Chapter 18: "Come on, you two, join the fun. It's a blast!"

When Lisa entered Meredith's house, she was struck by the furnace-like heat in the place. She quickly rushed to the bathroom where she was keeping her clothes, in the cupboard above the washing machine and peeled off her now sticky clothes. Remembering the GPS tracker just in time, she called Harold to tell him that she was back at Meredith's and that she was removing the transmitter.

Harold asked her to wait two minutes so that he could advise the agency and then to go ahead and remove it. While she waited, she made the rounds of the house, opening every window so that the breeze could cool the house. Finally, sure that Harold had had sufficient time; she peeled off her panties and placed the transmitter with the rest of the gear Harold had lent her that morning. The breeze helped but she was still hot. On a whim, she went outside onto the patio and, setting the spray gun nozzle to rain, she aimed the gun into the air while she hopped, laughing and giggling, under the falling droplets ... Total, absolute HEAVEN! She felt like a little girl, again.

She was still dancing under this artificial rain when Mark and Meredith appeared at the kitchen door. Lisa stopped, stunned ... then, with a devil-may-care attitude, called out "Come on, you two, join the fun. It's a blast!"

Mark and Meredith needed no further urging; clothes flew in every direction and, moments later, the three were hopping and laughing about the garden hose like pixies. After another ten minutes, they were laughing so much they couldn't stand any more; the two women sat down on the lounge chairs to air-dry while Mark pulled the pool into position and started filling it.

Meredith asked Lisa how her day went but Lisa, with a silent nod at Mark, suggested that she wait until Harold had arrived that evening to talk about it. Dinner, that night, was Tabbouleh, a Syrian dish made of bulgur, marinated red and green bell peppers, chopped romaine lettuce and black olives, only Meredith added some chopped dates, raisins, chick peas, garlic and green onions, as well. They ate it Bedouin fashion; sitting cross-legged out on the patio, eating out of a common pot with the fingers of their right hands. To accompany the meal, Meredith had made a pot of green tea; Mark's, she laced with a bit of honey but the two women drank theirs straight. For desert, Meredith had stopped at a pastry shop and had bought some Baklava, made of flakey pastry layered with crushed nuts and drowning in honey.

"Gods, Meredith, I don't know how you manage to keep your weight down if you eat like this every day."

"I don't know ... I guess I must live right ... But, actually, what we ate was a well-balanced, low calorie meal. I admit I went overboard a little with the Baklava, but once in a while isn't habit forming, and the pastry shop where I get it makes it with honey instead of liquid sugar, which is easier to digest and healthier. In any case, the green tea will help rinse it out of our systems. Speaking of which, I'd better start another pot. I hope you won't mind getting up to pee a couple of times during the night. Would you mind carrying in the pot while I rinse off the patio? That's what I like about this meal ... cleaning up is a breeze. We have it about once a week."