Nuff Rope

Chapter 14





“What are you going to wear to the dance tonight?” Meghan asked as the girls walked off the soccer field together. They had just completed a series of drills.

“I don’t know,” Bree said with a frown. “Do you think anybody will dance?”

Meghan shrugged. “I don’t know. But, um, will you help me pick out something to wear?”

“Sure,” Bree replied. “I think I saw a shorts outfit in your suitcase that would look nice.”

Meghan smiled. “You know a lot about clothes. How come you know that, when you don’t have a mommy?”

“My Dada knows a lot about fashion,” Bree replied knowledgably. “He looks good when he gets dressed up. I told you he helps me with what to wear.”

“Your Dada must be very smart.”

“Very smart,” Bree agreed with a bob of her ponytail. “My Daddy’s very smart too … but in a different way.”

“Different?”

“Yeah, he’s an artist. He knows a lot about art and about helping people and about cooking.”

“He makes the good porridge, right?”

“Yep, almost as good as Hudson’s.”

“You were going to tell me about Hudson.”

“Oh yeah. Let’s get a soda and some cookies and I’ll tell you all about her.”



*****



“Are you going to the dance tonight?” Tom asked Patrick.

“I think we have to go.”

“We do?” Tom asked horrified. “Are you going to dance?”

“No,” Patrick replied emphatically. “I don’t know how to dance.”

“Me either,” Tom said with relief.

“We better get ready for practice,” Patrick advised.



*****



Matt walked into the garden centre. He asked Janine if Todd was in his office. When she responded in the affirmative, Matt tapped on the door frame to get Todd’s attention.

“What can I do for you?” Todd asked looking up at Matt from where he was working on his computer.

“I got today’s jobs all done,” Matt informed his boss.

“Good man.”

“I … I even got a compliment.”

“A compliment?”

“Yeah, Mrs. Jackson out on Lake Road said that her grass was cut better today than it had ever been cut before,” Matt said proudly.

“That’s good work.”

“She wanted me to pass that on to you.”

“Well, now you’ve done that.”

“Yes, but…”

“Something else?”

“Mr. Kinney told me that I might be able to get ahead in this job if I learned more about weeds and flowers. He said he might help me.”

“He mentioned that to me too,” Todd said as he rifled through the papers on his desk. “I picked up this course guide at the junior college. They’re offering several gardening courses this fall.”

“Oh? School,” Matt said with a frown.

“You don’t like school?”

“Not much. I … didn’t do very well there.”

“Maybe you’ll do better at something you like,” Todd suggested.

“Do you think they’ll let me in? I never got my high school diploma,” Matt informed his boss.

“These are general interest courses. I don’t think there are any prerequisites.”

“That’s good.”

“Anyway, have a look at the course descriptions, and if you see something that would help you advance in this business, consider taking it.”

Matt nodded. “I’ll have a look.” He turned to leave.

“And Matt, you have the job … cutting grass right now, but with chance of advancement as you prove yourself.”

“Thanks, Boss,” Matt said happily before he left the office.



*****



“They’re here!” Meghan said excitedly. “They’re getting off the bus. How do I look?”

“You look nice,” Bree told her friend. She had helped Meghan select a shorts outfit. It was pale yellow with a blue flower in the middle of the tank top. Bree knew it was nothing she would wear, but it suited Meghan.

Bree had on her best pink shorts outfit. The shorts and top were finely tailored and fit Bree perfectly. Her Dada had bought it for her at the beginning of the summer. She had managed to get her hair into a passable ponytail at one side of her head, but her Dada could have done it better. She placed a shiny barrette in the other side of her hair and decided that would have to do. She slipped on her matching pink Vans.

“You look … great,” Meghan said in awe.

“Thanks,” Bree said. “Let’s go.”

The girls left the bunkhouse and walked towards the mess hall where the dance was being held. The boys had all gone inside. The counselors had told the girls who were from ages 7-10 that the boys of the same age from the camp up the road would be brought there for the dance. At the same time the girls who were 11-13 were taken by bus to the boys’ camp for a dance with boys of that age group. The adults wanted to keep everything age appropriate.

As Bree and Meghan approached the entrance to the mess hall, one of the older girls arrived too. She looked the two girls up and down. “You look ridiculous in those outfits,” the girl said to them. Meghan looked crestfallen.

“Like you would know, wearing that stupid black thing,” Bree retorted. Nobody hurt her friend’s feelings and got away with it.

“Hmppfft!” the girl snorted before going into the dining hall.

“Thanks for telling her off,” Meghan said meekly.

“She’s stupid. She doesn’t know nothin’.” Bree took Meghan’s hand and they walked into the mess hall. The lights had been dimmed and music was playing. Nobody was dancing. Everyone sat around the outside of the room looking uncomfortable. Most of the boys had raided the refreshment table and were pigging out on soda and chips.

“Bree!” a voice called. Bree turned to see who it was.

“Patrick!” Bree gasped. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“I am,” Patrick said with a big smile as he walked over to the two girls. Bree introduced him to Meghan and they found some chairs to sit down and talk. Bree told Patrick about her soccer games and Patrick told about his exploits in baseball, including his bruise. That earned a solicitous hug from Bree.

The girl in black walked by at that moment and made some mumbled comment.

“That girl isn’t very nice,” Meghan informed Patrick.

“She seems … evil,” Patrick said.

Bree and Meghan laughed.

“Dance with me, Patrick?” Bree asked batting her eyelashes at her cousin.

“Um, nobody else is dancing.”

“We can be first.”

“I … I don’t know.”

“Come on,” Bree pleaded.

“Oh, all right,” Patrick agreed. He allowed Bree to take his hand, and they walked out onto the empty floor. “Everyone’s watching,” Patrick said self-consciously.

“Pretend we’re at one of the family celebrations. ‘Member when you danced with me?”

“Yeah,” Patrick said as he placed his hands on Bree’s waist. She put her hands on his shoulders and they swayed to the music.

When the song ended there were four or five other couples on the floor. Bree and Patrick had got the dance started.



*****



“Did you take dance lessons?” Meghan asked Bree as the girls were escorted back to their bunkhouses. The dance had concluded and the boys from the baseball camp were all loaded back onto their buses, then taken back to their camp. Patrick blushed as Bree gave him an enthusiastic hug before he left. Bree missed her fathers but realized just how much she missed her Patrick and her uncles too.

“Nope,” Bree smiled.

“You dance real good.”

“I’ve been dancing my whole life,” Bree said with all of her seven years of vast experience behind her.

“Really?” Meghan asked duly impressed.

“Yup. My daddies love to dance.”

“Your daddies dance? With each other?” Meghan asked incredulously. “Wow, my mommy and daddy never dance together.”

“Never? Why?”

“I don’t know. Mommy says she has two left feet and daddy says dancing is for sissies.”

“My daddies aren’t sissies,” Bree said with a frown. “My daddies are, are, DADDIES. And they dance real good together. And they dance all the time, even when there’s no music.”

“But how can you dance with no music?”

“I’m not sure,” Bree replied as they were getting ready for bed. “But I member we had a party and my Dada put on some music and it was real loud and fast.” Before Bree climbed up on her bunk, she demonstrated the dance moves she saw some of her uncles do to the thumpa thumpa music. “But my daddies danced real slow like me and Patrick were dancing. And then the song finished but they kept on dancing.”

“Wooowww,” Meghan said with amazement.

“I miss my daddies,” Bree said softly as she climbed into her bunk and snuggled under her sheet. “I miss my grey bunny too,” she mumbled into her pillow.



*****



“Raaay-mond! I see your boyfriend let you out for a breather,” Wayne snarked as Ray came into the diner to buy lunch for Gus. Gus was up to his eyeballs in display boards and making poster sized copies. He couldn’t stop to get lunch. So Ray thought he’d be a considerate boyfriend by picking up a couple of hearty sandwiches at the local diner. Unfortunately, Wayne was sitting at the counter with some of their mutual acquaintances.

“How ya doin’, Ray?” Wayne continued.

“What do you want, Wayne?”

“Nothing, just wondering why you brought the troll back to New York with you,” Wayne sneered as the guys laughed.

“He’s not a troll. The only troll I see around here is you,” Ray snapped back. The guys whooped and hollered at Ray’s jibe.

“I still don’t know what you see in him.”

“It’s real simple, Wayne. And if you weren’t trying to prove what a fucking dog you are, maybe you’d figure it out,” Ray said as he waited for his order.

“Yeah? Enlighten me.”

“He makes me laugh, plain and simple. He’s nice, smart and we’re friends. Something you and me are never gonna be,” Ray emphatically said as he paid for his sandwiches then left the diner.

“We’ll see,” Wayne mumbled as he threw down some bills on the counter then left the diner too. Quickly seeing that Ray was nowhere in sight, Wayne went home.



*****



“My fucking back,” Brian grumbled as he stood up in the middle of a patch of weeds. Fortunately for him, the weeds were only weeds and not poison ivy as the owners had feared. Brian quickly made note of the poison ivy patches hidden in the old neglected garden and had called in the experts to remove them before his crew started working.

Brian had been asked in as a consultant to resurrect an old garden that was situated behind the local church, of all places. It was a small church with an even smaller congregation. The church elders reasoned that if the gardens were made attractive the younger members of the church would consider holding their wedding receptions there in good weather. The garden was large enough for other events as well.

The church had a limited budget but Brian was experienced with budgets and assured the church elders that he could work a miracle. Brian chuckled as he wiped his brow then dug into his work bucket for a bottle of ice water. He had a reputation in his younger days for being the devil himself and now he was standing in the shadow of a church attempting to breathe life back into a poor old garden.

“Mr. Kinney?” the pastor called out to Brian as he walked out of the rectory back door.

“Brian, please,” he said as he wiped his dirty hand against pants before taking the pastor’s hand.

“You’re doing God’s work, Brian. I’m not afraid of a little dirt.”

“I’m not sure that pulling weeds and turning over soil can be considered God’s work.”

“I’m sure,” the pastor responded with confidence. Brian shrugged his shoulders. Who was he to argue. “We should have thought about doing this a long time ago,” the pastor added, with some regret in his voice as he looked around. “It’s too late to take advantage of it this year.”

“I don’t see why. We can overload the garden with annuals for now. We have plenty of flats that are in bloom. The bulbs and perennials will sprout next year. If we have a warm Fall, you can hold your events into October.”

The pastor nodded as he contemplated the possibilities. “And next year?”

“We’ll be back in early Spring to fill in gaps with more annuals. In a few years the perennials will fully grow in and start to spread. You won’t need to fill in with annuals then.”

“And maintenance?”

“That’s up to you. We can train someone if you have your own gardener or you can hire the garden center for a yearly fee. We’ll also clear away the snow,” Brian added. He was automatically making a pitch.

“Snow removal too?”

“We like to provide full service but there’s no obligation. You talk it over with the church elders and just let Todd know what services you’d like.”

“Thank you, Brian. I’ll do just that.” Before the pastor went back inside to get out of the August heat, he turned back. “You don’t strike me as a man who does manual labor for a living.”

Brian smiled. “Pretty observant.”

“In my line of work, it pays to be observant.” Brian and the pastor laughed at the pun.

“Normally, I don’t. I sit behind a desk most of the time. Gardening became a hobby of mine. I found it helps to clear out the cobwebs, and gar-gar as my daughter likes to call it brought me closer to my children. I just recently decided to take my attention to detail a bit further.”

The pastor thought for a moment. “Did you have to redo the edges of your lawn too?” the pastor asked Brian.

“Yep.” The pastor nodded in understanding then let Brian get back to his work.

Just as Brian finished off his water, his cellphone rang. Brian smiled at the number. “Sunshine! And how are you this fine afternoon? Where are you on this fine afternoon? I woke up all alone with just a note saying you had things to do, people to see.”

“I’m at the gallery, Bri. My show is opening soon. You remember my show, don’t you? Or has the sun addled your brain?”

“Very funny. Ha. Ha. I didn’t forget, but while you’re playing with pretty pictures I’m getting dirt and cow manure under my nails.” Brian looked down and winced at the state of his fingernails.

“Poor you,” Justin snarked then suddenly became serious. “Bri, I’m going to try to convince Candy and her mother to move out of that hell hole and into the vacant apartment in your building.”

“Our building and that’s fine. Did you speak with Dr. Nick?” Justin had asked Nick to go over Janet’s health record to verify all that could be done has been done. Janet gave her permission but it took all of Justin’s powers of persuasion.

“Yeah. He mentioned some treatments that will help to keep Janet comfortable, but he agreed that a nice clean environment will help. He’s going to arrange for a hospice nurse to come in.”

“Hospice? I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“It is and I’m going to ask Bobby to help too.”

“Justin, I think she needs the nurse more.”

“She’ll need to make arrangements, Bri.”

“Okay, that makes sense. Go forth, Sunshine and do what you need to do. I have weeds to beat into submission.” Justin’s laugh warmed Brian’s heart and went straight to his dick. “Later, Sunshine,” Brian whispered as he took out another bottle of water to cool himself down.

“Later!”

They both had work to do.



*****



“May I please speak with Chris?” Janet asked as she stood at the door of the Hobbs residence which was really the family home of his wife.

“Whom shall I say is calling?” a rather stiff looking gentleman asked at the door.

“Janet Cummings, an old school...friend,” Janet replied. She had come to Chris’ house hoping to convince him to do his duty and take care of Candy when Janet was gone.

“One moment, please. You may wait here,” the butler said indicating Janet should wait in the entrance foyer. After some time, the man was back. Janet thought he was wearing a smug look on his face. “The master is not receiving today. He requests that you make an appointment in a couple of months.”

“That may be too late,” she pleaded to no avail. Then Janet was unceremoniously shown the door.



*****



“Justin?” Bobby said when he answered his cellphone. He and John were in a rowboat on the Central Park lake.

“Bobby, I hate to disturb you on your vacation but I need your help.”

“Sure. Now?”

“No it can wait till you get back “

“O-kay,” Bobby said perplexed, but he heard the worry in Justin’s voice.

“Justin, is there something John and I should know?”

“No, well maybe, I’m not sure. Just bone up on guardianship of minor children,” Justin said as he hung up.

“Okay. Wait! Who?!” Bobby said standing up and nearly tipping over the boat.