Electives

Chapter 4 Meeting Brian's friends and his family.

Ginny Driver Stapleton was not your typical widow. She didn't have any gray hair, her skin was wrinkle-free, and she didn't pal around with other widows. Once she stopped wearing the silver band signifying that she had been married, she looked like any other single girl, carefree and happy.

She didn't try to hide the fact that her boyfriend was younger, and a college student. She insisted that I accompany her to teacher functions and never once did she warn me to 'act mature' or to 'dress appropriately.'

One Sunday afternoon, we attended a wine and cheese party at the home of a fellow teacher and her mate. Barbara and Clifford went with us, but I made sure we separated from them as soon as we were inside. Clifford's overbearing personality was a major turn-off for me. I didn't understand what Barbara saw in him. What surprised me was that Ginny never said anything negative about him.

Ginny introduced me to her fellow schoolteachers, and was not fazed when some of them remembered me from high school.

"He's a college junior," Ginny explained to my former teachers, when they asked what I was doing now, adding. "He's also an automobile salesman."

She told me to select cheese from one table, while she stood in line to get two glasses of wine. I watched her chatting with the hostess, point to me, smile, and accept the two glasses of wine.

We went into the backyard, and found a bench. It was a fall day, leaves were falling, and the air was crisp.

"Thank you for coming with me. I know this must be terribly boring for you."

I shared the small plate of cheese with her, and we sipped our wine.

"Thank you for inviting me to tag along with you. It's never boring when I'm with you."

She selected a wedge of cheese, and fed it to me. "May I ask you for a big favor?"

"There's nothing that I wouldn't do for you. Your wish is my command," I said, smiling to show that I was being sincere.

"Will you go with me to my brother's house during Christmas break?"

"I don't know how much time I can get off from work, but sure, I'll go with you if I can."

"It only needs to be a few days."

"I'm sure I can manage a few days."

"I want you to meet Brian and his family. I want them to meet you, too."

"I'd like nothing better, but isn't he away on assignment?"

"He promised Amanda that he'll be home for Christmas. She and Phillip are counting on him being there."

~

I waited until Thanksgiving morning to approach my grandfather about taking a few days off to go to Ginny's brother's house. I needed to know because Ginny was coming to our house for dinner, and I'd promised her that we would make plans for our trip that day. Barbara was going to be with Clifford's family.

As was his custom, my grandfather put me through the third degree. I don't think that he objected to my taking a few days off. He was using my request as a means to get another point across; he maintained that my relationship with Ginny was hindering my effectiveness at work. He also wanted to make sure that Millie and Herman were okay with my taking a few days off.

My grandmother interceded. She pointed out that the end of the year was never a busy season for the used car business. "Anyway, Ginny is a lovely girl. She doesn't complain when Randy works late. I say that you should let him honor her request to visit her brother's family."

Ginny arrived, wearing a long skirt, and a colorful blouse. She helped my grandmother finish preparing dinner, and then we sat down to enjoy a bountiful meal. I waited until we were alone in my room to give her the good news.

"We can leave early on the twenty-third, and we don't have to be back until noontime on Saturday, the twenty-ninth. I have to work the late shift that day, but we'll close early on New Years Eve."

Ginny was counting on her fingers. The twenty-third and the twenty-ninth would be travel days, but it would leave five full days for us to spend at her brother's house. She tackled me, and wrestled me to the bed.

"You make me very happy," she said, kissing me on the lips, the forehead, and back to my lips.

If I hadn't stuffed myself with turkey and pumpkin pie, I would have turned her over and made love right there in my room. We made plans, what time we would leave, how long it would take to drive the four hundred and fifty miles, what clothes we would pack, and when we would shop for gifts to take with us.

Over the weeks leading up to our trip, Ginny continued to tell me how happy I made her. One of the ways I made her happy was sexually. She hadn't been married very long, but even I could tell that her sexual needs had not been met the way I was meeting them. She declared that our twice per week trysts in her bedroom brought her to new heights of ecstasy. I was looking forward to our trip, and she was too.

I really did try to apply myself at the used car lot, but I must admit that sleeping with Ginny for six nights in a row was occupying a good portion of my time.

Millie kidded me about going away with my girlfriend. "Just remember that I expect you to show up on time, and ready for work on the twenty-ninth. Do I need to remind Ginny to take it easy on you the night before?"

"Ginny's already warned me that we're going to take it easy every night. She's concerned that she makes too much noise when she becomes excited."

"That's no fun. She should learn to let go. Sex is a means of self-expression," Millie said.

"She wouldn't like my telling you this, but Ginny takes on a new personality when she's having sex. You'd think it was a different person to hear her."

"Have you stopped to think that it could be you that brings out the best of Ginny?"

Two kids pulled up in a beater, and walked toward a 2005 Pontiac. I went out to meet them, and when they said they were just looking, I went back inside to resume our conversation.

"I hope you won't think I'm bragging," I said, looking at Millie. She shook her head, slowly, wanting me to continue. "Ginny says she never made noise when she was with her husband. She says everything I do is new to her, but really, I'm running out of stuff to try."

Millie's head swiveled to the right, directing her attention to the two kids. One of them was trying to open the driver's door to the Pontiac. I watched as Millie darted out to the lot, asked the two kids what the fuck they were doing, in a nice way of course, and waved to them as they drove away.

"I'll bring you a book," Millie said when she came back inside. We changed topics, and didn't speak of my sex life with Ginny until I'd had time to study the book. Our trip was soon approaching, and I was anxious to try some of the techniques illustrated in Millie's book.

~

My grandfather surprised me by handing me the keys to a two-year-old Mercury. I'd never seen the car on the lot, but he assured me that it was in top condition.

"Keep within the speed limit, and you'll use less fuel. It should give you and the young lady a comfortable ride," he said, walking away before I could thank him.

My grandmother woke me at five A M. She packed a snack while I was having my breakfast. "Call us if you run into trouble or need anything," she said. Like when my grandfather handed me the keys to the Mercury, I was speechless. I thanked her with a hug.

Barbara had gotten up early to see us off. She informed me that Ginny was not quite ready, and that Clifford was still in bed.

"I'm glad you're going with Ginny to visit her brother's family. I know how badly she wants to see them, but I don't believe she would have gone alone if you couldn't go. She couldn't stand to be separated from you, not even for a few days."

"I'm glad that I'm able to please her. I'm looking forward to our being together for seven days and six nights."

"Don't push her too far, Randy. She's lived a sheltered life."

Assuming she was speaking of sex, I became defensive. "I don't push her."

"Yes, you do. I hear her when you're together. She was never like that with my brother. Danny was gentle; you're an animal."

What right did she have to compare me to her brother? I wanted to retaliate. "I've heard you and Clifford. Is he an animal?"

Barbara smiled. "Clifford's different. He's a cuddly teddy bear."

I was about to remind her of the way she'd shrieked the night I'd heard them in the room across from us. She'd made it sound like Clifford was a grizzly bear. But our conversation was cut short by Ginny's appearance. She greeted me with a kiss, handed me one of her bags, and said it was time for us to leave.

She was impressed by the car I was driving. "Your grandfather must love you very much," she said.

I didn't know it at the time, but her comment about my grandfather was her way of leading in to what she wanted to talk about, my childhood.

"I suppose he does," I said, wondering if I should tell her that he had a strange way of showing it sometimes.

"Your grandmother must love you very much, too," Ginny observed when she saw the bag of goodies my grandmother had packed for us to snack on.

"Oh, yeah," I said, trying to count all the thoughtful things my grandmother had done for me over the years.

"How long have you lived with them?"

This subject had not come up before. It wasn't something I liked to talk about, but I couldn't refuse to tell Ginny about my childhood. She was the one person that deserved to know everything about me.

"As you know, I was born October the twentieth, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven to Randolph and Melissa Jansen."

"Does that mean you are Randolph, Junior?"

"Technically, but I've always gone by Randy."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Ginny said, looking apologetic, like she was anxious for me to continue.

"My dad was in the Reserves, and his unit was called to active duty a few days after Iraq invaded Kuwait. He was killed two days before my fourth birthday."

"Oh, my God! He was killed on my birthday...sorry, Randy, I won't interrupt you again."

I looked over at her, saw how she was blushing in embarrassment. "You were eight years old that day. I'll bet you were as cute as you are now."

"No way, I wore my hair in pigtails, and I was overweight," she confessed, and then she thought of something. "That made your mom a widow, like me."

"Year, it was just my mom and me until she remarried."

"So, you're an only child. Do you have any uncles or aunts?"

"No, my dad was an only child, too. I've got a couple of step-brothers. The guy my mom married is older. He's wealthy. I think that's what attracted my mom to him. They had a baby when I was ten so I've got a half-sister, too."

"When did you come to live with your grandparents?"

I guess my grimace caught her attention. "Randy, if it bothers you to talk about it, I'll understand."

"Ginny, if anyone deserves to hear my story, it's you. I don't mind talking about it. The next two years were more than I could take. My step-brothers treated me like shit, I didn't get along with my step-dad, and my mom gave all of her attention to the baby. I got to the point that I hated every one of them, including my mom. I acted out my frustration in school, and my step-dad convinced my mom that I needed to be sent away. I was happy when my grandparents offered for me to come live with them, but I didn't know what I was getting into."

"Your grandparents didn't mistreat you, did they?"

"They never laid a hand on me, but I'd rather take a beating that listen to one of my granddad's lectures. He let me know that he was dissatisfied with the work I was doing in school. He got me a tutor, and when I didn't improve, he fired the tutor, and sat with me every night while I did my homework. This went on until I started hanging around the used car lot. My grandmother wasn't pleased when I came home with grease on my clothes, but it suited my granddad fine. We had something in common, cars, and if I didn't show up at his lot when he thought I should be there, he actually came looking for me."

"I thought you said that you didn't start working there until you were sixteen?" Ginny asked.

"That's when he started paying me. Before that, I just hung around and watched. His lectures continued, but now they were on how to listen for a transmission that is going bad, or how to feel shimmy in the front wheels. He stopped paying attention to my grades, and guess what? My grades improved."

"Do you communicate with your mother?"

I shook my head. "She sends gifts for my birthday and at Christmas. I send her a thank you note, and then, invariably, I get pictures of her new family. She has step-sons that were born when she was ten or eleven years old, and she has a daughter that was born when they were twenty-one and twenty-two."

"She must be interested in you. Does she ask how you are doing or if you have a girlfriend?"

"I wrote once about my job at the service station. She called me a grease monkey, and then went on for a page and a half about a dance recital her precious daughter was in."

"I don't think we should talk about this any more, Randy. It's making you upset."

I laughed. "It would have upset me when I was younger, but I avoided talking about it. I don't mind telling you about my earlier days. You see me for what I am today, stable, happy, and in love."

Ginny smiled at me, but she didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she began talking about her brother, Amanda, and Phillip.

"Brian's been gone from home for four months. I sympathize with the situation our parents have put him in, but he laughs it off, like he doesn't mind being put in the middle. Sometimes he complains about the unreasonableness of the others who are representing the heirs, but at other times I believe he's enjoying himself."

"How many people are representing the heirs?" I asked.

"That's where it gets funny. I think he's torn between hating them, feeling sorry for them, and being protective of them. For instance, there's a bleached-blonde who represents the food pantry. Her vote is only three percent of the total, but sometimes her three percent is all Brian needs to swing the decision his way.

"Brian's vote is forty-four percent, but it's often canceled by the lady representing the former husband of our dad's aunt. They've been living in the same house all this time, and almost never speak, except when others are present. Brian must be warming up to her though, because he found out that her name is Paige.

"The man representing the church where the elderly couple worshiped almost always casts his vote with Paige. That leaves the lady that represents the public library. Brian can usually count on her siding with him, but it depends on how the bleached blonde votes. Sometimes, he makes it all sound like total chaos. Other times, he sounds so frustrated that I feel sorry for him."

"It sounds like he knows who he can depend on, and who he can't. Is that everyone?"

"No, there's the attorney's assistant. Brian's description of her makes her sound like a sexpot."

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend? I seem to recall that he's on the verge of marriage."

"That's changed. Not a word of this to Amanda, mind you? Brian doesn't want her to know that things have cooled between him and Marian, but she's hinted to me that she knows that Marian is being unfaithful."

"Unfaithful?" I asked, beginning to think that what I was hearing sounded like a soap opera.

"Brian has a good friend. She operates the café, which is in the same building as the hardware store. It's leased to the Leach brothers. Henrietta told Brian that she saw Marian coming down the stairs from the loft where one of the brothers lives. Marian had some excuse for visiting one of the Leach brothers, but Henrietta didn't believe her. Since then, she's seen them together a few times."

"Which Leach brother was it?" I asked, almost certain that I knew the answer.

"I don't know. Brian didn't name him."

"Was it Mark?"

"Mark, yes, I think that's it, how do you know his name?"

"Max is married, although I wouldn't be surprised if he was having an extra-marital affair."

"How do you know their names?" Ginny asked. It was no longer idle curiosity. She was becoming animated.

"Max and Mark Leach are my step-brothers," I said, wondering if they were taking turns fucking Brian's girlfriend.

Ginny shook her head, bit her lip, and became quiet. We stopped to fuel up and get something to eat.

"I'm glad we had that talk, Randy," she said, when we were back on the road. I smiled at her, saying that I was glad, too.

We arrived at Brian's house about two PM on the twenty-third of December. Ginny was pointing out the buildings where the flea markets were housed when the kids came running out to meet us. Amanda and Ginny hugged, Ginny introduced her to me, and then hugged her nephew, who was reluctant to show his affection for his aunt.

Inside, we met Mary, the kid's grandmother. After asking if we were hungry, and our saying that we were not, Mary said that we were to take Brian's room. Amanda led the way upstairs, Ginny and I followed her, and Phillip followed us.

I could tell that Ginny and Amanda wanted to catch up with the news, so I asked Phillip if he would show me the market, which he seemed happy to do.

All the dealers knew Phillip, but I don't think he remembered their names. He didn't know how to introduce me, but once I explained to a couple of the dealers that I was his aunt's boyfriend, Phillip told the others that I was Randy, aunt Ginny's boyfriend. That's how he introduced me to John Larkin and his wife, Judy. John took me for a tour of the two buildings that housed the dealers, and then into the third building where goods that had just arrived were stored.

"I've been working for Brian and Peggy since I was a senior in high school, and I appreciate the confidence he's shown in me, but we all miss Brian around here. He gets along much better with the dealers than I do. They love him."

"I've heard a lot about him, but I haven't met him yet. Ginny wanted to visit Brian and his family, and I couldn't turn her down."

I didn't know how to approach the subject of the Leach brothers, but I had to talk to someone about them. I decided to blurt it out. "I just learned that Max and Mark Leach operate the hardware store. They are my step-brothers."

John was non-committal. He nodded his head, and watched me. I was almost certain that he knew about Brian's girlfriend being seen with one of them. We waited each other out, until he felt pressed to say something.

"Would you like to see them? I'll show you where the hardware store is if you do."

I hadn't thought about seeing Max and Mark. My mother had married their father, and they had a child together. I held no affinity for either of them. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think so."

"I can understand why," John said.

Why had he said that? "You know more than you're letting on, don't you, John?"

"I've heard things. This is a small town, and people talk. I just hope that I'm not the one that has to tell Brian."

"Don't worry. He already knows."

John smiled, looking relieved. Now that it was out in the open that we were on the same track, he didn't mince words. "Was it Henrietta?"

"Yes, but she may not know the whole story."

"What do you mean?"

"When they were in college, they boasted about screwing each other's girlfriends. They may be up to their old tricks."

John howled. "Are you going to tell Brian?"

"I don't know. How do you think he would take it?"

John was thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe we should wait and see how it plays out."

I agreed. John guided me back to Judy's booth where Phillip was hanging out, and we went back to the house. Ginny wanted to spend some alone-time with her nephew, so Amanda and I placed the gifts we'd brought under the tree. As Ginny had said, Amanda was a perceptive young lady. She told me how she and her mother had come to live with Brian, how they had expanded their business, how she had first lost her grandfather, and then her mother. She held nothing back. She repeated several times that she was looking forward to having her dad at home, even if only for a few days.