Chapter 8

Now that my insight into the actual power of the ring, as I perceived it, was settled; I started to fix lunch. I had planned on just sandwiches, but then I thought that it would be a great treat for Brie, to fix her favorite lunch: macaroni and cheese with Spam. Why she liked it, I have no idea, but she did. Mom would keep the fixings in the pantry for this dish, just so Brie could have it. The funny thing was, that after about three or four times, I started to like it myself.

Of course, Bea abhorred the dish. I fixed a ham, turkey, and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye, just for her. Bea thought that we were too high class for such a 'working class' dish. As far as Bea was concerned, only dirty and grubby people ate Spam in anything.

Bea did like homemade mac and cheese, though. You know, the baked kind, with several shredded cheeses in the mix: cheddar, Romano, and Colby. Then you add cream of celery soup, pepper, and then crumble saltine crackers and more cheese over the top, and bake. Well, we all liked that one!

Anyway, I started the macaroni, and then put some milk and shredded cheese in a pan with some salsa. I brought it to a boil, and then turned it down. It would simmer until all the cheese had melted. In the meantime I opened a can of Spam, diced it up, and put it on a plate. Once the macaroni had boiled for a full six minutes, I added the Spam, and let it boil another four minutes. I then drained and rinsed the pasta and Spam mixture, and put it in a big bowl. By then, the cheese had all melted. I poured it over the top, and stirred it up with a spoon.

Lunch was now ready. I called Brie in for lunch, and dished a fairly large plateful for her and myself. It was now noon, and I was wondering where Bea was. I had wrapped her sandwich, and put it in the fridge for her, for when she got home. Somehow, I knew she would be late.

Brie came into the kitchen, and saw her meal. She ran to me, and I bent down a little. She hugged me so tightly that I thought she would break one of my ribs!

I lifted her up, and she kissed me on the mouth and said, "You do still love me, don't you Bennie?"

"Of course I love you. I always have, and I always will, no matter what. Even if you grow up to be a snotty sister like someone else we know."

"Oh, Bennie, Bea is not always a snotty sister ... but she can be a real meanie, sometimes. But most of the time she is a nice sister, huh?"

About this time Bea came in the back door, huffing and puffing.

"Oh, no, I don't want that stuff, again. Can't I have something else?"

"Well, Miss Smarty Pants, I did make something for you, but you're late. You will have to eat a cold sandwich, instead of a nice hot plate of Mac and Cheese. Your sandwich is in the fridge."

"How come Brie gets her favorite lunch, and I don't get mine! I'm going to tell MOM! I'm going to call her right now."

"Okay, Miss 'I'm better than everyone else'... tell me then, what is your favorite lunch meal?"

"You know what it is! I love that thick sliced ham and turkey with Swiss cheese and mustard, on that good rye bread. Why didn't you make that for me, Bennie?"

"Well, before you start all that complaining you might want to check the fridge for your lunch, it's on the second shelf. And here are some chips to go with that old cold sandwich I made for you, that you apparently don't want."

Bea stomped to the refrigerator and opened the door. She grabbed the sandwich plate I had made for her, almost tossing the dill pickle spear off the plate, to the floor. She marched over to the kitchen table and put her plate down hard. I thought she would break the plate she slammed it down so hard. Then she unwrapped the aluminum foil from the plate. She stood there staring at the plate of ham, turkey and mustard on rye with not one, but two slices of baby Swiss cheese. Suddenly she was in my lap, crying against my chest.

"Benn ... Bennie, you made me my favorite. Wh ... why didn't you say something? I'm so ss ... sorry I was so mean, but Shelly was being very mean to me, and I ... I'm sorry Bennie, I love you, and I'm sorry I yelled at you, and Brie. Can you guys ever forgive me?"

"Of course we can, Bea, that's what 'family' does for each other. We love each other, and we forgive each other, even when things go wrong. Now, our Mac and Cheese is getting cold, and your sandwich is waiting for you. So go apologize to your sister, and then eat your lunch, okay?"

Bea hugged me, kissed me on the mouth again, and got down.

"Okay, Bennie. I love you guys so much. Britney, I'm so sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I don't like that pretend meat, but I just don't like it. I know you do like it, and I'm sorry I teased you about it. I will try to be a better sister, okay?"

Brie hugged her sister and all in one breath said, "That's what a family does, we love our family no matter what they do or say to us, and yes I forgive you, but you better start being a better sister, or I'll ask Bennie to never make your favorite lunch again, okay?"

"I promise both of you that I will try to be a better sister. Now let's eat."

As I sat there eating lunch, a thought hit me. We hadn't discussed going to Disney World. I would make sure we brought up that little bit of news at the supper table, tonight.

We finished eating and I told the girls, "For now, you need to get your swim suits on to be ready for swimming, in an hour. Also, remind me I need to talk to Mom about that surprise we spoke of, the other day. Now go change, and then settle down. Either read or watch a movie. I'll get the kitchen cleaned up, and start our supper thawing."

"What are we having, not that casserole again. I mean, it was good, but we just had it last night," complained Bea.

"Now, Bea, what did we just say about you being a nicer sister?"

"Yes, Bennie," she answered dejectedly.

"No, I was not going to fix that tonight, that will probably be for tomorrow night. I was thinking about a roast for tonight. There is a nice pork roast in the freezer. I'm going to take it out and put it in the crock pot. Then, when we finish swimming, I can add the potatoes, onions and carrots. Is that up to your high standards, Ma'am?" I said as I bowed an exaggerated bow.

"Well, I guess so," Bea said. Then she added, "Bennie, can we have some peas in butter, and some applesauce, too, please?"

"Let me see if we have some peas in the freezer. You go check the pantry to see if we even have any applesauce, okay?"

Bea left the kitchen and I checked the big walk-in freezer, where I found some frozen peas. I put them in the freezer of the fridge, and Brie brought me two cans of applesauce. I put them in the fridge, too.

"Okay! Satisfied, kiddo?" I saw a head nod and I said, "Now off with you! Go change for swimming."

Brie took off like a shot. I put the roast in the pot, and added some water, and turned it on to auto-shift: it would heat up on 'high' at first. Then, after an hour, it would drop down to 'low cook'. I looked at the clock, and thought that I might want to leave it on high until maybe three, and then turn it down. It was already 12:45 PM and one hour on high wouldn't allow enough cooking time for a frozen roast.

Well, I supposed I needed to get the pool ready for the gang. It would be hard making sure they let their lunch settle before they went swimming ... but, we're kids, that's what we do, right?

I started to go up to change, and realized I already had my suit on under my shorts. So I took off my shorts, and went out to the pool to check it out. I checked the Ph, the filter, and the water temperature. Then I scanned the pool for any leaves, or other stuff in the pool. I saw something shiny in the deep end of the pool, so I dove down and found a door key. I brought it back up, and put it on one of the tables around the pool's edge.

I rearranged a couple of the loungers and chairs so they would be out of the way, yet still accessible. Then I went into the pool house. I got some big fluffy towels, and put them on a table that had an umbrella for shade.

My chore, every day, was to take the dirty towels and run them through the washer & dryer in the pool house. We had a large commercial washer and dryer in an alcove of the lounge area. The dryer was vented out through the roof, with a three stage filter in the vent pipe. The filters had to be emptied after every load. I would usually do this, after everyone left for the day, and before I fixed supper for us. Usually, there weren't many towels used, unless the girls decided to sunbathe. Then, with all the sunscreen, I had to run those through the wash at least once.

Everything was ready, and soon kids started showing up. It became controlled chaos, again. It was the same bunch as yesterday: Mary Lou, Cindi, 3M, Carol, Mary Beth, Katie, Caitlyn, Ken, Gary, Brandon and Jack. There were the three of us there, too, of course. There were some in the pool, and some jumping in ... mainly Gary, Brandon, and Jack were trying to do cannonballs to get the girls all soaked.

After about fifteen to twenty minutes, Katie came over to where I was sitting at a table. I was just watching the fun.

"Bennie, can we go somewhere, and talk, privately?"

"Sure, Katie, is something wrong? Here let's go into the pool house lounge, okay? Or would you rather go in the house, where it is more private?"

"I think we should go into the house. This is very private, okay?"

"Sure thing, Katie. Let me speak to Ken, so he can watch over everything. You go on thru the kitchen, and I'll join you there."

"Okay, Bennie."

I had a really good idea as to what she wanted to talk to me about, but I wouldn't know for sure until she told me. I found Ken. He was swimming and talking to Caitlyn.

"Ken, I need to go into the house for a while. Something I ate, I think, and I don't want to take up space in the pool house. Can you watch over things 'till I get back?"

"Sure, Ben, no problem. I think the house is a good idea, too."

He winked as I left kind of holding my stomach as I ran to the house. I did some pretty good acting as Bea asked as I passed her if I was all right. I said I was, really, but that I just had to go. That stopped any more questions, as I made my escape.

I went into the kitchen, but no Katie.

"Katie, where are you?"

I heard a noise in the butler's pantry, and went in there. Katie was behind the big china cabinet there. She ran to me, and hugged me so tightly I thought I would bust. I steered Katie into the old servant's quarters, and grabbed a towel from the bathroom, there. I wrapped her in it, and had her sit on one of the straight chairs there.