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 ï>¿The Trailer Park: The Road Trip A Story in the Wynter/Trailer Park
Universe by Wizard CopyrightÂ(C) 2007 by Wizard

   Chapter 11

   I set up the tents for the, what, fifth time?  Fort Canby in Long Beach,
Beverly Beach in Lincoln City, Harris Beach in Brookings.  Then three in
California, Van Damme, Angel Island, and San Luis.  Now Mojave.  Seven. 
Seventh time.

   I had to admit this was different.  The first five were all on the
ocean. Then San Luis was a lake.  Well, a reservoir.  Now a desert.  Tami
was sure giving us our money's worth.

   I finished with the tents just as Robbie finished setting up the boom
box and a battery pack.  Darlene was unpacking our camp stove and cooking
supplies.

   We were staying in the Hole-in-the-Wall Campground.  I wondered if it
was the same hole-in-the-wall that Butch Cassidy, Sundance, and those types
hung out at.  I could have sworn that was Wyoming or one of the Dakotas.

   There were thirty-five campsites at Hole-in-the-Wall, and even though it
was Monday afternoon, they were all full.  Tami and the others were
visiting the neighbors.

   "Any idea what's on your girlfriend's devious mind?" Robbie asked as I
sat down in one of the camp chairs.

   "She wasn't devious until she met you, but no, I haven't.  Maybe she's
got the band and us signed up for American Idol."

   Darlene popped the top on a Coke and handed it to me.  I didn't know,
but figured the temperature was in triple digits.  They say the nights get
cold in the desert, but I didn't see how.

   "Ever thought about it?" Robbie asked as she pulled up a chair beside
me.

   "Thought about what?"

   "Idol.  Trying out."

   "I've daydreamed, but not seriously.  Simon would rip me up, and I think
I'd go for his throat the first time Randy called me dawg."

   Robbie laughed.  "What about Paula?"

   "She's a cheerleader, annoying but cute."

   "I heard that," Darlene said as she put a plastic table cloth on the
picnic table.

   "Check that out," Robbie said, saving me the trouble of getting my foot
out of my mouth.  Tami and the girls were coming down the road toward the
campsite and leading about seventy-five people of all ages.

   "I think it may be time to sing for our supper," I said.

   Kelly came running ahead and launched herself from about fifty feet
away, sailed through the air and landed on my lap.  Okay, it was about six
feet but it was still an impressive leap.

   Unfortunately, the chair didn't think so.

   I'm not sure which hit first, my back as I went over backwards or my
butt as the chair disintegrated beneath me.  I do know that I had a sudden
insight into what outer space was really like because there was no air in
my lungs, and I couldn't seem to make any come in.

   Kelly was sitting, stunned, on my lap, and the others were all standing
around me looking like angels with that halo effect you get when you look
at something framed in bright sunlight.

   "Are you okay?

   "Tony!"

   "What happened?"

   "Can you breathe?"

   "Do you need a doctor?"

   I didn't know who said what and really didn't care.  I forced myself to
relax and took a small sip of air, then a bigger one, then a normal one. 
It wasn't the first time I'd had the wind knocked out of me, but I still
hate that feeling of fighting for air.

   I pushed myself up on an elbow and looked at Kelly.  "That's coming out
of your allowance."

   The concert was a success.  I think it was our best yet.  The acoustics
helped.  Hole-in-the-Wall is surrounded by volcanic rock walls.  We added
one song off my new CD.  Robbie and I sang Olivia Newton-John's Let's Get
Physical and had Kelly and Traci put on a little tumbling demonstration
while we sang.

   Afterward several people asked if we were a professional group and one
guy gave me his card, 'HENRIE TIMMERS, ARTIST MANAGEMENT.' The guy looked
like a huckster so I filed it and forgot it.

   Mental note: sue the National Park Service for discrimination.  There
were about a dozen teenaged guys who fell all over themselves drooling
after the girls and not one female fan for me, unless you count the
fifty-something divorcee who thought I was cute and talented.  I didn't.

   It was about ten.  I was sitting in another chair and keeping a wary eye
out for Kelly.  I was still working on digesting the dinner we'd had an
hour ago.  Steak and mounds and mounds of barbequed shrimp.  And baked
potatoes that were obviously the product of mutant growth experiments.

   Tami was sitting next to me.  I don't think we'd spoken in half-an-hour.
We were just enjoying the desert and each other's aura.  The others were
off hanging with the boys.

   Did I mention there were no girls?

   "Hi, Tony," Traci said as she walked up.  We didn't have a fire tonight,
mainly 'cause you have to bring your own wood, and we didn't want to mess
with it.  But we had some lanterns.  Traci was standing just inside the
circle of light, and somebody was just out of it.

   "Hey brat.  What are you up to?"

   "Nothing." She stood, shifting from foot to foot.  "I was wondering..."

   "Yes?" Next to me I could sense Tami shifting to focus on my sister.

   "I, um, that is, I wondered if...  ?"

   I grinned.  "Squirt, you're my very favorite sister.  And aside from
your best friend trying to kill me and destroying my favorite chair in the
process, I'm having a very good day.  You can ask me anything."

   "I, uh, I..." She took a deep breath.  "CouldIborrowarubber?"

   "Can you borrow a what?" I asked a lot more loudly than I intended after
I figured out just what she said.

   "You heard her," Tami said quickly.  "Of course you can," she added to
Traci.

   "But who?" I stuttered.

   "His name is Gary," Traci said, pointing at the shadow just outside the
light.  "He's nice."

   "How old is he?"

   "Fourteen," Traci said as she scuffed her shoe on the ground.

   "How...  ?" I started.

   But Tami slapped her hand over my mouth.  "The inquisition is over."
With her hand she motioned Traci closer.  "Are you sure?"

   Traci nodded.  Tami nodded.  "They're in his gym bag in his tent.  Take
a couple."

   Tami held her hand over my mouth until Traci had disappeared with her
treasures.  I licked her fingers.

   "I just think..." I started when she took her hand away.

   "Anthony Marion Sims, you're not going to win, so you might as well
accept it."

   "But..."

   "How old were you the first time?  How old was I?  And I'll save you the
embarrassment of asking how old Kelly was."

   "But..."

   "You're not going to win.  You can accept it and sulk, or we can fight
about it, you'll lose, and then sulk."

   I pouted.  "But I had it all planned out," I explained.  "Traci was
going to be a virgin all her life.  She'd have my two nieces and one nephew
by immaculate conception."

   "Not happening."

   "Can I keep my irrational delusion?"

   Tami smiled.  "You can try."



   Chapter 12

   We left Hole-in-the-Wall at eight.

   I'd been sleeping peacefully, Kelly safely in my arms and not leaping at
anything, when Tami stuck her head in my tent and announced we were burning
daylight.  I was good.  I didn't tell her what she could do with her burnt
daylight.

   Forty-five minutes later we stopped at a 76 station in Ludlow for gas
and some breakfast stuff.  Twenty minutes later the girls in back were
asleep.  Traci had volunteered to ride up front and keep me company, but
another ten minutes and she was gone too.

   An hour later we left California.  As I drove through Arizona I could
imagine John Wayne galloping on his horse next to me.  Or maybe Clint
Eastwood accompanied by one of those Hugo Montenegro soundtracks.  About
one we stopped for lunch in Williams.  I'm not a big fan of Mexican food,
but I was intrigued by the name, Pancho McGillicuddy's Mexican.  I have to
admit the shredded beef burrito wasn't half bad.

   We pulled out of Williams on I-40 which a few miles later turned into
Arizona 64.  It was exactly three as we pulled into the south entrance of
the Grand Canyon National Park.

   "Why the Grand Canyon?" Robbie asked as we drove toward the ranger
station.  "Isn't it kind of touristy?"

   "My dad has been promising me a trip to the canyon since I was four,"
Tami said with a trace of a pout.  "But something always came up.  I
figured the only way to get here was to come myself, even if I had to
kidnap my friends to do it."

   Tami checked us in, and we drove to the Mather Campground where I set up
the tents again.  I guess if a career in coaching doesn't work out, I can
be a professional tent setter-upper.  "Now, remember," Tami said as we
relaxed a few minutes later.  "There's only supposed to be six people per
campsite, so if the rangers ask, one of you is visiting from down the
road."

   "Which one?" Darlene asked.

   Tami gave her the I'm-sorry-you're-retarded look.  "The seventh one, of
course."

   I sipped my Coke and kept my mouth shut.

   "Are we singing?" Traci asked.

   "I talked to the rangers and told them we'd been doing little shows in
all the parks we'd been to.  They said we could set up in that grassy area
at the end of the row.  What time is it?"

   At the moment I was the only one wearing a watch, so I guessed the
question was meant for me.  "Three to four."

   "We could shoot for eight" Tami mused.  "It will still be light and
should be a little cooler then."

   "Are you kidding?  This is the arctic compared to Mojave." I guessed the
temperature was just above eighty.

   Tami stood.  "Ladies, I'm off to round up an audience.  Anyone coming?"
Mikee, Kelly, and Traci stood up.

   "What, I'm not invited?" I protested.

   "You just want to see if there are any cute girls," Mikee accused.

   "Like you're not going to scope out the guys," I shot back.

   Mikee blushed.

   "You were just complaining about all the hard work setting up the
tents," Tami said.  "I guessed you wanted to rest."

   I had my feet up.  I had my Coke.  I had some Girl Scout cookies. 
Peanut butter sandwich, my favorite.  Some Brownies had been selling them
outside the ranger station.  I decided not to complain.

   "So stud, are you ready for some football?" Robbie asked in a voice that
sounded like it came straight from Monday nights.

   "It's not even July yet.  Talk to me in August." Then I had to think
about it.  I hadn't been keeping track of the date.  We'd left on Sunday
the nineteenth.  This was Tuesday, that made it about the twenty-eighth.  I
was right.  It wasn't July yet.  "By the way, love of my life, where are we
going to be for the fourth?"

   "It's a secret."

   "At least give us a hint," Traci cajoled.

   Tami hesitated.  "Buffalo Bill lived there for a year."

   "That's a big help," I said sarcastically.

   Tami smiled.  "You're welcome."

   It'd serve her right if I figured it out.  The trouble was, I didn't
remember a lot about the guy.  I was never big on western history, and Cody
had never sparked any interest.  He was a buffalo hunter, so that narrowed
it down to the middle of the country, say Texas to Montana.  But then there
was something about a wild west show.  I think that traveled all over the
east coast and even Europe.

   "Paris!" I announced.  "Independence Day in the land of a thousand
cheeses."

   Tami grinned.  "Damn!  You guessed it."

   I thought about sticking my tongue out at her, but decided I was too
dignified for that.

   "Disney World," Kelly guessed.

   Tami lifted her head and looked at the younger girl over the tops of her
sunglasses.  "Buffalo Bill lived in Orlando?"

   Kelly shrugged and flipped her head.  "I don't know, I just thought
Disney World would be cool."

   "Cape Kennedy," Mikee suggested.  "They have really big fireworks
there."

   Looking at Tami's face, I decided she was having way too much fun.  I
needed to start thinking about revenge.

   Robbie was lying on her stomach on a blanket next to my chair.  "Hey
stud, would you get me another Coke?"

   "I never said I was a stud," I said, not feeling like moving.  Wasn't
that what we had eighth graders for?  "I just have many stud-like
qualities." I looked at Kelly, snapped my fingers and pointed at the
cooler.

   Kelly stood and bowed deeply.  "What kind of stud-like qualities?" she
asked before walking to the cooler.  Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd
mastered a sarcastic tone of voice.

   "I had you purring last night," I said with a smug look.  She blushed
all the way down to her belly button.

   "Purring?" her sister said.  "She was yelling so loud I thought I'd
never get to sleep."

   I didn't think it was possible, but Kelly's blush got deeper.

   "So, Captain America, your super power is making girls purr?" Robbie
asked lifting herself up on one elbow.

   I grinned and lifted my hands up, palms to the sky, trying to look
modest.

   "Okay, go." Robbie said.

   "Go?"

   "Make us all purr."

   "I..."

   "I think that's a great idea," Tami put in.

   I decided that whatever revenge I came up with for her had to be really
good.  "I..."

   "Yeah." "Cool." "Do it." "Oh, man!" the other girls all said.

   "I..."

   "You said you had the power," Robbie accused.  "You know what Spider-Man
said: 'With great power comes great responsibility.' You're responsible for
six very horny females."

   I didn't check her math, but I should have.  "We can't.  There are
people..."

   "That's why they invented tents," Tami pointed out.

   "I..."

   "I'm first," Tami said, standing up and walking toward my tent.

   "I..."

   Tami stood at the opening to my tent and looked back at me.  "Coming?"
she asked and ducked inside.

   "I..." I stood and followed her.

   "This could get interesting," I heard Kelly say as I hesitated in front
of the tent.

   "Very interesting," her sister agreed.

   I slipped inside just in time to see Tami hook her thumbs in the
waistband of her nylon shorts and push them down.  There was nothing
underneath them.  She was facing away from me so I could admire her firm
ass and long legs.  A deep brown tan covered almost all of her except for a
small inverted triangle on her buttocks.  A very small triangle.

   "I don't know if this is such a good idea," I stammered.

   "A quickie in the afternoon?  Tony, I'm surprised.  Where's that
sex-crazed boy I've come to know and love?"

   "No, five quickies."

   "Afraid you can't handle it?" Tami challenged as she turned around and
let her bikini top slide down her arms and fall to the ground.  "I'm horny
now, so if you're not up to it, you mind sending Robbie in?"

   I have this problem with being too competitive.  The same thing I accuse
Robbie of.  I knew right then that I was going to do all five girls or hurt
myself trying.

   I stepped to Tami, kissed her, and with one hand pushed down my shorts.
I hadn't bothered with underwear either.  I turned her as I kissed her and
guided Big Tony, who lived up to his name, between her legs."

   "Ohhh, just like in the woods," she cooed as she grasped my favorite
appendage and eased it into her pussy.  "How many times have you done me
from behind in the woods?"

   "Not enough." I pushed my cock up deep inside her.  She'd been wet and
easy to penetrate.  "Never enough."

   I kissed her neck and shoulders as I pistoned deep within her.

   "Oh, God, sometimes I think you really do have a super power.  I'm gonna
cum already."

   "That's the plan." I slowed my pace, making each stroke take several
seconds."

   "I was almost there," she complained.

   "Beg for it," I whispered.

   "Please..."

   I picked up the pace, feeling her body clinging at my cock as I slammed
in deep into her womb.

   "Oh, God damn...  God...  oh, fuck.  I'm..."

   I figure if you can make them lose the ability to form coherent
sentences, you've done good.  I slid my still hard cock out of her, turned
her again, and kissed her deeply.

   "You are a super hero," she purred.  "Instead of Captain America, maybe
we should call you Major Orgasm."

   I grinned, wondering if she'd realized her play on words.  "How about
colonel?  I've always wanted to be a colonel."

   "Okay, Colonel Orgasm," Tami said as she picked up her shorts and bikini
top.  Who next, Robbie?  Or one of the young ones?"

   I lay down on my sleeping bag, Big Tony pointing proudly at the ceiling.
"Send me Monster Girl."

   Tami nodded and stepped out of the tent, her shorts only halfway up her
legs.

   This was every red-blooded American boy's dream.

   So why did I have a feeling of impending doom?

   "Is that for me?" Robbie asked as she stepped inside and slid off her
shorts in one motion.  'Didn't any of the girls wear underwear today?' I
wondered.

   "If you think you can handle it," I said confidently.

   "You gonna make me purr?"

   I grinned.  "With Monster Girls, it's more of a low growl."

   Robbie stepped over my body and lowered herself toward my spear.  "Close
enough," she said.  She grabbed the base with one hand and spread her pussy
with the other.  With a single smooth motion, she enveloped me.

   I lay back and let Robbie set her own pace.  "I'm so glad I didn't have
to wait for tonight," she said as she picked up speed."

   I'd forgotten it was her turn.  I hoped I'd have something left for her.

   "You feel so good inside me," she said.  "So natural."

   I was tempted to ask if I was the best, but didn't.  I figured it was a
no-win question.  If she said no, I'd be hurt.  If she said yes, I'd wonder
if she was just trying to make me feel good.  I concentrated on making her
feel good, thrusting my hips upward to meet her pelvis as it came down.

   "I'm almost there.  I'm..."

   "Me, too," I groaned, feeling the old familiar feeling building in the
base of my cock and my balls.  I drove my cock upward as she pressed down,
and we both exploded.  It almost felt like she was draining my life-force
away as her body milked my fluids

   "Oh, yes.  Yes," she said as she savored the last of her orgasm.

   As she stopped she looked down at me, smiled, and purred, rolling the
sound off her tongue.  It was one of the nicest things she'd ever said to
me.

   "Robbie said you wanted both of us?" Mikee asked shyly as she and Kelly
stepped in.

   I nodded, then glanced down.  Mr.  Happy had retreated to never-never
land.  I wondered if the store in Grand Canyon Village sold Viagra.  "My
favorite Temples," I said as I stood and hugged them.

   "What about Alana?" Kelly asked with a small giggle.

   "I wouldn't trade you two for Alana and her whole group." Alana was in
Greece this summer on a modeling contract with seven other girls.  She
hadn't decided if she was going back to school in the fall.

   "How about one of us?" Mikee asked coyly.

   "Well maybe one." I'd seen a picture of Alana's modeling crew.

   "Which one?" Kelly demanded.

   "I could never choose," I told them honestly.  "We'll flip a coin."

   "Do you ever think about Alana?  You know, fantasize?" Mikee asked.

   I tried to remember about the last time I'd had a fantasy about their
beautiful sister.  I couldn't.  Even after our evening in the wood, she
wasn't the one I dreamed about.

   "Not really.  My fantasies are about you and Tami and the other girls
here.  I guess I'm pretty happy.  If Diogenes had been looking for a
contented man, he could stop right here."

   "Who's Diogenes?" asked Kelly.

   I decided I needed to talk to Mr.  Reed about the quality of education
in the middle school.  Or lack there of.

   I turned the girls so that Mikee's back was resting against my right
shoulder and Kelly's back was resting on my left, then I slipped my arms
around them, gave them a quick squeeze, and slid my hands into their
shorts. Still no underwear.

   "Diogenes was a Greek dude..." or was he Roman?  Nope.  Greek. 
Definitely Greek.  "...  who took a lantern and searched all over Greece
for one honest man.  Kind of like how Alana puts on a tight sweater and
searches for an honest orgasm."

   Both girls giggled, and not just because I was caressing the folds of
their pussies.

   "Alana should look at your house," Kelly said as she pushed her hips
forward toward my hand.

   "So should the Greek dude," Mikee added.

   "I'm not honest.  I lie like a rug.  For instance, you guys probably
think I like you, but I just pretend.  I'm just into doing sisters."

   "So do me, already," Kelly commanded as she rubbed her ass against my
leg.

   If I have one rule in life, it's 'Never say no to a horny
thirteen-year-old.' I slid my middle finger into her wet, willing pussy. 
With my other hand I eased my forefinger into her sister.  Both girls gave
small shivers.

   I glanced down.  I had fingers in two willing pussies, and Big Tony just
sat there.  I wondered if I'd killed it doing Tami and Robbie both.

   "Oh, fuck!" one of them moaned.  I didn't bother correcting her.

   Kelly usually liked a short fast stroke, while Mikee liked a longer,
slower rhythm, but I had trouble doing both at once, so I did kind of a
compromise medium stroke to both.  It seemed to be working.

   "We should do this everyday," Mikee purred.  I kissed her neck.

   "Twice a day," Kelly corrected.  I nibbled on her ear.

   "Do you think Gary got Traci off," Mikee asked with a giggle.

   I had a sudden image of last night's shadow sticking his finger in my
sister's cunt.  I couldn't help wondering if her first time had been good.
Then I tried to shake the image out of my mind.  Have you ever really
wanted to know something, but at the same time really, really not want to
know?

   "Keep talking about Traci and you can wait outside while I finish your
sister off," I threatened.

   "Too late," Mikee yelled as her body tensed.  "Oh, God.  Oh, yeah.  Oh
yeah!"

   I speeded up my left hand as Mikee's sounds helped push Kelly over the
edge.  Kelly's hand reached down and cupped my shrunken cock and balls.  I
think she was surprised that I wasn't hard.  I know I was.

   Both girls sagged against me as their orgasms finished.  I was beginning
to feel like a real super-hero.  First I did two girls with one erection,
and now I'd done two at the same time.

   I used my tongue to tickle the insides of their ears.  "Go tell Darlene
it's her turn," I whispered.

   Kelly gave me another squeeze.  "You going to have anything for her?"

   I gave the girls a small push forward as I pulled my hands out of their
shorts, then I gave Kelly a swat on the butt.  "I'll figure something out."

   "I'll bet you will," Mikee said with a leer, so I gave her a swat too.

   Darlene stepped into the tent, smiling shyly.

   I was lying on my sleeping bag, trying to look seductive.  Darlene
glanced at the ill-named Big Tony and sighed.  "You don't really want to do
this."

   I really hate self-doubt.  I was ready to put her over my knee and give
her a few swats, and not the playful kind I'd given the Temple girls.  Then
I remembered her introduction to sex.

   "You're a beautiful, sexy cheerleader.  What guy wouldn't want to do
this?" I said, sitting up.

   "But..." her eyes were looked on my useless appendage.

   "This is supposed to be about making you purr.  I don't need Big Tony
for that."

   "Big Tony?" she said and giggled, which didn't help the situation.

   I sat up on my knees and beckoned her closer with my finger.  As she
stepped up, I leaned forward and kissed her belly button.  Then I planted
dozens of my kisses all over her stomach.

   "You don't have to..." she said as I slipped her shorts down to reveal
her black thong.  Well, it was almost underwear.

   I ignored her and started to kiss her pelvis as I eased her thong over
her hips and down her legs.  I hadn't really seen her the other night.  It
had been too dark, but now I saw that her pussy hair was an almost perfect
diamond.  The hair on her head was a golden blond, but down below it was
darker, about as dark as you could get and still call it blond.  I kissed
the center of the diamond.

   "I know Robbie kind of made you..."

   I kissed her diamond again, then looked up at her.  "Would you shut up
and enjoy yourself?  I'm not doing anything I don't want to do." I kissed
the diamond again, then started exploring the valley beneath it.

   "I..."

   "Damn it!" I snapped.  "Would you get over it.  You're beautiful. 
You're sexy.  And I want to do this.  And if you don't believe me, check
out what you're doing to Big Tony." I pointed down to where my cock had
already regained most of it's former stature.  "Now, I'd really like to
teach you what fucking can be all about, but if you're going to whine, it's
distracting."

   Darlene looked startled, then dropped to her knees and hugged me.  I
twisted her around and onto her back, swinging my leg over to straddle her.
I looked down.

   "Have I mentioned you're beautiful?"

   She nodded, and I kissed her forehead.

   "Have I mentioned you're sexy?"

   She nodded and I kissed her nose.  I fumbled beside my sleeping bag for
a rubber and tried to roll it on without breaking the mood I was trying to
build.

   "Have I mentioned you're a cheerleader?  And you know how guys are about
their cheerleader fantasies."

   She nodded again, and I kissed her on the lips, gently, just barely
brushing my lips against hers.

   "How about a cheer?" I asked as I eased the cups of her bikini top off
her breasts.

   "Give me an F.  Give me a U.  Give me a C.  Give me a..."

   I gave her Big Tony.  I drove my cock deep inside her.  "Still think I
don't want to do this?"

   Darlene shook her head and, more, her face told me that she believed.

   I started stroking into her.  When I felt like I was on the edge, I'd
stop and play with her tits or just caress her face.  She had to cum first.

   "This feels so good," she said as I started again.  "The other guys..."

   To be honest, right then, I didn't want to discuss other guys.

   "The other guys would do me four or five times, cum, then want to roll
over and take a nap."

   "Like I said," getting drawn into her conversation whether I wanted to
or not.  "You've been with the wrong guys."

   'You just keep going."

   "The Energizer Bunny's my uncle."

   "Can we do this forever?" she whispered.

   I knew she was close.  So was I, but she had to be first.

   I laughed, "It might get a little crowded in her around bedtime, it's
Robbie's turn."

   I drove deep inside her.  She grabbed my hips and thrust her pussy up to
meet me, and we both exploded.  I slowed my pace and milked my wilting
dick, wondering if there would be anything left for Robbie tonight, and if
she'd hurt me if there wasn't.

   Darlene and I stepped into the sunlight a few minutes later.

   "I'd say she's purring," Tami said with a grin.  Kelly and Traci
giggled, and I didn't have to look to know that Darlene was bright red.

   "Not bad, stud," Robby said as I sat back in my chair.  "Forty-five
minutes and you're almost done."

   "Almost?  I got everybody purring," I said with maybe too much pride.

   "Not everybody," Mikee said and glanced at Traci.

   "You've got to be kidding!"

   Traci was red, and I could feel the heat in my own cheeks.

   "She is part of the group," Robbie pointed out.

   "She's my..." I didn't finish, I knew it wouldn't do any good.  I stood
again and walked toward my tent.  I stopped at the doorway and looked back
at Traci.  "Coming?"

   Traci looked as confused as I felt, but she jumped up and raced inside
the tent.  I hesitated and looked back at the other girls.  "She's my
sister, I'm going to need some extra stimulation.  Mikee...  no, Robbie,
come on."

   Robbie looked surprised but stood and walked over.  I held the opening
for her, then followed her in.  Traci was sitting cross legged on my
sleeping bag looking worried, and now as she saw Robbie, surprised.

   I closed the opening, looked at Robbie and pointed at my sister.  "Make
her purr." I swear, Traci got even redder than she had outside.

   "That's your job," Robbie said.

   "I'm just supposed to make everyone purr.  No one said I couldn't
subcontract." I reached into my gym bag and pulled out a book.  I'd bought
Ben Bova's latest just before the road trip and hadn't even cracked it yet.
I sat in the corner, my back to the two girls and opened the book.

   Behind me I heard, "You can't.  Tony's right there."

   "Tony's in his own little world," Robbie said.

   "But..." Traci started, then moaned softly.  I shut her out and
concentrated on Dan Randolph and his quest for space.



   Chapter 13

   "You cheated, didn't you?" Tami accused as we walked later that night.

   "Cheated?"

   "With your sister?"

   I grinned.  "That sounds like a Jerry Springer show.  Guys who cheated
on their fiancees with their sisters."

   Tami didn't stomp her foot, but I think she wanted to.  "You know what I
mean."

   I grinned again.  "You wanted her to purr, and when she left my tent,
she was purring.  How could that be cheating?"

   "You're a sneaky bastard."

   "I'll have you know my parents were married at the time of my birth, and
I have the documents to prove it."

   Tami had kind of wrapped herself around my arm as we walked, and now she
laid her head on my shoulder.  "You ready for tomorrow?" she asked softly.

   "What's tomorrow?"

   "Didn't I tell you?"

   "No."

   Tami lifted her head and grinned at me.  "Cheater," she said and skipped
away towards camp.

   I watched the sway of her backside as she skipped away.

   I figure twenty years in a monastery, studying serenity and calmness,
and I might be ready to deal with girls.

   "What are you doing here?"

   "You're disappointed."

   I took a deep breath.  'Cheerleaders are not supposed to have
self-esteem issues, ' I thought as I looked down at the naked one lying on
my sleeping bag.

   "Lady, if you go all sensitive on me because I was surprised, I swear
I'll put you over my knee and spank you so hard they'll hear you crying on
the other side of the canyon."

   Darlene smiled.  "If that's how you get your jollies?"

   I sighed.  If I borrowed Tami's laptop, I could research monasteries and
leave in the morning.  "I thought it was Robbie's turn," I said as I pulled
off my t-shirt.  "That's the way you did it last time." I dropped my shorts
and underwear down to my ankles, then kicked them toward the tent wall.

   Even in the low light of the tent, I could see Darlene blush.  "Tomorrow
night might not be good for me.  It's, uh, well kinda..."

   "Inconvenient," I supplied.

   Darlene looked relieved and nodded.  "So Robbie and I traded."

   "I'm glad you did," I said, sinking to my knees.  "After this afternoon,
I'm not sure I could handle Monster Girl."

   Darlene's smile drooped a little.  "You mean I'm not as good."

   I swear I'm gonna slap her upside the head.  Then I'm driving back to
Washington to kick her step-dad in the ass.  I thought about just lying
down and going to sleep, but self-esteem issues weren't her fault, it was
her step-dad, and probably her real dad before him.  I had the advantage of
parents who always told me I could do anything and made me believe.  Of
course, they lied a lot; they told Traci the same thing.

   "I mean Robbie's more energetic.  I love making it with all of you.  I
don't compare, I just appreciate the differences.  I enjoyed being your
first last week..."

   "But you weren't my first.  I told you..."

   "Jerks who are only in it for themselves don't count.  I enjoyed being
your first last week, I enjoyed being your second this afternoon, and I'm
going to enjoy being your third in about two minutes."

   Darlene giggled.

   I took a minute to kiss her long and hard as I lay down beside her.

   "Are you smart?" I asked as I leaned down and kissed her nipple.

   ""Yes," she said, pushing her chest out at me.

   "Are you pretty?" I licked the valley between her breasts.

   "I guess."

   I stopped and looked her in the eye.  "Are you pretty?"

   Darlene blushed.  "I'm pretty."

   I kissed her and went back to licking her valley, my hand moving down to
stroke the soft downy hair above her pussy.

   "Are you athletic?"

   "I'm just a cheerleader."

   I stopped what I was doing and looked at her again.  "Cheerleaders
aren't athletes?  Just anybody off the street can come in and do those
routines?  Can work their asses off during an entire football or basketball
game?"

   "Well..."

   "Are you athletic?"

   "Yes," she said and, I think, believed it.

   "So why the fuck don't you think you're entitled to a good time?"

   Darlene pulled back.  "What?"

   I rolled her on her back and straddled her, looking down "Every time
we're alone, you've got this idea that I'm going to be disappointed.  Lady,
the only guys who'd be disappointed to be alone with you are gay or dead.
Probably both.  Why don't you think you're as good as everybody else?"

   "I do," she said defiantly looking up at me, then she turned her head
and looked at the wall.  "It's just..."

   "Keep talking," I told her.  "I can stay here all night.  I'm kinda
enjoying the view."

   Darlene looked back at me, blushed, and looked away again.

   "Are you as good as everybody?"

   "Almost everybody," she said without looking up at me.

   "Okay, we're making progress." Maybe I'll be a therapist, if I can have
all great-looking female patients and counsel them like this.  "So who
aren't you as good as?"

   "Just...  nobody, okay?"

   Suddenly I had an insight.  Maybe the mind reading thing was finally
kicking in.  "Are you as good as Mikee?" I asked as a lead-in.

   "She's a freshman.  Of course I am." Darlene said, jerking her face
toward me.

   "Okay, so you're into age discrimination as well as esteem issues."

   Darlene glared.

   "By the way, call her a freshman and she'll probably slap you.  She's
been a sophomore since she got her report card and passed all her classes.
Are you as good as Tami?  As Robbie?"

   A flicker of something crossed her face, and she looked away again. 
"I..."

   I leaned down and kissed her nose.  "Why aren't you as good as Robbie?"

   "I, uh, she's so damn good at everything."

   "She is, isn't she?" I agreed.

   Even in the dim light I could tell Darlene blushed.  I leaned down and
kissed her gently.

   "I mean she's better at football and baseball than any of the guys."

   I cleared my throat loudly.  "Most of the guys," I amended and polished
my fingernails on my bare chest.  Then for good measure, I polished them on
her left breast.  It must have tickled, 'cause she giggled.

   "And she's so good at school.  And she sings.  And she..."

   "Stop!  You'll give me a complex next.  Look, Robbie's one in a million.
So what?  When I grow up -"if I grow up -"I'd like to be smarter than
Einstein, more athletic than Jim Thorpe and handsomer than Orlando Bloom.
It ain't gonna happen.  So I can get depressed, or I can be the best me I
can be."

   "Who's Jim Thorpe?"

   I looked at the ceiling of the tent and shook my head.  "Damn American
education system," I muttered.  I looked back down at Darlene.  "Jim Thorpe
was probably the greatest all-around athlete in history, but the point is,
I ain't him.  And you ain't her.  You're Darlene.  You're beautiful.  You
don't play football or baseball, but you're a damn good cheerleader.  You
may not be the best student in the school, but you're a good student, a
hell of a lot better than your step-brother.  You sing good.  I mean,
Robbie has something special, but you're good.  I've heard you sing. 
People like hearing you sing, and that's all it's about."

   I kissed her again.  First her mouth, then her eyelids, her nose, and
her forehead.  "For better or worse, you're Darlene.  Live with it." I
reached down and positioned my throbbing cock to enter her.  "Enjoy it." I
slid easily into her.  "Be the best Darlene you can be.  And..."

   My cock had been waiting too long.  As I drove it deeply within her, it
spasmed, and I shuddered as the first wave of pleasure hit me.  Damn!  I
not only didn't get her to finish, I barely got her started.

   She must have read my mind, 'cause she pulled me down and hugged me. 
"It's okay, that was just the first one," she whispered.

   "Of many," I agreed.



   Chapter 14

   "You're not glad to see me?"

   In the dim light of the tent I couldn't see her face, but the voice was
pouty enough.

   "I, uh..." I looked down my naked body at my cock, who apparently wasn't
coming out to play.  "I'm always glad to see you," I told Tami truthfully.
"And seeing you naked on my sleeping bag is a treat for my eyes.  I'm
just..." I knelt down next to her.

   "Oh shut up and hold me," she said, sitting up.  I wrapped my arms
around her and pulled her in tight.  "You can tell me about it later," she
whispered.

   "I don't know if I can." I wasn't sure if I spoke out loud or not, but
Tami held me tighter.

   Yesterday had started pretty normal.  We had a lazy day, mostly just
hanging around the camp.  We walked to several of the viewpoints and
checked out the canyon, but mostly it's a big hole in the ground.  I
thought it might be cool to go down inside it, but Tami said she had no
intention of spending her day with her ass bouncing off another ass, and
that was that.

   About two I got the munchies, so Darlene and I walked up to the little
store in Grand Canyon Village, stopping a couple of times to make out.  I
could say that it was all part of her therapy, but the truth was, she made
a nice little bundle in my arms.  Plus, it made a few little old ladies
raise some eyebrows.  The exercise was good for them.

   Just before four I was lying on a towel in the sun and thinking
seriously about a nap when Tami jumped to her feet and announced we were
late.

   "Late for what?" several of us asked together.

   Tami grinned.  "We're late, we're late, for a very important date," she
sing-songed.  Before I could strangle her, she added, "Everybody into the
van."

   We drove back to Williams, where Tami had us entered in another karaoke
contest at another Elks club.  I wondered if karaoke was part of the Elks
creed, but I had to admire Tami's research abilities and wonder why she was
only a B student.

   I did Skin and Robbie did My Way.  With a little coaxing, Mikee did I
Say a Little Prayer, and after I dragged her on stage with me, Darlene and
I did Elton John's Don't Go Breaking My Heart as a duet.  But it was Traci
who brought the house down with Climb Every Mountain.  As Traci collected
her trophy, I was beginning to wonder if I'd given her too much
self-confidence.  I mean, she was my little sister.  I wanted her to do
good, but I didn't want her to start beating me.

   Traci had her trophy and a hundred bucks prize money, but the rest of us
got skunked by the locals.

   Personally, I think it was rigged.

   We grabbed dinner at a Taco Bell and headed back to the canyon.

   We got back about ten, and Tami and I took a walk along the rim while
the others settled down.

   "You know, tomorrow while we're on the road I need to find a wi-fi
hotspot and spend some time on the internet," Tami said as we started back
toward the camp.

   "Why?" I asked, sensing that I was being set-up.  I hadn't even known we
were back on the road tomorrow.  South to Mexico?  East to Texas?  North
toward Colorado, or maybe west, back the way we came?

   "I need to download some boilerplate."

   "Boilerplate?" The word sounded familiar but I couldn't make it fit the
context.

   "You know, standard contract stuff."

   I didn't look at her face, but I knew she was grinning.

   "What kind of contract?" I asked, knowing I was going to regret it.

   "Management contracts for you and the others.  I need to get you all
signed before that Timmers guy or somebody else beats me to it.  Don't
worry, I just get sixty percent off the top."

   "Sixty percent!"

   "It's standard."

   Oh well.  At least she'll be able to take care of me in my old age. 
Though with Tami as a manager, we'll still be touring in our nineties, just
like The Rolling Stones.

   I was shaking my head in wonder as I kissed her goodnight.

   I watched Tami go into the big tent, then turned toward mine.  I
hesitated at the door, looking in the mesh window.  In the dim light I
could just make out the gentle curve of Robbie's bare hip.  She was turned
away from me, but that didn't stop me appreciating the lines of her body.

   I slipped in the flap of the tent and quickly pulled off my shorts and
shirt.  That was when I realized that Robbie was moving.  She was... 
what's the word?  Undulating.  I wondered if she was playing with herself,
which kind of ticked me off.  It was like inviting someone to dinner, then
starting without them.  On the other hand, it was a hell of a turn-on.

   It took me a minute to realize that Tami wasn't hugging me anymore.  She
was holding me loosely and looking at me.  No, not looking: staring.

   Tami stood.  "Get dressed," she ordered and started picking up her own
clothes.

   "You're kicking me out of my own tent?"

   Tami smiled.  I couldn't see her smile, but I heard it in her voice. 
"I'm not kicking you out.  We're going to take a walk."

   "I just had a walk," I protested.

   "You do your best thinking when you walk.  You need to think."

   Wrong lady.  The last thing I need to do is think.

   "Start the party without me?" I asked as I dropped to my knees.

   Robbie rolled onto her back, and I realized that there was something
attached to her tit.  Someone.

   My eyes adjusted to the darkness of the tent, and I could make out two
bodies.  Robbie's and someone who was sucking her tit for all it was worth.
Traci.

   I could kill Robbie and drop her body in the canyon.

   I could kill Robbie and leave her body in the desert to mummify.

   I could...  I could...

   "Would you two like to be alone?" I asked softly.

   Robbie was grinning.  I knew it without having to see her face.  "I
thought Traci deserved a reward after her song tonight."

   "I could leave," I offered.  Traci stopped what she was doing and lifted
her head toward me, though I couldn't see her face.

   "Don't be silly," she said.

   "Traci and I..."

   Robbie laughed softly.  "There is no Traci and you.  There's Traci and
me.  There's Tony and me.  There's no Traci and you."

   I wondered who was really getting rewarded.

   I suppose it was inevitable.  I mean, I'd brought my sister into my tent
to be molested...  ravished...  pleasured by my girlfriend...  my
mistress...  my alternate girlfriend.  Whatever the hell was Robbie to me?
My head hurt.

   I missed simpler times.

   I tried to tell myself that girls had cooties, but it didn't work.  One,
I still didn't know what a cootie was, and two, girls had attributes that
outweighed them, whatever they were.

   I decided the problem wasn't girls, it was sisters.  Aunt Patti always
liked Traci.  Maybe I could farm her out.

   "Hey, stud!  Waiting for an invitation?"

   I could kill Robbie and...

   I could...

   I crawled between her legs and started licking the second sweetest pussy
on the west coast.  Traci was still working on her tits.

   As Tami and I walked along the road, I looked up at the sky.  The New
Mexico sky seemed different from last night's Arizona sky, or the
California, Oregon, and Washington skies before it.  I didn't know why, a
few hundred miles shouldn't make that much of a difference.  But it seemed
different.

   "Counting stars?" Tami asked.

   "No, I...  I don't know what I'm doing."

   "Want to talk about it?"

   "No, I..."

   "Okay."

   We walked on down the road.  I wondered if I'd feel it when Tami read my
mind.

   I plunged my cock deeper into Robbie while my sister pressed her cunt
down on the redhead's face.  Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd use.
But after an hour, it seemed natural.  Well, maybe not natural, but a lot
less unnatural.

   I was lying along Robbie's body, and occasionally my head would brush up
against Traci's hip, but I didn't jerk it away like I had at first.

   I felt myself building toward a climax.  I knew that Robbie had cum two
or three times already, and I think that Traci had her beat.  I drove deep
one more time.  Then it felt like every muscle in my body seized at once.
The feeling lasted three or four eternities, then the spigot opened up.  I
started pumping gallon after gallon of sperm into her and I collapsed
against her.

   Just then Traci started thrashing next to my head.  I smiled as I lay on
Robbie.  It felt kinda good knowing my little sister was sharing the same
feeling I'd just had.  I guess I was getting used to the concept of my
sister, my baby sister, as a sexual being.

   I rolled to the side and was asleep before my head found the pillow I
was sharing with Robbie.

   "So what did Traci do?" Tami asked after a long silence.

   "She didn't do anything.  She...  I...  Don't you know it's rude to read
other people's thoughts?"

   Tami squeezed my hand.  "Strangers, maybe.  Yours, never."

   I woke from a very good dream that involved Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff,
and the back seat of a Volkswagen Bug.  Cramped but cozy.  I didn't open my
eyes, but could tell the tent was flooded with early morning sunlight.

   As I lay on my back, I wondered If could get back to sleep.

   Then I remembered that my life was as good as my dreams while Robbie's
hand caressed my early morning hard-on.  I realized that she was straddling
me, and decided to let her have her way with a sleeping man.  The little
pre-vert.

   In my mind I could picture her red-fringed pussy as she rubbed my cock
head along her warm moist lips.  I could picture the satisfied smile on her
face as she toyed with me, she thought without my knowledge.  I decided
that when we got back I was changing her nickname from Monster Girl to
Insatiable.

   Her lips separated, and I could feel the Big Tony's head slip barely
inside.  She held me there for a minute, then slowly enveloped my best
friend right to the root.

   I thrashed around a little as if reacting to sensations in my sleep.  I
let my arms flop out to the sides, my right hand settling on Robbie's tit.
Even in sleep her nipples seemed stiff and ready for play.  I tried not to
grin as I squeezed...

   Robbie's tit?!?!

   But Robbie was...

   Oh, my God!

   I opened my eyes and saw my sister...  my baby sister, mounted on my
cock.

   I had to stop...

   I had...

   I...

   Big Tony erupted.

   "You had sex with your sister." When Tami said it, it wasn't an
accusation, just a calm statement of a fact.

   "Yeah," I admitted.

   "Now you're weirded out."

   "Weirded," I repeated.

   "That explains a lot.  I don't think you looked at her all day."

   "I couldn't."

   "You barely talked."

   "I didn't have anything to say."

   Tami squeezed my hand again, then turned us so we were walking back
toward our campsite.

   "So you're celibate?"

   "I..."

   "That's going to make the six kids you planned kinda difficult."

   "I..."

   "Of course there's a few guys who'd be happy to help out."

   "I..."

   Tami stopped.  She let go of my hand and cupped my face in her hands. 
She was looking into my eyes.  I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. 
"Tony, it's okay."

   "I had sex with my sister," I said, finally pulling my eyes away from
hers and looking down.

   Tami lifted my head and trapped my eyes again.  "It's okay."

   "I had sex with my sister," I said again, my voice barely a whisper.

   For a second, I thought she was going to slap me.  "Tony Marion Sims!"
her words were a slap.  "Did you force her?  Did you hold her down and
smash your battering ram into her virgin pussy?"

   "Of course not." I couldn't believe she'd even suggest it.  And Traci
wasn't a virgin, not since...  well, she wasn't a virgin.

   "Did you order her?  Or blackmail her?"

   "No!"

   "Was it your idea?  Or hers?"

   "It was...  it doesn't matter."

   "It does matter.  I know you'd never do anything to hurt Traci.  And so
does she." Tami pulled my face down and kissed me gently.  Then she took my
hand again and half-pulled me down the road toward our camp.

   "It's still my fault.  If I wasn't..."

   "If you weren't sleeping with her best friend?  And her best friend's
sister?  And your girlfriend?  And Robbie and Darlene?"

   "Yeah."

   "Did you ever consider that you may have saved her?"

   "Saved her?"

   "If she didn't have you around, if she didn't see how you treat women,
if she didn't see how you respect women, she might have fallen for some
slick bad-boy like Kenny Temple."

   Kenny Temple.  For a moment my mind filled with an image of him forcing
his sister down on a bed and...

   "Tony!" Tami said in distress.

   I realized I'd started to squeeze her hand as I thought about Kenny.  I
let go quickly.  Tami rubbed her hand.  "I think the problem is you're not
talking to the right person." We'd gotten back to the edge of our campsite.
"Stay!" she ordered as if I were a puppy.

   As my cock deflated, I pushed Traci off to the side and jumped to my
feet.  I grabbed my shorts from the floor of the tent and raced out.  I
stopped for a second to pull my shorts on, the image of Traci's face, her
eyes closed as I filled her cunt, burned into my mind.

   I started running.

   Tami came out of the big tent, smiled, and went into mine.

   A minute later, Traci came out of the big tent, still rubbing sleep from
her eyes.

   "You're mad at me," she said as she stood in front of me.

   "I love you," I said and pulled her close and gave her a very
unbrotherly kiss.  "But it ain't happening again."

   "Robbie says you're a prude," she said with just a hint of a smile.

   "Robbie thinks Casanova and the Marquis de Sade are prudes."

   "Who?"

   "Never mind." I put my arm around my sister's waist and started us
walking down the road.  "It doesn't matter what Robbie thinks, it's what I
think.  And I'm not comfortable..."

   "But..."

   "I'm not comfortable with it.  Look, what if I said that you had to have
sex with Patrick Haney?"

   "Yuck!" Patrick was a boy in her class.  He was nice, but at thirteen he
was already about sixty pounds overweight and drooled.

   "There's nothing wrong with having sex with Patrick.  He's a nice kid,
but you're not comfortable about it."

   "Never."

   I smiled.  "That's how I feel about you.  I'm just not comfortable with
anything physical."

   "You think I'm ugly."

   I was tempted to slap her upside the head before she turned into another
Darlene.  "It's not about ugly.  I think Peter Temple's kinda cute, but I'm
not comfortable with bending him over the end of the sofa and having sex
with him."

   "Yuck!"

   I grinned.  "I think you're beautiful.  And I think you're sexy.  Seeing
you skinny-dip and seeing you with Robbie was a major turn-on, but I think
of you as my sister, not a girl."

   "But if I wasn't your sister?"

   I smiled to myself.  I'd known that question was coming.

   "If you weren't my sister, there's no way you would have waited till
this summer to lose your cherry."

   I hoped she had the grace to blush.

   I ran for almost a half-an-hour, probably six or seven miles along the
trails next to the canyon.  I didn't stop until my lungs felt like an alien
was trying to claw it's way out of them.  I stopped, then, hands behind my
head to help my breathing get back to normal, I walked back toward camp.

   It was almost ten when I got back.  I'd been gone almost
three-and-a-half hours.  The girls all gave me quizzical looks, but they
didn't ask and I didn't tell.  The tents were down and sort of folded, so I
loaded them into the trailer while the girls gathered the rest of our
stuff.

   Without having said a word I slid into the driver's seat, started the
van and waited for the rest of the group.  Tami sat in the passenger seat
next to me, and I didn't bother to look where anybody else was.  I put the
van in gear and we hit the road again.

   It took about an hour to get down past the south end of the canyon and
onto I-40.  Tami sat and watched me without saying a word, which suited me
just fine.

   About one I pulled off the interstate toward Holbrook.  I found a KFC
right on Navajo Boulevard and pulled into the parking lot.  I hadn't
bothered asking anybody what they wanted.  I got a buffet, then found a
table and sat and ate.  The girls sat a few tables away respecting my mood.
We were back on the interstate half-an-hour later.

   It was almost five when we got to Sante Fe, and about five-thirty before
we found the Aspen Basin Campground.  It was small and rugged, but
beautiful.  There were only a few other campers since it was a Thursday,
and Tami didn't set us up with a concert.  I wondered if she planned it
that way or if she just decided that in my mood it wasn't worth it.

   "Are we good?" Traci asked after we'd walked silently for a ways.

   "You tell me.  Can you live with my inhibitions?  Can you handle your
big brother the prude?"

   Traci stopped, then pulled me into a long and unsisterly kiss.  "You
don't mind if I keep trying to tempt you?" she asked seductively when it
was over.

   "I wouldn't have it any other way," I said, giving her ass a quick slap.

   My life might not be simple, but it was interesting.



   Chapter 15

   You must be Cinnamon," I said after admiring the view as long as I
thought I could get away with.

   The redhead in the center lifted her head and looked at me.  "I must,
mustn't I," she said with a tilt of her head.

   After my talk with Traci I'd gone back to my tent and cuddled with Tami
all night.  This morning we'd hit on the road early, just a little after
eight, driving north into Colorado.

   We'd gotten to the mountain town a little after one and had lunch at a
Chinese buffet, The Golden Dragon, just off the highway.  Then Tami
consulted her laptop and drove to a residential section, parked in front of
a big house, and turned off the van.

   "What's going on?" I asked after a minute.

   "We're here," Tami announced with a grin.

   I was sitting in the front passenger seat.  I looked back at the other
girls.  From their expressions I think Robbie knew what was going on, but
the others were as clueless as me.  I looked at the house: 1020 Chaparral
Street.  Huge front lawn.  I guessed, both from the size of the house and
the well-kept look of the lawn and shrubs, that they had a gardener on the
payroll.

   I looked back at Tami.  "We can't afford to stay in any more state
parks, so we're camping on somebody's lawn?"

   Tami's grin got bigger.  So did Robbie's.  I was thinking about slapping
both of them.

   "Don't you feel like you're home?" Tami asked.

   "Home is about a thousand miles that-a-way," I said, pointing what I
hoped was northwest.

   "It's your cousin's house."

   I looked at Traci in the back seat.  We both shrugged.  Mom had one
sister, Patti, and she didn't have kids.  Dad was an only child.  I didn't
have cousins.  Not really.  There were some friends of Dad that Traci and I
called uncle so we called their kids cousins, but they mostly lived in
California.

   "Cinnamon," Tami said, looking exasperated.

   "Cinnamon?"

   Tami looked at me like I was stupid.  "The cute red-headed cousin in
Boston you wanted to add to your harem."

   Cinnamon!  She was like an eighth cousin seventeen times removed.  "And
didn't you kind of miss Boston.  It's over there." I pointed vaguely east.

   When had I mentioned Cinnamon anyway?

   Then I remembered.  It was the day three years ago that Tami and I had
first made love.  Grandma Vickie had just sent me a picture, and I
mentioned Cinnamon just to tweak Tami a little.  Let's see.  The rule is if
you share the same grandparent, you're cousins.  Great grandparent, second
cousins.  My Grandma Vickie was Cinnamon's grandmother's little sister. 
Millicent.  I think that was her name.  So that would make the redhead my
second cousin.  And there weren't any marriages in between, so there were
no removes.

   "You really should try to keep up," Tami told me, speaking slowly to
emphasize my limited mental abilities.  "Cinnamon moved over a year ago. 
Your mom told me."

   "A new girl for your harem, huh?" Robbie prodded.  "I don't know if we
can fit her in the van."

   "She's like..." I did a quick math.  "Like thirteen," I protested.

   "Hey!" Kelly yelled.  "What's wrong with thirteen?"

   "Nothing.  They should be seen and not heard."

   Kelly and Traci both pouted.

   "So what are we doing here?" I asked, turning back to Tami.  "And just
when did you talk to Mom about Cinnamon?  And why?"

   "She's on your list.  I figured you should meet her."

   I stared hard, and after a few seconds Tami fidgeted.  "This spring at a
baseball game.  Your mom and I were sitting together.  I was saying that
neither of us had very big families.  She said something about having a
whole side of the family that your family didn't keep track of, and I
mentioned that you'd told me about a cute cousin Cinnamon in Boston, and
she said that Cinnamon had moved to Colorado.  Then, when I was planning
this trip, I asked her for the address, and she got it from your
grandmother."

   I decided that letting my mother and my girlfriend get together
unsupervised was dangerous.  I thought about protesting that she wasn't on
my list, that my list was already overflowing, but I knew it wouldn't do
any good.  "What do you want me to do?  Walk up to a perfect stranger and
say, 'Hi, I'm your cousin Tony'?"

   "Why not?"

   I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again.  Why not?  Grandma
Vickie hadn't talked to her sister Millicent or most of the rest of her
family in over fifty years, not since Vickie married Grandpa Doug.  It
seems the family hadn't approved of a Marine Captain just back from Korea.
I knew Grams sometimes wrote to a few of Millicent's children.  She had
like a dozen.  That was probably how she got the girl's picture and
address. Maybe I could heal a family rift.

   "Why not?" I opened the door and marched up the walk before I could
change my mind.

   I rang the bell and waited.  The girls all got out of the van and
followed, making a semi-circle around me.

   The door opened, and a pretty Hispanic woman looked out.  I suddenly
hoped that Tami had gotten the right house, since I sure as hell didn't
know where cousin Cinnamon lived, and I was pretty sure this wasn't her.

   "Uh, hi.  I was looking for Cinnamon." I realized that I didn't even
know Cinnamon's parents' names, or even Cinnamon's last name.  If Grandma
Vickie had told me, I sure didn't remember.

   "Yes?" The woman was sizing me up.  At least she didn't say no Cinnamon
lived here.  I guessed she wondered what somebody my age, and surrounded by
girls, was doing looking for a thirteen-year-old.

   It didn't occur to me until that moment that since I was meeting
relatives I knew nothing about, I might have gotten the girls to dress a
little more conservatively.  Traci was dressed the most modestly.  She was
wearing a sports bra and a pair of bike shorts that had been painted on. 
The other girls were wearing bikini tops and very, very small shorts or
cut-offs.  At least they'd thrown on shirts when we had lunch.

   "I'm..." I turned and pointed at Traci.  "We're her cousins from
Washington.  We were passing through and thought we'd say hi."

   The woman's face brightened and she smiled.  I had a feeling that she
did that a lot.  "Oh, that's wonderful!  Dr.  Brees is at the hospital, but
Cinnamon's at the gazebo in the back yard with her friends." She pointed
toward the end of the house.  "You can go around that way.  The gate is
unlocked."

   "Thanks," I said, nodding, and turned toward the direction she'd
pointed. I guessed that Dr.  Breeze was Cinnamon's dad.  I wondered why the
maid -"I guessed she was the maid -"hadn't mentioned her mom.  Maybe mom
was out of town.  She must have thought I knew that.  I wasn't going to
tell her that I hadn't even known we were stopping.

   I walked around the house, the girls following a few steps behind.  The
fence was cedar, about a foot taller than me, which made it seven feet tall
since I'd finally gotten to six feet without having to cheat anymore.  I
opened the gate and ushered the girls through, then closed it behind us. 
We walked on around, the girls falling in behind me again.

   The back yard was great.  They definitely had a gardener.  The first
thing I noticed were the rock gardens with a fountain in each.  No, the
first thing I noticed was the huge redwood gazebo.  It must have been ten
yards wide.  Well, maybe twenty feet.  Actually I don't know what I noticed
first.  There was a large patio just behind the house with the biggest
barbeque I'd ever seen.  There were flowers everywhere, with large strips
around the patio and gazebo and baskets hanging from the eaves of the
gazebo.

   I really liked the rock wall that ran next to the gazebo, complete with
a waterfall into a pond.  There was something swimming in there, but I
couldn't tell from a distance whether it was goldfish, koi, or something
else.  If it was my house, it'd be trout.  Then I could just pull one out
and toss it on the barby.  After Traci gutted and cleaned it, of course.

   They even had a badminton net set up between one of the rock gardens and
the gazebo.  For a ritzy place like this, I would have expected something
more high-tone, like croquet.  The whole thing was surrounded by trees with
a mini-forest at the back.

   But the best scenery was right next to the gazebo.  Three girls lying
face down on loungers.

   I decided that my 'Thirteen-year-olds should be seen and not heard' was
a universal law because these girls were decorative.  At least, I guessed
that Cinnamon's friends were also newly-minted-teenagers.

   A blond, a brunette, and a redhead.  What more could you ask for in
life? A dog rolled lazily on it's back between the brunette and the
redhead. At least I think it was a dog.  It seemed to be all legs.  The dog
rolled onto it's belly and looked at me.  It quivered but didn't bark.

   The blond's hair was in a ponytail and draped across her neck.  She wore
what I would call a typical girl's bikini.  The other two wore string
bikinis more in line with what my girls were wearing.  They didn't leave a
lot to the imagination, and from my vantage point I could see a lot of butt
crack on both of them.  The redhead seemed to have a lot of hair, but it
was all piled on the back of her head.  I guessed it was as long as
Robbie's used to be, maybe longer.

   "You must be Cinnamon," I said after admiring the view as long as I
thought I could get away with.

   The redhead in the center lifted her head and looked at me.  "I must,
mustn't I," she said with a slight tilt of her head to her right.  Her eyes
narrowed, and she stared unblinking at me, though I had a feeling she was
taking in the group behind me as well.  The intense way she looked at me, I
felt I knew what it was like to be studied under a microscope.  At least
she hadn't dissected me first.  Maybe that comes later.

   "I'm Tony Sims."

   The brunette sat up.  "Hey!  Can we keep him?" Her top had been untied
in the back, and as it flapped, I got a hint of a very small tit.

   Cinnamon sat up, too, and looked at each of the girls with me.  "I think
we'd have to get in line." Her top was untied but didn't flop open, which
was a shame cause the girl had a major set of tits.  I glanced back at
Darlene, who had the biggest set in our group, and decided that I'd need
more examination to make a call who was biggest.

   "I'm your cousin," I explained looking back at her.  I had to remind
myself to look at her face.

   "My cousin?" Cinnamon sounded slightly skeptical as she reached casually
behind her back and tied her top.  The blond stood up and tied the
brunette's top.  I wasn't sure I liked blondie, even if she was major-cute.

   "Second cousin, actually.  Your grandmother Millicent was my grandmother
Vickie's -"Victoria's -"big sister."

   "Grandmother Millie." Cinnamon processed that.  And I mean, processed.
Her face reminded me of the computers in those old-time sci-fi flicks,
where the grid of lights blinks a few times then the answer pops out. 
"Aunt Victoria." It probably only took a second or two, but it seemed to go
on for a long time.  I wondered if there was a black hole in the
neighborhood, it's event horizon distorting time.

   "Cousin Tony!" she squealed, and all of a sudden I had an armful of
teenaged girl.  And a mouthful of one, too, as her tongue went exploring. I
wondered if Miss Manners ever explained the proper etiquette for dealing
with a wayward tongue?

   I hadn't realized how small the girl was until she leaped at me.  As I
held her, her feet were at least six inches off the ground and probably
more like ten.  I didn't stop to look.  The dog had jumped to its feet as
the redhead lunged at me.  It was a greyhound, a full-sized one, not a
whippet or an Italian.

   "She's related all right," I heard Robbie say from behind me.

   The kiss lasted several seconds, then ended as abruptly as it began.

   Cinnamon looked at me, and I could have sworn she was still processing.
Then I noticed that her eyes flicked to each of us and back again.  The
greyhound came forward, and I slowly extended my hand, palm out, so he
could sniff.  I must have passed the test, 'cause he licked it, then went
to check out the girls.

   "Then this would be your Cousin Hailey," she said, pointing at the
brunette without taking her eyes off mine.

   "Cousin Hailey?" Now it was my turn to be confused.  Well, more
confused. Gran hadn't mentioned her.

   "Yeah, her dad is my Uncle Gerry.  Cousin Gerry to you."

   "Cousin Tony!" the brunette squealed, and suddenly I had an armful of
teenager again.  I definitely wanted some advice from Miss Manners, 'cause
now I had a tongue and a wandering hand to contend with.  Though Big Tony
didn't see the problem as she gave him a few rhythmic squeezes.

   When Hailey let go and stepped back I waved generally toward my back
row. "That's Traci," I said, pointing at Mikee in a bit of a daze.  "She's
my sister, so she's your cousin too, if you want to claim her.  I usually
don't."

   From the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie grin and step behind Mikee.  She
held her hand over Mikee's head, pointing down, and shook her own head
several times.  Then she stepped behind Traci, pointed down, and nodded
vigorously.

   Cinnamon slapped my arm with a backhand that I didn't see coming.  It
felt like the fastball I'd taken in the shoulder during playoffs.  The damn
pitcher from Olympia hit me in the same spot twice during the game.

   "Hold it, buster!  Have you ever stopped to consider just how lucky you
are to have a sister?" Her eyes jumped from mine to each girl's behind me
and back up to mine.  "Lots of people don't have siblings and would give up
an arm to have one." Her eyes did that thing again.  "Okay, maybe she's
sometimes an annoyance, but have you thought about how empty your life
would be if it were just you?" She thrust out an arm and extended two
fingers to point at Mikee and Kelly.  "Those two are sisters.  Ask them how
they would feel if they didn't have each other."

   How the hell did she know that Mikee and Kelly were sisters?  They
didn't look alike.

   Hailey frowned and nodded.  " Yeah, pickledick."

   Pickledick?

   Hailey leaped forward and grabbed Traci in a hug that lifted my sister
completely off the ground, though Traci was a little bigger.  She kissed
Trace on the cheek, then gave her a quick one on the mouth before setting
my startled sister back down on the ground.  Before Trace could recover,
Cinnamon was also hugging her, though her head blocked me from seeing if
Traci got another kiss, too.

   Cinnamon turned back to me and pointed index fingers at the blonde and
Hailey.  "The three of us didn't have brothers or sisters, so we had to
adopt each other just so we could know what it's like." She looked over her
shoulder at the blonde and held open an arm.  "Could you come here, please,
Sis?"

   Cinnamon curled an arm around the smiling blonde, did the eye thing
again, and glared at me.  "I was lucky.  I was able to adopt the best
sister I could ever find.  Maybe you recognize her face from the television
news a couple of years back?  This, as far as you are concerned, is also
your cousin, Wynter King."

   "I, uh..." I stammered.  How the hell could a little slip of a
thirteen-year-old put me on the defensive like that?  And what television
news?

   "The mine thing," Robbie said behind me.

   'What mine thing?' I thought as the blond, Wynter, smiled wider and
nodded.

   "You and some boy were trapped.  I remember your name, 'cause I thought
what a great name it was.  I got stuck with Roberta."

   "I think Roberta's a nice name," the brunette said.  "I so like it
better than Whitney Gwyneth."

   Who was Whitney Gwyneth?  I couldn't make sense of that.  I was still
getting used to the blonde being Wynter King.  Winter King was a novel. 
Something about Arthur, though I couldn't remember who wrote it.

   A sudden flash of insight warned me that I should save my new cousin's
life.  "Anybody who values their health calls her Robbie," I offered.

   "You're afraid of a girl?" Hailey asked with just a trace of a sneer.

   "This one I am," I said.  "She's the meanest football player in the
state.  Washington state, that is.  They call her Monster Girl.  Also that
one." I pointed at Tami.  "And that one." I pointed at Traci.  "That one
bites," I said, indicating Kelly.  I considered adding Cousin Cinnamon to
my list.

   Wynter's eyes went wide.  "You play football?" I'd seen other girls
stare openmouthed at Robbie before, but on her it looked good.

   "She's the reason we were second in state last year.  We're not sure the
NCAA will let her play when she gets to college.  She might hurt too many
of the boys."

   Cinnamon smiled.  I think she liked the idea.

   "Wynter's a Future MD," Hailey added.

   "She's known she was going to be a doctor since forever," Cinnamon
explained.  The dog finished inspecting the troops and lay down next to
Cinnamon's feet.

   "Hi, Cousin Tony," Wynter said.  I didn't get a kiss, but the hug was
nice.  "Hi, Cousin Traci." Mental note: find time to wonder why Traci got a
bigger hug than I did.

   "She's, like, going to discover cures for cancer, AIDS, and
phillitosis," Hailey put in.

   "Phillitosis?" Tami asked.

   "It's, like, a disease they haven't even invented yet, and Wynter's
gonna cure it.  She'll discover it in some guy named Phil and name it for
him."

   Wynter rolled her eyes to Tami.  "Aren't you sorry you encouraged her?"

   Tami grinned and returned a small shoulder shrug.

   I shrugged and pointed to Robbie.  "Robbie's the future first female
commander of the Eighty-Second Airborne."

   Robbie grinned and waved at the new girls, then looked at me. 
"Eighty-Second Airborne?  I was thinking more of the First Cavalry
Division."

   I held my hands out in front of me in a balance.  "Fort Bragg, Fort
Hood."

   Robbie looked confused.  I kept balancing my hands.  "Falling through
the air over North Carolina, or riding around in a tin can during the
summer in Texas."

   Robbie made a fist and shook it at me.  "Airborne!"

   "Is this pickledick, like, your boyfriend?" Hailey asked.

   Robbie grinned.  "Only on alternate Mondays.  Darlene has him every
other Tuesday.  Mikee gets him on alternate Wednesdays and Kelly on
alternate Thursdays." Robbie looked straight at me.  "Traci has dibs on
Sundays." Robbie indicated each girl with a hand on the shoulder as she
said her name.  Then she looked straight at me.

   I decided that the Eighty-Second had just lost a brilliant commander,
'cause Robbie wasn't going to live long enough to finish high school, let
alone start Officer's Candidate School.

   "Who get's him on Fridays?" Wynter asked, looking suddenly serious, then
puzzled.  She suddenly blushed, seeming to be embarrassed by her own
question.

   "Tami gets him on Fridays and all the rest of the time," Robbie
explained.  "She lets him have his harem so she can get some well-deserved
rest."

   I felt like a piece of meat.  The way Hailey stared at me like a hungry
wolf didn't help the feeling.

   Wynter grinned, shook her head, and sat back down on her lounger.  "Sis,
why don't you invite Cousin Traci and the others to sit down in the gazebo?
Either that or offer them some SPF-45 lotion.  You can decide what to do
about Cousin Bozo." She picked up a tablet and pencil, grinned suddenly,
and left the rest of the family to its own business.

   Bozo?

   "Forty-five?  You have something against the sun?" Mikee exclaimed.

   Wynter looked up from her tablet and indicated the surrounding area with
a sweep of her pencil eraser.  "In the lower elevations, SPF-15 is
adequate. Here in the mountains, thirty is the recommended minimum.  You
have nice skin.  I thought you'd want to protect it with more than the
minimum, especially since ultraviolet wavelengths can cause carcinoma of
the skin, especially cutaneous melanoma, which can metastasize rapidly
throughout the body using the lymph system as its conduit.  Although the
melanoma is unlikely to appear until you are well into your adult years,
thickening and wrinkling of the dermal layer could have you looking thirty
by the time you are twenty.  Dermal abrasions or chemical peels to remove
the wrinkles in an attempt to regain the lost youthful appearance is both
expensive and painful.  And anyone who has something as deadly as Botox
injected into herself needs serious psychiatric counseling." Wynter smiled,
then looked back at her pad.  I had no trouble picturing Wynter standing in
a classroom lecturing a group of future dermatologists.

   Hailey grinned at the stunned look on Mikee's face.  "Did I mention that
she sometimes, like, makes rounds with Doctor Taylor at the hospital?"

   I wondered who led.

   Cinnamon winked at me, and then her smile erupted.  "Come on.  You can
join us, too.  I wouldn't want your harem to get lonely, and you need adult
supervision, anyway."

   Hailey placed one hand on a cocked hip, hooking her thumb under the
string that held her postage stamp in place, and gave me the hungry wolf
scan again.  "Hey, you can leave him out here, and I'll so supervise him."

   "Later," Cinnamon said, taking my hand and pulling me aside so that the
others could enter first.  The dog followed us up, his toenails clicking on
the wooden floor.  He sat between Traci and Kelly, who took turns
scratching behind his ears.

   "I forgot to introduce Ghost," Cinnamon said suddenly.  "Ladies and
gentle-sir, this is Colonel John Singleton Mosby."

   "The Gray Ghost," Robbie said, making the connection a half-second ahead
of me.

   Cinnamon nodded, pleased.  "I'd expect someone from eastern Tennessee to
recognize the name."

   Now how the hell did she know that?  I saw Cinnamon smiling and looking
at me in her curious way, but I sure as hell wasn't going to give her the
satisfaction of asking.

   We spent a few minutes on begots.  For Traci and me, it was easy. 
Vickie married Doug and begot Mom and Patti.  Mom begot me, then the
squirt.

   For Cinnamon and Hailey, it took longer.  It seems Grandma Millicent
-"Millie -"was a busy little bee.  There was Grenville in forty-seven all
the way through FitzGerald, Hailey's dad, in sixty-nine.  Eleven kids. 
Cinnamon's mom, Gwendolyn -"I think she started to call her The Bitch, so
they must have had a fight -"married her dad, Mitchell the doctor, and that
begot Cinnamon.

   "Daddy will want to meet you," Cinnamon announced.  "He says families
lose track of each other too easily." She giggled and looked at Hailey. 
"Especially mine."

   I had a feeling that there were things left unsaid but ignored it. 
Probably something like Grandma Vickie's being disowned.  "I don't know how
long we'll be here."

   "You don't know?"

   I hooked my thumb at Tami, "She hasn't told me yet."

   Cinnamon grinned at Tami.  "I like you.  We're going to be good friends.
If you want to stay until the thirteenth, you can come to my fourteenth
birthday party.  We can fix all of you up with some pretty good studs.  No
doubt you'd find them a welcome change."

   I found my mind wandering to happier times, when I had no cousins.  Or
at least thought I had no cousins.  I wondered how Cinnamon would know
about studs my age, but never doubted that she did.

   "We're staying over tonight.  We have reservations at a campground north
of town, the Lakeside.  Then tomorrow we push on toward Cheyenne.  Sorry
we'll miss your birthday."

   News to me.

   "No way!  A campground?" Hailey seemed surprised.  "Not a motel?"

   "We've been camping our way around the country," Robbie explained.

   "We've got a couple of tents.  A big one for us and a small one for
him," Traci added.

   "Just him?" Hailey asked with a leer that would have done a construction
worker proud.

   You know those nature documentaries where the antelope is just romping
around, having a good ole time, enjoying the sunshine, then realizes a lion
is watching?  Now I could empathize with the antelope.  "I think on the
thirteenth, Tami has us scheduled to drive to Hawaii," I said to change the
subject.

   "You so can't drive to Hawaii," Hailey blurted.

   I shrugged.  "Don't tell me, tell her.  I just drive where she tells
me."

   "You'd better," Cinnamon snapped.

   My retort, if I had, had one, was interrupted by the maid bringing out a
tray.  "I thought you and your friends might like something cold to drink,"
she said, setting the tray next to Cinnamon.

   "Thanks, Mom," Cinnamon said with a warm smile.

   Mom?  I knew she wasn't Cinnamon's mother, 'cause from what Gran Vickie
had said over the years, Great Aunt Millicent was as whitebread as it was
possible to be, and this woman definitely didn't qualify as Cousin
Gwendolyn.  From what I'd heard about Great Aunt Millicent, this woman was
only coming in the house through the kitchen door, and then wearing a
uniform.  Besides, if Cinnamon sprang from this woman's loins, then Gregor
Mendel made up genetics as a joke on the world.

   "If any of you need anything, please feel free to ask Rosita, and we'll
accommodate you." She looked at the maid and pointed as she spoke.  "This
is Cousin Tony and Cousin Traci.  This is Future Cousin Tami, and the rest
help her provide adult supervision for Tony."

   I was getting a little tired of her adult supervision cracks.  She was
thirteen, not thirty.  Hell, I'd been doing a pretty good job of taking
care of myself, not to mention everybody else.  I opened my mouth to tell
her so, then closed it again.

   There was a guy named Pavlov who did lots of interesting things to rats
and dogs just to see how they'd react.  I had a sudden feeling that
Cinnamon might be related to him, too, and I was having my chain pulled for
experimental reasons.  I smiled.

   Cinnamon cocked her head in that curious way she had, then smiled back.
"Good!  Most guys don't realize it that quickly," she said.  "If at all."

   Why do I keep running into girls who can read my mind?  Maybe if I
watched more old Star Trek reruns, I could learn some of those Vulcan mind
shielding tricks.

   Cinnamon smiled again, and I had a feeling that she knew what I was
thinking now, too.

   Cinnamon whispered something to Rosita, who grinned and nodded.  Rosita
smiled at the group, then noticed Wynter sitting apart, still doing
something in her tablet.  She shook her head gently, picked up a glass, and
took it to her.  She spoke with Wynter for a moment, looked at whatever the
blonde was doing with the tablet, laughed, and grinned at me before
disappearing back into the house.

   Now what?

   Cinnamon passed out glasses of iced lemonade while Hailey passed a plate
of cookies.  I'd just had lunch, and I always eat too much at buffets, but
the cookies, chocolate chip, looked too good.  I took two.

   While we relaxed with our drinks we told Cinnamon and Hailey about
Washington, football, baseball, cheerleading, and our road trip.  Cinnamon
seemed intrigued by the fact that none of us, especially me, knew what was
going to happen.

   Then Cinnamon filled us in about the town, school, and some musical
group she and Wynter were in.  I missed part of the last when I realized
that Hailey was staring in the direction of Big Tony and had one finger
inside the bottom of her bikini.  One slowly moving finger.  She was just a
kid.  Kid's don't...

   When Cinnamon said it was her turn, Hailey looked around, slid her
finger out of the cloth, and told us about Hawaii and her parents' one-year
volunteer Antarctic job assignments.  Then she invited us to visit when she
went home at the end of the summer.

   Rosita came back out a little later and whispered something to Cinnamon.
Then she walked over to Wynter and looked down at her tablet, laughed, and
gave me another grin before pointing at me, saying something else to
Wynter, and going back into the house.

   "I have bad news," Cinnamon announced, drawing my attention away from
Wynter.  "Rosita called the Lakeside campground, and they're full.  They
don't have room for you."

   "But I have a reservation," Tami stammered.  "I paid a deposit."

   Cinnamon shrugged.  "They said they'd refund your deposit."

   "But..."

   I reached over, took Tami's hand, and gave her a squeeze.  "Tami, my
love, I think you'll find there's not a campground in the county that has
room for us," I said, looking Cinnamon in the eyes.

   "Four counties actually," Cinnamon said with a hint of a smile.  "I
don't have state-wide connections yet.

   "Well, I guess we'll just have to push on to Cheyenne," Robbie
suggested, getting into the spirit of things.

   "I'm guessing that the highway patrol will have an APB out on us before
we can get to the van," I said dryly.

   Cinnamon smiled.  "I do have connections with the police, but I wouldn't
do that."

   I stared.

   "Not to Tami," she amended after a minute.

   I turned and looked at Tami.  "I think you've been out-masterminded. 
This is Cinnamon's way of inviting us to stay the night."

   "What about your dad?  What will he say?" Tami asked, turning to my
conniving cousin.

   "Daddy will be okay with it.  In fact, he'll insist."

   I had a feeling that Daddy had a vote in family policy, but it was
purely ceremonial.  I decided that if I ever wanted to overthrow the
government, Cinnamon was going to be on my team, though I'd have to be
careful that it didn't become her team.

   "You can camp back here, or if you're tired of sleeping bags, we have
lots of beds," Cinnamon offered.

   Robbie caught my eye.  "I wonder if we're going to still be here on the
thirteenth," she whispered.  I shrugged, having accepted that women ran the
world and my life.

   "Hey, girls, I'm..." a voice interrupted.  "Holy shit!"

   Two boys were approaching from the side of the house where we'd come in.
They looked about thirteen and apparently were friends of Cinnamon and
company.  The taller one had red hair and freckles and, from a distance,
reminded me of Richie Cunningham on the old Happy Days show.  The other was
three or four inches shorter, with short brown hair.  From their
expressions, I knew it was the shorter one who yelled.

   I glanced around.  On the grass, Wynter looked satisfied.  In the
gazebo, Hailey looked hungry and Cinnamon looked...  er, Cinnamon looked...
I decided that Cinnamon could teach the Chinese a thing or two about
inscrutable.

   My group was checking out the new arrivals with interest, though Kelly
and Traci had looks that bordered on Hailey's hunger.  I hoped for the sake
of peace they were looking at different boys.  I decided that I hoped Traci
was checking out the redhead.  I didn't trust short stuff for some reason.
I wondered if she shared my taste for redheads, though to be honest, I
thought redheaded girls were sleek and sexy and redheaded boys were kind of
geeky.  There's a reason they made Howdy Doody a redhead.

   Cinnamon motioned and the boys started over, stopping first to exchange
words with Wynter.  The tall one leaned down to give her a kiss.  The short
one tried to look at what Wynter was doing in her tablet, but she covered
it with her arm, and the taller one gave him a quick elbow in the side.

   The boys came over and up the steps into the gazebo, stopping on the top
step.

   Cinnamon opened her mouth, but Hailey squealed, "I've got new cousins!"
The boys looked around.  The redhead took us all in, and I could see he
wondered if we were all cousins.  I doubt that short stuff could attest
from personal observation that any of the girls had heads.  He hadn't
looked that high.

   "Jimmy, Kenny, these are my cousins from Washington, Tony Sims and his
sister Traci." Cinnamon said.  There was just a hint of exasperation in her
voice, and I was sure she'd noticed short stuff's focus.

   I stood and offered my hand.  The redhead shook it, but the other one
just kept checking out cleavage through his crooked glasses.  Traci,
sitting on the other side of the gazebo, stood and waved.  I could feel
short stuff's focus change and had a feeling that he'd just calculated
Traci's vaginal opening to the millimeter.

   "Nice to meet you," the redhead said with an honest sincerity that
politicians wish they could fake.

   "These are our friends," I said, pointing to each in turn.  "Tami,
Robbie, Mikee, Darlene and Kelly." The redhead nodded politely to each. 
Short stuff just kept using his x-ray vision to undress them.

   "Everybody, this is Jimmy McCauley, our future scientist, and Kenny
Taylor." Cinnamon's voice showed irritation when she said short stuff's
name.

   "Our future GYN," Hailey added.

   "I wonder why," Robbie said from behind me

   The kid, Kenny, at least had the courtesy to turn slightly red.

   I saw Cinnamon's focus narrow and looked back to see that Kelly had
whitened.  I walked over and hugged her, whispering, "It's not the name
that matters, it's the person behind it."

   She nodded.

   I kissed her forehead, then went back to my spot.  I sat back down, and
Hailey pulled Jimmy down between her and Cinnamon.  That kept me from
seeing how Kenny wound up sitting between Traci and Kelly.

   Tami started telling Jimmy and my cousins about our concert tour. 
Jimmy's eyes would watch her as she talked, but then find their way to
Wynter out on the lawn.

   Robbie tapped me on the shoulder.  "You asked me once what you looked
like when you looked at Tami," she whispered into my ear.  "Just like
that."

   "Don't be ridiculous," I whispered back.  "He's just a kid."

   From the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie give me her look.  It was a
special look that, I think, was reserved just for me.  Her
you-just-said-something-incredibly-stupid-but-I'm-too-polite-to-rub-your-fa
ce-in-it look.  I realized that Jimmy and Wynter were the same age as Tami
and I were when we fell in love.  I nodded, and Robbie looked satisfied.

   Cinnamon looked satisfied too.  I knew she couldn't have heard us, but
somehow she knew exactly what was going on.  I nodded to her, too, and she
smiled.

   Just then Wynter joined us.  She whispered something to my cousins and
Jimmy, then showed them her tablet.  All of them started laughing
uproariously, Cinnamon nodding at me at the same time and saying, "You have
to."

   Wynter walked in front of me, and with a hint of red in her cheeks said,
"I, um, try to draw sometimes, and I kind of..."

   "What Wynter is trying to say is that she is an artist, and you have
inspired her, and she'd like to give you something," Cinnamon interpreted.

   Wynter hesitated, then held out her tablet.  I took it and looked down.
She'd done a pencil drawing.  I was in the center, sitting on a large
cushion, dressed as a sultan, complete with crown.  All my girls, dressed
in harem costumes, sat around me on pillows, looking sated, except Robbie
who looked plaintive.  There was a speech bubble over Robbie saying, "Is it
my turn yet?" Tami was leaning on my leg with a snake charmer's flute, and
it was obvious what snake she was trying to charm.  Off to the side was
Hailey, also in a harem costume, saying, "What about me?"

   I started laughing and passed it to Tami.  She started laughing and
passed it to Robbie.  Robbie shot Wynter a dirty look, then grinned,
started laughing, and passed it to Mikee.  As the drawing passed around,
each fresh reaction made the rest of us start laughing again.

   Ever had a laugh attack where you just couldn't stop laughing?  We
weren't exactly rolling in the aisles, but I was laughing so hard that my
side hurt, and I was having trouble getting my breath.  I almost had it
under control, but Kenny pointed to Hailey and said, "What about me?" in a
high falsetto, and I started all over again.  I took a deep breath and held
it, but Robbie looked me in the eye, cocked her head, and said, "Is it my
turn yet?"

   I gave up and laughed.  I suppose there are worse ways to die.

   It was almost five minutes later before I had myself under control. 
Robbie looked at me and opened her mouth.

   "One word and I'll spank," I threatened.  Robbie nodded.

   "Ooh!" cooed Hailey.  She ran the tip of her tongue around her lips. 
"Kinky stuff!"

   I would have threatened to spank Hailey too, but I had a feeling that
she would have jumped on my lap and wiggled her cute little ass in
anticipation.

   Robbie grinned, then went to Wynter, who was now sitting in Jimmy's lap,
and put her arm around her shoulder, whispering something into her ear. 
Wynter giggled, nodded, and took back her sketch pad.  She carefully ripped
out the drawing and handed it to me, then whispered to Jimmy and returned
to her lounger on the lawn.

   I looked down at the drawing again, this time, admiring it for it's
style rather than it's humor.  She had captured each of us, without a
doubt.

   As we settled back down, I was amazed at how easy it was to talk to
cousin Cinnamon and the new kid, Jimmy.  Hailey and Kenny were nice too.  I
had a feeling from her lecture that Wynter could hold up her end, too,
except she was back in her own little world.

   "So if you're not too tired of explaining it, tell me about this mine
thing," I said after the conversation died down.

   Jimmy opened his mouth to say something but Robbie interrupted.  "It was
you."

   Jimmy grinned and nodded.

   "He was the one Wynter was trapped with," Robbie explained to me.

   "I can tell it," Kenny said.  "I was there too." And he launched into a
long drawn-out story about their adventures at the Hargus Mine.  I mostly
watched Jimmy's face as Kenny told it, and had a strong feeling that this
was one of those stories that got bigger every time it got told, like the
eight-inch fish that became a great white shark, and that Kenny would tell
it to anybody who would listen, especially if 'any' included girls.

   I noticed that Kenny spent most of his time looking at Traci while he
talked.  About halfway through, Kelly came over and sat on my lap.  I gave
her a hug and a kiss on the nose, and I knew without looking that Cinnamon
was absorbing it all.

   I discounted about fifty per cent of what the kid said and was still
impressed.

   "The best part was hearing Suzie tell off the smelly old judge.  Hey, I
wish you could have heard it," Kenny said.  "The judge kind of slunk away
after that 'cause of the newspaper and radio guys."

   I saw Robbie cock her head at that, but didn't know why.

   "No, the best part was when they brought Wynter and Jimmy out okay,"
Cinnamon corrected.  "And I wasn't even there."

   Kenny nodded.  "Well, yeah.  Duh."

   "My brother's a hero too," Traci said.  "He saved a family and was in
People Magazine."

   "Your turn," Cousin Cinnamon said with a smile.

   "You want the People version or the truth?" I asked.

   Cinnamon cocked her head in that curious pose she had.  "The People
version," she said as Wynter rejoined us, settling on Jimmy's lap.

   "I rushed into a burning building, picked up an entire family, and
carried them to safety just before the house was totally engulfed in
flames. I even had a picture."

   Cinnamon smiled and cocked her head the other way.  "And the truth?"

   "Robbie spotted a burning house and dragged me inside kicking and
screaming.  Robbie grabbed the Mom and the baby.  I was just trying to get
out, but these two kids jumped on me, and somebody snapped a picture while
I was running, screaming like a baby, from the house."

   Robbie back-handed me in the shoulder.  "The truth is somewhere in
between," she explained.

   Ghost, who had followed Kelly and was lying on my feet, suddenly perked
up, looking at the mini-forest in the back of the property.  Then I
understood why they raced greyhounds.  One second he was there, the next,
he was halfway to the trees.  I remembered the first Star Trek movie.  One
second the Enterprise was there, the next there was a rainbow where it had
been.

   After I watched the dog disappear in the trees, I looked back at Wynter.
"And you, young lady, do you have something for us."

   Wynter smiled.  I wondered if her teeth were natural or if some
orthodontist now had a fully-funded retirement plan.  "It was Robbie's
idea." She opened her tablet and showed Jimmy, Hailey, and Cinnamon.

   Jimmy looked at the drawing, then at Kenny, nodding.  Hailey giggled. 
Cinnamon took the pad and passed it to me.  I looked at it with Robbie and
Tami leaning in from the sides and Kelly's head almost in front of mine. 
The picture was of Kenny sitting behind a lemonade stand, though Kenny
looked a lot like Lucy Van Pelt in the Peanuts strip.  He was wearing a
white hospital lab coat, and there was a box on the counter with a rubber
glove sticking out the opening.  The sign on the stand said, PELVIC EXAMS
5¢

   Traci was standing in the front of the line, followed by Kelly, Hailey,
Cinnamon, Mikee, Darlene, Robbie and Tami.  Wynter was last.  Even Ghost
was there, sitting by Cinnamon, a food dish in his mouth and looking a lot
like Snoopy.  How she made a greyhound look like a beagle was beyond me. 
The girls were all Peanuts-styled characters dressed in little girl
clothes. The caption said, "Okay, then I'll pay you."

   I grinned and passed it to Darlene.  I decided that when I overthrew the
government, I wanted Wynter on my team, too.  Satire could be a hell of a
weapon.

   Tami reached around Kelly and picked up my wrist, then dropped it. 
"You're not wearing your watch," she accused.  I shrugged.  "Do you know
what time it is?" she asked Cinnamon.

   "Oh," Wynter said, retrieving her arm from behind Jimmy's back and
glancing at her watch.  "It's almost three."

   The intercom came on.  "Honey, will your cousins and their friends be
staying for dinner?"

   Cinnamon reached above her and flipped the switch on a box.  "I'll
check." She looked at Tami.  Obviously she knew better than to ask me.

   "We have to be at Otter Park by six."

   Cinnamon looked startled.  I know I was.  What the hell was an Otter
Park, and why did we need to be there?

   "And I have an errand to run before five," Robbie added.  I stared.  So
did Tami.  What kind of errand would Robbie have in a town she didn't even
know she was going to be in?

   "We were going to eat early tonight.  About five." Cinnamon explained.

   "I don't think so.  The last thing your..." I hesitated.  I still wasn't
sure what Rosita was to Cinnamon.  "...  your mom needs is another seven
for dinner."

   "She wouldn't have offered if she wasn't prepared," Cinnamon said.

   "We don't want to impose.  We'll grab a burg..."

   "We'd be happy to," Tami said in a tone that indicated it was unanimous
decision.

   "Good.  That's settled," Cinnamon said, then keyed the intercom to tell
Rosita.  She fixed me in her stare.  "I guess I can call Joe Lopez and
cancel the APB."

   Lopez had to be the local fuzz.

   Wynter kissed Jimmy and stood.  "I need to get home now.  Cinnamon, I'll
see you..." I caught a small head shake from my cousin to Wynter.  "... 
later." I had a feeling that Wynter had been going to use another word.

   Jimmy stood.  "Yeah, it's time."

   Wynter smiled.  She retrieved her tablet, took out the drawing of Kenny,
and handed it to me.  Then she gave me another hug before she and Jimmy
said goodbye to everyone and walked toward the house.  Wynter's hand moved
to the small of Jimmy's back as they walked.  The move was so natural it
was like sunrise.  The universe shifted both the sun and her hand to where
they belonged.

   "I'm going over to Kenny's house," Traci announced.

   "You are?" I was surprised.  At least she hadn't asked me for a rubber.

   "He has some of Wynter's cartoons he wants to show me."

   I looked hard at Kenny.  "Just remember, Cinnamon has reminded me just
how much I love and cherish my sister."

   Kenny nodded.

   "Kelly wants to go too," I added.

   Kelly looked at me, surprised.

   "Make sure they have zero fun," I whispered.

   She nodded before getting off my lap.  She reached down, cupped my face
in her hands, and kissed me.  Hard!  With a lot of tongue.  I was pretty
sure there was a message there, but I wasn't exactly sure what.  Or for
who.

   Kenny slipped his arm around my sister

   "Kenny!"

   He looked at me.

   "I've heard a lot about you," I said warningly.  I hadn't, but the look
on Hailey's face when I said it confirmed what I'd been thinking.  Kenny
reminded me a lot of my friend Luke.  But I had a sudden image of Traci
impaled on my cock and didn't say anything more.

   Kelly stepped to Kenny's other side.  His arm went around her waist, and
the three of them walked toward the side of the house.  I had the distinct
impression that my warning hadn't concerned him.

   Robbie stood.  "Now would be a good time to run my errand if I'm going
to be back in time for dinner." Robbie reached down, grabbed my arm just
below the armpit, and pulled me to my feet.  "Tony, you can drive me."

   "That's a good idea," Tami said before I could ask Robbie what had
happened to her license.  A quick look at Tami and Cinnamon convinced me
that the matter was settled.  I was pretty sure I'd been in charge of my
own life once.  It had been a good ten minutes, sandwiched in between when
Mom let go and Tami took over.  I wondered if I'd ever know that feeling
again.

   "What the hell was that about?" I asked Robbie as I let her through the
side gate.

   Robbie grinned.  "The future Mrs.  Sims and the future
leader-of-the-free-world wanted some girl-talk time.  You had too much
testosterone to qualify."

   I nodded and shut the gate.
   I had a feeling that what Cinnamon wants, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.