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Hard Tuck Case -*- Copyright 2001 by Ellen Hayes.
Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when used for satirical purposes.
This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and possibly sex. If you are legally not allowed to read materials containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading this. I am not responsible. Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish, state, and country.
All rights reserved. See the bottom for distribution rights.
Hard Tuck Case
*** 17:04 29 Jul
"NOOOOOO!" all three of them yelled firmly.
"Please-"
"We're hav-"
"We'll be good!" David begged.
"We will!" echoed Gary and Ricky, several times.
I hated children, I decided.
On the other hand, if they had enough energy to whine like that, then they still had some to burn off, and- I checked my watch and it was indeed right after five, which meant that if we waited a while longer we could avoid some traffic, too.
Kids with lots of excited energy trapped in a car that was stuck in traffic would be A Bad Thing. And I didn't need any more Bad Things today.
"Okay," I sighed, and got cheers that I didn't believe.
*** 17:07 29 Jul
"Where ya goin'?" Mike asked me as he saw us picking up our stuff. Or maybe it was the boys running in holding patterns around me that caught his attention, I dunno.
I said, "Gonna go run some more energy off the kids before we go home, and I'm kind of tired of hanging here." I decided not to mention Gina, since I didn't even know if she'd recognized me or not.
"Okay, then... call me when you get home, okay? I'll page you when we're back in town. Just so I know."
"'Kay," I agreed, and nodded, which almost made me fall over, but Mike caught me as a precaution.
"You might," he added as he bored into my eyes, "also want to think about going home soon and sleeping, before you collapse?"
"Yeah," I agreed again. "On the other hand, if I have to have all three kids trapped in a Suburban in five o'clock traffic, I'm gonna berserk and kill everyone I can reach." Travis chuckled and nodded.
"That would be bad," Mike agreed. "Just don't take too long after that." He turned to Travis and said, "She needs rest, man. Don't keep her out all night or she's going to melt down. As in Chernobyl. TRUST me on this," he said, staring at Travis.
"I will. Or, uh, won't..." Travis looked confused. "I'll make sure she gets home early," he decided.
"Good." Mike clapped me on the shoulder, waved to Travis, and then walked off.
I looked at Travis, who was looking at me, and smiled back at him. "Wanna go have some more fun?" I asked. He just smiled, and offered me his hand. I took it, but I had to put it on a stroller handle because I couldn't compensate for the asymmetrical thrust if I didn't.
*** 17:20 29 Jul
"White Water Canyon," I said as we got off the little train. "To the, uh, left." They went that way at high speed, and I sighed and went to catch them. Stella burbled from the front of the stroller, where I'd put her when I decided the risk of me passing out and squishing her was a little too great to chance. Besides, she was absorbing mass as the day went on.
*** 17:41 29 Jul
"You want to play games in the arcade?" I repeated, not sure if they really meant it or if they were just torturing me. "But we could do that in a mall at home."
"And when do you ever take us to a mall?" Gary asked. I thought about throwing something at him, since I was too tired to catch him, then decided that I was too tired to throw something hard enough to hurt, and if it didn't hurt what was the point?
"Shut up," David said, kicking his brother in the leg. "Please?" he begged me as he dodged Gary's counterattack.
I sighed. "Okay, okay," I agreed, and ignored the cheers again.
"Val?" Travis said quietly. "We can go now if you want to, if you're that tired out." Now I knew why he was saying it quietly.
"Well..." I looked at my watch. "Let's think about herding them to the front of the park, maybe get out of here by six-thirty?"
"You think you can last that long?"
I thought about it. "Yeah, I think so." It was just fatigue. I wasn't going to die of being tired if my breathing was going this well.
*** 17:46 29 Jul
"Mortal Kombat?" I said incredulously.
"Sure, what-" Travis started to ask as I nudged him out of the way.
*** 17:49 29 Jul
"Yaaaah!" I said as I stomped Ricky completely into mush.
"You're too good," he said as he turned away from the machine. Moments later, he was pushing Travis into the space he'd previously occupied. "Youplayher! Youplayher!" Ricky insisted, and the other two chimed in.
"If you want," I smiled, hopefully nicely.
*** 17:53 29 Jul
"Stooomp," I drawled as I stomped Travis, and he virtually expired. "Wanna play another round?" I looked at him, and he was giving me one of those looks again, the ones where I'd done something and he couldn't quite believe it. "What?"
"I wanna play HIM," Ricky insisted, and tried to bump me out of the way. I bumped him back and he lost.
"Play Ricky," I decided, and inserted more tokens.
"Yahooo!" Ricky commented as I got out of the way.
*** 17:59 29 Jul
They had a shooting game, one of the video-arcade kind that had pistols and light sensors and was not too far off a real range situation, except that my dad was not currently beating me with a stick or flashing strobes at me or something. And the input was an auto-type, not a revolver-type, too. I was completely torn when Travis noticed what I was staring at, or read my mind again, and said, "Oh, go on, try it out. It's just a couple tokens." And smiled at me.
*** 18:06 29 Jul
I had peripherally noticed that the small ones had clustered around me loosely, giving me some space to work, but it wasn't until a slight lull in the action that I looked around and saw their faces.
Complete awe, every single one of them, including Travis.
Then the next level started, I could sense it, and I swung back to the screen and concentrated. It was definitely getting harder, but I was starting to warm up.
*** 18:13 29 Jul
I finished 'shooting' FastJack into the high score box, and was rather peeved to find out I'd only made third on the dailies. It's hard to beat the park employees unless you play as often as they do, which I hadn't been. "Darnit," I sighed, and put the pseudo-pistol back in the holder before I noticed I was sweating. I turned around, and-
And got mobbed by the small ones yelling, "THAT WAS SO COOL!" and similar things, and then they were shaking me down for tokens to try the same game. Meanwhile, Stella was screaming fit to compete with the arcade games, which was pretty impressive considering she wasn't operating on line power.
*** 18:14 29 Jul
The kids sucked, of course. I would have at their age.
Travis was still looking at me funny, though, I noticed. "What? She's overstimulated. In fact, let's take this outside."
His mouth said, "What?" but I could barely hear him, so I pointed to the doorway instead.
*** 18:15 29 Jul
Stella was now just upset, as opposed to completely psycho, which was a sort of improvement. She was still screaming like a banshee, though. I hoped that would help the kids to find us; I wasn't sure they'd heard the instructions they'd verbally acknowledged.
"Wh," Travis started, then he shook his head. "That was incredible."
"What, the baby?"
"No," he said like I was missing it again. "You on that game!"
"It was alright," I sighed. "I've done better." He was still looking at me funny. "What?"
After a silence, from him at least, he shook his head at me, and lied, "Nothing, I guess."
"No, what? Come on..." I was feeling more tired by the second, I noticed. "It just takes practice, lots and lots of practice."
"How much practice?"
"Um..." I moved a bit, and my neck cramped. I might have gasped.
"What?" Travis asked.
"Cramp... could, uh, could you rub it?" I asked as I moved around to where he could. His warm hand was on my neck, and then he GRABBED, and I almost lost my balance then as my spine shot sparks and I groaned, "Oohhhh, God that feels good..."
He grabbed on with the other hand and set about rearranging my bones and muscles in a very painful and relaxing manner. I concentrated on standing up and not drooling. If he said anything to me after that, I lost it.
*** 18:19 29 Jul
"Play again, Valerie!" Gary insisted as they led me back to the machine.
"No!" I insisted back. "It gives me cramps!" And my shoulders and arms were just about back to normal. "Let's play pinball instead," I suggested. It might be quieter, too.
*** 18:22 29 Jul
Travis definitely did not suck at pinball, I was glad to note, but neither of us were much better than the boys, so they felt better about playing. And it was slightly quieter there, which seemed to be agreeable with Stella. It worked out.
*** 18:28 29 Jul
"Dudes, I already spent ten dollars in here," I explained, "and we have to start thinking about going home before your moms report you as Missing Presumed Dead."
The whining and begging started again, and I looked at Travis, who sort of shrugged and smiled at me, like 'What can you do?'
Leave them here, strangle them, strangle one as an example to the other two, race them back to the car and leave the losers... The potential was almost endless.
"Just something to eat?" Ricky asked.
*** 18:29 29 Jul
Skyline Chili seemed like a good bet, but we had to go past several things and some of the midway games, which I thought was probably part of their little Clever Plan.
Travis was, though, big enough to carry me out of the park when I collapsed from exhaustion, and hopefully that would scare them enough that it'd be a lesson, so I agreed.
*** 18:32 29 Jul
And, gee, what a surprise, they all told me they'd die immediately if not allowed to go on Flying Eagles. Aki-blists were mentioned...
"As long as I get to stay out here," I told them, and then they rushed into line. Luckily, David was tall enough to ride this one by himself, so I could stay outside... and so could Travis, apparently.
I waited a bit, and then fell into his arms. "Oh, God," I sighed as he caught me and cradled me. "What a day, what a day..."
"We can skip the food," he offered.
"I already said we could, though, and once you say something like that, it's more trouble than it's worth to try and get them to drop it. I'd have to have a fit, and I'm too tired."
"Stella's having a fit," he pointed out.
"No good, the boys are too used to her already," I chuckled.
"I could have a fit?" he suggested.
"You're too big, you'd scare everyone," I smiled up at him. "Just, keep doing like you've been doing, and we keep herding them out of the park. We'll get there in a while."
"Val..." he said. "I don't want you to tire yourself out."
'Too late,' I didn't say. I said, "I'm going to go home, take a shower, and collapse into bed as soon as we get the kids off, I think."
We sighed at the same time.
Pause, as I enjoyed letting his body take over warmth production for a minute.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
"I'll be fine," I assured him. I looked up at him and smiled again. "Besides, you didn't think that after a day at the park I'd be much good as anything besides a dishrag, did you?" He chuckled a bit, so it was alright. "Travis, I know I said tonight, but can we postpone it until Wednesday?" He nodded.
*** 18:47 29 Jul
The line hadn't been too bad, and I finally had a chair to fall into and eat. The chili was nice, too, though a little sweeter than I liked. And Stella had finally calmed down, thank Ghu.
*** 19:08 29 Jul
"Oh, God," I said when I got back from changing Stella, and saw the boys, "what were you doing, swimming in it?"
*** 19:10 29 Jul
I needed to start getting the Industrial size baby wipes, because I used the last of them getting the chili off their faces and hands. "Man oh man," I sighed as I finished.
*** 19:12 29 Jul
"You play basketball, right?" Ricky asked Travis as we passed by a certain stand.
A momentary vision of all three of them wadded up into small balls and being thrown through the hoops consumed my mind for too long, because when I came back, Travis was stepping up to the line.
*** 19:17 29 Jul
He was about as good as I'd expect someone who played varsity basketball to be, which is to say 'immense'. The kids were now making appreciative noises at him instead of me, too, which was nice.
"Which one do you want?" woke me up.
"Huh?" I said, hoping for a clue.
"Which one do you want, Val?" Travis asked, pointing at the stuffed animals inside the booth.
"Oh..." I was going to laugh, or let the kids argue and eventually pick one out - though I doubted they would have any interest in any of the stuffed animals - but then I caught a second look at Travis' face, and realized that he Really Wanted To Do This.
For me.
"Um," I said.
*** 19:18 29 Jul
It had really soft fur, I was glad to note. Stella desperately wanted to drool on it, which is why it was riding on top and out of her reach. I didn't think she'd stop until the silly thing melted.
I looked over and smiled at Travis, and he smiled back at me, and put his arm around me. I held the bear's paw and pushed the stroller, and the boys orbited about.
Just a normal day at the park, haha.
*** 19:38 29 Jul
I was so tired, it was an effort to get into the high seat in the Suburban. And I hurt all over.
When Travis got in, though, he leaned over and hugged me, which almost made me feel a little better.
*** 20:19 29 Jul
"Huh?" I said as I woke up from lack of motion.
"We're here," Travis said as three kids bailed out and ran screaming for the Parkers' house.
*** 20:24 29 Jul
Miz Parker was saying something nice to me as the kids babbled around her, and I couldn't hear it. "Uh huh," I smiled, and tried to pay closer attention.
"You look exhausted," she said. "Go home and get some sleep."
"Oh yeah," I agreed. "Except, can I borrow your phone for a minute?"
*** 20:25 29 Jul
Mike wasn't answering, so I left a short message on his machine, wondering all the while when HE had gotten back. I finally got done and hauled my pager out and looked at it, and judging from the phone number and the time code, he'd been back for an hour and a half.
Well, at least that had gone alright.
*** 20:28 29 Jul
"Travis?" He turned my way again. "I am really glad we went," I half-lied. "And I did have fun today."
He sighed, and sat down on the fender of my car, which creaked disturbingly. "I... I really wanted it to go better," he admitted eventually.
"Yeah, well..." I shrugged. Fate was fate. "We took the kids, they had fun, I had fun, did you have some fun?"
"Val," he said for some reason.
"What? Did you?"
"Yeah, but-"
"So, next time we know not to take the demon children," I grinned, "and-"
"What about you?" he interrupted.
"Huh?"
"Your friends," he said.
"Oh." I thought about it. "Mike's... relatively cool with it. Kim said she was too, and I think she is. I mean, they know me, and they all said they weren't too surprised I ended up dating you, so... and it's not like they're all upset or anything-"
"Amy?" he reminded me. I wished he would stop doing that.
"Amy will get over it in less than a week, probably less that two days," I told Travis. It'd be best if I could set her off outside my house in the next two days, anyway. Living with someone like her when she wanted to have a screaming fit at you, was more stressful than the fit would be, and I wanted to get it over with as soon as I could. "And she'll keep quiet about it, because Mike will pound the shit out of her if she puts us in any danger, and she knows this."
I think the blood oath had also convinced her to keep quiet. But I wasn't going to mention that to Travis.
"I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you," he said gallantly.
"I'll be okay," I assured him. "I just need to get home and get some sleep, and then see you tomorrow? Page me at lunch or something so I can call you?"
He nodded eventually. Then he asked, "Can I get a hug?"
"Yeah..."
It was warm and sweet.
*** 20:54 29 Jul
I really didn't want to leave him, but if I didn't do it real soon, I was going to fall asleep in his arms. Which was a wonderful idea, but would cause me at least some problems later.
I saw Travis waving at me in the rearview mirror, so I flashed my lights at him before I had to concentrate on driving.
*** 21:18 29 Jul
"Hey, how did the trip go?" Rachel asked as I came into her place.
"Oh boy," I sighed. "Come up and I'll tell you about it, and don't let me go to sleep, 'kay?"
"He got you a bear?" she asked, pointing at the thing riding in the top of my pack.
"Yeah... I feel so stupid about it and so, I dunno..."
"It's sweet," she assured me with a smile.
*** 22:02 29 Jul
"It was exhausting," I told Mom and Dad. "Three kids and one baby, all day at King's." I'd cleverly hidden the bear before I came in.
"At least you had some friends to help you," Mom pointed out, trying to make me feel better, while Dad's eyes rolled in horror.
"Oh, yeah," I lied, "they helped a lot. I think I'm going to go to bed now. They didn't help that much and I'm dead on my feet."
Mom insisted on a hug first, which I let her give me, because I didn't have any choice.
When she let go, Mom asked, "Do you know what Amy's upset about?"
'Oooh, yeah, Mom, she's upset that she's next to last to hear about the guy I've been dating under everyone's noses, and you're the last, so I'm done and now I'm going to bed.' Not!
"Dunno, Mom, some girl thing," I lied. "And you know how irrational girls can be, right?"
"Oh, of course," she smiled and patted my arm. "Not logical and rational like you, right?"
"Right..." That wasn't the answer I expected, and I was starting to worry that something had gone terribly wrong and I'd missed it, when Dad's muffled snickers gave me the clue that Mom had just been devastatingly sarcastic and I'd missed that. I was relieved; it wasn't like her to agree with me so easily on anything.
"Good thing," I said after a moment's thought, "that you're not one of those silly irrational girls, though, innit, Mom?" If ya can't be the comedian, ya might as well be the straight man.
She smiled at me, patted me some more, and suggested, "Go to bed."
*** 22:05 29 Jul
I tapped in the code to my door and it unlocked, and I went in to find that Amy had apparently moved all her stuff out when I wasn't home. That was a Bad Sign.
*** 22:18 29 Jul
I re-did the Band-Aids after my evening shower, which took a while because it was hard to see what I was doing with tears leaking out. I managed, though. Eventually.
Today had just been a Very Bad Day.
As I was brushing my teeth, Susan called from outside, "Tuck?" and started knocking on the door. I ignored it, and she kept knocking, until I finally had rinsed and wiped my mouth, then I grabbed some floss and went to go see what was bugging her. I was afraid it was me again.
"Tuck!" she said when she opened the door, and I saw Amy behind her. That would be me, alright. "We need to talk," she told me.
"I need to sleep," I said.
"Oh, no," she argued, and pulled at my arm. I was too tired to block her before she grabbed me, and then it was too late, she was dragging me into her room, which already held an upset-looking Amy. The tear streaks down her face and her reddened eyes made me feel not at all better. Not NOW! I protested silently, but it wasn't worth saying out loud, not at this point.
"So?" I said, plopping down on Susan's bed.
"Amy told me..."
Oh, God, I thought in despair. Not now! It was now anyway, from what Susan was saying. She was summarizing everything Amy had seen and heard.
*** 22:23 29 Jul
"So?" I said again when it seemed like Susan was finished.
"Don't just go 'so'!" Amy snarled at me.
"Thanks for not telling anyone else," I shot back. "Have you not told Mom and Dad yet too, or the whole fam-"
"Both of you, shut UP," Susan ordered, and we did. "Tuck," she said to me, "what's going on?"
"You know it all, everything," I said back, trying to get my anger under control. "What else do you want to know? I can't think of anything else to add to it."
"What do you think you're DOING?!" Susan demanded, grabbing me.
"Trying to get out of here so I can go to sleep," I said unwisely.
"You're not gonna do that until you explain this," she said, letting go of me.
"What the hell do you want me to explain? That I did it?" I said softer. "Yes. Voluntarily. I like it, and I like him, and the, the mechanics of it are none of your business... What else is there? You want to know what he's like or something? What his hobbies are?"
Pause while we all glared at each other.
Susan started shaking her head. "How, how... How can you..."
"Gee, Susan," I snapped nastily, "you know, you've done it with guys yourself, you just pull down his underwear-"
She slapped me then, very hard, across the face.
I thought about kicking the shit out of her, but since I had to think about it I was obviously too tired, so I just ate it. Instead, I said, "Well, if that's not it, tell me what you want me to say, or let me out of here so I can go to sleep. I have to work tomorrow and so do you."
"What the hell is happening to you," Susan said softly.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing, deep and slow, as I tried to think of an answer.
I didn't have one.
I managed to open my eyes for what might be the last time that night, and said, concentrating on speaking so I wouldn't have to repeat myself, "I dunno, Suze. I don't know what's happening to me, I don't know what's happening to my body. I start going to the doctors again when school starts, you know that. I'd have gone before the summer started, except they didn't want me freaking out again." Though that was looking like a good idea, here and now. One of the reasons I'd blown is to get away from everyone so I could think, and not have to explain things dozens of times to everyone that knew me when I couldn't explain them to myself.
"I like Travis, he's nice, he likes me, he likes the kids," I summarized. "I didn't plan this, I didn't even have an inkling before this summer, I... I don't know why I like him, but I do, okay? What else?"
"But, I mean, how can you... I mean, he's a GUY, Tuck!" Susan said in hushed but shocked tones.
I struggled up as I said, "If you're just gonna keep going over and over the same thing-"
Amy pushed me back on the bed.
"What, are you going to beat me up because you don't like it?" I snapped at Amy, feeling a bit of energy come dribbling in.
Her spinal column apparently decided that that was indeed what she was going to do, because she swung at me wildly.
I was now a lot more awake than I would have believed possible, and so I parried her over my head and elbowed something and she grabbed me and pulled me to the floor, which was a dire mistake on her part.
Unlike me, Amy could NOT keep her mouth shut when she was mad or upset, and she was both, and the absolute last thing in the world I wanted right then was to have to go through this same shit with Mom and Dad after they heard her, and about the second last thing in the world I wanted was for Brian to snigger at me and call me 'fag' for the rest of my life. Both of which would be triggered by her screaming at the top of her lungs if I didn't stop it instantly, or the questions if they heard us fighting and came to see what was going on.
That all flashed through my head as we were falling, and then my head hit the floor and instantly something hard bounced off it too and that pissed me off even more, which is why I managed to lift her off the floor, bounce her off the side of the bed, and get an arm around her neck and get a choke hold on her.
"Amy," I hissed as Susan stopped, unsure now whether to intervene or not, "you calm the fuck down or I WILL strangle you unconscious."
Amy struggled, and hit me a lot, but I kept the hold going and ducked my head against her back and so she couldn't get a critical hit, and very shortly she was clawing at my arm around her neck, a sign that she was losing her mind due to oxygen starvation.
"Tuck, let her go NOW," Susan said in a warning tone.
I gave one last squeeze, just to make the point, and pushed Amy off to the side, where she started gasping frantically and holding her throat protectively. My arm was bleeding, but I was still pumped enough that I could ignore it for now.
"You thought it was all nice and funny when you could drag me around and watch me play with the baby," I snarled at Amy, "or take me shopping for dresses and shit. Well this is really not that fucking different, and you ought to consider YOUR part in this before you start something physical that's gonna get you hurt REAL bad."
"Knock it OFF," Susan growled, pulling me backwards and placing me on the bed and away from Amy. "BOTH of you."
"I will," I said back, "if she will."
Amy just gasped a lot and stared at me, not angrily any more either.
"Tuck, you did whatever of your own free will, or so you keep telling ME," Susan pointed out. "Amy, I KNOW you were encouraging him to do things. You both shut up," she instructed preemptively.
As we all stared at each other, I started to shake from the blood or the reaction or something. "You think this is easy for me?" I said, "You think I'm doing this just to hurt you, or because it's fun to screw with your head? I'm not, I'm, I'm really confused, it really hurts sometimes, and all you're doing is making it worse for me!" I pushed my way off the bed, eager- no, desperate to get away now, and told them, "I mean, this is like the worst fucking thing that could happen now, I mean it's, I will be killed if this gets out and I already got seen by someone from school today, and," I swallowed, "and all you want to do is beat me up, hurt me for the only good thing in it at all, that someone cares for me even though I'm a goddamned freak?"
I pushed my way up and out of there, opened Susan's door, made it to mine and opened it and fell inside and kicked it shut before I really started crying. I managed to kick a wedge under the door while I could still move, though.
Then it was just agony and blood, all over again, everywhere.
*** 22:38 29 Jul
I was so so tired, but I couldn't decide if it was worth the risk of lying down and letting the nightmares come in. I knew they were going to be of me being exposed as a fag and killed and shaming my family, and I'd already had enough of that tonight to last me forever, or at least until tomorrow when it would probably start all over again.
*** 00:11 30 Jul
My body had decided for me, turning my brain off when I wasn't paying attention, and the nightmares came when my barriers were down.
*** 00:16 30 Jul
The cool night air was nicer than inside, I decided as I made my way down the street in the shadows.
I'd have to go back before six, but that was a long way away.
*** 00:32 30 Jul
I'd ended up at Mike's house, maybe by chance, and so I made my way to his bedroom window and tapped on it real lightly a couple of times, just in case he was still awake. I hoped he was; I didn't have any other place to go.
Surprisingly shortly, he pulled his curtain aside, so I pressed my face up against the window so he could see who I was.
He nodded at me, pointed at his backyard, and held up five fingers to tell me he'd be out in five minutes. Then he grinned and held up six, and dropped the curtain.
I climbed over his fence and waited for him.
*** 00:41 30 Jul
I didn't think the old treehouse could still hold us, but it could, barely, along with the blankets and pillows he'd brought up. Apparently all the rain over the years had shrunken it. Haha.
"Amy told Susan, they both got all over my ass tonight about it," I told him, squeezing the pillow I'd wrapped myself around, "and, and the nightmares came..."
Mike nodded. Calmly, knowingly, like he'd done this a thousand times before, maybe because he had.
I started to cry, then, muffling it in my hands, and he wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and just sat there with me.
*** 01:08 30 Jul
"Get some sleep, Tuck," Mike said when I wound down to silence. "I brought the alarm clock," he held it in front of me and I heard it ticking, "so you can get to work on time. I'll keep you safe."
I held out my hands, and he locked on them, and a while after that I was so tired I just flopped down on the pillow, pulled the sheet over myself, and passed immediately out.
*** 05:49 30 Jul
"Tuck?" Mike's voice awakened me, eventually. I had a vague sense of him calling me for a long time. "It's time to get up."
I thought about it.
"If you get up now, the alarm clock won't go off," he said.
"Uhhhhh," I complained as I sat up. I really needed another twelve hours or so of sleep. I also needed-
He handed me a bottle of water before I could think of the words to ask him for it. I gargled and spat with most of the bottle, and then realized I had to go to the bathroom.
*** 06:03 30 Jul
"Can I come with you to the Parkers' today?" Mike asked unexpectedly as we pulled up to my house.
"Why?"
"'Cause you're still fucked up and I think you could use some backup today, and Amy ain't gonna do it," he said matter-of-factly.
"Uh." He was right; I felt like I had two cases of the flu. "Okay. The kids are either gonna be real tired out, though, or real pumped," I warned, "and if they're pumped they're gonna be real assholes."
He grinned. "You said you were doing the self-defense thing with 'em, right?"
I grinned back, realizing what he was thinking, and we slapped hands, and I went to quickly get ready.
*** 06:17 30 Jul
I almost ran into Susan when I came out of the bathroom.
"Where did you go last night?" she asked me.
"What makes you think I went anywhere?" I asked reflexively.
"You only screamed once all night, and you look too good to have stayed up all night," she said back.
I looked like shit, when I'd looked in the mirror, but she was right; I'd have looked even worse if I'd stayed up all night after the events of yesterday.
On the other hand, she looked like shit too, which was odd, since she wasn't nearly as prone to nightmares as I was.
"Mike's," I admitted. "We slept in his treehouse."
She nodded. "Look, about last night-"
"Don't start again!" I begged.
"I won't, shut up," she said, quietly and calmly, and completely unexpectedly. "I was going to say we'll talk later, but I don't hate you, okay? I just don't want you getting into trouble. MORE trouble," she added before I could.
"Just keep Amy off my a-" My parents' bedroom door opened. "-Back," I inserted, and Susan nodded to me before Mom came out, still in her robe.
"Good morning," she said to both of us, smiling.
"Morning."
"Morning Mom."
Mom was in a huggy mood, so we gave her one each and let her go down the stairs.
"I'll try. And be careful today, with the kids," Susan instructed.
"Mike's backing me up today," I told her, and she nodded approvingly.
"I gotta go shower, but..." She looked at me. "Tuck, Eugene..." she said softly, and reached out a hand slowly and touched my cheek.
*** 06:25 30 Jul
"Susan's calmer," I told Mike after I'd gotten in his car. "Or on serious drugs."
"Good," he nodded. "Ever notice how much cooler she got since she went to college?"
"Yeah, like daily almost," I chuckled.
Pause, as he drove and I thought about sleeping on the way. At least there wasn't any sunlight drilling into my skull. Days when I felt like this, I was happier to be under clouds.
"So what are you fixing those ungrateful brats this morning?" he asked, startling me into re-ascending to full consciousness.
"Huh?" Sort of full.
"For breakfast?"
I thought about that. "What do you feel like eating?" I grinned finally.
"Mmmmm," Mike growled hungrily, like a bear's stomach in March.
*** 07:16 30 Jul
"Tuck?"
"It's Val when I'm wearing makeup, Mike," I patiently reminded him as I got into his car.
"Yeah, whatever," he said. "HOW did Rachel come to see you bleeding in your underwear?"
"Uh, well..." I didn't like thinking about that night either. "She asked me how it went, she was home, and we were talking in her bedroom and I went in her closet to change, and she unexpectedly opened the door when I had the dress off. I think she didn't mean to do it when I was half-naked, anyway."
"Oh," he said.
"Oh?"
"I just wondered what you were doing around a college girl in your underwear, VAL," he emphasized, "It's a natural sort of thing to wonder with you."
"Oh," I said.
"Oh?"
"Shut up, Mike."
*** 07:48 30 Jul
Miz Parker was mammarily feeding Stella and Mike was looking anywhere else. I kept having to not look so I wouldn't laugh.
"Anyway, would it be okay if he helps me today?" I finished.
"If not, I can go back home and pick her up later," Mike offered, "but she's really tired, and I think she could use a little help today. And best of all," he gave her his best used-car-salesman smile, "it's completely free!"
"Valerie," she said to me, "I understand you want to see your friends over the summer-"
"It's not that!" I said, a bit annoyed that she'd think I'd do something like this just to hang with him an extra ten hours. Biz was and had always been biz. "He, I mean I just wanted him to help out today, he offered, and if it's not okay with-"
Mike tapped me on the arm, and I realized I was getting a bit sharp.
"Um," I said, and took a breath. "That's why he wanted to come with me today. I'm tired out from yesterday, had some stuff with Amy and nightmares half the night and I'm a little irritable."
"Whereas," Mike inserted, "I can keep HER under control, and we can both watch the kids and make sure they don't get yelled at for anything they didn't actually do. They like that," he nodded, getting Miz Parker to nod in agreement. "And also, with me around she won't fall asleep and toast herself again."
"Okay," she nodded. "Then, thank you for coming over and helping," she smiled. Mike smiled back until he suddenly realized he was looking towards a married woman's bared tits, and hurriedly shifted his gaze out the window again. Miz Parker pursed her lips, and then she smiled at me and winked and twitched her head at him.
I winked back. "You might have to go food shopping tonight after he leaves, though," I added with the grin I wasn't able to suppress any more. "But I think I can keep him from eating the actual refrigerator too." I ducked before Mike swatted at my head, which meant he missed.
Miz Parker chuckled and replied, "Well, that would be good, we just got that one a year ago."
"I do not eat refrigerators," Mike said in an attempt at dignified speaking.
"Air compressor," I reminded him of the one we'd saved up for and bought for the purpose of airbrush painting, that had disappeared one day and we never ever found it again.
"That wasn't me," he insisted. "Your sister was on a diet then, remember? She's the one that ate it."
"What?" Miz Parker said incredulously.
I let Mike explain, or attempt to explain, while I turned back to the Death By Cholesterol I was starting.
*** 08:02 30 Jul
"You mean it's not any of that weird stuff she always fixes?" Gary said happily, right before Ricky and David both hit him, one per shoulder. "Ow!"
I sighed, and went to go find something to bang my head into for a while.
"Aaaht!" Mike said before I could get very far. "No banging your head yet. Sit down and eat something; I know you didn't have dinner last night."
As I sighed again and turned around, David asked, "Was she in trouble?"
"She forgets to eat if I don't watch her," Mike lied.
"I do not!"
*** 08:57 30 Jul
"Oh, man," Mike sighed in satisfaction as he finally stopped eating. I was wondering if he'd ever stop. He'd gone through four eggs, rather a lot of bacon, some sausage, some toast, half a salad I couldn't finish, and even milk.
If 'Breakfast Was The Way To Start Your Day', he was good to go until Friday or so, non-stop.
*** 09:38 30 Jul
It was SO nice to watch someone else deal with the boys for a change, and all I had to do was deal with Stella, who was drooling an immense amount and chewing on her teething ring. But a towel took care of the spittle, much to her dismay.
*** 10:04 30 Jul
A sharp whistle from Mike woke me up, and I had to look around before I realized what was going on. "Uh," I said to indicate I was waking up.
"Val, it's raining," Mike informed me slowly. "Want to go inside?"
"Uh," I said, and then nodded. Stella obediently came along in the baby sling I had around my neck, which was good.
*** 11:38 30 Jul
Stella and I were practicing walking, away from Mike and the boys, when they came in. "Huh?" I asked. One of the reasons I was hanging with Stella today was that she was working about the same clock speed I was.
"What'cha fixing for lunch?" Mike asked. "'M hungry."
Pause, while my mouth hung open.
"You're hungry AGAIN?" I confirmed, and the boys all laughed as Mike smiled, and I realized I'd been set up. "Ha ha ha. What do you guys want?" I said, predictably setting off an argument that Mike was standing in the middle of. I smiled at him, and he smiled back and nodded, conceding a point to me. The argument around his legs continued, of course.
*** 12:14 30 Jul
They had for some reason decided on spaghetti, which was really going to be a stretch today since I was handicapped by having no fresh garlic or cheeses either, but it was coming along when my pager went off.
I thought about it a moment, as it buzzed, then asked, "Hey, Mike, is that you paging me?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm bored at home and wondering if you want to go to a book sale later," he said back without taking time to think about it. The boys laughed, which made Stella squeal in delight at sixteen kilohertz and resonants thereof, which made Mike wince since he was holding her while I cooked. "Who is it?"
I pulled it out of my shorts and looked, and I didn't recognize the number but as I tried to, I remembered that I'd told Travis to call me at lunch, and I was fixing lunch so this was almost probably him.
"Oh, no," Mike sighed, and I looked up.
"What?"
"Call him but remember you're cooking, don't take too long," Mike told me.
"HOW did you know-"
"Duh, I'm Chinese!" he interrupted, and showed his inscrutable look. "We can sense these things."
"Dahm balang chi kada wang shu," I said back, which as far as I knew meant nothing at all, but I said it with enough tonals to convey my thoughts. They weren't especially nice.
"Not around the children," Mike said sternly, shaking a finger at me.
"What did she say?" the children predictably asked en masse.
"Go call," Mike sighed at me.
*** 12:15 30 Jul
"Hello?" said a male voice.
It wasn't Travis. "Uh, this is Valerie, someone paged me from-"
"Yeah hold on," said the voice without a pause and then dropped the phone on something hard.
It was only about ten seconds later that Travis said, "Val?"
"Hey," I said, smiling.
"Hey," he said back. "How are you?"
"Doing okay," I said. "Fixing lunch for the kids. Mike's here, he's keeping the boys occupied for a while today."
"Cool," he said. "What'cha fixing?"
*** 12:18 30 Jul
"So, um," Travis said.
"VAL! TIME!" Mike yelled from the kitchen. "POT'S ON FIRE!"
I knew he was lying, because he wouldn't have been yelling at me, he'd have been putting the fire out before we got in trouble.
"Um, Travis, I have to go and finish cooking," I sighed. "Call me when you g- I mean, page me when you get off and stay by the phone, okay?"
"Okay, I will... what's up?"
"I'm not sure how tired I'll be later, but call to check, okay? I want to spend some time with you without four children around."
He chuckled. "Okay.... later?"
"Later," I said, still smiling. And then I hung up first, just to prove I could. "COMING!"
*** 12:19 30 Jul
"So?" Mike asked as I came back in the kitchen, and he stopped stirring and handed me the spoon.
"He wants to see me tonight," I said neutrally. The boys looked up at that, from where they were arranged in a circle sitting on the floor with Stella in the middle, and Gary was holding her hands up and leading her around. "I told him to page me again later..." sort of dribbled out as I tried to make sense of what they were doing.
Mike asked, "Well, what-"
"Yeah. What are you guys doing with Stella?" I asked, a little more concerned with something else at the moment.
Ricky looked over. "We're helping her learn to walk."
I said, "Do what?" David took Stella's hands from Gary and led her around his part of the circle. Stella babbled and laughed and fell down spontaneously, and David pulled her back to her feet; and she continued to make her way around, still highly amused.
"Mike?" I could guess where this originated; it had that vaguely spooky feel about it.
"I thought it was keen," Mike said.
"You're weird, Mike."
"It wasn't me blowing zerberts on her belly right after I changed her diaper, Val," Mike announced.
"That's different!"
*** 12:22 30 Jul
Round and round and round she goes, where she stops - falling down for absolutely no reason at all - nobody knows... But Stella looked happy, and the boys were under control, and where I could watch all of them, and so all I had to do was throw in the chopped onions and bell peppers, check the noodles, and then stir the sauce, which I did for a while.
Then I sighed, and looked at Mike. "What should I do?"
"What? Tonight?"
"Yeah. Should I see him?"
Mike gave me a very strange look. "He's your boyfriend," he stated. "Do you want to see him?"
"Yeah, but..."
Pause while I tried to think of what I was thinking of. Or something like that.
"What?" Mike prompted.
"I dunno, I mean... It seems like a, I mean, it seems like..."
Mike sighed and leaned back against a counter. "Cough it up."
"I would if I knew what it was, Mike," I said. "It just seems, I dunno, like a bad idea?"
"What? Talking to him?" I nodded. "Why?"
"Yeah, well, I mean..."
Pause.
Mike guessed, "All the deal with yesterday and me and Kim and Amy?"
"Yeah."
"And that's already happened, right?"
"Amy's still not talking-"
"For the same reason. T- Val, I mean, it already happened, didn't it?" I had to admit that it had. "So... it's not going to get any worse if you see him NOW, is it?"
"Well-"
"Or was that part of the reason you were dating him, is to have it secret?"
"No!"
"It was just a question, Val."
"It was a STUPID-"
"Shut up Val," Mike said casually. "Okay, so if that's not true, then... why not see him?"
"It just..." I hated when Mike was reasonable like this. It made me feel stupid. "You think I should?"
He let out a breath and shook his head once. "I don't really know how tired you are, how long you intend to stay up, or what you plan to do. You know that better than me," he lied. "So I can't say whether you 'should' or 'should not' see him. But, I mean, if the issue is whether or not you should see him based on, on... on some vestige of shame at being caught, or something..." He shook his head again. "Go and see him, I guess. It's not gonna make things worse at this point, and I don't really care, as long as you don't tire yourself out."
"You really mean that?" I asked.
Mike took a long deep slow breath, then, and let it out. "Val, please don't make me shove your head in the pot, okay? I'm hungry and I'd rather eat the sauce on the spaghetti, than use it to replace your defective brains."
Guess he means it, I realized.
"You wouldn't-" I started to say, and he kicked me lightly. "Okay okay, I'll stop obsessing."
"THANK you," he said as he bowed. "So when's lunch going to be ready?"
*** 12:31 30 Jul
"You keep a list?" Mike asked, peering over my shoulder.
"Of everything I used," I answered as I kept writing, "yeah, that way they know what I used up and what's not there any more. Oh, hey, did I tell you I was gonna be working here during the year?"
"No, you sort of skipped over that little detail," he said, and grabbed my head and put me in a lock, which I wasn't expecting or I might have dodged it. "Val," he said calmly as he held my head in a threatening position and I tried to squirm out, "you really need to remember to mention these little details."
"Um-"
"Anything else?" he asked, like I knew he was going to.
"I'm thinking!" I told him honestly.
"Think hard," he suggested as he bumped my head into a cabinet.
"Ow! Uh, that cosmetology class early in the morning, you saw that, I get out at two, uh, something in the afternoon... pick up Ricky and Stella, she's gonna have a daytime sitter- Um, it might be the other way around, pick up Stella first and then Ricky-" He tightened his grip. "Ow! I'm TRYING, Mike, let go of my head!" He did, finally.
I stood back up and leaned against the counter, just in case. "Um... I'm gonna be, uh," I mentioned him close for a private. "Cooking," I said into his ear, "for the Parkers, Miz Parker says she'd rather have me do it than do it herself."
"No way," Mike asserted.
"That's what she said, anyway," I said as I leaned back. "Um... and I'm dating Travis... I really think that covers it."
"Did you tell Kim that you were going to be working during the school year?"
"Uh-"
"Oh, God, you are such a moron!" Mike complained as he feinted another headlock and got me in an armlock instead and pushed me towards the phone. "You would lose your head if I hadn't welded it on your neck!" That wasn't true; he'd used epoxy and it had fallen off several years ago.
As if this wasn't bad enough, the kids were coming over to either help Mike or defend me, and I'd bet money which one it was. "Mike! Let GO!" He did, and I sighed as I reached for the phone.
"Uh uh," he said, "eat first," he said, and grabbed my arm again and dragged me to the table.
"You're mean," David observed.
"Yep." "He is!" Mike and I said at the same time.
Depression is anger without the enthusiasm. - local radio station
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- ==[-------- Ellen Hayes @>--,--'--- ellen@barkingduck.net + PGP DH/DSS keyfing: 33D4 156A AE39 53E2 0313 6714 2878 56A8 61B0 9CDC + http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes -=[1990]=- vicki .sig virus 11.4 +
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