Chapter 12 - Popping a Question

"Let me get this straight, son. You're asking to spend the entire summer out in some cabin in the woods with your girlfriend and expect your poor, innocent parents to go along with this plan?"

"Mr Z, that's not quite right," Sheila answered.

"It's a hotel, a small one but a hotel with a pool and a bunch of cabins for tourists. It's run by a perfectly honorable family."

"That's true, said Sheila's father Tim. "Sheila worked there last summer and we know Rosemary's family. We went down to meet Russ and Rose last year and they are good, hard working people who are running a fine place for tourists. Russ is one heck of a cook, too."

"We would be supervised while we were there." added Pete.

"I think Tim and I would agree our daughter needs some serious chaperoning."

"Mother!"

"Don't Mother me, darling. Start counting the gray hairs in my head and know that you put them there."

"When you get done with that, count the hairs that aren't in my head and realize I tore them out worrying about what you were up to, Sheila."

"I think your bald spot is cute, Dad"

"Don't try to change the subject," interjected Pete's dad, Scott. "While Pete is a pretty nice guy, this whirlwind romance you two are having would make us just a teensie bit concerned about what would happen if you were together for weeks on end."

"Nothing that wouldn't happen if we were still at home."

"I suppose that's true, Sheila," replied her mother. Sheila had a sudden coughing fit.

"Really, Martha," spoke Pete's mother Irene, "Sheila has been a perfectly sweet girl for all the time she's been with us."

"While she seems to have come to her senses, she has been a trial. You just don't know!"

"Sounds like your girl has a rep, eh Pete? smirked his father.

"Couldn't prove it by me." Pete replied innocently.

"Ah, that's the rub. Proof. That usually takes a little over nine months."

"Daddy!"

"Tim! Behave yourself."

"I think I see where she gets her rep from, that apple didn't fall too far from the tree," grinned Pete's father.

"There are core truths in life that are hard to swallow."

"Maybe I should have a talk with Grandma sometime," Sheila mused.

"That won't be necessary." her father replied.

"Peter," spoke his father, "if this does happen we will be trusting you to behave like a gentleman and not be playing musical bedrooms at night."

"Dad, I promise that I'll stay in my very own bed all night and not go wandering around."

"And I know you'll make that same promise, right Sheila?" said her mother.

"Certainly," her daughter replied after another coughing fit. "I have no urge to wander either."

"That only leaves the eight hours they aren't working or sleeping to worry about," her father mused.

"I'll be making beds, not hopping in and out of them."

"People," Pete's mother spoke, "I think we're going to have to accept that these two young people are now legally adults and responsible for their own behavior. Not that they aren't responsible for our premature aging as well, but they are going to have to learn how to live their own lives sometime. This might be a good way to start."

"Life was a lot easier when all we had to do was change his diaper and put him in the playpen to keep him safe," his Dad grinned."

"Scott, I don't remember you changing that many diapers," his wife scolded.

"And I smell a lot better these days, Dad"

"That's for sure!"

"So we are agreed? If they get the jobs we won't object. Just remember we are trusting you both to behave. And since Sheila is on the pill we won't become premature grandparents."

"Daddy!"

"Just accepting reality. I wouldn't take a bet that the two of you make it through the summer still celibate."

"Don't ask, don’t tell, Scott. That's their business."

Sheila's mother just smiled.

"I can't believe they bought it!" enthused Sheila.

"You were pretty good, you seductress. 'We won't be leaving our own beds,' indeed!"

"Sometimes the truth is the best way to misdirect."

"Just one little problem."

"And that is?"

"How do we go shopping on Wednesday without a car?"

"Public transportation, you dummy. You pack up Polly's outfit, hop on the TriMet and change at my place, then we toddle off on the train to the Goodwill."

"You're serious?"

"Polly has to come out sometime, Wednesday is the day, sweetie."

"I'm not ready!"

"Want to try the Salvation Army first? That way if you screw up they can save your soul and you can try again."

"I guess…"

"You'll do fine. Your voice is coming along nicely and with a little padding that blue dress will be easy to take on and off when you try on the clothes. I still think you should try a corset sometime."

"Buy me one for Christmas if you're so hot to see me in one.

"I've already bought you an engagement ring, what more do you want?"

"You got me a ring already? You must have been pretty confident you could pull off this scam."

"Hey, I've got lots of experience."

"Aren't rings expensive?"

"$9.79 each on Amazon with Prime shipping. They'll be here on Tuesday so we can wear them when we go shopping. Of course we'll probably have to coat them with clear nail polish every so often or our fingers will turn green, but they ought to last the summer."

"You are something else."

"And you will be someone else, name of Polly. By the way, you need to order a new ATM card with only your initials on it so people don't give you the eye when Polly uses it."

"I suppose so. I'm not made of money, you know."

"Which is why we are shopping at Goodwill. You can probably get away with three or four outfits. Oh, you'll need a couple of new bras and panties since you'll be wearing them all the time now. We can probably do it for a couple hundred bucks. You'll make a lot more than that over the summer, you have to invest money to make money."

"Now you're a financial adviser as well as an accountant and a politician? Such talent."

"Don't forget fashionista and deportment coach. We modern women are nothing if not flexible."

"And this is the woman who wants me to wear a corset talking about being flexible. Jeez!"

"Shut up and give me a kiss."