29 Are you awake?

“Are you awake, girls?” I heard Caleb say, and I rolled over. He was on the phone. “Oh, well, good. Come over then.” He rolled over and looked at me, “Better get up, love, the girls are ready,” and went off to the shower.

“Morning  girls,” I said from where I hid behind the door as they came trooping in with their luggage, “how long have you all been up. Oh, just a sec,” I said, closing the door and going to my cell phone which was frantically ringing.

“Hide your eyes, Girls,” Caleb yelled from the bathroom, emerging in his towel to hunt for his clothes, while the girls, giggling, covered their faces.

“Hey, Mom. Yeah, we’re up,” I said. “No, we just went to bed. Yeah, the girls are fine. We just got up, Caleb is getting dressed and I am about to get in the shower. OK, love you too.”

I hung up and dashed off to the shower. It was kind of awkward getting dressed, afterwards. Everyone else was finished and all they had to do was watch me; Caleb with frank admiration and the girls with impatience. It was cold out so I grabbed this wonderful wool skirt that Mom had given me, all in plaid, along with a long sleeved white shirt. Eventually, none to soon for the girls, we were trudging through the new snow to the car. “Turn the heater on,” I said. One problem with skirts, even wool ones, is that they let cold air blow up between your legs, and I was freezing. The girls, more sensible than me, were wearing jeans over long underwear, with nice warm shirts and sweaters. And of course Caleb was never cold, with his large frame, but his heavy jacket didn’t hurt.

“Just a sec, love,” he said. “If I turn it on now, it will blow all cold.

We sat there waiting for the car to warm up and the windows to defrost, and I decided to pop on the

Good Morning Johnsonville. This is your KHTS morning show, bring you a mixture of news, weather, and local gossip. On that latter page we read that George Gregson has finally popped the question to Susan Meadows! Congratulations George! We were wondering if you would do that before she started to draw social security!

Now, for the news, as read by yours truly because we are too cheap to get one of those fancy news feeds. More news from the great ‘Time Travel’ escapade. And not good news, either, sorry folks. A sister of one of the kidnapped… that’s right, we used the word, ‘kidnapped’ her, anyway the sister of one of the kidnapped victims of the escapade was re-arrested after she gave an interview to a talk show. Although she gave the interview with her voice all altered like they do with secret witnesses, the government apparently figured out who she was anyway and, in a dawn raid, picked her up from her apartment in Seattle. When will we get it, folks? Liberty is dead…

Caleb reached forward and snapped the radio off. “What shall we do today?” He asked, tension in his voice. “I know you all were looking at the travel guide. What museums have you got all picked out for us?”

“Uncle Caleb,” Gillian said, “I saw something. There is this planetarium…”

As Gillian told us about the planetarium, and Jenny told us about an outlet mall on the way to the planetarium, I looked at Caleb, whose face was set and serious. We were not off the hook. The government had not given up. This trip was wonderful, but it was an illusion. We had to… we had to get Roberta back and erase this thing or we would always be in hiding. Caleb reached out and took my hand as the tears flowed freely down my face. “That sounds good, girls,” he said, to cover me, “where would you like to go for breakfast? Pick us somewhere in about an hour.”

“Wow, that was really great,” Caleb said, as we emerged from the planetarium. He was holding my hand on one side, and Jenny’s on the other, while I held Gillians. There had been quite a crowd in the planetarium, but the show had been well worth it. “Let’s go find a hotel.”

This time I decided to bite the bullet and go in with him. After all, I had been “Mrs. Jones” for two weeks now, it was time for me to get over being embarassed about it. But it almost wasn’t worth it as the clerk seemed to smirk at the names ‘Jones’, only losing his silly grin when Caleb presented his drivers liscence as ID.

“You say you wish adjoining rooms?” The clerk asked.

“Yes, if you have them. We are traveling with two teenage girls, and want to keep an eye on them.”

“Very wise,” the clerk said, and I warmed to him a bit. “I can give you room 102 and 103. They are right down this hall here, and right across from the pool, which should be conveinient with teenage girls.”

“A pool!” I said. I hadn’t thought of swimming on this trip. Caleb took the keys, and said,

“Well, with a pool we will have to do some shopping. Is there a WalMart near here?”

“Girls!” I said, “There is a pool. Did you bring your suits?”

Gillian had, but the other three of us would need to buy suits.

I swear to you that it wasn’t until we were already in the departement that I realized what I had let myself in for. I was having a great time being immodest in private, but my public persona was very modest. And if there is anything less modest than a swimsuit on a girl, I have no idea what it is. Boys wear swim trunks that cover them from their waist to their knees, but even the most modest girls swimsuits are the equivalent of being stak naked and covered with paint.

“What, what would you like me to get?” I asked Caleb finally. Whatever it was, I was going to feel horrible in it, so I might as well please him.

“Well, what do you like?” he asked. I pulled him aside, the girls busy finding something for Jenny.

“I don’t like anything, but I love to swim. I would like to swim naked, just us. But I can’t in public. So just pick something you like, and at least I will know that you like it.”

“OK,” he said, a grin on his face. And it wasn’t twenty seconds before he was back.

I took what he handed me, and gulped. That’s what happens when you let a boy pick, I guessed.

“Are you read to try on?” Jenny asked, coming up to me.

“I guess,” I said, doubtfully, and the three of us went off to the changing room.

I was still getting  undressed when Jenny had hers on. She had chosen a bikini top with little shorts, in orange of all things, but they set her off nicely. Then the girls turned to me, and giggled wildly.

“What?” I said, insulted, then turned toward the mirror, “Oh.” I took them hurridley off. “Gilllian, go tell Uncle Caleb that, until his wife has done quite a bit more shaving, he can’t get his wish. Help him pick out something with shorts.”

Gillian, still snorting wildly, dashed off, and came back seconds later. I looked at her.

“He already had it picked out. I think he was teasing you, with that other,” she said.

I sighed. Even this, once I put it on, was not anything I felt comfortable with, but what could I do? He had picked something that matched Jennies almost perfectly, in a nice blue. I started to take it off, and Jenny said, “Aren’t we going to go out an model them for him?”

“You can if you want,” I said, getting dressed red faced, “but as for me I am going to go from the hotel room to the pool, and that is all that people are going to see of me.”

Jenny sighed and changed as well.

“Did you like it?” Caleb asked me when we came out.

“It fits.” I answerd, “If something like that can be said to fit,” I grumped, and he laughed and took my arm.

“You can wear a shirt if you want to,” he said, “and I know lots of women that wear a robe to the pool.”

“You really are a great husband, you know. I was sure you would be upset that I didn’t come out and  parade around.”

“Hey, I get to see all I want in our room. Not many husbands can say that, from what I hear.”

He really was a great husband. I was going to miss him.

As it turned out I hadn’t needed to worry. We were the only people in the pool when we got there, and Caleb and I headed straight for the hot tub while the girls played wildly in the main pool. I dropped my robe at the last second and sank gratefully into the warm water, watching them, “This is great,” I said, “it really let’s them get out some energy.”

“Me too,” he said, reaching for my leg underwater, causing me to jump, and squeal. “You know,” he added, “if you don’t like the suit, I could take it off for you..”

“Caleb!” I shrieked, “Stop that, Caleb!!”

In the end we got much more excercise than I had planned. I kept my suit (Caleb was only kidding. I think.) but I had to fight hard for it. Luckily he is very ticklish, and that helped me.

“You two having fun?” Jenny said, as she and Gillian splashed into the tub. I must have looked a sight, my face all red, my hair wet…

“Always,” Caleb said. “Your aunt wanted to go skinny dipping, and I was struggling to keep her clothes on her.”

“I beleive that!” Jenny said with a smirk. “Hey, I wanted to thank you again…” she began, but Caleb splashed her into silence.

“Yeah, Uncle Caleb,” Gillian said, “It was really nice of you to…” But she was too ticklish, and I was too good a tickler, for her to finish the sentence. I knew that Caleb hated to be thanked. It embarassed him.

“Are you going to read to us again, Uncle Caleb?” Gillian asked.

“Sure, you all ready to go back to the rooms?”

It was nice having adjoining rooms. Gillians parents had been very concerned about hotels, with the TV’s and all in them. They were very conservative and hated TV with a passion, but knew that Gillian might be a bit inclined to ‘go along’ with us on the trip, so had been thrilled when we said there would be no TV. As Caleb and I showered and changed we could hear the girls going on in the next room, until eventually they came rushing in… Jenny wearing pajama bottoms  and Gillian a pajama top. I did a double take, and they grinned at me. They were wearing the same pajamas! I grinned back. I had on pajama bottoms too, it was a bit cold for just panties.

“Ready girls?” Caleb said, coming out of the bathroom, the girls jumping up and down on their knees in answer.