Chapter 17

I was alone with Suki when morning came. She was snuggled up with her dark head on my shoulder. As I gently moved to attempt to get out of bed, Suki looked up at me with watery eyes, "You were perfect last night, Sal. I think we were all afraid that you would freak when you realized you were going to be a father to two babies."

The little woman scooted up to kiss me soundly. As I held Suki, she said, "I need the potty. Let me up and I'll come back to bed."

I told her, "I'll follow and we'll shower together and get a start on a good Saturday."

Suki sat up cross-legged and held my chest down, "Don't get too anxious to get going this morning. I have some plans before we go for breakfast."

She left for the bathroom and I got up to head that way as well. I went in to unload when Suki came out, and as soon as I shook off, she took one of my hands and pulled me back towards the bed.

The next hour was filled with all of the loving one could ask for. After our loving, we showered and I began to get dressed. Suki said, "I have to go home for a minute to get something to wear this morning. Can you bring your cart to my door?"

Suki went out the back door in a flash, so I finished dressing and went out front. Since their door was open, Mom and Dad obviously didn't come home last night. I locked up and drove the cart to Suki's.

Two dark beauties came out of Suki's door in wispy gowns and covers. I could see flashes of female flesh under the garments, but never a clear view. I raised an eyebrow as I asked, "Ah, I didn't think you were going to have Niki show her wares off yet?"

It was Niki who answered, "I'm eighteen now and can do what I want, but I do listen to Mom. I want to show off just like Mom. How do I look, Sal?"

I looked at Suki who was smiling as I answered, "Delicious. You are as tantalizing and beautiful as your mom."

That got me a big smile from the beautiful young lady. She said, "You better be ready for this morning, as I hear Grenaline and Donna are also going to dress up for the Saturday morning show."

"Be still my heart. How am I supposed to withstand the onslaught of three beautiful teens showing off their beauty?"

Niki smacked my shoulder from the back seat, "You'd better, or our moms will beat you senseless." She added in a lower tone that was almost a whisper, "Or fuck you senseless."

Suki gave me a sideways glance and smirk as we pulled up to the patio.

This was amazing. It was barely seven-thirty and the patio was packed as usual on a Saturday morning. The idea that it was packed with over half a hundred females showing their wares in filmy and sheer gowns and nighties, had to increase the attendance, but it was ridiculous for that many people to be up and around at that hour on Saturday morning.

Grenaline and Donna came running up to Niki as we walked in. Those two were dressed in filmy, almost revealing gowns, similar to their mothers'. It was a real treat to view the girls and their mothers next to each other. It would be a really tough decision to decide which one would command the most attention.

As we approached the bar, Tiny stuffed tall glasses that contained ice and a reddish liquid, with a slice of celery sticking out of the glass, into our hands. He said, "Good morning, Champ. Glad to see you made it through the night. I'm not sure about your mom and dad, though. Ruth is home trying to get them to respond. Of course, she may be using the wrong kind of stimulation to get them going."

I received a hip bump from Rita as I waved good morning to Steve and Glenda. The tall lady next to me led me to a table that held the other four of the fantastic five, as well as the three juniors. The cute ones there were Rita's twins, who were posing for me in short flannel gowns cut low enough to let the young teens give the suggestion of revealed cleavage.

With a smirk, Rita told me, "Be calm and don't attack them in public. They would go along with it, but I don't think it would do your reputation much good."

I had to tell Rita, "You have to admit they are giving their all to get my interest. Those two are a danger to the young male population around here."

"I would worry about them if the two didn't have their black belt at the dojo. I doubt any boy is going to get anything the girls don't want to give them. It's my duty to teach them what and when to give it."

I chuckled, thinking how difficult being a father was going to be.

My sister-in-law, Cindy, came and sat on my lap. "Sal, you need to be in on the family call to your brother today. I'd bet he'd like to talk to you."

My brother was my idol. The man was one of the best Marines the USA had. He had progressed to become a Captain in the Marine Corps, in charge of a group of forward troops. They didn't often have a communication connection where they could have a videoconference or even send and receive e-mail.

"When is it so that I know when to be free?"

"In about ten minutes," Cindy told me. "Steve said that we could have it on the big video screen out here since there is a video camera on the screen. We can all get in on the call."

The family had seated themselves at the table in front of the big screen. One of the guys, who I knew to be one of the sound guys for the music people, focused the camera on the table and those that sat there. I sat next to Carmie, and Cindy sat on the other side of me. We were sitting there, talking about how technology was so cool, when my brother showed up on the screen. There was Val, in his BDU fatigues that were probably made right here. He looked good, but a little weathered and tired.

Val smiled and said, "Good to see everyone this afternoon but I guess it's morning there. Hey, Sal, how you be, Dude? I haven't seen you since I left. Are you taking care of Cindy for me? You know that the lady needs your help."

Mom interrupted and asked him, "Hey, Val, it's good to see you and hope you're safe."

"It's not that good, Mom. We lost a patrol leader to an IED this morning. I wish we could create a better vehicle that could withstand the blast of these explosives. That's probably wishful thinking, but one of my men, a Lieutenant Sharp, says his dad makes a vehicle that can withstand a blast. He says it can even take a rocket from a fighter-bomber and keep on going. That's what we need."

Dad spoke up, "Is your Lieutenant Sharp nearby? Call him over so we can talk to him."

"I will, Dad, but I don't want to give away my time with you guys. I love my Cindy and the kids so much and don't want to miss an opportunity to see them. Hang on, I'll holler for him."

Steve and Kathy had been standing back watching and when Val came back into view with a young Lieutenant, Kathy almost broke down crying.

Val introduced the young soldier, "This is Lt. Jake Sharp. He says his dad owns and runs a company by the name S&S Enterprises. He says they have a vehicle that can withstand an IED and can even handle fifty caliber rounds that try to penetrate the windshield or side curtains."

Kathy hollered, "Hey, J.J., call us when you get a chance. I hope you get some video time this week."

Jake waved and said, "Hey Mom, Steve, its good to see all of you."

Val was surprised, "Where are you guys and how did Jake's folks get there?"

I answered, "Val, I was hired by S&S Enterprises and we are at Jake's parent's patio in Florida making this call. Your wife and my sister are ganging up on me, so tell them to lay off. I will talk to Steve and see what we can do about getting you some of the company's vehicles to test."

"Good deal, Sal. They say it's going to be jarheads that win this war, but it's going to be you nerds who figure out how to keep us safe."

My brother smiled at all of us and said, "Now if the rest of you will turn your heads, I need to whisper some sweet nothings into the ear of my lover and wife."

It was at that moment that his two kids blurted out. His daughter, who is about ten, said, "Daddy, we miss you and want you to know how much we love you."

His son, a year younger, said, "Take care of yourself, Dad. We're waiting for you."

You could see the man's watery eyes as he tried to hide his emotional feelings for his kids.

Cindy said, "Take care of yourself, Val. You are important to us and we are here waiting for you to come home."

Val said, "It is good to see you guys together and a surprise to find you at the place where they make this special vehicle. Hopefully, a few of them will make their way here for us to test. I just know there is a better way every time we lose someone to a roadside bomb. If we set up a sniper to try to take them out, then we're shooting innocent civilians. Our target now is not the bomber, but the bomb. We figure that the bomber vanishes if we can set the bomb off, and no one misses him."

Cindy said, "I'll make sure that Mr. Sharp works on getting you a vehicle to use. I love you, Val. Know that, and know how much all of your family misses you."

Val pulled Jake into the screen view and said, "Say a few words to your parents, Lieutenant."

Jake said to Kathy, "Hope you're watching out for the rest of the crew at home. I listen to Bonita's music all of the time. The guys here can't believe my sister is the real leader of the Lucky Lady Blues Band."

Jake then said to Steve, "Get us some of those trucks dad. We could really use them. I'll talk to you all later, but this is Val's time."

Val was standing next to Jake and smiled for all to see, "I'm being signaled that the connection time is up so from Afghanistan, Jake and I say keep the home fires burning. And Sal, I'll e-mail you later today." With an enthusiasm that you wouldn't expect, the two of them hollered, "Semper Fi!"

The entire patio was stone quiet when the screen went blank. A baby giggled, another happily smacked his lips before nursing. You could hear the breathing of the people on the patio as if it was synchronized. I noticed Kathy hugging Steve while attempting to wipe her eyes of the tears she had shed. Steve even had watery eyes. Almost all of the Sharp kids were there looking at the blank screen. They felt lucky to have had this small glimpse of their brother, and relieved to know the man was still alive. They lived in daily apprehension, thinking of the danger J.J. lived in.

Cindy hugged me and buried her face in my shirt. She said, "I'm sorry, Sal. I know he's alive and I'm so thankful, but I'm scared. I wake up every day afraid that today will be the day I hear the bad news. He's doing what he says is important for our country, but there are so many of those big shots that only care about themselves, and not about the men there and the families that are left back here."

Rita's twins came to me, crawled onto my lap, and hugged me. They put their heads on my shoulders, but reached out and patted Cindy. Janice said, "I wish we could make everything good and bring your man back to you. If we didn't have Sal right now, we would be as lonely as you are. Sal will make you feel good, so let us all give you some happiness."

Cindy looked up at the two darling girls and said, "Sal is lucky to have friends like you two. Thank you for what you said, and I know Sal is here to take care of anything I need."

The two young teens got up and hugged Cindy before mixing back into their group. The noise of the patio slowly came back to normal. Steve waved at me to come over to him, so I excused myself from between my sister and Cindy before going to him.

Tiny pushed another Bloody Mary into my hand as Steve hauled me down to sit next to him. "Sal, I have a little influence with a couple of big guys in charge of the Marines' ground action over there. We gave them a couple of sample vehicles, but I don't think they're being used. I'll send enough vehicles for your brother's entire unit, if I can. They will hopefully get there and protect not only your brother, but also Kathy's and my son. Jake is the son of Kathy's first husband who was killed over there. I've adopted the five kids and the crazy lady has had two more with me. The music whiz, Bonita, is her last."

"Thanks, Steve. I'll get Cindy over here to give you the unit Val is in."

I went to find Cindy and brought her to the table where Steve sat. Tiny looked at me, holding his glass and looking at Cindy. I nodded and he instantly produced a tall glass with a stalk of celery. Cindy smiled at the glass and took a long drink. When Steve asked for the unit, she rattled it off, with all its designations and who the various officers in charge over Val were.

Steve used his cell phone in front of us. "Good morning, General, this is Steve Sharp. I'm not pushing you to buy anything, but I want to supply a specific unit in Afghanistan with some of my vehicles. I can have them at Andrews, or wherever you want them, later today. How about we quietly slip them in and replace the junk you guys are using. This is a freebie for your men to test in the field, General. I guarantee mechanical dependability, and you know how rugged the vehicles are. We have at least twenty ready to go, so let's get this show on the road and sneak them in for our boys over there. This unit just lost a team leader to an IED this morning."

After a long pause, Steve said, "I'll have all twenty vehicles at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in about five hours. I'm sending a couple of techs, who are also Marines not on active duty, who will help move the armament from your vehicles to ours. You don't have to worry about my men, they are good troops. When they are done, just get them back to somewhere where they can catch a ride home."

Steve hung up and dialed someone else. "Hey, Stan, I need the twenty units we have ready up at Naval Air Station Jacksonville ASAP with at least two support people. The on site support guys will be transferring armament from stock vehicles to ours. What do you need to get this done?" Steve paused and listened for a minute, before saying, "Okay, I'll come along to make sure everyone gets through the gates okay. I'll also be bringing a couple of civilians along to watch the aircraft take off."

Steve's phone rang and after he answered, he frowned and asked, "How are you going to convince your crews to come into MacDill?"

Another pause and then he said, "That's a good deal because that will knock off another five hours for travel to Jacksonville. We'll be out there in an hour. Thanks General."

Steve hung up and said, "The Air Force is going to play Fedex for us and have been assigned to use two C-5's sitting at MacDill to haul the trucks and some other supplies."

Steve turned to Cindy and speaking softly said, "Why don't you go put some regular clothes on and come with me while we ship some trucks out to your man. I think Kathy will also want to watch these trucks get shipped. I'll call Stan back with the change of plans and we can meet him at McDill."

It ended up that Mom, Dad, Carmie, Cindy, and I went with Kathy and Steve to see the equipment loaded onto the huge transport aircraft. When we got there, Cindy said, "At least we're trying to keep Val and his men safe." She turned to Kathy and said, "We're going to keep your Jake safe too."

Steve mentioned to a CENTCOM Marine that it was great to have the Air Force deliver these special vehicles for the Marines.

We watched as the twenty vehicles were lined up ready to be loaded onto the big C-5's. There were two big flat bed trucks with pallets on them ready to be loaded with the trucks. Steve told us, "This is going to take a few hours to load so let's leave these people to do what they do best. We can enjoy the rest of the day knowing Jake and Val will have some of our trucks."

It was somber group that drove back to the trailer park.

It wasn't even noon yet and we had already completed a lot of activities. I was feeling pretty good about what we had accomplished, but the women still worried about their man and son. Nothing was over until they could see them coming home to them at the airport.

Back on the patio, I asked Steve, "I need some relaxation. I'd like a poker tournament, or maybe a shooting competition. I'm not up on what's happening where and when around here, so where can I go to find out what fun is available?"

Steve laughed, "One of your women is the ideal person for that answer. It's Jenny's job to know just about anything of interest in the area, so ask her. A quick-draw competition might be a little out of her league, but I'd bet she knows where a poker tournament might be."

I found Jenny about ready to leave the patio for the girls' Saturday exercise time. When I asked her about my two activities, she said for me to call the number of a local gun club, and if that didn't work out, to go to the Indian reservation casino and they could accommodate my need for some poker competition.

I called the number for the gun club and listened to their schedule of events for the weekend. I would save the number and attempt to contact them to find out if they had any quick draw competitions.

The local Hard Rock Café and Casino had a poker tournament that began at one, but you had to have won at least one preliminary tournament to get in. I told the lady that I had a pass from the tournament in Shreveport, and she said she should be able to bring my name up. In seconds, she said, "Doctor Feeny, we would love to welcome you to our games. Check in is by noon and the tournament begins between one and one-thirty. Can we expect you?"

I assured the lady I would be there, so I went home and washed my face, and then put a fresh Western shirt and a pair of decent boots. While there, I called Rita to tell her to advise everyone that I was going to play in a poker tournament. Rita said, "You should ask Mercy if she wants to go with you. She loves to play poker. I think she is notorious out at the Hard Rock."

Instead of using the phone, I took my truck up to the patio and hunted for Mercy. I was told she was shopping with a bunch of other women. It didn't make any difference, because poker isn't played with partners.

It wasn't difficult to find the Hard Rock casino, but it was to park and find your way to the tournament room. The thousand dollar buy-in wasn't cheap, but I hadn't spent any money for a long while, so it wasn't too tough to let go of. Because I was a previous winner of a preliminary tournament, I was seated at the second table. Depending on my position at my table, I would move on to the main event table as an opening appeared.

No one around me was a known player, so I was ready for some young pros to play tough. It would take several hands to get the feel of the other players, and it was always the aggressive player who came out ahead in the early hands. My style was to be aggressive, but to watch how everyone was playing. If I thought someone was bluffing or making a mistake, I would jump on them hard.

I still hadn't got any cards worth playing by the sixth hand. Thank goodness the 'ante' or 'blind' wasn't high yet, since I was going to wash out with the blind by the way it was going.

Son of gun, I was dealt two queens. I didn't try to raise a lot, but added a raise of a low value chip to the bet as a sign of weakness. The flop was another queen, a seven, and a six. A couple of guys bumped the pot, and I raised a small value chip once again to keep everyone in. The river card was another queen. It was difficult for me not to choke, but I didn't do anything as I watched the faces of the other players. One of the young guys was grinning; he pushed his chips in and said, "All in."

The man to his right looked at him, pushed his chips in, and said, "Call."

I was last as it came around to me, and I looked up at the two guys and didn't think about it much before saying "Call," and flipping my two queens over.

The mouths of the two fell open as they looked at the queens. One had a pair of aces and the other trip sixes. Both had fewer chips than I did, so they were out. The dealer raked their chips over to me as one of the other players asked, "Doctor Feeny, huh? Are you a PhD of poker?"

I smiled and said, "I wish. I'm a computer nerd that enjoys the competition."

I had to play my cards a little differently after that, but I had respect from the other players now. I wasn't winning a lot, but steadily, and I was soon high chip count for the table. There was a half-hour potty break about six o'clock, when we could get something to drink and eat. I was shocked to find someone else in my seat when I came back to the table. The dealer looked up at me and said, "You were moved to the feature table."

I found my place at the feature table and continued at about the same pace as I had been. I had a couple of big wins, but a big loss also. I didn't read the other player correctly, but it didn't change my opinion of his moves. That proved to be important since he was trying to use his big win as a way to influence the way the others played.

I was dealt a hand that I almost threw away once again. I had the nine and ten of spades. I figured I could stay to at the least see the flop. No one felt their cards were that big and didn't raise a lot, so I stayed. The flop was enough to make me piss in my pants. There was the seven and eight of spades, along with an ace. This brought on three players going nuts with their betting. I stayed with them, as I had two draws to come up with a jack or six for a straight. Any spade would actually give me a flush which should win the hand, and, of course, in the unlikely event that I pulled the jack or six of spades it would be a straight flush, which could even beat four of a kind.

The betting was heavier than I wanted, but I stayed with them, acting hesitant a couple of times. The turn card made up my mind to go for all of it as it was the jack of spades. A natural straight flush should be a guaranteed winner.

The other three players were really beating each other up, betting and raising until their stacks were suffering. I could see some indecision by looking at each player's face, but also the greed that appeared on the faces of over-confident players when they felt that their hand was a lock.

When they dealt the river, I think every eye at the table watched as I looked at my cards and moved them around between each other, attempting to get a serious look on my face. The three competitors put me out of their mind and decided to go after each other. The high stack player among them said "All in."