"Hey! Don’t let Mom hear you say that."
"Yeah," Merry said, dejectedly. She really wanted that ticket.
I knew the tickets had special powers, but this was simply amazing to me.
"I’ll be in my room, Merry."
"Wait! Which bathing suit should I bring?"
I was about to tell her not to bother, but I realized that if she didn’t bring one, Mom would be sure to notice. "Whatever one you like. Bring a towel and a change of clothes, too."
"OK. Thanks, Jim!"
Kristen arrived on schedule, and I was forced into the tiny back seat as Merry insisted on sitting up front. "Wow! A stick shift and everything. What’s that gauge?"
"A tachometer," Kristen explained, happy at the attention. "It tells me how fast the engine is revving."
"How’s that different from a speedometer?"
"Watch," Kristen said as she started up the car. She gunned the accelerator and the tach moved up, just short of the red line, and went down. "See? And we’re not even moving."
"Oh," Merry said, still a bit confused.
"See that 2 on the gauge? That’s two thousand RPMs, and is a good indicator that it’s time to shift. Watch."
Kristen pulled out, and shifted a few times as she got up to speed. Merry watched, her eyes moving from the tach to the shift to Kristen’s feet.
When we stopped at a light, Merry made another observation. "I see that you use your left foot for that pedal, and your right foot for the other two. Right?"
Kristen smiled. "Yes, Merry. On an automatic transmission, you only use one foot for two pedals, since you should very rarely need to hit the brake and the gas at the same time. For manual transmissions, you do the same, only you add the left foot for the clutch."
"Way cool. And you use the clutch to shift, right?"
"Right," Kristen smiled.
Merry and Kristen kept up their conversation all the way to Kristen’s house.
Kristen led us into the main house, and gave us a complete tour of her home. I saw Kristen’s bedroom for the first time, as well as her brother’s, and two guest rooms. We saw the exercise room, and the living rooms (there were three), dining room, kitchen, and she pointed out her father’s study, and the direction of the servants' areas.
"You got servants?" Merry asked.
"Sure. Watch this… Billy? Can you have Edgar bring Meredith a lemonade?"
"Yes, Miss Swift," boomed a voice from an intercom.
"Wow!" Merry said, awed.
Merry was even more surprised when Edgar showed up a minute later with a tall glass of lemonade with some ice on a round platter. "Miss Meredith?" Edgar asked, offering my step-sister the glass.
Merry took the glass, and Edgar bowed, and turned to Kristen. "Will that be all, Miss?"
"Yes, Edgar. Thank you."
Edgar bowed, and left the room quietly.
Kristen led us to the Solarium, and pointed out the changing rooms to Merry. "You can get dressed in there, Merry. I see you brought your bathing suit. Usually, we are quite informal here, wearing nothing at all."
"You swim naked! Wicked cool!" Merry’s eyes lit up. "Can I… um… I mean, is Jim…?"
Kristen’s eyes sparkled. "Yes. Jim and Patty both have swam here. And they didn’t wear bathing suits."
"Wow!"
"Merry," I said. "If you want to swim naked — it’s called skinny dipping — that’s fine. But it’s not something that Mom or your dad need to know about, right?"
"God, yes!" Merry said. "Mom would, like… she’d have a stroke or something."
The intercom switched on again. "Miss Swift? Your friend Patrice has arrived."
"Tell her to meet us in the Solarium. She knows her way around here."
"Patrice? Jack’s sister?" Merry asked, confused.
"Yes. You’ll find she’s not the… um… person she used to be." I had almost called Patrice a bitch to my step-sister.
"Wow!"
Patrice entered the room. "Hi, Kristen. Hi, Jim. Is that Meredith with you?"
"Hi, Patrice!" we answered back.
"Yes. You know Merry."
Patrice looked at us, and then said, "Hi, Merry."
"Hi, Patrice," Merry said, a bit softly. "Is Jack here, too?" For some reason, Jack and Merry never got along. I never really understood this, since I always considered Merry to be a pretty nice kid, even when she was younger.
"No, Merry," answered Patrice, who also knew about her brother’s dislike of Merry. "I didn’t even think of inviting him, actually."
Again, the intercom called out. "Miss Swift, your friends Wendy and Camille have arrived. Shall I have Edgar direct them to the Solarium?"
Kristen answered, "Yes, Billy. Thanks." She turned to Patrice and said, "I was just explaining how we swim here. I’m letting Merry use a bathing suit if she wants, but she’s free to strip down if she feels like it."
Merry’s interest had moved. "Is that a hot tub? This place is like way cool!" She ran toward the spa room where the hot tub was bathed in a spot light.
"Merry!" Kristen called her. "Don’t run here, especially when there’s water on the floor. You could slip!"
"Sorry," Merry said, but continued walking quickly to the hot tub.
Edgar arrived with Wendy and Camille. "Miss Swift? Your guests."
"Thank you, Edgar."
Wendy said, "Your house is lovely, Kristen!"
Camille agreed. "Yes. And a lovely pool!"
I watched Merry stick her finger and then her hand into the hot water of the tub. She found something on the side and picked it up. "Wow! A hundred and four degrees!"
"Yup," Kristen said. "Perfect temperature. Want to try it?"
"Um… yeah. Is that a changing room also over here?"
"Yes."
Merry had her sack with her. "I’ll be a second."
Kristen turned to me. "The doors here lead to an screened-in porch. We have a grill there. Think you can make burgers and hot dogs later?"
I didn’t have much experience, but I had watched my step-father barbecue a few times. I figured that I could manage it. I nodded to Kristen. "When should I start the coals?"
Kristen smiled. "It’s a gas barbecue. No coals to light. I’ll show you later."
I had never seen a gas grill before. I had an uncle with an electric one and hadn’t been too impressed with it. I kept my reservations to myself and simply nodded at Kristen.
"Well, girls… and Jim!" Kristen said. "This here’s a pool party, and I think it’s time to get started."
Kristen whipped off her dress, and was completely nude underneath, except for a pair of sandals that she kicked off. She put her dress on a lounge chair and then did one of her beautiful swan dives right into the pool. "Come on, guys!" she called out when she surfaced.
I didn’t need any more encouragement. I started stripping, as did Wendy and Camille. Patrice just stood there, looking quite nervous.
When I pulled down my shorts, I saw that Patrice was staring at me. I shrugged, and pulled off my socks. My clothes were in a heap next to Kristen’s chair. I put my towel on that same chair and decided to emulate Kristen and attempted a swan dive.
I say "attempted" because I failed miserably, ending up doing a belly flop, knocking the wind out of me.
Kristen was immediately at my side when I got the strength to surface. "Are you all right?"
"Of course," I said, my macho male pride being at stake. "I meant to do that."
"Sure," Kristen said, not convinced at all.
Wendy and Camille were naked, and had gone in the shallow end. Patrice was still dressed, and she was sitting nervously on a chair.
I went to say something to Patrice, but Kristen read my mind and whispered, "Let her get her courage up. She’ll realize that you can’t see much actually."