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The Bed in the Office Wall Affair and Other Unconventional Situations in a Citrus Village

Dr. (Ms.) Michael. S. Whitt

    Fifty year old Bradford Paine Blake chuckled as he drove his truck along Lake Clinch down the hill from his house. He was going to his construction site to the west. In Polk County Midland, the village where Brad lived, there were many lovely lakes, as there were in the county at large. Lakeland is the largest town and one of two that could be classified as a city. The other, Winter Haven, is the home of Cypress Gardens and its water ski show. The other communities were either villages twenty-five hundred or less; or towns of twenty-five hundred one to fifteen thousand. Polk’s nickname, the ‘Imperial’ County, indicates millionaires make up a larger portion of the population than most counties. Many of the fortunes were built on orchards. Polk County is on the Ridge, a narrow raised area of land that is around ninety miles long and extends from fifty miles south of Silver Springs to a few miles south of Sebring. It’s the second best citrus growing area in the state.
    Brad owned a building business he and his brother, John, inherited from their dad, when they returned from serving in the Navy during World War II. Brad’s chuckle was tinged with sadness.A close friend had recently died of a heart attack. He was sixty but looked ten years younger. His face was smooth and his blue eyes sparkled in a youthful way. His hair was nearly white, an inherited trait, but his body was firm and slender. For almost a decade Lawrence Hamilton’s home life had been filled with great stress. His second wife was a cold, bitter, and meanly puritanical woman.
    Lawrence married too soon after his first wife, a lovely woman, died from Lupus. Lawrence could barely function for several months after Beatrice’s death. This temporary disability made him worry that without a mother the adopted twins, Leslie Maria and Jonathan Andre’, would suffer. The twins were perfect for Lawrence and Beatrice. After Bea died, it was obvious to everyone close to him that he was terrified of being a single parent. Every time he had to make an important decision about them he worked himself up into a panic.
    Brad and Lawrence had been friends since they were twenty and thirty respectively. They were friends for six years before Brad married his wife, Laura. Lawrence was with Brad when his son, Justin Charles, now in tenth grade, was born. Brad was in the Philippines with the Navy Seabees when his daughter was born. Amanda Rosaleigh did not see her father until she was nearly three.

    They first met when she and Laura went to Charleston when he was sent there after the war’s end. A few weeks later, he was sent to Midland. Initially she called him Brad. He was a somewhat unwelcome intruder in her world. She soon discovered that he had a gentle, loving, and creative nature. He showed her this in many ways. The most memorable were the pictures he drew for her. They included characters like a walking stump, a car driving cat, and a flying carrot. Soon Brad turned to Dad and hesitation to love.
    Since He studied architecture at the University of Florida, he was good at drawing. He was told by two doctors that the Essential Tremors he inherited from his dad made it dangerous for him to be an architect. These Tremors were evident when he drank a glass of fluid. His hands shook badly enough he needed both to prevent spilling. The doctors told him he needed more physical activity than he could get as an architect. Otherwise, he would be too disabled to work by around age forty-five. Disappointed, he decided to leave college after his sophomore year. He would use the knowledge he gained to draw and read blue prints and other things that augment a building business. Lawrence and Richard Hamilton were business partners. Richard, two years older then Lawrence, was tall, wiry, and attractive with curly, white hair. The two owned more than a thousand acres of groves, an amount that made them millionaires. The Hamilton’s roots were in the Southeast. They were different from their counterparts. The brothers were generous in loaning money to youths for college expenses, paid their workers top wages, maintained with their employees the most democratic relationships possible, and were civically minded. They expected to pay more taxes than people who had less and supported labor unions, public education, the feminist and civil rights movements, and other progressive causes.
    Brad, a Massachusetts native, had lived in Midland since he was ten. He moved there with his parents and two siblings in 1921. Some of the paternal side of his family came to Florida years prior to his birth. His grandparents moved from Connecticut in l885 when Brad’s father, Justin Burleigh Blake, was ten. Granddad Varnum Paine Blake had not regained his health after fighting for the Union Cause. Varnum had refused to stay out of the war until his wounds were healed. This and the cold winters kept him in semi-poor health.
    Doctors told V.P. that he might regain his previous level of health in a warmer climate. It was still unsafe for northerners to travel in the former Confederacy twenty years after the war’s end.The Blake’s were at risk since Varnum and his wife, Katherine Elizabeth Burleigh, worked for the Underground Railroad before and during the Civil War. The Blake’s opted to travel by sea from Connecticut’s to Florida’s coast and by wagon to central Florida.

    V.P. began regaining his health within a few weeks. Justin was the only one of four children who went back north as an adult. He met his wife, Sarah Jessica Morse, when he worked in Rhode Island. She moved there from Nova Scotia when she was eleven. After Sarah graduated from school at the end of the ninth grade, she worked in a hat shop until she married Justin six years later.
    J.B. and Sarah lived in Worchester, Massachusetts for twenty-five years before they moved with their three children to Florida. J.B. worked for Streeter and Sons, a firm which did infrastructure work, He was their civil engineer, millwright, and executive vice-president. He ran the business as the owner’s family did not possess the necessaryskills. In his early 40’s he began to suffer from Lumbago during the winters. The pain was severe enough he often had to run the business from his bed. J.B. and Sarah decided they needed to move.
    Brad had a rich and unusual background. His ancestors included abolitionists, who were also feminists, champions of free public education, and a few democratic socialists. They warned against the greed that plagued the U. S. and was a major cause in creating economic oligarchies, which weakened capitalism. Brad‘s ancestors were free thinkers affiliated with no organized religion, or who belonged to churches in which god was immanent in human reality. God is both within and outside of humans. God is the energy behind universal human creativity, and is a democrat on the side of all of the progressive causes. Brad’s ancestors were artists, teachers, journalists, intellectuals, and craft persons. They were adventurers who struck out into the unknown. The most famous of them were Thomas Paine, an Englishman who favored the American Revolution, and was a gifted writer, pacifist, and an abolitionist; and William Bradford, a passenger on the Mayflower and Massachusetts’ first governor.
    At sixteen Amanda read a speech by her great-grandmother. The most memorable parts of it were the lines in which she takes issue with some reactionary educators who insisted that a major educational goal should be to break the child’s will. Katherine argued this was a terrible idea with undemocratic ends. It leads to cringing sycophants, when what were needed were civically conscious citizens. Sycophant was a new word for Amanda. She was bright and imaginative but ignorant due to the poor education she received. Her curiosity was not reduced. She looked up the meaning of sycophant. She found it referred to persons who were in Amanda’s words cowardly ‘ass-kissers.’ Sycophants groveled before those who had enough power and influence to help them compensate for their inferiority and cowardice. Amanda was impressed by Katherine’s vocabulary and writing style.
    Brad was happy Amanda was interested in his ancestors. He realized that the progressive heritage shaped him and Amanda giving them strength of character. Amanda rarely studied and made high grades. Her intelligence only partly explained the ease with which she sailed through the public school. She realized this when she read Katherine’s speech. She came from a family whose members for several generations were literate, well read, skilled at public speaking, and competent in various forms of writing. These ranged from published poetry to academic essays, much that were published; others were used by other thinkers as data for their research.
    Most Villagers did not know what had gone into producing such strong, honest, and fearless people, but respected and valued the Blakes. When Amanda was three the family considered leaving Midland. After Brad and John took over J. B.’s business, they were bankrupt in two years. Times were changing and not in good ways for small businesses. The corporations were entering the building business. These oligarchies were throwing up houses that were not nearly as durable as those capitalist artists like the Blakes built. Things worsened later when prefabricated houses appeared. John and his wife, Lynda moved to Bartow where he became an S and L association appraiser. She established a progressive daycare center for prekindergarteners.
    Brad and Laura thought in a larger community more work would be available. Amanda raised cane. She was clear why she was acting stubbornly. She did not want to leave her grandmother, who lived across the clay road that ran between both houses. Amanda could talk to her to deal with frustrations, clear up confusions, and share dreams. Sarah also known as ‘Mom,’ understood her granddaughter better than anyone. Amanda knew she needed Mom to grow and develop properly.
    Amanda might say, “I hate the old lady!” And much less often. “The old man too, Mom. What dorks they are. Would you believe . . .?” Mom would give a nonjudgmental response in a way that was fair to Amanda and her parents. She’d joke Amanda into a better mood.
    Mom would make remarks as, “I’m glad you think they’re dorks,” she would giggle, “I can see why you feel that way.”
    Mom filled in some of Laura’s lacks. Her childhood had been rough. She was orphaned shortly after she turned five. Laura and her younger sister Mary were adopted by the moststraitlaced and cold of her mother’s eleven siblings. Amanda and Laura were often in conflict. With Mom to fall back on, Laura’s faults had little effect on Amanda. The older she became the more she stayed away from home. When Laura took an over dose of pills, stomach pumped, it had little effect on her, but twelve year old Justin wondered what he did to cause it. The neighborhood women heard him utter those words. They tried to assure Justin he was innocent of any wrong doing. Amanda wondered if the efforts helped. She did not think of this until they were grown, but after this when she observed some unhealthy patterns in their relationship, realized he was not assured.
    Brad was glad Amanda balked at the Bartow move. He knew that her happiness and success as an adult might be imperiled without Mom. She was also a positive influence in Laura’s life, giving her the warm love of which her stepmother was incapable; Brad wanted anotherchance to make the business work. People were learning that corporate housing deteriorated rapidly. Many people in Midland were alarmed about corporate control spreading. They did not want central Florida controlled by ‘Big Brother.’ These people set about trying to change the couple’s mind. A group of them met and discussed the problem. They made plans to increase Brad’s business. They went to him in small groups and spoke with him about their desires to keep him in Midland. They valued Brad for his small business, building skills, and his highly developed character. These civically conscious people knew that he had a strong service orientation toward the community, especially with youth. They promised that they would do all in their power to see he had work. After that Brad was rarely without work. He became known as an excellent builder with an architectural education and an honest man. He was hired to build schools, churches, government buildings, and houses locally and in larger towns such as Winter Haven, Bartow, and Ft. Meade.
    Laura contributed to village welfare. She was the best accompanist in the area. She played for talent contests and other musical entertainments, weddings, funerals, and churches services. She was the accompanist for the Englands, who taught tap and ballet dancing for six years locally and in nearby towns and villages. When Justin started school, she began giving piano and organ lessons in her home. Fred and Madeline were trained in New York. They were excellent dance teachers. They had been professional dancers as young adults. When they reached forty, they were weary of the pressures of their profession. They wanted out of urban sprawls. Amanda was a natural at dancing. She got her first toe shoes in the first grade, the second year she took dancing. Since Laura would accompany her, Amanda could practice anytime. She loved the dance and was heart broken when the couple decided to move to St Petersburg after she finished the fifth grade.
    Amanda was beautiful in early childhood with a mass of golden ringlets atop her head. She continued to be beautiful in her youth and adulthood. She inherited the best physical attributes of her parents; she was small boned, slender, and had a firm body. Unlike the other Blakes, Amanda was tall for woman then. She stopped growing at fourteen when she was five feet, eleven inches. The other family members were mainly of medium height, except for Laura’s two sisters, who were a shade less than five feet! Amanda had her Dad’s turquoise eyes and fair, rosy skin. After age four, she developed thick, dark brown hair with red and blonde highlights in her natural curls. Amanda had high cheek bones and the members from her mother’s family all had unusually smooth, dark complex suggesting she had Native American ancestors.
    One project provided by the Hamiltons was an office buildingat one of their groves edges. Lawrence asked to meet with Brad before his crew began building. It had to do with his erotic relationship with the new office manager. Lawrence often had to meet his sexual desires outside of his bedroom. Now he was in an ideal situation with the hiring of Lilly Stevens from Avon Park, a citrus town with a population of ten thousand, ten miles south of Midland. She was an attractive woman with a good figure. She knew how to dress to show off her lovely form, and her medium length hair was attractively styled. Her husband, Walt, was a supervisor at the local citrus concentration plant, owned by Senator Allen J. Harris, Jr.
    After she accepted the Hamilton brothers’ job, there was sexual electricity between her and Lawrence from day one. Lilly soon told Walt about the attraction. Walt was an unconventional man. He told Lilly before they married that he did not believe in mechanical monogamy. Each of them might have a lover at times. They both must be certain that any person they related to respected their marriage. Total honesty with each other about their extra-marital sexual activities was a must.
    Lilly was fond of these ideas. She was a desirable woman with a strong sex drive. With no outlet and experience other than him, their relationship might founder. Lilly had no sexual experience before marriage. Those were the days when society disapproved of women having premarital sex. Lilly, like many women, allowed her desires to be controlled by social conditioning, but later she discovered she needed flexibility and excitement in her relationships even though she loved Walt deeply. Walt was most concerned with promoting her growth and preserving their relationship. She was the only woman he had ever loved. He did not want to lose her. Walt told her to act upon her feelings if she felt it would increase the love and promote growth in all those involved.
    Soon Lilly and Lawrence were erotically involved. Walt knew Lawrence was an honorable and loyal friend, with no designs on their marriage.Walt was self confident and would have loved to watch them make love. He knew that would be difficult. Lawrence was raised in a more conventional home than Walt, and he was nearly twenty years only was not put off by the idea, but her lack of experience made her shy.

    The summer before Amanda left for the University, she, her friend, Delores King, and Walt, became close. The three confided many things to each other. He was erotically attracted to both girls, but would not come on to them since their young ages made them vulnerable to erotic hurt. They would have to make the first move, and he fervently wished one or both of them would. Both girls were fascinated with what Walt told them about his marriage and Lilly’s relationship with Lawrence.
    Amanda’s curiosity was increased by some things a boy with whom she had become close in high school told her. Their relationship developed when they were in library science together. Amanda wanted to take Spanish One, but the period it was offered was the only time algebra II met. The choice was between a boring study hall and library science with the Senator’s son, A. J. Harris III, who was happy she was in the library. He had been attracted to her for months. Intense sexual feelings developed between them. They went out together several times that school year and summer. The feelings finally became too strong for them to handle. The two remained close friends for the rest of their high school years and Amanda’s first semester in college. When A. J. flunked out of the University again, their paths diverged.

    The summer after A. J. graduated, he and three friends went to Vero Beach. The boys ran into Walt and Lilly at the beach. They talked a while with them. Lilly looked beautiful in a tight one piece suit that was bare in the back down to her waist. Her royal blue suit was low cut in the front. Views from back, front and both sides weren’t missed by these horny but shy teens. They did not say anything for fear of offending Walt. The boys liked, admired, and respected him.
    Finally Walt said, “I’ve never seen such ‘Casper Milk Toasts!’ You’ve a gorgeous woman dressed in one of the sexiest suits here. None of you has said how good she looks or that she turns you on. I know she does.”
    ‘We all agree that Lilly is one of the most beautiful and sexy women we’ve ever seen!’ exclaimed Allen Montgomery. ‘’We still don’t know what is proper in these areas and you’re unusual. Many men would be jealous and offended if we commented on how sexy and beautiful their wives are.’
    ‘I guess you’re right,’ Walt agreed and sighed as though he thought that was a terrible shame, which he did. “Remember though I’m different in that way. You can say what’s on your mind to me.
    “Okay!” I exclaimed.
    Lilly said, ‘Thanks guys. Persons can’t get enough compliments on their looks. No one is getting any younger.’
    I said, “Walt, with his arm around her said, ‘You’ll look gorgeous when you’re ninety.’ You could feel the sparks flying between them.”
    “Thanks for sharing that. Walt has become Delores’s and my friend. He has confided lots about their unusual relationship. I’m interested in the extramarital relationship she has with Lawrence. She is honest about it with Walt, who approves.”
    “You must be close if he told you about that relationship.”
    “We’ve been spending much time with him.”
    Although Richard’s wife was a serious Vodka alcoholic, he loved her deeply. Amanda and Laura liked Eleanor Hamilton. She often invited them to swim in her indoor pool, and they frequently accepted. It was inside a virtual gymnasium Brad built for her. Not long after Amanda received her undergraduate degree, Eleanor died of Cirrhosis. Laura and Amanda were sad. Richard took it harder than most expected. They saw only the alcohol problem, and missed the profound love.
    A short time later the husband of a couple who lived close to Richard and had been good friends with him and Eleanor, died of cancer. Rosemarie Chapman and Richard consoled each other when they became widow and widower. Gradually as their pains abated, romance began to bloom in the relationship. Everyone was happy for these two nice people. Two years after the death of their spouses they married. Richard moved to Rosemary’s house, and his daughter’s family moved into his bigger house. Janice had four young children. All houses were on Ready, a little farther from town than those of Lawrence’s and the Steven’s.
    True to Walt’s intuitions, Lilly’s lack of erotic experiences made her restless. She began feeling that she had missed something. She and Lawrence came together at the right time for them both. Their first sexual experience happened on the only couch in the building. There was no place in the office where the two could comfortably make love. The twins were too young to understand the relationship. Their knowledge of it could be terrible since the only parental love they received came from him. He did not want to do anything that would injure those relationships.
    He and Mrs. Coldfish, as his friends and family called her, had been married for eight miserable years. She thought that anyone who engaged in any kind of love making, other than missionary position in darkness, was a sick pervert. It had been a long time since he had genuine sexual fulfillment. This was the first quality relationship he had since Bea’s death. Walt had taught Lilly to be a sensitive and confident lover. Her casual and generous attitude toward giving and receiving sexual pleasure was a delight to Lawrence.
    They had to meet somewhere neither the twins nor Coldfish would go. They had been going to a motel in Lake Wales. They were plagued by the worry that Coldfish would go to Lake Wales to shop at places Midland did not have, see one of their cars, and put two and two together.
    Lawrence decided the best idea was a bed built in the office wall. At first he wondered if his idea was preposterous and silly; that Richard, Brad, Lilly, Walt, and others would laugh at it. At length, he decided it was not a bad idea. When he ran it past Lilly, she confirmed it. The room he had in mind was for storage, except when clients needed to meet with one or both brothers privately.
    Lawrence did not know how Brad would take the request for the bed. He was straight himself; he did not drink, womanize, or gamble. His philosophy seemed to be live and let live. He believed people should stay out of other’s business. He was quiet, unassuming, and free of pretenses. As Lawrence mulled over the possibility of speaking to his friend, it occurred to him that Brad was wise and hoped that he would see his idea of the bed as wise.
    Lawrence chuckled when something Brad told him came to mind about his relationship with Amanda when she was beginning her sophomore year. He had a talk with her when she was disgusted to be the victim of regular gossip. For the third time that year, it was rumored she was pregnant. This time the rumor was insane. Her two good friends and close neighbors were also ‘in trouble.’
    Brad said, ‘I told her, ‘Honey, these are ‘sickos.’ The best way to avoid the gossip disease is to believe nothing you hear and only half you see. Don’t let these resentful dolts bother you. Ignore them. There is no better way to rattle them. Humans loath to be ignored; they would rather be hated.’ She burst out laughing and exclaimed, ‘that’s great advice, even if did come from my father!’ I said ‘Thanks Amanda. That’s one of the best compliments anyone ever gave me.’ Lawrence had the opportunity to speak with Amanda about this matter when she was visiting Eleanor. She gave Lawrence a broader view of the situation.
    She said, “Dad gave me one of two of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received. You know about that one.”
    “What was the other one, Amanda?”
    “Only Mom could equal Dad’s advice on gossip. My grandmother asked me not long ago, “Amanda did you know I’m living on borrowed time? Do you know one of the main reasons I’ve lived so long and seldom been sick? For some reason after what Brad and Amanda told me about his and Molm’s advice, it is more likely that Brad will see the wisdom of my desire for a bed. Lawrence been aware of Brad’s progressive heritage, he would have known he was home free with respect to his desire. When Brad came Lawrence elaborated on his grim home situation. He spoke of his affection and sexual attraction for Lilly.
    “I’ve no desire to harm their marriage and couldn’t if I did. Walt and Lilly are true soul mates, although their relationship is unconventional. One important reason I’ve acted on my feelings for Lilly is that Walt approves of it. I wish there were more men like him. I hope I can be that way if I ever find another soul mate to marry.” Brad listened carefully to Lawrence speak about his and Lilly’s passion for each other and his request that a bed be built into the wall. After a brief pause, Brad laughed in a mischievous, life affirming way.
    He looked at Lawrence, “Old Friend, I’d be happy to build you that structure. With your wife, I don’t know how you stand it. I can’t imagine you desiring her. Your first wife, Bea, was a real sweetheart. You sold yourself short by marrying too soon. You’re one of the most attractive, kind, and fun loving men in Midland. You’re generous to a fault. You deserve better, and I’m glad to be part of providing it. Your love nest poses no construction problems. We need to get a mounted deer head with large antlers to hide any means of releasing the bed. My hope is that once you and Lilly relate for a while, you’ll divorce that monster. You might find a woman who is as open minded as Walt and Lilly.” Lawrence looked at Brad teary eyed. That his friend who was so different from him in tastes, cultural background, and life style, could affirm this project and understood his need for it, touched him deeply.
    “My dear friend, thank you from the depths of my being. I believe the rebels, who refuse to attend church or have anything to do with organized religion, are the most spiritually developed humans. Your mother and father are. Like them, you manifest the important spiritual principles common to all religions: Love, forgiveness, judge not, and the rejection of greed. Your life is a statement of them; and you rarely darken the door of any of the sick churches here. If you weren’t a modest man who hates attention and one from New England, I would come from behind this desk and give you my biggest, best Southern Man hug. I do want to say that I love you deeply and unconditionally. Outside of my family, I can say this about one other man, Walt.
    “Come from around that desk and lay your best Southern Man hug on me.” Lawrence’s face lit up as he slipped from around the desk. The men hugged in a celebration of their friendship.
    “Thanks Brad, and you’re right I remarried too quickly. I thought the twins needed a mother. It is my hope that I can get up the nerve to end the marriage soon. It will be a nasty break up, Brad. I want it very much, but at the same time, I dread it like the plague. She lives up to all the epitaphs my family and friends have given her. But when we divorce, You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
    “I know dear friend, but you can depend that I’ll have your back then. If such a situation comes up again for you or for one who asks your advice, think of it this way. If you all are better mothers than the bags you’re marrying, for what do you need them? It is harmful for you to expose your fine children to her. Quality is more important than quantity in relationships. Children thrive more on benign neglect than on poisonous hags like Madam Coldfish.”
    Lawrence dumbstruck, said, “You’re right on target. I’ve never looked at it that way. I’m their father and mother. Thankfully in a couple of years they can be on their own. It is not pretty to think of something happening to me while they need parenting.”
    Before Brad left he said, “Thanks for the high praise. There are many wealthy people in this area. Your family is one of few who have no pretenses and believe in the moral equality of all humans. You support the causes that promote that equality. You don’t object to a progressive tax structure. Your total and heart felt support of public education is only too rare among the wealthy.
    My most valuable employee is a lush all weekend. He stays sober and does a great job for me all week. Justin, who works for me in the summer and many weekends all year, is a trustworthy person. The rest of the crew will be elsewhere while ‘Op eration Delicate’ is carried out by Wiley, Justin, and me.”
    They fitted the bed into the wall in two days. Once the deer head was in place, no one could perceive the bed. Larry and Lilly spent many happy times there. After the affair began, it became a topic of gossip among those persons who are always worried that someone somewhere might be having a good time. A group of such women went to the Methodist Church. They were incensed that Lilly sang in the choir. This group of prudes spent much time talking about the ‘wicked’ Lilly. The youngest of these gossipers were sisters and gossiped, Amanda thought, because they felt guilty that their dad owned the poolroom. They considered the business to be sinful, but never admitted it. One was a year younger and the other a year older than Amanda. They were cheerleaders with her. Amanda liked the girls, but cringed when they began their self righteous tirades. Amanda thought, someone has to provide a poolroom. It’s the only place the locals engage in male talk, eat, and drink. Something like a poolroom is going to exist. Karen and Jane’s father, a responsible man, might as well be the owner.
    Amanda and Delores were the only two young progressives in Midland, somewhat to the dismay of their parents, although both sets leaned in that direction. Delores was heavily influenced by the friend she loved and admired. Amanda had been a life style progressive since she was aware that there were differences. She accepted any life style as long as no one was hurt by it. Amanda tried to counteract the gossip that constantly occurred among the ‘holier-than-thou’ in Midland. Almost all of the gossip related to differences in life styles of which the gossipers disapproved. She let the big mouths know she thought gossiping was a disease of the dull-minded and shallow. She became a political progressive under the influence of her favorite teacher. She emerged from his social studies classes as a staunch all around progressive and social reformer.
    After Amanda went to the University her progressive beliefs and activities were confirmed by the curriculum and her professors. She had been a political progressive for a long time on some issues. Before her sophomore year she became a champion of gay rights, before these became a public issue. Her education began when she was in the seventh grade. Laura was dragging Amanda to church against her will by threatening to make her stay home at night all week if she did not comply. After a few weeks, Amanda wiggled out of this tyranny by saying she was going to the Methodist Church with Carolyn, her friend and neighbor. She led her mother to believe that she walked to her destination, but Amanda stopped a block away from their house in the elementary school halls, until she saw their car go by headed toward the Southside Baptist Church. Her mother played the piano for the ‘Rednecks’ in this church. Then, she walked up town to the drug store to enjoy a fountain Pepsi, and to see a girl friend. This other Baptist Church split off from the First Baptist Church. This came after a conflict over whether a minister’s tenure should be ended. The one’s for termination won. The losers founded the second church and hired the fired preacher.
    Before she decided how to get around her mother’s demand for obedience, she and several youths rode together to the socials after the evening services. One Sunday evening she was sitting in the back seat with a good friend, Ray Langley, a ninth grader. The social that night was held at the minister’s house across Ready Lake. On the way back, Ray surprised Amanda by grabbing and French kissing her before she kn ew what was happening. She was not afraid or even offended, but he was forcing himself on her. She wanted him to stop and took measures to ensure this. She grabbed one of his hands and clawed its top with her finger nails without pity. She broke the skin and drew blood. The boy’s hand was a mess. He looked at it with a sheepish grin. They ended by laughing at it with no negative effects on their friendship.

    When Ray was a sophomore, he became the band’s drum major. Most classmates thought he was excellent at this; that he had rhythm and style when he led the band. When he was a junior, Ray and a freshman boy, who was to be his successor, became close. The Band Director caught them in a minor erotic act. The boys had on all of their clothes. Thus, they were limited to kissing, embracing, and minor touching through clothing. The whole village, except for the Blakes and a few other progressives, were outraged. The hysteria was so great that Ray was run out of town. His mother sent him to Orlando where Ray’s aunt and uncle lived.
    Amanda stuck up for him. She told the story of his attraction for her. That proved he was not a homosexual; he was at worst bisexual. To some of the narrow minded villagers this was as bad as being gay. Amanda thought the boys should be treated like heterosexual couples. They might be reprimanded or perhaps given detention. But to run this intelligent, attractive, and kind young man out of town was to the Blakes and their few allies a hideous sin by and shame for the community.
    Amanda was strong on needing to stop discrimination against minorities. In childhood she became aware of the injustices committed against these groups. At age three she was aware that Afro-Americans were only allowed to live in the village limits if they were hired by a white man. The rest were confined to three ‘n.....’ quarters outside the village. Amanda went with Laura to pick up a black woman she hired to do some house work. Amanda was horrified when the black woman got in the back seat. She jumped over the front seat on the delighted black woman’s lap. Her parents were astonished, proud, and a little fearful about where her unconventional ways would take her.
    Amanda recalled when Brown V. Topeka was handed down by the High Court. The Blakes and a few others applauded the decision. Amanda was cursed by some of her ‘friends’ for telling them no race was better than any other. Later when she was in high school, Amanda enraged the ‘rednecks’ by telling them that, ‘with respect to the blacks and whites from the Deep South, a large portion of both races has some of the other race in their ancestry. One of the main reasons is that the white male plantation owners routinely raped their female slaves. A few red necks were offended enough they threatened to rape her. Amanda laughed at them with a ‘devil may care’ attitude.
    She told them of skills Walt had taught her and Delores. “Walt showed us a way to blind a rapist with our fingers, shove his nose into his face with our palms while putting him out of commission sexually.” This information intimidated them. They began to avoid the girls. This pleased the young women. With respect to her interactions with the few female bigots in the school, the following were typical, “Are you telling me I’m no better than a ‘n_____?’”, one asked Amanda.
    “Yes and I’d appreciate it if you called my friends of color by a proper name. You’re part Hispanic. Would you like to be called a ‘greaser’?”
    “You radical bitch, you’re sure to become a communist or worse. We know how weird Walt and Lilly are. He doesn’t care if she is having an affair with Lawrence. Those weird folks are your good friends.” Amanda was doubled over with laughter as Sally pranced away, incensed that her beliefs in racial superiority were challenged.
    “Thank you, Adolph. Shall I say Seig Heil the next time I see you?” As the two young women became close with Walt, the three were attracted by each others’ health, good looks, and intelligence. Walt loved Amanda’s tall slender body. He always went to the games when she played first string during her sophomore and junior years. She was the teams’ high scorer both years averaging between forty to fifty points a game. The women’s teams were eliminated after Amanda’s junior year for sexist reasons. The male coaches did not want the girls to have any gym time for practice.
    Amanda told anyone who insisted she was the most valuable player, an award she received as a sophomore, that the entire A-String were all the most valuable players. Unlike the larger communities’, the village’s A-team were beautiful women. Some fans thought Amanda was the most beautiful with her intense blue eyes and long, curly dark hair. Her figure was about as close to perfect as one gets.
    As one of her male friends said, “Woman, you have a fine form.” Delores was a beautiful woman. She had long, black, shiny hair. Her eyes, as black as her hair, sparkled with vitality. She was five feet seven inches tall and slender. Her smooth complexion was olive. Delores was not as graceful and well coordinated as Amanda so she could not make the basketball team. Her fun loving ways and her sense of humor compensated well. Neither had ever had a better friend. The two kept each other laughing.
    Walt, a fine looking man, was six feet four inches tall with a slender, firm body. With his black curly hair and dark complexion, his face was both beautiful and handsome. The mutual attraction to each other was not limited to good looks or good times. Both girls were curious about Walt and Lilly’s relationship and his general philosophy of life.
    Walt admired the young women for being as evolved as they were at eighteen and nineteen.Their open mindedness was rare, and added to their thirst for adventure, new experiences, and growth, meant there was never a dull moment when the two were around. Walt was impressed that they knew all our institutions needed reconstruction; that they were stale, arid, and begged for renewal. They took part in bringing these changes about when any opportunities presented themselves. Amanda participated in university groups who fought bigotry and advanced the women’s movement. All three worked to develop democratic structures and personalities. Walt wanted to spend some extended time with the two. When he talked to Brad, Walt learned they would be home that summer. He figured Amanda would be more intriguing now that she had spent a year in a new environment. Delores graduated and would have matured. In fall she was going to Florida State.
    Soon Walt came up with an idea. Summers the plant did not run much. The fruit was picked, shipped fresh, or processed. He would be home most days while Lilly would be at work. Their backyard bordered on Ready, the largest lake in the area with a circumference of eighteen miles. Except on the part across from the plant, it was not as good for swimming as Clinch. Ready’s ecology was altered because the fertilizer plant owners dumped their wastes there. The wastes were organic but on the negative side, they acted to fertilize the plant life around where it was dumped. The increased plant life could conceal the cotton mouth moccasins and alligators that inhabited the southern lakes. Walt decided he would ask Amanda and Delores if they would clear the weeds in the part of Ready bordering his yard. He would offer them each $100, lunch, snacks, and breaks for talking.
    Walt saw Amanda in late May. He told her of his offer. She accepted and said she was sure Delores wanted the job. Delores looked forward to spending time with Amanda and Walt. The young women were delighted with the chance of earning some money in a cool place, with delicious food and Walt’s stimulating and fun company. The two young women began planning a three day trip to Daytona Beach after they finished their weed pulling task. The two hundred dollars would pay all their expenses with some left.
    Walt had no trouble attracting women. There were more women pursuing him than he wanted and sex was about all there was to those relationships. Before coming up with the idea of hiring Amanda and Delores, he was thinking about traveling to new places. He was more than bored, itching to use his creativity if only in conversations with smart women. Walt had a feeling that men were lost without women, but the opposite was not true. Also, married men and single women lived longer than their counterparts suggesting the estate of marriage was more beneficial for males. Healthy women often wanted men but they did not need them. He wondered if feminists realized that to many progressive men this was the core meaning of their slogan, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” If an intelligent, strong, and beautiful woman chose a man it was out of desire, not need. This was a turn-on for a progressive man, like Walt, and part of his attraction for Amanda and Deloris.
    One afternoon Walt got off work early. He was reading some feminist literature and reflecting about some little known and repressed parts of history. He was thinking of some of the myths about women that had long existed. Where in the hell do these foolish myths come from? Like the one that most college women are pursuing their Mrs. Degrees, for example. What rubbish! It’s a man’s world still. My gender fosters those myths. Walt learned that during pre-civilized times when people had not connected sex and pregnancy, god was a woman!
    “I’m learning much of importance,” Walt said out loud. “Women could give birth to men, but not the reverse. That gave women an advantage in making social changes, and creating practical and beautiful arts during the Stone Age.” He read more and discovered that during these times the man took the woman’s name, came to live at her house, and had no authority over his offspring. The women’s oldest brother served as the father. Women invented both major agricultural trends: horticulture and animal husbandry. Those male historians don’t bother mentioning this in their scholarly works, Walt mused. It was probably through animal husbandry that the men learned they had a part in making babies. He sat for a time mulling over these previously repressed parts of history. Walt thought that it was women who emancipated the species from a life of wandering, hunting, and gathering. With the domestication of food producing plants and animals, humans could settle in one place. It was the female gender who laid the basis for civilization through their creations. Then we rotten males took advantage of their slightly smaller stature and the fact that pregnancy in its later stage is a relatively dependent condition, to tyrannize over them.
    Walt needed female companionship this summer to find out more. With Amanda and Delores he would get an exciting education. They were fascinating, intelligent, and neither of them seemed to fear anything. Amanda’s long and beautiful legs entered his awareness. Why did they suddenly pop into my mind? Admit it Walt, You’re obsessed with Amanda’s long legs. What red blooded heterosexual male wouldn’t be?
    The second and third weeks in June, Amanda and Delores went over to Walt’s house every weekday from nine to five. He dressed in a bathing suit or cut-offs. Sometimes he watched the young women work. Other times he joined the weed pulling. Around noon he began to prepare lunch. Sometimes he fixed cream cheese, pineapple, and pecan sandwiches or green and black olives with cream cheese for the same. Other times he would grill ground sirloin for hamburgers. Another staple for their lunches was Walt’s delicious ham salad which he put together for sandwiches. He made various kinds of salads: chicken with herbs, sweet onions, pickle relish, celery, dill pickles, hard cooked eggs, and olives; chef salads with hard boiled eggs, bacon or shrimp, cheese, and salad vegetables; and taco salads with guacamole. The snacks included cheese and crackers, carrot sticks, nuts, yogurt, cottage cheese, fruits, banana bread, and chocolate cake.
    Sometimes Walt asked the young women to stop working and sit and ‘rap’ with him. They confirmed his readings and intuitions concerning women’s relative independence from men and other aspects of the feminist literature he was studying. They gave him additional knowledge. For example, they introduced him to the term ‘herstory,’ which suggested history was mainly his story. The young women told him more about ‘herstory.’ It was time to retrieve ‘herstory’ about women and their accomplishments. He was impressed with their knowledge, for example, of women who achieved extraordinary things in previous centuries, such as serving as generals in the military. They told him of their experiences, hopes, and dreams concerning males. He told them more about Lilly and Larry, and about his girlfriends of whom he was presently cutting off with hopes of better quality relationships.The young women were not shocked at anything and made no judgments about him. Curiosity characterized their viewpoint. They told him about their desires to make love with men with whom there were intense mutual attractions. They did not realize yet that Walt was one of those men. They told him of the difficulties involved in obtaining safe and effective birth control and safe and affordable abortions. The pill was available then, but few doctors would give them to young women who had no marriage plans. Amanda had solved that problem by telling an doctor in Gainesville she soon had wedding plans. He gave her a twelve months prescription for birth control pills. Delores could do the same but she kept putting it off, as she did with other aspects of her sexual development.
    Walt said, “If birth control fails, there is no danger in a first trimester abortion, when the procedure is performed by a competent and ethical doctor. No woman has ever died from this procedure. It rarely involves pain other than minor cramping. Afterwards, you take it easy and abstain from having sex for ten days. By then you are as good as new. I assure you that the Hamilton Brothers, Senator Harris, or I would see that neither of you would be forced to bear a child. We can obtain a competent doctor; and we’d pay for the procedure. We have established connections with capable Cuban doctors in Miami. They are studying to get Florida Medical Licenses. Meanwhile, they perform safe, but illegal abortions and other such procedures to earn a living.”
    “That’s reassuring. We have talked about these subjects lots.”
    “Yes,” Delores said. “We agree that pregnancy, child birth, or marriage would be fates worse than death.”
    “How’d I know that you two wild things were going to say something like that?”
    “We plan to go to the university, travel, and do a bunch of other stuff. If we get married, it won’t be for a while.”
    Amanda agreed, “That’s for sure. We want to be thirty before we marry.”
    Walt said, “I wish all could learn as much. Our industrialized way of life keeps youngsters in prolonged adolescence. You all are adults in every way except you can’t get a job with a livable salary. This leads to helpless and dependent feelings, and those feelings foster resentment toward the adult world, like those in Lawrence’s nephew, Eddie. I don’t know if you have ever gone out with him. If you have, I’m sure you have felt some fright at some time in the evening.”
    Amanda said, “When I was a 9 grader and he in the 11, I went out with him several times. Terror would be a better description of what I felt in that 1954 Ford convertible. I found myself going 100 mph. I like Eddie, but I drive if we go in a car.”
    Meanwhile, Lawrence and Lilly pulled their cars down into the grove for camouflage. The afternoon was hot. The central air conditioning and heavy curtains on the office windows kept the oppressive heat out of the love nest. Lilly removed the deer head and pushed the button to release the bed. It was made up with clean flowered linens. Lilly had bought lingerie made of red satin and black lace. When she came into the room, Larry felt his passions increasing madly.
    “Wow Baby, that outfit is gorgeous. Come over to this bed now.” Lilly crawled in the bed. His arms embraced her entire body and his fingers traced her curves through the satin and lace on them. She sighed with pleasure as his hand rested on the inside of her thigh.
    He said, “I believe this is the softest spot on a woman’s body.” He could feel her strong feelings for him. “Damn, I’m amazed that you’re turned on to me so intensely. I’m more than fifteen years older than Walt, and I’m not as handsome as he is.”
    “Those are superficial things,” Lilly whispered. She rubbed her hands all over his chest and slipped his turquoise house coat off to give him a back massage. “You know I love Walt unconditionally. He’s my cosmic soul mate, but a woman can love more than one man. I truly love you too.”
    Women were mysteries to Larry not to be understood, but to be enjoyed and to generously be given pleasure. He felt they were superior to men in many ways. They could stand alone much easier than most men. Woman seemed to feel whole and complete in a way men could not and were more at home in their bodies. He pulled her on top of him. She was an assertive woman and enjoyed being on top. She also enjoyed variety. In a while she slid off him and pulled him on top. The couple made love for a long time that afternoon. They loved each other slowly as only mature people can. She had several intense orgasms and he had one.
    As they lay together, Larry said, “You’re a hot gal and I love it. I’m glad you have an unusual husband. I love him not only for sharing you with me, but for many reasons. I’ve expressed this to him.”
    “I know it made his day, and with the massive sexual misery all around us, anyone who cares enough to try and relieve it needs to be recognized and appreciated. How long have we had our beautiful love nest? When did that saint of relieving sexual misery, Brad, come up with this work of genius?”
    Larry answered, “It’s summer 1962. It’s been a little less than three years since he completed this masterpiece. Brad has never let me down. We’ve shared much together. He’s the second man outside my family I can say I truly love.”
    “Yes!” Lilly exclaimed. “Larry, I need your advice. Walt has become close friends with Amanda and her friend, Delores King. They are doing some work getting the weeds out of our part of the lake. Walt is turned on to Amanda big time, and Delores is sexy and beautiful to him. He’ll never come on to them as Amanda was nineteen in May.

    Delores will turn nineteen next March. They are sensitive young women and are not shy. If they sense how much he‘s turned to them and they share his feelings, either one or both of them could come on to him. I’m not concerned about Walt, but how about the young women? Can such young ones handle that sort of thing with a man twenty years their senior?”
    “Brad’s daughter could handle almost anything. Since Amanda is picky about her friends, I’m sure Delores is as strong as she is. Wouldn’t you think it would be better for them to be initiated into the mysteries of a complete sexual experience with Walt rather than my ‘shirt tailed’ nephew Eddie or some of his immature friends?”
    Lilly replied. “Yes and I won’t worry anymore. Maybe every girl should have a Walt.”
    “Yes and every boy, a Lilly.”
    “Thank you, Love, that’s one of the best compliments I’ve ever received.” Lilly peered through the curtains. She was shocked that the afternoon was nearly gone. “Oh gosh, Larry, its sunset again, and you must go or catch hell.”
    “These hours are too short,” Larry complained as he hurriedly dressed. He and Lilly kissed and he left.
    While Lilly and Larry were enjoying the wall bed, Amanda returned to Walt’s house. The girls had left early because Deloris had a dental appointment. Amanda had a strong urge to return to Walt’s house and talk about the feelings that she thought were happening between them. When Walt opened the door there she was.
    “Amanda! What a nice surprise.”
    “Hello Friend, I guess you didn’t expect to see me again so soon.”
    “I didn’t, but I’m delighted you’re here,” Walt said with a huge smile.
    “Good. Walt, I came back because it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that there are feelings and vibes between us.”
    “You feel them too? How wonderful! I can’t believe I’m that lucky. I’m totally turned on to you. I didn’t feel that I could initiate anything since I’m so much older and experienced. I needed to know you could handle the situation.”
    “If we act on these feelings we don’t have to worry about birth control. I’m not a virgin. I had a ‘hot’ affair with a rock guitarist at Florida this spring, shortly after I went on the pill. We ran away from the feelings. Neither of us knew very much. I’m grateful to have someone with experiences and sensitivities that Bruce could never have at his age. I’m ready for the kind of experience you bring to our encounter.” Amanda smiled joyfully at Walt. Walt smiled back warmly.
    He felt as though he was melting. He put his arm around Amanda and they walked together to a bedroom. They sat on the bed’s edge, kissing and caressing hungrily.

    “Amanda, you have the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. You’re beautiful all over.”
    “Gosh thanks Walt, I always thought my breasts were too small, but if they aren’t to you, why should they be to me? That makes sense doesn’t it?”
    “You bet!” Walt gasped as he moved from caressing her breasts to undoing her cut-offs.” Amanda returned the favor by slipping his shorts off, after which they lay together on the bed. They caressed and kissed. Amanda’s feelings were strong. He felt good she was as turned on as he was.
    “Hey beautiful woman, are you sure you’ve only been with one ignorant guy?” Walt asked.
    “Thanks, Walt, you’re a sweetheart. You knew what I needed to hear.”
    “I’m glad because I’ve never been so turned on in my life, Manda, with the exception of a few times with Lilly.” She looked at him as he lay back in the bed. She could see that he was hard.
    “I’m getting on top. Is that okay with you?”
    “It sounds excellent to me.” They made love in that position for a while and changed to Walt being on top. Then they moved to the spoon position. They had powerful orgasms. Amanda had another during oral sex, her first experience with this, and loved it. Then they lay and talked for a while.
    In a half hour Amanda said, “I guess I’d better go. My mother thinks I went to some stores for a few items. It’s none of her business, but she’ll have supper on the table soon and if I’m not there she’ll gripe.”
    “Amanda, I’m glad that you came,” Walt said. “I’ve felt this way about you since you played basketball as a sophomore and junior in those sexy uniforms.”
    “They are sexy. We all looked good in them. Our bodies were exposed from just below our breasts to our waists. The hot pants bottoms fit as well as those tops. And the beautiful satin material of which they were made enhanced the whole picture. The women from the other teams had baggy bottoms, long loose tops, and were made of icky dull material. We wondered what great person got us those gorgeous uniforms.”
    “I don’t know either sweetheart, but every male thirteen and over is grateful.”
    As Amanda dressed, she added, “That is cool and confirming. You are quite good looking too, dear friend, and my feelings for you are strong. There’s something I want to ask you. Should we tell Delores about this? I sense you’re turned on to her and she needs this experience.”
    “Sure, Amanda darling, if she’s curious about it and senses something is different.”
    “That sounds fine.” They embraced and kissed. Amanda thought as she drove toward home, I’m glad I did that. It seemed like an urgent thing for both of us. I feel as if I’m properly initiated into Eros.
    The next morning when they when they were eating a snack, Delores sensed something was different in the atmosphere. She was far too sensitive not to feel a transformation had occurred. She hesitated momentarily lest she be wrong and look foolish.
    Delores asked, “Did I miss something? I feel something is transformed, and I’m the only one who doesn’t get it.”
    “Your feelings are correct. After we left our weeding and you went to your dentist, I returned to Walt’s house to confirm or disconfirm some erotic feelings I had been experiencing between us. I knew if my feelings were correct, I would get a proper initiation into Eros. That is something Bruce couldn’t do at his level of maturity. We acted on our feelings.”
    “It was beautiful, Delores,” Walt said. “I wish you had been there.”
    “Me too,” Amanda said.
    I didn’t realize you were turned on to me,” Deloris said. “I could tell that you were attracted to Amanda by the way you looked at her. I’m delighted that you all acted upon your feelings.” she hugged both of them.
    “It’s not too late for yours and Walt’s experience to happen. Maybe I should knock off early when you want this to happen. Just make your desires known.” Amanda suggested. Delores did not follow through on her desire to make love with Walt. Amanda and Walt did not want to push her, but they thought she could learn much about pleasure if she would drop off her inhibitions.
    Three years later in August l965, Lawrence had a fatal heart attack. This was less than a year before Walt died unexpectedly in his sleep at age forty-five. The cause was an aneurism in his brain. It ruptured and caused a deadly clot to form. Delores and Amanda talked after their friend’s death. Delores confided that then she had not understood the wisdom of taking advantage of every adventure which would promote her growth. She regretted not acting on the experiences Walt had offered her. Amanda confided she had gone back several times that summer and made love with him. They mourned Walt’s death for several months. He was a wonderful friend. The tragic experience helped them realize the fragility of life and, for Delores, the need to seize the day.

    He and Lilly had been working on the payroll. She had gone to the poolroom to pick up some burgers for them. He was dead when she came back. She nearly went into shock when she found him. For several minutes she wandered about aimlessly sobbing, but soon gathered the presence of mind to call Richard.
    Richard was devastated with sadness, but he was not as shocked as Lilly. Lawrence had told him about chest pains he had been having and Richard, with no success, had tried to get him to go to his doctor. He called Lawrence’s family, the Coldfish and the twins, who were living on their own and working. Then he called Eddie and Janice. He asked Janice to bring Rosemary with her after she contacted her husband and found a babysitter for the children. Richard could think of only two other persons Lawrence would want to be present. He called Brad and Walt and told them the sad news. He asked the two men to join the small group at the office.
    Lilly was still disoriented. She could not get the payroll together and the employees would be coming for their checks in less than two hours. Some parts of it had gotten separated from the main body including some of the checks. Everyone was looking. Brad noticed Eddie was getting close to the antlers on the wall. If he hit the button, looking for missing paper work, the Love Nest would come down. Lilly caught Brad’s eye. She had panicky look on her face. Brad smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders casually suggesting not worrying. His smile implied the moment of truth was near and that was excellent.
    Brad was thinking should Eddie accidently hit the button it would be a fitting final triumph for his friend. In about two minutes Eddie bumped the antlers enough that the button was activated. Out came the bed, complete with flowered sheets and matching comforter. Everyone there except for the twins, who rapidly put it together, knew what the situation meant. No one uttered a sound. Walt had a difficult time not breaking up with laughter. Instead, he focused on Brad.
    “What a man, what a friend, No wonder his daughter turns me on.” Walt whispered. Lilly nodded and giggled softly although she felt sad. She knew that laughter was the best medicine.
    Richard said, “I guess we’ve been found out. Lawrence and I were embarrassed to admit to Eddie a few years ago we began to need a nap to get us through some afternoons. I guess we didn’t want it to be rubbed in that we’re getting damned old. We had Brad build us this secret structure for naps.” It was Brad’s turn to stifle a laugh.
    Eddie replied, “Aw Dad, you know I didn’t care. And I certainly wouldn’t have kidded you about it. You and Uncle Lawrence worked hard all of your lives.” Eddie then muttered under his breath, “Quick thinking, Pa. I hope I can do as well if anything like this happens again and I’m in charge.”
    The widow attacked Eddie venomously, “You horrid brat. So many nights you took Lawrence away from me with your bad habits of drinking and speeding. Lawrence had to bail you out because your father wouldn’t have anything to do with you.” Wife Coldfish knew everything. She needed someone to dump on to avoid looking like a fool by acting on her compulsive need to curse Lilly, Walt, and Brad.
    Stifled giggles came from the group, except for Richard who stiffened his posture and said sternly, “Look here you rotten bitch, I was always willing to bail out Eddie. I was a fool for buying him that sports car until he grew up a bit. I grounded him with respect to the Thunderbird weeks ago. He will get it back when he grows up and demonstrates responsibility. Lawrence requested that I call him if he was home with you. He needed a good excuse to get away from the stress of your unpleasant and ill-tempered self.” Coldfish looked like a fool in spite of her best efforts to avoid it. She walked huffily out of the building peeling rubber as she left. Brad, Walt, and Lilly could not hold back laughter. Eddie looked perplexed.
    Richard laughed too and said, “Son, I’ll tell you about the skeletons in our closet. They aren’t bad. She is the only evil one. I think you guessed the truth though sometime ago.”
    “Yes Dad, I knew from the beginning,” responded Eddie. “I’m dying to know what Walt, Lilly, and Brad are laughing about.”
    Walt said, “Eddie, maybe we’re callous, but we can’t help feeling a little jolly that his undeserving bag of a wife had to endure seeing the bed come out of the wall. We’re all thinking this symbolizes a final and wonderfully humorous adieu for your magnificent uncle.”
    “Janice, you’re quite sensitive. Did you knew what this was about?”
    “Yes Dad, Eric did also. He is sensitive too,” Janice put her arm around her handsome young spouse. “Walt and Lilly, thank you for being the individuals you are, and making the last few years of my Uncle Lawrence’s life happy. He was a saint in his own way. And Mr. Blake, you know how we feel about you. You are as much as part of this as they are.” Eric had put his arms around her and smiled proudly as he looked at her pretty face. Richard beamed with pride, as he put his arms around his wife. The twins had joyful tears in their eyes. They loved their father. They looked at Brad, Lilly, and Walt for a moment. Suddenly each of them ran over and hugged each of them.
    “We tried to love that bag, but it wasn’t possible,” Leslie said as they hugged.

    Jonathan added, “We are thankful for Dad’s wonderful friends and that he lived to see us grow up. He never had to worry about leaving us with that wicked bitch.”
    Brad, a bit embarrassed by the hugs and attention, thought, I can tell Amanda where the ‘love meetings,’ took place. She was Lawrence’s and Lilly’s best champion. Laura will enjoy this story!

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