Ginny's Story A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright© 2018 Karen Lockhart All Rights Reserved.

CHAPTER 88

When we arrived at the Club on Monday, the decorations were in place. A lighted pine garland hung across the interior over the dance floor and a huge Balsam Christmas tree was in a corner, surrounded by a bright red sleigh with eight reindeer and Santa himself on the reins. Large wreaths were everywhere, including a huge one over the Entrance.

Of course, the tree's decorations were striped candy canes. I had to find a Christmas cocktail in my notes!

Hiram walked over as I was tying my apron on. “You know Ginny, I think that boy has it bad for you,” he said, “All he does is talk about you when we're not arguing about hockey.”

“I've been waiting for him to ask me out again, but nothing's happened. Do I have to ask him, Hiram?”

He nodded yes, “The kid's really shy, painfully so. You can't imagine how much nerve it took him to ask you for the first date.”

I saw Jack/Cathy walking towards the end of the bar, so I hurried over with a draft beer.

Before he even could say “Thanks”, I grabbed his blouse and announced, “Wednesday night we're going out dining and dancing; you will pick me up at 7:00, and you won't be late. Got that?” and I walked away.

Jack's mouth dropped open, and you could hear Hiram's laughter across the dance floor.

All of a sudden, applause broke out, along with whistles, and the occasional “You told her, Honey.”

Cathy/Jack took a big gulp of beer and said one word, “Okay!”

Cosmo in hand, Hiram joined Cathy at the end of the bar, and gave her a peck on the cheek, saying, “I can see which one wears the pants between you two.”

The rest of the night was uneventful.

I awoke Tuesday to a heavy snowstorm and the ringing of my cell-phone. It was Ian Logan telling me to go back to sleep, the club was closed because of the storm. I did my usual in the bathroom and wandered into the kitchen. There was Ellen and Wendy drinking tea and watching the news on TV. Before I could ask why she was still home, Ellen said, “The Governor has asked only essential employees to be on the road. There is no way we could work on the project today anyway.”

I poured some orange juice, and made some instant oatmeal while Wendy made a large mug of tea for me.

As long as the power stayed on, we could enjoy this storm. I had no sooner thought that when the lights flickered and then went off. Ellen grabbed a battery lantern from the cabinet and we had light. It was snowing so hard it looked like five o'clock at night, rather then 10:30 in the morning.

Wendy got a wax fire-log and lit the fireplace with kindling to start the logs. Those compressed sawdust blocks were hotter and neater than split fire-wood. Once the fire-logs died down, Ellen put a block on the coals to start burning.

Thankfully, we only had to wait an hour or so before the power came back. The television was back on and was reporting trees down in Lynn and power outages in the area. I could hear the roar of the surf, and wondered why that didn't wake me up earlier.

The reporters were on scene at the usual spots, with video of waves topping seawalls, and water streaming down the streets. This would start up the questions of why the insurance companies kept paying for washed away houses, rather than just buy the lots and grow grass there.

Ellen and I opened books, drank tea, and cosied up to the nice warm fire in the living room, while Wendy played computer games in the kitchen. After a while it struck me, What about my date tomorrow night with Jack!

I knew he drove a huge Cadillac SUV, but wuld any restaurants be open by then. Ellen assured me not to worry, McDonald's would be open. I threw a cushion at her while I could hear Wendy giggling from behind her laptop's screen in the kitchen.

We could hear the grumbling grind of snowplows in the street, and see the smaller plows go by the condo. It was a good thing Wendy's little car was in the garage but too bad there wasn't room for all three cars.

I whipped up some grilled cheese, ham, and tomato sandwiches and found several cans of Snow's clam chowder for lunch. Dinner might be a problem, but I'd worry about that later.

The snow didn't want to stop! The television weatherman said parts of the Boston's North Shore had received ten inches by 4 PM, with another six to eight inches expected by early morning. It looked like Ellen would be staying home tomorrow too. The video on the news was fascinating, with the flooding and other storm damage from Maine south to Rhode Island.

Even though our power stayed on, we kept the fire going. There's nothing as cozy as a cheerful open fire.

For supper, I decided to fry a package of Kosher hot dogs, slice them up and add two cans of B&M Boston style baked beans. I put them in a pan on the stove and toasted two cans of B&M brown bread with raisins; real Yankee down-east dinner!

About 7 O'clock Jack called. After talking about the storm, he brought up our dinner and dancing date tomorrow night.

“I think the restaurants should be all open by 7 PM, but unless you own snow-shoes, dancing will be tough to find. Why don't we go to the Outback, catch a new movie in the Mall in Danvers and go dancing the next time?” Jack laughed. “That way you can wear your LL Bean hunting boots.”

“Hey, don't knock my boots!” I answered, “If it's slushy or snow-packed, my tootsies will be warm and dry, while yours will be wet.”

(For those not from here, L.L. Bean invented a rubber-bottom, stitched leather upper water-proof boot that doesn't chafe the Achilles tendon and is available in various heights.)

Before disconnecting, we made some snookie wookie stuff that had Wendy making faces behind my back, but reported to me by Ellen. She thought Jack's idea was smart, but more importantly, he'd set up another date.

I'd been thinking of him differently than I did Kevin, which is good? Well, I know that in January, he'd head for Florida and Spring Training, and stay there until April, so unless I visited, we'd have a 2½ month cooling off period. I could still see him, but only on television during practice games.

Ellen and I headed for bed, for once being jealous of Wendy, whose bed faced the fireplace. We woke up about 8 in the morning fighting for the shower, I won this time.
That meant I had to make the coffee and orange juice. Taking a can of frozen OJ from the icebox I added the thick gel to a pitcher of tap water and gave it a good shake, until it was dissolved. Presto! Fresh orange juice.

After eating, we went out to remove the almost two feet of snow from the walk and cars. While Ellen and I cleared the SUVs, Wendy started on the stairs. We moved the cars into the street and the three of us attacked the snow banks and driveway. I let Ellen break through with her heavier car. Without the four-wheel drive, we'd still be in the driveway.

Red-cheeked and nosed, we ran back inside. I re-lit the fire and with a mug of hot tea snuggled into a sea of pillows to watch the results of the blizzard on television. Wendy closed her bed and after wrapping herself in an Afghan, took a short nap in the recliner.

By the time we were hungry, Ellen called to see if we could get a delivered pizza. We could! So she ordered a large 'half cheese, half mushroom' pizza, and a two liter rootbeer soda. When it came I gave the delivery boy a large tip for bravery.

Jack called again, and suggested jeans and a sweater for tonight, I think this would give him a chance to wear his skinny jeans and Angora sweater. He promised to be here by seven, this time suggesting the newest 007 movie. Daniel Craig is certainly better than George Lazenby, but I ranked him fourth, behind Connery, Moore, and Brosnan.

I had just finished tieing my boots, when I heard a crunching outside, Jack! The door bell rang, and Wendy opened it to reveal an image of femininity. There stood Jack dressed in white like Diana Rigg in the Bond movie, “On Her Majesty's Secret Service”.

“If it were summer, I would have dressed like 'Plenty O'Tool' in “Diamonds are Forever”
he said.

This vision in white caught Wendy's attention. I could hear the wheels turning, as she was figuring how to borrow the outfit from Jack.

“Sure, wear jeans and Bean's boots he says, then turns up looking like an ad for Playboy's Aspen Edition.”

Ellen who was doubled over laughing, said, “Ladies, don't argue. Ginny, why not change into a pair of Wendy's jeans? That should get some whistles.”

I kissed him on the cheek, and taking his arm headed out for our date.

It was funny when the hostess at the restaurant, said “Ladies follow me please.” All night he played my lesbian date, which if you think of it is funny, since I started out as a guy, and now I'm dating a guy.

After a great steak, baked potato, and salad, we waived off dessert. “Watching our figures are we ladies?” asked our waitress, as she handed Jack the bill.
When we got to the theater, Jack started to wiggle as we walked, in contrast to my lumberjack stride. I know every one thought he was a lipstick lesbian, and my name was 'Butch'.

We had a good laugh after being seated, and started to snuggle. This drew some horrified glances our way. Oh if they only knew the truth!

To be continued