I obliged, and got my revenge when I insisted on dressing Kristen and Patty both in terry robes that hung in the closet.
All three of us were “decent” as we emerged from the changing room. Camille also wore a robe.
The porch’s screens were replaced by glass panels due to the fact that it was winter in the Midwest. The grill was also set back into an alcove that included a chimney above that somehow allowed the fumes from the gas stove to escape without bringing in cold air.
I could see the distortions caused by the heat waves over the grill, which told me that the grill was on. I couldn’t smell what was cooking and I looked questioningly at Kristen.
“You’re the chef today, Oogie!”
That nickname earned me a snicker from the two other girls. “Are your parents joining us?”
“Dad’s still in Chicago,” Kristen replied. “He has a flight to Los Angeles later on, and Mom won’t be home until late.”
“Just us and Harry?” I asked.
“Just us and you,” Kristen corrected me.
“Huh?”
Kristen smiled. “Harry’s off for the day. It’s a holiday, remember? He just came over to drive me home. He put away my bags and I gave him the rest of the day off.”
“Oh.”
I thought about my cooking repertoire. It was rather limited. I could cook hamburgers if you wanted them well done, or hot dogs if you didn’t mind them burned. I shrugged at Kristen.
“How about Italian sausage grinders?” Kristen suggested.
“Yum!” Camille said. “That’s an idea!”
“I never cooked sausage before,” I warned Kristen.
“Hot dogs are sausages,” Kristen pointed out. “Besides, you have three ladies that would enjoy helping you if you need help.”
“Indeed,” I said, standing corrected. “My ladies, I would love to serve you sausages.”
Camille looked pointedly at my grown and said, “Don’t make any promises you can’t keep, Oogie!”
“You have a one track mind,” Patty said to Camille.
“As long as the train stops at my station,” Camille quipped.
Kristen was giggling at this exchange. She pointed out, “If you want ITALIAN sausage, you’ll have to look elsewhere, Camille.”
“True,” Camille conceded. She perked up after a moment and added, “But a sausage in the hand is worth two in the bush, if you know what I mean.”
Everybody was laughing, which was followed by good natured groaning. Camille was usually pretty fast with the puns, which seemed unusual for a girl.
When the laughter died down, I said, “I think you might be the only one here that may have ever had two in the bush at once, Cammy.”
Everybody looked at me, stunned. Never before did I try to top Camille’s puns before, and I don’t know what got into me. The reaction was slow, but everybody started to laugh very hard, including Camille.
“He got you good,” Patty said to her friend.
“Touché,” Camille said, bowing to me.
“Oh, cut it out,” I said, reddening under the attention from the girls.
“He’s cute when he blushes,” Patty observed.
Kristen reached up and kissed me. “There, there, Oogie. You got that bad little Cammy, didn’t you?”
I sighed. I hoped that trying to top Camille’s outrageous puns didn’t become a habit.
It turned out that sausages were really easy to cook on the grill. Kristen came out with a tray of four large sausages. She winked at Camille as she passed her. In addition, there was also a grill pan in which she put some onions and peppers along with some butter as accompaniments. I toasted a few torpedo rolls, burning only one.
The smell of the cooked meat made everybody hungry, and we made short work of the grinders.
We talked about school, which was starting up the next day.
The girls talked a bit about college, and Camille informed us that she applied to Harvard and was deciding between law or medicine. Kristen was interested in this, explaining how she and her brother owned an apartment in Cambridge, which might help offset some of the tuition costs.
That discussion degenerated into a G-rated recount of our Thanksgiving trip last year (Wow… 1974 was already in the past!).
Some of us retired to the hot tub, while others splashed in the pool. Camille and Kristen took the “special jet” locations.
I managed to find some private time to talk with each of the girls that day, but I didn’t initiate any sexual activity with anybody. Sometimes, it is nice to just talk with your friends.
Chapter 10—Detention
That night, Kristen took me to “our” apartment. I was surprised to see that the work that she designed for it was mostly complete. The only thing that was the same from the original apartment was the color scheme in the living room. Apparently, Harry unpacked Kristen’s suitcases since I didn’t see them in the apartment.
As part of the renovation, the appliances in the kitchen were replaced with ones of a more professional quality. The refrigerator no longer contained a freezer on top, but was a wide side-by-side model with a dispenser for water and ice in the heavy brushed metal door. The kitchen also sported a new stove that burned gas, augmented with one of those new microwave ovens on one of the new, larger counters.
The kitchen expanded into the former apartment next door, and now contained what Kristen called an “island” in the middle of it that contained a lot of counter space and an extra sink with a garbage disposal in the middle. Surrounding the island were a few stools which created an informal eating area within the kitchen.
Beyond the kitchen, into the counterpart of our living room in the second apartment, was a combination pantry and hallway, which led to a formal dining room. The centerpiece of the dining room was a large table made of cherry wood with a finish was almost as shiny as glass. Six chairs with tall backs were set at the table, and there was room to expand the table to fit a party of twelve people comfortably. The dining room also sported a matching wall unit that contained a set of china on display.
The dining room also connected back to the living room in the original apartment area, and a hallway led to a guest bedroom and a private bath.
Back in the original apartment, there was a new, enlarged bedroom, which now contained its own private bathroom. There was also the king sized bed that Kristen and I already gave good use to.
Throughout the new apartment was a set of intercoms that would allow either of us to contact the other, no matter where in the apartment the other person would be. It was on a separate and private circuit from the house security intercom; the latter was also accessible from the entire apartment as well.
The carpet was now a full shag carpet throughout the entire apartment, with the exception of the kitchen which was decked out with Italian tile.
“Wow,” I gushed after Kristen gave me the grand tour. “I saw some of this before Christmas, but it’s done now!”
“Well, it’s nearly done,” Kristen said proudly. “As of tonight, it’s ours. It’s no longer my playroom, but our apartment. I’m living here until we get married, when we will pick out our own property. Your parents have already given tentative permission for you to live here if you want, but they’d prefer you to stay at home occasionally, at least for the next year. And I have to show you the one Christmas present that is still not completely ready.”