Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 54

Remember the old line,'careful what you wish for, it may come true'? I think it happened, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We arrived home around 3:30pm, in plenty of time for the two of us to shower. We did the rock, paper, scissors thing. I was paper, she was scissors. Ginny had a hot shower, I had a warm one.

I was finishing my attempt at make-up, when the phone rang. It was Tina asking if it was okay if she came over now, rather than later. Ginny gave her the okay she was looking for.

By the time she walked across the street, I had given up at playing Max Factor, and poured myself a V-8 and vodka. The vodka helps digest the vitamins in the juice, at least, that's what George Jefferson's mother used to say.

We decided it was Tina's turn to choose restaurants, and Ginny's turn to drive; the best part, my turn to just eat.

She suggested a new Tex-Mex place on Route 1 in Saugus. I haven't had that for quite a while, it really sounded very good to both me and Ginny.

We grabbed our coats, and headed for Ginny's CR-V. We had a pleasant ride through Lynn and Saugus gabbing all the way, this time about horses and tack. It's like a switch was thrown in Ginny. Now she was interested in riding tips, and information about taking part in a major horse show.

We guessed the correct exit to use to go north on Rte 1. Meanwhile Tina and I kept after Ginny, asking if she had riding experience, or was she just a natural? She finally broke down as we arrived at the restaurant's parking lot.

“I used to go to summer camp where horse-back riding was an activity. I wasn't much for canoes and fishing, so I rode as often as possible.”

At this Tina and I exchanged knowing glances.

After being led to our seats by the hostess, Ginny started to explain again. “This was when I was eleven, and I rode in a Western saddle, but I had a bad accident. The horse stumbled and fell on me, breaking my leg in two places. That's why I was so skittish around the horses at the barn.”

Tina looked at her and asked why didn't she say so when Cathy started her on the line?

“I was afraid I'd panic and embarrass Ellen, I didn't realize it would come back to me like it did. Now I have to tell Cathy the story, so I've embarrassed both Ellen and myself.”

By this time she had tears in her eyes, poor thing.

“Don't feel bad for me,” I said. “I don't embarrass that easily, and although Cathy will be disappointed that she's not Super Instructor, I'm sure she's had students like this before. Someone who rode in summer camp or leased horses for an hour or two on a weekend.” I laughed. “I lost a half dozen boyfriends in high school by dragging them to ride rental horses. Their egos took quite a beating when they were flopping back and forth in the saddles.”

The waitress came and took our drink orders, Margaritas all around; she also left salsa and a basket of corn chips. We were silent while we poured over the menus. By the time our drinks arrived our minds were made up. A nacho salad for Ginny, Tina decided on a chicken chimichanga with corn bread and rice. Just to be different, I got the three soft tacos with refried beans and corn bread.

If you've ever gone to dinner with three girls, you know we talked more than we ate, but we finished our dinners in spite of all the yakking.

It turned out, Tina was concerned about her father, saying he was carrying a pistol, even when he was at home. She thought he felt like someone s after him. I don't think Ginny was very sympathetic, and to be honest, neither was I.

We arrived home before the late news at about 10pm. Ginny asked if Tina wanted to come in for tea or coffee, but she refused, saying she wanted to go home to Andover early, before her father left the house.

Ginny and I changed. I put on flannel pajamas and a robe, the fashion queen actually put on sweats, but cute pink ones and a cotton hoodie. When the water was hot I made tea. She and I snuggled into separate ends of the sofa and watched the news.

A new terrorist attack in France, a car bomb exploding in Iraq in front of a school. Wow, that really cheers you up, gets you ready for a weather forecast of heavy snow the following day, starting around noon and continuing overnight. It's no better when delivered by a woman meteorologist. Her guess was ten to forteen inches, more in spots, who might get up to eighteen inches or more.

Just ducky, the next day was December third for crying out loud, this much snow early might shut the new job down.

Well, I might see a repeat of the snow bowl at the Patriot's football game the next day. The game started at 4:30pm. I felt bad for the fans driving home at 8 o'clock in the snow, some people drive over a hundred miles to get there.

No problem for me, I'll be butt in chair by one o'clock, just waiting for the first flake to make an appearance. On this great news we went to bed.

Sunday started off windy, with some fine flakes blowing in from the ocean. Oh, oh, this could mean a Northeaster, just like the weather predicted.

I got a fire burning in the fire-place while Ginny made us scrambled eggs and bacon, along with the rest of the fresh melon. Isn't it funny how comforting a fire is during a snow storm?

We ate, washed up and started reading the Sunday paper over cups of coffee. The early football game was the Buffalo Bills at the New York Jets. It was already snowing in New Jersey where the Jets played, but their totals were expected to only be six to eight inches of wet snow.

Ginny and I were chatting during the game and about half time,she dropped a bomb!

“I know how long it could take to have a spot for GRS, even after letters of approval from the doctors, sooo, I got my name in at the clinic in Trinidad, Colorado, and the one in California.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

“But the place that had a cancellation and therefore an opening the end of January, is the clinic in Montreal. Their price is a little better, with the exchange rate. They require a non-refundable deposit eight weeks prior to the date of the scheduled operation. I sent that to them last week.”

“Ginny, you're really going to have this done aren't you?”

“Yes, I've also booked breast enhancement surgery to give me a bust size a little smaller that these prosthetics, the cost of my own girls is $7000USD, and the total will be about $26,000 USD.”

I still was in a bit of a daze at the news she dropped in my lap. I looked like a guppy with my mouth opening and closing, but no sounds came out.

“Hey, cousin, are you proud of me?” Ginny took a can of Coke from the refrigerator, opened it and took a sip. “The only change would be because of the exchange rate differing between here and Canada.

“But what if the doctors won't give you a green light, it's only been seven months for your RLT. You could lose your deposit!”

“Ellen, you worry too much, you should never play poker,” Ginny sighed. “Doctor Singh is on board, you heard her, and Doctor Braun felt she was seeing a woman not a man wearing a dress. I have an appointment with Doctor Braun next Thursday at 4pm. I'll ask her for a letter of recommendation then. Wow, I lost track of the time, we should eat lunch before the Patriot's game starts.”

While she made lunch, tomato soup and grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, I did some deep thinking.

She had acquired $50,000 from Vinnie, plus her weekly paycheck of $700 from work. Her expenses were modest, the car and groceries, no rent. This put her in position to pay cash for her surgeries, no insurance company involved. I bet the minx had $35,000 in the bank plus another $40,000 in her mattress.

“Lunch is ready, do you want tea or soda with it?” She exclaimed, “Holy Mackerel, look outside!”

That got me out of my reverie, I looked across the street, or I should say, I tried to look across the street. It was snowing with big wet flakes. The visibility was down to fifty feet at best.

“Ginny, after lunch, want to drive to Foxborough to see the game?” She just looked at me in disgust, not saying a word.

“As for Montreal, are you going to take cash, or write a check? It's a different country, a check could take a while to clear. Is this place different from Trinidad?”

Ginny walked over to her purse and removed a notebook. “The clinic in Montreal wants you there for twelve days total. After four days in the hospital, out comes the catheter and heavy packing.” She flipped a page, “That's about the same, the benefit is we could drive to Montreal from here if we had to. It's great for follow-ups with the surgeon.”

Enough of that, the Pat's game was starting, OMG, you can't see the yard markers. The Miami Dolphins must love this! The blizzard didn't seem to bother Tom Brady's passing game, he threw for four touchdowns, three in the second half! They won, 42 to 7. Next up, the New York Giants.

After the game, Ginny made penne pasta and Italian sausages with red vodka sauce, and home made (Pillsbury's in the can) French bread.

The wind was really whistling, you could hear the moaning around the gutters. That reminded me I had to go into the garage and turn on the gutter heaters, to prevent icicles and ice dams.

She and I sat up to see the 11 PM news, I guess we had a day off at least, the forecast was for 24 inches on the coast, maybe more, with ocean effect snow mixed in. We went to bed with the reflections from the fire dancing on the ceiling.