mattresses I'd placed in the house.

During those first weeks of summer, I became a snoop. I watched Mr. Perryman as he filled out paperwork and met with townspeople, wanting to disprove Berry's assertion that Mr. Perryman was skimming money from the state grants the town received. It disturbed me that Kitty's new husband could be a thief, stealing from the very town he worked so hard to keep afloat.

I knew that Mr. Perryman had several friends within the state government. He'd invited five state officials and their spouses to his wedding. One look at the letters he had left for the postman to pick up told me that Mr. Perryman was on the inside track at the state. All three envelopes were addressed to the heads of departments. I wondered how much money he had requested, if his requests would be granted, and how much he would skim from each grant.

It took me the better part of two weeks to work up the nerve to approach Mr. Perryman regarding Berry's suggestion to advertise the town's businesses with a sign. My attempt was met with total rebuff. He was nice enough about it, but curt, like he didn't have time for a teenager's idea.

Well, Shit! The old man's attitude really pissed me off. I became convinced that Berry's assumption about him stealing from the town was correct. There was more than one way to skin this cat. Kitty had been successful getting the key to the house. Perhaps she could convince her husband to at least listen to Berry's idea.

Kitty was in high spirits. She told us that she could be pregnant, and that Mr. Perryman was going to hire a housekeeper to ease her workload in the big house. We congratulated her, and my mother urged her to come to the clinic the next day.

I waited until we were on our way to her house before approaching her with my request to state my case to her husband.

One thing I knew about Kitty was that you had to give her something to get something in return. She responded best to juicy stories, the sexier the better.

"I fucked Janet when she and Berry were here," I began, and saw Kitty's mouth fly open in dismay.

"Why didn't you tell me last week?" she asked, like I'd held out on her. Up until that point, I'd been unable to talk about the night Berry and I had swapped sisters.

"Do you want to hear about this or not?"

"Tell me, don't leave out a thing," she said in an excited tone of voice.

"It was Berry's suggestion, but I think Janet put him up to it. He took Jane into the other room and left Janet with me."

"Come on, there's more to it than that. Don't tell me that, after everything you went through with Janet, that you let Jane go with Berry, and took Janet into your bed without a fight."

I could see that she needed more details. I told her that I didn't have a choice. Jane wanted to go with Berry, and Janet made herself so attractive that I couldn't turn her down. "She told me that I'd grown," I boasted.

"Flattery will get a girl anything she wants. That's what I always say," Kitty said with a giggle. "What else?" she asked, wanting more.

"I haven't touched Jane since that night."

"Why not?"

"I can't get the image of her and Berry together out of my mind."

"You're the one that's touched. It was only one time, Mickey. Anyway, you fucked her sister. Was it as good as you make it sound?"

"Shit, yeah!"

"Then what's holding you back? You have another year of high school. Where are you going to find another lay as good as Jane? I say you've got a good thing with her. I say to hold on to her as long as you can."

"I'll think about it," I said.

"Don't think too long. She may get other offers and you'll be shit out of luck," she warned.

"Did Mr. Perryman say anything to you about my idea to advertise the town's businesses with a sign?" I asked, thinking that I had given her enough juicy information.

"We don't discuss town business," she said in a curt fashion that reminded me of her husband.

That was the end of our conversation. She told me to think about what she'd said before kissing my cheek and running toward the house she shared with Mr. Perryman.

Well, I'd tried. Perhaps it was not a good idea after all. If they didn't discuss the town's business, Kitty wouldn't know if her husband was skimming the town's funds, either.

Mr. Perryman looked my way for a second when he came into the café the next morning. I saw him pull out a cell phone as he took his seat, and that's the last chance I had to spy on him until he was ready to leave for the day.

Ruth came into the kitchen to tell me that Mr. Perryman wanted to see me. Ben gave me a reassuring grin as I checked my apron to see if it looked presentable.

"The state authorizes you to place the sign on its property. Make sure you follow my instructions," Mr. Perryman said, as he handed me a piece of paper.

He was gone before I had a chance to tell him it was just an idea, not a project that I planned to carry out.

At the top of the paper were the words, 'Perryville, a town in revival, ' with a note, 'must appear at top of sign.' Below the instructions was a sketch showing the state owned property where the old road turned off from the new highway.

I was beside myself. What had Kitty said to her husband to get me in this mess? Ben looked at it completely differently.

"This is your chance to make a difference, Mickey. Get the pool hall and service station to agree to chip in, and we'll pay our share."

We talked about my project the rest of the day. Ben was a big help, offering advice as to how large the sign should be, what materials I'd need, and he even knew a sign painter, who he said would be easy to work with. When I left the café that day, something stirred deep inside me.

I believe everyone around the pool could read my mind that afternoon. Mrs. Crumbly, the next door neighbor knew that I was going to make it with Jane as soon as she saw me arrive. Jane certainly knew, and Claire's shy smile told me she knew, and from the way a couple of mothers whisked their kids away before they wanted to go gave a strong indication that they knew what was on my mind.

You could have cut the sexual tension with a knife. I could almost smell it in the air. Claire volunteered to help me stow the furniture in the cabana, and then she looked around for something else to do, like she wanted to prolong her stay. She only left when Jane told her everything was ready for the next day's opening. That left Jane, me and Mrs. Crumbly, who was keeping a watchful eye from her back porch.

Jane looked at me, imploring me to do something. Time was wasting and I was desperate.

"We're going inside now, Mrs. Crumbly, to try out one of the new air mattresses. It won't take more than an hour if you want to wait. Or, we could drag the air mattress out here if you prefer to watch us."

Mrs. Crumbly jumped up and ran into her house without looking at us.

"You've done it now. She'll tell Mr. Perryman what you said and he'll demand the key back," Jane said, as we entered the house.

"Would you like to bet? Wait until I tell you how I've got that old man by the short hairs."

"I don't want to hear anything from you for at least an hour," she said, already removing the top to her swimsuit.

I abided by her request to be silent for the next hour, and except for her laughing when the mattress deflated, we hardly made a sound. After going two weeks without sex, we didn't mind the hard floor one bit.

At five PM, we took a quick, cold shower to wash the sweat from our bodies, locked the house, and walked to her house. Jane didn't ask how I'd managed to gain the advantage on Mr. Perryman. She probably knew that Kitty was involved somehow. Nor did I tell her about the sign. Instead, Jane wanted to talk about the feeling she'd gotten when she first saw me that afternoon.

"I could tell that you wanted me. My pussy got so wet that I became embarrassed."

"I know, I could smell you."

"You're lying. You couldn't smell me," she said, blushing.

"Those mothers could smell you, too."

"No, they couldn't smell me. They were looking at your crotch."

"Mrs. Crumbly could smell you, and her back porch is some distance from the pool."

Jane nodded her agreement. "You may be right. That lady has a nose for anything sexual."

It was good to be back on good terms with Jane. We hadn't mentioned the incident with Berry and Janet once. It was like it had never happened. I had to ruin it.

"I'll shop for better quality air mattresses tomorrow. I want to keep the other one in case Berry and Janet come home before the end of the summer," I said, thinking how funny it would be for them to experience the sudden deflation when the mattress gave out.

"It wouldn't have punctured if you didn't act like it was your first time," Jane chided me.

"It had been two weeks," I countered.

"We've gone two weeks without having sex," she reminded me.

"There were always the quickies in the car to hold me over."

"Did the way I acted that night disappoint you?" she asked.

I couldn't lie. "Frankly, yes."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'm over it now."

Jane smirked. "You may be over it, but you haven't forgotten it happened. Janet told me how much you guys enjoyed fucking each other."

"Jane, let's not talk about it. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"That shows that you haven't forgotten it happened. Will it help if I say it will never happen again?"

"Do you mean that?"

The way she was looking at her feet gave her answer away. "I think so."

"Thanks for being candid with me."

Jane brightened, and flashed one of her famous smiles. "My mom's going to know I got lucky. Will your mom know?"

I laughed and had to admit that my mom would know.

"Kiss me," she said, as we got to her door.

I gave her a kiss that she would remember, and headed home, thinking that Kitty was right. Where would I find another girl like Jane? I should hold on to her.

The next day was my day off. I first shopped for better quality air mattresses, and spent the afternoon poolside.

In addition to the two mothers that had been there the day before, four ladies kept an eye on me as I sketched designs for the sign I hoped to erect at the edge of town. If they hoped to witness anything thrilling, they were disappointed. Aside from making sure I wasn't getting sunburned, Jane and I hardly looked at each other.

We were storing the furniture in the cabana when Claire told me that she suspected Cory was cheating.

"It's not cheating unless there's been a commitment to be faithful. Have you committed, Claire?" I asked.

"If you mean sexually, the answer is no. You know my feelings about teenage sex."

"Does Cory share those feelings?"

"I thought he did."

We didn't discuss it further. She was not specific about who Cory may have been cheating with, and I didn't offer any advice. Who was I to try to alter someone else's convictions? Anyway, I was anxious to try out the new air mattresses. Jane was too.

My proposal to advertise their businesses was met with scorn by Buster; and Kenny, who had taken the pool hall over, was just as opposed to the idea.

I didn't take failure well. Ben could see that I was down, and said that he would foot the entire expense of the sign, but Ruth vetoed his offer, saying that it wouldn't be fair if the other businesses benefited from the increased traffic I hoped to generate.

Jane could see that I was a different person when I got to the pool that day. Claire and Mrs. Crumbly pretended they didn't see the change, but Jane took me inside the house and listened to my woes of defeat.

"I predict that you will prevail," she said in an effort to lift my spirits.

"I still have a secret weapon," I boasted, without disclosing that I was relying on Kitty to rescue me.

"See, you're already feeling better. I like it when you get that look in your eyes."

"What look is that?"

"You know; that fooling around look."

Jane did wonders for my mood. I decided to put the sign project on the back burner until Sunday, when I would have Kitty's ear. She came to the café early that day, looking more beautiful than ever. She fairly glowed when Ruth said beauty was a benefit of being pregnant.

After enduring an hour of baby talk between Kitty and my mother, I was happy when it was time for our walk to her house. She brought up the subject of the previous week.

"I heard you took my advice," she began.

"How did you find out?" I asked, thinking I knew what she was referring to.

"Mrs. Crumbly said the sexual tension was so thick that she could taste it."

"You talked to her?"

Kitty's expression took on a naughty grin. "The old biddy called the house, wanting to complain to my husband about the goings on at the house next door. I told her he was busy, and to tell me what she'd seen. She went on for ten minutes about how everyone there knew your intentions. I ask if she'd actually seen anything, and she told me you had offered to drag an air mattress outside and let her watch."

"I hope you didn't let her speak to Mr. Perryman."

"No, she just wanted to tell someone what she'd seen. I listened, and ask a few questions. I told her how fortunate she was to have been there. She agreed that it was a once in a lifetime experience. She was happy when she hung up."

"I'm glad you took the call, but what if she tells other people what she saw? You know how news spreads in this town."