Authors: Al Sloane
Both Kathi and Beth said "Let's mess around!"
"No. Keep your pants on girls. We'll get to the motel by 6:30 or 7. We'll get something to eat like pizza and then we'll have the whole night to mess around if you want."
June looked at me. "So, is this messing around the price for the weekend?"
"Hell, no. Just be your lovely self. We've got two rooms next to each other with four king size beds. Wendy and I will probably end up in one of the beds. Wherever each of you ends up is up to you. If you want to put on your flannel nightgown and watch HBO from your bed all night, that's fine with us."
"OK. I was just wondering. Only I don't have a flannel nightgown."
"Well, you've got about 40 minutes to get one if you want."
"I think I'll pass this time."
I got them to come out to the garage and help me get the seat in. It's fairly easy with four people. The Aerostar is actually a 9 passenger model with two back seats. We put the seat in the back slot, leaving plenty of room between the back seat and the front buckets. There was plenty of room for the three of them. Wendy, too if she wanted to sit with her girlfriends and gab.
I had the girls put their luggage and beach chairs in. We had to put the chairs between the seats, but we could set one or two of them up for people to sit on if we wanted. Of course, the seat belt police might have something to say about that.
It was quarter till 4. I had the girls go in the house and I shut the front door and locked it. I told them I wanted them out back when Wendy came in. They could either stay out there or talk in the kitchen and scoot out when they heard her at the door.
I heard the squeal of tires and Wendy shot into the driveway. She ran up to the door, expecting the doorknob to turn, When it didn't, she started pounding in the door. I mean pounding. Then I heard "Pete. Come on Pete. Let me in."
"I went up to the door and looked out the glass at her. I pointed to my watch and shook my head.
"Come on. I have to pee. Please." She was doing the pee pee dance on the front step.
I opened the door but stood in her way. "God, I'm sorry Babe. I got off early and I'm working on the shower, I had to turn the water off. Maybe you can go out back and squat on the grass or something."
She was still squirming. "Damn it. I don't want to squat on the grass. I know. Let me use your bathtub. I promise I'll clean it up after you turn the water on."
"God, that sounds pretty gross. Why don't you just use the toilet in my bathroom."
I think she was about ready to hit me when she reached down between her legs with both hands and kind of waddled down the hall to my bathroom.
I heard a "God Damn It!" and then the seat slammed down. I heard what sounded like a waterfall for many, many seconds. June put her head around the corner from the dining area, looking down the hall. I held a finger up to my lips and then beckoned her and the others. We went into my room.
I heard the toilet flush, then Wendy said "You asshole, I should..."
She came out of the bathroom, pulling up her shorts as the four of us said "Hi, Wendy."
I didn't know a woman could turn that red.
Wendy struggled to get her shorts up.
"You should what?"
"I should have just peed all over your carpet. I thought you said it was just going to be you and me."
She got her shorts up and dropped her shirt over them. ONE IN THE OVEN.
All the girls had a comment about How big you've gotten, Oh you look so good, You're glowing, and there were hugs and kisses all around.
When they were done smelling each others butts I said "I never said it was just going to be you and me. I just didn't answer your question. I can get rid of them if you want.
"No. Don't you dare."
We got Wendy's stuff out of her car and into the Aerostar. She sat in the front bucket and the girls sat in the back. I got in and put on my seat belt. Wendy looked at me.
"I don't think I've ever seen you wear a seat belt."
"That's because I don't like needing one. I'm too powerful to be tempting fate by putting on a seatbelt."
"What do you mean?"
"Take work for example. When I see the jobs running low in the future I put my attention on getting more work. And I get calls, almost immediately. I put a seatbelt on and the natural thing for me to do is put my attention on needing it. It's like wishing for an accident. I don't like the fucking government telling me what to wish for. So I have to suppress my natural ability or be in a fucking accident."
"Then why are you wearing one?"
"It's national screw you if you don't have a seatbelt month. I got a ticket the other day. I wouldn't be surprised if Big Brother is more vigilant toward missing seat belts this holiday than drunk drivers. At least all the people killed by the drunks will stay in their seats."
"Boy, you're pretty riled up."
"Yeah. Just wait till they knock on your door and tell you you're too old to be a mother and then take your baby away from you."
"They wouldn't!"
"I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Some old biddy sees you with the baby and calls child services because she's jealous and the next thing you know you're in a courtroom being judged incompetent and then you're in a rubber room filled with drugs to make you quiet."
"Oh, come on. It's not that bad."
"When I was a kid I used to ride all over San Diego wearing just a pair of shorts, a T shirt and sneakers. If I put my kid on a bike on my street like that today child services could take the kid away and have me arrested. It is that bad. And the more the politicians 'take care' of us, the worse it gets."
My tirade ended as I pulled into the Arco station. I have company credit cards for all the vehicles. It works out better than reimbursing my guys from petty cash. Each vehicle has a card and each user has a pin code. They enter the pin and the milage. That way I can tell what kind of gas milage each vehicle gets and it's harder for them to fill up the family car with my card.
The girls all had to go into the mini mart and stock up on junk. Wendy had a craving for some gross looking candy that I'd never heard of.
I was surprised. My fill up was under $50. Prices had been dropping over the last few weeks.
I used to drive a Toyota pickup. I loved that truck. It had over 360,000 miles on it when I sold it. I never spent over $20 to fill it up. It would seat two adults and two small kids. I started using the Aerostar, which has a bigger tank, and prices shot up over a buck in less than a year. It was normal to spend $50 or more each fill up.
Everyone piled in. June got in the front, Wendy sat between Kathi and Beth. There would have been no way to carry this crowd around in my Toyota.
Wendy and the girls were going a mile a minute. June and I were silent. We looked at each other and smiled back and forth. I made an exaggerated kissing motion with my lips and she laughed.
Once I was on the freeway I held my hand out to her. She took hold of it and I lay them both down on the console between us. We lightly held hands. It felt good. Her hand fit mine. Soft, secure, loving.
Beth and Kathi were kids, just out of high school a year or two. Maybe not so innocent, but they had some growing and learning ahead of them. They had the viewpoints and attitudes of youth. All that energy toward doing their own thing, no matter how stupid it was. They'd look back and wonder how they ever could have been that way, we all do. Hopefully they wouldn't go too far off the rails. I can honestly say I'm not sorry for any experience I've had. Not that there's no sorrow. I've had a lot of that. But I've learned from my experience. Not that everything we do when we're young is stupid. Both Beth and Kathi had their grownup qualities, too. That's why the four of us got on so well together.
Wendy had her youth for a while. She played at being Mary Tyler Moore, working in the insurance industry instead of a TV station. Eventually she met Mr. Right and got married. And then he turned into a monster. And there was no Wendy for 20 years until she had the courage to buy a gun, which gave her the courage to run away from him and into my arms. I hurt like hell when she moved into her own place, but I knew she had to find out who Wendy was and be her. In another three months, she'd be tied down by a baby. She was already starting to be tied down by her body. She was working against the clock to discover Wendy the woman. And she didn't need me pulling her in a third direction, no matter how good it was for her, no matter how much I wanted it.
June was in the middle as far as age was concerned. Her marriage hadn't been good but her husband was such a weakling that she had to grow strong or perish. She grew strong and eventually parted ways with the child she married. She learned her business, improved on it and became the best. And then she sacrificed to get her own shop going and expand past that.
I'd loved Wendy since we were kids. I'd loved June since the day Wendy threw me out of her apartment and I called a florist for help.
Right from the start there was a mutual respect and honesty in our communication. I told her I had a problem and needed more than the "average" florist. She said it was a good thing I called her. She knew she was the best. No ego. No false modesty. She was the best and if I really needed the best it was a good thing I called her. And I knew immediately that all she said and inferred in that one sentence was true.
She listened to what I needed her to fix and she told me right off that I was an idiot. And then she proceeded to work with me to fix it. And she wasn't afraid to tell me that I'd really fucked up and it might take more than one flower arrangement to fix it. I had to go through hell to make it right with Wendy. I don't know that I could have made it without making a fool of myself. June guided me all the way through it. When she'd done all she could, she had no qualms in sending me to the person who could help me take the next step. Another florist would have probably milked me for as long as I'd put up with it.
Aside from the mutual respect, we had a lot of things in common. We both owned companies, had people working for us, had to make sure there was enough money to pay the employees and the government. We were ultimately responsible for whether our companies thrived, failed or simply made it from week to week.
We were both the best at what we did because we both loved what we did. We weren't afraid to get our hands dirty. And our employees took care of us because we took care of them.
Once we had each other's hand we started talking. She might be able to tell you what was said but I don't remember much of it. Not that it went in one ear and out the other. No, I absorbed it and it became a part of me. I knew her feelings, her hopes, her fears. The more the communication flowed between us, the more real we became to each other, the more affinity we had for each other, the more we communicated. A spiral, up and up, until we were laughing and squeezing hands and loving each other more and more.
At one point I looked in the mirror at the girls and directed my voice to them. "Aren't you guys going to ask where we're going?"
As one voice, they said "NO!" They must have practiced.
We headed east. As I hoped, the traffic was pretty light.
After about an hour I hear Kathi whisper "Where are we going?"
"Ssshhh"
June and I talked more. I've met a lot of people over the years. I find that those who paid their dues and have made something of themselves are usually the nicest, most genuine, caring people you'll ever meet. It's the ones who were born with money that are the assholes. And for the most part, they're pretty useless. June was in the first category.
The Cabazon exit was five miles ahead. I looked at the clock and saw it was 6:20.
"Hey girls. How about a date?"
Nobody said anything but I got some strange looks.
I pulled off and drove into the lot at Hadley's. They'd started in the 1930's, owned and operated by Mr. & Mrs. Hadley. They had a big business going on when their warehouse burned down in 1951, the year I was born. They lost everything and started over. They started with one stand and sold dates to cars that drove by and would stop. They grew and grew. Eventually they bought five date tree farms to grow their own dates. At one point they were selling a ton of honey a week. Hadley invented Trail Mix and a bunch of other similar snacks. In the late 90's the family was bought out by the Morongo Indian tribe. They still had the store near the freeway and did a hell of a business but they also sold to stores all over the world who in turn sold their wares. And they had a hell of an internet business going, which produced the majority of their sales.
Wendy and I had stopped off here when we went to Palm Springs. The store was open till 7, every day of the year. We got out and stretched our legs.
As soon as Wendy got out, she said "I've gotta pee."
"This is the Indian reservation. They don't have public restrooms. You'll have to go out near that cactus over there. Watch out for spines."
She stuck her tongue out at me and went inside. She wasn't buying it.
June and I held hands and walked around slowly. She picked up a couple of things that appealed to her. She got 3 boxes of flavored tea.