Chapter 26

"David?" said Daddy, "Where have you been?"

"Manistee," I said, as if that explained it all.

"Manistee?" he asked, "What's there?"

"Bill's great great grandmother," sometimes parents are so dense.

"Who is Bill?"

"Remember the puddle on the floor?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, as he nodded.

If, as some people who don't know English, but are mighty fond of math insist, two negatives make a positive, do two positives make a redundancy? Not in my fathers case. A verbal form of yes accompanied by a physical agreement reinforces the yes, while a statement like, "I'm not never gonna do that," means I will. English is weird.

It's not the English ... it's the math.

"Bill was the puddle on the floor," I explained.

The respected officer of the law jumped in with, "Where is Bill?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I need to arrest him." Like I was an idiot to not know why.

"What for?" I asked.

"Assault."

"Really? Who was the victim?"

He muttered, "God, the Saints and the Blessed Virgin preserve me from teenagers." He spoke up, "You, ya idjit!"

"Who signed the complaint?" I asked.

"You or your dad," Gawd Almighty ... if this is the next generation... ?

"I'm not going to sign anything," said I. "I hurt him far worse than he hurt me. Did he complain? No. He took me to meet his eldest ancestor. I was quite honored."

There was no amount of pressure he could subject me to ... especially with Daddy present ... that could make me change my mind and Pops said if I wasn't ... he wouldn't, either.

Mr. Charles Austin, Attorney at Law, took his son, David Austin ... that's me ... home from the hospital ... well, not exactly ... home is Saint Johns. He took me to MY summer cottage. The one I bought when I needed a place to park the monster Rhodes 77.

The odd part about it ... I bought the place because Lucile Louise didn't want to ride out to the 77 in the dinghy ... then I sold it ... the 77 ... not the wharf.

Now I own a boathouse ... which I don't understand ... there wasn't one and now there is one. I also own a neat little log summer home just around the corner from Daddy's summer home.

As I predicted, the K5 was out, somewhere. Grace. Sisters!! ... thought with a modicum of disdain.

The new boat house had a stairway up the east side, leading to the roof. The flat roof had a three foot tall wall ... not a railing ... a wall ... the roof was decorative. Carole Ann was there ... and she was naked...