Author's Note: For those who might be jumping into Ch. 3 and hoping for a quickie, sorry. What you're looking for is in here, but you have to dig. This is a little unconventional for Lit, but it's what came out of my mind! I really want to thank those who've voted, commented and sent me feedback, and Asylumseeker for editing.
Thanksgiving
Kevin leaned on the doorjamb. Having secured third place in the shower line-up and only running out of hot water the last two minutes, he was feeling pretty good about himself. Ah, the joys of a large family! He was watching Deonne interact with Becca and Camille as they laughed and joked while chopping, stirring and washing, doing the early preparations for Thanksgiving dinner, still hours away. He was amazed at how domestic and utterly feminine Deonne really was.
Did her fellow naval aviators ever see this part of her? Did they know she loved to sew or that baking was her passion? Did they know she painted her toes hot pink? And that her khaki uniform coveralls hid a lacy white thong and see through bra? Pulling his mind back out of his dick before he got in trouble, Kevin announced his presence.
"Morning ladies. Anything I can do to help?"
With a start, all three heads turned to stare, three jaws dropped.
Becca, rarely at a loss for words was the first to recover and stated with wide eyes, "Did you just volunteer to help? As in 'help in
the kitchen'?"
Starting to realize the lay of this land in McNeil Territory, a small dimple formed in his left cheek. Seeing it, Becca nearly swooned.
"Quick! Someone put an apron on that man before they come and liberate him!"
Coming up behind her, Kevin put his arms around Deonne. He stuck his finger into the pumpkin batter then licked.
"Seriously, what can I do to help?" he asked, sticking his finger back in the batter.
"Seriously?" Deonne asked.
"I wouldn't offer if I didn't mean it."
He held his finger to her lips and without thinking she opened them and sucked and licked. As he started to slowly pull his finger out of her mouth Deonne felt a little quiver between her legs and a sigh escaped her lips.
"Okay. We could sure use someone to check the bathrooms and pick up all the towels and clothing lying on the floor, then take them down to the basement for us to wash later. That way nobody'll kill themselves trying to get to the toilet!"
"No problem."
"Deonne, where did you find this guy?" Camille asked with a smile as they heard Kevin's feet on the stairs.
"Don't worry. I think it's all an act," she answered with a wry grin. "I'm pretty sure he'd rather be outside with the guys. He's not a farmer, but he spends a lot of time crawling around in the woods being up close and personal with nature!"
Chuckling, Becca replied, "Well, don't tell Dad. There's a lot of
nature
out in the barn that I'm sure he'd love to let Kevin get personal with!"
Mucking out was a never-ending chore on a dairy farm, and now that everyone had left home their father did most of it himself with the help of Ernie, the once-a-week hired hand.
*****
Coming down the upstairs hall with an armload of towels and clothing, Kevin bumped into Paul as he was coming out of a bedroom. Long and lean, with wavy auburn hair coming just over the ears and a quick smile, Paul, except for his height, least resembled his brothers. Kevin saw some of their mother in him. Phil and Marc took after their father, even Deonne and Becca had strong hints of their father in the face and coloring, albeit a much more feminine form.
"Dude! What have they done to you?" Paul asked, chuckling. "Let me take that from you."
"Nah, really I'm okay, but you can show me to the basement."
"Sure," he agreed and they took off for the basement.
"You better be careful, they'll have you cookin' and settin' the table next! We try and not get too pussy-whipped around here," he stated with a grin.
"I can tell. Don't you guys ever help out?"
"Sure, when we have time, but we try to be discrete about it and all, don't want 'em to catch on, you know?" Looking over his shoulder, he winked at Kevin. "Dad usually has so many projects waiting for us when we visit, we barely get in the house to eat and sleep. This morning I gave him a break by doing the morning milking, then Marc and I repaired some roofing that was loose on the barn. Oh, and Phil fixed the chicken wire on the coop." All this before 10:00am, Kevin noted. Farm days start early.
Making their away through the house, they negotiated various toddler toys and dodged running children.
"Alex! Walk," Paul called to his nephew, "You don't want to get busted by your mom!"
Finally in the basement, the men sorted the clothing from the towels and shoved a load in the washer. Leaning on the dryer Paul turned towards Kevin and watched as he dumped in some laundry detergent.
"You know, while I'm home I should grab Marc's laundry and wash it for him. It's starting to take over the house like a giant fungus and I fear the girls are wearing retreads, if you know what I mean."
"He seems to have a lot on his plate," Kevin acknowledged. Deonne had told him of Marc's recent divorce and he knew the man was a veterinarian and helped with the farm.
"Yep. I told him to bring in some help, but he hasn't got it done yet. Maybe he's not ready."
"So, Paul. Deonne tells me you're back in school."
"Yeah, the long lost prodigal has returned to the fold," he said with a chuckle.
"How's that?"
"Dad was a high school dropout and he was going to make damn sure that didn't happen to us. Matter of fact, he had to improve on that idea; we were going to fuckin' college if it killed him. I mean, there are no college funds or anything, but by sheer force of his will we were going.
"So, I headed off to the local U. after high school, partied my ass off for two years, and realized I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. So I quit, headed to California and became a deck hand. To say Dad was pissed would be an understatement."
"Must have been a hell of an adventure for an Ohio boy."
"Oh, it was! For a while at least." He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. "It finally got time to move on."
"What are you studying?"
"Marine biology."
"Can't get away from the water, huh?"
"I love the ocean. This huge expanse of green, it all seems so simple, but hidden underneath is so much power and mystery. I never get tired of it."
There was a lot more going on in the head of this shaggy-haired, blue-eyed beach bum than appeared on the surface, just like his beloved ocean.
"So, General, you up for a little touch football?"
"Absolutely!"
"Good, how are you at quarterback?"
"Not bad."
"Yeah?" Things were looking up. John was their only real quarterback, though everyone swore they were an undiscovered Tom Brady. "First, we've got to catch us some chickens. Let's see if we can con those girls into lettin' us have Deonne. She's the best kicker we have, and besides she's the only one not afraid of Delbert."
*****
Kevin stood, hands on his knees, bent over gasping for breath. Three hours of P.T. a day hadn't prepared him for this. He was standing in the front yard and seven McNeil's were staring at him, waiting. Five minutes earlier he had failed to find an opening for his pass. Deciding to run the ball himself, he was making good progress only to look up and see Deonne coming at him like a rat terrier after a fresh ankle. The next thing he knew, she had her arms wrapped around both his feet bringing him down for the second time this weekend.
"Hey! This is supposed to be touch football!"
"What are you talking about? I touched you!"
Shaking his head, he knew when he was being schooled. In this family, girls got to tackle, guys didn't.
Now he looked up at his teammates, hoping not to let them down. It wasn't the tussle with Deonne that had done him in. It was the fifty or so wind sprints he had made running after chickens, or
from
chickens as the case may be.
Delbert, it turned out, was a rooster. And he had taken one look at Kevin and pegged him immediately as a city boy. Every time Kevin, who had decided it was unfair to leave Deonne all by herself chasing the impressive-looking rooster, got within fifteen feet of him, Delbert would charge at him and do a little wing-flapping jump baring his claw. Goddamn!
Eventually Deonne, with a broom and trashcan lid, was able to get Delbert corralled. Kevin secretly renamed him Dinner and vowed a covert op to make it reality. Shortly afterward the hens followed their leader into the pen and the serious annual Thanksgiving Day McNeil Bowl began.
Kevin received the ball from Marc, and arm cocked, was looking for cousin Sam McNeil, his intended receiver, when all of a sudden Deonne's youngest brother, Andrew, yelled out, "Silvia!"
Kevin looked towards the dirt road leading up to the house and saw an ancient black Oldsmobile plowing up the driveway, shocks and springs groaning as the old boat gently careened over the potholes like a ship cresting and dipping on the waves of the ocean.
Kevin could not see a driver until the car stopped and out stepped a small man with slicked-back, thinning brown hair. From the other side a small, round woman emerged and moved to the back of the car where she handed the man a large brown department store bag, a large white bag, two plastic bags and a cake holder before she slammed the trunk, leaving the man to juggle his way to the house. Turning towards her audience she started waving and tottering over on unstable ankles in a pair of four-inch heels.
"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo! Kids!" she called, her arms waving, numerous metal bracelets jangling and the large sleeves on her black chiffon cape fluttering and waving like bat wings.
Kevin felt Deonne move to his side and put her fingers through his.
"Drew, better go help poor Uncle Buster," Phil murmured and Andrew took off at a trot.
With that Phil and Marc moved towards their aunt, cutting her off at the pass.
"Aunt Silvia! You made it!" Phil proclaimed. "Did you have a good trip?"
"I don't know if you'd call it good. You know your Uncle Buster. Like t' thought we'd never make it, he drives so slow!"
