Meet the Evans Clan (MATURE)end: ch. 45 7/29/16

[begonia9508]

Hey Ginger, great part!

What, someone else is spying on Bradley too? Are they all crazy and not having something better to do on a sundy morning

Does someone wants to kidnap Max and Liz's kids for ransom or is it something else we don't know?

Anyway, waiting for more and thanks! EVE

PS Hope you're doing well!
Automn is late this year and the tries are still green! It must have something to do to the heat wave we had, in July, as all trees were with brownish leaves and now, its all green again!

I didn't get what's happened, this year but my walks through the forrest are fantastic! Have a nice week Ginger

EVE

[keepsmiling7]

It's a shame Don's wife is still married to the jerk because she can't afford a divorce.
Looks like there needs to be lots more security around this household. I'm sure Phillip will stay close to this situation.
Thanks Ginger,
Carolyn

[mary mary]

Roswelllostcause: You just might be right...
Eve: Right now I think, if all of these "spies" aren't careful, they're all going to run into each other on the road. Fall is a little late here always, but right now things look dead. We are in some serious drought conditions here in Ca. and in our area especially the fires have been devastating. Enjoy your fall colors when they arrive, there's nothing more beautiful than changing seasons. I miss that most of all, being from the Eastern part of the U. S. Even after all of these years.
Carolyn: Yes, it is a shame. I'm not totally sure of all of the divorce laws throughout the country but I do know that when you have your choice of food for the kids or money for a lawyer the kids come first. Any good mother knows that. Let's put our trust in Philip on this one, I think he'll do pretty good for Max. I admire the trust that both Max and Liz put in Philip and Diane. I like that...I wonder why? As my kids would say, it's your story. Although they never meant it in this context...


Chapter: 17

Sunday came and went and Monday seemed to roll by without any unusual events. Liz had called Diane and Nancy to set up a time for dinner and they all seemed to think the “Liberty Bell Dining Room” would be a good place for everyone. It was easy access and the place had a way of catering to large families without too much undo stress for all concerned. So Liz made reservations for eleven at 6:00 p.m. and they all showed up right at 5:30 just as she knew they would.

By the time the kids were all unbuckled and out of the Escalade the grandparents had said their helloes and everyone was getting hugged by everyone else. When all was said and done they were all headed into the restaurant by 5:45 and were seated in no time.

All five of the children sat together at one end of the table flanked by a grandmother who sat across from each other. Liz sat next to her mother and Max across from her and then Jeff next to Liz and Philip next to Max. This made it easy for everyone to visit without shouting and soon the men were in deep conversation about the events of the past week while Liz was trying to fill her mother in on all that had happened.

Diane took it upon herself to entertain the kids and after their soft drinks had been delivered. Diane proceeded to pick a straw out of Max’s coke, wiped it with her napkin and laid it across the candle holder that was on the table in front of her. She then watched as the straw began to bend as it heated up, pretending to totally ignore her grandchildren. JP immediately picked up on what his grandmother was doing and pulled his straw from his glass as he watched, enthralled with the show. He dried off his straw and did the same thing as his grandmother had done. Soon all 5 kids were bending straws and watching in fascination at the changing of molecular structure in the straws. When Liz noticed the action going on at the end of the table she proceeded to tell the kids to stop it and behave themselves. Max and his dad looked at her and wondered what the hell was wrong, the kids were all being very quiet, and then Jeff noticed what the kids were doing and started to grin. He had to look the other way. Finally JP looked at his mom in all innocence and informed her that grandma started it. Diane just looked at Liz and shrugged her shoulders…

“Just a little science experiment to keep them occupied.” She said. Liz just shook her head and looked at Max who gave her a grin and continued to talk to his dad and Jeff.

Nancy smiled at Liz and said…”As you were saying?” And Liz looked at her mother in utter disbelief, she couldn’t believe that Nancy wasn’t perturbed by the whole business…Nancy just smiled and waited for Liz to continue with her story, which she was truly interested in. She was, after all, concerned about her family. ‘Thank God Liz got out of that situation when she did’ was all that kept running through Nancy’s mind as Liz continued on with filling her in the past couple of weeks.

*~*~*

Meanwhile, back at Philadelphia Memorial a strange little man had managed to follow a group of doctors to a locker room where he observed a supply of blue scrubs and shoe covers all lined up on shelves. He waited until the coast was clear and then managed to take two sets of scrubs, shoe covers, caps and surgical masks. He had a brown grocery bag in his pocket which he unfolded and then placed all of the items safely into the bottom of the bag. He then put a white nondescript package on top of all of the folded items and then made it safely out of the room and headed back to the waiting room in the main lobby where he took a seat in his favorite corner so he could sit and watch without being disturbed. Soon he saw the detective from the Evanses come in again and he watched as he went to the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor. Don was still here…that was all he needed to know. He picked up his bag and the package and left the hospital and headed to the shelter for the night.

When Officer Bradley got off the elevator on the fourth floor the nurse’s station was vacant of personnel and this disturbed the detective to no end. What in the hell happened? When he arrived at Don’s room he found the guard missing as well…’what the hell is going on?’ He thought and then he entered Don’s room only to find everyone that he thought were missing was in the man’s room. It seems that Don had somehow managed to fall out of bed and was hanging by one handcuff , the other was undone.

Bradley asked John, the guard, “what happened?”

“How did he get un-cuffed?” Bradley was really concerned about this because, even though he knew the man, this was not normal.

“It’s okay detective, I unlocked that one. Somehow he managed to get himself all tangled up and we needed one arm free to get him back in bed. We think he’s having nightmares or something. He keeps mumbling something about the frump and payback. None of it is making any sense.”

Officer John Stokowski was truly in a state of confusion.

“It’s okay John, I thought maybe we failed to lock one of the cuffs properly. We really need to make sure he’s shackled just in case. He not only could hurt himself but someone else as well. After reading his file I’m not so sure he’s psychologically sound.” And Bradley meant every word he said. He now realized that Don Adams wasn’t as all together as he had once thought he was.

“Thanks detective, I’ll make sure everything is in order before my relief shows up.”

“Good John, I guess I’ll head on home. I was just checking in to see if there had been any improvement…you take care.” And with that Bradley headed back toward the elevator shaking his head in wonder.

*~*~*

Meantime, back at the restaurant everyone was eating and enjoying their dinners, all science projects had been put aside, and then it was time to head on over to the school. They caravanned, just like they had planned to do, and when they arrived they went to the first grade class room first and was greeted by Mrs. Johnson, the boy’s teacher. She was as pleased as punch to meet the entire family and to know that they were all interested in the children. She had the chance to show off the work of her students and this was a personal achievement for her as well.

She had art work displayed all over the room and each child had their abc’s displayed proudly on their desks. After looking over everything a familiar little red head from the school pick up area came over and grabbed Gerard by the hand and promptly led him over to a couple about Max and Liz’s age. Liz looked up at Max and smiled and mouthed “Marlene”. Max just grinned at her and then a mirror of Marlene came and grabbed Parker and took him in the same direction. Both sets of parents caught the eyes of the others and smiled a knowing smile. Soon the kids were introducing Mr. and Mrs. Blair to Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Parkers. Both sets of parents and all grandparents looked down on the young children and smiled and then Max had to tell on Liz.

“Liz wanted to know if it was always going to be like this, twins for twins?” and then Liz punched him, out and out punched him hard and he chuckled and said as he rubbed his arm,

“What Liz doesn’t want me to say is that they will probably be having litters!”

And everyone laughed but Liz, she was speechless. He had no business saying that to these people but everyone thought it was funny and she wanted to find a hole to crawl into, then she had to grin too, it was true.

So everyone met Marlene and Maggie, short for Margaret, and when they got to the girls room they met Tim and Tom, also identical.

The girls display was sitting in a place of honor on an artist’s easel as you entered the classroom. Liz and Max couldn’t have been prouder. Miss Jacobs was very pleased with her star pupils and spared no praise.

Liz assured the teacher that she had nothing to do with their display, it was all on their own and that she too was pleased with their efforts. She did explain that they went to the office supply store for the supplies though. Miss Jacobs smiled and told her that part was allowed.

Max and the grandparents hugged both girls and told them that they should all go for desert before heading home in celebration of their good work but Liz said she felt that they should visit the rest of the classrooms and then go home. Tomorrow was a school day after all and maybe they could do something together over the week-end when Maria and Michael were there. Everyone thought that would be better and they all headed to the rest of the classrooms to see what the other students had accomplished before heading home. All in all it was a great day, thank God, and nothing noteworthy had happened.

Nothing that they knew about anyway.

*~*~*

Back at the hospital Joey had slipped into the men’s room and donned the blue scrubs he had placed in the shopping bag, put his own clothes in the bottom of the bag and when he was sure the men’s room was void of other people he exited the stall he was in and removed the trash can liner from the trash bin and put his shopping bag on the bottom of the trash can and replaced the liner with the trash on top of it. He had observed the trash pick up earlier and made sure it was safe to roam at 7:00 in the evening. He then headed out into the hallway and walked directly to the elevator, keeping his head up and looking straight ahead. He learned a lot in prison and one thing was to keep your eyes straight ahead and keep moving. People had a tendency to ignore you when you didn’t look suspicious. When the elevator door had closed he pushed number 4 on the key pad and waited patiently for the cage to move up. When the doors opened to what Joey figured to be the prison ward he noticed one door with an armed guard in front of it. It had to be Adams room. All the rest of the rooms were glassed in and there were only a few occupied beds that could be clearly seen from the hallway. Adams was not in any of them so he had to be in that room.

Joey made his way to the nurses station and picked up a clip board that was laying on the counter and pretended to check it out as he kept his eye on the officer at the other end of the hallway…when the man seemed oblivious to Joey’s presence Joey simply took the clip board and headed directly to Don’s room and walked in. Nothing was said by either man and Joey was proud that his plan was working.
When he got into the room he noticed that both of Don’s hands were cuffed to the bed and Don was hooked up to numerous machines and appeared to be sleeping. Joey made his way over and quietly shook Adams by the shoulder and got no response, he tried again without any acknowledgement at all to his presence and then that cop from the estate walked in…shit!!!

Officer Bradley took one look at Joey and nodded and said,

“I see there’s no change. Do you expect him to regain consciousness anytime soon?”

Joey had to think fast….

“It’s really hard to tell. Well I have other patients to see. Good night.”
And Joey left.

Joey thought to himself, ‘Well, I guess that explains why Don’s here. I wonder what happened back there at the house the other day. Who knocked Adams unconscious?’ And he made his way back to the elevator and headed back to the men’s room to change back into his street clothes. He would come back tomorrow and see how Adams was doing. He had to wake up some time. Meanwhile back in California a young boy wondered about his dad and why his mother hadn’t told him or his sister about him.

*~*~*

The next morning was like any other morning in the Evans household and soon everyone was on their way to school. Max was taking the kids to school today and Liz was looking forward to seeing Olivia. She had been gone for two weeks and although the aging housekeeper didn’t do that much anymore what she did do was better than any physical labor money could buy. Liz loved her and wanted her company; it was as simple as that.

JP went to the facility with Max today so that Liz and Olivia would have a chance to catch up with each other. Liz pointed out the device sitting atop the refrigerator although she wasn’t really sure Olivia grasped the significance of the device. So, after Olivia got settled in, Liz told her that Maria and Michael and the two little ones would be here this coming week-end and maybe they needed to make a grocery list and go to the market. Olivia looked at Liz as though she had two heads and Liz put her index finger to her lips indicating to Olivia that she shouldn’t say anything negative about the shopping trip. Olivia looked at Liz strangely but nodded in assent and the two women got their light weight jackets and headed out to the car.

“Olivia, we have had some really strange excitement around here this past week and that “thing” on top of the refrigerator is a surveillance device. We think it was put their by a detective that was here last Monday and we are supposed to leave it alone and act like it isn’t there. So now we go outside to talk seriously to each other. The kids are not aware of it and we’d like to leave it that way if we can. JP is our biggest worry…he’s just too open with everything.”

Olivia just looked at Liz as she backed the Escalade out of the driveway…

“Liz, what do you mean by excitement for God’s sake?”

“Well, to make a long story short, according to JP I whacked a guy over the head with a bacon skillet and killed him. I didn’t kill anyone but, Don Adams, the man that tried to have me killed was paroled and he broke in and held JP hostage. JP got away and I did hit him in the head with a skillet full of bacon grease and he’s now in the prison ward at the hospital in a coma. They don’t know when or if he’ll come out of it but all of his vitals seem to be okay. As sneaky as that bastard is I wouldn’t put it past him to be faking the whole damned thing.” Liz was getting herself all worked up again and had to stop talking.

“My God, who let that idiot out of prison?

“The new governor of Connecticut…seems he released model prisoners in order to save money.”

“Good God in heaven…pin a medal on him. He just won the “Insane Award” of the year!” Olivia was beside herself. “Who in the hell nominated the nut for the office in the first place? Sometime I think we would be better off without leaders, just give us the constitution and a forum of people willing to donate their time to see to it that the rules are enforced and we would be better off.”

Now Olivia was getting herself all worked up as well as Liz.

Liz giggled at her old friend and said…

“Well, you know Liv, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.”

And the two women finally arrived at the supermarket and exited the car to go in and buy some things they really didn’t need but it was good to get out without the kids for a change and Liz was thoroughly enjoying her visit with Liv as was Olivia. Olivia told Liz all about her grandkids and was so happy to have been able to spend the time with them. She also said that she was glad to be home again and Liz agreed…it was always good to be home.

Neither woman noticed the automobile that had followed them from the house to the market and the inhabitant thought it would be best to keep his presence unknown.

*

Meanwhile, back at the house another person was trying to figure out the best way to get into the estate un-noticed when he saw one of the biggest black dogs he thought he had ever seen in his life looking right back at him through the fence and the dog didn’t look too pleased. Now he would have to figure out the dog’s routine as well as the rest of the family…’this just wasn’t the best idea Adams ever had’ Joey thought to himself. Don needed to wake up and soon.

*

After Liz and Olivia had finished their grocery shopping, and Liz realized that the trip was not in vain, they headed off to the little coffee shop next to the grocery store for a little r & r before heading home to stow all of the groceries. The two women were having a wonderful morning catching up on all of the events that had happened in the past two weeks, although Liz had the more dramatic tale to tell, and Officer Bradley was having one helluva time trying to stay awake.

This had to be the most boring idea he had ever come up with…nothing this woman did was any more interesting than what his wife did, he was better off with the waitress down at the ”Liberty Bar”. At least she knew he existed and was willing to spend some time with him… this woman didn’t seem to give a damn whether men were interested in her or not. He would never understand women… never. He made an effort to call on her and she had to report him to the Chief of all things…and that damned dog of hers would most likely take his leg off if he got too close to her. What’s with that? Most women would welcome some change in their lives, and the sarge, what in the hell was wrong with him letting a piece like that get away from him. The man had to be nuts for sure. Ed Bradley was living in a totally different world than the one surrounding him, it seems that his brain had taken a vacation leaving his body in its’ wake and he continued to watch Liz and Olivia.

*

After leaving the coffee shop Liz and Olivia thought it best that they get home and put the groceries away before the rest of the crew started to arrive from various parts of the city. Max had pick up duty today so Liz was free to do whatever she wanted to and she wanted to get ready for the big week-end with Maria and Michael.

“You know Olivia, I think maybe we should hire some help to get ready for Michael and Maria, what do you think?”

Liz left these types of decisions up to Olivia since she knew her limitations better than anyone else. There was a time when the two of them could handle all of this by themselves but that was before 5 kids and old age…not necessarily in that order.

“Well, maybe you’re right…what do we need to get done? I don’t think we should do the windows until the rain stops for awhile and the gardener seems to have the rest of the outside in order so what do you think…routine, tear it up and put it back together?”

Olivia and Liz had things pretty much figured out as far as the household chores went and with 5 kids, just keeping up with the laundry was a task in itself.

*

Officer Bradley sat in his car and just rolled his eyes at the conversation going on in the house and then he noticed something strange on the side of the fence next to the gate…what the hell?

*

“Yeah, let’s just get some youngsters in here to move the furniture around to dust and vacuum everything really good and you and I can wash all the knickknacks and take care of the rest of the stuff, like cooking. Does that sound about right?”

“Sounds good to me…I’ll call the employment agency and get those two youngsters we had over before the fourth of July. They really were good little workers, reminded me of Jo Ann, Charlotte and the girls. Remember when we first started working with them? They were a God send!” And Olivia smiled as she remembered the young college students.

Liz returned Olivia’s smile and nodded in agreement. They truly were a God send and they still are. The children’s facility wouldn’t be half the success that it is without them.

“You know Liv, I think I’ll give Max a call and remind him to invite them over for a bar-b-que on Sunday…he probably already has but just in case. Maria and Michael both think the world of them and if they don’t have any plans I think it would be nice to see all of them. How about you, do you have any plans for this week-end?”

The four college girls that Liz had hired to help out on her and Max’s first Thanksgiving proved to be one of the best things she had ever done for their family and their enterprise and they were able to help the girls after they graduated. They had agreed to work off their loans by working at the children’s facility for a time but since then the loans had all been paid back, the girls had all married, Joanne marrying Charlie’s son, and they were all still working at the facility. They were not only a part of the enterprise they were definitely a major part of their lives as well.

Olivia smiled at her dear friend and nodded…

“No. No plans Liz, we’ll be happy to come over…about 3:00 or so?”

Liz smiled her happy smile,

“3:00 would be great!”

And the two women continued to put food away while Ed Bradley tried to figure out who was doing what outside the estate. The PI that Jesse had sent to Philadelphia was now parked across and down the street from Ed Bradley wondering just how damned many men were watching the place. It was time to get in touch with Jesse and tell him what was going on here. It’s like a comedy around this place, everyone is watching everyone and no one knows who the hell the players are and farther down the block sat Carl, Bradley’s partner, taking it all in.

*~*~*

[Roswelllostcause]

Oh gee this is so not good! That cop has lost his marbles!


Helen

[begonia9508]

Hey Ginger! Yeah, I know what you mean... I was in Cali in 1999 and I already noticed, when I travelled through Cali, that the weed was already brown! But going in direction Lac Tahoe and San Franscisco, it was green... so I thought it was normal for the season but now, it is nothing but normal...

This year was the worse for us, in sommer we had 42° in the shade and I thought I would never get through it! I hate it and it was also something new... as well as it haven't rained that much as well...
And I hope it will be a cold weather, this winter... last one, no snow no water... but cold!!!

But we are fortunate to have one of the largest european water supplies as we have 2/3 of our country being mountains and lakes and springs but the Government started also a campaign about
saving water too...

Great new part! Loved the story with the twins... must be not easy to have two lookalikes!

Thanks EVE

[keepsmiling7]

I loved the kids at meal time, and Diane leading them astray. That must have been something you did Ginger!
I didn't realize Don was still unconscious.....but that whole deal is getting creepy.
Of course little JP is too open, don't all families have someone like that?
When you started writing about the extra help that would be needed to get ready for Maria and Michael....my mind started wandering.
We're having Bob's big # 80 in November. Our immediate family is 26 then he wants to invite another 25 to 30. We will have a buffet dinner at a local restaurant. I can't handle all of that here at the house, besides we'll have enough other meals/snacks to have for family coming in and out. None of the kids live in this area, so they'll be around for a whole weekend. My daughter is even flying her two daughters in from the East Coast. That will include the one and only precious great grandbaby girl.
But I got off subject, and need to go phone the girl that cleans my house for some extra work.
Take care,
Carolyn

[mary mary]

Roswelllostcause: I agree, the cop has lost his marbles, let's just hope that things get straightened out with the nitwit soon.
Eve: God, I hope you get the weather you need, I don't know what's going to happen up here in No. Cal. since we supply most of the orchards between here and Sacramento before routing the Sacramento river out to the ocean. There's hardly any snowpack and the lakes are practically little more than streams. It really is bad, and then there's the Midwest who has had so much water that their lakes are actually overflowing out onto the highways. this isn't meant to upset anybody but when I was younger I had a friend who was quite the character and he said...Jesus is coming back and is he pissed!!! I believe it. Enjoy this part, I think the little ones are really cute in this one...and then there's Max and Michael together
Carolyn: This chapter is just a fun chapter for the most part...we need those every once in awhile

Chapter: 18

The week-end finally arrived and Olivia had overseen all of the work that needed to be done while the yard and pool work was being overseen by the private investigating team that Philip had hired. It seems that Jesse’s man was none too pleased with all of the activity going on outside the grounds of the estate and told Jesse they needed more identifiable security.

*

Max had the limo service pick up Michael and Maria and the two children on Friday morning , Michael Jr., Junior for short, and two year old Amelia Elizabeth, Ellie for short, and everything was moving along right on schedule.

Max had informed Michael about the listening device on the refrigerator and to pretend like it didn’t even exist and Michael insisted that they have a little fun with it. Max wasn’t too sure it was such a good idea but knowing Michael anything could happen. So after getting everyone settled in and all the kids were happily playing Maria and Liz settled in the kitchen with Olivia to see about lunch.

“Maria, I know the kids all like peanut butter and jelly but is there anything special they like. Mine eat most anything.”

Maria smiled at her old friend and nodded…

“Well, you can place the fanciest, tastiest morsels on earth in front of them and they will still ask if there’s peanut butter and strawberry jelly so why don’t we just stick to the basics and make it easy on ourselves. A couple of cookies and a glass of milk and we’re good to go.”

Liz and Olivia giggled at that statement and knew exactly what she was talking about.

“We have homemade chocolate chip or Oreo’s…which is it?”

Maria gave her head a nod and grinned…

“Oreo’s of course! Where’s your head girlfriend?”

And they all laughed.

So, it was peanut butter and strawberry jam with Oreo cookies and milk. Olivia laughed as she cut up some apples remembering her own kids at that age and they were totally right…stick to the basics.

Michael had informed Maria about the trouble Max and Liz were having and about the Don Adams situation so Maria pointed up toward the top of the refrigerator and gave Liz a questioning look…Liz just nodded, letting her know that it was still there. Maria got a twinkle in her eye and Liz stood there and shook her head NO fiercely and Olivia knew exactly what was coming as did Liz…

“So Liz, are there any new love interests in your life?”

Max and Michael were headed to the kitchen and they both overheard the question, Max looked at Michael with this “she wouldn’t. Would she?” look on his face and Michael grinned, shaking his head no and motioning for Max to hush.

Olivia almost spit out her coffee that she had just taken a drink of and Liz looked at all of them like they were nuts…Max looked at Liz and grinned and nodded toward the refrigerator and so Liz decided to go with the flow.

*

Bradley did spit his coffee all over himself and the PI, who was tuned into the channel on the receiver, started to howl with laughter. He knew Max and Liz from way back and was totally aware of what was going on.

*

“Maria, be quiet, what if Max hears you? We’ll have to talk about this later.”

Liz didn’t have to pretend to be surprised because she was…she needed a minute to gather her thoughts.

“Ah, come on Liz, there must be someone who’s caught your eye. You know we can’t survive with the same old stuff all of the time! Variety girlfriend, you know the routine. What about the pool boy last year? How did that work out?”

“Ohhhh, you mean Johnny? Well he moved on so now we have a pool man. Very old! Very, very old but the new manager of the book store down town, well let’s just say he is very interesting…but I don’t think we should be talking about this right now. You know…the kids, Max, Michael…you just never know who might be listening.”

In the meantime Max was behind Liz holding her around the waist and whispering things into her ear that she could tell Maria and Olivia had to leave the room.

“Well, we definitely have to get together with some one on one time girlfriend…you can’t be having secrets from me.” Maria giggled back in response as she put the finishing touches on some sandwiches for the adults.

And with that Michael said,

“Hey Maria, the kids need some more milk…they need to dunk their cookies and Ellie is a mess. She tried to split her cookies like the big kids and managed to spill her milk all over herself and refuses to let me clean her up.”

Liz, Maria and Olivia all laughed at him and Liz grabbed a wash cloth while Maria grabbed the roll of paper towels from the kitchen counter, Olivia grabbed the milk from the refrigerator and they all headed to the sun porch where the kids were having lunch.

Michael and Max high fived each other and were hoping that tomorrow would be as nice as today so they could get out on the golf course with Philip and Jeff. Michael glanced up at the refrigerator and saw the device laying there and just shook his head. It’s a good thing this was happening to Max because he knew Maria would flip out and he would have to kick some serious ass if this shit happened at his house.

After the women got the mess cleaned up Maria decided it was time for Ellie to take a little nap, she was getting very cranky and the other kids needed a rest away from her so she headed upstairs with the toddler whining and rubbing her eyes and Michael decided to follow her and Maria in order to help the little one feel better. Michael was a real big sucker for his kids and when they were unhappy he was unhappy.

In the meantime Max took the older kids out to the backyard for a game of croquet since they winterized the pool last week-end due to all of the bad weather. JP and Junior found a dirt pile where JP kept his skip loader and dump trucks and the two four year olds decided that this was where they would rather be. Max took one look at the semi-mud hole the two were playing in and figured “what the hell”. He’d just squirt them off with the hose before taking them back into the house. Life was simple for men, just go with the flow.

Soon Michael joined the rest of the kids and Max and was having himself a ball. Max just grinned at his old friend…he had come a long way since that skinny little waif he was when they were this age, he truly loved his family and it showed in everything he did and said.

Meanwhile JP and Junior were over at the dirt pile Max had purposely left unattended for just this reason. The two four year olds were having a great time loading up the dump trucks and moving their loads across the flower beds to another dirt pile when JP told Junior that he would be right back…he had to pee.

“Where are you going?”

“In the house to the bathroom.” JP answered …

“Why?” Junior was confused.

“Wha’d’ya mean, why?” JP asked.

“I mean why go in the house…just pee over there, against the tree…watch!”

And Junior proceeded to show JP how to pee against the tree.

“Do you do this a lot?” JP asked Junior.

“Only when I’m outside. My dad showed me how to do this when we went campin’. It’s cool, you don’t have to wash your hands or nuthin’.”

So JP whipped it out and peed against the tree out in the back yard while Jack laid in a grassy area keeping an eye on the pair of eyes watching from the other side of the fence through the shrubs. Jack wasn’t too sure about the current activity going on over at the tree but he kept his growls to a minimum and JP and Junior had a great time making designs.

Joey Sabotini was having a tough time containing his laughter at the sight of the two four year olds but he had a sneaking suspicion that the slightest movement from him would bring the world as he knew it down around him so he remained quiet.

*

After the croquet game was over and Max and Michael cleaned JP and Junior up enough to get them into the house and to a shower they all congregated in the family room while Liz and Maria got ready to serve dinner.

“What have you girls got planned for tomorrow?” Max asked and Liz looked at him questioningly…

“Why? What do you have planned?” She asked with one eyebrow raised in a ‘you better be careful’ look.

“Well, Michael and I are going to play golf with dad and Jeff and we wondered what you guys wanted to do? After?”

Max thought he’d better add ‘after’ because the look on Liz’s face told him that she might not be too pleased with this idea. Michael picked up on the mood change immediately and looked over at Maria and saw the one eyebrow raised and knew he’d better come up with something quick.

“Why don’t we plan on dinner out tomorrow evening? We could get the grandmother’s to come over and stay with the kids or, we could take them all with us. What sounds like fun?”

“Well, I don’t think it would be much fun for Diane or Mom to come over and baby sit after having their husbands out on the golf course all day with you two. Do You?” Liz answered him before Maria had a chance to.

Then Max really took a look at Liz and had to ask…

“Liz, if you don’t want us to go we won’t…honest sweet, we’ll stay home.”

He knew that Liz wouldn’t leave the kids with all of the stuff going on and he didn’t know what to do.

“What time is your tee-off?”

“At 7:00, why?”

“Well, if you tee off at 7:00 then you probably will be back by 12:00 or 1:00 at the latest. Why don’t we take all of the kids and the grandparents ice skating over at the facility. We could invite the other kids as well and make it a party for all of them.”

Max thought about it for a minute and then said…

“Although I think it would be fun to invite the other kids, why don’t we just have a party for our kids. I think we’ll have enough to do to keep track of these 7 without adding another 24 to the group, the magnificent seven aren’t around for entertainment anymore Liz.”

Liz thought about it for a minute and then agreed, but she did want the grandparents included.

Max thought that would be a great idea and so it was decided that they would have a skating party tomorrow afternoon.

“What about dinner tomorrow night…a bar-b-que sound okay?” Max asked.

“No, we’re having a bar-b-que on Sunday with everyone invited, maybe the pizza parlor, what do you think? The kids will love it. If we plan it just right maybe we can go to church tomorrow night and not have to worry about it Sunday morning.”

And everyone was happy.

On that note Maria and Liz headed to the kitchen to put the lasagna that Olivia had made earlier in the oven and Maria started setting the table while Liz assembled the salad and started spreading garlic butter on the loaves of French bread sitting on the counter.

After dinner Liz put a DVD on for the kids and, after reading the title, Max looked at her like she was nuts.

“Liz, what in the hell did you get this for? They’ll be having nightmares all night long.”

“What do you mean Max? It’s a fairy tale, they’ll be fine.”

“Dragon Wars?!? For God’s sake…it’s full of creatures!”

“It’s not real Max. They know that… soldiers forming out of swarms of flies and huge slugs, bigger than tanks that shoot fireballs from big guns mounted on their backs. Flying, hairless birds biting helicopters out of the sky…and then there’s those huge monstrous snakes. Hell Max, it’s a comedy!”

“Whatever you say Liz, but you’re the one that’s going to be getting up with them if they scream in the middle of the night.”

“Fair enough Max…I’ll get up if they scream, but I bet they laugh at it.”

And Max just shook his head at her…she was going to get up with them, not him.

*

The next morning Liz heard Max in the bathroom at 5:30 a.m. getting ready for his golf game…and just as she predicted, no kids had nightmares. She decided to get up and make some coffee for him and Michael so she grabbed her robe and headed down the back stairs. Apparently Max had been down earlier because Jack was scratching at the back door to come back in. She went to the laundry room to retrieve his dishes and it seems he had been fed and watered as well, then she rounded the corner and she saw Michael sitting at the table reading the morning paper.

“Good morning Michael. Did you sleep well?”

“Good mornin’ Liz…yeah I did, thanks. Any nightmares?”

“No. How about you?” And they both grinned.

“No. None. Ellie is still asleep and I think JP and Junior might have something going on in JP’s room. I heard them giggling when I went past but I didn’t want to disturb them, they seemed like they were really having a good time.”

“You know they really are great friends for as little as they see of each other. It’s not like when you and Max were little and saw each other all of the time. They only see each other a few times a year and yet they so look forward to these visits. Maybe it’s because we talk about you guys so much. What do you think?”

“I think you may be right …they are great friends and I know that Junior loves to come and visit.”

About that time Max came into the kitchen all fresh and ready for the day. He had a box of golf balls in his hand and asked Michael if they were okay for him.

“Sure they are Maxwell…why wouldn’t they be?”

“No reason, but if you preferred a different brand or something we can always stop at the pro-shop.”

“No, these are fine.”

“Great. You know what? I think I’ll put a couple in the micro-wave for a minute and heat them up. It’s a little chilly out there and maybe if we warm them up they’ll fly better.”

Then Liz piped up and said,

“Oh Max, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Michael didn’t know who to believe at this point but Max had already put the golf balls in the microwave and when the timer went off Max put four of the balls into his pocket and started toward the coffee pot when a couple of the golf balls actually blew the pocket out of his pants and little rubber bands started to bounce all over the kitchen. Michael grabbed Liz up physically and ran to the back hallway holding her up off the floor by her shoulders and Max grabbed his head and started dodging golf balls as they blew the side of his pants off and then the remainder continued to blow up all over the place.

Liz and Michael stood in the safety of the doorway and then Liz started to laugh, hysterically laugh, and Michael joined in. Soon Maria came running down the back staircase and couldn’t get past Michael or Liz so she peaked around Michael’s arm and saw rubber bands flying everywhere while Max Evans had his arms over his head, the side of his pants gone, and he looked like he was doing an Irish jig in the middle of the kitchen floor as his wife looked on in hysterical laughter.

“What in the hell is going on Michael?” Maria screamed to be heard.

“Never warm golf balls in the microwave Maria.” Michael stated simply as he wrapped his arms around his wife and Liz.

After everyone calmed down Liz looked at Max and said simply…

“You’re cleaning this up.”

Max just looked at his little wife, bent over and kissed her on the nose and smiled…

“That’s what I figured.” He said and headed to the hall closet, the right side of his pants half gone, and retrieved the vacuum. Liz grabbed the coffee pot, three cups and headed to the sun porch.

“Do you think we should call Philip and Jeff?” Michael asked.

“Nah, it won’t take him long to get most of it with the vacuum. We can hire the cleaning people to come in and get the rest of it after this other shit is over with. I’ll sure be glad when that damned listening device is gone. It’s getting harder and harder to remember that the thing is even there. At first it was all we could do but think about it and now it’s becoming second nature. I’ll sure be glad when they get this all figured out. I can’t for the life of me come up with a good reason to have it there. We sure as hell don’t have anything to hide.”

Liz was in a real quandary over this and Michael and Maria could see this in her eyes.

“Liz, maybe it has nothing to do with the case at all…maybe it’s personal.” Maria stated…

“What do you mean personal, Maria?” Liz was confused now…

“Liz, you said this cop kept showing up everywhere you went…maybe he has a thing for you, maybe we didn’t miss it by much by our little game yesterday. Like you said, the case is cut and dried…Don broke in with a gun, held JP hostage and threatened bodily harm. He broke his parole. I don’t think this has anything to do with the case, I think it’s personal.”

“Oh shit Maria…if Max thought it was personal he’d go kick the shit out of this guy. You know how he gets when one of us get threatened, you just can’t mess with his family like that. He won’t put up with it. Oh my!”

And Liz was really worried now, not for herself, but for Max.

Then Michael felt the need to smooth this over…leave it to Maria to let her words leave her mouth as they crossed her brain before being filtered…

“Liz, we don’t know that for sure…there could be any number of reasons for all of this…let’s just let the experts deal with it, okay?” And Michael looked at Maria and gave her a look that said “ENOUGH” and Maria understood.

It was only fifteen minutes later that Max came out to the sun porch with a coffee cup in his hands, clean pants on, to join the group before heading to the golf course. He had called his dad and told him that he and Michael might be a little late and to just wait for them. If he got there before him and Michael to buy him a box of his regular golf balls. His dad wanted to know what happened to the box he bought last week and Max told him he would explain later and they rung off.

So Max had his coffee, they all had a nice conversation and then Max and Michael took off. Soon the kitchen started filling up with little people and Maria and Liz started getting busy fixing breakfast. Gerard found a chunk of rubber in the corner of his chair and wanted to know what it was and Liz told him to throw it away…just some trash… and the little one did as his mom suggested but he couldn’t figure out what it was for the life of him.

*~*~*

[Roswelllostcause]

Max really should listen to his wife! But they really do need to find out what that cop is really up to and soon!




Helen

[keepsmiling7]

Ginger, I just love your story it brings back so many wonderful memories of my own.
However, that warming up golf balls I've never heard of...........and I had three golfers that were always willing to try something to improve their game.
The dirt pile.......who wouldn't want to play in a big dirt pile? It just calls all the kids from near and far.
I even kept a part of my flower beds open when the youngest grandson came to visit. He loved to dig out there with the older kids big Tonka trucks and road graders.
And my boys were hunters too, and peeing outside was first nature. Matter of fact one neighbor told me had seen my youngest son come out the front door, pee in the front flowerbed and go back into the house. My neighbor asked we didn't allow the kids to use the indoor facilities?
At least it wasn't my daughter doing that.
Such wonderful memories you bring forward Ginger.
Thanks,
Carolyn

[begonia9508]

Hey Ginger! Still without rain? and it is the same here, its rain one hour or two... but then end!

An old neighbour told me that it had already happened, the seasons without the weather they are expected to have... And it has already snowed, in our Alps! In the middle of Oktober...
I don't know why I did it but I have already made a appointment for my car, to be ready for winter season and because I want to be ready if it starts to snow soon and I have to go working in the countryside!



Oh my, Ginger! I can' believe that Max came with such an idea to put golf balls into the microwave!!!

Who told him to do that or it is his doctor intuition who was talking to him?

He must be happy that nothing happened to his little 'peter'! Who knows what golfballs can do, when heaten in the microwave and in the velocity they can fly around!

That was so good and Liz has a lot to do with all these kids, smalls and the BIG ONE!

Thanks Ginger - loved it... EVE