Elinor - Chapter 2

 

Elinor

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 2

 

My entire head was in pain.  My wrists were in pain, my ankles were in pain, my back was in pain, and even my ass was in pain from sitting so long on that hard chair.  But my head was by far the worst.  First I had been hit over the head by the big guy’s gun, then later I had been punched a few times in the face.  I figured I had good reason for my head to hurt so much.  I also figured I had good reason for my brain to not be able to understand what had happened, including what was happening now.  I simply couldn’t make sense of anything that had gone on.  My bottom line though, was that I was amazed I was still alive.  I had been convinced I was going to die, and I still didn’t even know why.

Now I was following the big guy to…I had no idea where, but it seemed to be a long walk.  I saw a lot of fences, many of them with horses on the other side.  We passed a number of horse stables and other buildings.  The big guy finally led me into what looked like the main house.  Make that mansion.  As I followed through the house, my head swiveled around looking at everything.  It all appeared to be…rich!  Absolute wealth!

I was led into a large, beautifully decorated room with a desk in it and a nice seating area for relaxing with guests.

“That’s your desk,” the big guy told me.

“My desk?”

“That’s what I said.  Mr. Germo said he needs you to get his schedule straight for the rest of the day by the time he gets back.  I suggest you get busy.”

“But I don’t know anything about…”

“Your desk is right there!” the big guy stopped me as he pointed again.

“But…”

The big guy just shrugged then headed for a chair in the corner where he sat.  I looked at him there.  He appeared to be comfortable in the chair.  There was a small table next to it with a couple of books and a lamp.  The man picked up a book and began reading, ignoring me.

“That was Mr. Germo?” I asked, attempting to make sense of something.

The guy looked up from his book.  “That was him,” he confirmed.  “Enrique Germo.”

“And who are you?”

“Stan.  I’m your personal bodyguard…or assassin.  Whichever.  Depending on whether you step out of line or not.  If you do?”  He shrugged.  “I’ll kill you.  Even though I already know that Mr. Germo would rather do that himself.  Still, I wouldn’t mind ending your life in the least.  It gives me…purpose.”

I was aghast.  “And I’m supposed to just figure out his schedule for the day?”

“Something like that.”

“How?”

Stan shrugged.  “Your desk is over there.  It’s not my business.  My business is to take care of you, one way or another.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but it sounded ominous.  “I’m Rowan,” I told him.”

“Not anymore,” Stan replied, his head down in his book.  “I suggest you get to work.  Mr. Germo is only going to be an hour or two at the most.”

I moved close to the desk and looked around the room.  It was obviously a woman’s office.  There were a few plants in the room and lots of decorations.  The desk was huge with an expensive executive chair behind it.  I sat in the chair and looked around.  The computer on the desk wasn’t just old, it was ancient.  My eyes fell on something else.  “A rolodex?” I said out loud.  “Give me a break!”

“What would you use?” Stan asked, his head still down in his book.

I didn’t bother answering.  I was about to turn to the computer to see if I could even get into it since I had no idea what password the previous woman had used, when my eyes fell on the book in the middle of the desk.  I opened it and confirmed my worst suspicions.  It was a date planner.  Searching through it, the entire thing seemed to be full of many penciled in entries.  I also noted a number of places where things had been erased then written over with something else.  Schedule changes.

I found today’s date and noted a number of things listed.  I guessed they were all things that were supposed to be on Germo’s schedule for the day.  I didn’t see anything about the woman going to a computer store to talk about getting a new computer system that was obviously needed.  I wondered if the woman had a separate schedule book just for herself.

Okay.  So now I had a list of things that Mr. Germo was supposed to be doing today, including the times.  Now what?

“I found his schedule for the day,” I told Stan whose head was still in his book.

“Good.  He’ll want you to fill him in as soon as he gets back,” Stan replied, still not bothering to look up.

I looked down at the entries.  The writing was neat.  Feminine.  But still a bit difficult to read since it contained more than a few abbreviations I would have to decipher.  I looked up again to Stan.  “The woman who died, I guess the one who’s desk this is…”

“It’s your desk now,” Stan replied, his head still in the book.

“Her name was Elinor?”

“Yup.”

“How did she handle things with…Mr. Germo I guess?”

Stan finally looked up from his book.  “First thing every morning, she usually sat down with him in his office and laid out his itinerary for the day.  Then whenever Mr. Germo went anywhere or did anything, she usually went with him.  A lot of her job was to just keep him on track and handle any of the details he asked her to.”

“And I’m supposed to do all that?”

Stan shrugged.  “That’s the job.  Unless you’d rather die.  Which will be easy enough to arrange.  Of course, then we’d have to find a new Elinor to take your place.”

“Elinor,” I repeated the name.  “My name is Rowan by the way.  Rowan…”

“I told you, not anymore!” Stan cut me off quickly.  “Whoever you used to be is dead already.  The only question now is, do you want your body to be just as dead as whoever you used to be?  You’re Elinor now.  I suggest you get used to it, or just let me shoot you and be done with it.  You’re choice.”

“None of this is making any sense!” I complained.

Stan put his book on the table and got up.  As he approached the desk he pulled his gun out.  He stopped in front of the desk and aimed it at my head.  “Bye Elinor,” he said.

“No!  Wait!” I said quickly.  Stan stopped, but the gun was still pointed at my head.  “I’ll be Elinor.  Okay?  I just….  Please don’t kill me.”

Stan shrugged, then put his gun away and headed back to his chair.

“I just don’t know anything about anything here,” I told him.  “I don’t even know how I got into this position in the first place.”

“Elinor died,” Stan said as he picked up his book again.

“And now I’m Elinor,” I said, looking for confirmation.

“For now,” Stan said as he opened the book.

“For now?”

“For now,” Stan confirmed.  “I’m guessing it’s all going to depend on whether or not you can convince Mr. Germo that you’re worth keeping alive.  He has a, shall we say fondness, for killing people.  I still don’t know why he didn’t simply kill you earlier.  I’m guessing he was just desperate.  Most likely, very desperate.”

“Yeah,” I replied.  “He must have been.”

“Indeed,” Stan replied as he began reading again.

I looked down at the date planner in front of me, then at the ancient computer on the desk.  Did that thing actually work?  The keyboard was off to the side of the desk.  I reached out and hit the spacebar.  Amazingly, I could hear the computer starting to come to life.  It took a moment, but the screen finally lit up.  Huh!  Not even a password.  I pulled the keyboard and mouse over in front of me, then began trying to look through what I could on the computer.  There was a lot more stuff in there than I expected.  None of which I knew anything at all about.  Something told me though that I better figure it all out as soon as possible if I wanted to continue living.

One thing had been made perfectly clear to me though, if I wanted to live, I had to keep Mr. Germo happy and prove I was worth keeping around.  But what about my store?  My brand-new computer store?  I’d just have to see.  For now, my main focus needed to be on staying alive.

Could I call the police?  The FBI?  The girl scouts?  Something told me that with Stan sitting right there in the room with me, that I’d never be able to manage it.  And Stan looked like he spent a lot of time sitting in that chair.  Stan was supposed to be my personal bodyguard…or killer.  But why?

“Stan?” I said.

“Yeah?” Stan replied, sounding very bored.

“Why do I need a bodyguard?  Other than to shoot me if I mess up.”

Stan looked up at me.  “Look.  For now, you’re Mr. Germo’s personal assistant.  That makes you the second biggest boss in this place.  You literally run everything around here, not to mention most of Mr. Germo’s business.  I’m here to make sure you stay alive, unless I shoot you, or Mateo shoots you, or Mr. Germo himself, which is the most likely thing that’s going to happen.”

Once again, the threat of extinction had been laid out to me.  I turned my attention back to the date planner, and the computer.  Maybe it would make things easier for me, and possibly for Mr. Germo too, if I typed out the events for the day in a more readable format.  Two minutes later, I began typing.

I was surprised when Stan suddenly walked over to my desk and picked up the phone on it.  Stan pushed a button, then waited a moment before he said, “Matilda?  Elinor and I are going to need a small snack brought to her office.  Oh, and I believe Elinor may have a splitting headache.  Can you bring her some tea as well?  I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.  Thanks,” he finished before putting the phone back.  He returned to his chair.

“Matilda?” I asked.

“The cook.  I just asked her to bring lunch for us here.  I’m sure the previous Elinor has some aspirin for your headache somewhere in that desk.”

I worked on the schedule list for Mr. Germo.  Fifteen minutes later, an elderly woman walked in with a large tray full of food in her hands.  She stopped just after entering the doorway and stared in disbelief at me.  She turned to Stan.  “Who’s he?  Where’s Elinor?”

Stan pointed at me.  “Elinor!” he said firmly.

Matilda just stood there staring at me in disbelief.  Then she started eliciting a string of Spanish to herself that I had no clue about.

“Matilda!” Stan said firmly.

“Si Stan,” Matilda replied.  She set the large tray on one of the tables in the room, then left, still talking to herself in Spanish.

“You done there yet?” Stan asked.

“I’ve just got to figure out if I can print this,” I replied, now looking at the ancient printer.

“Get done.  I’m getting lunch.  When you’re finished, I suggest you get yourself something to eat.  Mr. Germo is having lunch with his friend.  If you’ve got to go anywhere with him later, you may not get another chance to eat until tonight.”

It sounded like good advice to me, if not more than a bit weird since I still didn’t have a clue about anything.  I hit the print button and was amazed when the old printer started feeding paper.  In moments, I had two copies of Mr. Germo’s schedule for the rest of the day.  One copy for Mr. Germo, the other for myself.

With the papers ready to go, I walked over to the food tray.  There was nothing there that I wanted to eat, but I figured that food was probably good advice.  I grabbed a few things and brought them back to my desk.  The only thing to drink on the tray though was a cup of tea in a fancy teacup.  With little choice, I brought that to my desk as well.

As I ate, I looked through Mr. Germo’s schedule for tomorrow.  A few minutes later, I was typing that schedule into the computer, already planning for not only this afternoon, but for tomorrow too.

My only chance to live meant that I had to keep Mr. Germo happy.  So far, the only way I had to do that was to make sense of everything they thought I needed to do.  None of which made any sense to me.

Stay alive.  It was the name of the game.  And evidently, my name…my new name, was supposed to be…Elinor.

What kind of weird place was this?

 

 

 

Elinor - Prolog and Chapter 1

 

Elinor

By Karen Singer

 

Prologue

 

He looked at his daughter and said, “I know you don’t realize it, but not only has almost nobody ever heard of her, but she’s been such a recluse that very few people in the world have seen her in many, many years.  Despite that, she’s become one of the most powerful people in the world.  The fact that she asked you to come is a great honor.  So just answer all her questions as well as you can.  And remember…be polite!”

“Daddy!  You know I’m always polite.”

He looked at her skeptically.

“Okay, most of the time.  So what’s her name again?”

“You don’t need to know her name.  In fact, it’s better if you don’t know.  Just remember that her decisions affect literally billions of people in the world, even though nobody knows it.  Your answers could very well affect what she does in the future.”

“Me?”

“Yes dear.  You!  Now, are you ready?”

“Sure.  I guess.  Why not?”

Remember, just be…polite.”

“Dad, don’t worry.”

He nodded towards the man guarding the door.  The guard opened the door and let the woman walk through, then he closed the door behind her.

The last place she expected to find herself was in a bedroom.  Further examination showed her that the woman she had come to meet was by far the last person she ever expected to find.

“Come,” the voice said so softly, she could barely hear it.  She saw the woman wave her hand, motioning her over.

The woman wasn’t just old, she was very old.  And she was holding an oxygen mask against her face to help her breathe.  She was sitting in a cushioned chair with blankets covering her body.  Another chair was directly in front of her.  A small table with a collection of drinks was next to the empty chair.

“Sit, my dear,” the woman said, motioning toward the chair opposite her.

She sat, unable to take her eyes off the elderly woman.  This old lady controlled the lives of billions?

The old woman motioned toward the small table next to the chair.  “Forgive my breathing,” the old woman said before taking a breath.  “I’m due for one of my treatments.”  She took a breath.  “And it’s always much worse until I get it.”  She motioned toward the table.  “There’s hot tea there for you…”  She took another breath.  “Or tequila, or a very good red or white wine.”  She breathed.  “Whatever you wish.”

The younger woman watched as the old woman continued to struggle to breathe.  “I’m good,” she said, waving off the offered drinks.  “What can I do for you?”

“I understand that you know more about someone than anyone else.”  She immediately held the oxygen mask tightly against her face and breathed again.

The young woman was surprised and unsure how to answer.  “I know a lot about a lot of people.”

The old woman waved her comment aside.  “I only want to know about one.”

“Who?”

The old woman leaned forward to answer.  She removed the oxygen mask from her face and said, “Elinor.”

The young woman was shocked.  “Elinor!”

The old woman leaned back in her chair again and pressed the mask to her face.  “Tell me about her.”

“Elinor,” the young woman repeated.

“Tell me everything,” the old woman requested.

They young woman shook her head.  “Where do I start?”

“The beginning.  All of it.”

“Yeah but…still,” she replied as she tried to figure out what to say.  And then the starting point made itself clear.  She focused her eyes on the old woman in front of her and said, “The first time Elinor ever killed a man, the man had laughed at her and called her a bitch.  Elinor raised her gun and shot him dead.  I understand that was the first time she had ever fired a gun, but she fired it and killed him without hesitation.  And then she said, I’m not woman enough for him to call me a bitch yet.  But I’m getting there.  And that of course, is the one thing that very few people know about Elinor.  She may look like a woman, and she even acts like a woman, but she’s not a woman.  Not at all.  In fact, she never wanted to be a woman.  She still doesn’t want to be a woman.  But she’s simply stuck having to be one with no way out.  She’s…trapped.  And then of course, I’m sure you know that what she became after that was really something, because it was an absolute bitch.”

The old woman’s eyes were almost maniacal now as she again pulled the mask from in front of her face and leaned forward.  “Tell me…everything!”

 

 

Chapter 1

 

I moved around the shelves of my Albuquerque computer store adjusting any little thing that looked out of place.  There wasn’t anything, but I had little else to do, and my store had only been open for a week now.  So far, since opening the store, I had sold a grand total of three computers, and a small assortment of peripheral items to go with them.  Not much business for an entire week’s work.  But the store was still new, and despite the advertisements I paid for, the store was unknown.  Hopefully, things would get better soon.  Hopefully!

The door suddenly opened and I looked up to see a woman enter along with a large man.  “Can I help you?” I asked hopefully.

“You’re new,” the woman said.

“Just opened last week,” I told her proudly, looking the woman over.  I placed her as probably in her early fifties.  Was it my imagination, or did it look like something was bothering her?  “I’m Rowan,” I told her.  “The owner of this store.  What can I do for you?”

“I’m Elinor, Mr. Germo’s personal assistant,” she replied.  “I’ve finally convinced Mr. Germo that our current computer is outdated and needs replacing.  I’m looking for someone who can make recommendations on everything, an entire new setup.  We need multiple computers, someone to install them and maintain it all, including security.  And just so you know up front, security is of utmost importance to us.”

“Oh,” I said happily, realizing that this sounded like a business account.  “I can certainly do all that.  I’m kind of a specialist with systems of all kinds.”

“So why should we hire you instead of just going to one of the big brand stores?”

I shrugged.  “I can do it all.  And I guarantee my work.  I can also offer better personal service than those other places.”

The woman seemed to take that in.  “Fine!” she declared.  “Mr. Germo likes personal service.  But be warned, he will hold you accountable for all of it.”

“Ready and willing,” I told her happily, already seeing the dollar signs this could bring in.  “Can I show you some information on a couple of systems I prefer dealing with?”

“Fine,” she said again.

Was it my imagination, or did her face look a bit paler than it had a moment ago?  Possibly distressed.  Definitely my imagination.  “I’ll be right back,” I told her.  I hurried to my office in the back room and started searching through the advertising brochures I had in there.  I stopped though when there was a large crash from out front.  I hurried back out to where the customer was.  When I got there, I stopped and stared in horror.  “What happened?” I asked the man.

The man didn’t answer, instead he seemed to be staring in disbelief.  One of the display shelves had somehow fallen over and had landed on top of the woman.  She appeared to be unconscious.  I ran to her to find out if she was hurt, but I was quickly stopped by the man when he suddenly pulled a gun on me.  “No!” he growled, acting like he was ready to shoot me.

I watched as the man knelt down to check on the unconscious woman.  A moment later, he placed two fingers on the side of her neck feeling for a pulse.  “Shit!” he cursed softly.

“Is she…is she…dead?” I asked.

There was seething anger on his face as he pointed the gun at me again.  I could see that the man really wanted to kill me, but something seemed to be holding him back.  I was simply scared for my life.  The man finally stood up, still pointing the gun at me.  He reached out and grabbed me by my arm and pulled hard, then pushed me toward the door.  “Out!” he ordered.

I didn’t understand what was happening.  “What do you mean?  We have to call the police.  Or an ambulance at least.”

“Out!” he ordered again, but his order was immediately followed by him swinging the gun at my head.  I suddenly felt a horrendous pain and saw stars.  A moment later, I blacked out as I fell to the floor.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

The pain in my skull was sharp and horrible.  It was finally enough to bring me out of my unconscious state to…blackness and confusion.  Oww!  It took me a moment to put everything together enough to fully realize I was in the trunk of a car, and the car was moving.  What?  What was going on?  In desperation, I pounded on the wall of the trunk that I realized had to be the back of the rear seat, but it didn’t seem to do much.  I kicked at the trunk lid over top of me, but no matter how much I kicked it didn’t seem to do anything either.  Try as I might, I could find no way to either open the trunk or push through into the back seat.  The car just kept moving.  What was happening?

I remembered that woman coming into the shop with the big man.  I had gone to get some information to show her, and somehow one of his shelves had fallen over on top of her.  How?  That should have been impossible!  But the fallen shelf had killed her.  And now, suddenly, I was here in the trunk of this car, travelling to who-knows-where.  Why?

Nothing made any sense!

With little choice, I stopped kicking and just laid there, holding my aching head.

The car seemed to keep going and going and going.  A long time.  I felt every time the car turned or stopped.  Finally, it seemed to stop again, and I felt the faint vibration from the engine cease.  I was guessing we were there, wherever there was.  I heard a car door open and then heard the door close again.  A moment later, the trunk opened and bright light blinded me.  I saw the big man there.  “Out!” he ordered, just before he reached in and grabbed me by my shirt.  With one gigantic pull, my entire body was pulled from the trunk of the car.  The man turned me around and grabbed me by the back of my neck and the back of my shirt.  “March!” he ordered as he literally pushed me toward a junky looking concrete building.

Something caught my attention though as I was being forced toward the building.  I looked into the car.  There, in the back seat, the woman who had died in my shop appeared to be just sitting there.  Was she indeed dead?  She wasn’t moving.

The man opened the door and pushed me inside.  In the middle of the room was a metal chair that I noticed was bolted to the concrete floor.  I was pushed into it, and the man quickly grabbed my arms and pulled them around behind the chair.  Faster than I could believe, I felt the man putting something on my wrists, binding my arms behind the chair.  “No!  No!” I shouted as I struggled, but my struggling and pleas did no good.  After that, the man knelt down in front of me and tied my ankles to the front legs of the chair.  “Stop!  Please!” I pleaded.  But again, the man didn’t seem to care.  “Why?” I asked.  But I got no answer at all.

And then the man walked out, leaving me there.  Totally confused, I had no choice but to sit there and wait a very, very long time.

The spot where the man had hit me with the gun still hurt horribly, but now my entire body seemed to hurt from being tied to the chair for so long.  I was scared out of my wits, and I didn’t know what to do about it.  I no longer even cared about anyone telling me why, I simply wanted to be set free so I could go home.  And I’d walk whatever distance we had come if I had to.

The door opening caught my full attention, and I saw three men come in, then close the door behind them.  One of those men was the man who had hit me with his gun.  As the men got closer, I noticed that all three of them had guns.

“This is the man?” one of them asked as he looked me over.

“That’s him, Mr. Germo” the big man confirmed.

“Now what exactly happened Stan?”

“I’m not totally sure,” the big man replied.  “He had said he could handle the whole computer business and then went off to the back room to get some stuff for her to look at.  Elinor wandered over to look at some of the stuff on one of the shelves, when she suddenly reached out and grabbed it like…  Mr. Germo, something suddenly just seemed to hit her.  Something physically inside, I think.  I was worried just before we walked into the store that there might be something bothering her, but I didn’t know what.  And when I asked earlier if she was okay, she just said yes, she was fine.  But when whatever it was suddenly hit her in the store, she grabbed the shelf and pulled hard enough that the whole thing came crashing down on top of her.”

“And she died,” Germo said.

“I’m sorry,” Stan told him.  “But sir, I’m not sure how that shelf fell like it did.  It looked like it was plenty stable enough.  I wouldn’t have thought it would fall like that.”

“I don’t care.  But you are right, no matter what, it shouldn’t have fallen.  And it especially shouldn’t have fallen on her!”

“True,” Stan agreed.

The third man there asked, “Do you think she may have had a heart attack or something?”

“I think it may have been something like that.  But still, no matter how hard she grabbed that shelf, it shouldn’t have fallen on her like it did.”

The third man nodded.  “No.  It shouldn’t have.”

“Either way, Mateo,” Germo told him, “someone has to pay.”

“I agree,” Mateo, the third man told him.

“Absolutely!” Stan agreed.  “And it was his shop.”

“Which makes him responsible,” Germo finished.

“You’re talking about the woman who died,” I said.  “But it wasn’t…”  Faster than I thought possible, the man’s fist lashed out, and I received a jaw dropping punch to the side of my head.  It took me a moment to get my wits even halfway back again.

“If I want you to say something, I’ll ask!” Germo told me sternly.

I was still reeling from the punch.

“Your shelf fell on top of my personal assistant,” he said.  “That shouldn’t have happened!”

I shook my head.  “I don’t know how it happened.  It shouldn’t have been able to fall.”

“Which is exactly right!” he told me.  “It shouldn’t have been able to fall!  But it did, right on top of her.  And now she’s dead.  And the only person I can blame, is you!”

“But…”  And then his fist lashed out again and it seemed like my entire head exploded in pain.

“What do you do?” he asked before I could fully make sense of the question.

“I was just…looking for stuff to show her….”

This time he slapped my face.  “No!  What do you do?  What kind of work?”

“I’m…I’m a computer guy.  I just opened a store where I sell computers.  I’m a systems specialist.”

“I have no idea what that is, and I don’t care,” he told me.

I wondered why he had asked.

“Where do you come from?”

“Chicago,” I told him.

“Chicago!  What the hell are you doing down here?”

“Chicago is cold.  And miserable.  And just plain awful!  I wanted better weather and someplace not as packed with people.”

“So you chose Albuquerque?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Where it’s boiling hot and miserable?”

“At least it doesn’t rain or snow ninety percent of the time,” I countered.

“No.  It rarely rains at all.  So tell me mister computer guy, what the hell is a…”  He looked over at Mateo.  “What did he say he did?”

“A system something,” Mateo replied.

“Systems specialist,” I supplied.

“Yeah.  What the hell is that?” he asked.

“I look at computer systems.  The entire setup from start to finish, including the business that’s using them.  I make sure the systems match the business’s needs, and that it all works the way it’s supposed to.  And then I also try to figure out how to improve it all.”

“You look at the way things are supposed to work?” Germo asked, thinking about that.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“And you make things work better, including the business?”

“That’s the general idea,” I told him.

“Just computers?  Or other things too?”

“I mostly know computer systems, but I guess I’ve always been pretty good at realizing how everything works.  It’s kind of a job requirement so I know how to configure the computers.”

“I see,” Germo said.  He suddenly pulled his gun from the waist of his pants and pointed it at my head.  “Too bad mister computer guy, but someone has to be punished for Elinor’s death.  And lucky you, you’re it.”

To my horror, I could literally see the man’s finger squeezing the trigger on his gun…when a cellphone rang and everyone turned toward Mateo, including Germo who had been about to shoot me.

“Yeah?” Mateo said into the cellphone.  He listened a moment then looked up at Germo.  “It’s Ramerez boss.  You’re supposed to be there for lunch right now, but you’re not.”

“Shit!” Germo cursed loudly.  “Why did it have to be Elinor?”

“Don’t know boss.  What do you want me to tell Ramerez?”

“Tell him I’ll be there as fast as I can.  I’ve got business to attend to and everything’s out of whack today.”

“Damn!” Germo swore again while Mateo talked on the phone.  “Elinor practically runs this place.  Why did she have to die?”

“She’s going to be difficult to replace,” Stan noted.

Despite my situation, I couldn’t help but snort a soft chuckle.  “Big man,” I muttered.  “Can’t even keep your own schedule straight.”

“What did you say?” Germo yelled as he pointed his gun right at my head again.

“Nothing!” I replied quickly, once again frightened out of my wits.

“You know so much about schedules?”

“No,” Rowan replied.

“Then why should you criticize me?” he asked threateningly as he pressed the barrel of his gun hard against my forehead.

“I’m sorry,” I pleaded, suddenly close to crying since I knew I was about to die.

“My life is busy.  It’s one thing after another.  Don’t criticize what you don’t know!”

“No,” I agreed.

“Shit!” Germo cursed as he looked over at Mateo and Stan.  “Why the hell am I arguing with this piece of shit.  I only came out here to kill him.”

“That was the plan boss,” Mateo agreed.

“Shit!” Germo said again, then turned his gun back toward my head.  “Tell me mister schedule system expert.  How would you fix all my business problems?”

I was surprised by the question, but I’d do anything to stay alive a moment longer.  “I…don’t know anything about your business, but I guess I’d try to put everything together as much as possible so that a computer program can keep track of it all.”

“A computer program!”

“Yes.  That’s what they do.  That’s what computers are best at.”

“And you can do that?”

“Uh…yeah,” I agreed, hoping for any chance to stay alive.  “I’m guessing it’s why that woman came to me in the first place.”

Germo stood there with his gun pointed at my head for a few moments while he considered things.  “Elinor came to you!” he said, thinking about that.  Then suddenly he pulled the gun away and turned to Stan.  “Stan, take Elinor here to her office.  I’ve got to go to lunch with Ramerez.  When I get back, we’ll see if she can at least keep my schedule straight for the rest of the day.”

Stan looked at him like he was crazy.  “Elinor?”

“That’s what I said Stan.  Elinor.  Come on Mateo.  I’m late for lunch.”

 

Another Story: Elinor

 Okay people.  As always, I’m NOT back again.  But, I’m going to post another story.  And once again it’s going to be one you’re not going to be interested in.  Too bad.  I don’t care. 

 I’ll probably try to post twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) again, but I can’t guarantee that.  I may wind up posting anytime or not at all.  Who knows.  As I said, I’m not back.

 Just so you know, I am working (slowly) on a couple of stories that I know you’d all be more interested in, but who knows if I’ll ever finish them.  The big main one is a difficult one to write.  So in the meantime, there’s this.

 This is the story I was going to publish on Kindle.  I just decided I didn’t want to bother doing that, but I still wanted to do something with it, so I’m sticking it here.  Like The Last Jeskey and Extracted, I think this is an absolutely fascinating story.  Maybe more so than the other two.  It’s also slightly on the long side, but that doesn’t matter much to me.  One other note, it may contain a few more little punctuation errors than I like.  I’ve edited it a bit, but not to the extent I’d prefer.  No matter what, if you bother to read it, I think you’ll enjoy it.

 Okay, so the story is simply titled:  Elinor.

 What’s it about?  Here we go, and as always, it’s difficult for me to explain these things.

 Some people are born with a destiny.  A destiny they can’t outrun no matter how hard they try.  That was Rowan’s problem.

Before his father died, Rowan’s father had been the biggest drug czar in Chicago, a world that Rowan had always hated, just like he had always hated his father (and mother).  Eventually, Rowan moved away from Chicago to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a place he figured would be the exact opposite of everything he hated about Chicago.  There, he opened a computer store.  In the store’s second week of business, a woman named Elinor walked into his store along with a large man.  But Elinor had the audacity to suddenly die right there in his store.

The big man kidnapped Rowan and dragged him down to a ranch far south of Albuquerque where the plan was to kill him.  But fate intervened and Rowan was given a strange choice, either die, or assume the role of Elinor, including dressing and acting like a woman.  Rowan’s new mantra in life quickly became:  Breathe.  Keep living.  Whatever it takes!

Rowan soon found himself right back in the drug world that he detested so much.  But this time he was in a very different part of that world.  Strangely though, Rowan’s new role in life turned out to be one he was very, very good at.  It’s just that other parts of his new life he wasn’t so good at.

But as it turned out, the biggest problem wasn’t him having to be Elinor.  The biggest problem was what he became next.

Breathe!  Keep living!  Whatever it takes!

 Excerpt from the Prolog of the book:

 She focused her eyes on the old woman in front of her and said, “The first time Elinor ever killed a man, the man had laughed at her and called her a bitch.  Elinor raised her gun and shot him dead.  I understand that was the first time she had ever fired a gun, but she fired it and killed him without hesitation.  And then she said, I’m not woman enough for him to call me a bitch yet.  But I’m getting there.  And that of course, is the one thing that very few people know about Elinor.  She may look like a woman, and she even acts like a woman, but she’s not a woman.  Not at all.  In fact, she never wanted to be a woman.  She still doesn’t want to be a woman.  But she’s simply stuck having to be one with no way out.  She’s…trapped.  And then of course, I’m sure you know that what she became after that was really something, because it was an absolute bitch.”

The old woman’s eyes were almost maniacal now as she again pulled the mask from in front of her face and leaned forward.  “Tell me…everything!”

  

The next post (if I get around to it) will begin the 44 chapters of:  Elinor.

Don't Know

 I’ve got nothing finished that you really want to read.  I do have a finished Karen Singer book that hopefully will make it to Amazon Kindle sometime next year, but it’s not close to being ready for that platform yet.  I could post it here, but what’s the point?  Not to mention, despite it being about a man who is forced to assume the role and life of a woman, it’s not about humiliation at all and as I said, nothing you want to read here.  I’ll probably post something about it here when I release it.  Just so you know, it’s called Elinor.  It’ll be a while though.  There are simply too many problems in my life that I have to deal with first.

I’m not planning on closing this blog down, I just have nothing worth posting.  If I do, I stick it up and maybe one or two people will find it.  But as I said, what’s the point?

A big thanks to you all for sticking with me.  Please try to be happy and healthy.

Karen

Gramps - Chapter 27

 

Gramps

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 27

 

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…  How many things in our lives seem to evoke some kind of countdown towards an event?  Rockets going off.  New Year’s Eve.  And of course, the event in question here, Christmas.  It was Monday, and the countdown stood at three days before Christmas.  Christmas, an event I now feared more than anything else.

Kimmie and Ash…darn!  Mommy and Grandma had assured me that we weren’t going anywhere for Christmas.  We would be staying right here at home…her home, not mine.  But Grandma was quick to add that she couldn’t guarantee that some family members might show up even though we weren’t going to be part of any kind of family get-together.  Family was family after all.  It was possible that one or two might want to drop in, just to check on us and say merry Christmas. 

Since Thanksgiving, Ash had spent a lot of time decorating her house for the Christmas season, including a full-size fake Christmas tree in the corner of the living room where my toys were once again scattered.  The tree gave me less room to play in, but there was no kind of actual boundary to keep me from spilling into or playing in the rest of the room.

With my days consisting of mostly enforced “playtime,” playing with the baby toys was about all I had to do.  I’m pretty sure I mentioned not long ago that it was either learn to actually play with those dumb things or literally die of boredom.  Lately, it was the dollhouse that that seemed to grab my attention the most, after that, believe it or not, that stupid singing doll.  With nothing better to do, I would press the buttons and listen to her sing stupid kiddie songs to me for hours at a time.  Trust me, it was a far cry from listening to the usual kind of music I liked, but it was all I had.

Monday morning brought about a slight change in Kimmie’s usual routine to get me dressed.  In the process, she removed my earrings, cleaned them and my earlobes, then stuck the things back in my ears again so I could “enjoy” them.  How could I enjoy them?  Not only could I not see them, but whenever I laid my head down too far to the side, the posts in the back dug into me and hurt.  Some enjoyment.

Once again it was baby food for breakfast, baby food for lunch, and then I got fed a decent (and delicious) meal the same as everyone else for dinner.  No company at all that day.  Hooray.  The entire day was really nice, if you don’t count going nuts having nothing at all to do but play with baby toys.

But all that changed as soon as dinner was over.  Suddenly Ki…Mommy was all action as she got me redressed nicely.  I got a big bow in the back of my pulled back hair.  And I got taken out of the house into public again.  Why did they feel it was so necessary to do that to me every day?  I’ll never know.

This time, instead of shopping, we went to a church “living tree” Christmas concert.  The music was really nice.  The looks from the million or so people who saw me weren’t nice.  I don’t understand why Mommy and Grandma didn’t notice that at all.  Were they blind?  At least once the lights were turned down and the program began, nobody was paying any attention to me and I could actually enjoy it.  Like I said, it was really nice.  Better than I expected.

The best part?  We went straight home after that.  I was so glad!

 

Five, four, three, two…  Two days to go.  Tuesday.  Change my diaper.  Clean my ears.  Dress me in another skirt outfit.  Sit on the floor and play with the same old toys.  Baby food for lunch.  Play with more toys.  Take an enforced nap.  Play with toys again.  Have a good dinner like everyone else.  And go berserk when the doorbell rang.

My daughter Jenny and her daughter Madison walked in.  They said hi and Merry Christmas to Ash and…shit!  I mean, they said hi and Merry Christmas to Grandma and Mommy, then headed straight for me sitting on the living room floor in the middle of my toys.  Jenny bent down first.  “And how is little Diane today?” she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.  “Give Aunt Jenny a big hug and kiss.”

Oh great!  Did she have to do that?  She hugged me and kissed me, then it was Aunt Madison’s turn.  She couldn’t stop laughing the entire time she hugged me.

Fortunately, we didn’t leave the house.  But a little while later, I got to join them in the kitchen while Grandma, Mommy, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Maddy drank coffee and talked…WHILE I got to sit there with my hands spread out so Aunt Maddy could change my perennial pink nail polish to red for the Christmas season.  My fingernails had been a consistent pink for so long now that I had finally gotten used to it.  Now they wanted to change things up and make it even more difficult to not notice what color they were?  Darn women!

 

Three, two, one…  Wednesday.  The day before Christmas.  Christmas Eve.  It had started snowing the night before and we woke up to an inch of snow covering everything and it was still coming down.  My thoughts about it were that hopefully it would keep everyone, including my family, away from me tomorrow, Christmas day.

Mommy had other ideas.

After lunch she found me in my usual spot near the Christmas tree.  “Diane,” she said excitedly as if she was talking to a real toddler.

Uh-oh.  Where were we going now?

“It’s snowing out.”

Brilliant.  How did she figure that out?

Um…remember that Disney song from Frozen, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”  Guess what her exact words were to me.  Yup!  “Diane.  Do you want to build a snowman?”

Nope!

Mommy…aka Kimmie…aka my dear sweet granddaughter Kimberly, had not yet learned the art of reading minds.  So guess where we went.  Right.  She dressed me up somewhat warmly, and out we went into the snow.  Yes, believe it or not, she and I spent over an hour out there building snowmen.  Three of them.  One named Mommy.  One named Grandma.  And one named Diane.  At least the one of me wasn’t wearing a dress.

 

And we have liftoff…I mean Christmas!

Oh Christmas pee, oh Christmas pee, how lovely are thy…  Never mind.

From the start I was dressed nicer than usual.  When Mommy cleaned my ears that morning, my pink earrings got changed out for red ones that would not only match my nail polish, but the dress she planned on making me wear later.  Um…they matched my red shoes too, but we won’t bother mentioning that.

Except for changing my earrings, my day started off the same as every other day since we arrived, including the baby food for breakfast and lunch.  But after lunch Mommy undressed me  and put me into another new dress.  One that evidently she had ordered over the internet, just for me to wear on Christmas Day.  The dress was similar to the one I had worn on Thanksgiving, except instead of being pink and white and far too short, this one was red and white and far too short.  Was my diaper showing?  Trying to see around the full skirt of the thing made it difficult to tell.  If nobody was supposed to come, why had Mommy dressed me the way she did?

Wearing the dress and a big red bow at the top of my head, I again got plopped down in front of the Christmas tree with my toys.  While I played, Grandma and Mommy started pushing me further away from the tree as they started placing nicely wrapped Christmas gifts around the tree.

Grandma and Mommy were just discussing opening our gifts when, you guessed it, the doorbell rang.  So much for nobody showing up.

“Merry Christmas,” I heard someone calling as Ash opened the door.  A moment later, Aunt Jenny and Aunt Madison walked in carrying gifts.  Everyone got greeted, including both of them spending too much time ogling…I mean gushing over how cute I looked.  Yeah right!  Five minutes later, we were all sitting down and opening gifts.  And yes, they each had a gift for me.

I opened Aunt Madison’s gift first and rolled my eyes…I mean I removed the pacifier from my mute mouth and thanked her profusely for giving me another toddler’s dollhouse complete with more toy dolls to go in it.  Oh boy, now I had two of them to play with.  Looking at it, I realized that it was one of the items from the toy list that Mommy had made me create a few weeks earlier.  It looked like Mommy wasn’t the only one in the family who saw that list.

Aunt Jenny’s gift was a lot different.  Um…um…um…  No!  I don’t want to tell you.  Shit!  Okay, okay.  When I opened the gift, it took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at, but when I finally realized it, I nearly died.  Remember those spiked booties I had found on the internet?  Yup!  But she had bought me not only the spiked booties that could lock onto my feet and keep me from being able to stand up, but she had also bought me a matching pair of bondage mittens that would make using my hands pretty much impossible.  Jenny, what were you thinking?  While I stared at them in disbelief, the others, especially Mommy, were all laughing hysterically over the things.  Mommy said she couldn’t wait to try them.  I considered taking them out and burying them in the middle of one of those snowmen we had built so nobody would find them until spring.

I opened a gift from Grandma next.  You know the dress I was wearing…and the dress I had worn at Thanksgiving that was similar.  Well, my gift from Grandma was another dress.  And then I realized that this one was very much a more babyish design than the ones that Mommy had bought.  When I held it up all the way, I was pretty sure it was shorter too.  In fact, in some ways, it reminded me of the baby dress that Mommy had put me in for that baby shower.  Mommy grabbed it from me and all the women went nuts over it.

In the middle of that, the doorbell rang again.  If people didn’t stop coming, the house would soon be packed with people.

“Merry Christmas!”

Oh shit!  A male voice.  And in walked Kimmie’s brother Keith.  He greeted all the women, but when he looked over at me, he shook his head, sneered, and muttered, “F***in’ hell!”  He immediately turned so he wouldn’t have to look at me.

Um… Keith’s idea of gifts was a bit different than the ladies, including his gift to me.  And yes, I got one from him too, all wrapped up in a very plain envelope.  All of us got the exact same thing, one Maryland lottery scratch-off ticket.  It took me a moment of looking at it to realize that the tickets he had bought each of us were probably the most expensive scratch-off’s the lottery offered, because the winning prize was advertised to be five million dollars.

Keith didn’t stick around long though, obviously because of me.  Besides, he was on his way over to Mike’s house for Christmas there.  He soon left, and Jenny and Madison left right behind him.

I still had more gifts to open though.  There were three that Mommy had gotten me.  The first two contained more toddler girl toys, I realized that just like Madison’s gift, each of them had been on the list I had given her.

I was about to open the final gift when the doorbell rang again.  Allison hurried in and wished everyone a quick Merry Christmas, including me.  She was worried about getting over to Mike’s house for Christmas with the rest of the family, but she just wanted to drop her gifts off here first since we wouldn’t be there.

We all quickly opened her gifts.  I got two from her, a kitchen set made for three-year-olds, and another footed sleeper to keep me warm.  Nice!  Um…when I say nice, I’m not talking about the kitchen set.

Allison left quickly and it was my turn to open my final gift.  Mommy had already given me a few more toys, and that’s what I expected.  I should have expected that this gift would be different…and it was.

Um…when I was putting my lists together for Kimmie a while back, do you remember me mentioning a pink pair of Mary Jane shoes with bows on them that were…dare I say it…lockable?  Yup!  The shoes that were named Sissy Trainers, that’s what was in the box.  I knew Kimmie would love them, just for the name alone.  They made me wet my diaper just looking at them.

With the gifts passed out and everyone who had shown up so far now gone, Mommy removed my nice dress and stuck me back in bed with a bottle of formula for my afternoon nap.  It seemed like every time I thought about the kind of gifts I had gotten from everyone, I wound up wetting my diaper.  Every time!  Everything had been made for a toddler girl, or…for an adult baby…like me.  Everything!  I wasn’t looking forward to wearing those Sissy Trainer shoes out in public…or maybe I was.  Just the thought of it was making me more horny than I already was.  How long before we could go home and Mommy could remove that damn chastity thing?

Much later, after a really nice Christmas dinner that Grandma and Mommy had created together, before getting up from the table, Grandma brought over all the envelopes that Keith had given us containing those scratch-off lottery tickets.  Grandma gave us each a spoon to use to scratch them off with.

“I won!” Grandma soon shouted happily.

“Let me see!” Mommy said.

“Look!” Grandma said as she held out the ticket.  “Twenty dollars!”

“Wow!” Mommy said, then she turned to me.  “How about you Diane?  Need some help?”

I shook my head and kept scratching.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Nothing.  I finally shook my head and pulled the plug from my mouth.  “Doesn’t look like I got anything.”

“Aw.  Too bad,” Mommy said as she took my ticket to check it over.

“How about you?” Grandma asked Kimmie.

Mommy went back to scratching things off.  When she was done, she just stared down at it.  I saw her swallow before she said.  “I don’t think I understand this.”

“What’s wrong?” Grandma asked.

“I think I may have won something.”

“Oh?” Grandma said excitedly.  “How much?”

“I’m not sure,” Mommy replied.  “Look.”

She handed the ticket to Grandma, who also looked confused.  “Kimberly.  It looks like…somehow…”  She looked up right at her daughter.  “You might have won the grand prize.”

I wonder if either Mommy or Grandma slept at all that night.  I did, but then I didn’t win anything except some very embarrassing Christmas gifts.  I was betting that Mommy didn’t sleep a wink though.

 

Friday morning things started a little earlier than usual.  Get me up, clean my ears, remove my diaper, shave, get in and out of the shower, get dried off, get dressed by Mommy in another skirt outfit, then get breakfast that consisted of baby cereal.  I noticed that neither Mommy nor Grandma were eating anything.  I didn’t have to ask why.

Shortly after breakfast, I was bundled up in my coat and was stuck in the backseat of the car along with my teddy bear and singing doll for company.  Off we went to the nearest gas station where Mommy had already found out that Keith had purchased all those expensive tickets.  When we got there, I was hoping to stay in the car.  Nope!  Didn’t happen.  I was pulled out and dragged right into that store.  Grandma handed the man behind the counter her ticket.  He stuck it in the machine, then congratulated her and soon handed her a twenty-dollar bill.

“Check this one first,” Mommy told the man next.  He put my ticket in the machine, then shook his head.  “Sorry.  Didn’t win anything.”

“Now this one,” Mommy told him as she handed over her ticket.

The man put it into the machine, and the machine started buzzing.  I noticed a light flashing on the top of it.  “Holy…!” the man started to say.  He turned to Mommy.  “Ma’am, you won!  I mean, you won it all.  Five million dollars.  Congratulations!”

Yeah, Mommy and Grandma both jumped up and down with excitement and hugged each other.  Me?  I was so amazed I shit my diaper.  Well, how else was my body going to react?

The excitement through the entire family was high once they heard the news.  I’m not sure about Keith though.  Since he bought the tickets in the first place, I’m sure he felt gipped and was wishing that he had won instead.

For the rest of the day, family members kept dropping by to congratulate Kimmie.  Just for the occasion, Mommy had locked…and I mean locked with small padlocks…those spiked bondage booties and the mittens on me just to make playing with my toys more frustrating…I mean enjoyable.  Trust me, if I even attempted to put any weight on the bottom of my feet, those spikes hurt like crazy.  Not only could I not stand let alone walk, but the only thing I was capable of doing with my hands was to hold a baby bottle if I used both hands to do it.

And I was supposed to play with my toys that way?  Nope!  I couldn’t even press the button on the hand of my singing doll to let her sing to me.  Um…the booties and mittens didn’t have any affect at all on my ability to wet and mess in my diaper.  That was about the extent of the fun I was capable of having while wearing those things.

 

Despite being suddenly rich, we drove home on Sunday.  Mommy was certainly in a good mood.  I was happy for her.  Very happy.  She even let me sit up front for the entire trip.  This time she talked a lot, but she wasn’t actually asking me much of anything.  Instead, she spent time dreaming about what she could do with all that money.  I, of course, had to remind her not to count too many of those chickens before they hatched.  She wasn’t exactly happy when I explained how much money both the federal government and the state government was going to get, and I wasn’t sure which state was going to be involved, Maryland or Tennessee.  Tax season hadn’t come up yet and the last place Kimmie had filed was in Maryland, even though she now lived in Tennessee.  We were going to have to get a ruling on that.

Still, I assured Kimmie…I mean Mommy that she would get a lot of money in the end.  Several million for sure.

 

A few days after getting home, I expected to be able to stay up and greet the new year with Kimmie, but she insisted that babies didn’t do that and I got put to bed instead at my usual eight-thirty bedtime.  Oh well.  I had noticed though the bottle of champaign that Kimmie had out on the kitchen counter.

A thought hit me when I saw it.  “Is your boyfriend coming?

She looked at me quizzically for a moment, then replied, “Baby, Kyle is history.  I dropped him when he kept suggesting that I should leave you.  I don’t want to leave you.  I love you too much.”  She sighed, then added, “The truth is, I really love dressing you up every day.  It’s one of the most fun things I do.  And I even like changing your diapers for you too, even when they’re messy…which face it, is almost always!  Baby, I’m not leaving you for anything. Ever!”

I hugged her.  “I’m sorry,” I told her.

“For what?  I’m happy.  There’s lots of men out there, and right now, the only one I want to be around is you.”  She laughed.  “Even though you’re now my little baby girl instead.  And Diane, I’m having so much fun with you.”

I had no doubt.

 

The following morning, I noticed that Mommy wasn’t exactly feeling very well.  She dressed me, but barely.  Then she got me a baby bottle before going back to bed.  I discovered that the bottle of champaign was empty.  She had finished the entire thing by herself last night.  No wonder she felt the way she did.  Was it something I said?  Or was she simply excited about having so much money coming in soon?

But that was the day, New’s Year Day, when my entire world turned upside down again.

Kimmie was feeling a lot better by lunchtime, but I could tell she still seemed to be sad about something.  Had my question about her boyfriend really upset her that much?  It was the only reason I could think of.

After lunch, Kimmie stood looking out the window at the backyard.  It had snowed while we were away and the ground was covered in white.  She turned to me and said, “Gramps?”

Calling me Gramps again was lately out of character for her…and me.  I got to my feet  “Yeah?”

She motioned with her head that she wanted me to come over to her.  Fearing something was wrong, I went.  I stood next to her, looking out at the snow-covered yard.  “What’s wrong?” I asked softly.

She sighed.  “We’re done,” she said simply.

I wasn’t sure what she meant.  “Done?” I asked.

“Done.  Done with all the baby stuff.  Done with the sissy stuff.  All of it.  I’ll unlock all the bathroom doors in a few minutes.”

I tried desperately to take that in.  “What happened?” I asked.

She shook her head.  “Nothing.  But it’s been about four months now that I’ve kept you in diapers and I think it’s time for us to take stock of where we are and what we want to do.”  She sniggered.  “And you’ve got a ton of new baby and sissy stuff to play with whenever you want.  And Gramps, after what we’ve been doing, I don’t think you have to be shy about me seeing you playing with any of it.  Ever!”

“Um…probably not,” I conceded.

I tried to take it in.  Done.  No more forced diapers.  No more baby bottles.  No more enforced naps.  No more playing with useless baby toys.  No more…anything.  I briefly wondered if I would even be able to go without wearing diapers anymore.  Something told me it would probably be impossible.

But now we were done.  I was shocked to discover what a letdown the simple concept of done was.  I was also shocked to discover something else.

“Kimmie,” I said softly, still looking at the snow.  “What if…”

“Yeah?”

“What if I don’t want it to be done?  What if I want to continue?  What if…I like it?”

She turned and looked at me.  “Gramps?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure?”

I had to stand there and consider that.  It was a few moments before I answered.  “Kimmie, I think I am sure.  I do like it.  I like it enough that, believe it or not, I don’t think I want to stop.”

She stared at me again, then hugged me tightly.  “Gramps,” she whispered.  “I love you so much.  Being a mother to you and teaching you to be a baby again has been so special to me.  I don’t really want to stop either.  I loved doing…everything with you.  All of it.  If we stop…I’d…miss it.  A lot!”

“So?” I asked.

She looked into my face.  “So…as long as you’re willing, are you sure you want to continue?  Just keep going from where we are now and see where it takes us?  Together?”

I nodded.  “Yeah Kimmie.  I’m agreeable to all of it.  Together.  To wherever it takes us.”

She hugged me again.  “I love you Gramps.  I love you so much!”

“I love you too Kimmie,” I replied as I hugged her back.  A thought hit me.  “What about when you have friends over though, or another boyfriend?  If you do, would I need to worry about how he’s going to fit in with things?”

Kimmie seemed to consider that, but only for a moment.  “Gramps, yeah, I may have boyfriends from time to time, but none of them will every tear me away from you.  I promise!  I love you too much Gramps.”

I nodded.  “Maybe that’s good.  So I guess it will be back to everything again.”

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“There’s just one thing I’d really like to change.  One thing that I hate more than anything.”

“What’s that?”

“Only letting me change at two o’clock every day.  It’s just too long!  I’m too much of a mess all the time, especially after all those bottles you keep me drinking.”

She chuckled.  “Poor Gramps,” she teased.  “Afraid of sitting in a little bit of shit?”

“Afraid?  No.  I’ve had too much practice with it.  Sitting in it doesn’t bother me at all anymore.”

Before I could continue, she laughed again, only louder.  “Well,” she said.  “I guess that worked!  You’ve got no problem sitting in it all day now, which to me means that you’ve got no reason to complain.”

Ugh!  Foiled again!

We both turned to look out at the snow again.  “So,” I said.  “Have you figured out what you’re going to do with all your money yet?”

She turned to me again and I noticed that sly smile of hers on her face.  “I think I’m going to get you something.”

“Me?  What?”

“Something that’s every little girl’s dream.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“A pony.”

“Kimmie…”

She laughed, then said, “And it’s not Kimmie anymore Diane.  Remember?  It’s Mommy!”

Darn woman!

 

The End