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               Tuck Season, Wabbit Season, Tuck Season!
                            Part 5
                              -*-
      Copyright 1999, 2004 by either Joel Lawrence or Ellen Hayes


Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual
persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when
used for satirical purposes.

This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish,
state, and country.

All rights reserved.  See the bottom for distribution rights.

***

     Charlie noticed that Eugene- *Valerie, stupid,* he reminded himself
irritably; Jane would shred him over THAT mistake - was shivering as
they stood by the table, waiting for Jane to make her breakfast
appearance.  "Are you okay?" he finally asked.
     "Huh?"
     "Are you okay?" Charlie repeated, a little slower and louder,
because Valerie didn't look very awake yet.
     The newest student shook her head.  "Shower's too cold."
     Charlie frowned; they always had plenty of hot water.  "Why did you
take a cold one?"
     "Had to wake up," she answered dully.
     *Well, it didn't seem to work...*
     Marie came out with drinks.  Valerie looked up and watched her,
then followed her back into the kitchen.

     "What are you doing in here?" Marie asked, curious.
     "Uh, help?" Valerie said as if she wasn't sure.  "Help put the food
out 'n stuff," she elaborated, more firmly.
     "Well," Marie said, thinking quickly.  On the one hand, she was
quite practiced in doing everything herself, and Valerie did not look
that awake yet.  On the other hand, her offering to help, unbidden, was
a very good sign indeed, and it might be taken as a rejection if Marie
declined the help.
     *Yes,* she decided.  "Thank you, Valerie, that is very nice of you
to offer.  Please take that tray out and put it in the center of the
table."
     "Yes'm," Valerie agreed as she picked up the tray, and out she
went.

     *Four, five, seven, and nine,* Tucker said to himself.  *Tonight I
put a dab of grease or something on one, figure out the order.  There's
only twenty-four combinations if it's four digits, and consumer-grade
shit is pretty much stuck with that.  Wonder why they think people can
remember seven digits for phones but only four for PINs and alarms and
such?*
     *'Cause Bell didn't have any competition, and they could do what
was average,* he realized, *whereas all this consumer crap has to
compete, and attract stupid people, and so they use lowest-common-
denominator.*  He nodded, pleased with his reasoning.

     Charlie wondered what Valerie was smiling about NOW.

     Tucker looked at the breakfast Marie had prepared, now arranged on
the table, and decided that if he had to sit there, on his still sore
butt, and look at all of it, and worse, smell it, and worst of all hear
other people eating it, that he would probably puke his toenails out.
     *Dishes always need washing, though,* he said, and smiled a bit to
himself as he nodded.

     *What was that about?* Charlie wondered as Valerie went back into
the kitchen, moments before Jane arrived.
     "Where is Valerie?" was the first thing out of Jane's mouth.
     Charlie guessed it was not going to be a good day.

     "Then she can sit down and eat with everyone else this morning...
unless you don't think that servants deserve to be treated like real
human beings," Tucker shot at Jane.
     She exploded all over him, of course, but it was all verbal, and if
he looked at her for more than ten seconds, she'd white out as his
retina washed out, and then all he picked up was the edges as she moved.
*Man, that's weird,* he thought, staring in fascination and trying not
to blink too much.

     "Do you understand?" Jane demanded.
     Valerie stared blankly for several seconds longer, then shook
herself for a moment.  "Uh, sure."
     "'Uh sure' is NOT an acceptable answer, my darling young MISS," she
emphasized.
     She blinked, then squinted a bit.  "You're right, Miz Thompson, I
was unutterably rude.  I apologize."
     "And?"
     "And I don't think you need to have my presence inflicted upon you
during your morning meal.  So I'll stay in here and clean up," she
nodded.  Her face was calm, but Jane could detect the smirk she was
concealing.

     "I H T F P," Tucker said to himself as he slid the third petticoat
on.  He hated clothing that made noise, and this seemed to be designed
purely for that reason.
     "What was that?" Marie asked casually.
     "Nothing," Tucker sighed.

     "Hey, Debbie, it's Mike."
     "How's Tuck doing?" Debbie instantly asked.
     *How about 'Good morning, how are you Mike,' something...* he
thought with irritation. *Is that all I am to her, a telegraph office
for her boyfriend?*  "He said," Mike said slowly, "that things were kind
of weird, but he was okay, and to hold off sending the break-out kit."
Tuck had given Mike the phone number he was calling from, and the post
office name that Mike should send it to for pickup if things got worse.
Mike had been sort of annoyed when Tuck had said to send it in Valerie's
name, but that fit in with the ID they'd made before he left.  And he
had to admit, 'Valerie' would be the last person anyone would be looking
for if Tucker disappeared from boot camp.
     "But he's okay, right?" she confirmed.
     "Yeah, that's what he said."
     "But he said it was weird?"
     Mike sighed.  "He wouldn't tell me HOW it was weird, Deb, so don't
even ask.  That's what he said in the email, and I sent a reply back
asking, but he doesn't have much opportunity to do mail there.  All I
know is, he's saying he's gonna see if it gets any worse, and he might
just make it for the six weeks."
     There was silence on the other end of the phone, then Debbie
finally exclaimed, "Wow."

     "How'm I supposed to walk around with a book on my head if I have
to carry this stupid doll at the same time?" Tucker complained.
     "Well, dearie, I know a little girl like you appear to be, would
NEVER want to be separated from her dolly for even a minute..."
     *Only if it was 9mm or higher caliber.*
     "...  So you can carry her all the time, isn't that nice?"
     Pause.
     "Uh, yes ma'am," Tucker supplied the pro-forma answer.  *YES-
DRILLINSTRUCTOR!  THANKYOUDRILLINSTRUCTOR!  MAYIHAVEANOTHERDRILL-
INSTRUCTOR!?*
     "'Uh'?  What is that?  'Uh' is not a word, Valerie."
     *Oh, shit, not THIS again...*

     Charlie had to get out of the house for a while; Jane was getting
more and more tense, and Charlie was afraid she'd lash out at him for
anything he did wrong, or didn't do right, or something.  God knew, Jane
had found a few million things wrong with him that he'd never suspected;
she probably had a few million more she just hadn't mentioned yet.  And
he didn't really feel a need to see them, not now.
     So after breakfast, he changed into a long pleated skirt in navy
and a white blouse, added a navy sweater because it was still chilly
outside in the mornings, and took his math homework outside.  He walked
around for a while until he found a sunny bench in the garden, and
started working.
     After a while, he glanced up, and saw a large pouf of lace walking
past one of the French doors, inside the house.  "Man," he sighed to
himself.  "When is she gonna learn to keep her mouth shut?  She's gotten
in more trouble than I even imagined I could, except..."
     *Except for the girl clothes, and the makeup and the hair,* he
reminded himself.
     "But Jane does that to everyone," he argued.  "And I wasn't wearing
clothes like THAT."

     Jane was lecturing him again, but Tucker wasn't paying much
attention to her, because he was watching the ripples run across the
floor.  It looked a lot like small wavelets at the beach, running across
the wood... except of course wood shouldn't be moving like that.
*Especially not indoors.*
     *God,* he realized, *I am FUCKED UP.*  Even knowing that he was
hallucinating didn't stop the floor from waving.
     "VALERIE!"
     "Yesmam?" he squeaked instinctively.
     "Are you paying attention?"
     Even as he replied automatically, "Yes ma'am," he was searching his
auditory buffer for the last few sentences, so when she demanded a
replay, he recited, "The proper way for a young lady to make a request
is to use the form, 'May I', since 'can' and 'could' refer to the, uh-"
*Oh sh-*
     "'Uh' is not a word, Valerie," Jane stated, like he knew she would.
     "No ma'am, sorry ma'am," he said quickly in an attempt to stall the
lecture that he'd already gotten tired of hearing from her.
     She went on, "A proper young lady knows her mind, and if she wishes
to say something..."
     The hardwood floor rippled like wheat in the wind.

     "Jane," Marie commented after Jane had sent Valerie to the restroom
to give both of them a break, "I think you are being a bit too hard on
her."
     "She is the most inattentive, rude young man it has been my
misfortune to encounter in quite some time!" Jane fumed, the pronoun
mismatch escaping her notice entirely.
     "Jane, if you do not find something to praise in her," Marie
reminded her, "then she will think she has no hope at all here, and then
she will despair."
     And they both knew what that could lead to.
     "I'll try," Jane sighed, and rubbed her temples for a few seconds,
before Marie handed her a pair of aspirin.  "She's just so frustrating!"
she exclaimed, before sighing, and correcting herself, "But she does
need some positive reinforcement as well, of course."  She took the
proffered glass and washed the aspirin down with the contents.  "Thank
you, Marie..."
     "You're welcome, Jane," Marie smiled before she left.

     *Well, now I know why all the racks of clothes.  She probably wants
me to get as fast as a model at changing, and never the same outfit
twice.  Debbie would LOVE this place,* he sighed.  *Except for the
baby-girl stuff.  She's more into tight skirts and heels...*
     "It is nice to make yourself look pretty, isn't it?" Marie smiled,
interrupting pleasant thoughts of Debbie and crashing his slightly-
elevated mood as well.
     "Yes ma'am," he sighed tiredly.  *IHTFP.*

     "You are getting much better at your clothing and makeup, Valerie,"
Jane said in an approving tone after she'd finished inspecting him.
"You are not up to Charlene's standard as of yet, but you've made
tremendous improvements in the days you've been here."
     "Thank you, Miz Thompson," the boy-girl eventually replied, with a
total lack of energy or enthusiasm.
     "It's actually very good for you," Jane said as she turned and
placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.
     She wasn't expecting the violent duck-and-twist that sent Valerie
slamming into the floor.  Before she could say anything or move, the
child had skittered behind a loveseat and regained her feet, panting and
wild-eyed.
     "Excuse me, Miz Thompson," Valerie gasped, "I must've slipped or
something."
     *Damnit!* Jane cursed herself for forgetting his extreme
sensitivity to being touched unexpectedly.  "Very well, then," she said
carefully.  "Come back over here and let me finish looking at you."
     She did, but by this time she was visibly trembling, and tensing
even further whenever Jane moved out of her field of view.  Jane quickly
decided that she was not going to relax, and gave up.

     Tucker sighed as he looked at the food on the table.  *Almost looks
edible,* he sighed, but his abused and paranoid stomach lurched in
warning to tell him he'd better not.  *Ah well...  Too bad I can't trade
some weight with Debbie; she always wants to lose a few pounds, and it
looks like I'll be losing some myself.  Maybe I could call her, and she
could come visit for a week...*
     The inadvertent snigger wasn't lost on Jane.  "Well, would you care
to tell us what you find so amusing?"
     His, "No ma'am," required no thought at all.
     "It is quite rude," Jane stated frostily, "to laugh at the table
without informing your companions what you have found amusing."
     Tucker thought about that, and had to agree.  "Yes ma'am, I suppose
it is."
     "So what were you laughing at?"
     "I think," Tucker said carefully, "I prefer to be rude this time."
     *Well, THAT shut her up,* he observed happily, as Jane simply
stared at him in astonishment for several seconds.
     She recovered and went into an angry lecture, like he knew she
would, but that one look on her face made it sort of worth it.
*Especially since I'd get the lecture anyway, for something or another.*

     "Charlene," Jane called as they got up from the table.
     "Yes ma'am?"  *What now?* he whined to himself.
     She uncharacteristically took a long breath and let it out before
saying, "Valerie is having problems, and I am having problems with her.
I need you to take her to the nursery, read her a story - I believe you
remember all this..."  Charlie did indeed; it was one of the more minor
humiliations to be treated like a little girl and forced to lie down for
an afternoon nap, or have a tea party for all her doll and stuffed
animal 'friends', though luckily he'd only heard about this one from
Darla and Joan.
     "And in general," Jane added, "TRY to convince her that she CAN do
better than she has been, if she will just pay attention." She sighed.
"She is beginning to frustrate me terribly, and I'm afraid that if I
continue to work with her this afternoon as I had planned, that I will
become completely unreasonable.  So...  Just take her to the nursery,
and treat her like a little girl, but be NICE to her, and try to reason
with her, tell her how to succeed here.  Will you do that?"
     "Yes ma'am," Charlie replied by instinct.  "What..."  *I wish I
hadn't said that,* he realized as she focused sharply on him.  "I just
have to read her a story?"
     "Let her take a nap if she wants one...  Perhaps you should
encourage her to do so; if she is half as tired as I feel, then she
could use one.  If she wants refreshments, get her something small, but
don't fill her up before tea.  That sort of thing."  Jane rubbed her
forehead, like she had a headache.  "I may end up taking a nap
myself..."

     Marie was shaking her head and looking somehow annoyed, and finally
Tucker's mouth couldn't stand it and let out a, "What?"  *I have to glue
my damned lips shut!*
     Marie answered slowly, "You know, if you would pay more attention
to what Miss Thompson tells you, and if you would stop arguing with her,
you would not be stuck in these clothes so often."
     Tucker snorted in disbelief.  *Yeah, like she isn't goading me
deliberately, trying to get me to react JUST like this, so she can
punish me the way she wants to.  BULLSHIT!* he mentally shrieked.
     "It's true," Marie told him in a warning tone.  "She does what she
says she will do; you contradict her at your peril."
     Tucker sighed, tiring of the conversion.  Or attempted conversion.
"What do I have to wear now?"
     Marie's lips thinned, but she turned to the closet without another
word.

     Charlie sighed as he stared at 'his' closet, trying to figure out
what to wear, and what to do.
     *I wish she hadn't been there last night, damnit!*  Crying on her
shoulder was embarrassing.  Worse, it HAD to have made him look like an
overly emotional twit-
     *Gee, just like a girl or something.*
     *Shut up,* he snarled at himself.
     Although he did have a point; it wasn't as if he'd look out of
character for doing what he did last night.  *Though it was kind of
weird that she just came in like that... I think she was trying to be
nice, anyway.  I guess.  Maybe.*  It was hard to tell; she'd made him
really mad, then made him cry again, and it was all her fault anyway for
screaming like she had in the first place.
     *No,* Charlie finally decided, *she's just stupid or something.  If
she was trying to be nasty, she could've done a lot better job than
that, and she wouldn't have sat on the bed with me.*
     He sighed.  *So what do I do with her in the nursery?  How do I
handle that?  Darla's so much better at this part than I'll ever be... I
don't have the foggiest idea what Jane wants me to do, except read her a
story or something...  What did Joan say when she had to 'babysit' when
Darla had been stuck in the kid's stuff for a day?*  He couldn't
remember anything except vague complaints.  *Just play it by ear, or
something,* he vaguely decided.
     *Come to think of it, Jane didn't look all that sure either... and
that comment about her taking a nap... did Jane ever do that?*  He
couldn't remember a time.  *Maybe she's as tired of all the crap as I
am, and as Valerie is.  Maybe we're all supposed to have a rest before
someone loses it completely.*
     Charlie nodded to himself.  *Yeah, that's gotta be it.*  He turned
around and was halfway to the door before remembering he was supposed to
change into something appropriate for the 'adult' in the nursery.
*Great, what the hell do I wear?* he grumbled as he walked back to the
closet.
     He eventually selected an older Laura Ashley dress, short sleeved,
that had a small pattern floral print on a white background, and went
down to mid-calf.  A long slip in white had to go on first, and minor
league heels in ivory or cream - he still couldn't tell the difference -
completed the outfit; he vaguely recalled his kindergarten teacher as
not wearing jewelry, so he didn't add any.  A now-reflexive check in the
mirror of his hair and makeup, and he was a bit shocked once again at
just how feminine he looked.  And, how differently feminine he could
look with a change of clothes and hairstyle.  *Man, I DO look like a
schoolteacher or something in this.  Day care?  Something...*  He shook
his head, and his curls bounced.  *Shaving my head when I get home,* he
reminded himself, but that didn't erase the reality he saw reflected
before him.  *Well, if she's supposed to be the little girl, then I am
perfect as the babysitter or nanny or whatever.*  He kind of wished he
could crawl up on his own lap and get a hug...
     He shook his head at his own childishness and left his room,
heading for the nursery on the second floor.
     When he opened the door, Valerie's head snapped up as her body
wrenched itself upright, surprising Charlie so much that he stopped.
     They looked at each other for several seconds.
     "I thought it'd be Miz Thompson," Valerie sighed as she flopped
back down on the day bed, petticoats splaying everywhere.
     "She said," Charlie explained carefully, "that I was to babysit you
until teatime."  He noticed that Valerie looked incredibly weary, her
body slumping further down even as he watched.
     "What the hell does that mean?  I mean," she continued as Charlie
started to get annoyed, "what does she want you to do, and me to do?"
The second part sounded a lot more confused and a lot less challenging.
     Charlie took a breath to calm himself, then said, "She said that I
was to read you a story, put you down for a nap, and perhaps a small
snack.  Would you like something, like milk and cookies?"
     "No.  I mean, no thank you," Valerie corrected herself as she
slumped further and wrapped her arms around her body.
     "Are you okay?" Charlie asked, beginning to seriously wonder.
     "No," was the flat reply.
     "What's wrong?"
     Valerie slowly lifted her head to look at Charlie, and her face was
unpleasant.  "I'm not feeling well, and I can't get any rest 'cause I
keep wondering what she's gonna do to me."
     *I heard that!*  "Well," he said, trying to be reassuring, "she
said she was probably going to take a nap as well.  I'd guess that you
won't see her until teatime.  And Marie," because if it wasn't Jane
making your life miserable, it was often Marie following up on Jane's
making your life miserable, "will most likely be involved in cleaning up
and preparing..."  He trailed off as Valerie's head dropped and she
huddled closer to herself, and Charlie finally noticed she was
shivering.  "Are you okay, really?  Do you have a fever or something?"
     Valerie shook her head.  "No, I'm just cold..."
     "Well... let's put a quilt around you, okay?"  There was one folded
on the foot of the daybed, and Charlie picked it up, shook it out, and
wrapped Valerie in it.  Valerie just sat there, looking totally
miserable, and still shivering.  "Is that going to be warm enough?"
     She shook her head.
     Before Charlie could think of anything else to do, she looked up at
him again, appearing almost panicked this time.  "Charlene?  Can... can
you help me?"
     "What?" he asked reflexively, even as he wanted to refuse.  The way
her voice sounded, he wasn't going to like it-
     "Just," her voice cracked a bit, and she cleared her throat.  "Just
sit here, with me, an' help me warm up...  And wake me up if Jane or
Marie comes in.  Please?"
     "Well..."  He thought about it as hard and as fast as he could, and
he couldn't see where that would hurt anything.  "Okay."
     "Thank you," Valerie whimpered, and he almost changed his mind. She
sounded WAY too desperate... and he had no idea what she was thinking.
Valerie continued, "Just, get me up when they come in...  I need to wake
up fast if they come in.  I can't trust 'em.  Please, Charlene," she
begged.  "Please-"
     "Okay okay," he agreed, wondering what that was all about.
     They stopped again, the only sound in the room Valerie's ragged
breathing.
     "You're still cold, aren't you?" Charlie observed, and Valerie just
nodded, her eyes closed.  "Um..."  He got a blanket from the closet and
sat on the bed, and without further prompting Valerie clawed herself out
of her sitting position and crawled alongside Charlie.  Her skin felt
like refrigerated meat to him, and that had to be bad.  "Just..."  He
remembered something about keeping warm, or hypothermia, or something
like that, and slipped his shoes off and put his legs up on the daybed.
Before he could move, she was wrapping herself around his lower body and
curling up into a ball, so he made sure that the blanket and quilt were
covering her completely.  "Yeah, like that," he said when they were both
arranged on the bed.  *Man she's cold.  She's got to be sick...*  He
hesitantly put an arm around her, and she moved just a tad closer...
     But the last thing she said to him was a half-sobbed, "I'm sorry."
     *Sorry for what?* he wondered.
     Before he thought of asking her what she meant, she was asleep.

     Jane awoke slowly, and was pleased to note that she no longer had a
headache.  *That feels so much better,* she realized as she stretched in
bed.  *I think I needed that...*

     Plumbing noises awakened Charlie, who had been dozing lightly.
*Huh?  What-?!*  It took him several frozen moments to realize why there
was a girl in bed with him.  *Oh, man,* he thought with a deep sigh,
*this place just gets weirder and weirder.*  "Valerie?"  *At least she
stopped shivering...*  "Valerie," he tried again, "wake up.  Jane's up,
I think..."  He looked over at the clock on the wall.  "And it's time to
change for tea."

     Tucker was aware that there was someone yammering at him, but he
just clutched the friendly body he was up against and tried to wait the
yammerhead out.

     Charlie didn't know what to do.  It seemed as though Valerie didn't
want to wake up - which was understandable enough - but she had pulled
herself CLOSER to him, like he would protect her or something.
     *Man, _I_ didn't sleep well, with her next to me...  How can she
sleep so easy?*  She was, too; within seconds, her face had relaxed
again, and her breathing changed.  "Valerie, come on..."

     *Why is he trying to wake me up?!* Tucker yelled in a rage, and sat
up, furious at whoever was disturbing-
     *Whoa.*  It was a girl next to him, not a guy, and she looked
surprised.  *Charlene.  Right,* he remembered.  "Oh god," Tucker moaned,
and rubbed his face with his hands.
     "You said you didn't want to be asleep when Jane got here," she
reminded him, and he wanted to hit her, because she was the closest
thing to a responsible party within arm's reach.  "Do you feel better?"
     "I dunno," Tucker groaned.  It seemed like he felt worse, but then
again, most of the day was kind of fuzzy.  "Do what?  Tea?"
     "Formal tea, at four-thirty," she confirmed.  "Maybe you ought to
take a shower or something, to wake up."
     "Oh god.  Yeah, I guess..."  He really didn't want to get up; he'd
been in a nice warm bubble, and he wanted to stay there.
     Charlene slid herself away from him and off the bed, which burst
the bubble pretty much completely, and Tucker sighed and did the same
thing.  *I hate this fucking place.*

     "Um, Shar?" Valerie said as Charlie was about to return to his room
to change.  "Thanks...  I-  You don't know how much you helped."
     "Um, well, it's okay," he replied nervously, wondering what he'd
done, until he noticed he was curling his hair around a finger again.
*Shave my head,* he reminded himself, irritated, as he yanked the finger
out.  "Just, go wake up, and I'll tell Marie you're ready for help
changing."
     Valerie sighed deeply, but nodded and turned towards her room.

     "Oh, man!" Tucker complained when he saw what Marie was pulling out
of the closet.  "Not more of THAT stuff!"
     "Well, if you don't like being in little girl frillies," Marie told
him, "then you shouldn't act like a child having a tantrum."
     *You have no fucking idea what it looks like when _I_ have a
tantrum,* Tucker replied, but only in his thoughts.  He'd learned that
much already.
     Marie handed him the dress, this one in a revolting pale pink
cotton with white dots all over it, and - as usual - only coming down to
his knees.  BEFORE the petticoats were added underneath.  *Mother of
Darkness, what have I done to deserve THIS?*

     "I'm just worried about him," Debbie explained.
     "Deb, your hair's falling out you're worrying so hard," Kathy told
her.  "He's fine, okay?  It's just six weeks."
     "He could get hurt a lot in six weeks," Debbie replied gloomily.
     "What?  Your ninja-geek boyfriend?  You think he'd let someone do
that to him twice or something?" Kathy teased.  "No way.  Besides, you
know him and Mike cooked up some kind of escape thing, right?"
     "Yeah, but will he use it in time if he needs it?  Maybe I should
go check on him," she thought.
     "No, that's a bad idea," Kathy answered, and Debbie realized she'd
accidentally spoken the last part out loud.  "Wait until he needs you,
or calls Mike, or something.  You know he won't be allowed visitors,
wherever he is, right?"
     Debbie just sighed.  She'd had a bad feeling about this arrangement
ever since she'd heard about it, and not just because of the plans of
hers it had messed up.

     After she had sent Valerie upstairs for yet another change of
clothes, Jane demanded, "Tell me what happened, Charlene."
     "Well..."  The boy-girl thought for several seconds.  "She was
cold, really cold.  I touched her skin, and it was like meat, or
something-  I mean, out of the refrigerator," she added, which stifled
Jane's correction to her speech.
     "That cold?" she asked instead.
     Charlene nodded almost confidently.  "VERY cold, Jane.  And she was
shivering when I got there.  I...  I didn't bother reading her a story,
I just wrapped her in blankets and got close to her so I could warm her
up, with my body?"  Jane nodded.  "And she just went to sleep and stayed
that way the entire time."
     "For the entire three hours?"
     "Yes," Charlene nodded again.  "She was warmer when she woke up,
almost like normal, so I guess the blankets helped."
     "Is she ill?"
     The boy-girl looked down, thinking, and Jane was pleased to note
that she was wrapping a lock of hair around a finger, over and over, as
she thought.  It was an appealing 'fidget', girlish in the extreme.
     "I'm not sure," she finally answered.  "She said she wasn't, but
she also said she wasn't feeling well...  I don't know what the two
statements together mean," she admitted.  "And she looked better when
she woke up, a lot better.  But still...  Tired, or something?" she
guessed, shrugging.
     "How was she, with you?"
     "How do you mean?" Charlene asked; a far better response than the
'Huh?' she would have given six months ago.
     "Was she crying, or angry..." Jane prompted.
     Charlene shook her head.  "Just cold and tired, it looked like.  I
mean, I don't know if there was anything else there, because she was SO
cold and tired.  Do you understand what I mean?  It's like there wasn't
room for anything else-  Oh, wait; she spazzed when I came in."
     "'Spazzed' is not precise, Charlene," Jane corrected gently.
     Charlene sighed, but said, "When I opened the door, she'd been
sitting on the bed, and she jumped to her feet, like she was panicked or
something?  And she said she thought it was you, that I was you I mean.
I think," the boy-girl opined, "that she's afraid of you.  Very afraid."
     "That," Jane realized, "could be quite useful."

     "Two sugars, please," Tucker said to Charlene.
     She stopped.  "That's not what you had last time," she accused.
     "What, like I can't decide to have something different?"
     Jane cranked up, "Valerie, it is exceedingly rude..."
     *Here we go again,* he sighed to himself.

     Apparently in spite, the newest boy-girl simply refused to eat
anything, and merely sipped at her tea and sat there, her body language
making it obvious she was merely enduring something exceedingly
unpleasant.  *A useful enough skill,* Jane mused, *but only if she was
doing it under her conscious control, and not reflexively like she is.*
     "Valerie," she said mildly as she set her cup down.  Valerie froze,
almost trembling, and looked at Jane, moving only her eyes.  "You don't
appear to be enjoying the conversation.  Is that so?" Jane prodded.
     After several seconds, the girl softly replied, "It's fine, Miz
Thompson."
     "Oh, you lovely child, you don't have to be polite on our behalf,"
Jane smiled.  "I'm sure that all this grown-up talk has been boring you,
since all you've done is sit there not saying a word."  The newest
student flinched, then, apparently realizing where Jane was going, or at
least noticing that something was wrong.

     Tucker brought up his HUD with a flick of neurons, opened his
pectoral missile bays, and fired off a full salvo of homers.  The squat
shapes spiraled in frantic interdependence like a wheeling flock of
birds before smashing into Jane Thompson and ripping gaping holes in her
body-
     "And how is Mary-Anne today?" Jane asked in a saccharine voice,
which disrupted his concentration and banished the missiles and
targeting symbology as if they'd never existed.
     "Do what?  Who?"
     "Why, your dolly!" Jane cooed at him.  "Don't tell me you've
forgotten your baby's name?"
     Tucker remembered something, and sternly informed her, "Her name is
Boudicca.  She's a real woman, not a servile wimp!"
     Jane's eyes expanded in surprise, and Tucker snap-fired a
long-range heavy missile from the pod on his back into the left pupil.

     *My God, she's actually at a loss,* Charlie saw.  *JANE doesn't
know what to SAY?*
     It was only ten seconds or so, but that was at least twice as long
as she'd ever hesitated before.
     Then she 'went off' on Valerie as if she'd been inspired.  Or
seriously embarrassed.

     "Now turn right," Jane ordered, and Valerie did so.
     Too much, it turned out, because instead of a neat square, she
tried to curve back on her own path and ran into a table before flailing
and falling heavily to the floor.
     Jane was on her feet in an instant and kneeling next to her student
an instant later.

     *Fuck!* Tucker shrieked to himself as she tried to grab him.
Stupidly, though, she'd forgotten that he was next to a table, and so he
could slide under it and escape before she got him.  As he zipped
underneath, he thought he saw a pack of rats hanging from the wooden
undersurface, watching from their pueblos, but they weren't a threat so
he ignored them.  He twisted and planted one foot, then scissored
himself upright opposite Jane, the table between them.
     "Are you all right?" Jane asked, almost sounding concerned.
     "Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," he lied quickly.  "I just tripped."  The
dictionary had naturally flown off his head, so he went to get it as
fast as he could; but he paid attention to what was happening behind him
so she couldn't grab him while his back was apparently turned.

     Marie finally came in and announced that dinner would be ready
shortly.  Jane faced Valerie and said, "Well, I suppose we'll have to
stop for now.  I am not, however, satisfied with your progress in this
area."  She didn't look like she was listening, so Jane asked, "Is that
understood?"
     After a moment, the boy-girl agreed, "Yes ma'am."
     "Charlene made far better progress than you when she arrived," Jane
fibbed.  "But I suppose that's natural, seeing as how she is a delicate
and graceful young woman, whereas YOU..."  Jane paused for a moment, as
if in mute disgust, then continued, "Well, we shall remedy that soon
enough, and you, too, will appear as a graceful and delicate young
lady."

     *'D be a lot more graceful if I could eat and sleep,* Tucker
complained to himself as Marie escorted him upstairs towards his evening
toilette.  *And 'delicate'... shit, even Susan wasn't what you could
call delicate, even in her most priss phases.  Sabrina'd be more than
willing to kick your ass, too, bitch; try calling her 'delicate'.*  That
brought up the spectre of Kathy, and that made him giggle; Kathy was
fully capable of grabbing people and dismembering them via pure force,
he was sure, and he didn't think she'd put up with this bullshit too
long before she Lost It Big Time and showed them where to put their
graceful and delicate.

     A tap on the door alerted Charlie that Marie was going to come in,
and she did a moment later.
     "Valerie is ready for this evening, and I have to go and finish
cooking; will you watch her and make sure she comes to the table?"
     "Yes ma'am," Charlie agreed, nodding.  He was just about finished
changing anyway.

     Following Charlene wasn't so bad, but it only half-distracted
Tucker.  He knew what was coming next.
     *Goddamnit I hate sitting there, watching and listening... and
SMELLI-*  That was just too awful a thing to think of, and as Tucker
frantically tried to think of anything else, he realized that Jane
herself had given him a sort of excuse for tonight's meal.  *Gee, and
I'm wearing flats, too...*  He shifted to toe-walking and peeled off to
starboard, into an open doorway and out of Charlene's sight.

     "Where is Valerie?" Jane asked first thing when Charlie came into
the dining room.
     "She's right-"  No she wasn't.  "She was right behind me!" he
complained as he whirled around, looking for her.

     Jane finally found Valerie in the ballroom, walking in a very
exaggerated manner and practicing her hand gestures as she did.  "What
are you doing?" Jane demanded.  "You know you are supposed to be at
supper!"
     "Well," Valerie replied neutrally, "you said I was simply awful at
this, and I know you're completely right," and Jane actually couldn't
determine whether she was being ironically insulting, or not.  The girl
continued, "So I decided I would practice some more.  I really do need
to get this right, don't I?" she said delicately as she twirled on her
feet and resumed the pattern that she had been following.  "It's so
important..."
     "Valerie, stop what you are doing and come eat.  Right now."
     "Yes ma'am," she said, adding a crude curtsey as she turned to face
Jane.  "I'll be right there."

     "As soon as I take a shower and wash my hair and redo my makeup
five times and change twice," Tucker snickered - VERY quietly - to
himself as he made the laborious journey up the North Face of the
staircase as quickly as he dared move; the stairs were flexing and
warping if he looked at them too much, but if he didn't look at them at
all he couldn't find one to put a foot on.
     *Still, anything's better than sitting there getting bitched at and
waiting to fuck up and get poisoned again.*

     It took several moments for Jane to identify the noise, but when
she did she gasped, "Is she taking a SHOWER?"
     Marie stopped and cocked her head, and then they both knew.  "I'll
get her," Marie sighed as she put the serving platter down.
     Jane waited, trying to eat and failing, until a shriek told her
that something had gone wrong.  Again.  Before she could stand all the
way up, though, she noticed that the voice was screaming in shock
rather than in pain.  "I am taking a shower!" she heard clearly.  "And I
will not come down to the table smelling like a filthy animal!  And
furthermore, I don't BELIEVE you just walked IN here like that!  Don't
you have any manners?!"

     Tucker was pretty proud of that last one, but Marie apparently
wasn't, judging by the way she advanced towards him looking grim.
"Don't do it," he warned as he moved, trying to get into a better
position, but he slipped instead, ringing his head like a bell on the
tiled wall of the bath area.  "Fn!" he complained as he fell and
ricocheted his way to flat, and then someone grabbed him.

     The solid-sounding 'thud' that emanated from the walls propelled
Jane halfway along the hall to the stairs before she could even begin to
consciously wonder what was going on.

     "Only an IDIOT would try to grab someone in a wet bathroom!" Tucker
yelled, more than pissed off by now, at either the gross stupidity of
both women or their lame-assed attempts at trying to make his death look
like an accident.  He couldn't quite decide which one they were guilty
of.  "And I TOLD her not to, but of COURSE she wouldn't LISTEN!"  His
head hurt.

     "If she's not behaving better by Friday," Jane resolved angrily, "I
AM going to send her back."
     "Part of me wants to disagree with you," Marie said sullenly,
holding the ice pack to the bump on her head.  "But only part."

     Tucker had thought that sitting on the carpet was safe, until he
tried to move and found he'd been immobilized while he sat there.
*MotherFUCKER!* he screamed, as visions of spiders and tendrils growing
into his skin and similar things flashed through his mind, but
absolutely nothing came out of his mouth.

     Charlie sighed as he got into bed.  "Man," he said to himself.  "I
dunno about this kid..."  He was fighting harder than Charlie had done;
on the other hand, it was beginning to look like not fighting was one of
the SMARTER things Charlie had done in his life, despite what it had
cost him in masculinity.  And Joan had looked pretty good there before
she left... before HE left, rather.  So maybe that part was temporary.
     In any case, Valerie seemed determined to bring out the WORST in
Jane Thompson, and even Marie; and she was starting to get it.

     "I really don't need to sleep again, ever," Tucker agreed shakily
with himself.  That dream or whatever had terrified him more than most,
and he was an expert in nightmares.  Apparently his body agreed with
him, because he didn't feel at all sleepy, dopey, or tired; he just
ached like he'd had a severe all-over beating.

     "Art," Jane begged into the phone, "what should I DO?  I can't
believe she's still acting like she is!"
     "Neither can I," replied the confused voice of her mate.

     *Oh shit...  I've hit Ignition,* Tucker realized.  A theoretical
point between him and the other guys, it had come up with discussions
about the SAS and endurance testing in general, plus some stuff his dad
had said.  *When you get so tired you don't feel it, or anything else
except the pain... no hunger, no thirst, no tired, no nothing... and
it's self sustaining.*  His problem was, he'd found that point himself a
couple of times, and it took something fairly drastic to 'damp' himself
back to normal.  Otherwise, he wouldn't recover; and he guessed he'd
just keep going like that until he died.  Burning himself up, literally.
     *Well, shit,* he told himself.  *Pam got down to a hundred pounds
and lived... I can do that.  And at three thousand calories a day, say,
or thirty-five hundred, that gives me twenty days of reserve. I can get
something to eat in twenty days; I already did last night,* he
remembered.  *I can do this.  Just take little short naps or something,
somehow...
     *That,* he realized, *could be a problem.*
     *Deal with it later,* he told himself, and got back to work.

     Marie noticed a tiny smear of grease on her finger, and wiped it
off on her apron before donning the protective garment.  *I wonder where
that came from?  I suppose I missed cleaning something last night...*

     *So how do I get out of breakfast this time?* Tucker pondered.
He'd come up with some good gambits, but he could only use each one
once, and he was saving the 'sick' one for as long as possible, because
that could lead to a doctor's visit, and doctors were just as
potentially perverted and subverted as the rest of the population.
     He wasn't in the mood to trust ANYONE at this point.

     "Oh, no, thank you Miz Thompson," Valerie smiled.  "But I'm MUCH
too fat, and I need to lose some weight, so I'll just have juice this
morning."
     "You need to eat something," Jane stated.
     "No, I'll be fine!" the girl replied cheerily, and refilled her
glass from the pitcher on the table.

     "Charlene, come to my office, please," Jane said after she'd
banished Valerie to the kitchen to do the clean-up.
     *What'd I DO?* he complained, but only to himself, pasting a smile
on his face as he got up and followed Jane upstairs to her office.
     "Charlene," she said as they seated themselves, Charlie reluctantly
because every chair in here except Jane's sucked.  "You agreed to be a
big sister to Valerie, before she came here."
     "I'm trying!" he protested, but she waved him to silence.
     "She is on the verge...  No," Jane corrected, "_I_ am on the verge
of sending her back, to whatever fate awaits her at home.  That has
nothing to do with you directly..." which made Charlie feel more than a
little relieved.  "However, you're the only hope remaining of getting to
her, and... helping me to help her.  Do you understand?"
     "I...  I'm not sure," he admitted, having been trapped enough times
verbally to be wary and ask about anything he didn't understand.
     "I need you to talk with her today, and tell me whatever you can
find out about her.  This is truly urgent, Charlene.  She's far more of
a behavior problem than I had estimated, and the clothing does not seem
to be enough of a brake on her.  I need you to find something that WILL
act as a brake; whether it's fear of public exposure, or fear of
humiliation, or social pressure, or whatever.  I need to know what I can
use to direct her, and I need to know it NOW."
     "What about Diana?" Charlie asked.  "She's good at this, you said."
     "She's not here, is she?" Jane pointed out.  "And she cannot be
here until Saturday at the earliest.  I called her last night."  Charlie
was impressed; he'd thought that the vacation Diana and Darla took was
going to last a while, and the way they'd talked they needed it badly.

     "I have some business to conduct," Jane told Tucker and Charlene,
"and so I wish you to stay off the second floor for a few hours.
Charlene, perhaps you can find some divertisement to amuse the two of
you?"  Charlene nodded, and Tucker repressed a sigh; it would probably
have to do with either boys or fashion, he guessed.
     "Valerie," Jane pinged, sending Tuck to battle stations, "you will
obey Charlene as you do me, and if I hear one bad word about your
behavior with her, I will ship you back immediately, to face the justice
system.  Do you understand?"
     *Why not just chain me to something and hand her a whip?* Tucker
seethed, but replied verbally, "Yes ma'am," trying to keep all emotion
out of his voice.

     *Well, she seems not to like that at all,* Jane noticed.  "Very
well then.  Charlene, take Valerie to her room and instruct her in
changing to appropriate attire for whatever you choose to do, and please
do not disturb me."
     "Yes ma'am," Charlene agreed, and dropped a curtsey before
gesturing to Valerie and leading her out of the parlor.

     *Great.  What the hell do I do with her?* Charlie wondered as he
walked down the hall.  *Another nap or something?  No, Jane wanted us
off the second floor...  Guess she figures I can't learn anything when
Valerie is asleep.  Which is true enough,* he admitted.

     Charlene led Tucker to 'his' room, and shut the door behind them.
"Um, so, what would you like to do?" she asked.
     *Go home, sleep, eat unpoisoned food, kill that psycho bitch...*
"I dunno," he said out loud.  "What're the choices?  You can't drive,
can you?" he guessed.
     "Do what?  No," she said.
     "Figures," Tucker sighed.  He'd have been able to run virtual rings
around Charlene; she wasn't nearly as skilled as the older women here,
and Tucker half-suspected she wasn't participating voluntarily in
whatever the two of them were setting up.  If he could've gotten her and
him away from the house...  "I dunno...  Something out of here, anyway."
     "A walk outside?"
     "As long as we don't go around the barn," he said, and she frowned
angrily at him; it didn't take telepathy to figure out why.  "Look, I'm
sorry for that, but DON'T GRAB ME," he told her angrily.
     She glared at him, her jaw sticking out, and Tucker sighed and
rocked himself back and got into a defensive position.  Which hurt.

     Charlie was trying to control his temper, when Valerie sighed and
moved into what looked like something out of a karate movie.  "Oh, like
you're gonna do something to me?" he smarted off.
     "Please..." she sighed, sounding incredibly tired, which confused
him.  "Just, don't...  I'm not in the mood for any of this right now,
and-"
     "You sure look like you are," Charlie pointed out.

     *I need this, I really do,* Tucker moaned internally.  He looked
at her, and decided that she was feeling more defensive than he'd
originally thought, or at least he guessed she wasn't going to attack
him immediately, so he stood down.  "Can we just get on with whatever?"

     *God, she sounds like she's tired,* Charlie noticed.  *Sick and
tired, really...  Like she's-  Whoa, how strange, like she's sick and
tired of Jane's BS,* he thought ironically.  "Okay, how about a walk,"
he suggested.  She nodded at that.  "You'll have to wear-"
     "None of this bullshit, please!" she whined as she wiped a hand
down her current dress, which was a yellow floral abomination that again
would have looked just great on a four-year old going to church.
     "Don't curse," Charlie corrected reflexively, looking around to
make sure Jane hadn't come in.  "She hates that."  As Valerie opened her
mouth to complain about that or something, Charlie said hurriedly, "Okay
okay, none of the little-girly stuff, but you DO have to wear something
feminine.  What if we run into Tom and the other guy out there; do you
want them to think you're some sort of weirdo pervert?"

     "No," Tucker agreed, thinking, *Like this would differ from my
normal life how?*
     Charlene went into the closet to find something, and after a few
seconds Tucker went over to the unused but carefully-mussed bed and sat
down on the edge.  *I am so tired...*
     She came out a lot sooner than he expected, and he concluded that
he'd suspended himself accidentally, before he noticed what she was
presenting on hangers.  "Whaaaat?!"

     Charlie had experienced a lot of reactions when presented with some
humiliating combination of girl's clothing or another, but he'd never
burst out laughing.  "Aiii-yaa!" Valerie shouted.  "Bura-sera!"  And
then she was laughing so hard she fell off the bed.
     "What's so funny?!" Charlie demanded.

     "I could not possibly explain it," Tucker chuckled, having laughed
himself nearly into respiratory failure.  He guessed his eye makeup,
what there was of it, was completely ruined too.  "It'd take too long.
Ummmm..."  He continued humming as he picked the clothes up from where
Charlene had dropped them on the bed, and went into the bathroom to
change.

     "You do look nice," Charlie told Valerie when she came out in the
new clothes.  She did, looking sweet and innocent.
     "Uh, yeah," she snickered.
     "What?!" Charlie demanded.
     "Nothing!" Valerie complained.  "Oh God...  Do I have to re-do my
makeup too?"
     "You'd better," Charlie decided.  "Jane might see you and..."  He
shrugged.
     Valerie nodded at that and went over to the makeup table without
protest.  "Why is she so whacky about wearing makeup all the time?"
     "I dunno, she just is," Charlie informed her.  "I think it might
help you look a little more, y'know, girlish?"
     Valerie glared at him with a reddened eye via the mirror.  "Ohhhh
yeahhhhh, like I need more help with that," she drawled.
     "Do you want people to think you're a guy, dressed like that?"
Charlie challenged.
     "They-" Valerie started as she looked down at herself, then started
laughing again.  "Oh yeah I'm in real danger of that!" she chuckled out
as she pointed at herself in the makeup mirror.  "Ahahahaha!"
     Charlie had to admit that the curls in her hair, which was long
anyway, plus the white sailor blouse, dark green pleated skirt, white
lace-topped knee socks, and black round-toed low pumps would give a very
definite impression of girlhood to anyone who looked.
     "Bahahahahah!"
     On the other hand, he still didn't get the joke, whatever it was,
and listening to her laughing was starting to annoy him.

     Marie turned her radio off regretfully, and got up to begin
preparing lunch.  Jane had said she wanted Charlene to watch Valerie for
a while, so it would be without a helper today, but that was hardly an
imposition.  She was humming and thinking about a menu by the time she
reached her stairs going down to the kitchen, and started washing the
breakfast dishes by hand.

     "Oh man, oh man," Tucker gasped as he walked down the hallway,
trying to delicately wipe his eyes without screwing up his makeup again.
"Kawaii onna-shujin!  Jeezus!"
     "Would you stop laughing!?" Charlene bitched at him.
     "Busu kusai joro," Tucker snapped back before he thought about it.
*Oh dear-*
     Amazingly, though she hadn't shown any signs of understanding his
pidgin Japanese before now, Charlene picked that phrase up with no
problems, judging by the way she bounced him against the wall and
started yelling at him.
     Tucker took a few steps and turned around, ready to defend himself,
but a little late as she punched his chest.

     "Aii!" Valerie squealed, which didn't sound like a foreign language
this time, as she snapped back against the railing at the top of the
stairs.
     Which didn't make nearly as much sound as it should have, as it
gave way behind Valerie, the bottom uprights just swinging out like a
gate as the railing popped loose, and she pivoted and started to fall.

     "OHSH-" Tucker notified the world that he was having a problem as
he flailed around, trying not to fall through the sudden gap in the
railing, because a bad fall from this height onto the hardwood floors
definitely had the potential to kill him.
     He kicked one foot out, which pushed the rest of him back, and then
twisted into a spin because he was still going to fall off, and managed
to do a one-eighty before he stepped off the edge, doing so before his
CG went over, and bent and grabbed at the bottom of a vertical that
hadn't yet moved.
     He ended up breathless and trying to scream as his front body
slapped into the wall, then hanging by his hands.
     *Oh man,* he thought in almost limp relief as the sweat seemed to
break out all over him.  *I thought I was a goner!*  "Shewww," he
breathed.

     Charlie had made a frantic grab and missed, almost going over
himself, but she was gone-  He looked down before he could stop himself-
     And there she was, hanging on to a single upright with both hands,
just beneath him.
     "OhmyGod!" he shrieked as he dropped to his knees and tried to pull
her up before she fell and killed herself.

     "Wha-  No!  Leggo!" Tucker shrieked as the stupid bitch tried to
pry his hands loose.  "GoddamnitIsaidLET GO!"  She was screaming back at
him, some kind of bullshit, and more importantly wasn't listening to
him.
     With one superhuman effort he strained and actually managed to do
the first pull-up of his entire life, and got close enough to bite one
of her hands.  That made her yank back in shock, luckily not
disconnecting him.  As he dropped back down, he screamed as loud as he
could, "DON'T HELP!  DON'T HELP!"
     *This is gonna hurt too,* he sighed.
     He scrabbled for purchase and managed instead to kick one shoe off,
barking, "Rock!" in case anyone was stupid enough to be under him, then
called it again before he deliberately jettisoned the other shoe.  A
second attempt at pushing his body far enough away from the wall to look
under him failed too.  "Aw hell," he sighed as he uncomfortably twisted
his neck to get a good look over his shoulders, and confirmed that there
was a table directly underneath him.  *This is really gonna hurt.*

     Charlie's heart felt as if it was in his throat, but he stood where
he was; partly because of his inability to think of anything to help
her, and partly because Valerie had actually BITTEN him.
     "Falling!" Valerie announced in a curiously calm voice, considering
she was hanging by her fingernails from a ledge twelve feet above a
table, and then she dropped.
     She miraculously missed the hallway table underneath her as she
fell, moving a few impossible feet away from the wall before she slammed
into the ground and somersaulted into the ground-floor wall on the
opposite side of the hallway with an unladylike, "Ooof!"
     Then she rocked back the other way, to lie crumpled on the floor.

     Jane came out of her bathroom sighing.  *I hope Charlene can handle
her... she should be ready, but Valerie is especially trying - more so
than Charlene herself was in that first week...*
     *Dear God, it's only the first week,* she re-realized.

     *Teeth, fingers, toes...* Tucker checked.  His fingers and toes
wiggled; his teeth did not.  *Hokay, let's try getting up.*  He rolled
himself over onto his knees, braced himself with his hands, and pushed
upright-
     And rediscovered the fact that socks on hardwood have almost no
friction at all.  "Yeee-oof!"
     As his knee complained vehemently about being slammed into the
floor, Tucker rolled over onto his back again.  And then started to
laugh.  *Ten foot fall, no problem; standing up, MAJOR problem!*
     *Man, Jane would-*
     That sobered him up instantly.

     Charlie was shocked to hear her laughing, but even as he got mad,
Valerie shut up and shot up in a panic.  "Oh, crap...  We gotta get
outta here before Jane sees this!"
     The top bar of the railing was just hanging there defiantly out
over the walkway below, with some of the uprights caught in those that
hadn't given way, and others dangling at crazy angles.
     "Uh," Charlie uttered, his own mind starting to race as Valerie
crawled frantically to collect her shoes.  *Jane SAID to not bother her,
and this is exactly the sort of thing that'd bother her immensely...*
     *'You should take responsibility for your actions,'* a memory of
Jane admonished him.
     "I think I can rig up a patch," Valerie panted as she scrabbled
across the floor and jammed her shoes on.  "We just gotta get some wood
planks.  Are those groundskeepers around?  Is there anything in the barn
like tools?"
     *I should also fix my mistakes,* Charlie decided.  *And I REALLY
don't want to deal with another one of Jane's yelling sessions right
now.*  "Yeah, I think so," he admitted to Valerie as he started skipping
down the stairs as quickly as he could.  When he got to the bottom,
Valerie held up a hand, he took it and helped her up, and the two of
them left hurriedly in the direction of the barn.

     Carolyn thought about calling Sandy to see how she was doing, but
memory of the last time she'd done that changed her mind.  *I think I'll
just let her sleep,* she thought, with a hint of guilt.  Not enough
guilt to make her call, though.

     Charlie blinked as Valerie rattled off, "Four planks, about eight
feet long, and as wide as you've got; four- no, eight carriage bolts,
eight nuts..."  Her fingers flickered strangely for a few seconds.
"Sixteen washers, and a drill with a bit to fit the bolt size," she
finished.
     "Now what exactly were you girls planning to do with this?" 'Old'
Tom asked skeptically.
     Charlie opened his mouth before he realized that HE couldn't figure
out a good explanation, but Valerie answered, "The railing and posts on
the landing on the main staircase gave way; the thing's a safety hazard
until we get it patched."
     "How'd it get broke?"
     Valerie twitched in irritation.  "I was wearing heels, lost my
balance and fell against it.  Are you gonna help or not?  We've GOT to
get that patched before someone falls through it."
     *Someone ELSE,* Charlie thought guiltily.

     *I'm sure,* Jane thought to herself, *that if Charlene was having
problems with Valerie, she would call for assistance.  She knows where I
am, and she knows where Marie will be...*  Jane finally realized what
was happening, and laughed out loud at herself.  *Just because they're
not fighting or otherwise making noise, doesn't mean that some
catastrophe has happened!  Jane Thompson, control yourself!*


***


Distribution:
No part of this work may be distributed as an original work by another
person or group.
Permission is given to redistribute this by electronic means, as long as
the entirety of the work (from the BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE header to
the END PGP SIGNATURE footer) is distributed, and credit is given to the
original author, me.  And no fee may be charged.
Archiving is permitted provided no fee is charged for access.

All rights reserved.


+ @>--,--'-----   Ellen Hayes   o===[--------      __      vicki .sig  +
                  -=[1990]=-                       \/      virus 12.2
+      http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes     PGP key: EFC9 5D55 (1996) +



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