PART NINE: Block Party
CHAPTER ONE, The Burton Invitation
Cathy parked her new Camry in her grandparent's driveway on Thursday morning and all but skipped up the walk to the door with a small paper bag in her hand. She was fairly eager to visit (more than usual, anyway) because of her new knowledge of the family dynamic. She hadn't thought of her grandparents as sexual beings, but now that she did she wanted to see how they looked to her.
"Hi there Cat," Ralph Burton said happily when he answered the door.
Ralph, 59, had retired from the family construction business two years ago, but he hadn't gone soft in that time. He was a trim, muscular man with a full head of hair and a jaunty smile cut into his square jawed features. That's what Cathy saw now, a man full capable of rocking a bedroom.
"Hi Grandpa," she said, accepting his arms around her. "What's Grandma doing?"
"Baking," he said, with a laugh. "She's always baking, but I never taste half of it. I think today's work is for the Church dinner on Sunday. Oh, well, we'd just get fat if we ate everything she baked."
The two of them walked back into the kitchen, where the smell of coffee cake baking filled the air.
"Hi, Grandma!"
"Oh, Cathy!" Her grandmother hurried around the central cooking island and hugged her granddaughter, and Cathy was immediately aware of her grandmother's breasts against her and how she patted Cathy's bottom at their parting from the hug. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing." Cathy sat on a kitchen chair and looked at her grandmother. She was silver haired woman in glasses, 58, with tight figure, full breasts, and a backside pleasantly broadened by time to a clutchable cushion. "No job, so I've got nothing to do."
"Well, get to work, then," Ralph said. "It won't kill you."
Cathy laughed. "That's pretty much what I thought, but Dad said that with unemployment where it was, it wouldn't be fair to take work from someone who actually needs the money."
"Oh, yeah," Ralph said, thoughtfully. "Good point." Then he laughed. "Your dad always was good at coming up with logical reasons to avoid work. So, what's in the bag?"
"I just stopped by to bring you guys something," Cathy held up the sack somewhat sheepishly. "Dad told me how you enjoy your family videos, so I made one for you." She handed the sack to Ralph Burton and waited for him to look inside.
"Oh, why thank you, Cathy," he said, leaning to kiss her cheek. "Look, Ma, a gift from Cathy." He held up the DVD for his wife to see.
Betty Burton beamed at her as she took the cake out of the oven. When she'd put it on the cooling rack and turned off the oven, she hurried over and hugged her granddaughter.
"You made it yourself?" she said. She slid her glasses down her nose a bit to focus on the label Cathy had put on the DVD. "Should we go watch it now?"
"If you like, sure," Cathy said. "It's not much. This whole thing is new to me, you know."
"Oh, I'm sure," Betty said. "I'd love to see it now."
"Well, I hope you like it, but I can't stay. I'm on a run to the market for Mom."
"Stick around," Ralph insisted. "You mom can wait a few minutes for whatever you're getting."
"You don't have to watch it with us, Dear," her grandma said. "Ralph, she's probably afraid she'll end up seeing a couple old fogies fuck."
"You're not old fogies," Cathy laughed. "Besides, I've already seen you fuck." Cathy stood then. "I'd better go and let you watch it."
"Sure you don't want to stay for some coffee cake?" Betty asked.
"No thanks," she said. "I'm going to visit Elaine Porter and then go to the market. Besides, you need that for church or something don't you?"
"I can bake another."
"Sure. I suppose you'll be baking for the party tomorrow, too. Or don't they eat at those things?"
"Party?" Betty was confused. She didn't know about a party. "Where?"
"At the Peterson's." Cathy started toward the front door with her grandparents at her side. "I hear it's going to be some kind of wild sex party," she said. "Man, these people probably don't know anything about throwing a sex party. You should give them some tips."
"I hadn't heard," Betty said, absently, at the door. They had known the Peterson's for as long as they'd lived there. Why weren't they invited?
"Well, bye now. Love you!" Cathy departed, leaving the couple confused at their front door.
"What party?" Ralph asked, gruffly. "Sex party? This neighborhood probably can't manage two hard dicks between them all, so where's the sex party?
"Now, Ralph," Betty said, lovingly, as she patted his arm. "Don't get your blood pressure up about it. Cathy's probably mistaken about the party. Or it's a family thing, perhaps."
"Sure, but Daryl would have said something about relatives coming over. He doesn't like most of his in-laws." Ralph scowled as the two of them walked back to the TV room. "What's the matter? Do we smell bad? And what if it is some kind of sex party, as Cathy put it?"
"Think about it, Ralph." Betty sat on the couch and used the tail of her blouse to clean her glasses while her husband slipped the homemade disk into the player. "If they were having some kind of orgy, it's logical that they wouldn't invite us. I mean, we don't exactly advertise our sex lives, do we? If they knew what horn-dogs we are, they would have included us, but they don't know."
"Yeah, I guess that's the problem with keeping things to yourself." Ralph sat beside Betty with the remote and turned the TV on.
"Exactly. But, if they knew the whole truth about our family they sure wouldn't invite us, either."
"Probably call the cops."
"No, I think we've been better neighbors than that." Betty patted her husband's arm as the video came up on screen. "Let's watch our darling granddaughter now. I'll go talk to Jenny later. Get it all straightened out."
Ralph Burton slipped his arm around his wife's shoulders and settled in to watch the show.
On screen, Cathy could be seen sitting demurely on a chair in her living room wearing a light cotton shift and smiling sweetly.