"You lay back down and grab another forty winks while I get the first shower, Honey." Gigi suggested as she crawled out from under the covers and grabbed her bath robe. "I'll call you when I'm done."
I laid there several minutes but could not get back to sleep. I reached for my trousers but then remembered that Gigi had taken them off me down in the game room last night, so I pulled on a pair of sweats and followed the scent of fresh brewed coffee.
"Boy, that must have been some party you guys had last night." Susie chuckled as she met me at the foot of the stairs with a cup of coffee; "You look like you ran into a freight train."
"Yeah. I think I did, Honey. And the freight train won." I replied as I sipped at the steaming, hot coffee. "Where's the morning paper?"
"There, on the chair under your clothes." she responded with a sly giggle. "I folded your clothes so they wouldn't wrinkle."
Sure enough, Susie had gone down to the game room, picked up and neatly folded not only my clothes, but her mom's sexy new negligée, all of which she had found scattered across the floor.
"Thank you, Honey." I acknowledged as I pulled the morning paper from under the pile of folded clothes, not exactly sure if any further remarks were required.
"And I also put Julie's new video back in the drawer where Nancy won't find it. Wow! Was it hot!" she added, rather matter-of-factly.
"Shower's free!" Gigi yelled down as I glanced through the sports pages, "Let's get moving, Honey."
I carried the folded clothes up to the bedroom and set them on the chair by the dressing table as Gigi, still nude from the shower, smoothed out the wrinkles on the bedspread.
"Susie picked up our clothes and folded them for you." I said as I took my wife in my arms and kissed her forehead, "And she put Julie's video away that I had left in the VCR."
"I don't know...." she muttered more to herself than to me, "I hope the honest and open approach to sexuality is the best policy."
"Well, we definitely know that dishonesty doesn't work. And pretending it doesn't exist will eventually catch up to us." I interjected, "So the truth has to be best. It's just so radical from the way we were raised that it's hard to keep from getting embarrassed and flustered."
"Yeah. We just have to let it pass and not make a big deal out of it."
Gigi concluded, "Now, go get your shower. We'll stop and get breakfast on the turnpike."
After showering and dressing, we piled into the van and headed up the interstate toward Orlando. We were no more than out of town when Susie produced a skein of yarn and a crochet hook and asked Gigi to teach her to crochet.
"I want to make a bikini just like yours, Gi." she declared, "One that I can wear to the beach and people will think we're sisters."
"Uh-huh..." Gigi answered, "but we have to put a lining in it."
"But then it won't be like yours." Susie complained.
"Well, I was gonna put a lining in mine anyhow." Gigi replied, "Okay?"
With that, Gigi began showing Susie how to crochet and count the stitches to get the right pattern. When we stopped to eat, Gigi and the girls found a fabric store in the shopping center and bought the material necessary to make the lining. By the time we arrived at Disney World, Susie was almost finished crocheting her new bikini top and Gigi had cut and hand-stitched the lining for both her own and Susie's bikinis.
"When we get home tonight, we'll use the machine to sew the linings in." Gigi told Susie, "But for now, let's put the crochet work under the seat and enjoy Magic Kingdom."
We wore ourselves out going on all the rides and through the exhibits. Nancy insisted on going on "It's A Small World" no less than seven times. While we waited in one of the endless lines, Susie mentioned that a man, standing across the way, had been staring at us for a long time. When she pointed him out, Gigi and I both recognized him from The Purple Pussy Cat; it was Mr. Five Dollar. When he realized that we had discovered him staring at us, a big smile came across his face. Waving to Gigi, he hurried across the street toward us.
"Hi!" he greeted Gigi; "It's certainly a small world, isn't it? Just imagine. Running into someone you know; this far from home."
"Ah-h.... This is my husband, Tony." Gigi said hesitantly, caught off guard by his neighborly approach, "But, I'm sorry. I don't remember your name."
"Oh, rats. That was rude of me." Mr. Five Dollar said extending his hand to shake mine; "It's Jerry. Jerry Storm is the name."
"I'm the owner and sales manager at the marina on the Inter-coastal, over by the boulevard." Mr. Five Dollar (or should I now call him Jerry?) continued, "And I've been trying to get your lovely wife here and a couple of her friends to work at a boat show next week at the marina. I don't think she's been taking me seriously, though."
"Mr. Storm...." Gigi started to interject.
"No, no. Call me Jerry, my dear." he admonished her.
"Okay, Jerry." Gigi continued, "But I don't know if this is the proper place to be discussing this.... I mean, with kids around here and all."
"Hey, that's cool." Jerry laughed, "I'm talking about a boat show; fun for the entire family. We sell boats and I need a couple of good looking models to work as hostesses. You know, to serve drinks and greet people as they come on board."
"But I don't know anything about boats." Gigi countered.
"You don't have to, my dear. That's my job." Jerry explained, "My son and his wife help me sell the boats. What we need is several good looking swimsuit models. Ya know? To greet the folks, give them a hot dog and a Coke and make them feel at home; as though they had just stepped onto a neighbor's boat."
"You, your sister here and maybe one more girl will really fill the bill." he went on as he handed Gigi his card, "Call me Monday morning and we'll finalize the deal."
Gigi just stood there, holding his card, with her mouth hanging open.
"Come on, Gramps." a youngster whined, "You promised to take us to the haunted castle."
"Make sure she calls me, Tony." Jerry said over his shoulder as he was dragged him down the street, "It's a sweet deal and she might meet some important people."
"Did you hear that?" Susie excitedly asked, "He thought Gi and I were sisters."
"Huh! What do ya think, Honey? Do ya want a job?" Gigi asked Susie.
"Oh, yes! Yes, I do!" she ecstatically replied, "Wait till I tell Ginny. She'll just die!"
