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.
*~*~*