Ah summer! Lazy days, no school, no need for a summer job, good friends, a white sandy beach, blue water, several water nymphs in multi-colored bikinis among the friends. What more could one ask?

Photo by Ron Lach

The Flood

I learned early that the view from inside a bra is far superior to the view without one.

Seriously.

All was chaos in the house. With the forth of July conveniently occurring on a Thursday this year, those that could stretch the holiday into an extra-long weekend did so. Thus Chris and Sandy, a modern couple with demanding jobs, chose to leave their teenage children home to fend for themselves and spend four days backpacking in the woods. Naturally, this occasioned some acerbic comments from Melissa – age 13 – and Carter – age 15 – concerning the decrepitude of their aging parents and doubts as to their ability to survive without Cable, Internet and Fast Food.

Photo by Shin Shimami on Unsplash

It was the summer of my eighth year, the forth of July, in fact, that the difference between girls and boys acquired more significance than girls have cooties and boys don’t.

Photo by Andrew Gaines on Unsplash

1 - Home Sweet Home

I 'celebrated' my fifty-fifth birthday in Savannah Georgia, all alone in a motel room. Being there wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it meant I was employed. That was actually a good thing; you see I am, or was, an engineer and industrial programmer. That means I sat at a computer and designed things like assembly lines or machines that built things, then wrote the programming. Once that was done I drove mile after mile to fix problems that the came up when the machine was actually installed. I got paid pretty good money for doing that and I loved the work, but it could get lonely.

Life can be tough if you're an artist, and I don't want to hear any agita about whether a potter is an artist or craftsman. Craftsperson. Whatever. A painter uses his hands to paint, a musician uses her hands to play; I use my hands to sculpt wet clay into interesting shapes. Then I use my hands to paint them.

So: I'm an artist. Stop arguing!

A Capitol Idea

Morning was the reverse of going to bed, with each of us getting dressed separately in the bedroom. Breakfast was simple, cereal and toast, and we were on our way. There was even parking near the place, so we walked over to the Capitol building. The grounds were huge and had several monuments here and there. We stopped at one and read the plaque.

"You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed Caitlyn.

Caitlyn, meet Lucy

"Hi Caitlyn. You wanted to meet Lucy."

Her eyes got wide, then she smiled.

"Hello Lucy. You're not what I expected."

"Should I go up and change back?"

"No! I just… Damn, you look cute!"

Revelation

"Remind me never to get on your bad side, will you?" I said, cautiously.

"Don't get on my bad side, OK."

"That's a promise! Of course I don't think you have a bad side."

"Flatterer."

"I try. You ever think of doing improv?"

"Nope. I spent all week rehearsing once Coach told me who swiped my bag."

"Then maybe a scriptwriter."

"I do like to write."

Indecision

Have you ever wanted to do something but hesitated because you didn't want to disappoint someone or maybe get in trouble? That was me for the next few days. I still wanted to get a closer look at the oval in Mom's bra, but wasn't sure I should. I certainly knew that a boy shouldn't be handling a bra - unless he was helping his mother with the wash - although how I knew that I couldn't tell you. It's one of those things that you soak in through your pores as you grow up.

There are a lot of good things about public transportation: It's affordable, environmentally responsible, good for people watching, cheaper than owning a car. There a couple of bad things about public transportation: It's slow and you often have to spend a lot of time in the cold or rain walking to the bus stop or waiting for the bus. Maybe the responsible rider is lucky and has a subway stop in front of his doorway, but not so the hero of this story.

Photo by Bruno Salvadori: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-red-dress-standin...

Daaaaaddddd!!!!!

Ah, nothing quite as heartrending as the plaintive wail of a teenage girl confronted with an intolerable family situation.

"But Mom was going to take me…"

On The Whole, I'd Rather Be In Philadelphia

It was a gorgeous day, sun shining brightly on the ornamental gardens of the forty story condo building, I could hear the murmur of traffic passing on the street in front of the place. Eschewing the doorman at the front entrance, I pulled the rented pickup around to the service entrance and parked. I adjusted the visor on my cap, the one with the Cold Comfort Refrigeration logo on it.

Sunday

Now we come to the reason Aida and I spent the night - attending church in the morning. My cynical self couldn't help but compare the Gabriel clan with those B movie mobsters that spend week raping, pillaging, boozing and blackmailing, then go to church on Sunday to thank the lord for their blessings. That has to rate right up there with getting fucked by some dude at your own anniversary party. I wondered if we should sit a few pews away in case there was an unseasonable lightning strike.

Sunday

Mom and dad were merciful, they didn't disturb us until we were ready to get up. It's a good thing we had gotten used to sharing a bathroom, because it takes a while to get beautiful. We didn't go all out like the day before, Aida gave us a much simpler look for a casual day. I resolved to start learning how to do makeup magic if I had any intention of letting Lori out more often when this week was over.