SUMMER HEAT... so much going on (Part 161p)

SUMMER HEAT… so much going on (Part 161p)

Feeling somewhat guilty I retreated back to our bedroom. The alarm for Elle’s trip to the bathroom had just gone off and she wasn’t there. I was in the process of trying to formulate some sort of reason/excuse as to why Barbara and I’d been downstairs together when Elle walked back in. She had a big smile on her face and announced that she’d made it through the night dry. I think it was like the third or fourth night in a row. I picked up on that and the topic of my absence didn’t come up. She was anxious to tell me that Barbara had asked to be left out of our plans for the day as she was looking forward to having a day all to herself. Between school, all the activities there, a job and a very demanding mother she said she didn’t want to have to do anything. Elle was smiling the whole time as she explained it to me. She closed by saying that she wished she could have a whole day all to herself.

As far as choices for the family we pretty much decided that it wouldn’t entail sailing. Jean and Anne had been registered for the junior sailing program at the club with lessons to start the next day. Now that we had two Sunfish each of the girls would be getting more instruction time actually on the water. Elle had volunteered to fill in as a chaperone during lessons when needed on top of her bi-weekly assignment so even going to the beach at the club was not appealing to her. There weren’t a lot of options but Elle remembered the fresh water lake that she’d gone to as a young teen. Our girls had never been swimming in a lake so that was the decision… until the phone rang.

In various past posts that mentioned my parents I know I’ve described their house, at least during the Summer, as being like a ‘hotel’. That was due to the fact that both of them were very social… and maintained long lasting friendships and that meant having them visit in the Summer. I loved my mother but she would drive me (us) crazy when one of their friends would show up and she would want to parade her grandchildren on front of them. Elle and I had discussed it with each other, and with my mother, asking that we be given some reasonable amount of time to respond. It was obvious that that had been a waste of time. My mother had two dear friends that went back to her childhood. The daughters of one of them were there at the house. I didn’t bother to ask how long they’d been there or how long she’d known of the visit as I knew our day was now planned for us.

My mother’s friend, known to me as “Sparkie”, had twin girls almost the same age as me. Back when I was a preteen and in my very early teen years I had to suffer through two visits a year… one at each home. By the time I’d discovered that girls weren’t yucky the visits had stopped. However, I do remember the last one with some panty peeks involved. But once I was sent off to boarding school I lost complete contact with the family. On occasion, my mother would mention something about them… weddings, children, etc… but it didn’t really register with me. On this day they had taken the ferry from Connecticut on their way home to New Jersey. They had spent a few days in New Hampshire visiting relatives and, just for the ‘kicks’ of it, decided to take the ferry  boat on their way. One of them remembered where my parents lived and took a chance they’d be home. They were and now Elle and I (and our girls) were trapped.

The only real memory I had of the twins was that their mother was still dressing them the same right up to their teens. I didn’t have any idea what they looked like and Elle and I talked about it on the way to my parents. I wasn’t a very happy man as we pulled into the driveway. We were half way up the walk when I saw two very pretty women headed in our direction. There was about an inch difference in their height at about 5’6” to 5’7”. Each of them had on what would best be described as a Summer dress, more formal than a sun dress. I appreciated the high hem line, certainly in vogue at the time. They were not dressed the same and each had their hair done differently. It took about a minute to see the common features that confirmed they were, indeed, twins. Lois and Linda were their names. My mother followed right on their heels and handled the introductions. I don’t know why but I (nor Elle) realized that they had brought children with them. There was a boy Kaye’s age and a girl Anne’s age… one child for each of them. After a few awkward moments we all headed for the front of the house. (Note: on houses that are located on the water the ‘front’ faces it.)

Hoping we wouldn’t be there all that long Elle hadn’t brought bathing suits for the kids dressing them in shorts and cotton tops. She, herself, was wearing a pair of purple short shorts that I really liked (when she bent over I could see her panties from the leg openings) but my mother didn’t. To her they were too short for a mother of three. The other kids were dressed nicely but certainly not for the beach. There was no way to keep them off of it and, for the boy, the attraction of the water was irresistible. In spite of warnings from his mother he was in it and partially wet in a matter of seconds. I remember my mother asking if the twins had bathing suits for their kids and was told they didn’t. Not bothering to ask, my mother blithely suggested that they could play in their underwear. The boy, now under his mother’s control, thought it was a great idea but the girl was hesitant, especially with strangers around. My mother, always suggesting and prodding, suggested that to ease embarrassment Elle do the same for our kids. A discussion about it then ensued with nothing resolved. Not willing to give up control my mother got the twins to commit to staying for lunch. That was the one thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen. The twins made ‘sounds’ like they had to be going but my father jumped in to warn them that with it being the 4th of July traffic would be horrendous. His dire warning turned the tide and they agreed to stay.

It was about 11am but my mother didn’t have near enough food to feed all of us so my father was dispatched to the one delicatessen that was open on the 4th. To kill time and to avoid returning to the discussion about the kids and going in the water he suggested that I take everybody for a ride in the boat he’d inherited form his father. It was moored right out in front of the house and was relatively easy to get it to the dock for boarding. Even though I’d not used it all that much I did remember how to operate it so thought it was a reasonable idea. My kids had only been on it once so they were highly excited to go on Pop Pop’s boat. I remember the twins reaction to the idea being lukewarm, at best. For Elle and I it was a roll of the eyes.

To be continued…