Copyright © 2000 by Constance Grant, Manasquan, NJ, all rights reserved
My heartfelt thanks goes to the real Teddi Sue for translating my English into Standard English, and most of all – for being a great friend. And to July Bristow for keeping us both honest.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is unintended.
This episode (and eventual series) deals with two twelve-year-old children as they mature. A major sub-plot involves cross-dressing – at times, the young hero becomes an apparent heroine, and the young heroine becomes an apparent hero. There are no sexually explicit situations herein, and my intent was to make this story no more salacious than a PG movie. There is more (non-graphic) violence than I prefer, and the kids must deal with the criminals and the results of crime, but unfortunately, all of that is a fact of life in this time and place. A few miles from where these privileged kids live, truly terrible conditions prevail for many. If such material upsets you, or if it’s illegal for you to read this - DON’T.
Pirate’s Gold
by: Constance Grant ConnieBabe69@hotmail.com
Table Of Contents - Pirate’s Gold
4 – A Most Curious Arrangement
5 – Walking In Another’s Shoes
Part 1
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
Twelve-year-old Michael Parsons was bored out of his gourd. His parents had moved to Island Beach Park, New Jersey last month, and the excitement of moving into the Chief Park Ranger’s quarters was now a thing of the distant past. It was September, and except for a few nice weekends, the park would be very quiet until next spring. The nearest house was just over the park boundary, about four miles up the park’s access road.
Regardless what a pain in the neck his old friends thought their brothers and sisters were, he would have given anything for one of his own to play with – ‘even to take care of,’ he thought with desperation.
He loved to read, but ALL the time? How many times a day can, you play Nintendo? Or run over the dunes? Or swim while your dad watched? Or surf the WEB? Or photograph wildlife? Or compose pictures and print them using his new HP printer? Or shoot hoops by yourself? By your self – that was the problem. This was the ninth move to a new station in his young life, and making good friends wasn’t easy – especially when most of the places he had lived were isolated, like this one.
His dad was patrolling the park, and his mom had started her job at a medical complex in Toms River. Michael was a very intelligent boy and exceptionally responsible for his age; nevertheless his dad checked back with him at the house every twenty minutes or so while on duty. In addition, his dad let him have one of the spare ranger radios. The small transceiver was clipped to his belt, so they were literally only a button click away from communicating, wherever they were in the park.
Mike decided he was actually looking forward, no; make that anxiously awaiting the start of school tomorrow.
<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
"How’s the new job mom?"
"It’s good Mike, the clinic isn’t very busy this time of year, and the people I work with are very nice…"
"…Do you think I can ride in with you every morning?"
"Sure, I work most mornings, and the school is on the way. You will have to take the school bus home though…"
"…Well thanks for the ride mom."
"One big smooch for the ride, dear."
"Any time mom, I love you."
<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
Mike’s first day of school came as a welcome break, on the way home in the bus a cute redheaded girl sat next to him.
"What’s your name?" the slightly be-freckled girl asked.
"Mike Parsons. You’re Patricia Nolan, aren’t you."
"Patty Nolan. I’m only Patricia when I’m bad, or to teachers until I train them. I saw you in my classes too, you must be smart."
"I guess, we will find out after our placement tests. I can’t believe I’m in the seventh grade already."
"What planet are you from, we are now freshmen in the Toms River Regional Middle School – we are out of grammar school, and a new life is in front of us," Patty said, while almost concealing a grin.
"Is that what you call it here? I guess in the ninth grade we would be seniors in the Toms River Regional Middle School," Mike smiled as he puffed himself up looking down his nose.
Patty giggled at his satirical wit and funny face, and said when she stopped, "Got it in one, I guess it is a little puffery on our part. I’ve never really lived more than twenty miles from here, and never considered that other people in America might refer to the same thing differently."
"There are a lot of little differences in what people call things, but the things themselves are pretty much the same. You’re lucky, it seems that we are always moving; but the really hard thing about that, is making new friends – good friends I mean. How old are you?"
"A gentleman never asks a lady that question."
"Umm, sorry. I’m twelve, and my birthday is May 11. I didn’t mean any harm, I was just curious."
"Wow! Since we were both born on the same day, in the same year, I guess you are forgiven. That is such a weird coincidence. It is almost like we are twins – and we are both advanced for our age."
Mike smiled broadly, "Okay twin sister mine, I solemnly promise never to ask you your age in the future." She giggled at his mock seriousness. Then he continued, "Where do you live?"
"I live on twenty-sixth-street, about as close to Island Park as you can get," Patty answered.
"No kidding! My dad is Chief Park Ranger, and we live in the park. I guess you live the closest to me of anybody in school."
"It’s worse than that. This is the only bus from our school that covers South Seaside. There are only five students from our school living here, and all of the others are boys – I checked. You weren’t listed, I guess because you live in the park. The nearest of the students, and the only ones in our grade, are Tommy and Joseph Krait. They live on eleventh, and Aunt Meg doesn’t want me spending time with those boys. They can be very rude, and they fight ALL the time."
"Wow, it looks like we are very isolated. It’s the same old story for me."
"Would you like to study with me sometime?"
"That would be great. When would you like me to stop by?"
"How about today? Since we don’t have any homework, we could play and you could get to know my Aunt Meg."
"You live with your Aunt?"
"Yes, my parents are dead." Patty looked sad, but then shrugged her shoulders. "An auto accident four years ago; I don’t cry much any more. Aunt Meg is a really nice lady, and she is a lot like my dad – I guess that isn’t too surprising; she was his older sister."
"I’m sorry about your folks, are you sure your aunt won’t mind?"
"I don’t think so, but," Patty paused for several seconds looking worried, "to be sure she won’t mind, I’d like to pull a little trick on her."
"Do you think that’s wise? I mean, I’m just meeting her, and if she found out, she is sure to be upset."
"Well she has a problem with her eyes and doesn’t see well at all, and I don’t think she will find it out right away. Once she gets to know you, we will tell her that it was a harmless joke. Will you please? I’m awfully lonely a lot of the time. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, and in the winter, there are NO kids our age nearby. It’s made even worse because Aunt Meg can’t drive, and I’m not allowed to ride my bike when it’s dark."
"Wow, that’s awful! Okay I’ll do it, my parents drive but I have many of the same problems too, it’s really lonely in the park. What do you want me to do?"
"Not much really, I’ll just introduce you as my friend Michelle, and tell her later that your nickname is Mike."
"Her eyesight will have to be very bad. I don’t think I look much like a girl," Mike said seriously.
"Your hair is great; it’s long, and that strawberry blond color is gorgeous."
"Well I never heard it described as gorgeous before. I wear it like Fernando Lamas wears his. I met him one time when they were shooting an episode of "Renegade" in Yellowstone – dad was assigned there for a half year. He is a really nice guy off screen too."
"Now Fernando Lamas, he is gorgeous!" Patty said while rolling her eyes.
"That’s what my mother says. Seriously, how can we fool your aunt? I’m not wearing a dress like you are." Mike laughed nervously and added, "In fact, I never wear a dress."
"Aunt Meg just wanted me to wear one the first day of school, you know, first impressions and all that. Mostly I wear jeans or shorts to school like the rest of the girls. Your hair is nice and long, and like I said, lots of girls wear jeans and sneakers. Here, you can carry my robins egg blue jacket," she was taking it off as she spoke. "Just put it on before we go inside." She looked at him critically, "It will look nice with your hair. Trust me, her eyesight is poor for details."
"Why bother to fool her?" Mike asked.
"This summer our next door neighbors were rentals from New York City and had two sons, one eleven and the other thirteen. They were both very rude and crude; Aunt Meg hated them because they were always pulling mean tricks on her and her friends. I didn’t like them either, so it didn’t bother me too much when she told me to have nothing to do with them. I don’t know how she would react to even a nice boy visiting me, and I’m a little afraid to find out."
"My parents didn’t bring me up that way. If my dad heard I was rude to you or your Aunt, I’d be grounded – like forever."
"I could see in school that you are a nice boy, and that is why I asked you to my house. Let my Aunt see for herself, and then when we tell her you are a boy, she won’t have any objection to you."
"Okay, I guess it makes sense now,"
Mike didn’t really like Patty’s plan of deception, as he had been taught honesty is the best policy. But he really needed to have a good friend, and it seemed like a harmless trick. A smart friend, his own age, one that he could talk to and do homework with, was a gift from God. He sure didn’t want to lose the opportunity. So, he put on Patty’s jacket while standing on her porch, and taking his radio from his backpack, he called his father to tell him where he was. His dad was waiting for the call to pick Mike up at the bus stop – the bus didn’t go into the park.
When his dad said it was okay to visit for a while, Patty opened the front door with a key, and called out loudly, "Aunt Meg I’m home, where are you."
When there was no response, she depressed a button on a wall mounted intercom located near the front door, and repeated her question. Michelle heard the question echo throughout the large house.
A woman’s voice sounded distant as she replied, "I’m the sunroom honey. I’m listening to one of my books, come in and have a cup of tea with me." The two girls walked through a hall and large living room, and entered a mostly glassed in room brightly lit with the afternoon sunlight. Patty’s Aunt Meg was a nice looking woman in her early forties; she extended her arms to Patty and said, "Give me a big hug. Ummm, I love your hugs and kisses. Oh, I didn’t realize you had company; who’s your friend?"
"Aunt Meg, this is Michelle, she is in my class at school. She lives in the park, and her father is the chief park ranger."
"Hi Michelle, very nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Nolan, I’m really glad to meet you gals. It is awfully lonely in the park during the week."
"I guess dear, Patty is pretty lonely here for girlfriends her age too. Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Yes, but I’d have to ask my dad. I have a radio right here and will see where he is. What is your telephone number?"
Mike, now identified as Michelle, called on the radio, and finding his dad still at home, he called him on the old-fashioned rotary-dial wooden phone next to Aunt Meg. Then he gave the address and phone number of where he was having dinner. His dad was pleased he had found a friend, and agreed to pick him up after supper when Mike called him.
"That radio is pretty handy, do you suppose Patty and I could get two?" Aunt Meg asked.
"I don’t know Ms. Nolan, these particular ones belong to the park and are government property. Their range does not extend much more than ten miles, and they use government radio frequencies. I will try to find out for you though."
"Thank you dear, I would appreciate you looking into it. Oh, and please call me Aunt Meg like Patty does."
"Certainly, Aunt Meg," Michelle responded.
"Would you like to help me with dinner Michelle?" Patty asked.
"I’ll do it honey, you play with your friend," Aunt Meg said.
"No problem Aunt Meg, it will be fun cooking. Do you mind Michelle?" Patty had a devilish twinkle in her eye; Mike, or Michelle, would find out that she often did.
But if she thought he would beg off the task, she was surprised when he said, "No I don’t mind, in fact I’d like to, I help my mom and dad all the time. I even cook the meal if they are both working that day – what are we making?"
"It’s Wednesday, so it’s meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a veggie," Patty said with a giggle.
"I love meat loaf! Want me to peel potatoes?" Michelle responded.
"Put on aprons girls, don’t mess your school clothes," Aunt Meg said quickly.
The girls walked through several rooms into the pantry, and found several aprons hanging from hooks on the pantry door. All were spotless, starched, and very pretty – with a wide Irish lace trim. Patty’s selected one with small blue and red forget-me-not flowers on a white background. The one she handed Michelle was covered with periwinkles on a pale amber background that picked up his strawberry blond hair well. Both were tied with nice bows in the back; Patty tied Michelle’s, and Michelle tied hers.
"Patty, this is much nicer than my school clothes, besides my mother has me wear fresh clothes every day. I’d hate to mess this up with spots."
"I know, but in Aunt Meg’s world, aprons are necessary in the kitchen," Patty responded with a shrug. "You don’t have to worry about getting spots on them, because that’s what they are for."
The two new friends prepared the supper together as if they had been doing it for years. Mike felt strange at first in the frilly apron, and being called Michelle, but he quickly got use to it – he had a new friend, and it was fun doing things with her. If he were home, he would probably be preparing the dinner alone. They had lots of giggles and even made chocolate chip cookies – from scratch following Michelle’s recipe – for desert and their lunchboxes.
While dinner cooked, Patty gave Michelle a tour of the house. Meg’s home was both old and large; but at heart, it was a modernized Victorian relic from the turn of the last century.
Patty explained, "Aunt Meg inherited this home from her maternal grandmother about ten years ago. Unfortunately, before she could occupy the house, summer squatters vandalized it and caused extensive fire damage."
"Summer squatters?" Michelle asked.
"Yes, a bunch of college kids saw the house was unoccupied, and simply moved in. The police didn’t notice until the house was almost gutted by fire, which was started by one of the kid’s cigarettes. After the fire, the kids simply left, and the police said that they didn’t know who they were, and couldn’t find them."
"That’s awful. So Aunt Meg had to have it rebuilt?"
"Yes, but insurance covered some of the cost. The exterior was restored to its pristine Victorian splendor as requested by the town’s historical society. But she had the interior extensively modernized before moving in." Michelle noted that this old house ‘felt’ much more modern than her own government supplied antique.
Patty continued as they walked through the home, "The laundry/mud room and pantry both have outside doors to the wrap around porch, and both enter into the kitchen, which was modernized with restaurant grade stainless steel appliances. Aunt Meg does a lot of entertaining, and they work well for that…
In addition to this large dining room off the kitchen, we have a breakfast room across the hall, and if we don’t have company, Aunt Meg and I have most of our meals there…
There’s a large living room through these sliding doors …
You can see the sunroom through this picture window and the one of the two in the dining room; the park is in the background…
You can enter the sunroom from the porch or living room…
Across the hall is cozy den with an entertainment center…
There are two powder rooms here," Patty giggled as Michelle tried one out.
Patty continued when Michelle finished, "And of course, this is the grand stairway to the second floor. This elevator chair running runs along the wall, and the ornate wide wooden banister on the open side is very dark oak. I’m told it used to be light colored, but the fire darkened the wood, and Aunt Meg simply had it restored."
The two girls climbed the grand staircase. "The entire second floor was turned into two suites. Both Aunt Meg’s and mine have private baths attached to the bedrooms. Each of the large bedrooms was made from two or three smaller rooms, and two other smaller adjacent rooms were converted into a large walk in closet for each bedroom. As you can see, Aunt Meg’s master suite has a large sitting/crafts room and an additional powder room off the sitting room."
They climbed a less pretentious stairway to the third floor. "There are four additional bedrooms and two baths up here. This dumbwaiter goes all the way to the mudroom and it’s accessible on every floor. We use it mostly to move laundry to and from the washing machine and dryer in the mudroom. Most rooms have this intercom system; you can call any one room, or broadcast to all rooms. It was put in to replace the original bell system that was used to summon servants.
This door leads to a stairway going up to the widow’s walk, you can see for miles in all directions from there. My grandmother used to sit up there in bad weather and enjoy the storms, I’m told she would tie herself to one of the permanently anchored chairs and ride out hurricanes."
"Wow, that sounds like fun; do you suppose Aunt Meg would let us do that?" Michelle asked.
"She hasn’t let me so far, and she doesn’t like storms – she is deathly afraid of lightning. I don’t think lightning is a problem since all the chimneys are higher and have stout lightning rods on them. Maybe she will let the two of us though," Patty said hopefully.
"None of your windows are open, how come, it’s a real nice day out."
"The entire house is air-conditioned with an efficient air filtration system made necessary by Aunt Meg’s many allergies. I’m not sure how, but the original twelve foot ceilings were lowered two feet to make room for the air conditioning and stuff. You probably noticed that most of the windows in the house are wide, and above most is a oval Tiffany glass window about three feet wide. After the fire, the glass pieces were collected, and a craftsman was hired to reassemble and lead those windows from historical society photographs. Every window, including the Tiffany’s is actually permanently covered by a piece of tempered safety glass on the outside for both protection and insulation.
Years ago these narrow stairs through this door were used by servants’, but I use them when Aunt Meg has company. When I come in from school, I come in the pantry door, and then go up to my room using these stairs. She likes me to dress up before I come down and meet her friends."
They went down the back stairs to the second floor and entered Patty’s suite. The large bedroom was the quintessential girl’s dream room. It was decorated in pastels, with shades of yellow predominating. Several small plush ‘easy’ chairs were mixed with plush ‘straight’ backed chairs. Lamps on the three night tables, as well as on the small tables accompanying the ‘easy’ chairs supplied most of the lighting. The full sized twin beds were covered, and all the furniture was scalloped and trimmed with lace edged skirts.
Several glass front bookcases held books, as well as beautifully dressed porcelain dolls. Teddy bears, and other stuffed animals were everywhere. The entire floor was covered with a super thick, soft, lush, wool carpet. Patty’s floor length mirrors, vanity with lighted make up mirrors, and large dresser would be the envy of any girl. Even her ‘desk for two,’ which incorporated a computer workstation, was feminine in appearance. Michelle noticed the computer workstation was illuminated by a ceiling track light that minimized glare on the seventeen inch Sony monitor, while providing a well-lit writing and study surface.
Patty turned on her in the wall TV to MTV, but they really talked about their very different lives, their likes, and dislikes. They discovered that they had a lot in common too. Mike looked at Patty’s computer and told her that he had a spare modem card she could use. They talked about her getting on the net and putting up her own web page. She wasn’t sure that Aunt Meg would let her get on line. Aunt Meg had heard reports of salacious web content, web stalkers, and the like – to date she had resisted Patty’s pleas for connection.
Aunt Meg joined them after awhile to tell them the meat loaf smelled done to her stomach. Dinner passed pleasantly with lively conversation; both children were articulate and well read for their age. Michelle told entertaining stories about the places her family had lived, she slanted the truth just enough to keep up her feminine facade. Her intelligent mind had no problem keeping her story straight, and Patty was just as sharp remembering what her friend said, and playing off it. They both thought it was a fun game, fooling Aunt Meg.
After dinner while they all cleaned up, Patty started calling Michelle, Mike, every now and then. Michelle told Aunt Meg that it was her nickname at home. They joked about it being a boy’s name, and Michelle truthfully told them she thought her father wanted a son. When the kitchen and dining room was sparkling, she called her dad.
The two friends waited for him while rocking in chairs on the front porch. They ran to the curb when he pulled up – but he stepped out of the jeep.
"Dad this is Patty Nolan, she is in my class at school."
"Nice to meet you Patty. I’d like to meet your Aunt Meg, and thank her for her hospitality to Mike."
Both children’s minds went blank, neither could think of a good reason to head him off. As they walked in the front door, their hearts were beating like crazy, and they exchanged worried looks as they went inside.
"Ranger Parsons, I’d like you to meet my Aunt Meg Nolan, Aunt Meg this is Ranger Roger Parsons, he is Mike’s dad."
"Pleased to meet you Ranger Parsons."
"Roger please, I’m very glad Mike has found a new friend. Cathy and I were very concerned that Mike wouldn’t have any nearby friends again this year. The park ranger quarters we live in are often very isolated."
"You have raised a wonderful girl. The two of them made dinner for us all; I have trouble seeing, and let me tell you they were a real help. She is welcome back at any time."
He looked a little strangely at Mike when Patty’s Aunt referred to Mike as a girl, but he just said, "That is very nice to hear, I just wanted to thank you in person. Cathy and I really appreciate your welcoming Mike into your home. I’m due to make my final patrol for the day at the park shortly, so we’ll have to be leaving. I just wanted to thank you in person."
"Some night soon I would like you and your wife to come over for dinner, I’m sure the girls would enjoy cooking for us all."
"I’ll mention it to Cathy, we are still getting settled in, but we will call. Let’s go Mike, nice meeting you Mrs. Nolan"
"Call me Meg please. Have a good night."
Aunt Meg may have missed it, but Mike’s dad noticed the two children wince when Aunt Meg referred to Mike as she or the two as girls. He didn’t say anything though. Mike was hoping all the way home it had slipped his mind, or that he had missed the reference. And since it wasn’t mentioned when they got home, Mike breathed a big sigh of relief as he drifted happily off to sleep.
<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
Mike’s next conscious memory was the sound of the grandfather’s clock downstairs chiming two in the morning. He realized that something else had awakened him, but he couldn’t remember what. He had to visit the bathroom on the second floor, and on the way back to bed, he pulled back the sheer white curtains and looked out his open bedroom window.
His was the only finished room on the third floor of the old rescue station house, and he could see over the dunes to the beach – with the breaking surf iridescent in the starlight. He didn’t know if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he thought he saw several men launching a Boston Whaler from the beach. Between the sounds of the waves breaking, he even thought that he heard snatches of conversation carried by the wind. He watched for several minutes until the boat disappeared into the darkness beyond the breakers.
As he got back in bed, he wasn’t sure if he had really seen anything, or if he was still dreaming. Or maybe, could the whaler and its crew be the ghostly apparition of doomed rescue men from times past. Only last Sunday, Mike had read a story of a doomed sea rescue squad lost nearby in 1878. Mike didn’t seriously believe in ghosts, but it was scary fun to imagine them in the dark of night.
In the morning, he did the usual daily family Wushu exercises with just his mother, as his father was on the phone to the Park Service’s headquarters in Washington. In the subsequent rushed breakfast and after his shower, he forgot to mention the ghostly apparition to his dad.
<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
A week later Mike’s dad met Pete Sorenson, an old friend, for lunch at the Red Lobster Restaurant across from the Toms River Mall.
"Good to see you again Roger. How is Cathy, still as pretty as ever?"
"Sure is, she is fit as a fiddle, in fact she is working as a surgical nurse again."
"She ought to be a surgeon, the way she repaired my shot up carcass. When I finally got to a hospital, all they did was take some x-rays and marvel that all the bullets had been removed and how neatly the wounds had been sutured. You have one fine woman there…"
"…And Mike is great, he is smart as a whip, and doing well in school – he takes after Cathy. She thinks he’s ready to join Mensa with her, but she wants him to have a normal life, in so far as possible, so she isn’t pushing him into it…"
"…So what’s up with you, has Debbie made an honest man of you yet?"
"No, she’s living in DC – as a mater of fact, in the same apartment complex as me. We see a lot of one another, but she wants me to quit the agency before she will marry me. I’ve explained to her that I want twenty years combined – and then retire, but she is adamant. The fact I’m mostly out of the field now doesn’t seem make much difference to her either. In a way, I really can’t blame her, but I really wish she would reconsider."
"She always was stubborn, even when she roomed with Cathy back at USC. Think it would do any good to have Cathy call her?"
"I don’t think it would hurt, but that isn’t why I wanted to see you."
"Whoops, is the agency paying for this meal?"
"I’m on expenses."
"I’m just a simple park ranger, remember I gave up all that cowboy shit."
"Well, we really don’t want you to do much more than keep your eyes open."
"I do that most days."
"And if you see something suspicious to be very careful, the something you see might be some very ruthless and dangerous men. Just try to establish a pattern, and I will take it from there."
"What makes you think I might see them?"
"Island Park is right in the red zone where we think large quantities of drugs are being brought into the country."
"Why don’t you simply set up a fence of agents, and catch them in the act."
"Same old story Roger, the agency leaks like a sieve…"
"Wait, you didn’t have anything to do with my transfer here?" Pete Sorenson’s face told the story. "Darn-it Pete, I promised Cathy this was the last move, and Kennedy promised I was here until Mike finished high school."
"Nothings changed, in fact I can ‘guarantee’ you won’t be transferred."
"If I help nail your perps?"
"No, if you do, that’s gravy. The director agreed the agency owed you big time, from times that you helped us before; you are locked in here regardless…"
"Okay, I’ll work with you. I still hate drug dealers – they are corrupting our kids…
…This cell phone will put me in direct contact with you?"
"Yes, punch in 852852852 and it will emit a special frequency that a military satellite will pick up, it will page me with my emergency signal. I will call back and this LED will flash, if you enabled the ringer it will ring as usual too. Just pick up the phone as you normally would, and I’ll give you the recognition phrase if all is clear. You do the same, and we can talk securely. Otherwise the phone works as a normal cell phone, except it has a super long life battery." The two long time friends worked out a few more emergency procedures, finished their coffee, and parted with a handshake.
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
The first weeks of school went quickly, and the two children became inseparable. A new state policy required all students entering the regional junior high school to take stiff proficiency tests. The school used the tests to confirm each student’s placement in the appropriate class level in each subject – honors, normal, or special help.
For the serious student there were many advantages to being placed in the honors class for any given subject. These included highly proficient teachers, advanced course materials, often a relatively small class size providing more individual nurturing and attention, and a well-disciplined classroom environment.
The last was important because teachers by and large have little in the way of tools to maintain classroom discipline. Since by law every child must be educated, many students with discipline problems were placed in the normal class of publicly funded schools. It only takes a few unruly students to disrupt the learning process for an entire class.
As a practical matter, there is little in the way of punishment that the school authorities can mete out – if the parents won’t or can’t discipline their child. It doesn’t take the students long to realize that, and the result is a kind of controlled anarchy in most classrooms. The serious infractions that are handled with any real effect, are truly serious, and include fights resulting in injuries, attempted or actual rape, and guns or knives being brought to school – or used.
The special help classification is reserved for students ‘classified’ as having demonstrable learning disabilities. Specially trained teachers, in generally smaller classes where individual help can be given, teach these students.
This system almost guarantees that ‘normal’ students will receive a substandard education – and that unruly students will often disrupt the ‘normal’ classroom environment.
The children were given their test results on Friday of the second full week of school; both Patty and Michael were confirmed to be in the highest academic group for all subjects.
Because of the shuffling of so many other kids, Mike’s first period study hall became oversubscribed. As an honors class student, he was given first choice of staying in the study hall, or taking something else to fill in the period. Since it was unlikely he would get any studying done in a ‘normal’ study period, he examined his options. He chose to take Home Economics from the limited choices available, disregarding the fact that mostly girls chose it. Patty and he now attended the same class every period – he noted with satisfaction.
Both children were bubbling over with excitement when they joined Aunt Meg in the sunroom after school.
"We passed all the tests!" Patty proclaimed as she skidded to a stop in front of Aunt Meg.
"I had no doubt that you would, you are both smart girls. I’m very proud of you both. I want to take you out to dinner to celebrate, then we can go to the mall, and perhaps even see a movie if something is playing we would like to see. Michelle, why don’t you call your family and see if you can go too."
"Wow, that would be great!" As Michelle pushed the transmit button. "Ranger one, are you near a phone? Over."
"Yes, I’m at base with Cathy. Over."
"I’ll call you right now. Out." The rule was to use the Park Service’s radio sparingly, as anybody with a scanner could listen in.
"Hi daddy, we got the test results back today, and both Patty and I passed with flying colors. As a result we will be in all the high honor classes together."
"That’s wonderful news, but I had no doubt that you would. Cathy, Mike…"
"…That’s not all dad, Aunt Meg wants to take Patty and I out to dinner, then to the mall and maybe to a movie to celebrate. May I go?"
"Sure, I’m taking your mother out to dinner too. A lady at lunch today told your mother about a great seafood restaurant, and we were going to try it tonight with you. I guess we will just have to suffer through a romantic candlelight diner without you."
"Poor daddy. Do you need me to come along and chaperone?"
"No, that’s okay," he was chuckling, "we’ll manage. Have a good time; we will be home by ten, so call me when you want me to pick you up."
"Sure, see you later. And thanks – I love you." They both hung up.
"He says it’s okay Aunt Meg, and I’d really like to go!"
"Wonderful, lets go upstairs and pick out dresses for you two to wear. I think you and Patty are about the same size."
"Dresses?" The two children said in shocked unison.
"Yes, of course. I want us to look nice since the restaurant is a little fancy; besides, it will be fun to get all dressed up, and you never know whom you will meet. As a treat, I’ll even let you wear makeup tonight. Let’s get started. Patty, come here please." Aunt Meg took one sniff and wrinkled up her nose, "Last period physical training left you less than lady like, into the shower with you. Michelle and I will pick out your finery for tonight. It’s a good thing I got you so many new outfits and unmentionables for the school year; there is plenty for Michelle to choose from too. When you are through with your shower, Michelle can take hers. Upstairs with you, I’ll be right there."
"What am I going to do???" said a wide-eyed Michelle as they entered Patty’s room. "I’ve never worn a dress, I don’t know how – I don’t even have a sister. I guess we will have to tell Aunt Meg the truth now."
Patty thought and talked fast, "We can’t do that yet, you’ve heard her talk about how gross boys are, and that we’re both too young to date. Look, make sure you pick out something with long skirts for us, they are in style and very easy to wear. You won’t have to worry about keeping your legs together and being modest as much...
They also tend to limit your stride, so you won’t walk so much like a boy. Please try it!"
They could hear Aunt Meg on the stairs.
Mike made a quick decision, "Okay, dresses with long skirts it is." This was definitely more than he bargained for, but he just ‘had’ to keep Patty as a friend.
"…I’ll pick out your undies while you are in the shower, and don’t forget to wash your hair," Patty said as Aunt Meg entered the room.
"Into the shower now Patty, I called Mr. Harris and he will be here in about two hours."
"Okay Aunt Meg, I’m on my way. Michelle I won’t be long."
"Now what would be nice?" Aunt Meg asked as she stepped into Patty’s large walk in closet and turned on the lights.
Michelle had looked into Patty’s closet before, of course. Patty was in and out of it often enough getting games and things, but he had never really looked at what all was in there. He couldn’t believe the dozens of different outfits Patty had. And they all smelled so good. In contrast, he had one good suit, two pair of dress slacks, and a dozen pair of jeans. His entire wardrobe including shirts filled less than half of a small, still musty closet.
"Patty and I were thinking about long skirts since they are the in thing this year. Is that all right?"
"Yes, that would be nice. You and Patty really should try on her outfits when we have more time, or bring over a few of your own to keep here. I often like to go out for dinner or have friends over, and there is so little time to make a proper selection when you come in from school. I hope you two really are the same size, you look very close to me, but I really don’t see all that well…"
They discussed a dozen or more dresses, and skirt and blouse combinations, but since it was warm, they didn’t consider any of the many sweater combinations. Michelle kept directing Aunt Meg back to the long skirted dresses. Finally, Aunt Meg said, "I agree. Let’s try these two chiffon over satin creations; I know the pale blue one compliments Patty’s coloring beautifully, and you can’t go wrong with smoky gray over emerald green with your lovely strawberry blond hair and green eyes."
Just then, Patty came out of her bathroom, wrapped in a large towel, and had another on her head in time honored girl fashion. Michelle’s mouth dropped open as he held the two dresses they had chosen, but Patty just stuck her tongue out at her. Aunt Meg missed the entire exchange as she was headed into her room to shower and change.
"Good, you picked out just what I would have. Take your shower now; everything is in there for you. I’ll slip your undies onto the stool while you are showering. Shout if you need any help with the undies."
"Are you sure about this – I mean do you think I can get away wearing a dress in public? I don’t think I look much like a girl."
"You will when I’m through with you," Patty said confidently, "Look Mike, you are my best friend ever, and I couldn’t stand it if Aunt Meg forbade me to see you."
"I sure don’t want that either. I’ll try my best, but you really have to help me – I’m scared to death I’ll be found out, and then Aunt Meg will really have a reason to have a fit!"
"Don’t worry, I’ll help. Into the shower now! Don’t forget to shave your armpits and use the rinse on your hair."
When he was alone in the bath, the young boy stripped off his clothes and folded them neatly on the stool, and then stepped into the shower. First, he shampooed his hair and then applied the rinse according to the directions on the bottles. He loved the fresh clean scent, with just a hint of jasmine. Then he looked at the razor and shaving cream – this was a big step.
What would he tell his mom or dad if they noticed? He looked closely; his body hair was light blond, and there really wasn’t much of it, just a few random hairs actually. Maybe he could say that he was trying out for the swim team if they noticed. ‘That might work,’ he thought, making a mental note that he better remember to actually try out – and began shaving – finally deciding to shave all the sparse hair on his body that he could reach. While he was doing that, he heard the bathroom door open, and a little while later close again. His last step was to wash his body and then apply the bath oil Patty left for him. The warm water and fine scents relaxed him, relieving his anxiety. He decided if half the world’s population wore skirts, he could get away with it too.
When he stepped out of the shower, he put a towel around his head like he had seen his mom do. He dried herself and applied the bath powder Patty had put on the counter – clearly for his use. He winced at the slight stinging as he applied the Secret dry powder antiperspirant to his freshly shaved armpits.
Then he tackled the pile of girl’s undies on the stool. First, he put on the emerald green silky panties with green lace trim and tiny dark green bows on the lace waistband, and when they were in place, he decided that they felt very nice. He remembered her mom putting on pantyhose from when he was much younger. So, he rolled the nearly nude hose like she had, and sitting on the tub did one leg at a time, until he worked them all the way up. They felt very, very nice on his newly shaved legs. Looking in the mirror, she pushed her still small male parts down and out of sight.
She opened the door into her bedroom slightly, and called softly, "Patty, are you alone?"
"Yes."
"Can you help me with this? I’m decent for a boy."
Patty was wearing a long powder blue full slip lavishly trimmed with white lace when she entered the bathroom. She started to giggle when she saw the erstwhile boy holding the emerald green bra with its lace straps and covering – as though it was a snake ready to bite him.
"Look, the way I manage is to fasten it in front, then spin it around, and put your arms in the straps… That’s right. Now I haven’t worn this one either, so let me adjust it for you. Whoops, I forgot. Let me get you the helpers – confidentially, I need them too," Patty whispered.
When she returned, she pulled up the little flesh his thin body supplied, and placed a flesh colored jell filled pad in each cup, so that with the bra holding them, her flesh stayed up giving the hint of real breasts. They really weren’t big, only scant ‘A’ size, but they looked huge to the new girl.
"This will work out great." Patty said approvingly.
"They’re cold." Michelle complained.
"Sorry, I didn’t have time to warm them up. Many a chilly morning I was in such a rush that I barely survived the shock. In a few minutes, they will feel warm like your own flesh. You look great. Look in the mirror, there really is a Michelle."
He looked in the mirror, and looking back at him was a pretty, young girl. She couldn’t help but giggle and say in wonder, "Now we are twin sisters."
"Whatever would your dad and mom say?"
"I’d rather not find out! Okay, what do I need next?"
"This waist cincher will pull in your tummy and remind you to sit up straight. Pull your panties and panty hose down a little, and I’ll fasten it for you… Okay, now pull the panties and pantyhose back up over it to the waist. If we didn’t do that, it would be hard for you to pull them down to go to the bathroom. See, I have one on too. Those dresses you chose really need a tiny waist and good posture to look right. Let me help you with this slip, and then you can come to my room for the rest."
The waist cincher was not very tight, but the feminized boy was very conscious of it, the stockings, and the lacey padded bra – so many new sensations. She couldn’t decide how she felt about it all, so she simply followed Patty into her room. "Here slip these pumps on, I hope they fit you – they are a little big on my feet. No! Girls don’t sit to put these on, just lift up your leg like this and slip it on."
"These feel weird Patty – I don’t know if I can walk in them."
"They are only two inch heels, so you won’t have any trouble. Besides it’s neat to be taller, and you’ll love it after awhile." Patty promised.
She had Michelle sit down and unwound the towel from her head. Patty began to expertly brush out the new girl’s long hair, and then put rollers in it - spraying it from a gold aerosol can as she went along. She brushed down bangs, and trimmed them in a straight line with a small pair of scissors, just about level with her eyelashes, and then brushed them back out of the way. "Trust me, you will be able to brush the bangs back when you don’t need bangs." She sprayed Michelle’s hair one final time and put the electric dryer cap on her head, and flipped the motor on. Michelle immediately felt the strange sensation of warm air blowing through her hair while she was apparently wearing a hat.
"I’m pretty good at putting on makeup," Patty explained over the dryer’s drone. "Aunt Meg took me to makeup classes at Nordstrom’s in the Freehold Mall, and they taught me how to do it. I always do Aunt Meg’s when she goes out at night, since she really can’t see to do it herself. Sometimes like tonight, she lets me wear makeup out too. I really love how grown up and pretty it makes me feel, and it will help create the illusion that you are a pretty girl."
"It better be potent magic, oh sorceress." And the faux girl really meant it!
Patty sat across from her and began applying makeup. Michelle’s complexion was almost as perfect as hers. There was no beard, as it hadn’t started to grow yet, so she just applied a little translucent powder as she had to herself. She plucked some hairs from around the new girl’s blond eyebrows, and created an arch with a medium brown pencil without really messing up ‘his’ male eyebrows. Then she outlined her eyes with a dark brown liner pen, and then applied a little emerald shadow to bring out her sparkling green eyes. She blended it with a little charcoal at the sides and leaned back nodding in satisfaction. Next, she showed her how to apply mascara, and on the third try, Michelle got it right. Finally, she outlined her lips with liner and had her fill in with a rust rose lipstick. She sat back looking at the whole package, and then applied a smidgeon of blush and blended it with a small sponge.
Her – you certainly couldn’t call the pretty creature a boy anymore – her hair was a little damp, but Patty brushed it out anyway into flowing shoulder length curls. She used her curling iron to curl her bangs out and under, and fluffed them. As Michelle looked in the mirror, she was satisfied that her own mother probably wouldn’t recognize her.
The two girls helped each other into their dresses, and stood together looking in the mirror. "I knew you were pretty nice Patty, but now I see that you are beautiful."
"You’re beautiful yourself, just follow my lead, and there’s no way anyone will tell. You really are Michelle to the world tonight. If I hadn’t seen it happen before my eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. Oh God, we don’t have any nail polish on! Aunt Meg will have a fit if she notices. Quick, sit back down and put mine on and I’ll do yours."
Meg selected a bottle of polish that matched their lipstick from a drawer full of colorful bottles. She sat down on the padded piano like makeup bench facing Michelle, and applied the enamel to Michelle’s fingers – then Michelle returned the favor. Patty kept giving tidbits of advice on how to deport herself, knowing Michelle’s quick mind was absorbing it.
"Your lucky I have painted a lot of model cars and planes, this is a cinch. Your nails are much nicer than mine though."
They used a hair dryer to accelerate the enamel drying.
"I file and shape them all the time, and then buff them smooth. Aunt Meg likes me to look neat and well groomed. You always look exceptionally neat for a boy, but girls pay a lot more attention to the details. Speaking of which, we need some jewelry." In a flurry of movement, looking through a large jewelry box, Patty selected rings, bracelets, a necklace, and even a pair of clip on earrings for Michelle. She expertly bejeweled herself, and then did Michelle.
"Wait you need a purse." More frenzied digging through draws, and then she handed Michelle a small black clutch purse and put a compact, tissues, a tube of Q-Tips, mascara, and lipstick in it. "Actually you will have to use my lipstick, the one I just gave you is the wrong color, but it won’t look right if you don’t have at least one lipstick in your purse. Don’t worry I’ll stick very close to you all evening." Michelle really didn’t pick up on the full implication of that last statement at the time.
They both turned toward the door when Aunt Meg called from her room, "Patty, please come in here if you are ready. I’d like you to zip me up and finish my makeup."
"Sure, we are on our way," Patty responded.
"My you two look nice, almost like sisters," Aunt Meg said with a pleased smile.
"We are sisters." The two young beauties giggled as one.
Patty quickly finished Aunt Meg’s look, Aunt Meg had applied the foundation and powder already. Michelle watched in awe, as Patty expertly added color, quickly transforming Aunt Meg from a pretty woman into a beautiful sophisticated work of art.
Mike surfaced long enough to look objectively at the three images reflected in Aunt Meg’s wall of mirrors. The striking woman’s gown was a similar chiffon over satin creation, but in a rich red that complimented her auburn hair. Michelle looked bonier and had wider shoulders than Patty’s much softer look. However, many athletic girls looked like Michelle, and some were even more buff these days. Mike had to admit to himself that dressed like this he was a fox, and that Michelle was a much more striking girl, than Mike ever was a boy. Of course, Patty was great looking and he was proud to be with her dressed as a boy or a girl.
But Michelle definitely liked the way SHE looked, mentally giving Mike the evening off.
"We decided we are twins Aunt Meg, like the two long separated girls in the Disney movie…
You look super – I told you in Nordstrom’s that dress was made for you!" Patty gushed happily.
"I’ll have to take your word for it. I just wish Doctor Ross could do something for my eyes, so I could see my entire face for myself."
"Believe me, you look great." Michelle chirped.
"Let’s go downstairs to wait on the porch for Mr. Harris." Aunt Meg said after she had put her very thick glasses on, and after carefully scrutinizing the young girls, she satisfied herself that the three of them looked ‘presentable.’ She refused to wear the thick glasses most of the time, only bringing them out briefly when absolutely needed. In fact, this was the first time Michelle had seen Aunt Meg with them on – she could see why the woman didn’t want to wear them.
Patty held Michelle back, and whispered, "Watch how I lift my skirt up on the stairs. If you don’t do it, your heels will catch in it and trip you. Just follow my lead and you’ll be okay." It was fortunate that Michelle went down last, because it took most of the long flight to hold her slippery-layered skirts like Patty did so effortlessly.
Mr. Bart Harris was an elderly gentleman who augmented his retirement income from lifelong employment as salesman, by being the unofficial chauffeur for several affluent customers like Aunt Meg. Like all his customers, she paid him in cash - ‘under the table.’ She appreciated being driven in his nice clean Mercedes touring car, as opposed to riding in an ordinary dirty beat up taxi. Sure, it cost a lot more per ride, but the total annual cost was much less than maintaining her own luxury car, even assuming she could see well enough to drive it.
Mr. Harris was always dressed well. He always wore a dark suit, white shirt and dark plaid tie. His neatly combed white hair gleamed as he opened the rear door for Aunt Meg, and helped her into the seat.
While he was doing that Patty and Michelle moved to the other side and opened the rear door. "Watch me; back in and sit, then pull up both of your legs and twist them in together like this. I’ll move to the center now, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you."
Michelle helped Patty in, trying to remember how she managed to make it look so graceful. When it was her turn, Mr. Harris held her right hand as she had held Patty’s. The new girl tried to hold her purse and pull her skirt clear of her shoes at the same time, and came to the conclusion that she needed three hands. It definitely was not as easy as it looked. She backed in and sat, but not quite far enough. It was almost a disaster, but Patty held her arm as Michelle’s backside started to slip off the seat into the street – as her slick chiffon over satin dress rode up her slip. With Mr. Harris and Patty’s help, she was able to sit more securely and lift her legs into the car – but it wasn’t graceful by any measure. Michelle vowed that she would make sure her butt was fully on the seat the next time! Thankfully, Aunt Meg didn’t seem to notice the little drama or Michelle’s crimson face.
Exiting the car at the restaurant was much easier, which was good because several people were standing around and watching the new arrivals. Michelle noticed how her long skirt rode up, and wondered how it was possible to exit modestly in a short skirt. She mentally thanked Patty for her choice of a long skirt.
Lloyd’s Lobster Pot seemed to have a split personality. It was like two restaurants sharing a common kitchen. Separated by a half height glass topped wall, one half catered to very casually dressed ‘yachtsman’, who enjoyed drinks at a bar, dined, and later on would dance to a DJ. That half opened out through a glass wall and doors onto the marina, where dozens of luxury boats were docked. The other half of the dining area had a strict dress code, although the food was the same exquisite quality – and price. The rich carpeting, fine table appointments, and sparkling crystal complemented the elegantly dressed diners. Of course, Aunt Meg’s little band was escorted to a reserved table in the elegantly dressed section.
Aunt Meg ordered a dry white wine, and the two girls ordered diet Seven Up with grenadine and cherries, served in super sized martini glasses. By the time the drinks were served, they had made their selections and were ready to order. Everybody decided on jumbo gulf shrimp cocktail followed by lobster – normally Michelle would have selected a pound and a half boiled lobster. But she didn’t think she could wrestle with it, and remain ladylike – even with a large bib. It was enough of a challenge to smooth her skirt like Patty had and sit ladylike when their host seated them – not to mention, remaining prim and proper throughout the meal. Patty must have reached the same conclusion since both girls ordered warm lobster salad, perfect because the succulent lobster meat was already removed from the shell. Aunt Meg ordered a whole boiled two-pound lobster, explaining that boiled lobster was one of her most favorite foods, and when it was served demonstrated how it could be eaten without a bit of mess. It took time though, and both girls had finished their lobster salads long before Aunt Meg finished her lobster.
Michelle felt very strange; the restrictive satin dress over a silky slip brushing against nylon-covered legs was giving her a warm sensuous feeling like none in her previous experience. Her lower body and legs were toasty warm, with nylon-covered legs seemingly wrapped in silken layers of a cocoon; in contrast, her upper body and shoulders were chilly. The dress was quite modest and fully proper for a twelve-year-old girl, but it was sleeveless and did have a square neckline. The lace of her bra and slip’s straps was barely covered by the dress’ material over her shoulders, and she had to keep checking to see that it was in order. It made her feel vulnerable and very conscious of her ‘breasts’ – she made a note to ask Patty if she felt the same way.
Finally, she couldn’t ignore it any longer. She leaned over to Patty and whispered, "I have to go to the bathroom Patty, really bad."
"So do I," Patty whispered back, and then louder, "Aunt Meg, Michelle and I have to powder our noses."
"Go right ahead girls, I have a bit more to go on this lobster. It is very good."
As they wound their way towards the rest rooms Michelle said in near panic, "Where do I go? I didn’t think of this!"
"Only one choice, you are going to find out how the other half lives." Patty was smiling mischievously at Michelle’s discomfort, but she said soothingly, "Don’t worry the stalls are private, just remember to sit. Oh, make sure to lift your skirt all the way up and keep it to the front away from the plumbing, you don’t want the back getting wet from condensation."
"If I didn’t have to go so bad…"
Michelle left that thought unfinished as the two girls entered a boy’s forbidden territory. The lounge and water room was full of chattering women, and the two young girls had to wait – both were afraid that they wouldn’t make it. Finally, they claimed two stalls.
Michelle remembered Patty’s instructions, but it seemed to take forever to raise her snug-layered skirt and slip above her waist. She decided a slip was aptly named; then there was another struggle to lower her panties and panty hose, while holding the dress and slip up. Finally, she was seated primly, but had trouble since the elastic of the panty hose tended to clamp her legs together. She made a bit of a mess because of the awkward position of her small plumbing – she didn’t have to remind herself to wipe, she had to. Pulling her panties and hose up presented a problem, as they kept imprisoning errant ends of her bunched up slip and dress. Finally, she got up what had to get up, and down what had to be down. She reflected as her pulse quieted, peeing is so much easier for boys.
"What took you so long?" Patty whispered.
"Sigh." The new girl’s eyes were eloquent.
Patty handed her the lipstick she was using after Michelle washed her hands, and for the benefit of the women on either side of them said, "Here try this one, I think it is a better match for your nail polish."
Michelle was amazed that on close inspection her lips were almost devoid of lipstick, except for the still clear outline. She refreshed the color, and noticing that her nose was shiny, used her compact. Then her blood ran cold. Patty sensed it as she took her lipstick back. Following Michelle’s gaze in the mirror, she saw Cathy Parsons – make that Mike’s mother – look away from them and step into a stall. She had to have seen them refreshing their makeup! But did she recognize them? Patty’s stomach dropped even lower than Michelle’s. ‘Am I going to lose the best friend I’ve ever had because his mother saw her in here?’ She thought in horror.
"Was that your mother?" Patty had only seen her picture.
"Yes, it sure was."
"Let’s get out of here before she finishes!" Patty whispered urgently.
Michelle merely nodded, already halfway to the door.
As they made their way back to the table, Michelle spotted her father, only two tables from theirs, in a booth. Thankfully, he was sitting looking out over the Marina. The two worried girls stopped to talk to each other a moment before taking their seats. "Do you think they will recognize us? I mean they haven’t ever seen me dressed like this, and dad hasn’t seen you guys all dressed up."
"I don’t know. I really don’t think they would recognize you. It’s a good thing your mother hasn’t met Aunt Meg and me, because most women are good at seeing through makeup. Let’s hope your dad doesn’t recognize us, and point us out to her. Do you think he would recognize us?"
"If he looks closely at you he would, he was some kind of a federal marshal for a while when he got out of the navy – he was a SEAL in the navy –" Michelle said proudly, "but mom made him quit because he and his partner almost got killed. That is why he is a park ranger now."
"Wow! We have to get out of here as soon as possible. Oh darn, look over there – that’s Bobby and Tommy Waterman from our school, and that must be their parents. Bobby has a crush on me, but he is so juvenile it’s sickening. Tommy is a creep; just because he is a sophomore, he thinks he is God’s gift to girls. Don’t worry about them recognizing you; they won’t pay attention to anything above your bosom," Patty moved her hand dismissively and continued, "We’d better sit down before your mother comes back."
The two girls sat down and turned so that they were facing Aunt Meg, and away from the aisle. She was just finishing her lobster. She dabbed her face with a napkin and removed her bib saying, "Is it crowded?"
"Very crowded, you would think they would put in more facilities for ladies. Perhaps you’d better wait." Patty answered.
Aunt Meg sighed, "I don’t have a choice, if the waiter comes back while I’m gone, order me a baked Alaska and a coffee please."
Aunt Meg left the table and Patty said, "We better not look back, if you accidentally make eye contact with your mom, she might recognize you. Can this get any worse?" Patty noticed Michelle’s hands were shaking a little.
"I don’t know, " Michelle’s voice also was quivering a little as she continued, "I almost peed again when I saw my mom in the mirror, because she was looking right at me. What do you suppose she will do to me if she finds out I’m here looking like this."
"You say she is pretty cool, maybe she will listen to our side of the story."
"I don’t know, I have never pushed the envelope like this; I never did anything this wild before."
"Are you sorry?"
"No, I think our motives were good. We really didn’t do anything wrong, and if I can live through the first day or so, I think they will see why we did this. I’m really worried about your Aunt, she seems so down on boys, and she might really use this against me…"
The two girls were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice Michelle’s mom pass behind them and seat herself. When they did notice, she was safely seated with Michelle’s dad and looking out over the marina – away from them. They breathed a collective sigh of relief. That was when Bobby and Tommy Waterman plopped down in the two empty chairs without being asked.
"So who’s your friend Patty?" Tommy asked.
It was such a simple question, but one that must be answered with a lie – before Aunt Meg returned.
"My cousin from out of town – and I don’t remember asking you to sit down," Patty’s tone dropped the room temperature by ten degrees.
"Don’t get your panties all in a knot, we were just wondering if you were going to hang around for the dancing." Tommy asked with a snotty expression.
"No, we are going to a movie as soon as we finish our dessert – if you must know." Patty replied coldly.
"So how come you’re not out with that nerd you are always hanging with at school, have a fight?" Bobby sneered, but his eyes looked hopeful.
"No, my cousin came in from out of town, and I simply wanted to have a quiet evening with her." Patty said with a dismissive flick of her wrist.
"You know you want to be with us. What about what’s her name there? Hey sweet cheeks, you look like you want to stay. It will be fun, we can probably give our parents the slip for some quality time in one of those boats out there, once they get sloshed." Tommy said, leering at Michelle’s minuscule breasts.
"You heard Patty. We aren’t interested in dancing with you, and most especially not in slipping away from your folks – please, just leave quietly – and quickly." Michelle did a good job of mimicking Patty’s icy tone and hand movements.
"You know you want us to stay sweet cheeks, forget Patty, she’s a nerd anyhow – you look like you would enjoy a good time." Tommy said smoothly.
"Please leave." The two girls said together.
Tommy leaned back and said, "Not likely, I know you really want us to stay…"
Just then the girls felt someone behind them, "Leave now, or I will ask your parents to have you leave." Aunt Meg’s voice was sub zero, and the boys stood up as one and moved away muttering to themselves. When she was seated she said, "And you wonder why I’m so down on boys Michelle."
The child could only nod in agreement.
The waiter finally came over and dessert was ordered. By some small miracle, they finished without incident, and left without Michelle’s parents looking at their table. Aunt Meg called Mr. Harris on her cell phone, and borrowed a Coast Star from the restaurant’s cash register lady to check the movie times.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michelle resigned herself to shopping as they walked into Macy’s entrance; it was like a penance for lying to Aunt Meg she thought. She wondered if her mother would accept it as partial punishment – if she had recognized them in the restaurant. Why were Aunt Meg and Patty both so darned enthusiastic about the prospect? However, she didn’t allow her true feelings to show, and walked primly next to Patty, their heels tapping happily on the tile. Aunt Meg led the way to the young teens department in Macy’s.
"This is so great, only last year I couldn’t shop here." Patty gushed.
"Macy’s you mean?"
"No silly, the teens department. Before I was shopping in the girl’s department, and everything was so juvenile."
"You will have to help me out here, I know next to nothing about shopping, and until tonight I was perfectly happy in my ignorance."
"You like wearing that outfit, don’t you?"
"I guess – it feels very strange on me, like nothing I’ve ever worn before, but I’m getting used to it – and it does look nice on me." She smiled with satisfaction, "I kind of like the way people notice me now, because Mike was kind of invisible. I think we fooled your Aunt, and that’s the most important part, but it was really fun fooling those boys – I, as Mike, played baseball with them today, and our team trounced them too. I’d like this dress a lot better if it had pockets though."
"You would look frumpy lounging about with your hands in your pockets – like a silly boy in a dress."
"I guess so, but what do you do with your hands when you stand around like this?"
"I don’t know what came first, but I use my hands when I talk. So, I talk as much as I can. I don’t know, just follow what I do."
"You’re giggling right now, but I’m serious. Okay, one of my hands is holding my purse, what do I do with the other?"
"Hold your purse with two hands in front of you, I do that a lot," Patty replied then enthused, "Will you look at that outfit!"
"Okay, what am I looking for?"
"Let’s find our size and try it on."
"Here?" The quiver was back in Michelle’s voice.
"No silly, in the dressing room."
"There are other girls in there!"
"Duh. Don’t worry, we’ll get a changing booth together, and they are kind of private. I’ll help you. You don’t look anything like a boy now, and you aren’t going to have to remove your undies except for the long slip. Let’s ask Aunt Meg to buy us two short slips, since she usually does that for me when we are shopping and I’m not wearing one."
So, it began – in less than twenty minutes Michelle was totally into shopping with Patty. Two hours later, Aunt Meg bought them each a new outfit as a reward for their schoolwork, and they decided to wear their new outfits to the movie.
Carrying the old outfits, which were carefully folded in tissue paper, and some sundries in shopping bags, the three shoppers entered the mall proper. They still had an hour before their movie would start, so they stopped in the food court for sorbet. Patty intentionally sat down and got up several times on some excuse or other. She was showing Michelle how to sit and sweep her short pleated skirt, and then in one motion to cross her legs for modesty. Michelle tried it, and Patty had her do it once more by getting up and helping Aunt Meg with the treats.
A group of four boys and two girls sat down at an adjacent table. Patty recognized the girls from their school, although they didn’t share any classes with them. The boys started talking about sports completely ignoring the girls. After a little while the girls turned to Patty and Michelle and began to talk.
"’Sup Patty."
"Not much, we are waiting for the movie to start."
"Going to see "Small Time Crooks?"
"Yes."
"We saw it last Sunday, and it was really funny. Who’s your friend?"
"Sorry – Pam and Stacy, this is my Aunt Meg and this is Michelle…"
The girls talked quietly amongst themselves for a little while. Michelle was surprised when Pam and Stacy asked for their help ditching the boys. The boys were from the high school, had latched on to them earlier, and wouldn’t leave them – or let them leave.
Michelle was closest to Aunt Meg and was elected to tell her the plan.
"Aunt Meg," the new girl said quietly, "Pam and Stacy have asked our help to lose those boys. The boys kind of latched on to them, and the girls think they want to get them alone in their car – the boys go to the regional high school."
"Well I’ll tell them to leave," Aunt Meg said with fire in her eye.
"No! Please don’t do that. We discussed that, but they might just follow them again when we split up. However we have a plan."
"Yes." Aunt Meg said without commitment.
"We are going to tell the boys that we are going to the ladies room. We will leave, but you will stay with the packages as if you are waiting for us to return. In about five minutes, you will leave and meet Patty and me in front of ‘The Gap.’ Pam and Stacy will call Stacy’s parents on Pam’s cell phone, and have her parents meet them outside Sears’ auto department – that’s on the other end of the mall. ‘kay?"
"I’d still like to give those ruffians a piece of my mind, the nerve of them."
"Please, Pam and Stacy don’t want to make a scene, and the boys go to school with Pam’s older brother."
"All right, but if they make any attempt to follow you I will make a scene those ruffians won’t soon forget!"
Michelle had no doubt of that as Aunt Meg clicked her book back on.
The boys simply grunted and went back to their conversation when told where the girls were heading. The plan worked perfectly, however it took longer for Patty and Michelle to reach the rendezvous with Aunt Meg, and she looked a little anxious. "What took you so long?"
"It was a longer walk then we expected, we looped around so the boys wouldn’t see us," Patty responded.
"You don’t have pierced ears, do you Michelle?" Aunt Meg asked.
"No, I don’t," Michelle didn’t like the sound of that.
"We have about a half an hour, and they can do that for you in Gordon’s Jewelry Store across from us. I’ll buy them for you to wear with your new outfit as a present. No one wears clip on earrings any more," Aunt Meg said with certainty – and finality.
Patty jumped up happily saying, "You’ll love pierced ears Michelle, come on, and let’s pick out a pair of earrings!"
When the two girls were out of Aunt Meg’s hearing, "I’m not so sure about this," Michelle said worriedly.
"Don’t be silly, lots of boys have pierced ears, and both ears these days too. I think you’ll love them," Patty gushed.
By then, they were looking at earrings. "These little gold studs will look good with your outfit…"
"…How about these hoops…"
"…These emerald studs would pick up your eyes…"
In the end, Aunt Meg selected a set of small solid 18 caret gold studs with screw on retainers. "I think these will be best as they are solid gold and won’t give you any allergic problems. They use plastic inserts here, so you are unlikely to have an infection if you give your ears reasonable sanitary care – until they heal."
Michelle certainly didn’t want an allergy or infection, and the studs WERE very dainty and pretty. Patty loved them, and said that she had an identical pair at home.
Michelle was very conscious of her new shorter skirt as she sat on the high piercing chair. She was quite preoccupied with sitting, keeping her legs crossed, and looking modest. Two boys she recognized from their school had entered the store, and were nosily selecting a pair of skull and crossbones earrings – and looking at her attractive nylon clad legs, when they thought no one was looking at them. They made Michelle very nervous. Why were they staring at HER legs?
Aunt Meg approved the placement of the earrings, and two sales girls were on either side with piercing guns held out of sight. Without it really registering on Michelle’s overloaded brain, the guns were brought to her ears. In another moment it was all over, it hardly hurt at all.
"Honey it’s going to be nearly midnight, when the show is over. Why don’t you call your parents and ask if you can sleep over?" Aunt Meg said as they left the jewelers.
"That would be great!" Patty jumped up and down, "we can have a sleepover!"
"Sure, I’d like that. Aunt Meg, may I use your cell phone?" The newly feminized boy asked, none too anxious to go home tonight – with pierced ear earrings.
The apparent girl called home, but when there was no answer, she tried her mom’s cell phone. "Hi mom."
"Yes honey, is everything is all right?" She sounded worried to Michelle.
"Yes mom, everything is fine. I just wanted to know if I could stay over at Aunt Meg’s tonight – it will be late when the movie gets out."
"What time will you be home?"
"I’ll be home by noon – I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave to get a ride."
"Okay dear, I love you – stay safe," Cathy said with a little catch in her voice.
"Thanks mom, I love you!" Michelle terminated the connection, and jumped up. "Yes!" She shouted, "I can stay over."
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michelle woke to a variety of new sensations lying on the satin sheets, and it took her a minute to remember where she was. The refracted colored sunlight streaming through the Tiffany windows, illuminated Patty’s bed – and she looked like a sleeping angel. Michelle took the opportunity to satisfy nature before Patty woke, and scurried into Patty’s bathroom with a sense of urgency.
Somehow, it didn’t seem right to stand dressed in a nightie, so she sat. After, she sleepily washed her hands, she then decided to brush her teeth, and rinsed the sleep from her eyes. Seeing the pierced ear care kit, she cleaned the piercing sites and rotated her inserts per the instructions. Her ears hurt a little, but it really wasn’t as bad as she had feared. Her bangs were messed, so she brushed them and her ponytail a little. She actually liked the ponytail higher the way Patty had fixed it for her prior to bed. It was off her neck, so it was much cooler, and she thought that it looked cute as it bounced when she walked.
She turned and caught her entire reflection in the door’s full-length mirror. The sleepy feeling fled in a flash when she saw a strange girl staring back at her. The girl moved her arm when she did, and frowned when she did, gasped like she did, and finally smiled like she was. ‘I still look just like a pretty girl, wow!" She thought.
It was true. Her strawberry blond hair was still in a ponytail high on her head, and her bangs were kind of in place. Patty’s baby doll nightie looked perfect on her, and the small heels on the matching fuzzy slippers defined her relatively long legs. The new tiny gold studs in her ears gleamed, and her sleep mussed hair made her look very cute. Looking closely Michelle smiled again; it was fun to be a pretty girl – at least once in awhile.
When she returned to Patty’s room, Aunt Meg was just waking Patty. She turned and gave Michelle a big hug good morning saying, "You look so pretty in the morning dear, I’m afraid Patty isn’t so bright and cheerful when she wakes. Would you do me a favor and wash the fruit I set out in the sink while I get her up? I thought we would enjoy it with some tea and English Muffins. Patty and I will be down shortly. Here you can use this robe dear." She handed Michelle a wispy thing that matched the baby doll’s shade of sunset orange. "Don’t worry about your bed dear, I’ll straighten it up and have Eileen change it since you are going home today."
Michelle put on the robe and belted it saying; "Sure, I’ll be glad to help, see you guys in a few minutes."
Patty grunted. Aunt Meg thought Michelle looked adorable in that outfit – like a pixy.
In the kitchen, Michelle peeled and cut up two ripe bananas, sectioned three oranges and a grapefruit, washed some fresh blueberries, and cut up a few strawberries. She found a crystal bowl, mixed the fruit together, and added a dash of dried ginger like her dad did at home. Finishing the fruit cocktail with the juice from another orange, and tasting it, she added a little sugar and orange marmalade from the refrigerator to improve its flavor. She added a few dried mint leaves for color, knowing that they would re-hydrate while the flavors mixed.
She set the table in the breakfast nook for three, and poured boiling water from the kettle into the teapot. She made sure the silver bulk-tea holder was charged, and then set the teapot on the table to steep.
She noticed the unopened package of English muffins, split them with a fork, and placed the first two in the toaster. She found the butter, jam tray, cran-apple juice, and milk in the left refrigerator and placed them on the table. Noticing that several rosebushes still bore roses in the garden, she went out to cut a few. A neighbor waved, and the young girl in a nightie returned the wave without a thought. Then she was struck with terror as she remembered how she was dressed, and darted back into the kitchen. Shaking a little, she put the roses in a small vase and added water before placing them on the table. Her mom loved fresh flowers on the breakfast table – she hoped Aunt Meg did too.
She had just finished buttering the last warm muffin when Aunt Meg and Patty came in and sat down.
"This fruit cup is delicious, and everything is arranged so nicely – where did you learn to do all this?" Aunt Meg asked after she started eating.
"I help mom a lot, well not so much here, but we have been stationed in some pretty remote parks. Dad is a very good cook also, his dad owns three great restaurants in Chicago and he learned to cook from his father, so he teaches me too." She added proudly.
"How did you keep up with school moving about so much?"
"I never had much trouble with schoolwork, and when I did mom would help me. In fact, for two years mom home-schooled me because the school was either too far away or not very good."
"Really? She must be a great teacher for you to do so well in a new school."
"She’s the best. Did you know that she is a registered nurse and has a master’s degree in Psychology? Most of the money she makes is going into my college fund, because she really wants me to have a good education…"
"…That was a lovely meal Michelle. Do you want to wear your new outfit home?"
The erstwhile boy had anticipated the question, "No thank you Aunt Meg, I would like to keep it here. You know, just in case you want me to go out with you again. I need to get my own clothes back so I can wear them to school."
"Okay, but wear some of your new undies, I’ll wash the ones from yesterday for you."
Patty added, "Don’t worry Aunt Meg, I rinsed them out for Michelle with mine, they are drying now."
"Thanks Patty, I guess I better take a shower and get dressed. I told mom that I would be home by noon."
Upstairs Michelle showered, but regretfully she didn’t use the sweet smelling shampoo and rinse. She dried her long hair with a towel as usual and brushed it into a low ponytail secured with a rubber band, just like Fernando Lamas she thought. The new bangs brushed back flat and made a part as Patty had promised, and Mike looked back at him from the mirror. Patty had left him a pair of white panties, bra, and a plain cami in addition to his school clothes. He put on the panties, and stuck his head into the bedroom. "Patty, are you alone?"
"Yes, give me a sec. Okay, I’m right by the door now."
"I’m going home. Why did you give me a bra and cami to wear?" Mike said softly.
"Aunt Meg is hugging you a lot now like she does me – I think she really likes you. If you don’t wear the bra, she will notice, and because she always makes me wear one, I think you should. Honestly, between us, I don’t need one yet either, but she says all proper young ladies wear one. I gave you the plainest white bra and cami that I have; the cami will hide the bra and look almost like a tee shirt under your shirt. You have to wear my things because your undies are still damp. I’m really sorry to have gotten you in this mess."
"Don’t feel bad. Your aunt isn’t ready for Mike yet – she thinks all boys are like the ones in the mall and the restaurant. Do girls have to put up with that nonsense all the time?"
"Well those boys are extreme cases. When I’m alone or with other girls, without my aunt, we handle boys without any real problems. Eventually they get the message, and do what we ask. Miss Schroeder says their age that makes them act that way, and for the most part, they are just harmless pests. Aunt Meg doesn’t like impolite people, so that makes them much worse in her eyes. She doesn’t accept the fact that many kids, both boys and girls are just plain rude these days. However, I agree, I don’t think you should associate yourself with boys just now."
"Patty I really don’t mind pretending to be a girl – I’m really having fun – and you are the best friend I’ve ever had. I’ll just duck behind a dune and take the bra off before I get home. But this IS getting complicated…"
"I really will try to think of some way to get Aunt Meg to accept you as you. I don’t like lying to her either – and we are getting to the whopper stage."
"One thing in my favor is that everything I’ve told her is the truth – except for the fact I’m a boy."
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
There was a long line of cars entering the park this beautiful warm, sunny September Saturday. Regular visitors to the shore knew that warm September and October days were the best time of the year on the Jersey shore. The summer crowds were gone, and the water after a summer of sun was it’s warmest of the year. Seeing the line of cars entering the park, Mike asked if he could borrow Patty’s bike, and called his dad on the radio.
"Ranger one this is Mike, over."
"Read you Mike, over."
"Lots of inbound traffic: I can borrow Patty’s bike. Kay? Over."
"Good idea, see you in twenty. Over."
"Roger, out."
Mike turned to Aunt Meg and said, "Thank you so much Aunt Meg, I had a wonderful time."
"You are very welcome Michelle, it was my pleasure having you. You are welcome in my house to visit Patty any time." Aunt Meg hugged Michelle, and continued, "Please call the instant you arrive home, so that I know that you arrived safe."
"I will, I promise. It won’t take me long to peddle home, the cars are moving very slowly, but I’ll stick to the bike lane."
Patty and her Aunt waved as she peddled away. On the way home, he realized that he couldn’t change out of the bra behind a dune, because there were park visitors all over. He decided to try to get to his room as soon as he entered the house.
Mike arrived home about eleven-thirty to find his dad just leaving to spell a sick Ranger. He called Aunt Meg as promised, and started to go upstairs and change his undies, but his mom called him into the kitchen. He was a more than a little nervous as he sat at the kitchen table.
"So honey, did you have a good time?" His mom asked as she placed some donuts on the table, and gave him a glass of milk. Then she sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee with him.
"Yes, it was really fun. We had delicious shrimp cocktail before the entrée, the cocktail sauce had just the right amount of horseradish. Patty and I had a great warm lobster salad, it was almost as good as dad’s, and we all had baked Alaska for desert. After diner, we went to the Toms River Mall and did some shopping. After that we saw the movie "Small Time Crooks" – you should have seen it when…
…It was very funny."
"Did anything else interesting happen?"
"What do you mean?" He said as his heart beat faster.
"I saw you in the restaurant."
"Ohhh." Mike sighed deeply, and looked at his mother closely to gauge how angry she was with him.
"Want to tell me about it?" She didn’t look or sound angry.
"Yes, I really would. Should I start at the beginning?"
"I think so. Don’t worry Mike, I’m not angry, and I do love you very much." She said as she held his hands reassuringly.
"I know you do mom, and I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it right away. It was foolish of me, but until last night, it seemed like a harmless trick. The first day of school, Patty sat next to me on the bus coming home…
…So, up until last night, Patty would call me Michelle in front of her Aunt, and I would respond as the imaginary girl Michelle. It was kind of a fun game, I paid attention to how Patty responded, and I learned to answer like Patty did. After a week or so, I had her hand motions down pat too. The only girl thing I wore was her robins-egg blue jacket, and that was only until I greeted her aunt each day. It really didn’t seem to be that wrong, and her aunt accepted me as Patty’s girlfriend."
"How do you get along with Patty?"
"Great, we are truly the best of friends. We really didn’t treat each other any differently than if she had called me Mike and if her Aunt thought I was a boy. We never did anything even a little wrong between girls and boys like you told me about. I helped cook supper when I stayed for dinner and helped clean up like I do here. When we cooked, we wore nice aprons to keep our clothes clean. We played video games, board games, and the like, and we studied together. We talked a lot too; we are really good friends."
"So what happened last night?"
"We were really excited about doing so well in our placement tests, and having all the same classes together. When we told Aunt Meg and she offered to take us to dinner…"
"…So you decided that your friendship was worth dressing up as a girl for."
"Yes. I didn’t realize how different it was to be a girl. But I kind of muddled through it, and I didn’t think anyone knew."
"Honey, did you enjoy the experience?"
"You mean besides being scared to death most of the time?" His mom nodded, "Yes," he said softly, "it was neat to be seen as a girl, and I learned a lot. I mean how it is for a girl; some things are better and some are worse – but I never really thought about it before." There was a long pause and Mike asked, "Does Aunt Meg know?" Mike almost didn’t ask, but he had to know.
"Yes, you were kind of set up last night."
"Ohhh," he sighed.
"Does dad know?" He asked in a small voice.
"Your dad is a very cleaver guy, he knows about your deception with Aunt Meg – he told me about it, the night he first met Aunt Meg. He also told me why he thought you were doing it, which is why we didn’t say anything. He was spot on too."
"Wow, Patty and I thought he picked up on the female pronouns that night, but when he didn’t say anything, I thought he forgot about it."
"Honey, we know how difficult it has been for you moving so much, and how much a good friend like Patty could mean to you. I honestly don’t know how much he saw of you last night." She giggled and said, "But he sure didn’t see you refreshing your makeup in the lady’s room." Mike giggled sheepishly at that too, "He pointed Patty and her Aunt out to me when we were waiting at the bar for our table, but you were facing away from us, and I don’t think he recognized you right away. I wanted to talk to you before I told him everything. I did tell him I had lunch with Aunt Meg yesterday, but I was fuzzy with details. However, knowing him, I imagine he has put the whole thing together."
Mike took a deep breath, "So is Aunt Meg going to keep Patty from seeing me?"
"No, I don’t think so, she is very concerned about Patty being lonely and having worthwhile friends, just as we are about you. She thinks that you two make perfect friends, except for one little detail."
"I’m a boy?"
"Basically, but she saw last night just how much your friendship meant to the two of you. She is talking to Patty now, but I think we have reached a compromise. I want to talk to you and see if your part is acceptable to you."
"Boy mom, I really hope something can be worked out – you are pretty wonderful to be so understanding." Mike moved next to his mother and hugged her. All the strain of last night came out. Cathy felt it and cried with him. It was some time before they stopped crying, he had never felt so close to his mother in his entire life. He sat back down and they both dried their eyes with tissues.
"Mike let me tell you, I saw Patty in the ladies room refreshing her makeup. Then when you joined her at the mirrors I really thought you were a girl friend of hers. It wasn’t until I made eye contact through the mirror as you powdered your nose that I realized it was you. You are a very good actor – actress."
"Are you ashamed that your son wore a dress into the lady’s room?"
"Goodness no, you couldn’t very well have gone into the men’s room dressed like that. When I got back to our table your father and I watched you."
"What! We were watching you, and you never turned around."
"There are mirrors on some of the glass dividers, and I didn’t have to turn around. Parents can be pretty sneaky too."
"I’ll say," the boy said with a rueful smile.
"You two looked exactly like close girlfriends your age, you did nothing to give yourselves away. I especially liked the way the two of you handled the boys; your body language was just perfect. I felt like applauding."
"They were gross. I never realized before how obnoxious some boys can be. That is something I’m still thinking about; I couldn’t have felt how a girl feels in that situation any other way. I mean unless it was happening to me. Let me tell you what happened at the mall…
…So then we rejoined Aunt Meg."
"Did Stacy and Pam suspect you were a boy?"
"No, not at all. They might have thought I was a little quiet, but then they thought that I didn’t know them or the friends they were talking about. I was worried the whole time they would recognize me, but they didn’t – Patty said I was silly to worry, but she wasn’t the boy sitting there in a short dress either."
"So, do you think you will do it again? I mean dress as a girl."
"I guess that depends on you, Dad, and Aunt Meg. I wouldn’t mind though."
"Aunt Meg doesn’t think it is proper for a boy to spend so much time with Patty, she really isn’t old enough to date – and neither are you."
"Oh no, that is what we were afraid of," Mike said crestfallen.
"On the other hand you are both very mature and responsible for your ages, and both of you need a good friend. There may be a way out if Patty agrees. How would it be if, when you were visiting Patty at her house, you not only answered as Michelle, but dressed like Michelle?"
"Why, if Aunt Meg knows?" Mike asked with a frown.
"Starting in late September, several clubs that she belongs to become very active. Often it is her turn for her to host them at her home. Women are always dropping by, and she doesn’t want them thinking a boy is with Patty so much of the time – many of them are divorced and have a low opinion of males. Besides I think she believes that you will behave yourself better dressed as a girl."
"I don’t know if it will make me behave better, I don’t behave badly dressed as a boy," Mike replied earnestly.
"I know that honey, but I wanted you to know where Aunt Meg is coming from," Cathy said with a wink.
"I guess I can understand that, but all men aren’t bad. She doesn’t know dad well, he is a pretty super guy."
"Honey, he really is, you have no idea. I can’t tell you how much I love and respect him. But a lot of women aren’t as lucky as I. Well, what do you think, could you do that?" Cathy asked seriously.
"I don’t see why not, and I don’t think Patty would mind either. I kind of liked dressing as a girl, and let me tell you that it actually makes shopping fun," Mike ended enthusiastically.
"What do you mean honey?" Cathy asked with interest.
"Lets face it mom, boys clothes are a snap to shop for. Need pants, buy pants – need a shirt, buy a shirt, no fuss, in and out of the store in five minutes. Dad and I only take longer than that in Sears because we look at the automobile, computers, and TV stuff on the way out. But girls have fun shopping for clothes together; I just realized last night that shopping is a social event. So many choices and they talk over every detail. Even girls we didn’t know joined in the discussion. For the first time I really participated.
It wouldn’t be the same if I were dressed as Mike shopping with you or Patty; I really couldn’t share anything. For instance, if I were shopping with you, I couldn’t select things to try on with you. You might ask my opinion, but what am I going to say? I’d answer simply that I like it or not, probably that it looks fine, just like dad always does. Men aren’t expected to actually discuss the merits of every detail of an outfit; you would think we were weird or something if we did. But as Michelle, I discussed details and my opinion with Patty meant something, as hers did with me. Aunt Meg actually bought me a cute outfit. It was great fun trying outfits on, and finally picking one out!"
"What is the outfit like?" Cathy asked with increasing interest.
Mike was clearly excited as he told her, "It has a pleated plaid skirt that comes a few inches above my knee, and the pleats start about my lower tummy," he stood showing her by pointing at his body. Continuing, "The plaid is in lovely soft autumn colors with stripes of spring green, and it actually matches my coloring. Then we picked out a predominantly green blouse, with tiny muted orange and green flowers on the collar that pick up the color of my hair, eyes, and the skirt. We found an angora sweater that worked with everything else for colder days; it’s very soft and doesn’t scratch like my woolen sweaters.
I can actually make several different looking outfits with those major pieces. I got a pair of black Mary Janes and beige pumps, a pair of white tights and another pair in suntan, knee socks for warmer days, and lacy ankle socks – and some really super undies. If I want to wear just the sweater without the blouse, I have a nice cotton cami with lace trim. For a different look, I have a lacy slip that shows a little through my blouse. See what I mean, there is a lot to know, and it is fun."
"Would you mind being my daughter some days too?" Cathy asked softly.
"No, I think I’d like that," Mike answered.
"Honey, I love you very much – Mike is a super great son. However, I have always wanted to have a daughter too," Cathy said softly.
"I’d love a little sister!" Mike enthused.
His quick answer surprised her, but she replied, "I don’t mean that. I’ve never told you this before, as there was never a reason. I can’t have any more children, or you would have had a brother or sister long ago. But as much as I love you as a son, I would dearly love to have a daughter to do girl things with every now and then. Can you understand that?"
"Sure, it will be fun to be your part time daughter, and I’m sure Patty would love to be your adopted daughter. I think this will work out fine," Mike’s eyes were shining!
"Well there is one problem, I love you as my son, and I don’t want you to become a girl. You really can’t you know," Cathy said seriously.
"I know that, and I don’t want to be a girl. I like being a boy, but it is going to be fun playing a girl too. It’s the same as playing a character in a play, like I did last year in the park theater," Mike said smiling with the memory.
"Let me call Aunt Meg now, if she is through talking with Patty – and that went okay – I told her we would stop over. I notice you have a bra on."
"You sure don’t miss much mom. Beginning last night, Aunt Meg has hugged me as much as she hugs Patty. Patty thought Aunt Meg would notice if I didn’t have one on today – and think that it was strange. She has Patty wear one all the time because nice young ladies should. I thought I could take it off behind a dune on the way home, but there are visitors all over the place today and I couldn’t."
Mike’s mom looked thoughtful for a moment with a little smile playing at the corners of her mouth, "I bought an outfit for you yesterday, would you like to wear it over. If it fits, I mean."
"Sure, do you think dad will mind?" Mike said with a worried look on his young face.
"No, I think he will understand…
And truthfully, I can’t wait to see my daughter again…
…So do you like it?" Mike’s mom said as they entered her room.
"The colors are perfect, let me try it on." Mike enthused.
In full Michelle mode now, she took off Mike’s outer school clothes, shoes, and socks. Her mom smiled when Michelle in panties, bra, and cami grabbed a brush and asked, "Can you fix my hair like last night? I haven’t gotten the knack of it yet."
"I’d love to dear, but that will take too long. However…
…I can do much better, when we have more time. Let me look at your face…
…You will have to wear a little lipstick and lip liner to make your lips look fuller, a little mascara, and eyebrow pencil as a disguise. Otherwise, your face will be too recognizable as Mike’s. Mainly, your lips need to be fuller and your eyes highlighted a little. Come over to my vanity and we’ll try a few things."
"Patty will be jealous, she’s only allowed to wear a little lipstick most of the time."
"But her eyebrows have probably been shaped, you can’t because Mike needs them mostly intact. Your eyelashes are so blond, so you need a little mascara because it changes the appearance of your eyes quite dramatically. See, with the bangs, the high ponytail, scrunchy, and a little makeup you really have a girl’s head now. Thank God, you don’t have a visible Adam’s apple…
…And put this beauty mark above your upper lip and here on your neck whenever you are Michelle – but make sure to remove them as Mike. You may need something immediately recognizable you can point to that differentiates Mike from Michelle. You’ll have to remember to check yourself very carefully after changing either way. That nail polish you still have on could have been very embarrassing…"
"Oh my God, I didn’t even notice."
"Well, no damage today, but you really have to be careful."
"I will! Can I put on my outfit now mom?"
"Sure…
…These socks have a nice lace trim, fold them like this…
…Oh, you put those sandals on just like a girl…
…Let me zip it for you. You need some jewelry…
…We will have to go to the mall and get Mike some earrings like boys wear later today; you have the Teflon inserts, good…"
Michelle finally looked in the mirror, and her mom was right beside her as she said, "Wow! We really do look like mother and daughter…"
Cathy beamed with pride and affection for her new daughter. This was ever so much better than she had hoped.
"…Here’s a purse, honey."
Michelle looked in the mirror and twirled like a model exclaiming, "I love it mommy, it’s just perfect." She turned to her mother with shining eyes and said, "Thank you." And conveyed much more with her eyes, the hug and the kiss.
"Ready to go dear?"
"I guess, gosh I hope this works out. With Aunt Meg I mean," Michelle said
"I think it will, we have done our part, now it’s up to Aunt Meg and Patty."
"I’ll keep my fingers crossed mom!" Actually, the new girls heart was in her mouth too – so much was at stake.
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
4 – A Most Curious Arrangement
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
As Cathy drove Michelle to Aunt Meg’s, she wasn’t sure that she was doing the right thing by helping to feminize her son. She had called Aunt Meg and set up the luncheon yesterday, and was frankly amazed to find out that Meg actually believed Mike was a girl – even after almost daily contact, over more than two weeks. It took several minutes for her to calm Meg down when she was told the truth.
Cathy had severe misgivings when Meg proposed taking Mike out dressed as a girl, which was when she made her counter proposal. Both women backed up a bit, and considered how important the friendship had become to their children. Cathy only agreed after Meg promised not to embarrass her son, besides, she figured that he was very resourceful, and would most likely pull it off. She never expected he could pull it off so well, or enjoy the experience so much.
But pragmatically it solved so many immediate problems. Not the least of which was her persistent yearning to have a daughter to occasionally do ‘girl’ things with. Mike was handling this very intelligently, and she had looked for signs of sexual arousal from the dressing. Seeing none, she figured he was probably too young, or it simply wasn’t a factor in his dressing. It was something to be watched, and she definitely had to talk with Dr. Potter. He worked in the psychiatric clinic attached to the HMO where she was a surgical nurse.
Michelle looked both happy and a little apprehensive – there was no doubt Patty’s friendship meant the world to her. I wonder how Patty is taking my conditions? Now that will be a measure of how important Mike/Michelle is to her. Cathy realized that she didn’t know Patty at all, except through Mike’s eyes, because Mike had always visited at Aunt Meg’s house. ‘I’m looking forward to getting to know you Patty Nolan, are YOU worthy to be my son’s – AND my daughter’s – best friend?’ Cathy thought as they stopped in front of the house.
Patty answered the door on the first ring.
Michelle said formally, "Hi Patty, I’d like to introduce you to my mother Mrs. Cathy Parsons. Mother this is my best friend, Patty Nolan."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Parsons, please come in. Aunt Meg is waiting for you in the sun room," Patty responded with a little curtsey.
Cathy hugged Patty warmly, saying, "It’s a real pleasure to meet you Patty."
As they entered the sunroom, Aunt Meg stood and said, "Good to see you again Cathy," and the two women embraced briefly. Then she hugged Michelle saying, "And very good to see you so soon Michelle. I love your outfit."
"Isn’t it nice? Mom got it for me yesterday, and it fits perfectly," Michelle responded turning and showing it off.
"Would you care for some tea?" Aunt Meg asked looking at Cathy.
"That would be nice, thank you."
"Girls would you mind bringing it in for us? The pot is prepared, but the water needs boiling. Oh, and bring any treat you would enjoy too."
As soon as they were out of earshot Patty took Michelle’s arm and asked, "So what did your mom say?"
It all spilled out of Michelle, "We were set up last night, she had lunch with Aunt Meg yesterday…
However, mom understood why we did it, she and dad watched us in the restaurant through a mirror last night too…
Dad caught on that first night he picked me up, so they knew all along something was up…
I don’t think Aunt Meg knew I was a boy until Mom had lunch with her yesterday…
I think she likes me as a person, but doesn’t want to be reminded that I’m a boy."
Patty said, "Yes, I agree. She must have had a horrible marriage. She doesn’t talk about it – but I know it must have been grim – she got an enormous settlement though…
That’s a cute outfit, it’s perfect on you – how did you get it?"
"I think mom really wants a part time daughter, she bought this outfit for me yesterday after her lunch with Aunt Meg. Do you really like it?" Michelle modeled it.
"Yes, your mom has great taste for what looks nice on you. Do you think she likes me?" Patty asked anxiously.
"I think she will, I have told her a lot about you over the past few weeks. Everything I told her was true, and she liked what she heard. In fact, she wants me to be her daughter sometimes, and for you to be her adopted daughter. Mom said she told Aunt Meg that she wanted you to do something. But she didn’t tell me what, is it too bad?"
"You won’t believe this, she wants me to spend equal time at your house – and to dress as a boy and do boy things with you and your dad."
"Wow, that would be pretty neat, I would have a brother and a sister. Wait, do you want to do that?"
"Sure, if you can be a part time girl, I can be a part time boy," Patty said proudly. "Having you as a friend is very, very important to me, and I think I can have every bit as much fun as a boy as you can have as a girl…"
Twenty minutes later.
"…We better take in the tea, or they will be able to walk on it," Patty sighed.
"Oh there you are loves, have a seat, and join us." Aunt Meg positively cooed.
Michelle handed out the cups, Patty poured, and Michelle offered sugar and milk. After the scones and jam were offered, the girls sat with their Cokes.
"Well girls, this is a very unusual arrangement, and one that we must take pains to keep within our families. However, I think it will benefit both of you immensely. I know from talking to Michelle that she has already gained quite an insight into girls and their problems, which will help make her a more understanding person. There is much to be said for walking in the shoes of another. I’m proud of both of you." Cathy began.
"Michelle please don’t misunderstand, I think Mike is a fine person. I wouldn’t let Patty in the guise of Nicholas visit him if I didn’t believe that. It is just that when you are here, with all the people I have visit me, I want to maintain the illusion that you and Patty are simply close girlfriends. Both Michelle and Mike are a credit to their family’s love and upbringing, and I know Nicholas and Patty will be also. Now, is there any problem you two see with the arrangement?" Aunt Meg asked.
"No, I think it will be fun – and I know I’ll learn a lot too. I don’t know why more kids don’t do it." Patty said enthusiastically.
"Most kids are not mature enough to handle this as intelligently as you two. Nor are they as highly motivated to make this succeed," Cathy smiled. "Michelle, is this still okay with you?" Cathy asked.
"Sure. We talked it over in the kitchen, and we agree that its not every day one adds a full grown sister and brother to her family."
"In that case, why don’t we all go to the mall? Michelle has to get some boy style earrings for her brother Mike, ones that he can wear to school Monday. And I have to get a pair of boy earrings and some other things for my new son, Nicholas, to wear tonight and tomorrow when he visits." Cathy added with a smile.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
As Cathy drove home from the mall, she was very pleased. She thought ruefully that daughters are much higher maintenance than boys – but ever so much more fun to take shopping. However, with her income as a surgical nurse, they could well afford to add some reality to this fantasy. She hoped Roger would enjoy his new son as much as she enjoyed Patty. Cathy couldn’t imagine a prettier or more graceful ‘adopted’ daughter. But Michelle was learning – already she was getting in and out of a car in a short skirt modestly and with a bit of grace – ‘probably better than half the twelve year old girls in the mall,’ Cathy thought with satisfaction.
Roger was waiting on the porch reading a book when she pulled up. "Well, how did it go?" he asked, as she sat next to him.
"You now have a new ‘adopted’ son, whose name is Nicholas. And I have a new ‘adopted’ daughter, whose name is Patty. Our son Mike is now occasionally our daughter Michelle…
…Think you can keep all that straight?"
"Sure, I’ll just look at what they are wearing," Roger answered, pragmatic as usual. "Do you think they can keep all this straight, I mean without becoming confused – like permanently?"
Cathy smiled as she said, "You did," quickly adding, "In their case I think they will keep their own identities with no problem, but it would also be prudent for us both to keep our eyes open for signs of trouble. They are two highly intelligent kids, and they both seem to have a firm grasp of who they actually are. They are treating this like they are acting a part in a play."
"What are the signs of trouble?" Roger asked.
"I can’t really say precisely. I guess signs that they are beginning to forget who they really are, but at least with Mike that will be difficult to tell, because when he is playing Michelle, he is very, very convincing. However, he always responds to a direct question from me saying that he knows it’s just a game and that he is Mike pretending to be Michelle. Probably any indication that they are identifying strongly with their imaginary role, and shunning their actual persona, would indicate a problem. I’m going to talk to Dr. Potter at the clinic, and see what he thinks of this little experiment. He is a fellow member of Mensa, and a clinical psychiatrist who has taught and done research on human sexuality at Princeton. However, I haven’t introduced myself to him as yet."
"I don’t think you should wait too long to acquaint him with our little experiment. Are the kids staying overnight with Meg?"
"No, she is still at the mall having Patty’s hair done in a style that can be easily changed to a boy’s style. Michelle is having her hair done too. Meg says Patty has resisted any change to her long hair before, but she seems eager now. That is a very important sign that Mike is important to her. I expect them all here about five thirty – Mr. Harris is meeting them at the mall and will drive them here. We need to set up the guest room because it has twin beds; I want the two kids to stay there when Nicholas visits. We can keep a close eye on them, and we don’t have to worry about Nicholas falling down those steep stairs, going to and from the bathroom in the middle of the night."
"Want me to move Mike’s stuff downstairs?" Roger asked.
"No, might as well leave it upstairs. His computer needs the phone line and that is the only place that has the wires for that number, and most of his games and the TV are in the family room anyhow. I hate to admit it, but Michelle has more clothes now than Mike does already; girls are much higher maintenance that way."
"Are we headed to the poorhouse?" Roger asked with a little grin.
Cathy laughed saying, "Not yet, but then again, Michelle isn’t old enough for a prom gown or to be a bride." Roger gasped involuntarily.
"Seriously," Cathy continued, "I really had a ball with her at the mall today. Michelle is nothing like Mike or you to go shopping with, she really gets into the spirit of the thing. Patty’s walk in closet is darn near as big as Mike’s entire room. However, there is a few feet of rack space left for Michelle to use – and they both wear the same sizes in many things, thank God."
"I take it Michelle will keep her things at Meg’s then."
"Most of them, and Nicholas will keep most of his things here. I will keep a few of Michelle’s outfits in Mike’s and my closet," Cathy answered with a twinkle in her eye.
"You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?"
"Yes, it will be really nice to have daughters occasionally. It’s amazing how Mike can switch to Michelle and back without any apparent problem. I’m afraid it’s going to take us some getting used to it though," Cathy responded.
"This will at least liven up this winter. I’ve juggled schedules with the men to have free time after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, so I’ll keep the boys busy on those days. This is turning out to be a good thing for me too, as it is forcing me to make Mike a priority again; I had kind of slipped out of spending quality time with him. What do you want to do when they get here?"
"The plan is for me to take Patty up to Mike’s room alone for this first time and help her look like Nicholas – Michelle will change to Mike in our room, I’ll leave his clothes there now. Tomorrow you will have to take the boys to the mall and get a few things for Nicholas – I’ll make a list. We all will have a late supper here tonight. I picked up some chickens and sides at Boston Market on the way home, and I’ll bring them in from the car to warm in the oven now," Cathy said as she stood.
"I’m curious to see how well Nicholas adapts to doing boy things. How developed physically is Nicholas?" Roger asked.
"In shorts without tops," Cathy giggled as she continued, "and bras, the two children’s bodies look nearly identical. Patty hasn’t started to enter puberty yet, but for a twelve and a half year old girl these days, it can’t be too far away. Mike and you will have to help Nicholas with mannerisms and things during the week, and I have a few suggestions that will help Nicholas," Cathy waved her hand as she said that.
"What do you have in mind?"
Cathy said over her shoulder on the way back to the car, "I’ll let him show you." Cathy had one of those half smiles that Roger knew from experience held surprises.
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
5 – Walking In Another’s Shoes
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
Cathy stretched in place like a contented kitten and glanced at the clock. She was a morning person, and usually woke exactly one minute before the alarm would sound. For some reason she thought of her roommate at USC. Debbie appreciated the lack of a jarring alarm, but because she wasn’t a morning person, she was often late for first period classes.
Cathy looked over at Roger’s sleeping form, and felt a little quiver of satisfaction for the love they shared. She was still delightfully tender from last night, and felt a little guilty disturbing him as she left the bed, because Roger didn’t have to get up immediately. But it was Monday and she must awaken Mike for school.
After tending to nature, she thought she smelled something good cooking. Curiosity piqued, she walked downstairs to the kitchen.
"Hi honey, what cha’ doing?"
"I thought I’d get breakfast started from now on, to make mornings less of a hassle for you," Mike said.
"That’s sweet of you, but I don’t mind doing it."
"I wake up early anyhow, and since it only takes me ten minutes to shower and dress, I thought you could take a little more time for yourself. I know from first hand experience that it takes longer for girls to get ready, so this should work out fine."
"Well okay, but if it gets too much for you let me know," Cathy responded.
Mike flipped the hash brown potatoes with a deft wrist movement, and then turned the bacon. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his mom still standing there. So, he put down the spatula and took two steps toward her giving her a hug, "And mom, I love you bunches; you are the best mom that ever was."
Cathy hugged Mike back, and a few tears of joy appeared at the corners of her eyes. She pulled away slightly and noticed a few tears leaking from Mike’s eyes too, but his face was utterly peaceful. ‘What a wonderful way to start the week,’ she thought.
Cathy stayed and talked with Mike, and just when the potatoes and bacon were cooked and set on low, Roger came in. It was a nice day so they all went outside to do their morning family Wushu workout. After the vigorous twenty-minute exercise, Mike made the scrambled eggs, his dad poured the milk and coffee, while Cathy made toast – and then they ate, with gusto.
Cathy took her shower while Mike and his dad cleaned up the kitchen. Then Mike took his shower, dressed, and left for school with his mom. Roger ran a brisk three miles along the ocean on the packed sand near the water, showered, and was ready to start work at nine. That pretty much set the pattern for most weekday mornings in the Parsons’ household.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
On Monday afternoon, the bus let the children off at the park entrance, and Mike’s dad was waiting in the park ranger jeep for them. As they climbed in he asked, "How was school today?"
"Dad it was great! Our team won again, I made seven outs and a double play while playing second base, and I got a double and home run," Mike said excitedly.
"Patty how was your day?"
"It was good except for soccer, I’m a real klutz at that." The pretty girl said resignedly.
"Well, before we go shopping let’s see if I can give you a few pointers. I played soccer in high school and college, and it hasn’t been that long ago. Don’t expect immediate miracles, soccer is a game of stamina and that takes a while to build."
"Dad’s a great teacher Patty, it won’t be long before you are having fun playing the game. I think it will be easier when you change into Nicholas, and then you can do boy things like a boy would," Mike said with an encouraging smile.
Patty took a quick shower, mainly to wash her hair. While in the bathroom, she put on the boys’ slippers, briefs, and T-shirt. Hair still wet the new boy joined Mike in their second floor bedroom. The two boys finished dressing in Mike’s boy’s jeans, plaid shirts, and sneakers and thick white socks. Wet and clean Nicholas’ hair was easy to arrange flat under a baseball cap. Mike wore a baseball cap too, but kept his hair in the style of his favorite TV star Fernando Lamas.
"Here is a present my dad got for you Nicholas," Mike said with a big smile.
Mike handed the new boy a pair of skull and crossbones pirate’s earrings and assisted putting them in. Nicholas added two small scars using crazy glue to his face, and filled in his arched eyebrows with a pencil as Mike’s mother had shown him last night.
The two children looked in the mirror at two smiling boys, before rushing happily downstairs. They found Mike’s dad in the kitchen ‘sampling’ the beef stew from the crock-pot that he had prepared earlier. They all had a taste and Nicholas said, "That is really good, how do you make it?"
"That is a family secret passed down from generation to generation to the men in my family," Roger said conspiratorially, and continued, "But, my new son, it is yours when you have mastered soccer – or at least the basics," he ended with a broad smile.
With that they all went out to the front and Roger began the soccer lesson. Mike was an old hand at the game, but he really liked baseball too. Instead of showing off, he worked to reinforce each element of the lesson with Nicholas. Before an hour was up, the three were passing the ball to each other using only their feet, elbows, and heads. The main lesson Nicholas learned that day was not to be afraid of the ball hitting his forehead – and to make sure it was his forehead and not his nose.
About five, they all washed up and changed shirts and underwear, stirred the stew, and left for the Toms River Mall. Roger had a list from Cathy, and they headed for the boy’s department first. Another park ranger on his way out of the store waylaid Roger, and the two discussed park business for a short while. Nicholas stood close to Mike and said, "This is really scary. Do you think I look enough like a boy?"
"Don’t use your hands so much when you talk, but other than that you don’t look that much different than me, and with the bushy eyebrows you don’t look like yourself, I mean Patty."
"Weren’t you afraid you would be recognized as Mike when you were dressed as Michelle?"
"Afraid? Me? No, terrified describes it best. But mostly only at first – truthfully, I guess the fear was always in the back of my mind. But I think in reality people see what they expect to see. If both dad and I say you are Nicholas Parsons, my dad’s nephew, then people will accept you as such. Remember to put your hands in your pockets a lot, and slouch a bit – you really look like a boy to me. Look in that mirror over there."
"You’re right, I guess I really have nothing to worry about…
Oh my God! Look over there. No! Don’t turn around. That’s Bobby and Tommy Waterman, do you think they are following me?" Nick gasped.
"No, they probably just need to buy something," the two boys moved slowly so Mike could see them, and he said, "They are with their mother, and that little girl holding her hand must be their sister. They are heading over to the girl’s clothing section. Whoops, Bobby has seen me, and he and Tommy are walking over. Just be cool, I know just how you feel – but remember they didn’t recognize me Friday night."
"That was a lucky hit today Mike, just wait until Thursdays game," Bobby said by way of hello.
"I’m looking forward to it - if you’re going to be pitching. I should be good for at least another home run or two. Unless you walk me like you did twice today." Mike taunted back.
"Whose your friend?" Tommy asked.
"Nicholas Parsons, he’s my cousin from Lanoka Harbor. He visits me a lot, because his mom works odd hours in the hospital. Nick, this is Bobby Waterman; he is a freshman in Intermediate school with me," Nick and Bobby shook hands. "And this is his brother Tommy who is sophomore in my school," Nick shook hands with him too as he pumped himself up. Mike was pleased to see Nick grasp both boys’ hands firmly in a male handshake.
"I thought you were always with your girlfriend, is she two timing you?" Bobby asked.
Tommy added, "You know we were out dancing with her and her friend last Friday night, and let me tell you her friend was a real hottie."
"No kidding, well Patty and I are just good friends – we study together a lot. I’m glad to hear that she and Michelle had a good time Friday. She mentioned going to dinner with her cousin, and told me that she had a very good time. I know Patty is a great dancer, so I hope you didn’t step on their toes too often."
Tommy looked a little disappointed that he didn’t get the expected reaction out of Mike. In the meantime, Bobby was looking at Nicholas’ face, and Mike could tell Nick was getting uneasy. But Bobby just asked, "Where did you get those neat scars?"
Mike could almost feel the sigh of relief from Nick as he gave the prepared answer, "I was sliding into home last year, and the catcher’s cleats gouged my face. I waited too long before going to the doctor and that was a mistake. Where did you get that long one on your hand?"
"I slammed the van’s door on his hand when I was in second grade," Tommy bragged, "he was holding a glass at the time," he finished with a smirk.
"You should see the one on his foot from when I accidentally shattered our back door last year," Bobby added, not to be out done.
"Why don’t you guys hang out in the school yard after hours?" Tommy asked.
"Can’t, I live in the park and take the bus home right after school, Nick’s mother drops him off and picks him up after work. Do you live close to school?" Mike asked.
"Yes, it’s a few blocks from our house, we usually ride our bikes to school, or in real bad weather mom drops and picks us up – they leave the gym open…"
The conversation continued for a while until Roger finished his conversation and indicated to the boys that it was time to pick up what they came for. Mike introduced his dad and observed, that unlike girls, who would have ‘helped’ Patty and Michelle, shop, Tommy and Bobby walked over to the TV section and began playing with a Play Station on display.
"Feel better now?" Mike asked Nick.
"Yes, but they had me sweating."
"See, you are a boy now. According to Aunt Meg only boys sweat, girls mist."
Nick poked Mike in the ribs and groaned as they followed Roger to the boy’s wear section.
Nicholas didn’t want baggy jeans, which reduced his choices almost to size alone. The half dozen shirts and jean outfits were chosen because they all looked alike, and one was tried on in five minutes. Nicholas was surprised that boy’s sizes were so uniform. They selected a nice suit like Mike’s good suit. Two dress shirts and ties were chosen in another five minutes; no alterations were necessary when Nicholas tried the suit on.
Cathy had picked up all the necessary underwear and socks on Sunday, so all that remained on the list was a pair of dress shoes, and another pair of boys sneakers. In another five minutes, the new boy was prepared to be as sartorially elegant as Mike ever was. Then they browsed the electronic, fishing, and computer sections of Sears and returned home by six thirty. Nicholas noted with a slight pang, "It took longer to go to and from the mall, than we spent shopping."
Mike said, "Yeah, it was a good shopping trip," and his father nodded in agreement.
By the time they returned home, Cathy had set the table, and put a good-sized chunk of Russian corn rye bread from the freezer into the oven to warm. She wasn’t surprised to find all the new purchases put away by the time she got upstairs, and that no one was interested in modeling the new clothes. She sighed thinking, ‘males have no fun.’ At dinner, Cathy noted Nicholas was doing a decent job of mimicking Mike’s behavior. Just as Michelle tried to sit erect and modestly like Patty, Nicholas slouched a little and ate with bigger mouthfuls like Mike. And occasionally talked with his mouth full, which, she noted in despair, Roger occasionally did too.
After dinner while they all cleaned up, Roger told Nicholas, "Your soccer is coming along well, so I will share one of the secret ingredients – caraway seeds. The meat is dusted with flour mixed with caraway seeds among other spices, and then browned - more secrets after our next successful soccer lesson."
Nicholas groaned, but gave Roger a quick hug and thanks like Mike was wont to do.
The two boys went upstairs to do their homework. About nine, they finished and played some Nintendo downstairs, had a glass of milk and some recently baked cookies. The two boys were asleep before ten.
In the morning, Mike prepared breakfast and Cathy woke Patty and laid out her school clothes. They all did the Wushu exercises, but Cathy showed Patty the beginners’ regime. After the workout, they ate breakfast. Bathroom time was tight as the two children and Cathy had to shower, but they all were dressed and ready to leave for school and work on time.
Tuesday the telephone man was there when the boys arrived home from school. The two ‘helped’ him install the new DSL phone connection for his computer. Actually, they did help by listening for the chirper on the wires terminating in the outside box. One by one, they tagged and identified where the wires ran inside.
As a present for doing so well in school, the normal phone line the computer had been hooked up to was left active for a ‘teen’ phone for Mike. Nicholas wished he could get a phone line in his room, and the two boys discussed ways to win Aunt Meg to their side.
After the phone man left, the rest of the day was a replay of Monday sans shopping. While the boys were doing an unusually heavy homework assignment, Roger prepared superb Veal Parmesan for dinner – thereby gaining another carrot to encourage Nicholas’ soccer training.
Nick went home about nine, as Aunt Meg called – she was beginning to feel a little lonely.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Wednesday, after school, Mike and Patty walked the half block from the bus stop to Patty’s. Since Aunt Meg was entertaining, they entered through the back pantry door, and went directly up to Patty’s room using the pantry stairs. Both children were a bit stinky from PE, but Patty asked that the soon to be Michelle take his shower first. Before entering the bathroom, Mike took his boy earrings from her ears and attached them to his boy shirt. Patty busied herself picking out pretty dresses and things for the two of them. While Michelle was showering, she selected undies from Michelle’s own drawer in Patty’s huge dresser.
Mike enjoyed taking his shower as a girl; everything smelled so good, and left his skin so soft and smooth. His hair took longer than this morning, because he added the rinse and conditioning step. He made up a little time by brushing his teeth thoroughly while the rinse worked it’s magic. He really didn’t have to, but he shaved his underarms and touched up his legs a lick anyway. Patty had mentioned that they would be wearing pantyhose and sleeveless sun dresses. Stepping out of the shower he wrapped his long hair in a towel, and noticed Patty had put all of Michelle’s undies on the stool as usual.
The new girl to be started with her panties and pantyhose, automatically tucking his parts, then put on her bra placing the helpers in as Patty had showed her. A gorgeous lace trimmed slip was next, and she noted with satisfaction that Michelle was looking back at her from the mirror. She knocked and the two girls exchanged rooms.
Michelle sat down at Patty’s vanity, remembering to smooth her slip as she entered full Michelle mode, and began working on her eyes after dusting her face with translucent powder from her makeup kit. She followed her mother’s instructions exactly so that Mike’s face would be effectively disguised, but lightly so that she wouldn’t look made up.
Before outlining her lips to new fullness, she put a beauty mark above her upper lip, and another on her neck, using a blunt eyeliner pencil, in exactly the places her mother had chosen. The final step was carefully applying color on her outlined lips. As her mother had shown her, she popped her lips away from her teeth with her finger, to prevent smearing the lipstick on her teeth. A very pretty girl looked back at her, and broke into a broad smile showing off her even white teeth.
"My that was fast," Patty said, as she entered the room dressed in a beautiful slip similar to Michelle’s. "You look wonderful! Let me plug in my curling iron and I’ll do your hair – do you think you can do mine?"
"I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee how it will turn out."
"It can’t be any worse than when I have a bad hair day."
"Okay, just tell me what to do. By the way, these are really gorgeous slips, it is a shame to hide all this lace and beautiful color under a dress," Michelle said as she examined the fine lace trim on the turquoise silk slip.
"Aunt Meg says it is enough for us to know its there, and just knowing its there makes me feel good sometimes. Besides," Patty continued with an evil little glint in her eye, "it will be seen under normal dresses occasionally as your skirt lifts. Aunt Meg says it is a great way to tease men without really exposing oneself."
"Aunt Meg might not like men, but I noticed at the restaurant and mall that she is a tease, isn’t she?"
"She says all girls should learn to flirt, and that’s just a civilized form of teasing." Patty answered with a smile.
"I’ll watch and see how you do it. Is that why we are wearing such pretty slips today?"
"No, we are certainly not going to flirt with those old biddies downstairs. With the sun dresses we will wear today the slip will actually be fully visible through the layers of chiffon. The slips are really a part of the dress’ presentation. You can make different outfits from the same chiffon sundress simply by changing slips. If we were older and more daring, we might only wear a lacy bra and panties – for a very sexy look."
"Wow, you sure have to know a lot…"
The two girls chattered happily while they did each other’s hair. It was a warm summer-like day, so they were seasonably dressed in the sundresses, but since the house was air-conditioned, their sheer pantyhose were comfortable. When they finished styling their hair, they helped each other don just-above-the knee length see through white chiffon sundresses. With their colorful slips, Patty’s dress appeared to be robin’s egg blue, while Michelle’s seemed to be a pale emerald green.
Michelle used her own small emerald studs that her mother had bought her on Sunday; she thought the sparkle of the earrings really brought out her green eyes. They discussed jewelry as Patty selected pieces from her jewelry box for each of them. Patty looked critically at the overall package in her mirror as they stood together.
"Whoops, we don’t have nail polish on – it isn’t important with jeans, but the absence with nice dresses like these will be noticed. Especially by the old biddies downstairs just waiting to pounce." Patty was giggling as she finished.
"Yikes, that isn’t something I’m looking forward to," Michelle said making a sour face.
"Don’t worry, I’m good at getting everything right. And they really don’t pounce, they just wait until you are out of the room, and then say sly mean things. Aunt Meg is good at playing their game, and she doesn’t get upset with me if I have tried to look my best."
"That’s good, this is a game I didn’t even know existed."
They did each others nails chattering about the women they were likely to meet downstairs, it was clear Patty didn’t hold them in high regard. When they were satisfied with their reflection in the mirror, they stepped into their color-coordinated pumps and walked downstairs to meet Aunt Meg’s guests.
Aunt Meg and her friends were playing bridge at two sturdy folding tables in the large living room. The deck of cards at Meg’s table was oversized, and had large clear markings on each card.
When the two girls entered, Aunt Meg introduced Michelle, "Girls you all know Patty, but I’d like you to meet her friend Michelle," Michelle curtseyed as Patty had shown her.
Aunt Meg took the faux girl’s hand saying, "Oh, how lovely you look…"
And not to be outdone the rest of the women chimed in.
"Such pretty dresses…"
"Will you look at the lace work on those slips? …"
"Why more young ladies don’t dress like that is more than I can understand…"
After five minutes of such comments Patty said, "It was very nice seeing you ladies again, but we really must be doing our homework now. Aunt Meg, is there anything we might bring you from the kitchen?"
"No dear, Eileen is preparing dinner, and has been taking good care of us all afternoon. But thank you for offering, you best just be off to study"
"As you wish, Aunt Meg."
Michelle added, "Very nice meeting you ladies, I hope to see you again," and threw in a free curtsey before exiting behind Patty.
As soon as they cleared the louvered doorway, they stopped to listen. Only good things were said, so they entered the kitchen with smirks on their faces.
Eileen, a heavyset middle-aged black woman in a dark gray domestic’s dress with a white apron, was at the stove frying pork chops. She stopped what she was doing to give Patty a hug and kiss. "So good to see you dressed so nice after the casual summer’s done – my but you look pretty, and so grown up too. Who is your lovely friend?"
"Eileen, this is my best friend Michelle, we go to school together, and she lives in the Park. Her daddy’s the chief park ranger."
"Pleased to meet you child," she gave Michelle a hug, "Any good friend of Patty’s has got to be a good friend of mine," she boomed.
"Very nice to meet you Eileen. Those pork chops smell divine," the new girl replied.
The conversation was cut short by the tinkling of a bell summoning Eileen to Aunt Meg for some service.
The two girls picked up the backpacks with their schoolbooks from the pantry. They went out on the porch, entering the sunroom from its porch door, and sat at the large wicker correspondence desk. The long sunroom was furnished with white wicker furniture, seat cushions with pastel prints, and a few watercolor boating scenes on the house wall. The room had originally been part of the porch, but three sides were enclosed by floor to ceiling windows. The floor was almost entirely covered with tan wicker mats, and the room was air-conditioned like the rest of the house. The ceiling itself was glass, with a slatted sunshade that could be drawn across it to reduce the sun’s intensity.
The women in the parlor could see the girls through a picture window, and couldn’t get over how elegantly beautiful they looked as they studied together at the wicker desk. It was like a scene from another age. Michelle was sure Aunt Meg had placed the card tables so the women would see exactly this view.
After an hour, the two girls finished their homework and were gossiping about school. Soon after, Aunt Meg’s friends were ready to leave. Eileen told the girls and they entered the living room to say good-bye. That ritual done, Eileen put the dinner on the dining room table and left for home in a taxi. Before she left, Aunt Meg gave her a check for her work, and cash for her carfare.
Dinner was finished and cleaned up by six-thirty. They sat with Aunt Meg watching the news – a requirement for their Thursday social studies class. The news had just ended when the front doorbell rang. "That will be Cathy," Aunt Meg said, "she called me earlier and said that she was going to stop over. And she said she had a surprise for you two."
The cloud of chiffon and silk materialized at the now open front door. "Oh," Cathy cooed, "you two look adorable."
"Do you like it mommy?" The two girls turned as if they had practiced it, but were giggling when they curtseyed together.
Cathy scooped Michelle up in her arms saying, "I love having a beautiful daughter!" Then gave Patty equal time. They moved into the TV room with each child carrying a shopping bag. "Meg you were right, these sundresses are adorable on them, they look like sisters. Did they pass muster with your bridge club?"
"With flying colors, see for yourself, they are perfectly turned out. Even Marsha Higgins could find no fault, and that’s a first."
"The praise belongs 100% with Patty, she made sure everything was perfect before we left her room. All I did was follow her lead." The erstwhile boy said demurely.
Meg shook her head, "She is perfect as you can see, what an actress – and she never forgets a line. No wonder I didn’t realize the trick those two imps were pulling. I love the two of you." With that, she rose and hugged the two girls, and then greeted Cathy with a more restrained hug.
"What’s our surprise Mommy?" Michelle asked jumping a little.
"I got us all new jogging outfits, and I thought we could all go for a run tonight."
"Cathy, I’m so out of shape I couldn’t run across the room – especially after Eileen’s stuffed pork chops."
"Come on Meg, you’ll look great in the outfit I got you…"
Twenty minutes later two women and two twelve-year-old girls appeared on Meg’s front porch in identical jogging outfits. The tights were an open weave, stretchy gray cotton; the leotards were a shiny red with black accents; each sported gray terry headbands and wristbands. They had red lace trimmed cotton socks and gray Nike-for-Women running shoes. All had their hair up in high ponytails held by red scrunchies – four very classy joggers, without question.
They ran a few blocks east to the beachfront, and started south into the park at waters edge. Meg dropped out after a few blocks, and after a few thousand yards or so, Michelle and Patty stopped and sat down. Michelle could have easily continued, but she kept her friend company.
Several other joggers passed by and nodded, but none stopped. Patty noted where they were, and vowed to go further the next time. Twenty minutes later Cathy returned after jogging an additional two miles, she still looked fresh as she paused in front of them. Michelle and Patty joined her, and then Meg when they reached her. When they all returned to Meg’s home, Cathy and Michelle bid farewell, and left for their home in the park.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
So set the pattern, on school nights when the girls were at Meg’s house, Cathy would stop by for a jog – helping to build Patty’s stamina for soccer in a most pleasant way. When Nicholas visited Mike, Roger did ‘boy’ things with the two boys. Meg and Cathy made plans to attend operas, concerts, and ballet in New York City and Philadelphia with the girls on weekends, while Roger planned to attend most of those events, as well as Giants Sunday home game football and other weekend sporting events with the boys. If all went well, the two cross-dressing friends would no longer be bored or friendless. Cathy was quite content with her job, and had no desire to become an active member of Meg’s group of mostly idle socialites.
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
Four full weeks after school started, Cathy picked Patty and Mike up at school on Friday after their last class, and brought them directly to the ranger’s house. It was Aunt Meg’s birthday and Cathy, working with some of Meg’s friends, had prepared a surprise for her. As soon as the children entered the house, they scrambled upstairs and showered. As quickly as they could, they changed into the party dresses Cathy had laid out before leaving for work in the morning. To explain the children’s lateness, Cathy disguised her voice, called Meg, telling her she was from the school, and that due to the weather the buses were running an hour late.
Then Cathy helped Roger put the finishing touches on the entrée he had prepared:
Chateaubriand with béarnaise sauce
Toasted French bread with whole baked garlic
Buttered redskin potatoes with fresh parsley
Green beans amandine
Oriental mushroom compost
The two girls were at Cathy’s makeup table putting the finishing touches on their hair when she entered the room to change. Without a thought, she stripped off her nurses uniform, picked out undies and a slip and darted to the bathroom in her bra and panties for a quick shower. Fifteen minutes later she was back, and noted the girls were just finishing their makeup. She dressed quickly in a beige-rayon sleeveless belted dress with a knee length skirt that flared from the waist. The dress was trimmed with ivory lace and looked very elegant.
Michelle said excitedly, "Your dress is just like mine mom!"
"Yes, I couldn’t resist it honey, when I was a little girl, I dreamed of going to a party with my daughter dressed alike. Meg’s dress will be just like yours Patty; only she doesn’t know it yet. She doesn’t know she is having a birthday party tonight – in fact, when I talked to her this morning she thought that everybody had forgotten her birthday."
"How did you pull this off mom? Aunt Meg likes to know everything that is going on." Patty asked her adopted parent.
"Two of her close friends from her bridge club called me, after meeting Michelle with you at the last bridge party, and suggested it to me. Your dad took the initial call, and volunteered to do the entrée – I called back when I got home from work and ironed out the details. Mrs. Dawn King is bringing the cake and ice cream, and Marsha Pratt is bringing lobster bisque and a Caesar salad. We arranged with Eileen to stay late from cleaning today to serve and clean up. Peg Doyle is coming in from Philadelphia; I believe Meg and she went to Rosemont together. After dinner they are all going out to see "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" which I think is playing at the Spring Lake Theater. How is that for planning? Oh, by the way you will spend the night here with us."
"Wow, that’s super – you thought of everything..."
Several minutes later, Roger knocked on the door, "You girls decent in there?"
"Come on in, we are all ready. While you are showering, the girls and I will pack the meal up in the thermos bags."
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Roger thought the seating for dinner was interesting, to say the least. Meg’s large dining room table was set without inserts, and was roughly circular. To visualize the seating imagine the table is a clock, with Meg at noon, going clockwise Patty, Peg, Marsha, Roger, Dawn, Cathy, and Michelle. The table wasn’t crowded, but everyone was close enough to anyone to hear and be heard.
Cathy was born and raised on a ranch in Green Valley, a small town north of San Diego and a few miles from the Pacific coast – as such, she was relatively unsophisticated in city ways – and it’s advantages. She met the young navy ensign while he was taking night classes at UC-San Diego for his Masters program. It was an accident really – she was a full time day student in a nursing program, but was taking the course ‘Great Writings in History’ at night for her enjoyment.
When Cathy first saw Roger, she thought that he resembled a tall, rather more buff Harrison Ford. As he got older, she thought he grew more handsome. However, they didn’t actually date until almost the end of the semester. But Roger will tell you, that by the end of the second week of classes, he knew that somehow, someway, Cathy was going to be his wife. In a candid mood, Cathy would tell you that she knew he would be her life mate after their second class together. They both readily admit that they never had feelings like that for anyone else, before – or since.
Roger’s childhood was spent in a large home overlooking Lake Michigan about twenty miles from Chicago’s downtown. He was the last child and second son of a very urbane family – a surprise baby born ten years after his twin sisters.
The original, and now three, wholly family owned restaurants had always been popular with Chicagoans, and had been in his family for five generations. Over a hundred years of prosperity had made the family wealthy, and they enjoyed a social standing equal to many of their regular patrons. His brother and two sisters elected to stay in the family business, but Roger had a falling out with his father and joined the Navy at eighteen.
Shortly after joining the navy, he took the exam for Annapolis, passing it easily. A year later, he received an appointment to Annapolis – with the active help of a friend of his mother’s, who happened to be a U.S. Senator.
After graduation from Annapolis, he was assigned to the SEALs. Shortly after he successfully completed his SEAL training, he met Cathy, and they were married the following May. Four years later, he was given a special assignment with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA.) Much to Cathy’s dismay, he transferred to the agency as an undercover operator. Three years later, a bloody gun battle with a Columbian gang, left Roger with several bullet holes, but no lasting damage. Cathy put her foot down, so he transferred into the National Park Service. However, the DEA didn’t forget about Roger, and he was involved in several operations under the cover of a Park Ranger.
Two years before they were transferred to New Jersey, the last DEA operation involving Roger was very bloody. It left four DEA agents and nine gang members’ dead, and Pete Sorenson’s body full of bullets. Attracted by the sound of shooting, Roger had found Pete. He brought Pete’s bloody unconscious body to their isolated home for Cathy to patch up. Then one by one he overpowered the gang members stalking the DEA man through the National Park. Roger’s heroic action saved them from a ruthless motorcycle gang that was manufacturing methamphetamine in the National Park, and selling it throughout the western states.
Cathy was torn, she hated what drug dealers were doing to the children of the country, and she hated seeing Roger and her family in danger. In the end, she decided not to force Roger to admit his involvement in the operation in so many words. He knew that she knew, and didn’t like it at all. She knew about Pete’s recent meeting with Roger, and didn’t like that either, but she really hated the people destroying children with drugs.
His mother and older sisters had brought Roger up with an ingrained love of music, theater, opera, and ballet. Since shortly after their marriage, he had the Sunday Chicago Sun Times and New York Times newspapers delivered – regardless of where he was stationed. He enjoyed keeping up with the Arts sections of those papers, no matter how late they arrived.
Dinner conversation at the ranger’s home was often dominated by discussions of popular plays and musical events. New and old books were discussed, and the entire family made use of the library facilities available to them. Their personal library of books outweighed all their other furniture combined. Whenever possible the family attended plays, often in small theaters given by local or traveling companies. Last year, the entire family had acting parts in a local production of Jerry Patch’s adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" – much to everyone’s enjoyment.
A side of Roger, seldom seen by strangers, came out at the Meg’s birthday dinner. With his wit and knowledge of the New York and Chicago Theater and arts world, he charmed Meg and her friends. Cathy enjoyed Meg and her friend’s surprise. ‘Eat your heart out girls, and he’s all mine!’ she gloated to herself.
Cathy was especially pleased that he brought Michelle into the conversation, and of course, she contributed as well. Even Patty surprised Meg with her knowledge of current theatrical productions picked up at the Parsons’ dinner table. After the cake and ice cream was served, Michelle and Patty accompanied their parent’s home, and after showering, went to bed as Mike and Nicholas.
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
Events have a way of making chance seem planned. A bad storm began twenty-six days from Mike’s sighting of the ghostly Boston Whaler. The storm raged from Monday afternoon through Friday when it finally moved far offshore. The storm was a result of a classic northeaster weather pattern – actually a monster hurricane system lingering off shore and causing foul weather from Delaware on up to Massachusetts. Island Park experienced high winds and often-torrential rain during that entire period, and it wasn’t until early Friday evening that the winds quieted, and the sky dried. However, the overcast conditions persisted until early Saturday morning when the sun finally reclaimed the sky – but that Friday night of Aunt Meg’s birthday party was very dark, moonless, and without visible starlight. Had there been light to see beyond the breakers, the ocean would have appeared as calm as a lake.
Mike didn’t know where he was at first, or what time it was. The large red numbers of his digital alarm clock were not in their accustomed place. The light from the night-light between the beds cast a monsters’ shadow on the opposite wall, and he could see the hall outside the room in the glow of the bathroom’s nightlights. Then he realized he was in the guest bedroom across the hall from his mother and fathers room. In fact, he could just make out their closed door.
Why did he wake? He pondered that question as he listened to Nicholas’s soft breathing. Then he heard a loud scraping sound from outside his open window. He got up and looked outside, but the dunes blocked his view of the ocean. He couldn’t really see the dunes, but rather they were a darker lurking presence than the sky above. He heard the sound again, and the sound of men’s voices carried by the wind, and made louder by anger. Both sounds were distant, past the dunes near the ocean he estimated.
Then remembering the ghostly Boston Whaler he had seen almost a month ago, he smiled saying to himself, ‘This is a great mystery to solve with Nicholas, and I know just how to do it!’
The excited boy rolled over his bed and in a flash was at Nicholas’s bedside shaking him gently. "Wake up Nicholas, we have a real life mystery to solve!"
It took almost a minute, but finally Nicholas said, "Ugggghhh, is it morning yet?"
"No, it is still dark. Let’s go upstairs and see if we can see the boat."
"Why?" It was soon apparent to Mike that Nicholas didn’t wake faster than Patty would.
"It’s real late and I hear men down by the ocean, and I think they are launching a boat."
"The ghost boat you were telling me about?" Nick asked with a wide yawn.
"Well since I can hear it, I really don’t think it’s a ghost ship. Let’s go up to my room; we can see the beach from there – and maybe we can tell what it is this time."
"You won’t leave me, will you?" The new boy asked with a quiver in his voice.
"No way, we are brothers and we stick together, besides what can happen in my room upstairs?"
"Well if it is ghosts…"
Nicholas didn’t really believe in ghosts, but in the dark of night, in a strange creaky old house, they do seem more real somehow.
"Come on, or they will be gone by the time we get there."
Nicholas thought twice about that, but grabbed Mike’s hand in a death grip and said, "Okay, let’s go."
Mike led the still sleepy Nicholas upstairs and into his room. It was lit only by the red glow from the alarm clock’s large numbers.
"Oh my," Nicholas sighed, "Mike, it’s only two fifteen in the morning."
"That’s close to the time I saw the Whaler a month ago, darn its dark out, I can’t even see the crests of the waves." Just then, they heard the men’s voices in the still air – one of them had hurt his foot, and the rest were telling him to shut up. "Let me find a night vision scope. I’m prepared for this."
"What’s that?" Nick asked.
"Dad has four of them that the rangers use to patrol the park at night – they have to look for poachers and stuff sometimes. It’s illegal to fish or hunt birds out of season. Okay, it’s on. The light intensifier takes a minute to warm up…"
It seemed to take forever, but soon an image was forming in the eyepiece. It was blurry, and it took Mike a lot of turning the focus ring to get the boat in sharp focus. "I see it Nicholas. Here look for yourself."
"Wow, you weren’t kidding – there really is a boat there. I count eight men rowing and one guy in the back – I think he is telling the others what to do. He has some kind of goggles on. Mike who are they?"
"Let me see the scope…
I don’t know who they are; they look like they have jogging suits on. But I recognize the goggles that big guy is wearing – they are infrared night vision goggles. Dad had some like them in Yellowstone. They see the heat a body radiates, where as the scope we are using amplifies the low level of light reflected from the sky so we can see it. I think he has an infrared searchlight too, but I can’t see its light in this scope. I don’t know who they are, maybe spies or smugglers."
"Let me see again!" The new boy said excitedly. Mike gave him the scope and turned on another from his emergency pack. Some more fumbling and he said, "I just attached dad’s digital camera to another scope, when the scope warms up we should be able to take a picture of the boat."
"They are rowing pretty fast now. They are out well beyond the breakers already. You better hurry!" Nicholas said excitedly.
Mike said with satisfaction, "Got them, see that tiny blob…"
Soon Mike got the focus on both the camera and scope sharp. A now small boat was visible on the camera’s liquid crystal display – Mike took two pictures, then he said, "This isn’t good enough, lets go to the crest of that far dune, we can hide in the reeds and take pictures from there. But we will have to be quiet."
"Won’t they see our heat using their night vision?" Nick asked.
"Oh yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think of that, the guy in the boat would probably see our heat if they row back to the beach. Darn," Mike said disgustedly.
"Why don’t we just wake your dad?" Nick asked.
"I’d like to solve this mystery ourselves. Let’s get the proof, and tell him about it in the morning," Mike said, sounding very determined.
"But how? We would have to stop radiating heat, and the only way I know to do that is to die. Not an option," Nick said with a shrug.
"How about if we really cut down on the heat we radiate – I have emergency silver Mylar blankets in my emergency kit. If we put those over us and stay mostly behind the crest of the dune they won’t be able to see us," Mike reasoned.
"Are you sure?" Nick asked.
"Pretty sure. I know the bikers my dad captured were operating a meth lab that used something like that to hide the lab from the DEA choppers and infrared satellites. They used heat detectors and the bikers were never seen from the air. They weren’t found until one of the park rangers smelled the lab when the wind was just right. Even then, the DEA guys must have spent days walking through the woods until they finally stumbled on to the lab. Let’s go to the far dune. What do you say?"
"Okay, I guess. But let’s leave a note for your mom and dad on one of our bed’s downstairs."
"Good idea nick! Lets get dressed first, it is a little chilly outside."
They dressed in Mike’s jeans and things using Mike’s hooded flashlight from his emergency backpack. They took the digital camera attached to a scope, the other starlight scope, and backpack and walked stealthily down the steep stairs. In their bedroom, Nicholas crouched by a nightlight, quickly writing a note explaining where they were going and why. Nicholas left the note in plain sight at the foot of Mike’s bed, putting a shell on it, so it wouldn’t blow off in the breeze from the window.
On the way through the kitchen, Mike filled his canteen and took two plastic bottles of prepared Lipton tea from the refrigerator. They put their sandals on in the pantry and quietly left the house. Using the starlight scope, the two little detectives carefully scanned the area and worked their way to the crest of the dune closest to the ocean. They carefully spread the Mylar blanket over themselves, leaving only a slit between the ground and the blanket to peer through. Nicholas arranged the blanket so that it covered them from the rear. The sand was chilly and damp, but they soon warmed up – the thin-silvered blanket was surprisingly efficient at keeping their body heat trapped. They hoped the sand was absorbing most of their heat.
The two boys were very close and whispered in each other’s ears. "I can just make out the Whaler, see the dot in the viewer – wait it looks like there are two dots. I’m going to take some pictures; the electronic film has much higher resolution than the viewfinder. I sure wish the camera’s zoom lens worked with the starlight scope." Mike whispered
"What do you think, did they row out and meet another boat?"
"Sure looks that way – I’ll bet the coast guard radar can’t see that wooden Whaler, and I think they are far enough out so that land based radar can’t pick up the other small boat either."
"Please open a ice tea for me," Nick requested. Mike did and placed it in Nick’s hand, Nick continued after taking a drink, "What do you suppose they are smuggling?"
"Do you think drugs?" Mike answered with a question.
"I saw a movie once," Nick answered, "and the drugs were brought in by innocent people across the Mexican border. Once in this country, the drugs were reclaimed from their hiding place by the smugglers. Those smugglers were extremely bad men. But sneaking drugs in on an isolated beach like this makes sense too. I’ve even heard you can buy drugs in school."
Mike responded, "I have too, but I don’t know for sure who’s doing it – Carl Hastings in our trig class told me he could score pot, but I don’t know if he really could. If I were sure, I’d have to tell dad…"
The two boys whispered for a little while, but Nicholas, lulled by Mike’s body heat, drifted off to sleep. Mike stayed awake using the mental exercises his dad had taught him when they hunted together. Soon the Whaler grew in the camera’s viewfinder on its return trip. When it passed the breakers, he snapped a picture, noting it was now 4:19 by the camera’s date and time stamp.
Mike could see the man in command of the boat continuously scanning the shore with his night vision. Fortunately, he didn’t detect the boy’s heat signature. There were many birds, mostly sea gulls, nesting nearby and moving about awaiting their sunrise fishing – Mike realized they must help camouflage the little heat that was escaping from the blanket. The image in the viewfinder was now clear enough so that he could almost make out the faces of the rowers, and he took more pictures. Only the lower portion of the commander’s face was visible, but he looked like a very big man to Mike – both husky and tall. Finally, the boat was beached, and Mike took two pictures of that. The men picked up the boat with difficulty, and disappeared about two hundred feet to the north under the crest of the dune.
Mike was just waking Nicholas, when he clearly heard shouting and the sound of someone being hit. He was dying to move over the crest of the dune to watch, but he was afraid to – and Nicholas definitely vetoed the idea. The two boys heard one of the men call one of the others Weasel, in a deep strong voice as he cussed him out. They used awful vile language cursing one another, and the two children made faces at one another – that neither could see.
Mike guessed the man being hit was Weasel, and he called the other man Camden Sam in a whiny voice. Just about then, Mike noticed the rowers jogging on the hard wet sand to the north toward the town of Seaside Park, some four miles distant. The two boys watched them through the camera’s viewfinder, snapping a picture before they disappeared behind a dune. Camden Sam and Weasel were still arguing loudly – it seems that Weasel was drinking and taking drugs when he was supposed to be looking out for trouble.
"What do we do now?" Nicholas asked.
"I’d love to go down there and take a look, but I think you are right that it would be too dangerous. We would stand out like sore thumbs against the ocean or damp sand in the goggles they have. What do you say we go back home and get a few hours sleep?"
"Best idea you’ve had all night." Nicholas said as he began gathering up things. The two boys folded the Mylar blanket, stowed everything in the pack, and moved stealthily across the dunes and back to the house.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Cathy had an unusually hard time getting Mike and Nicholas up in the morning. Since it was Saturday, she even briefly considered going back to bed with Roger for a little more snuggling – then she remembered that she had to work. She consoled herself by remembering the unspoken promise for tonight, during their ‘after’ shower together. Cathy smiled as she started breakfast thinking, ‘those women really would be green with envy if they had seen us last night…’
Soon Roger was out with the boys doing their morning exercises, but Cathy had no time today – one of the bad things about nursing, and the surgical nurse who liked to work Saturdays was ill today. Cathy thought, ‘The overtime was good though, I wonder if that cashmere sheath is available in both our sizes…’
Cathy ate quickly and left, and as the boys were cleaning up Mike said, "Dad we have a real mystery on our hands."
"What do you mean Mike?"
"Well, a month ago, in fact it was exactly the night before school started, I saw a mystery Boston Whaler row boat and rowing crew leaving the beach beyond the dunes. I watched as they cleared the breakers, and then went back to bed and sleep. It was before you got me the alarm clock, but the grandfather’s clock had just struck two when I first saw them."
"Are you sure you saw something? Could you have been dreaming?" Roger knew Mike had some vivid dreams.
"Well last month I wasn’t sure, and I guess that’s why I didn’t say anything before now."
"How did you happen to see them, were you watching at the window?" His dad asked.
"Something woke me up, and I went downstairs to the bathroom. On the way back to bed I just looked out the window in my room and saw it – I thought I heard voices too." The boy answered.
"We saw them last night too!" Nicholas added excitedly.
"You both saw then?" Roger asked with a little doubt remaining in his voice.
"Yes, and we took pictures of it too." Nicholas added a little defensively.
"I believe you Nicholas, tell me exactly what happened please."
"Well dad," Mike began, "a screeching sound…"
"…Wow! That’s some story guys, you say you took pictures?"
"Yes! They came out pretty good too. Want to see them?"
Leaving a few pans soaking, the three hurried up to Mike’s room and clustered around the computer. Roger’s new Kodak camera – a ‘gift’ from Pete Sorenson – was hooked up to the computer via a USB cable, another wire provided power to the camera.
"Dad, we already dumped all the pictures from the camera to the hard disk." Mike said.
"Did you erase the camera’s flash memory?" Roger asked.
"Not yet dad, I can do that now if you want," Mike began disconnecting the camera from the computer.
"No, it’s good that you didn’t. Let me have the flash memory module and I’ll keep it. If there is something illegal going on, it will be important evidence."
Nicholas got a small Ziploc bag from Mike’s emergency back pack, Roger marked the memory module and bag with a felt pen, put the flash memory module into the bag, and sealed it. Mike got a freshly formatted memory module from the camera’s case and put it in the camera.
"Okay boys, show me the pictures."
One by one, the ghostly images from last night appeared on the 17" NEC monitor. The camera automatically had marked each picture, as it was exposed, with the serial number, date, and time in amber characters.
"How did you have things set up Mike," Roger asked, as he held a pen and small notebook.
"The scope was set on magnification – I think that it’s at two times. I set the camera flash off, and for fluorescent white balance. Otherwise it was set up for the telescope, because I removed it from the telescope – remember they use the same adapter rings and settings," Mike reported
"Okay, whatever you did, these pictures came out very well," Roger said with a big smile.
"Why isn’t there any color?" Nicholas asked.
"The image intensifier display tube is like a tiny black and white television," Roger explained. "The pictures from it are always a little blurry and funny looking – but the computers in the government labs can make them a lot sharper, that is why having the original flash module is so important. These pictures are very good; you guys are great detectives."
"One thing puzzles me dad, I have played all over that beach and never noticed a boat. I’m sure I would remember it if I had too," Mike noted.
"Maybe they brought it in using a trailer towed by a car? Nicholas suggested.
"Maybe, but I’d like to know for sure. They shouldn’t be able to get in and out of the park using a vehicle at night. Boys, why don’t we take a walk on the beach?" Roger said with authority.
"Great, lets go!" The two boys said as one.
As they walked to the beach, the boys pointed out their tracks from last night. Roger took several pictures that when taken together would provide a visual record of the boys movements. Roger noted the boy’s position as they lay in hiding, and took several photos of the beach from that exact position. Then they walked down to the beach, and were greeted by a pretty lady. Nicholas noticed she was holding a small radio in her hand, and that she was trying to hide it behind her leg – but he didn’t say anything.
"Hello ranger, beautiful day today." Her words were normal, but Roger’s training as an agent led him to believe that she was very nervous.
"Yes it is, they tell me some of the days in September and October are the best days of the year on the Jersey coast."
"Mike added, "The water is very warm too, almost like swimming in a heated pool."
"In that case I’m sorry we didn’t dress for swimming, we just came to enjoy the early morning and have breakfast, unfortunately we have to go to work in a little while."
"Are you here with your family?" Nicholas asked.
"Just my boyfriend and his co-worker," she answered even more nervously.
"Well, my sons and I were just taking pictures of the gulls, ospreys if we are lucky, and a red fox if we are very, very lucky – kind of a busman’s holiday for me," Roger said with a smile.
"By the way I’m Nicholas, this is my brother Mike, and our dad, Ranger Parsons. Want to walk with us?" Nicholas asked.
"Sure, as far as my boyfriend anyhow – I’m Lynda," she responded with a rather forced smile Nicholas thought to himself. This being a boy was exciting, he noted with satisfaction – and nobody knows I’m really a girl!
"Call me Roger please," Roger said while looking at Lynda.
Roger heard a radio break squelch, it sounded close, but he hadn’t noticed the girl’s radio, and incorrectly assumed someone else was lurking in the reeds nearby. The four headed north on the beach toward where the two boys saw the boat disappear. Mike took a few pictures of the gulls, and even managed to take one of Lynda without her noticing.
As they rounded a dune two men came into view. One looked like a Disney caricature of a rodent like man, the other just looked big and mean. Mike thought he recognized him from the boat last night; he was probably the one called Camden Sam.
The big one said, "You ready to go Lynda?"
Mike thought to himself, ‘the voice proves it! This is the one called Camden Sam.’
Lynda looked at Camden with disdain, or maybe fear, Nicholas thought, but she said, "Sure, I thought you’d have the picnic stuff loaded in the van already."
"The coolers are heavy," the rodent like one whined.
"We’ll give you a hand, won’t we boys?" Roger stated.
"Sure dad," they answered as one.
The big man muttered something Mike thought sounded like ‘Pussy’ to the rodent faced one, and picked up a cooler himself. Roger and Lynda hefted one, and the two boys grabbed one end – shaming rodent face into taking the other end.
The coolers were heavy, and the boys didn’t think they had ice in them – there was no sloshing – but there could be gel packs to provide the cooling Mike thought after consideration.
Roger too realized there was no ice in the coolers; he figured they were carrying the smugglers bounty – whatever that was. After all, why would three people need three heavy coolers for an early breakfast by the seashore? If he had been alone, he would have stumbled and ‘accidentally’ dumped the contents of the cooler he and Lynda were carrying, but he couldn’t risk a fight with the two boys so close. To make matters worse, the men carried themselves as if they were armed with guns. The weasel faced one, had a bulge under his left arm, and the big one probably had his shoved in his belt. Roger figured that he just couldn’t risk a confrontation. Besides, he remembered the DEA just wanted intelligence. Further Roger rationalized, ‘if Mike saw them twice, the odds were that they would be back.’
Just over the second dune, they came to a large tan sport van with dark tinted windows. When the big man put his load down and opened the rear doors with a fancy key, Roger saw more coolers. The van was richly appointed with thick brown carpeting and bucket seats with amber upholstery. There was a flat screen TV and a table with a built in refrigerator under it.
"Thanks for the help," the big man said – seemingly grudgingly – and proceeded to pick up his cooler and put it into the van. He loaded the last two – Roger noted that they all fit exactly – and the big man strapped them down, locking each in place.
Mike took a few more pictures without appearing to, thankful that the camera was nearly silent. As the ranger and his boys walked away, the boys turned and waved. Mike took another picture and noted there was a carpet over the coolers – effectively hiding them. The doors slammed closed moments later, as the little group crested the dune.
"Let’s get back to the house boys," Roger ordered, and all jogged quickly to the house.
They headed up to Mikes room and quickly attached the camera to his telescope. Then they carried the scope to the adjacent storeroom, and took a few pictures of the van through the louvers as it departed the park.
When the van was gone, they took the telescope back to Mike’s room, and Roger said, "I’m going to write this up on you mother’s laptop. Nicholas, would you come with me and make sure I get you’re actions last night correct. Mike, please load all the photos you took this morning pertaining to this investigation into the computer. If you can, form them into one encrypted zip file – use our last address as a key. I’ll want to transmit it and my report to a friend in Washington as soon as I finish my report. Will you have any problem doing that son?"
"No problem dad, it’s a snap to do."
First, Mike transferred all the images he took this morning into the same directory he used for last night’s pictures. He checked each image, noting the filenames of the pictures with the smugglers shown clearly. He was done by the time his father came back with Nicholas.
"Mike," his dad said, "do you agree the big man’s name was Camden Sam?"
"Yes, that is what the one he called Weasel called him last night."
"So you agree the other is Weasel?"
"Yes," Mike giggled, "He sure looks the part too. Er, dad, these are the pictures I took of the smugglers before, if you want to make note of the filenames and smuggler’s name in your report."
Mike read each filename and who it showed, and Roger inserted them in his report. He saved it to Cathy’s hard disk in the laptop. As soon as Mike connected the laptop to his PC’s Ethernet hub, Roger transferred the report to the directory containing the pictures. Mike then zipped the contents of the entire directory into one encoded humongous file. He made a DSL connection to the Internet, and logged on to a ‘blind’ web site that Pete Sorenson had made available to Roger. Using a ‘smart’ file transfer program, Mike began transmitting the file. He did a little quick arithmetic, and said, "dad this will take at least an hour if we keep a full DSL connection."
"I’m glad Pete got that DSL connection for us, it would take all day if we used a regular dial up modem. I’m going to call and tell them to expect this transmission. Then, how about we go look for the boat’s hiding place?"
"Sure dad, this is fun. Nicholas, did you ever think you would be chasing smugglers today?"
Roger went downstairs to make his call.
"Nope, but you have to show me how you did all that computer stuff – that looks really interesting. Aunt Meg got my computer last year, but all I really know how to do is write school reports and play some lame games on it. I can’t do pictures at all. She didn’t even want you putting a modem in – if you remember."
"No problem, computers are really simple. We have to get mom to work on Aunt Meg so she will get you a scanner and stuff. I guess it is real important to get on the Internet too. There is some bad stuff out there, but you don’t have to look at it. Heck, there is bad stuff at school or the mall, if you are looking for trouble…
…Let’s join dad, he is probably finished with his call by now."
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
"The tracks all seem to lead up to this steep dune dad," Nicholas said, "I’ll bet there is a hidden door here somewhere."
"In a sand dune?" Mike asked incredulously.
"What better place, who would think it was there?" Nick reasoned.
Roger picked up a piece of driftwood and began poking the dune, surprisingly it clunked in several places, "You’re right Nicholas, there must be a latch somewhere. This piece of driftwood is anchored very securely," when he couldn’t pull it out, he pushed it up, and heard a loud click. When he released the wood the side of the dune moved toward him a little. He pulled it again and a good-sized chunk of the dune opened like a van’s side door – and exposed a wide double wooden door.
Roger looked at the camouflage door closely – someone had spent a bundle making the hydraulic mechanism, and judging by the rusted bolts securing it to the buried building it had been here awhile.
"This must be an old boathouse that the rescue teams used, over the years it became covered with sand. The smugglers must have noticed, and completed the job with additional camouflage."
"Look dad, here is a lantern!" Nicholas picked it up, and the trio started to explore the ancient boathouse in it’s bright light.
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
<- <- <- <- <- <- <- <- -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
It bothered him from the time they left the park. Weasel knew that he had forgotten something, something important. But after indulging in his habit and the booze last night, his drug-damaged brain just couldn’t remember what it was. Camden Sam still looked mad about his earlier excesses, so Weasel didn’t mention his concern about forgetting something. They were on route 37, and had just passed under the parkway on the way to route 70, when Weasel involuntarily exclaimed, "Shit!" as he smacked his forehead.
"What’s the matter now? What else did you screw up?" Camden Sam asked with a snarl.
Lynda rolled her eyes in disgust; she had no idea why the Cuban kept Weasel alive, much less working for him. It must be because Weasel was married to his sister.
Weasel didn’t want to tell them what he had just remembered, but it would be much worse if the Cuban found out that he was responsible for leaving evidence behind. Like ripping his tongue out – for starters – brother in law or not. "We have to go back. You were slapping me around so much back there --- I forgot to pick up the damaged coke bag."
"What!!!"
"We got to go back. If the Cuban ever finds out we left it, he will kill all three of us."
"What do you mean – WE! I’ll kill you first, you know what’s in this van…"
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Mike’s dad was now well aware that the cargo the whaler brought ashore was a large quantity of drugs; the powder residue in the damaged plastic bag was cocaine. There was no question in his mind about that; he would never forget that taste. Nevertheless, he carefully put the evidence in a ZipLoc bag using tweezers, in order to preserve its evidence value, as he found it, for the DEA crime labs.
The two boys were looking at him, their eyes as big as saucers. "Real drug smugglers, like in the movies?" Nicholas asked.
"I’m afraid so. Promise me that you guys will stay away from this boat and any men you see about. The men that used this boat are drug smugglers, and they would kill you as soon as look at you."
"Don’t worry dad, we will stay far away from them. We just thought they were pirates or ghosts – that’s why we didn’t call you right away." Mike responded.
"Come look at this!" Nicholas exclaimed.
Nick’s sharp eyes had noticed a flash of gold partially buried in a large pile of sand that had seeped into the buried old boathouse through a broken board. Roger squatted down looked at it carefully in the flashlight’s bright beam; and he probed it a bit with the tweezers. Finally, he looked up at the two boys and said, "It looks like a pretty good sized gold nugget on a gold chain, it probably belongs to one of the smugglers, and we really should document how we found it."
"How do we do that?" Mike asked eagerly.
"Mike, I’d like you to go back to the house and bring my electronic camera – you might as well bring my cell phone from my night table charger while you are at it. Oh, and bring some more Baggies just in case eagle eyed Nicholas finds something else."
"Should I call the police while I’m there?"
"No don’t do that. I want to help catch the entire gang red handed. Do you remember Agent Sorenson from that time in Redwood National Park?"
"Boy, do I ever," Mike said enthusiastically, "I held the lantern while Mom took seven bullets out of his body and sewed him up as she went along. Nicholas, let me tell you, I was really scared at first, but mom was so cool she made me feel brave. It’s a good thing for all of us that dad captured that motorcycle gang before they could get us – and he didn’t even shoot them…"
Mike’s dad cut off his telling the story to Nicholas, "Save the story for another time Mike. I’m going to use the cell phone to call Agent Sorenson. He will know how to deal with this – and then I can go back to tending my park. Go on now Mike, get the stuff for me."
"Sure dad, good treasure hunting Nicholas. Boy, this is exciting! I’ll be right back." And Mike was out the door like he was never in the room.
Nicholas and Mike’s dad continued examining the ancient boathouse inch by inch looking for additional evidence.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
"You stay with the van, Lynda; Weasel and me will be right back." Camden put the Tec 9 automatic pistol and spare magazines that Lynda handed him into his belt on opposite sides, and then zipped his light jacket. Then he grabbed the big electric lantern from behind the driver’s seat.
"How about me, don’t I get the other one Lynda?" Weasel whined.
"You got your Walther, I’m keeping a Tec 9 in case anybody tries to mess with this van."
Lynda moved over to the driver’s seat, putting the Tec 9 between the bucket seats. She adjusted the mirrors so she could see both sides of the van, closed the windows, and locked the doors. She grinned as Camden bitch-slapped Weasel before they climbed the dune, and settled comfortably into the contoured seat.
She didn’t like Camden, but Weasel was a real pain in her ass – he just couldn’t keep his hands to himself. She had to put up with that shit, and worse, from the Cuban, but not that little creep. She hated her damn life she thought, and not for the first time. Shrugging, she popped a Ricky Martin CD in the player and relaxed. The CD quickly drowned out the muted hum of the engine and air conditioning, as they kept the closed van’s interior cool in the late morning sun.
As the two hoods crested the dune, they could see that the boathouse door was open, and the camouflaging reeds moved clear.
"Like a roach motel, they go in, but they don’t go out – eh Camden?"
"No dummy, we’ll take at least one alive, and then call the Cuban – he will probably want to question him." They both drew their guns.
"Shit, that means the van will be crowded going back," Weasel whined.
"Keep bitching will ya. Gimme one little reason, and you’ll make the trip in a bag yourself…"
Just then, Roger and Nicholas walked out the door, partially blinded and squinting in the full sunlight.
"Move and you’re dead!" Camden roared.
"Cover them Weasel," Camden said as he walked behind Roger and slammed him hard with the Tec 9’s receiver. Roger slumped to the sand unconscious. Then he slammed Nicholas who followed Roger to the sand.
"Jeez, you kill the kid?" Weasel asked.
"I don’t think so – naaa, he’s still breathing. Gimme a hand dragging them inside."
It only took a few minutes to secure Roger and Nicholas with some plastic wire ties from a locker in the boathouse. Nicholas was hogtied with the plastic ties. In addition to securing his wrists behind his back with plastic ties, they tied Roger’s feet with anchor rope to a storm cleat bolted to the floor.
"I’m going to call the Cuban for instructions, you wait here – and don’t screw up for once!"
"In your ear – shit you didn’t have to slap me again." Weasel whined at Camden’s receding back.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Mike ran the two hundred yards over the dunes to his home. It was exciting to help his dad catch drug smugglers. If only mom were here, it would be perfect. The first thing he did was go to the bathroom – he really had to make that stop. Then he went down stairs to the kitchen, and grabbed a box of quart sized Ziploc bags. Keeping them with him, he ran upstairs to his parent’s room, and on his dad’s night table, he found the small cell phone in its charger.
Finally, he went upstairs to his room to remove the digital camera from the telescope. He glanced outside and saw two men on the beach in front of the boathouse. Startled, he focused the telescope on them and snapped a picture. His blood ran cold; they were the same two men from last night, and this morning – and they were holding guns. In an instant, they disappeared behind the dune heading to the boathouse.
Mike’s mind went blank for a moment, and then he began to think. His first thought was to call the police, but his dad had just said no to that. He figured that since his dad was unarmed, the men would tie Nicholas and him up while they got whatever they came back for – probably the damaged drug wrapper. But then what? While he was thinking, the big man named Camden came out of the boathouse, and walked up the dune. Mike ran into the storeroom, and looked out the north facing louvers. He saw the man walk up to the van – the same van from this morning. After speaking to whoever was in the van, probably the woman Mike guessed, the big man began walking to the house
One thing was for sure; he couldn’t let either man see him, because both men had seen him with his father and Nicholas earlier. Then he smiled as a cool idea popped into his head.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Camden decided to tell Lynda that there would be a delay, ‘Damn, Camden thought as he slammed the drivers side window of the van, ‘the bitch is in another world.’
No sooner was the thought completed than he was staring into the muzzle of a Tec 9 through the smoky window. Lynda smiled as the motor lowered the window.
"Christ I damn near peed on myself, put that damn thing down."
"Thought you caught me napping eh? Well I glimpsed you in the side mirror when you crested the dune. Where is the little punk? I hope you killed him, and good riddance!" Lynda had a wolfish smile on her pretty face.
"No such luck, not that I wouldn’t have enjoyed doing it. We have more problems. The park ranger from this morning, and his son, found the wrapper in the boathouse. Not only that, but they will remember that they saw all of us earlier – even helped us load the van, for Christ sake. I have them on ice in the boathouse, and shit for brains is watching them. I’m going to call the Cuban from the ranger’s house and find out what he wants me to do with them."
"Duh, kill them of course," Lynda said, as a feeling of disgust for the Cuban and all his violence gripped her stomach.
"Yeah, but I figured he would want to talk to the ranger first, and use the kid to get the ranger to talk fast. Maybe the DEA is on to this drop. I figure the Cuban will send somebody for them, it would be kind of stupid to take them in this van with all the shit."
"Yeah, you’re right – got to ask him, otherwise whatever you did would be wrong. Want to use the cell phone?" Lynda said, as she reached toward the cell phone, resting in its dashboard charger.
"No," Camden replied, "Bit Jockey, says that the cut out network isn’t secure from the cell phone. Its okay for fifteen second messages, but not for a discussion."
"Whatever. Make it quick, I hate sitting on all this shit by myself."
"Shouldn’t be too much longer, but that depends on if the Cuban is available or with one of his girls."
"Take care Camden, I’ll watch the shit until you get back," Lynda was thinking, ‘better anybody screwing or blowing the bastard but me.’
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Roger slowly regained consciousness. As his conscious brain took over, he forced himself to remain unmoving and quiet. He took inventory; wrists tightly bound behind his back – with what felt like plastic ties, oily rag as a gag as he fought the urge to vomit, ankles bound to – he opened his eyes a bit – an anchor cleat with an anchor rope. Then he realized he was seeing so well because the boathouse door was fully open. Moving very slowly, he began to survey the boathouse. At first, he only moved his eyes, and then his head. He didn’t see the smaller man that had held the gun on he and Nicholas until he sat up and looked around the upside down boat. The man was standing just inside the boathouse, facing away from him, and looking at the ocean.
Then he saw Nicholas’s little body hog-tied with plastic ties, undoubtedly like the ones binding his wrists. Nicholas was unmoving on the floor with his back to Roger, and he prayed that the boy didn’t have a concussion or worse.
He worked his wrists, but the plastic tie was very tight, in fact, he was beginning to loose feeling in his fingers. He cursed the fact that he was slammed into unconsciousness by Camden, as Weasel held the gun on them. If he had been awake, he could have expanded his wrist muscles and had a fighting chance to get free of the ties. As it was, until – and if – help arrived, he was helpless.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Mike heard Camden knock on the front door, and then he heard it open. Camden shouted, "Anybody home?" several times. Heavy footfalls echoed throughout the old house, and Mike hid behind his bed in anticipation of a room-to-room search…
But apparently, after looking on the second floor, Camden was satisfied that no one was in the house - without searching it further. The heavy footsteps quickly descended the stairs to the main floor. Then a ghostly voice issued from the heating register, and Mike crawled to it and listened. The warm air duct rose through the center of the old house, and the living room phone was right by the first floor register. He could hear one side of the conversation perfectly.
"Camden here, gimme the Cuban."
"What do you mean he’s not available?"
"When she’s done put him on."
"Of course I called through the cut out."
"Okay I’m at 609-555-5555, we have some complications"
"No, we have the shit safe and sound."
"Yeah, you don’t need to know, I gotta talk directly to the Cuban."
"No, we are not on our way yet, Weasel fucked up again…
"Look not over the phone."
"Look asshole, that’s why I got to talk to the man."
"Okay chicken shit, don’t forget to have him call…"
Mike heard the phone slam down, followed by a string of curses in Spanish from Camden. Knowing that he had only a little time, Mike continued putting his plan into action. If only there wasn’t so much to do!
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Roger forced himself to remain quiet. He kept his upper body unmoving as he watched Weasel through mostly closed eyes and tried to free his feet. He wasn’t making much progress, but he had to keep trying.
Weasel walked back into the boathouse, and rolled Nicholas over. Roger could now see that the child was apparently unconscious, and gagged like himself.
Weasel then walked to Roger, and kicked him viciously in the side. It took all of Roger’s willpower to avoid reacting, as he feigned unconsciousness. In the dim light, Weasel thought that he was still out, and returned to the door without a care. He enjoyed just standing in the warm sand and looking at the ocean. He would have liked to remove his shoes and socks, but he didn’t think Camden would like that. There was a cool breeze blowing, and it reminded him of the few times during his childhood that his mother took him to the beach in Atlantic City.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michelle looked in the mirror as she applied her lipstick and eye makeup, she wanted to hurry but it was important to look perfect – and not to smear her wet nails. Her strawberry blond ponytail was high on her head, held by a bright green scrunchy, and the carefully brushed bangs looked as good as she could get them without water and stuff. Her yellow chiffon sundress looked perfect over her lacy slip and bra. She knew her yellow panties were thick enough for modesty, and had rows of pretty lace, just in case she should ‘accidentally’ show them. She had even remembered her tiny daisy earrings, matching plastic necklace, and small Minnie Mouse wristwatch.
She didn’t wear shoes or socks because of the sand, but instead had put them in her large yellow draw purse. Additionally, it held her razor-sharp Swiss Army penknife, a hammer left from hanging pictures in her room, the cell phone, camera, a few Ziploc Baggies, and a pair of small alligator clips connected by a short wire.
Her biggest worry was whether the emergency fire escape rope would snake in front of the living room window as she lowered it. There was nothing she could do about it now as she waited for her nail polish to dry – just a bit more. Darn it! DRY! A disguise is in the details her mom had told her, and Michelle realized that she would have just one shot to pull this off. She could hear Camden pacing and cursing the Cuban; she just hoped the mysterious Cuban would take just a little longer calling back.
Finally, she declared her nails dry enough. She played all the rope out the window, and secured it over the high cleat. Then she lifted herself out the window, and began climbing down the emergency fire escape rope. She was glad that her dad had her test this fire escape route several times just after they moved in. It was scary at first to hang by your hands more than four stories above the sand below. Hand over hand she lowered herself from knot to knot. Her hands were a little small for the rope as she ‘walked’ down the outside of her home, but she controlled her fear knowing that she could make it.
It was disconcerting to realize her sundress and slip were billowing up in the breeze. She hoped no park visitors were watching her – especially those boys that had made such a nuisance of themselves last Sunday when Patty visited. Boys could be such a pain!
She passed her parents window, and kept going, trying her best to keep the rope below her from slapping the side of the building. She passed just to the right of the living room window and resisted the temptation to look in. Then she descended the remaining twelve feet, past the heavy wooden pilings that had supported the house for well over a hundred years. Finally, her feet were in the warm sand. She quickly tied the rope to a piling, to keep it from blowing in front of the ocean facing living room window.
She walked to the side of the house where the sand had formed a dune by the telephone box. She unscrewed the cover with the screwdriver on her Swiss Army knife, and shorted the posts marked with the downstairs telephone number. ‘No more calls to or from this phone!’ she thought with satisfaction.
Next, she put a dozen pretty shells from the picnic table into one of the Ziploc bags. Last Sunday Patty and she had gathered, washed dozens, leaving them out to dry without a care in the world.
Michelle then ran over the three dunes between the house and ocean as fast as she could, hoping against hope, that she wouldn’t be seen by Camden. She forced herself to walk to near to the water line, and then headed north toward the boathouse. She tried to remember everything about looking like a girl, two of her nails had smeared a little on the climb down, but she could do nothing about that now. Her heart leaped into overdrive when she saw Weasel turn toward her. ‘Goodness,’ she thought, ‘he really looks like a weasel. I sure hope he isn’t as smart as one.’
She forced herself to pick up an intact scallop shell while he watched her; she checked her makeup one last time in her compact mirror – inadvertently making the perfect female gesture. Taking a deep breath, she walked right up to Weasel. She smiled at him asking, "Are you Mr. Weasel?"
"What if I am?" He snarled.
"A man up at the house told me to tell you that a Mr. Cuban needs to talk to you on the phone."
"How do I know youse ain’t lying to me?" He tried to intimidate the young girl.
Michelle shrugged, apparently not frightened in the least, "If you are Mr. Weasel, how else would I know your name, if the big man with a limp didn’t tell me? My parents, uncles, cousins, and I just came down from New York today for a day at the seashore. I don’t know anyone here. You are the only man besides my father and uncles that I’ve seen on this part of the beach today, besides the big man with a limp over at that house of course," she pointed to the house whose peak was just visible over the dunes, "he said you would be here. Look if you aren’t Mr. Weasel, forget I said anything – maybe I’ll run into him further down the beach."
Michelle turned away, and spying a pretty scallop shell, she bent at the knees to pick it up, brushed it off, and put it in her bag as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She was deathly afraid Weasel could hear her heart beating like a drum gone crazy.
It took nearly a minute of what passed for intense thought in Weasel’s brain, but finally Weasel let out a string of curse words that would embarrass a sailor, slammed the boathouse door closed, and stalked up the dune in the direction of the house. As soon as he was out of sight, Michelle ran to the door and struggled to open it. The old wood had jammed and it took a good half-minute to open it with the aid of the claw hammer. She had brought it as a weapon, but it saved the day in a much more peaceful way. It took another several seconds for her eyes to acclimate to the relative darkness inside.
When she saw her dad looking at her, she ran to him and immediately began to free his hands with her knife. The knife was sharp, but the plastic restraints on his wrists were tough.
"Dad," she said as she patiently tried to cut through the tough plastic, carefully – without cutting her father’s wrists. "The one called Camden is in our house trying to call someone named the Cuban. He wants to ask what to do with you and Nick I think. The Cuban can’t call back because I shorted out the phone line. I realized they would recognize me from this morning, and know that I was with you. So, I became Michelle, climbed down the rope from my room, and just walked up the beach. The one they call Weasel was guarding you, but I told him Camden wanted him to come to the house and talk to the Cuban. They will both be back soon, and I’m sure that they will be really angry after they discover the trick I pulled on them," the faux girl had a smirk on her pretty face as she finished her summary.
After carefully sawing the plastic patiently for nearly half a minute, the bonds parted. Seeing that he could barely flex his swollen fingers, she quickly cut his feet free of the ropes and finally cut his filthy gag free. The interior was dim with the door only slightly ajar, but her dad could see the camera, cell phone, hammer, knife, and Ziploc bags as Michelle carefully laid them on the upturned boat.
Seeing that his hands were regaining some movement, Michelle said, "I’m going outside to decoy them. I’ll try to keep one busy while the other comes in. I’m sure they will want to see if you are still here."
With that, she ran out swinging her now light yellow draw purse in one hand, and plastic bag full of shells in the other. In the sunlight, she looked like she hadn’t a care in the world. Before her dad could speak after being gagged – he tried shouting to her to stay, but no sound came out, she slammed the door closed, pushing it as tight as she could. She ran to the surf line and then up the beach away from the house. After about twenty-five yards, she stopped and looked back. There were a lot of footprints in the sand from launching the boat hiding hers, and her most recent tracks were being washed over by the lapping surf. Satisfied, she started looking for shells again. It took all her control not to look back at the buried boathouse.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
"What are you doing here?" Camden demanded angrily.
"The little girl in the yellow dress told me the Cuban wanted to talk to me."
"What little girl? The F#$## Cuban hasn’t even called back yet."
"Look Camden, the little bitch knew my name and everything. She told me that you told her that the Cuban wanted to talk to me."
"Sh*t, I’ll bet she freed that damn ranger. If she did we are really in hot water now!" Camden started running toward the boathouse closely followed by a puffing Weasel. As they crested the last dune, they saw the young girl still picking up shells further up the beach.
"See, like I told you – she is about where I left her picking up shells." Weasel gasped.
"You grab the little bitch, I’ll take care of the ranger." Camden said as he pulled the illegal full automatic Tec 9 pistol’s bolt back to firing position.
As soon as Michelle heard the two drug dealers, she started waving her hands and shouting, "Daddy! Daddy! I’m right here. I’m coming!" And she took off running on the smooth hard sand by the water – heading down the beach away from the boathouse.
Weasel ran a dozen yards in the soft sand after her, and stopped, puffing hard from all the unaccustomed exercise. He heard the boathouse door slam open as he pulled his Walther .380 from his shoulder holster. Hand shaking from exertion he took aim at the still running Michelle, who by now was almost fifty yards from him. Without really thinking, he began firing at the girl. She was still running when his slide locked back signaling that his clip was empty.
Before he could jam another clip in the Walther, his world went black.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michelle stopped short when she heard her dad’s shout, and turned to look back – ready to run away again if necessary. However, her dad was standing over Weasel, and Nicholas was standing with him. As Michelle ran up the beach toward the boathouse, Nicholas joyfully ran to meet her, the two children hugged and jumped for joy as they met half way.
"Are you okay Nicholas?"
"Yes, I’m still a little stiff from being tied up. The big man hit me on the head very hard with his gun, but my hair was all bunched up under my cap so it hardly hurt at all. I played possum so he wouldn’t hit me again. He was very rough putting those plastic ties on me; it was hard not to cry out in pain. Then he put that nasty oily gag in my mouth and it was all I could do not to throw up."
"I hope dad tied them up tight and used the same gags. I hate them for what they did to you two."
"It’s over now, and your dad and I are fine – thanks to you."
"It really was nothing, they didn’t even touch me."
"Wow, you look great! The last I saw, you were Mike. Where did Michelle come from?"
"They had seen Mike, you, and Dad all together at the van. So, I figured I could decoy them as Michelle. I did dress very fast, but the darn nail polish took forever to dry. Did I do okay?"
"Perfect, two of the nails on your right hand are a little smudged, but otherwise you’re perfect – that was pretty fast thinking."
"It was the only thing I could think of that might work, and since mom won’t allow guns in the house, I had to outwit them."
"So what did you do next?"
"Then I…"
Michelle’s dad interrupted as the two children reached him. "Great work Michelle," he said as he hugged her saying, "Of course, I should tan your bottom for taking such risks."
"Daddy," Michelle said looking up at her father with saucer like eyes, "I couldn’t just stand by and let those two thugs hurt Nicholas and you," Michelle used Patty’s, ‘I’m just a little girl and real sorry’ routine as she said continued in a southern accent, "Y’all didn’t bring me up that a-way."
Roger couldn’t help but laugh at the girl’s act, finally saying, "I’m real proud of you, but I lost ten years when I saw that bastard shooting at you." They all hugged again, and he continued, "Give me a hand carrying this one into the boat house, and then I want to look for the van – they can’t have walked here."
Still in little southern girl mode, Michelle said, "I know where it is daddy. Let li’ll ‘ol me distract them again—I look really innocent and won’t make them suspicious." Michelle asked, with an evil little smirk creeping across her angelic face.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Lynda was getting a little worried because Camden and Weasel were taking so long. At first, she tightened her grip on the Tec 9 when she noticed the movement in front of the van. However, it was only a young girl collecting shells. She looked awfully dressed up for the beach, but maybe she was recovering from an illness, and her mother let her dress up. She certainly was a prissy little thing, avoiding any mess as she squatted down to pick up a shell, and standing and dusting it off with a hanky from her yellow purse, before dropping the cleaned shell into the plastic bag.
Lynda smiled as she remembered the long weekend that she and her eleven-year-old daughter Chrissy had spent in Ocean City last August. Chrissy developed an earache and had to stay out of the water, but the two found matching sundresses in a local store, and spent Sunday collecting shells and dressing up. All of a sudden, the little girl in front of the van looked upset, and pointed to the front of the van saying something.
Lynda punched off the tape and rolled down her window asking, "What’s the matter honey?"
"You have a flat tire, what a awful place to get a flat tire. Mommy always calls AAA, do you have AAA?" Michelle said as she wrung her hands.
"Oh, shit!" Lynda exclaimed, as she got out of the van. Roger had painstakingly snaked his way beside the van, all the while staying in the mirrors blindside. From his position half under the van, he forced her to the ground with his legs, and in an instant, had his arms around her neck. Then her world went black.
When she awoke, it took a minute or so to realize that she was hogtied and gagged. She saw Weasel and Camden in the same condition and tied to cleats – she tried to move and realized she was too. Looking behind her, she saw one of the ranger’s sons sitting by the door with a walkie-talkie – and visible through the door was the young girl in a yellow dress, still collecting shells.
Lynda knew she was caught, and didn’t know what was worse – jail or what the Cuban would do to her after for losing the shipment to the cops – or somebody. Worse, what will happen to Chrissy? She almost got sick to her stomach as she realized that the Cuban would take his rage at loosing the shipment out on the little girl – at the first sign of disloyalty from her. This was Lynda’s worst nightmare come true.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michelle was too excited to be bored. True she had been walking about in front of the boathouse and collecting a shell every now and then for about four hours, but really, she was her father’s eye on the beach. He waited in the reeds of the dune with the guns, ready to overpower anyone sneaking up on them – except of course, his friend Pete Sorenson – whenever he showed up.
Michelle’s heart beat faster as she noticed a dot over the ocean, which quickly grew into a helicopter. "Do you see that," she spoke into her radio.
"Yes," Roger simply said, he didn’t want to alert the other listeners to what was happening.
The chopper was coming in at combat speed just over the waves, and in a minute had settled down on the beach at the water’s edge. Unlike most helicopters, it was very quiet. Michelle suspected that, hidden by the dune, its low level approach would pass unnoticed by others in the park – unless one had been waiting for it arrive, as she and her dad had.
From all the model aircraft she had assembled, she recognized the chopper as a CH-60 Sea Hawk, and from the lack of sound produced it was probably the naval stealth version. She noted seven men in black uniforms carrying assault rifles as they jumped out and started jogging to deploy. She recognized Pete Sorenson, and another man that followed the armed men from the chopper more sedately. Both of them were dressed in normal dark gray business suits, and were carrying briefcases. She correctly guessed the men in black combat gear were navy SEALs, ‘like her dad used to be,’ she thought excitedly.
Her dad spoke to one of the SEALs and was given something that he stuck in his ear. The remainder rapidly deployed; one team headed toward the van, another to the boathouse, and the last with the odd man disappeared into the reeds on the dune. Michelle guessed they were all in two way radio contact with each other.
Her dad motioned to her, and she walked toward the house with her father and Mr. Sorenson. Nicholas caught up and held her hand as they closed the distance over the dunes to their house. The two children looked like brother and sister, but an observer would never guess which was which from their mannerisms or appearance – Nicholas even kicked a few shells like any young boy on the way.
Mr. Sorenson and her dad talked most of the way back to the house. However, for the most part, it wasn’t to each other or the children walking with them – Michelle guessed they were talking to the SEALs deployed around them. She was partially correct; Mr. Sorenson was also talking, over secure channels, to agents in other locations, one as far away as Washington, DC. Michelle coveted the small transceiver in his ear, and wondered if she could talk Mr. Sorenson out of a few of those – they would be neat for communicating with Nicholas and her Dad. She didn’t realize that Communications Specialist Mary Parks was managing the secure radio traffic with a most capable ‘black box’ from the seat behind the chopper pilot.
When they reached the house, the children went to the kitchen to get Cokes for everybody. They also served some of the macadamia nut cookies that Patty and Michelle had made last Thursday at Patty’s house. Not much was said; Michelle figured correctly her father had filled Mr. Sorenson in on the phone while he was traveling.
Mr. Sorenson did congratulate the faux girl on saving the day, and she blushed prettily from the praise. However, when Tim, the other man in a gray suit arrived, her dad said, "You kids better go up to Mike’s room and play, it’s better that you don’t know what we are going to do next – at least until we know what it is." He had a warm smile on his face when he said that, as he hugged and kissed both children, and they eagerly returned his affection.
Obediently the two children ran up to Mike’s room on the third floor. And immediately sat in front of the hot air register. Michelle whispered conspiratorially to Nicholas, "We have to be quiet here, or they will be able to hear us. For some reason, the sound travels better from down there up through this heating duct, but it does work the other way too."
The young detectives could understand the ghostly voices clearly, and easily tell who was talking.
Tim: "There must be a hundred kilos of cocaine in the van, probably as much heroin. This is a major seizure, are we going to publicize it as usual?"
Pete: "No, not this time. Very few in the agency know we have the stuff, and I want to keep it that way. The SEALs on this mission were hand picked for this assignment, and I have been granted cooperation from high military command. The drugs will be taken to a military facility in the chopper, where they will be kept until we need them for evidence."
Tim: "What about the perps, they will be out on the street in nothing flat."
Pete: "No they won’t, Roger suggested we keep the three hoods incommunicado for a day or so, in the mean time we will tag them on the street with the theft of the drugs. Under the circumstances we set up, I think they will ‘volunteer’ for the witness protection program – and rat out the Cuban when the time is right. The Cuban is well known for his harsh punishments for anyone in his organization caught stealing from him, and the theft of a couple hundred kilos of shit will definitely piss him off to the max."
Roger: "Even though I thought of it, I personally don’t like the plan, because of the risk to my family. Cathy will probably leave me a bloody mess on the floor here when I tell her."
Pete: "Simple, don’t tell her until it’s all over."
Roger: "Doesn’t work that way with us Pete. Besides, she has to know so she can keep her eyes open for a developing situation. You know Cathy is one cool customer, and it wouldn’t be fair to her otherwise. I’ll also have to tell the kids—"
Pete: "Jeez Roger, they’re only kids – they will blab this entire operation all over their school. I was going to propose we send then to the CIA’s School for dependants in Virginia, where we can keep a close eye on them – and they will be out of harms way."
Roger: "They are both very intelligent kids and won’t tell their friends if I ask them not to. I know that they are very good at keeping secrets. Besides, who do you think took the pictures I sent to you, or caught the names of the perps? No, I think it’s best if we follow the plan we discussed on the phone while you were en route. If your guys are going to capture and convict the Cuban and the rest of his organization, our best bet is to keep this avenue of smuggling open to him. After the loss of this shipment, he is likely to personally supervise the next shipment, and then we can nail him with the goods in hand. I’m sure he must have someone in the park, probably on my staff, feeding him information. With the loss of this shipment of drugs, it would bring more suspicion on myself and Cathy if we make any changes with my family."
Pete: "I think our original plan has the best chance of success too, but I didn’t want to ask you to put your family at risk."
Roger: "Like I told you before, Cathy can veto this, but I know she hates drug dealers for what they are doing to our kids – I think she will go along with this when all is said and done."
Pete: "Okay, we will have the Park Service transfer two ‘new’ men to fill your vacancies. Do you have any preference?"
Roger: "Yes, I’d like Chief Masters and Chief Patterson – Captain Wilkes told me they would be the best choice for this assignment on the walk back here."
Pete: "Tim I want you to ride with the woman to Lakehurst – in a few minutes Captain Wilkes will have two of his men in the van dressed in Weasel and Camden Sam’s clothing. She will drive at least until route 9; you may tell her that we have her daughter and that the Cuban will have evidence that she stole the drugs to get her cooperation. Captain Wilkes is taking the two thugs and the drugs back with me to the Merrill as soon as I join him."
Roger raised his eyebrow and Pete responded, "The USS Merrill is one of the Navy’s warships temporarily assigned to the DEA to help interdict the flood of drugs entering the States. We will let the thugs stew in the Merrill’s brig for a few days, and then explain the facts of life to them. Do you have any questions?"
Tim: "Do we really have the woman’s daughter sir?"
Pete: "Yes, thanks to the pictures and names Roger transmitted to Washington, we identified the perps and looked up their records. The only time the woman was arrested was four years ago; a social worker noted in her record at the time that she had a seven-year-old child. The child was put in a state facility until the mother was released a few days later on bail. The mother was brought to trial, but the charge didn’t stick, and the child has been with her in their Camden home ever since. Apparently, the mother and child are very close, which is one of the reasons I think this will work. Riley and Boyle, from the Philadelphia Task Force, picked up the woman’s daughter a few minutes ago, they are bringing her to Lakehurst as we speak.
Collins and Brown, from the Newark Task Force, picked up Camden Sam’s sister; he lives with her and supports her since their parents died. The child will be brought to the Merrill from Lakehurst, and Camden Sam’s sister will be sedated and held in an agency rehab clinic until we see if she gives us leverage with her brother. Camden, by the way, has a sheet as long as your arm, but only two convictions for felonious assault. Those were while he was still a minor, and apparently, he met the Cuban while in juvenile detention. Weasel has a wife, but she is the Cuban’s sister and is probably in no danger. Anything else?"
Tim: "No sir; will I see you back on the Merrill later?"
Pete: "No, and I want you to go back to Washington after putting the van in container storage at Lakehurst. A Navy chopper will be waiting for your two SEALs, Lynda and her child to take them to the Merrill, and an agency chopper will pick you up there to take you to DC. You will take Riley and Boyle with you and drop them off in Philadelphia on the way to DC. The car they used to pick up the child, has been reported stolen, and will stored in the container with the van until we need them. Riley and Boyle wore disguises and made certain they were seen picking up the child – that will be used to help tag the perps with the theft. Keep in mind, because they don’t need to know, Riley and Boyle have not been told we have the drugs. Say nothing of this entire matter to anyone in the agency, you know why. I’ll see you in my office Monday – unless something changes. Keep your cell phone charged."
Tim: "Until Monday sir."
Pete: "Good traveling Tim, Roger do you have any more cokes?"
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
The two children stood, moved away from the vent, and went to the storeroom to look out the louvers. Sure enough, Tim jogged to the van and got in, a minute latter it started out of the park. The two kids watched it leave, lost in their own thoughts. After several minutes, Michelle turned to Nicholas and said, "Lets see if the Sea Hawk is still here."
Back in Mike’s bedroom, they looked out the window, and saw Pete Sorenson and their dad jogging over the dunes to the Sea Hawk. As soon as Pete boarded the chopper, it lifted a few feet and darted out to sea. Roger didn’t watch as it receded from sight; instead, he turned toward the house and began jogging. The two young detectives sat at Mike’s desk, "Gosh Nicholas, Mr. Sorenson wanted to send us to school in Virginia."
"We would be together, but I don’t want to leave Aunt Meg – she depends on me a lot. She can be a pain sometimes, but I love her and she loves me," Nick said.
"I do too, she really is a nice lady. I wouldn’t want to leave mom and dad for anything either." Michelle added after a pause, "Well dad said no, so I guess we don’t have to worry about being sent to Virginia."
"How about your mom, what do you think she will do?"
"I think dad is right, she won’t like risking our family’s lives, but she will go along with the plan in the end. Only the other morning on the way to school, she was telling me about all the kids with drug problems they see in the HMO, and how sad it is that so many young lives are being ruined. I’m more worried what she will tell Aunt Meg, I mean you could have been killed today," Michelle had a worried look on her pretty face.
"So could your dad and you, but the only time I thought I’d die, was from fright when I saw that evil Weasel shooting at you," Nicholas took the pretty child’s hands in his, feeling very protective.
"I wasn’t worried much, it’s really hard to hit a running target at fifty yards with a pistol. Mom doesn’t like guns in the house, but dad has taught us all how to shoot. It isn’t as easy as it looks on TV."
"Still I was really worried for you," the erstwhile girl insisted.
"It must have been worse for you, being tied up and all," the erstwhile boy countered.
"I was scared and really uncomfortable, in fact my hands and feet took forever to lose all the pins and needles from being tied so tight. But I wasn’t real worried, I thought you would get the police or do something to save us. It worked out well in the end. Now we are going to have to come up with a way that will keep us and our families together."
"If we can beat the drug dealer, we can do that too," Michelle said with determination.
"Do what?" Roger asked, surprising the two children.
"We are worried that Aunt Meg will keep Nicholas from seeing us when she finds out how much danger we were in today," Michelle told her dad.
"How do you feel Nicholas, you had a real tough day today," Roger asked with concern in his eyes.
"I admit that I was frightened, and it certainly was uncomfortable being tied up. BUT we did help capture some bad people and an awful lot of drugs. All in all, it was an exciting day. I just don’t want to be sent away, or kept from seeing you guys. I know it has only been a few weeks, but I really feel that you—Cathy, you, and Michelle are my family now – I don’t want to loose another family, just when I found it."
"I take it then, that you don’t want to go to Virginia," Roger asked. The two youngsters looked at each other, not sure how to answer that, given the fact they weren’t supposed to hear it in the first place. Roger smiled saying, "I was brought up in a big old house too, I know all about how ducts carry sounds. You heard what we said down there, didn’t you?"
"Yes dad," they ruefully said as one.
"Don’t worry, I wanted you to, if you hadn’t, I’d have wonder just how good a pair of detectives you really were. I knew Pete wouldn’t feel comfortable talking in front of you, and you deserve to know the truth, just as your mother deserves the truth," Roger said.
"You are the best dad," Michelle said as she hugged and kissed him, with Nicholas kissing his other side with such vigor all three toppled laughing to the floor.
"Boy I’m glad I’m on your side," Roger exclaimed as he regained his feet.
"Well, there are four of us, but only you get to see two of us at any one time," Nicholas laughed.
Nicholas laughed harder at Michelle because her skirt had fluffed up exposing her ruffled panties and pointed. Michelle responded, "SOME boys are SO crude!"
They all laughed harder at that as they sat down, but then Roger continued seriously, "I am vitally concerned for your safety too, more so than Pete could ever be, but I think by keeping you close I can protect you better. I don’t want to frighten you, but the man we are trying to capture has a lot of money from selling drugs. He can bribe and blackmail people in the government for information and favors. It is likely if he hears about changes in our family from his spies, he will try to find out why – thinking we might have his drugs, or know something about their theft. If he really wanted to find you in Virginia, it wouldn’t be hard for him to find out where you were, if he asks the right people."
"Wow, how do you fight someone that powerful?" Michelle asked.
"Basically with stealth, secrecy, and deception…"
"What are you guys doing up here? Breaking up my house?" Cathy said smiling as she walked into the room.
"We were just talking over our day," Roger responded.
"Well let’s go downstairs and you can tell me over a pizza – I picked up two on the way home. Who were you guys talking to anyway, the phone has been busy for hours."
"Oh, sorry mom, I forgot about that. I shorted out the phone so Camden couldn’t receive the Cuban’s phone call. I’ll go outside to the box and take the short off right now."
"Camden? Cuban? What have you three been up to? You have two smudged nails Michelle. Did you know that? And while we are at it, Michelle how come you’re here at all?" Cathy asked in rapid order.
"That’s a long story Cathy, we have had an eventful day, I’ll tell you all about it between mouthfuls of pizza," Roger said as he led them all down the steep stairway.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
To be continued…
Watch for our two young heroes and heroines in their continuing adventure, "Pirate’s Gold: The Ghost Of Halloween Present," coming soon to a computer screen near you.
© Constance Grant, Manasquan, NJ – August 2000, All Rights Reserved
This is the first part of a two-part episode, and with sufficient interest, it could become a series.
Andrea, who is now deceased, and Daphne inspired this story with their wonderful "Petticoat Detective" series of short stories posted on Daphne’s website, which is currently (8/2000) located at
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Castro/3247/main/index.htm
Andrea and Daphne’s "Petticoat Detective" stories take place in England, and reflect British customs in the late twentieth century. This story takes place in the state of New Jersey, USA, beginning in the late summer of 2000, and reflects the customs and culture of that time and place.
The principal setting for this story is a barrier island just off the coast of central New Jersey in the Atlantic Ocean. Several bridges to the mainland connect to the long thin island, and the southern most portion of the island is a State Park and wild life preserve. Island State Park exists just south of the island town of South Seaside Heights and the entire island is part the State of New Jersey. In reality its topography, wild life, and climate is very much as described in this story. However, in the story I have fictionalized and enlarged the park and its management. The major change is that I made it part of the United States National Park Service’s, wonderfully run National Park System; in fact, it is extremely well run by the State of New Jersey. I did this solely to provide a rationale for the existence, connections, and background of a major character. Certain physical aspects of the park, like the Superintendent’s (Chief Park Ranger in the story) home, as described do not exist. But similar seaside structures do exist elsewhere on the Jersey coast. The actual town of Seaside Park has been enhanced by my imagination with some of the physical and cultural characteristics of Smithville, NJ, and the surrounding area and town of Cape May, NJ.
Any comments are welcome.
ConnieBabe69@hotmail.com
© 2000
The above work is copyrighted material. Anyone wishing to copy, archive, or re-post this
story must contact the author for permission.