Heatstroked

"What is this, then?" Becki gasped as her abs couldn't keep her legs up any longer. "A revenge best served c-cold! Oh, Jesus, that's cold!"

"Revenge for what?" I asked as her foot finally touched the bottom. "That was one of the best days of my life. One of the most embarrassing, too. But, absolutely wonderful."

"I'm not the girl I was then, John."

"And I'm not the guy I was then. Back then, I wouldn't have dreamed of doing this."

I lifted my hand to tip Becki's chin up and lowered my lips to caress hers. Nothing in the world existed for me in that glorious moment as I pulled her close to my body as I pressed my lips harder against hers than I'd so far dared. I caught Becki's full bottom lip in both of mine. She moaned and trembled as I ran my hand from her chin behind her neck as my other hand pressed against her lower back.

"Does that answer your question?" I asked as I pulled away.

"What question?"

"About if I have naughty thoughts about you?"

I watched Becki's eyes as her mind realized what she was feeling pressing against her below the water line.

"Mmmm." Becki smiled as she kissed me again.

"Hey! That pool is for swimmin' not makin' time with each other. Ow! Don't hit me, woman! Look what them two are doin'. What they're doin' is grounds for hanging in some counties!"

I pulled back with a smiling groan. Becki giggled.

"Well, you're in," I said. "You ready to try your hand at swimming?"

"I'd rather try my hand at something else," Becki said as her fingers grazed the front of my swimsuit causing a part of me I'd rather Willard didn't notice to twitch.

"Are you trying to get me shot?"

Swimming didn't come as easily to Becki as David had made it look. Maybe it was because while David had lost more of his leg, he still had both hands. Maybe not having a hand on her right wrist any more put Becki at more of a disadvantage.

Not that I minded in the slightest helping Becki relearn. And maybe Becki didn't actually have all that much trouble relearning after all since our aquatic antics usually resulted in our touching parts of each other's bodies that made me blush and look to see if Willard was watching.

Time to lock up and drive the course with Willard caught us both by surprise that day and for the following five. That wasn't all that caught me by surprise.

--01Jul87--

I happened to glance at the calendar and saw it was the first of July. June, the first month of summer, was gone.

So much had changed it made sense looking back that much time had passed. Becki had gone from hating me (although she claimed she never did) to being my girlfriend and daring Willard's wrath by coping feels or granting them to me in the pool. Still, I couldn't help but feel sad that a third of what might very well be my last summer of freedom was gone.

I also realized I hadn't so much as spoken to any member of my family in two and half weeks. Granted, they hadn't called or come out either, but I felt oddly guilty I hadn't been to at least see Mom.

"Everything all right, John?" Eunice asked. "You've hardly touched your food."

"It's delicious, as always, Eunice. Thanks. I was just thinking I haven't spoken to my mother in awhile."

"Oh. Well, lands, child. We have a phone down in the pro shop. You're more than welcome to use it to call her any time."

"I was actually thinking I might run into town to see her in person," I said. "And I'd like for you to come, Becki."

"What? Me? Come with you? To meet your mother?"

"Why not?" I asked. "You are my girlfriend. Mom knows about you. She's known about you for several years. She asked about you last time I saw her and I'm sure she would love to meet you."

"Um, I don't know, John." Becki's hand went to her hair, almost dry but smelling of chlorine. "Maybe some day when I haven't been swimming in the pool all day would be better?"

"Is that what you call what you two are doin' out there?" Willard grunted.

"Shush, you old coot." Eunice backhanded Willard's shoulder. "I think it's fantastic Becki's swimming again. Becki, why don't you go jump in the shower real quick, run a brush through your hair, and see if you still want to wait?"

"Ok, Grammy." Becki said.

Becki hardly used her cane at all anymore. She mostly carried it around out of habit, I think, although she did lean on it when she'd walked too much and gotten tired. She left it leaning against the table as she got up and walked off to her room to get clothes.

"Why don't I put both your plates in the fridge?" Eunice asked. "That way, you can have them when you get back, if you want them."

"Thanks, Eunice." I glanced down at myself. "Um. Maybe I should run down to shower and change too, if Becki's going to."

"That might be a good idea," Eunice said with a twinkle in her eye as Becki called out from her room.

"Grammy, have you seen my jeans?! And my nice blouse?!"

"Take your time, son." Willard snorted. "Take your time."

Maybe I should have taken Willard seriously. I showered, shaved, brushed my teeth, dressed, and still wound up waiting on my motorcycle for twenty minutes with Willard sitting in his rocking chair working his chaw of tobacco, neither of us saying much.

When Eunice escorted Becki out, it was definitely worth the wait. Becki in shorts and a t-shirt was beautiful. Becki in a bikini was breathtaking. Becki wearing skin tight jeans and a white blouse was bewitching.

"Cat got your tongue, boy?" Willard snorted.

"I, uh, you look... I don't..." I stammered. "Wow."

"Just the look we were going for." Eunice said with satisfaction.

"Are you sure?" Becki asked. "Maybe we should try the yellow one again?"

"No, dear." Eunice said. "It's time to go."

Becki's arms seemed to clutch me more tightly than ever on the short two mile ride into town.

Jan's car was sitting in the driveway beside Mom's car. Ringing the doorbell felt strange. But, just walking in after so long away would have felt stranger.

"Oh, my God!" Jan squealed when she opened the door. "We were going to come out and see you tomorrow! This is so much better!"

Jan caught me in a hug that made my ribs creak. She was still a matchstick, but she looked... better. Healthier than I'd seen her look in years.

"Um, Jan?" I asked cautiously. "Have you been drinking?"

"A little bit. We all have. It's a celebration. And Becki! You're here! You're really here!"

Becki looked a little startled as Jan caught her in a rough embrace and giggled when Jan pulled back and kissed her on the cheek.

"Come in! Come in!" Jan said. "There's someone I want you to meet! Hey, Mom! It's our little lifeguard and his California dream!"

"Well, don't keep them on the porch!" Mom laughed. "Bring them on in to join the party!"

What the hell?! Mom laughing?

I was distracted from Mom as tiny little toothpick Jan darted over to hug and kiss a zaftig woman who looked to be Mom's age at least.

"Um, hello?" I said.

"Claudia, this is my baby brother John and the love of his life, Becki. John, Becki, this is the love of my life, Claudia."

My brain short circuited for a moment. Since when was Jan lesbo? Becki stepped in smoothly and filled the gap.

"I take it this is a coming out celebration?" Becki said with a dazzling smile. "Then, congratulations to both of you."

"Yes," I smiled. "Congratulations. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Claudia."

"Thank you, John." Claudia said, stepping forward to shake my hand.

"And you are Becki," Mom said, rising from her seat and coming to hug Becki. "I recognize you, of course. And I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to meet you."

"Thank you." Becki blushed prettily. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"And I'm especially glad you're here for John tonight. I have some news about your father, John."

"Oh, God." I groaned. "What has he done now?"

"Why don't we sit down?"

"That's actually why I'm here," Jan said. "I made a special trip so I could be with Mom when she told you. Claudia came with me to give me support and, well, with our own news, we decided we would all go out to see you tomorrow."

"Actually," Claudia said. "In my defense, I was all for saving our news for some other time and going out to see you tonight with the news of your father. But, Jan just sort of blurted it out while we were still standing on the porch."

"Well, of course I did! I'm proud of you, baby. I've been wanting to introduce you to my family for a month now. So, I seized the day."

I wasn't sure, but I was getting the idea that Claudia might not have been quite as in a rush as Jan to proclaim their love. In fact, she seemed a little bit uncomfortable with Jan's display of affection in front of us.

"So, what did Dad do now?" I asked.

"There's not really an easy way to tell you this, John," Mom said. "I'm sorry for that. Your father was killed yesterday."

"Oh, my God!" Becki gasped and her hand tightened on mine.

"Oh, just wait," Jan said. "It gets better. Dad was killed in what they believe was a murder suicide by his long time lover."

"What?!" Becki gasped.

"Yep," Jan said. "His boyfriend of twenty years, a guy he worked with."

"Oh, my God!" Becki said.

"I know. Right?"

I watched Mom who was watching me. She interpreted my confused worry correctly.

"Don't worry about me, John." Mom said. "His boyfriend killing him saved me the aggravation of fighting out this divorce to the bitter end. As far as I'm concerned I've lost a pain in my ass. I'm just worried about you since you lost your father."

"Don't look at me," Jan said. "Frankly, I'm just as happy his attempts to fuck over Mom are over."

Mom, Jan, Becki, and even Claudia were all looking at me.

I felt like I should feel bad about Dad. But, I didn't really feel anything. He'd always been the semi-scary guy who came home from work and watched television unless he was scowling and growling at the rest of us for wasting money. And then he'd been cheating on Mom longer than I'd been alive?

Maybe it says something bad about me that I didn't really feel anything at all about learning the man who'd donated the sperm to begin my existence was gone.

"So, uh, when is the funeral?" I asked.

"There aren't any plans for one," Mom said. "Unless you think you need one? Do you want to have a funeral for him, John?"

"Funerals are expensive, John," Jan said, gently.

That answered that.

"No, I guess not," I said. "Dad was never one to waste money. So, giving him a funeral that would spend a lot of money would be disrespectful, I guess."

"That's what we thought," Mom said. "But, if you wanted one, we could have done something, I suppose."

"No, that's all right," I said. "If you two weren't wanting to do anything... But, what about his body?"

"Well, the Plainview police are still investigating and who knows how long that will take," Mom shook her head. "When they contact me, I was just going to have them cremate his remains."

"Oh. All right then."

"I'm sure they would let you say goodbye, if you wanted to go see him." Becki said.

"No, I guess not," I said. "I mean, he's not really there any more. If I was going to do that, I guess I should have done it a couple of weeks ago."

"After he blacked your eye for you?" Jan asked. "He knew where you were. He could have called or come to see you. He didn't. Fuck him. You've got nothing to feel bad about, John."

"The eye?" Becki asked. "That first day of June? Your father was the one that gave that to you?"

"Yes, Becki," Mom said. "Thomas hit John in the face during an argument about you."

"That's not fair, Mom," Jan interrupted as Becki gasped again. "Dad hit John because John wouldn't do things his way."

"Did he ever hit you?" Claudia asked Mom.

"Me? Oh, no. I would have dragged him through three different courts sideways if he had. And he never hit either of the kids like that before that day that I knew of or he would have been gone long before this June."

"Actually, Mom, he was always pretty rough with John."

"John, is that true?"

"No," I said. "Of course not. He never punched me. Even that day he didn't punch me, really. He just sort of smacked me with the back of his hand. Just harder than he ever had before."

"You mean he hit you like that before and you didn't say anything?"

"No, never that hard," I told Mom. "And he only ever did it when I screwed up."

"All the time," Jan said. "Usually in the back of the head."

"And you didn't say anything, Jan?"

"I didn't know any better until I started hanging around with Claudia. She's a caseworker at a home for battered women and children in Odessa."

Becki leaned against my side on the couch and held my hand while Mom, Jan, and Claudia talked for an hour. I didn't have the first idea what to say. This certainly wasn't what I'd envisioned introducing Becki to my family. Having Becki there was awkward. But, I vastly preferred it to the idea of her not being there.

Mom and Claudia seemed to get along really well, which I was grateful for. Maybe I shouldn't have been seeing how things turned out.

It was late when Becki and I escaped.

"Can we pull over?" Becki asked in my ear as we roared back out of town.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I pulled over.

"Nothing's wrong," Becki said as she clambered around until she was straddling me face to face. "I just want to say I'm sorry about your Dad. And to tell you I love you and give you this before we get back in range of Grumps and Bessie."

What I thought was going to be another sweet kiss from beautiful Becki quickly changed to something else. I'd heard of French kissing, of course, but I never really understood just how that could work. Or how much more enjoyable it could be than the sweet caresses of lips we'd shared.

Becki and I's tongues were fencing away like mad, delving into each other's mouths, caressing each other's lips, sliding along and tangling with each other. Becki captured my hand in hers while her nub kept my head pulled close and put it directly on her breast. My cock was throbbing in time with my pulse as she ground her crotch against mine and moaned in my mouth. I was so incredibly close to orgasming in my pants, I would never have lasted long enough even to draw my cock out into the open air.

Naturally our town's lone police officer pulled behind us and spotlighted us just then.

There have been times in my life where I wondered if God, fate, or whatever higher power anyone would care to name had it in for me.

The officer was kind enough to let us go quickly, but he did sit there and watch until his headlights were pinpricks in my rearview mirrors. By then, we were almost home. Becki didn't make things easy on me, running her hands over my crotch as I tried to concentrate on not putting us in the ditch.

Thankfully, she stopped doing that as we turned onto the graveled road that ran up alongside the pool. Not only am I not sure I could have managed to keep us upright, but Willard and Eunice were both standing on the porch when we pulled up.

"Well?" Eunice asked. "How did it go? Oh, do you kids need to come in and eat?"

"It's late." Willard scowled at me.

"I'm not really hungry, Eunice." Not for food anyway, I wasn't. "I think I'd rather just call it a night. Thank you for being there with me tonight, Becki."

"Of course, John. I love you."

"I love you, too." I gave her a much more chaste kiss than I wanted considering our audience. "Good night, Becki."

I watched as Becki steered her grandmother and grandfather inside before I, carefully and painfully, dismounted myself. I heard Eunice asking what had happened and muffled exclamations through the closed door as I made my way around to start heading for the pro shop entrance.

--02Jul87--

"Sorry to hear about your Pop." Willard said gruffly the next morning. I thanked him and that seemed to be all either of us wanted to say on the matter.

Jan met me halfway back to the pro shop.

"Hey, sis. Where's Claudia?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Jan seethed.

"Um, okay."

"Can I borrow some money? I need gas to get myself back home and pack. And I'll be damned if I'm going to take shit from that bitch or our bitch of a mother either!"

"Wait, what? What did Mom do?"

"She stole my girlfriend, that's what!" Jan shrieked.

"She what?"

"She stole my fucking girlfriend!" Jan yelled. "I went to bed because I was tired and more than a little tipsy. Claudia and Mom were still talking, and it was mostly about boring shit, you know? When I woke up this morning, the two of them were asleep in Mom's bed!"

"Wow," I said softly. I wasn't sure just what else to say to that. "So, what did they say?"

"I didn't hang around to talk about it! What the hell are they going to say to make that okay? I was going to get some gas and drive back to Odessa to get my shit out of her house, but I realized I didn't have any money. So, I came out here to see if you could help me."

"Sure," I sighed. I hadn't been making any money, but I hadn't been spending much either. I gave Jan fifty dollars of my stash of cash and watched as she pulled away, wondering if I'd see her for the last time. After all, I hadn't known the day Dad blacked my eye it would be the last time I saw him either.

"Your mother just called," Eunice said as I walked back through. "She sounded upset."

"John? Is your sister out there with you?" Mom asked almost as soon as she picked up the phone.

"Well, she was," I said. "I just gave her some money for gas and she drove away. Literally, she just now is probably back in town stopping somewhere for gas."

"Is she coming back here?"

"I don't think so, Mom. She seemed pretty upset about you and Claudia."

"Me and... Oh, for heaven's sake. We fell asleep talking! We were both fully clothed and on top of the covers! All right. Thank you, John. It sounds like Claudia and I need to go so we can try to catch up to your idiot sister and talk some sense into her."

"Good luck with that," I snorted at a dial tone.

"Everything all right, John?" Eunice asked.

"Insanity is hereditary," I said with a grin. "You catch it from your family."

"I hear you," Eunice chuckled, then sobered. "Listen, I'm really sorry to hear about your father. I can't say I ever warmed to the man myself, but..."

"Sounds like nobody did," I shook my head. "Thanks, Eunice. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, John. How can I help?"

"What have you guys done for advertising?"

"Excuse me?" Eunice blinked.

"I was just wondering. I mean, I'd heard a rumor the pool wasn't going to open in the spring. I'm sure if I heard it, everyone else in town heard the same thing. So, what have you guys done to let people in town know you're still here and still open for business?"

"Why, they know we're still here, John. I go into town to buy groceries every week. Becki and I just went to have her hair done last week."

"Sure," I said. "But, have you actually told anyone you're still open for business? Anyone at all other than just the four of us?"

"I'm sure they know, John. I'm sure they're just busy or exploring the next new thing that opened up. That's how it happens. Anyone with the time, money, and energy to spare has gone off to Lubbock to see that new Water Rampage park and play golf on that new course on the north side of Lubbock. Eventually they'll remember how important it is to keep local money local and they'll come back. Just like they buy their groceries at Jim Bob's Pay-n-Save instead of going to Lubbock. Just like they buy their dry goods at Struve's and their clothes at Hoppy's. You'll see."

I wasn't quite so sanguine, but I could tell Eunice wasn't going to listen to me. And why would she? I was working my first ever job, for free so far, where I was just a lifeguard, or pool boy according to Willard and Becki, at a pool and golf course that hadn't seen a single customer in over a month.