Chapter 15

Candace presented Fred with a check for twenty thousand dollars at ten a.m. Fred called Rico and they started pulling permits, largely for plumbing and kitchen work. Candace called in Jiang Yi and Toby and Amy -- and Randy, who, as it turned out, was taking architectural drawing in school -- and began working on the detailed plan.

Toby was in charge of electronic entertainment -- and surveillance. A portion of the servant's quarters off one of the back wings of the old house would house the security setup. The big double parlor would be for dancing, the old dining room for refreshments and perhaps paid dining, and the library and four of the bedrooms for quieter gatherings. Big screen TVs would grace all of these areas. Rico pointed Jiang Yi at a commercial kitchen and bath outfitter for the big kitchen and the large baths off the left rear wing of the house that led out to the pool and patio. The plan was to add a steam bath and a sauna -- all of which was to be coed.

The barn wasn't obviously a part of the property like the carriage house -- it was 150 yards away and over the years had become more accessible via the road than from the house. Appraisers had tended to overlook it -- but the tax collector didn't, so Candace, Marta -- and Jean, who Candace had pulled in to help with interior decoration of the house, went off to investigate, around two p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

"It's huge!" Candace muttered, sweeping her eyes over what had to be a classic old barn. They undid the old rusty lock on the small door inset into the big sliding door of the barn and stepped through, waving around flashlights. None of the three of them were thrilled with dark, musty spaces...

"Ewwww!" Candace erupted, "It's full of old..."

"Antiques!" Jean overrode her. The barn had obviously been a dumping ground for the cast-offs of at least one remodel of the bed and breakfast. "Help me get the big door open so we can see! There may be a goldmine here!"

There was. Jean was going to need help to discover exactly what was valuable and how valuable it was, but the turn-of-the-century fittings screamed 'antique' and Jean DEFINITELY recognized four Tiffany lamps! "I'll bet the stuff in here could pay for the remodel!" Jean gushed. "We should just turn the place into an antique store!" Her eyes swept the space. "We could turn the tack room into an office..."

"I've got my hands full," Candace rasped. "If you want it, it's your project."

"I will help!" Marta offered.

"I know a person at the office where I work part-time who can tell me whether I'm wrong or not -- but I'm pretty certain..."

"You'd better call in some of the boys to help you make order out of chaos, then," Candace advised.

So Jean called Rick, and Rick called Toby -- who was already at the house, so he called Terence and Damian, which got Louise, and his mother, which brought Beth in. Toby trudged over from the house and took a look at things -- and while he was less than interested in the antiques, the space suggested some ideas ... He called Amy over from the house to look and listen.

<We have several people we're thinking about teaching a lesson or whatever -- but we don't want them at Carpenters OR at the new house. This is just far enough away to not obviously be connected, yet close enough... > he related mentally. <We probably only need the place for a couple of weeks -- and if it is an antiques shop after that, it will make it less recognizable... > Inherent in this transmission was the fact that the two of them would mentally shroud the place from visitors.

<My mother used to have a little shop, > Amy replied, <She would probably be thrilled to death to help.> Guilt underlay that offering -- they'd had to move after the incident wherein Amy lost her virginity and gained her mental powers.

<Talk to Jean. In the meantime, we need to get Jean and Marta to prioritize this somewhere behind the main house, > Toby sent. Amy nodded and set off to speak to Jean while Toby gathered Terence and Damian.

"We can use this place, temporarily," Toby explained. "We can get even with Cindy and Beverly here, and maybe a couple of other projects. Let's pull Randy in to help. I figure that if we can get everybody to push to get the house at least partially ready by Homecoming, we can let Jean and Marta and maybe Amy's mom turn this place into an antique shop right after, which will kind of cover our tracks..."

"Yeah, I get it," Damian nodded. "Whoever we do shows up and it's a barn, but then if they come back it's a store..."

"Right," Toby nodded. "We'll have to push to make sure everybody leaves the place alone -- except maybe me and Randy and you guys, while we rig up video or whatever -- and then we'll have to really climb on and help right after Homecoming so it's all converted."

Terence nodded. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?" he grunted.

"Well, maybe not," Toby admitted. "We want to give Cindy and Bev to Tyrone and Otis -- and make sure everyone knows it."

"Shit!" Terence grimaced. "That's cold, Man!"

"You think they don't deserve it?" Damian asked.

"I don't want to be in on it," Terence replied, more or less predictably. "I'll work on the place, though -- I just don't want to be there."

"That's fine," Toby nodded.

Everybody worked until early evening. Fred made the mistake of mentioning that there was considerable drywall work to be done, especially on the second floor -- and Louise pinned him to the mat with, "I guess you'll have to bring Luis in."

"Louise!" Fred howled.

"Just do it!" Louise ordered. "Let him get his fill, so he settles down, or else he's going to go out and screw you over, sooner or later! If you let him mess with you some and take the edge off, he'll settle down -- and if he doesn't, we'll make sure we have some video on HIM!"

"Fuck!" Fred was angry for hours, afterward. Rico was to handle the contract negotiations, because Fred didn't see how he could manage to handle it in a civil manner.

"You talk to him," Louise instructed Rico. "He is NOT to embarrass Fred in public -- not that Fred needs to know that..." Rico nodded -- he wasn't thrilled, but he'd committed himself.

Once things started thinning out, Toby turned to Amy and said, "Let's take a ride." They headed for the Fremd's. After Amy verified that Tom wasn't home, Toby knocked on the door.

Abigail opened it and eyed Toby. "So I get to see you this time."

"Yes," Toby agreed, "There's no reason why not, at this point."

"Why are you here?"

"To provide you with some information," Toby replied. "Janice feels that merely providing you with the tools to avoid discussing Janice's sex life with Tom isn't enough."

"She's right," Abigail grunted, waving them inside and to seats on the couch. "Tom can be capricious. He could come home on any given evening, pissed about something, and make demands -- and take things into his own hands, if he feels like it." There was a pause, then she added, "Janice isn't safe -- it's time to leave."

"Momma?" Janice came forward, surprised.

"I stayed with Tom all this time for your comfort and protection," Abigail related, "but you're not safe, now. Even without your boyfriend, you're not safe. It is time to leave." She sighed, "Problem is, I have nowhere to go, no job, and no money."

"We ... might be able to offer a solution," Toby said carefully. "What skills do you have?"

"I cook -- only passably -- I clean, and I get used and abused sexually," Abigail said flatly. "That's it." Janice gasped.

"We're building a ... facility ... to house our club," Toby said carefully. "It needs a live-in house mother -- someone to keep an eye on the place and keep it clean. We actually have a woman who would do cooking for large parties and group functions, but she lives elsewhere. This would be room and board and a little money..."

Abigail cocked an eyebrow. "What are you NOT telling me?"

"The club is a place where sex goes on between people of various ages," Toby explained. "You would have to deal with that."

Abigail cocked an eyebrow. "Is it illegal?"

"Technically, at times. There is no prostitution. There is a little blackmail material collected periodically, but it is merely to maintain secrecy. Club members generally allow this as part of their initiation."

"What else is 'technically' illegal about it?" Abigail asked.

"If you were to have sex with a boy under eighteen, that would be technically illegal," Toby replied, "despite the fact that the boy consented enthusiastically -- that kind of 'technically illegal'."

Abigail blinked in surprise. "That happens?"

"Regularly," Toby grinned. "It will happen to you if you accept the position -- it's the simplest initiation for a woman your age."

Abigail eyed her daughter. "What does Janice know about all this?"

"She met Mark at a function at our current site," Toby replied. "She's not a member of what we might call the inner circle, but she understands the basics. We provide an environment where girls can meet guys more or less anonymously and deal with them without pretense or worries about their reputation."

"You create relationships based upon sex," Abigail said flatly.

"We offer the opportunity," Toby argued. "Many of Janice's girlfriends can't attract a male based on looks -- but that doesn't mean they don't have other, um, sterling qualities. The club gives them a place to obtain some experience and confidence -- with boys who had their first experience, usually, with older women, and therefore know what they're doing. We go to some effort to keep things anonymous -- but if a boy in the group were to embarrass a girl, he would be excluded from the group and we would make every effort to see to it that his reputation suffered, too."

Amy interjected at this point, "If a matchup appears to work, THEN we tell the boy and girl who they are with -- and the boy is required to take the girl out, twice, somewhere public. Even if things don't work out, long-term, the girl gets seen out with a guy. Since many of our members are popular members of sports teams, for instance, this would tend to move them up the ladder and get them some serious consideration if a relationship fails -- but, frankly, our failure rate is pretty low."

"You don't do this for older women," Abigail noted.

"No. The club is a sexual outlet for a number of older women without partners. There are some male members, but most of them are, uh, hooked up," Toby related. "But then, that's to female members..."

"Would I be expected to... ?" Abigail began.

"Yes," Toby answered, simply.

"Good luck finding someone..." Abigail smiled crookedly.

"You would be surprised at the success rate," Amy interjected. "It's one hundred percent, actually."

"So I live there, I keep the place clean, and periodically, more or less when the opportunity presents itself, I have sex with someone. Sounds simple," Abigail smiled crookedly. "Maybe too simple."

"Perhaps you should meet some ladies," Toby offered.

"Perhaps."

"There will be several at the site tomorrow," Toby noted, relaying the address.

"What about secrecy?" Abigail queried.

"You know we don't REALLY need blackmail material," Toby said flatly, "although we're going to prohibit you from sharing that information..."

Abigail nodded. She'd only recognized the pair and remembered their previous visit upon seeing them on the doorstep; clearly, they were capable of making her forget things.

"Tom will be watching football tomorrow afternoon, no doubt," she related, "either here at home or in a bar somewhere. I should be able to stop by."

Toby rose, Amy following. "We'll see you then. Don't bother to get up -- we'll let ourselves out."

Abigail turned on the television. Somehow, her concerns over the future were papered over; she didn't know how, yet, exactly, but something akin to optimism had suddenly settled over her. 'It will all work out, ' she thought.

When they were done for the day at the house, Terence headed over to Bonita's to have a second talk with Gabriel about Lillian. Unfortunately, Julio was home and heard Terence and Gabriel talking. No sooner did Terence leave the room than Julio stepped inside. "Eh, so, you picked your first cherry already, little brother? I'm impressed! I didn't get my first for another year! What technique did you use? Who is to be your next conquest?"

Terence DID overhear this -- he hadn't gotten around the corner yet -- so his voice rumbled from behind Julio, "He used honesty -- THAT was his technique! He was a nice guy!"

"You!" Julio snarled. "What would you know about honesty? When do you plan to dump my roly-poly little sister?"

"If you hold your breath waiting," Terence rumbled, "You'll turn a pretty nice shade of blue -- not to mention the fact that the rest of us will be rid of your sleazy ass!"

"Ah, no polite sucking up to my father today, eh?" Julio snarled, "Maybe we should just get it all out? As worthless as my sister is, she deserves better than YOU!"

"Oh? Maybe some greasy cherry-picker like YOUR sorry ass?" Terence rejoined. "How many chicks have you totally fucking ruined because they found out too late that your silver tongue was longer than your needle dick?"

"Women are lucky that I pay attention to them!" Julio declared. "If not for me, they would have to deal with Neanderthals like YOU!"

"Tell me, Julio," Terence growled, "How many women have you fucked TWICE?"

"Once is enough!" Julio sniffed dismissively. "All women are whores, anyway!"

"I'm sure your mother and sister will be thrilled to hear that!" Terence rasped.

"My mother is at least married," Julio replied, "as for my sister, the evidence of what SHE is stands before me!"

That was the last thing Julio said for several minutes -- Terence lost his temper totally and clocked him and Julio hit the floor like a sack of flour! He awakened minutes later with his mother dabbing at the cut on his lip with a rag -- and Lucinda was less than pleased with him! "All women are whores, are they?" she snarled. "That's the SECOND time I've heard it said that that is your opinion! You are rude and disgusting, my son -- and you have a filthy mouth! I'm glad Terence hit you -- maybe it will teach you manners!" Of course, she hadn't told Terence that...

Bonita was even less charitable -- probably because her mother had banished Terence before getting the gist of the story. "So I'm a whore!" she snapped. "What about you? Legend has it that you never date a woman twice -- and they are all ruined by you! Are you diseased? I wonder -- could you even perform if you were not allowed to open your mouth?"

"I bet Terence performs, eh?" Julio prodded.

"You bet he does!" Bonita shot back. Unfortunately, Arturo was standing behind her, which led to more family unrest. Bonita's father had been pretty sure they were having sex, but having his nose rubbed in it was another matter!

Somehow, the basic problem -- Gabriel's relationship with Lillian -- failed to surface...