Avenging Home (5 page)

“Let’s just hope we don’t need to,” Danny said.

We all agreed to that sentiment. We said goodbye and headed home. I wanted to check on Taylor and hang out with her a little while. As we walked, I looked at the little raised spot on my arm where the TB shot was given. Danny looked over and asked, “How’s it looking?”

I shrugged. “Hell if I know. Looks swollen to me, but I wouldn’t know good from bad.”

“Doc check it lately?”

“Going to have him look at it at dinner.”

“Hopefully it’s good news.”

I shrugged. “I don’t think I have it. I mean, I don’t feel sick. I’m not coughing or anything. I’m sure it’s fine. But it’s still kinda creepy waiting.”

Danny grunted. “No shit. I wouldn’t want to.”

I looked sideways at him. “You know, if it’s positive, then everyone’s going to have to be tested. If they have enough tests.”

Danny cut his eyes at me. “Then you better be negative.”

Laughing, I replied, “I’m pretty negative these days.”

Danny laughed. “Yeah, I guess.” Then with a serious tone, he added, “But you better be negative.”

I laughed as I slapped him on the back, and we parted ways at my driveway. Little Bit was sitting on the porch with the dogs when I walked up. Meat Head’s tail thumped the porch as she scratched his belly. Drake barely lifted his eyes to acknowledge my arrival. At least Little Sister got up after stretching and wandered over for her obligatory scratching.

“Look at these lazy dogs,” I said with a smile.

Little Bit looked up. “They’re so cute.”

“They’re lazy!” I replied with a laugh.

She lay on the floor and snuggled up to Meat Head and smiled. “I like it.”

Grinning, I shook my head. “How can you snuggle up to that smelly hound?”

Meat Head rolled his head over and licked her face. “He doesn’t smell that bad.” I laughed and went inside.

Mel was sitting in the living room and looked up from a book. In the Before she never read. It just wasn’t normal for her to sit and read. Now, however, she and Bobbie scoured the houses for books, and both of them were always reading. If they weren’t reading, then they were talking about books. I guess that was a bit of a return to the old ways. Books were now, once again, a distraction. An escape from the harsh realities of daily life. They seemed to really get into the romance novels. Little Bit also spent a lot of time reading, though she preferred adventure stories with fairies and dragons. I had a stack of books too, though I’d already read most of mine from before. For the rest of the group, they weren’t much fun to read. Books on edible plants and the Fox Fire series weren’t nearly as exciting as romantic interludes on a sailboat or the trials of a fairy princess.

“What’cha reading there, babe?” I asked as I sat on the couch.

Folding the book closed, she laid it cover-down in her lap. With a smile, she replied, “Nothing you’d be interested in.”

I reached and turned the book over to expose the cover, depicting some muscled hunk with no shirt on. With a laugh, I said, “Not going to learn much in there that’ll help us out.”

She turned her book over. “That’s your job.”

“How’s Taylor?” I asked.

“Good, she’s reading some vampire book.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh God. I remember those things. Back into that huh?”

“She can’t really do much right now. It’s good for her.”

Standing up, I said, “I’m going to check on her.”

Mel opened her book. “Good. I need to see what Blake does.”

Shaking my head, I wandered down the hall. Stopping at her door, I tapped on it. “Come in.”

I opened the door and was met with a smile. “Hey, Dad!”

I sat on the edge of her bed and ran my hand over her head. “Hey, kiddo. How are you feeling today?”

She perked up. “I’m feeling really good today. I walked to the bathroom by myself. Mom was there, but I didn’t let her help me. I did it all by myself.”

I leaned over and hugged her. “That’s awesome. You’ll be out of this bed regularly in no time.”

“I can’t wait. I’m so sick of being here.” She laid her book down and looked at me. “I want to get up and get back to normal.”

“You will. Just don’t rush it.”

She rolled her eyes. “I just want to be able to get out of bed and sit on the couch or maybe on the porch. Plus, I want to be able to walk over to Bobbie’s when we eat. It sucks being in here all alone.”

“Well, you spend a couple of days walking around the house and we’ll get you over to Bobbie’s.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

Before I could reply, there was a sudden flurry of voices in the living room. I looked down the hall to see Lee Ann, Fred and Jess. Mel was talking to them. I looked at Taylor. “I’ll get out of here, looks like you have visitors.”

“Yeah, we’re going to play Scrabble. Can I go out to the dining room so we can play on the table?”

“Of course,” I replied with a smile as I left the room.

Walking into the living room, Jess looked at me. “Hey, Morgan.”

I looked at her, then around the room. “What’s that smell?”

She smiled. “It’s perfume, if you must know.”

“You know you can shower now, right?” I replied.

With her hands on her hips, she shot back. “For your information, I did!” Flipping her hair, she replied in a dismissive tone. “A girl can still dress up.”

It was then I noticed she was wearing a dress. I’d never seen her in a dress. For the first time, she actually looked like a woman, a pretty damned fine one at that.

“Wow, I just noticed.”

“Doesn’t she look beautiful?” Mel asked.

I nodded. “Yeah,” and my mind started turning. “What are you two up to?” I asked, looking at Fred. She was in a dress too. With cowboy boots, no less.

Fred started laughing. Twirling her skirt, she said, “We just felt pretty today.”

“Where’s Aric?”

“This is a girl’s night,” Jess said as she waltzed past me.

Fred followed her. “Yeah.”

Little Bit came out of her room in a dress too. “Daddy, it’s girl’s night!”

“What the hell’s going on here?” I asked, shaking my head.

Mel stood up and headed for the bedroom. “You heard them. Its girl’s night. So you need to find someplace to go.”

Jess laughed. “Yeah, don’t go away mad. Just go away.”

I walked into the kitchen mumbling to myself about my house being taken over and being asked to make myself scarce in no uncertain terms. I went to the fridge and poured myself a cup of tea before heading for the bedroom as well. Mel was beside the bed pulling a dress of her own up over one shoulder.

I gave her a little whistle. “Maybe you should do girl’s night more often,” I said as I moved towards her.

She stopped me with a hand on my chest. “I don’t think so, mister. This is girl’s night. And I don’t mean the porno kind either.”

I looked her up and down. She looked amazing in the dress, standing barefoot in our room.

“Aw, come on,” I pleaded.

She pulled the dress over her other shoulder and turned. Lifting her hair, she said, “Zip me up.”

I stepped close to her and slowly pulled the zipper up her back. She spun around and gave me a kiss, then asked what I was doing.

“I’m going to take shower.”

She looked down at me and with a devilish grin and said, “Looks like you could use one, a cold one.”

“You’re evil, woman.”

She leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “I know. Now hurry up and get out of here.”

As she left the room, I heard Bobbie come in the front door. It was turning into an estrogen fest out there. But I had to smile. They were just having fun. Like little girls, they were all playing dress-up. There was no reason now to ever dress up or try to look good, but they obviously needed it. It gave me an idea, one that would take some time to put together, but I think everyone would like.

I showered and dressed in clean clothes. Looking at the laundry pile, I knew it would soon be time to get the wash done. It was a bit of a chore not using the machine. We could run the generator for it, but it was a waste of precious fuel. Mel fought tooth and nail for a long time about it, but finally gave in. Of course, I had to help. It was a lot of work. I wish I’d invested in one of the numerous wash systems I’d looked at before. They seemed a little expensive at the time; and I always thought,
I can build that
. But I never did. Now I would gladly pay twice the price for one.

Coming out of the bedroom, I was met with laughter. The ladies were in the living room cueing up a video on the laptop. I was saying my goodbyes, looking to make a hasty escape when another woman appeared from the hallway leading to the bathroom. I didn’t recognize her and stared for a moment. Like the others, she too was in a pretty dress and cowboy boots.

She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hips to the side. “What?” She asked.

Then I realized it was Jamie. I’d never even imagined her in something other than the BDUs she always wore, but she looked amazing. Still surprised, I simply replied, “Uh, nothin’.”

“Then quit staring at me like a slack-jawed fool,” she said as she passed me.

I smiled and turned to the door. Pausing, I turned back around. “You ladies all look beautiful tonight.” I thought it was a nice gesture. But I was met with shouts, various objects thrown in my direction and several orders to
Get out!
Still smiling, I left the house to the ladies.

I made my way over to Danny’s house. He was sitting on the front porch. “Come on up and grab a chair,” he said, motioning to the rocker beside him.

“Did you see any of them?” I asked as I sat down.

“Just Bobbie, when she was leaving.”

“You should see my house. They’re all in there, even Jamie. And they’re all dressed up. Makeup and everything.”

“Yeah, Bobbie said they wanted a girl’s night.”

Shaking my head, I replied, “Seems like a waste. There’s some hot ass women over there.” Then I looked at Danny. “Who knew?”

Danny laughed. “Probably a good thing. Could you imagine some of these guys around here seeing them all dolled up?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I replied. Then a smirk appeared on my face. “I imagine it would be hard on Mike’s face. I have a feeling he knows what it’s like to be slapped.”

“Ian too. I think Jamie would take him down, dress and all.”

Then I laughed. “He’d probably try to piss her off just to get her to do it. She looked good. They all did. You should see the dress Mel was wearing.”

“Let ‘em have their fun.”

The door opened and Miss Kay stuck her head out. “You boys hungry?”

Standing up, I replied, “Yes, ma’am!”

“Well, come on in here and let’s get you fed.”

As we followed her into the house, I asked, “Why aren’t you over there at the party?”

Mary was standing in the kitchen. “We had to make sure you guys got your supper.”

Over her shoulder, Miss Kay added, “Someone has to do it.”

“We could have fended for ourselves,” Danny said.

Miss Kay turned and smiled. “Oh, I’m sure you could have, but it wasn’t a bother.”

The way she said it though, led me to believe she didn’t really think we could! Tonight’s dinner was the leftovers from lunch. Nothing ever went to waste. When a meal was prepared, it was eaten until it was gone. We were soon joined by Thad and Dalton. And about the time Danny and I finished our meal, Sarge, Perez and Ian showed up.

“You’re late. We ate it all,” Thad said as they came through the door.

“Just couldn’t wait, could you?” Sarge fired back.

“Like one big dog does another,” I replied.

Sarge grunted. “Big dog, my ass.” He came up beside me at the table. “Move your ass, pup.” I smiled and picked up my bowl to make room for him.

“Don’t let him bother you, Linus. You know I have some for you,” Miss Kay said as she set a bowl in front of him.

Sarge smiled at her. “I know you do. I always let the kids eat before I do.”

Thad smiled. “Who you callin’ a kid, little man?”

Chewing a mouthful of stew, Sarge pointed his spoon at Thad. “It ain’t the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

Still smiling, Thad raised his arm, making a muscle. “This dog’s got plenty of fight.”

Sarge nodded. “I know you do. I’d just have to shoot your big ass.” Thad’s smile quickly faded and he laughed, blowing stew out his nose and mouth.

We all started to laugh as Perez wiped the mess from his arm, having caught most of it. “Ay yos mios!” Perez groaned.

Sarge was laughing at Perez and said, “How many times I gotta tell you,
English!
You chili chomper!”

“Usted vieja cabra,” Perez shot back.

Sarge laughed even harder now and looked across the table, doing his best impression of a goat, “Baaa aa baa aa!”

In a calm almost quiet voice, Dalton said, “La cabra siempre tira al monte.”

“See, he knows!” Sarge shouted.

“What the hell did you say?” Danny asked.

“The goat always seeks out the mountain heights,” Dalton replied, giving Sarge a nod.

Shaking my head, I said, “You suck any harder and your eyes’ll cross.”

Dalton busted out into a deep laugh, joined by several others. Even Sarge laughed, adding, “Don’t let him fool you. Never underestimate the value of ass-kissing.”

Perez leaned over and patted his ass cheek. “Come here, old man. I’ve got some work for you.”

Sarge snorted. “Pick a spot, Beaner. You’re all ass!”

The reply got a smile from Perez. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to his meal.

I carried my bowl into the kitchen. Mary took it from me. “I’ll take care of this.”

“You don’t have to clean up after me. Why aren’t you over there?” I asked.

“We’re going over in a bit. We just wanted to make sure dinner was taken care of.”

“Good. You two need to go have some fun too,” I replied.

“Where you going Morgan?” Sarge called.

“Headed to the bunker to relieve the guys so they can come eat.”

“Alright. I’ll stop by later. Need to talk about tomorrow.”

Danny was on duty with me and we walked to the bunker together. I could hear slaps and Mike bitching as we got closer. As we walked up, he jumped down from the roof of the bunker. “Thank God, you’re here!”

“What’s eatin’ your ass?” I asked.

Collecting his gear, he replied, “Oh, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Mosquitos are driving him nuts tonight; and in turn, he’s driving me nuts,” Ted said.

Mike slapped at another of the blood suckers. “I’ve never seen them like this before.”