The Wrong Way Road Trip

Part 7 - The Blog is Live

Chapter 21 - Organizing for Success

In the morning, Robin stuffed a steaming cup of coffee under my nose, "Come and look, lazybones, we have a lot of action on the web."

I was afraid to get up. Weeks of frantic activity and now my wild ass idea was live on the Internet! Good grief...

Kate was in the doorway, "Mac, do as she says, or else."

I couldn't help but smile and hold out my arms to my lovable wayward bride. "Come here."

I got a long hot kiss that energized more than one part of me.

"You two are cute, but get up anyway. There are dozens of hits."

In the living room, Bruce and MaryLou had arms around each other, staring at the screen. Numbers were rolling rapidly, but they didn't seem anxious. I asked, "Everything ok?"

"Yes, so far. Over a thousand page views since midnight." My three co-conspirators pressed against me. Even the hot coffee wasn't bringing me out of my daze that an idea was actually working on the World Wide Web in front of my eyes. Anne-Marie poked me and said, "Monsieur, we are going to call you Mr. Quirk. When the media asks for interviews, we will say they must talk to Mr. Quirk!" She was laying on the French accent and pulling my hair.

Katie and Sharon were hugging each other and watching the screen like everyone else.

I felt disembodied. All over the planet, invisible signals were bringing Lucy and Mac's adventures to anyone who wished to watch. "Folks, I'm holding my breath. All your fine work is out there for the whole world to see."

"Look! Someone has posted it to Facebook." Over the next hour, as we ate breakfast eggs, the number of page views per minute kept climbing. By noon, we were getting ten per second. I was hypnotized, perhaps even paralyzed, by the wonder of it all. Kate hung on my neck and then eased into my lap.

"Brian, you lovable bum, your idea is working. Will this get us sponsors and some income?"

Sharon answered her. "There is a lot of competition for sponsor dollars. I will call Jody Armitage and inquire how best to proceed."

It turned out that Jody had been watching the site this morning and was even in the process of forming a Facebook Lucy and Mac group. She said to give things a couple of days to settle down and word of mouth to build momentum. Also, we should post another installment the day after tomorrow.

The others were cheering while I was holding my head. I moaned, "A new installment every three days! How are we going to manage that?"

A firm hand grabbed my long hair and led me outside. She couldn't decide where to go so I hoisted her to my shoulders and started down the sidewalk. Sharon boxed my ears and I nipped at her tender thigh flesh in return.

"We are having a talk. You can put me down or you can keep walking. It's nice riding up here."

I kept walking. I pretty much knew what was coming.

"Your vision is taking off. You should be proud and happy."

I groaned piteously. "Woe is me."

The firm hands yanked hair. "Stop that. You are not allowed to complain about success."

I licked as far up the inside of the thigh as I could without dropping her.

"Stop that too. I want you, but we are going to finish this conversation."

"I did agree to be your slave somewhere along the line."

"You are Marigold's and Jeremy's slave, not mine. I am totally jealous of the miracle you have worked with her. We are the same age. That could be me, knocked up, homeless and penniless."

I flipped her into my arms for a tender kiss and sat down on the curb.

"But you aren't any of those things. Ellie didn't throw you out or pressure you for an abortion. You have the cutest little girl in creation. I am seriously in love with all three of you."

"We are loving you back, but right now I have to tell you that changes in relationships are required. If everything has to go through you, the Mac and Lucy show will not survive."

I put my head on her shoulder. "This is making me very emotional, Sharon. Maybe it's the letdown from all the hard work and then seeing it succeed."

The firm hands were still in charge of my hair and brought my lips close to hers, where I got a quick peck.

"Brian, sometimes I wonder about you. Here is this strong, studly guy with the big brain, and coincidentally, a big cock, almost crying on my shoulder. I am not asking for a revolution, I am telling you that you have to rearrange things so more responsibility is delegated. Can you live with that?"

"Delegate? Do I know that word?" I licked her ear and she started giggling. "Brian! Be serious!"

I threw her back on my shoulders and jogged toward the apartment. She had a death grip on my hair. We dashed into the living room and fell to the carpet, laughing like crazy.

Frowns examined our strange behavior. MaryLou asked, "Is this rehearsal for a new episode?"

I smiled up at her. "I wish it was. Sharon says I must learn to delegate."

Frowns deepened. "Of course," A-M said, with an accent and a dig at my ribs.

Kate, whose hands now rested on her bare belly when they didn't have anything else to do, said, "I knew this was coming."

At that moment, Ellie walked in with Natalie, who immediately screeched to get down and run to her mommy. She pointed to me and said, "Da?"

I turned over and buried my head. The whole room was breaking up. Ellie asked, "Did I come at the wrong time? She has been asking for Da."

Wayward sat on me and said I was not behaving like an adult person. Natalie sat next to her and gurgled happily. I said, "Children like me."

Ellie sat on the sofa with a soda and said, "He is regressing. Must be too much stress."

I grabbed a Natalie foot and tickled. She rolled into me and laughed. I pulled Kate down for a kiss and asked, "Can I apply for the nanny job?"

After a few more foolish minutes, we all sat on chairs and I said, "This is a happy day and you are right, we must organize for success. For the time being, Chooli is going to lead unit 2, assuming her relatives get us permission to do videos on the reservation. Back here, we need two or more people supporting the online system, including moderating comments, which is probably going to be difficult. We also need a production unit. I have been the money man up to now, but there has to be a full time accounting and finance person starting right away."

I looked around the room as no one said anything. I didn't say anything either, but names were dropping into slots in my head.

MaryLou broke the silence by saying, "Bruce and I will worry about online systems as we get our own company off the ground. Probably, we can share lawyers and so on. I think success is ruining my honeymoon." She tried to frown but broke into a smile as Bruce goosed her. "Just wait," he said in a loud whisper.

I was about to begin assignments when the door opened and Jody dashed in. "You guys are going viral already! Way past a hundred thousand page views in less than twenty-four hours. I've got media people calling about you!"

Thinking quickly, I walked over and put my arm around her, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce our new Vice President for Media and Public Affairs, Ms. Jody..."

She cut me off. "Brian! You are a devil. I told myself no more full time jobs..."

She looked around and sighed, "This is such a fine group. I guess I have no alternative..."

Her smile was brilliant. I picked her up and dumped the body into the middle of the sofa, where hugs and kisses were administered.

It wasn't long before Chooli showed up and knocked me to the floor. With an arm twisted up behind my back, she said, "Say 'I agree to everything.' "

Between noises about the pain in my arm, I gave in quickly and said, "I agree to everything."

"Fine. Get us a couple of beers, I have good news."

She was a natural leader. A stare from the dark eyes and you were ready to agree to most anything. I already had without knowing what it was. She pulled me off the floor and stuffed us into the end of the sofa.

"We have permission to film in the sacred places. My father and uncle watched the blog this morning and had a great time laughing at Mac. They warned me there is to be no disrespectful humor. I took a deep breath and told a terrible lie that this one is very professional and knows what he is doing."

She looked around at smiling faces and then leaned for a long hot kiss. "Aren't you?"

I croaked at Sharon, "Tell her what we have been doing."

Robin interrupted, "Chooli, if we shop, will you do another one of your fabulous dinners?"

Sharon was pushed down next to us, with Natalie in her lap, and told to stay behind while the others shopped. Natalie stood up and kissed Chooli on the cheek. The Navajo woman shook in my arms.

"I want one of those. My relatives say I must find a full blooded male to wed. There aren't many of us left."

Suddenly, the natural leader was sniffling on my shoulder. "Damn it, Brian, I would marry you in a minute if they didn't expect me to be responsible."

Natalie was bouncing back and forth between the two women and I finally said, "We are supposed to talk work. It has been decided that this ridiculous Native American is going to be the leader of unit 2, so you better get us organized. What is the schedule for videotaping? Where is the wonder car going first? What about the Scout getup and script?..."

I found myself on the floor again. She was grinning evilly. "You ask too many questions, Mac. You are back to slave mode, will make drinks, and will keep quiet!"

I exited to the kitchen as they laughed behind me. This was good. The accumulating talent was taking charge. Being Mac and the duty bartender was not all bad. Alas, the numbers on the screen in the corner told a different story. We hoped for an audience and now we had one. Get to work to keep them.

Jody had stayed behind and pressed me to the counter. "I need one of those drinks. That invitation you made to me includes your bed, I assume?" She breathed down my neck and reached around to the front of my shorts. This was too much slave duty. I growled, "Any more flirting and you will be strung up!"

"Hmm. My Ex tried that and I kneed him in the balls. I'm serious, this deal has to include benefits. If the other women get you, I do too."

My hard cock was inducing bad thoughts. The blog artist wanted a roll in the hay. Didn't she say she only did girls? Was going to sleepover, anyway. How much trouble would I be in with the others?"

I concentrated on squeezing limes and pouring tequila. Chooli had wandered in and had a deeply tanned hand on a Jody boob from behind her back. "There is a queue. But you are a hot one. What about three of us?"

I looked up from the drinks and they were kissing. Damn. A little voice said that Mac was one hell of a lucky guy, with beautiful women running his blog and sleeping with him as well.

Now Sharon's voice intruded, "Alright, break it up. No girl sex before dinner."

I was totally ignored. The three of them were hugging and swaying and making happy noises right next to me. So much for male dominance.

I handed over drinks. "Let's go outside. I will look after Natalie."

Sitting on a lawn chair in the late afternoon sun in the high mountains of Arizona, I pretended cyberspace wasn't pulsing away back in the corner of the living room. It didn't work.

The one year old roamed in widening circles, waving her tiny arms.

Three gorgeous females sipped their margaritas and fixed slitted eyes on me. The tradeoff was obvious. Their talents and their bodies for my money and my cock. I took a big swallow.

Sharon said, "I don't think girl sex is a substitute for that big thing of his."

Chooli tried to keep a straight face. "Not anytime soon."

Jody looked mildly pissed. "This is cruel. You've already had him, and I haven't."

Chooli smiled, thinly. "We have to be careful not to wear him out."

Jody said, "What about now, before the others return?"

Sharon laughed, "If you are good, Kate will invite you tonight. She is ok about sharing."

This talk was making me hard. "If I am pushed too far..."

Chooli was quickly in my lap. "When you talk like that, my body tells me to start a big wrestle that has only one ending."

We shared a kiss, sending messages in both directions.

Her voice was soft, "Thank you for making this happen, Brian. You are the only guy who has ever let me tease him and wrestle him and still get incredible loving..."

"No mushy stuff." I pushed her to her feet. "Tell us, Navajo Scout, what is it you want to do with your life?"

"Until Sharon called me, I was going to school and making beds. Now all of a sudden, I am in the middle of this crazy group doing things with the Internet and video and the tribal elders. It is very confusing. But then I look at you and get hot all over and..."

The other women were laughing and pointing. Natalie looked curiously at the funny grownups. Chooli slumped back into my arms. I licked her ear and made happy noises. Life was good.

Chapter 22 - Preparing for Spider Woman Legend

The next month was wild. Chooli took to her unit 2 responsibilities like a duck to water. With her in a traditional headband, she drove the Chevelle with verve on dirt roads leading here and there on the reservation. She chauffeured Kate and me to Chinle, the small Navajo town closest to Canyon de Chelly and Chaco.

I was in the middle of the bench seat and kept my hands busy stroking their thighs higher and higher, only stopping after dire threats to my manhood. With an advance phone call, we visited the family home, which was actually a collection of sad looking shacks from the outside that were remarkably homey on the inside, filled with colorful rugs and other valuables. Her father was at work, but grandfather Tsela welcomed us with cold drinks and stories of his adventures in the monuments as a boy. He pointed a bony finger and said, "You are Mac, the silly one?"

Chooli saved me by telling her grandfather that I was actually Brian and very nice and very smart, and married to Katherine. The Mac person was only for the blog, she said with a smile.

I asked if it was alright for Chooli to be a Navajo Scout in the blog and he had a long laugh. "Wait until you see her in the dress her mother and grandmother have made!"

We thanked him for helping us get permission to film in the sacred places and made our way back to Flagstaff. In the car, with her still at the wheel, I squeezed in a kiss and asked why grandfather was laughing about her Scout role.

"He and my father think I am too smart and pushy for my own good. Just wait until they see the ratings I get!"

Kate pulled my hair and said to be nice.

On the home front, MaryLou and Bruce were married in fine style in her parents' home in Sedona. We loaned the Chevelle for a classy driveaway, which impressed everyone. Kate nudged me, "See what a good idea I had back in Death Valley?"

"It must have been Jeremy's idea all along."

Her hand fell to the front of a bridesmaid's dress, where there was hardly a bump so far. "Of course."

She went on tiptoes and whispered, "MaryLou says she stopped her birth control two weeks ago. According to her, I am poster woman for a happy, pregnant bride. I almost broke down crying in her arms. Doesn't it make you mushy to see others getting married?"

"The bigger problem is it makes me horny."

That got me a smile and a sharp elbow in the ribs. We rationed the champagne and made our way back to Flagstaff in an hour, after which she attacked me. I faked a lack of interest, saying I was worn out from the ceremony and the driving. She dragged me into the shower anyway, and it wasn't very long before her legs were locked around my waist and she was clenching hard on you know what.

"You are such a bum. A lovable bum, actually. Are we signed up to cover for ML and Bruce?"

"Yes, the night shift, if it won't inconvenience Jeremy too much. Ellie and Katie cornered me and said they would do it because you are in a family way."

"Brian, she whispered, "we have attracted such wonderful new friends, but Jeremy and I want to do this."

We lay in bed at the end of a long wonderful day. Wayward had her leg over mine and was making happy little noises. I grabbed my phone and called Sharon.

She answered and I said, "How is the most wonderful little girl I know?"

She screeched, "Mom! It's Brian, asking about Natalie."

In a moment, both phones were on speaker and two mothers were talking mush to each other.

It turned out that Natalie was being a pill about going to bed. And not even two years old yet.

"Let me speak to her." Quickly, an excited voice asked, "Daddy?" She had graduated from "Da" to Daddy in a week. I presumed a bit on her developing intelligence and said, "Please be nice to Mommy and go to bed now."

"Bed?"

"Yes. If you are good, Daddy will come to your house for breakfast."

The phone was dropped, but I heard in the background a baby shriek, "Daddy come!"

A laughing Sharon came on the phone, "My girl is growing up fast. She already knows Daddy comes!"

I growled, "I told her I would come over for breakfast, but maybe I am needed now!?"

Kate had my hair and said, so Sharon could hear, "You will strictly behave yourself. She is the single mother. They are coming here, and you are making pancakes!"

Sharon laughed and said, "You two are nutty. Are you sure we are welcome?"

Kate did her best throaty, sultry voice, "Yes. Always," and rang off.

Rising from bed, she announced, "The night shift requires fresh coffee, but not clothes!"

We wandered around the apartment, periodically checking the screen on the network monitor that Bruce had rigged up. I reached and tripped a naked Kate into my arms on the floor. I snuggled with her warm skin. She said, "Snuggling is going to put us to sleep," and crawled to the sofa.

Mac and Lucy's exploits were still growing in popularity. Jody kept a chart that plotted "likes" and joins. The lines had a nice upward trajectory. We had two sponsors within the last week, both of them outdoor companies. With help from Robin and Anne-Marie, there was now a colorful online marketing brochure that promoted sponsorship. It emphasized that Lucy and Mac would wear, or mention, quality outdoor products.

Jody had sat me down the other day and said, "Brian, we are not selling our soul to make money with this blog. No sleaze. No unilateral advertiser demands. No sexism. Are you onboard for that?"

I sat there grinning. "If I wasn't, how far would I get in this company?"

Two pairs of hands bashed my head. "Nowhere!"

Sharon was a tough lady, insisting that we needed three episodes edited, with soundtrack, and ready for use. A-M, Robin and Kate scrambled with scripts and sites. After ten days, with incredible numbers, Chooli pushed me to the sofa and sat on my chest. She had very short shorts on, and a tee that hid very little.

"It's time for the Navajo stories. We are renting a van to accompany the Chevelle and carry all the video equipment. The elders have given us a pass for either place that is good for a week. Is your Mac personality ready to be dragged in Navajo dust?" She leaned down for a tender kiss that did not match the tough voice.

Staring into her dark eyes, I realized that Mac really was a blog personality that I could summon on demand.

"Lucy, why do you want to drive around under those sandstone spires? One of them could fall on us."

She stretched full out, smothering me. The tough voice was back. "Mac, Lucy and I could get along just fine without you. Maybe I should ask one of my bruiser cousins to kick your skinny white ass all the way to Albuquerque?"

Sharon and Kate were on their knees next to the sofa. "Chooli, he's a little slow at times, but means well. We'll keep him in line."