Episode 36: Invitations/Proposals

"Astrid Ames..."

"Mrs. Ames, this is Bobbie Kennedy. My son Tom is having a birthday party and he was hoping to invite his friends from camp, including Luke."

"Why, that is very kind of him. I'm sure that it will please Luke immensely."

"Mrs. Ames, I only found out about it today but it would seem that, at camp, Tom, Luke and the others spent most of their time in the nude and that Tom was hoping that his guests would again be naked at his party."

" ... I see."

"I will quite understand if you object to your son coming to Tom's party but I thought you should know."

"Mrs. Kennedy, are you doing anything today? I mean, can you come over here so that we could talk about this in person?"

"No, whenever is convenient for you."

"Excellent. Why don't you drop by now; I'm sure we can talk about this much more easily over a cup of coffee."

"Very well. What's the address?"

"..."

"Okay, I'll be there in half an hour."

When Astrid Ames opened the door, Bobbie saw she was a very blonde woman in her early thirties with a pixyish smile. She was wearing a kimono-like housecoat and her feet were bare.

"Hi ... you must be Bobbie, I'm Astrid. Come in, come in ... make yourself at home." Astrid spoke with a faintly English accent. "I've set out the coffee and some cakes on the patio ... come, it's this way."

They walked through an airy, spotless house and out through a glass-paned double wooden door onto a patio and a very well laid-out yard with shade trees, flower beds and a lawn that invited strolling. To one side was a reasonably sized, in-ground pool, but the yard was such that the pool seemed to be an adjunct to the landscape rather than its main focal point.

"You have an impressive house," said Bobbie.

"Thank you but I'd give it away in an instant."

"Oh ... how so?"

"My husband was an airline pilot ... Shortly after Susan was born, one of those insane Muslim Fundamentalist groups shot his plane down because there was an Arab leader aboard. With Bill's pension and the insurance settlement, I bought this place but I would much rather have Bill back again."

"I know what you mean ... mine ran off with his secretary. He's been more than fair with the alimony but it's not the same. Anyway, that's not why I came here for. We were speaking about Tom's birthday party..."

"You said you only just found out some details about last summer's camping season. Why don't you start from the beginning?"

Somehow, Bobbie found Astrid extremely easy to talk to and, over coffee and cakes, she described Tom's bashfulness at the beginning of the season, his reaction to finding out that the boys' and girls' camps would be combined, how she had learned that the outing had been in the nude, how the girls and the boys had slept in the same tents and finally, how, apparently, Tom, Linda, Luke and Ginger had discussed sleeping together and had decided against it.