Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Work in the morning.  Cindy off to school.  During pauses in my day, I
imagined what HER day was like.

   I didn't have that many pauses.  The project was getting to the part
where we were actually closing switches and introducing electricity into my
equipment for the first time.  I labored over reports and procedures and
meetings.  The reports?  I'd stayed on top of them, so that was no problem.
The procedures?  This wasn't the first time I ever did a project like this,
so I dipped into my archives well ahead of time and had them prepped.  But
I couldn't avoid meetings.  Interminable meetings where people who knew
little asked questions and received answers they understood even less.  But
that's the way it is.

   I was out the gate a half hour late and calling on the phone as soon as
my tires hit the highway.  I drove into the park to find, as expected,
Cindy at the front office yakking with Helen, and the now-familiar form of
Charlie Peebles on a chair in the corner.

   "Hello, ladies.  Hello, Charlie." I shook his hand.

   "I just told Helen she needs to get me a better chair," he laughed. 
"Cindy says ya'll are eating with the Hardesty's this evening?"

   "Yessir," I said.  "You know, I think that he was the one person who had
the most difficult time accepting us being married."

   Helen said, "Well, him working at school and seeing a whole building
full of girls her age, I can understand some of that."

   "Yeah," repeated Charlie.  "He's thinking of jailbait."

   "I know about jailbait," I said.  "You know how many dreams I had that
ended in "we the jury find the defendant guilty"?"

   Charlie chuckled.  "Dan, that's one of the reasons I took an interest
when Helen explained.  I guess if she thought you were honorable, her
words, then I needed to make you legal."

   "I was 'jailbait'?" chirped Cindy.

   "Oh, no, dear," said Charlie.  "You were as honorable as Dan was.  With
jailbait, somebody's without honor.  In it for the kicks.  Or for no reason
at all."

   I smiled.  "Babe," I said to Cindy.  "If I thought you were jailbait,
then you wouldn't have gotten within fifteen yards of my door.  And I still
had bad dreams."

   She smiled at us all.  "HAD!  As in past tense."

   Helen laughed this time.  "You don't know how much I worried for the
last few years about this girl.  Now I can sleep at night, too." She smiled
at Charlie.  "Of course it's easier to sleep when you have someplace to
stick your cold feet."

   She started closing down her office as Cindy and I left.

   We had just enough time to deposit my computer case and Cindy's bookbag
in the trailer, kiss passionately and head back out the door.  Before I
left, though, I got on line and placed a pizza order, then we headed out.

   I liked being married to her.  I liked having her sitting beside me in
the truck.  I liked her red head resting on my shoulder as we drove.  I
liked her choosing music to listen to, and I liked when she turned it down
to let us talk, and I even liked when she said, "hold that thought.  I LOVE
this part!" and turned it back up.

   The music was turned down.  "You thought I was jailbait, Dan?"

   "Cindy, remember the first time I saw you?  Where were we?"

   "At the pool.  You were wearing your dark green trunks.  Swimming laps.
And I was wearing the only suit I owned."

   "Yeah.  And I thought, "Cute.  But too impossibly young.  Don't even
think about it." And I didn't."

   "There were other people there that day.  It was Sunday.  You moved in
the day before." I was amused at how much she remembered.  "I didn't talk
to you that day."

   "No," I said.  "That was the next day.  Monday.  Late.  And we were the
only people there.  And I was nervous about you."

   "What made you stop being nervous?"

   "Baby, I stayed nervous about you until the day we said "I do".  But
when we just sat there and talked, and the conversation was about
everything under the sun, and I found out that you could actually carry on
a real conversation, I relaxed.  That's when I knew you weren't jailbait.
You were my friend.  Too darned young, too darned cute.  But a real
friend."

   "Yeah.  After about the second week I started talking to Mizz Helen
about you, you know."

   "I didn't know then."

   "You treated me like I was a real person, not a dumb kid."

   "About the first time we talked I figured you weren't a dumb kid."

   She smiled, holding onto my arm as we pulled into the Hardesty's
driveway.

   "Let's go see the Hardesty's," she said.

   And Jim met us at the door with Ann right beside him.  I shook his hand,
pulled him to me and clapped him on the back and got a man-hug in return.
"Jim," I said.  "I'm so glad I can still call you my friend."

   "Me, too, Dan.  Me too."

   Cindy and Ann were hugging too and Ann was making congratulatory sounds.
Then we changed places.  More hugs, then we went inside and sat in the
living room.

   Ann was first.  "Ya'll make a cute couple.  And we're happy for you. 
But you should've seen the colors Jim turned when he first found out."

   "Heyyyy," Jim said.  "Water under the bridge."

   "Yeah," I said.  "And the river flows." Cindy slid a little closer to
me. "I got to marry my best buddy."

   Cindy smiled at me.

   Jim said, "I had to wrap my mind around that one.  But you know, I'm
guidance counselor at a MIDDLE school.  And this year we've had sixteen
pregnant girls.  In a MIDDLE school.  And those are just the ones I know
about because they're still students.  I probably don't find out about some
who transfer or just stay home or whatever."

   He looked at his wife.  "Ann pointed that out, Dan.  Said that I needed
to see that Cindy wasn't one of THOSE poor kids.  Thirteen or fourteen and
pregnant.  And how many kids are having sex and in and out of unhealthy
relationships and situations, and here you and Cindy are, and you're trying
to do the honorable thing, and I think that's about the time that I got hit
on the side of the head.  Attitude adjustment.  You know."

   "I know, Jim."

   The doorbell rang.  Pizza.  I heard kids coming down the stairs.  We all
dove into pizza and then retired back to the living room.  Jim grabbed his
banjo and pointed me to the bass.  Ann showed up with her violin.  "Fiddle,
thank you!  This IS Alabama!"

   We practiced, that is, if you can call a roomful of people singing and
laughing to the sounds of musical instruments "practice."

   "You know they want us to do another Saturday show at the RV Park?" I
said.

   Ann laughed.  "That just means they've had a hundred percent turnover
since our last one."

   Cindy looked at Teresa, Jim's thirteen year old daughter.  "Teresa," she
said.  "I know you're in chorus at school.  We could do a duet.  Or you
could do a solo."

   Teresa twisted bashfully...  "I dunno.  Maybe a duet?"

   Jim looked at Ann, beaming.

   I looked at eleven year old son Bill.  "Oh, no," he said.  "Not me.  No
way."

   "You're missing the fun, Bill.  Musicians, like, they have GROUPIES," I
joked.

   Ann kicked Jim playfully.  "Hon, you got all the groupie you need right
here."

   "Yeah, Dan," he laughed.  "Last time I had a groupie I ended up marryin'
'er."

   "Actually," Ann teased, "He was the much more rare orchestra groupie,
and I collected HIM!" She kissed him, eliciting a "Mommmmm!" from her
daughter.

   "Come on," Cindy said.  She held up a sheet of paper with the words to a
song, a simple little bluegrass hymn.  "Let's try this one!"

   And we played along happily as Teresa and Cindy, honey blonde and
redhead, young beauties both, sang.  We ran through that number three
times, pronounced it good, then worked on another.

   On the way home Cindy turned down the stereo.  "Dan, babe, THAT'S the
way life is supposed to be, right?"

   "Supposed to be?"

   "Yeah.  Friends who love and accept you, families that love each other.
Fun that isn't destructive.  Like that stuff we just did."

   "That was pretty good, wasn't it?"

   She purred on my shoulder.  "We have good friends.  The Hardesty family.
Mizz Helen and Judge Charlie.  And family.  Your brother and sister.  Now
they're OUR family." She sighed.  "Don't you see, Dan, this is the way it's
supposed to be?"

   "Yes it is." I pulled my eyes off the road to kiss the top of her head.
"I never had this either, babe, not like this.  You've made us a life
beyond riches." I kissed her again.  "I love you."

   "Mmmmm," she purred, nestling against me.  "I love you, too, babe!"

   Wednesday was work and school.

   Thursday started out as a normal day.  It went downhill for me when I
got to the job and we started down the list to energize one of my
electrical substations.  We were rolling along pretty good, as I expected,
when the unexpected happened and something operated that wasn't supposed to
operate, causing an industrial grade "Oops!" We started troubleshooting.  I
was pretty sure, almost certain, of the cause, and we were working to
reduce it, and I could see that I was going to be working late.  At three
thirty I called Cindy.

   "Babe," I said.  "We have a problem." I explained what went on.  I
didn't have to soft pedal too much.  Cindy was forever asking questions and
while I wasn't giving her "engineer" answers, she readily absorbed the
technical stuff.

   "How late?" she asked.

   "Eightish," I said.

   "Okay babe," she said.  "I'll do a TV dinner for me and you can have one
when you get home, 'kay?"

   "Great, babe!" I said.  "Love ya!"

   "Love ya, too!"

   And I went back to work.  Things checked out pretty much the way I'd
suspected.  We found a problem.  A technician who should have known better
had made a rookie mistake and this is where it showed up.  No equipment was
damaged but a few reputations took a beating.  At seven-thirty we closed
the switch and things were normal.  At the job.

   My cellphone rang.  I answered.  Cindy.  "Dan!" Tears.  Sobs.  "Come
home quick!  I shot somebody."

   I looked at my lead technician and the project manager.  "Emergency at
home.  I'm outta here!" And I almost ran out of the building.  My golfcart
scorched the road to my truck and I was pedal to the metal all the way out
the gate.

   Halfway to the park the phone rang again.  I didn't recognize the
number. "This is Dan Richards."

   "Mr.  Richards, I'm Deputy Stevens with the sheriff's department.  Are
you on your way here?"

   "Yes I am, sir.  Is my wife okay?"

   "She's fine, Mr.  Richards.  There's been an attempted break-in.  She's
fine."

   I breathed a half a sigh of relief.  "But she said she shot somebody."

   "Uh, yessir," he said.  "There's been a fatality"

   I breathed deeply, trying to control emotions.  "Accident?" I couldn't
see Cindy PLAYING with our guns.  But...

   "Nossir.  This no accident.  I'd say it was pretty much on purpose.  We
got a 9-1-1 call.  I was the first one on the scene."

   I rounded the last corner before the park, the truck's diesel howling.
"I'm almost there.  I'll talk to you in a second." The park was full of
flashing lights.  Sheriff's department.  Fire and rescue.  Ambulance.  I
had to park down the road from my own trailer.  When I stopped Cindy was
running to me, tears streaming.  Into my arms.

   "Dan!  Oh, Dan.  I shot 'im.  He tried to break in, and I shot 'im!" She
sobbed uncontrollably.

   So I had her side of the story, although I didn't know who "him" was.  I
scooped her up in my arms and carried her to the crowd, meeting a deputy
walking in our direction.

   "I'm Dan Richards," I said.  "I'd shake your hand, but..." Cindy was
clinging to my neck.

   "I'm Greg Stevens with the sheriff's office.  We just talked."

   We walked back together.  Another vehicle added to the crowd, this one
with Judge Charlie and Helen.  Helen held her arms open, beckoning Cindy.
Cindy reluctantly left my side and joined Helen.  Judge Peebles came to
stand at my side.  Sotto voce he said, "Son's on the way."

   "The D.A.?" I paused.  "Does he usually come to these things?"

   "He does if I call 'im." He looked at me.  He was a whole lot more alert
than you might expect for a man in his eighties.  "You folks're family." He
led the way as we pushed through a crowd of onlookers.  A shooting wasn't
something you saw every day in an RV park, and I think the whole crowd was
there.

   Judge Peebles got us to the inner circle.  There was indeed a body lying
on the ground, covered with a sheet.  An inordinately large pool of blood
surrounded it.  Cameras flashed.  Several were taking pictures of the door
of my trailer and the scarring where somebody'd obviously pried at it.  The
frame was scarred.  And so was the door.

   The deputy turned to me and the judge.  "Looks like he forced the door
and when he stepped in, she shot 'im.  From about three feet.  With a
twelve-gauge.  And when he tried to get up, she shot 'im again.  Twice. 
No, three times.  That's one messed up dude, there."

   "Who is it?"

   "Belongs to that red pickup," the deputy said.  "Tags are registered to
one Larry Strucker.  Not the nicest of guys.  Record was long enough I had
to scroll through it on my computer.  You know 'im?"

   I sighed and looked at the judge.

   "Go ahead and tell 'im.  Son'll be here in a second anyway." He eyed the
deputy.  "I'm Judge Peebles.  My son's the DA."

   The deputy nodded.  "Yessir.  I know him.  And you, sir." He looked at
me.  "How do you know," he gestured toward the body being loaded onto a
gurney, "this guy?"

   "I don't, really.  He used to date my wife's mom.  They broke up last
summer and he's been driving in here since then.  Didn't know what he was
looking for."

   The deputy shook his head.  "Well he sure ain't gonna be lookin' any
more.  That's one dead dude."

   Another man joined our little cluster.  Judge Peebles introduced him. 
"Dan.  Deputy Stevens.  This is my son Jerry.  The District Attorney."

   We shook hands.  I stood silent as the deputy recounted the findings
thus far.

   "Where's Miss Cindy?" he asked.  He looked at me.  "Your wife.  She was
the shooter, right?"

   "She was a young lady at home by herself when somebody tried to break
in."

   He looked at me, then his dad, then back to me.  "Dan.  Don't take me
wrong.  I might not be CSI, but I can see enough evidence to tell you that
I wouldn't file a case against her if my life depended on it."

   "Sorry.  My string's stretched pretty tight."

   "I can imagine," he smiled briefly.  They were loading the corpse on a
gurney into the back of the ambulance.  "Let's go talk to Miss Cindy."

   We walked over to Helen and Cindy.  A few questions were asked by the
deputy.  Three others were busy getting names and statements from the
occupants of nearby RV's.

   Cindy recounted her story to him as she'd given it to me, except she'd
now regained a bit of composure.  "I was at home doing schoolwork," she
said.  "I heard a knock on the door.  Not a nice knock, either." She
breathed in.  "I didn't open the door.  I asked who it was.  He said, "It's
your old friend Larry.  Where's your mom?" I told 'im she moved.  And then
he said he just wanted to come in and talk to me about her.  And I told him
I wasn't going to let him in.  And he beat on the door.  That's when I
called 9-1-1."

   "That was 19:32, uh...  7:32 this evening, according to the log," Deputy
Stevens said to the DA.

   Cindy continued, "Then he started breaking the door.  I was scared.  I
got the shotgun."

   "Did he come in the trailer?" asked the deputy.

   Cindy nodded.  "Yessir.  The door popped open and he stepped inside. 
And I pointed and pulled the trigger." She was shaking, reliving the
trauma. "And he fell backwards.  And when he tried to get up, I shot him a
couple more times.  He stopped moving."

   Charlie edged up at me and whispered in my ear, "Three rounds of
twelve-gauge double-aught buck at two yards.  I guess he DID!"

   I held Cindy again as her shoulders heaved in sobs.  "I was scared."

   Jerry, the DA, spoke next.  "Miss Cindy, you didn't do anything wrong.
You did right.  There's no tellin' what he'd have done if he got in."

   Deputy Stevens said, "Yeah, Miss Cindy.  You did exactly what you should
have done.  I'm glad you called 9-1-1, but he was already dead when I got
here.  That could've been you instead."

   There were more pictures and reports and a couple of news crews to deal
with, and Judge Peebles, the DA and the deputy fended those off.

   The judge told me, "They can't publish her picture or her name because
she's a minor, but there will be a story about this on the news and in the
paper."

   I tried the door on the trailer.  It would close but wouldn't lock. 
Deputy Stevens said "Mr.  Richards, that's probably the safest damn trailer
in the state right now.  With Miss Cindy and her shotgun." He went to his
car and turned off the strobing blue lights and brought back my shotgun. 
"Here." He handed it to me.  "Heaven knows, she's better with it than I
am." He handed me four unfired shells to go with it.

   Jerry Peebles herded us all to the diner after the authorities (they
WERE the authorities) released everybody.  Cindy was clamped to me on the
drive over.  It was our first chance at a private conversation.  She was
still shaking, the adrenaline finally working its way out of her system.

   "Dan, I killed 'im." Tears streaked her face as the realization hit her.

   "Yes, baby, you did.  In self-defense."

   "B-but, he didn't touch me.  I just shot 'im."

   "Three times, doll.  Just like we talked about.  He broke in.  He was
not going to pat you on the cheek.  You did right.  Really."

   She took a deep breath.  "I feel ...  different."

   "You are different, little one.  You always were different."

   "But I'm probably the only one in the whole eighth grade who's killed
somebody."

   "You're quite possibly the ONLY girl in the eighth grade who
single-handedly defended yourself and your home from an intrusion by a
convicted criminal who broke in while you were alone."

   She took a deep breath.  "Dan, have you ever killed anybody?"

   She'd asked about my military service and I told her that I was an
engineer lieutenant in Iraq, the first war.  But I didn't do details.  This
time I told her.  "Yes, babe, I did.  Same thing.  Those guys weren't gonna
pat me on the cheek either.  One of my bunch was hit, not bad.  I got two.
The rest of the bunch got four more.  It's not pretty.  But they could've
run or surrendered.  Most of the Iraqi army surrendered.  We ran into some
hard-cores."

   "Oh, Dan." She buried her face into my shoulder, sobbing.

   We pulled up into the parking lot of the diner.  The diner was
experiencing a surge of customers for the late hour on a weeknight.  We sat
at the two tables they'd pulled together for me and Cindy, Charlie and
Helen, and Jerry.  Helen pushed a cup of coffee at each of us.

   "I know it's late for coffee," she said, "But just drinkin' it will
settle your nerves."

   Jerry said, "Dan, drive her over to the emergency room after this.  I
made a phone call.  They'll give you and her couple of pills to help you
sleep tonight.  Okay?"

   "That's nice," I said.  "We'll take you up on that."

   We were chatting among ourselves when the waitress came by the table. 
"Did ya'll hear about the shooting at that RV park?"

   Helen popped.  "Yep.  My park."

   Then Cindy did the unexpected.  She raised her hand.  "I did it. 
Protected myself from an attacker.  He broke in on me while I was alone."

   The waitress stammered, "B-but, you're the little cutie that I see at
breakfast sometimes!  You're what?  Fourteen?"

   "Yes, ma'am.  And my husband taught me to take care of myself."

   The waitress smiled.  "Good for you, sweetie!  And you too, hon." She
smiled at me.

   Jerry leaned back in his chair.  "You're liable to be famous, Miss
Cindy."

   Cindy nodded.  "Like I need to be MORE famous."

   Helen explained some of Cindy's recent life.

   "Wow!" he laughed.  "Dan, you've got quite a catch there."

   "Yes, I do," I said.  "Yes I do.  Excuse me for a minute," I said,
rising.  "I need to make a phone call." Walking outside, I called the
project manager, Bill Carmody.

   He answered, groggy.  "Dan!  Are you okay?  You sure left in a hurry. 
Your wife okay"

   "I'm okay.  Cindy's okay.  We had a situation come up.  I'm probably
going to be really late tomorrow.  Sorry!"

   "Uh, okay ...  Is there anything I can do for you?  To help?"

   "No," I said.  "Just cover for me until around noon.  I'll be in for a
while then."

   "Okay, buddy," He said.

   I went back inside.  "Had to tell the job that I was going to be late."

   We broke up and headed our separate ways.  Cindy got another hug from
the others in our party and we headed out to the local hospital's emergency
room.  I picked up a little bottle of pills and a handshake from the ER
doctor.

   "I heard the story," he said.  He nodded to Cindy.  "I'd have hated to
see her in here on a table from that guy."

   Cindy glued herself to me again as we drove home.

   "You okay, babe?" I asked.

   "Yeah.  No.  Yeah, I guess so." She looked at me.  "When you did it, did
you think about it afterwards?"

   "Yeah, babe.  But war is different.  Those were soldiers trying to do
their jobs like I was.  I didn't hate them.  But I darned sure wasn't gonna
let 'em get me or my guys.  Yours was way different.  That guy had no good
reason to even TRY to get in the trailer.  I killed soldiers.  You shot a
cockroach."

   "I suppose.  Okay." She didn't sound completely convinced, but she
punched up a violin concerto on the stereo.

   When we pulled into the park, there was one of the other residents, an
old guy, sitting in his lawn chair where he could watch our door.  "Just
wanted to make sure nobody went in until you got back," he said.

   "Thanks," I said.

   He looked at Cindy.  "You're quite a young lady.  I'm glad you're okay."

   "Thank you, sir," Cindy said.

   We skirted the spot where the body had landed.  Emergency services had
cleaned up the blood.  There was bare gravel.  We opened our damaged door
and went inside.  Cindy got into the shower and I squeezed enough of myself
in the bathroom to wash her as she stood there.  She got out and dried her
hair and I did my routine.  We each took a pill and went to bed together.
And held each other.

   "I could've lost you tonight, babe," I said.

   "I know, Dan," she said.  "I was scared.  But we're still together." She
kissed me.  A peck, then a longer, hotter kiss, then buried her face in my
chest as we held onto each other.

   And we slept.  Hard, dreamless sleep.  At least mine was.  Cellphone
rang at nine in the morning.  I had to blink a couple of times to get my
eyes to focus.  Helen.

   "Good morning, Helen."

   "Good morning.  Ya'll okay?"

   I ran my fingers over my head, scratching.  "Yeah.  Cindy's still
asleep." I saw a stir then felt a hand as she pulled against me.  "Wait. 
Maybe not."

   "If you want, ya'll come over to the office.  I got coffee and donuts."

   "We'll be there in a bit."

   Cindy's tousled head rose from her pillow.  "M-mornin, babe.  'S that
Mizz Helen?"

   "Yeah.  Coffee and donuts at the office."

   She pulled up to a kneeling position beside me and kissed me.  I kissed
her back.

   "Wow!  Rough night, wasn't it."

   "Yeah, something like that.  You okay?"

   "I'm okay.  I have you, don't I?" She punctuated her remark with a hug.
"And friends.  And family."

   "Yes we do, babe."

   We got dressed and she chose to walk to the office in the cool fall air.
We walked in to smell a fresh pot of coffee and settled into chairs with a
mug and a donut apiece.

   "Mornin', Helen," I said.  "Rough night."

   "Yes it was." She looked at Cindy.  "You okay, baby?"

   "Yes, ma'am," Cindy said.  "It was like a bad dream.  Except I didn't
wake up in time."

   "I suppose so, baby," Helen said.  "Dan, I called a guy that fixes RV's.
He'll do a good job on your trailer."

   "Great!" I said.  "I was going to ask you if you knew somebody."

   Park guests started filtering in and out as we sat, and Cindy was the
object of attention.  She collected lots of handshakes from the men, mostly
older men, and hugs and coos from the ladies.  "Any news?" I asked Helen.

   "Cindy's the news.  The shooting made the TV, but they didn't mention
her by name." Helen looked at Cindy.  "You sure you're okay?"

   Cindy sighed.  "I appreciate you worrying about me, Mizz Helen.  I'm
okay.  Really."

   Helen said, "I'm sorry, baby, but you're like my own daughter to me."

   "Thank you, Mizz Helen." And Cindy got up and hugged her.

   That was when my phone rang.  The job.  Sara.  "Hi, Sara," I said.

   "Dan!" From her tone I could imagine her jaw tight, Sara's "I'm
stressed" look.  And the timbre of her voice.  "I heard you had an
emergency last night."

   "Yes, we did."

   "At the park?" she asked.

   "Yes, here at the park." I answered.  I knew where she was heading.  I
decided to let Sara drag it out of me.

   "Somebody got shot tryin' to break into a trailer?  The shooter was
FOURTEEN?!?!?  A young GIRL!?!?!  Tell me that wasn't Cindy!"

   "It was."

   "Omigod!  Is she okay?"

   I looked at Cindy.  "It's Sara.  She's just heard."

   Cindy's face was neutral.

   "Sara, Cindy's fine.  Do you want to talk to her?"

   Sara said, "If she wants to talk to me, Dan.  Poor darlin'!"

   I looked at Cindy.  "Wanna talk to Sara?"

   Cindy took the phone.  "Hey, Mizz Sara.  I guess you heard..."

   "Omigod, baby!" I could hear Sara without a speaker.

   Cindy held the phone away from her ear.  "I'm fine, Mizz Sara.  Really!"

   "You're a brave girl," Sara said.  "I'm glad you're okay.  I am soooo
glad!  Lemme talk to that husband of yours."

   I took the phone back.  "Okay, Sara, what's up?"

   "Bill found out this morning at breakfast.  He says take the weekend
off. They'll call if they have an emergency.  And I don't know if you want
to repeat it, but he said to tell the Engineer's Apprentice, in his words,
"Way to go, girl!""

   "Tell him we said thanks," I said.  I looked at Cindy.  And repeated
Bill's message.  And got a wry smile.

   Cindy said, "Tell Mister Bill that I said thanks, too!  For givin' Dan
the weekend and for his comment." She gestured for the phone.

   I handed the phone back to Cindy.  She asked, "Is Mister Bill in the
office?"

   Sara said, "Yeah.  He's here."

   "Call 'im and put us on speaker, 'kay?"

   I put my head next to Cindy's to hear better.  I heard Sara's phone
click onto speaker and then Bill's footsteps.  Sara said, "Cindy's on the
phone.  She asked for you."

   "Hello, little engineer," Bill said.

   "Hi, Mister Bill.  Thank you so MUCH!  You're the first one that hasn't
treated me like I'm fragile today!"

   "Well, Cindy, I worried, ya know, but if you can put up with Dan, you
can put up with anything." He paused.  "I'm just glad you're okay, ya
hear?"

   "Yessir," Cindy said.  "and thank you an' Mizz Sara for asking.  Tell
everybody else I'm okay, too, huh?"

   "We'll do that, babe," Sara said.  "Is Dan there?"

   "Yes ma'am," said Cindy.  "Here he is."

   I took the phone.  "Yes ma'am!"

   "Ya'll do something special this weekend, okay?"

   "Okay," I said.  "Thanks!" I heard the phone hang up.

   "We're supposed to do something special this weekend, Sara says," I
announced.

   Cindy looked at me, then Helen.  "Mizz Helen, you put that notice on the
bulletin board already?  Announcing our concert?"

   "Yes, baby, I did.  But if you want to cancel, that's okay."

   "Nuh-uh," Cindy said.  "I want to be with my friends!"

   And then there was the next call.  Jim.  Same story.  Poor Cindy.  Etc.

   "Jim, I appreciate it, but Cindy's less upset about it than I am." I
handed the phone to Cindy and she told him herself.

   Then she smiled at me.  "We're on!  But we're supposed to have dinner at
the Hardesty's again tonight.  Mizz Ann's doing potroast."

   "I sure can go for that.  I get tired of restaurants."

   "Me too," Cindy said.  "Come on, babe," she ordered me.  "Let's ride
around the park."

   I laughed.  "You ride a bicycle around the park and people are gonna
line up and throw confetti!"

   And that was almost the case.  We got stopped a dozen times.  Cindy got
seconds on the coos and hugs and handshakes from earlier.  And comments of
expectations for the Saturday evening concert.  Finally we gave up the
bikes and left the park in our truck and went looking for a certain spot in
the woods.

   It might have been months ago since we first made love, and I know we've
made love a hundred times since that night at the end of August, but each
time was fresh and exciting and wonderful and I loved Cindy so much that
thinking about her could cloud my vision with tears.  The cares of the
world slipped away as we melded together under the canopy of pines.