Saving Becy and Me

"Thanks for picking me up Bill. Sorry about Natalie roping you into it." I chuckled and he painfully smiled back. "Honestly, she shouldn't have done it without checking in with me to see if it was ok." I held out a large cup of steaming coffee. "I hope that this helps. Peace Offering?" He smiled and said thanks.

"Becky, you know I was going to be there anyway. I just didn't know..." and his voice dropped off. After a few minutes of silence, we started a pretty good conversation. We had branched into a lot of scout areas when I asked him why he doesn't camp out anymore.

He became very quiet and I knew that I hit a nerve. "Sorry Bill, please disregard that question and please move onto something else."

He held up his hand signaling me to wait. "I have a CPAP machine. I need to be plugged into an outlet. It's my breathing machine that helps me all night." He waited a bit and added "I'm over 50 pounds overweight and if I could lose that, I probably won't need the machine."

Waiting a few micro seconds, I ventured something. It was something I didn't think all the way through but I decided to just go for it. "Bill, I've gained 30 pounds over the years since Natalie was born. How do you feel about forming our own dieting support group? I know that changing things gradually works much better in the long run then loosing the weight real quick. God knows that. I've done that twice and gained it all back plus some more. I also know that I need someone to talk with while I'm making the changes in my life. I need that additional trusted human contact." He smiled and agreed. We spoke more about what and how and the things we would do to support each other until we pulled into the parking lot.

I looked around for Natalie and the scouts that I've been working with on Mondays. I didn't quite see them but I did see girls that looked the right size and kind of the height. They also kind of sounded the same but these girls were somehow taller, more dirty, more loud, more confident and even happier? All this was costing me was my Monday evenings off. Cheap at three times the price as my dad used to say. Natalie saw me and raced to me with a steaming plate of 'train reck', a metal camping fork, and a cup of steaming black camp coffee. I quickly found out at the first sip, sugarless and milk less was a given. It was not to my liking. Right behind her was another scout that gave Bill the same breakfast.

Bill said thanks and leaned over to me and said "Drink the coffee slow so the grounds sink to the bottom or use your teeth as a filter. The new scouts tend to be a bit impatient and haven't learned to take the boiling coffee pot off the campfire and bang the pot with a large spoon to settle the grounds first. Then they need to learn to pour the coffee out slowly and not pour out the grounds at the bottom of the pot."

"Bill, what have you gotten me into?" That's when he smiled. "Real life and making a difference with kids. And bad coffee. Lot's o' bad coffee. What did you expect?" He smiled then added "Good coffee?" I groaned.

I knew that he was right and this was the right place for me and Natalie. We ended up taking a total of 3 campers home, two second year friends and Natalie. At the apartment, I offered a lunch of sandwiches and soup for the three of us. After that quick lunch, I started the camping laundry as Bill instructed Natalie on how to clean and store the camping equipment to be brought back to the meeting tomorrow. After it was stacked and organized by the back door, he said his goodbyes with a smile. I was surprised with a hug from him and he exchanged a fist-bump with Natalie.

Natalie and I had supper three hours later and then soon hit the hay. It had been a long day for everybody.

Bill

I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with Becky, but I'm still worried about Skids. The Hoffman family started to put pressure on everybody that they could. It was almost getting Putin like. The fluff articles were taking up half of the local paper. The public displays of the great things that were done for our area because of them were stepped up. You know that your country is in trouble when there are pictures of only the leader everyplace. Somehow, the Hoffmans were able to get the steelworkers some overtime to finish their part of the bridge rebuild and get them quickly out of town. The police department was chastised because they couldn't find who did the brown stripes. The fire department and the EMTs were severely threatened with huge budget cuts. No punches were being pulled. The Hoffmans were at their weakest that they've ever been, and they were not going to go down without a dirty fight. After all, their money and power were at stake. I think that if a real investigative reporter and a States Attorney got involved, it would be fines and possible prison time. I'm sure that it was fear that focused their energies.

At the last scout meeting, we were still working on the Citizenship and the Community merit badge. Working with these scouts is my refuge. It gives me hope for the future.

"Mr. Pollock, Mr. Pollock when can we go to the local government meeting?" A crowd of 8 scouts suddenly surrounded me. "Observing a meeting and then making a report is all we need to finish the Citizenship in the Community merit badge. It's needed for Eagle."

"Ok, when is the next city council or County Board meeting?" Five hands went up, so I asked the other three to find out. I've done this before and it's a great way to help kids grow and gain a 'protected' experience to help them advance in the world. Experiences, supported experiences makes the Girl Scouts and BSA scouting programs valuable. These three that didn't know were helped by the other five who did know. It was ten minutes later that we agreed to schedule ourselves to go to the next County Board meeting in 3 days. That'll be Thursday. Tonight, I'll send out emails to these 8 scouts and their parents as well as the rest of the two troops. I don't know if a requirement like this is needed for the Girl scouts, but we've always added them to our invitations. We get along and support one another's programs.

For BSA scouts only, the email contained the info for the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge and its requirements, a permission slip to have signed by a parent as well as the standard begging for additional parents and leaders for shared rides. I also emphasized that the requirements do not need to be done in any order but the scout is required to be prepared. The girl scout email contained the base info. Some of the assistant scoutmaster's wives are Girl Scout leaders so they get to craft their own invitation for the field visit to the government meeting.

It never fails. Open up a required merit badge field trip, more scouts and a few of their parents want to come. We ended up with a total of 15 BSA and girl scouts and 8 parents. In order to drive, the parents needed to list their insurance info and we record that info with the troop. That makes their next volunteering again easier.

It's great that parents volunteer more and they also get to see their kids in action with other kids. I remember one time an older father remarked to me that he always thought that his son was a bit off. After a couple of outings, that father learned that his son was just like the other sons. I think that it made them both happier.

The one thing that I didn't really think about was that the election was now a week away. The unofficial meetings at Monty's Bar were still ongoing, but the anger and viciousness was still ramping up over the county.

We showed up at the county board meeting and I quickly realized that it was all going to hit the fan. I was there with 15 scouts showing them how government actually functions for the Citizenship in the Community badge and they were going to hear more anger and 4 letter words...

I had to find a way to cut it off at the pass. I saw the Board secretary, someone that I knew from church. Walking over there while wearing my BSA Uniform, I asked her for a minute. She was hurried and pretty frustrated and brushed me off. That's when I told her that I had 15 11-14 year old BSA and Girl scouts that were going to be reporting on this meeting. That's when she looked up and realized what the Board and this meeting was up against.

"Let me be the first speaker. I will introduce my charges and explain why we are here. We are here for the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge. They have to attend a meeting and choose an issue where there are a difference of opinions. They will then write a report on that issue. They explain to their merit badge group why they agree with one opinion more than another one. The report is generally done with help from a parent. MAYBE this will calm down the crowd a little bit here. It can't hurt. Are you willing?"

She did not even glance at her boss. "The time limit is 2 and a half minutes. I'll give you at least 5 in my introduction of you." She glanced at the angry crowd. "I hope that it works out for all of us."

Sunday Dinner, Becky and Bill

"Becky, I was scared shitless talking to the Board and the crowd, but I kept up my calming speech explaining the scouts, the badge and the requirements of the badge. The crowd did quiet down." I laughed. It was more of a nervous laugh to me than for anything really funny to Betty. "When did we lose our citizenship responsibilities? All I did was to remind people to be respectful and civil to one another... What the fuck." I glanced at Becky and she looked a bit confused. I gave her my mischievous smile, a grin followed by my outright laughter. Then she got the joke - civil speech and then me saying 'what the fuck'. Natalie was not home so I could be a potty mouth.

Becky gave me a light punch in the arm and a smile. "Thank god you were successful. I'd hate to see your name and the 15 scouts, one of which would have been my daughter, in the paper for being arrested at the council meeting."

"I was prepared." I pointed to my imaginary uniform where that that real scout slogan was not printed. Betty shook her head in pity for my pretty lame joke. Sorry, it goes with being a BSA Leader. "I did have two parents at the nearest exit door prepped in case we needed to leave early. Another set of 2 parents were also prepped and set to be at the start and another set at the end of our row to keep our scouts in a group. The last two were primed to keep our scouts together if we needed to make a break. All the adults agreed that if any one of us decided that we needed to leave, that would trigger our immediate exodus from the meeting at any time. No discussion, no questions asked. Thank god that it didn't happen.

"During the public meeting, I did hear 1 'fascist' and 3 'antifas' yelled from the crowd. The thing that I liked was each time any one of these two words were yelled out, the rest of whatever the yeller was attempting to say was immediately drowned out by boos. The boos were from most of the people in the room. Just about everybody in the room.

"I never want to be in that kind of a situation again."

Becky looked at me. Her eyes were not laughing at me. They were in awe. Me? Somebody in awe of me? Something has to really wrong now. I quickly followed with "You know, I got an invite to help with the girl scouts on their meetings on Thursdays. What are they thinking? Look at what I almost got them into."

"Bill, you don't know do you?"

"Know what?" Really Becky, like I have a clue about anything.

"You're the real thing. You are somebody that people look up to. You have the support of the scout parents and the leaders. You have the scouts, both boys and girls, looking up to you. They listen to what you say and you do. Even the self-absorbed crowd at the county meeting stopped and listened to you. They stopped screaming at each other because of you. You reminded them of what civil discourse was all about.

"You have integrity, real living integrity. Integrity that is missing in our world right now." She paused. "You live what being a scout, heck, what being a real patriotic American is all about."

I know that I don't read people real well, but I do trust Becky. "People look up to me? Fat old me? Haven't had a girlfriend in years old me? Geek old me? Hiding in the background old..."

"BILL, LOOK AT ME!"

What the...

"Bill, look at me! NOW!"

I looked up at her. She had moved to being right in front of my face. Her brown eyes were inches away from mine. I was so close I could see the pores of her skin. But I was really getting lost in her kind eyes.

That's when she kissed me. She kissed me hard and then she hugged me tight and did not let me go. I was in shock at first and tried half heartedly to get away. Then I realized that this was real. The realness that I've been feeling for a long time and was afraid of.

Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. I melted into her arms. My fears did not drop by the wayside. I walked over and through them. I was stronger than my fears right now. If this heads south with her, I know that I'll at least be in a better place to try again.

I let my inhibitions drop. Somehow we both started to let our clothes drop too. I realized quickly that she had quite a bit fewer inhibitions than I had. I've been so out of practice. Such a fancy way of saying my only dates for a couple of years has been with Rosie and her sisters. But now, I decided to just be who I am right now. I refuse to be embarrassed if I'm quick on the trigger this time. It will be Ok. I am with someone for the long haul. And I do believe that Becky and I are going to be together for the long haul.

With our lips locked, I started opening her blouse as she had already unbuttoned my shirt and jeans. Her bra was beautiful and black and held promises, such promises, and such beautiful medium sized promises. After I unbuttoned her jeans and pulled down her zipper, I saw that she was wearing a black thong. She then moved my hands to caress her nipples that were tenting her bra. I heard a wonderful moan when I started to caress her.

That's when she pushed my shirt off my shoulders and spread my jeans open. She reached under my boxers and grabbed a hold of me, and then she squeezed it.

I let out a low moan then we heard the key in the door. We both froze then heard Natalie call out, "I'm home."

"Hey Natalie, before you come in, can you look in my car. I think that I left the cake I picked up for desert there. OK?"

"Sure Mr. P. Is the car open?"

"Should be." We heard the door slam and that bought us 35 seconds to get our clothes on and our act together. I was finished first so I ran to the freezer. I had left some ice cream here a few weeks ago and knew that it was still untouched. I started running the warm water.

I pulled it out and by that time Becky was dressed and was taking down bowls, pulling out spoons and she started to run the hot water over the ice cream scooper.

Natalie walked in without the non-existent cake, but was pleased enough with the ice cream. I visited with them both for another hour and went home. I gave Becky the 'call me' sign, a big kiss on her lips and left for home, floating. I can't remember ever feeling this good in years.