Going Home - Thanksgiving

The police commissioner added, 'You have to understand our concern. We don't have that kind of activity here in town now and we want to keep it out. Plus the tip came from one of our long-standing and prominent residents, a former member of the city council.'

I was getting angrier by the moment. I wasn't familiar with police investigations but this seemed to be a hasty conclusion based on weak evidence. Especially considering it was Thanksgiving, a day when families and friends traditionally gathered for a meal. 'Are you referring to Mr. Pollock across the street? Were you aware of the problems we had with him earlier this month? The old guy is unstable and irrational.'

The captain looked at me. 'The detectives learned of the earlier incident after the team returned to the station.' But he didn't actually confirm it was Pollock that made the complaint.

My father had been quiet to this point, allowing the visitors to do the talking. He finally spoke up. 'I think the raid this afternoon was wholly unjustified. You received a tip from a single citizen? Not a number of complaints from neighborhood residents? A single observation of a group of men arriving confirmed the tip for your investigators? That's pretty shoddy police work.' He turned and glared at the prosecutor. 'I assume you expedited obtaining the warrant? You should know better. You should be fired and disbarred.'

I jumped in again. 'Why was the front door kicked in? It wasn't locked. All they had to do was open it.'

Mike, Gwen, and Jane came downstairs at this point.

'Your people scared us half to death,' Mike said.

The visitors stood mute.

The commissioner took a business card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Mike. 'Tell your carpenter to call my office and ask for me. The department will cover the cost of repairing or replacing the door.'

The mayor dismissed the captain and the commissioner. When they left, he and the prosecutor stayed behind.

He looked at my father and asked quizzically, 'Dr. Taylor, I thought you were a lecturer at UCLA? At least that's what you told me when we met last spring.'

'I am,' my father replied. 'I'm a professor of government and political science.'

'It would seem you're more than just some academic.'

'Why do you think that?' my father asked.

'Because I received phone calls from both of our U.S. Senators and the governor at my sister's house. None of them were very happy with me or my police department,' he replied.

'I got a call from the state's attorney general,' the prosecutor added.

'I can assure you I did not get them after you. I simply made a call to find out what I could about what had happened.' He turned and looked at the prosecutor. 'You didn't tell us everything but what you did tell us matches some of what I learned.'

The prosecutor looked sheepish.

My father turned to the prosecutor. 'Well, Lt. Commander, did you learn what you needed for your report?'

'What are you talking about?' the prosecutor asked.

My father didn't respond but turned to the mayor. 'Tell the commissioner that the ladies won't be directing a carpenter to contact him. He should make the repair arrangements himself, Monday morning. I'll see to it that a list of guests is provided to your office. I expect every guest to get a letter of apology from the police department and the prosecutor's office. If that's done, that will be the end of this incident. If not, you'll both be hearing from me again. And you won't like it when you do.'

I was surprised at my father's demand. But both the mayor and the prosecutor just nodded.

He addressed the prosecutor again. 'Lt. Commander, using this tip as a pretense to gain access to this house was unnecessary. Your superiors could have found out what they needed simply by knocking on the door and asking to speak with the residents. I'm sure they would have answered any questions and shown you around the house. It would have been very easy to confirm that neither of these women are a security risk. It also would have also confirmed that Jonas spends a lot of time here but lives on campus. I'll have a conversation with your commanding officer tomorrow. This was stupid and amateurish. By the way, this young lady here,' he indicated Mike with a nod of his head, 'is personally acquainted with General Marshall. He speaks very highly of her. I bet he'd trust her with classified information before he'd give you the time of day.'

My jaw hit the floor. But the prosecutor looked like he'd been kicked in the balls. The mayor's face flushed red with anger. He realized the prosecutor had used his police department inappropriately, maybe even illegally. Mike's eyes were the size of dinner plates at the news that General Marshall even knew who she was, much less had a favorable impression of her.

The mayor and the prosecutor left. I had a ton of questions about my father. Questions I knew would not be answered if I asked them. One thing I was certain of - he had done, and maybe still did, clandestine work for the government. And he knew people in high places.

'Jonas, let's take a walk in the back yard. Jane, I'll be back in a few minutes.'

We went outside into back yard and walked to the bocce court. My father was deep in thought while we covered the short distance between the back door and the court.

'Dad, what happened here today?' I asked. 'What did you learn when you made your phone calls?'

'I learned you've settled on a research project for your dissertation. I learned the Navy is funding it. I learned that you're being investigated for a security clearance. That's what this raid was really about. The old man across the street provided a convenient pretense for a search of the house.'

'What's so important that the Navy would go through all this trouble? It's just sound frequencies I'm going to be working with. It's not going to be a weapon.'

'I don't know, Jonas. The U.S. military spends a lot of money on research where they see potential for developing new military technology. If the Navy is providing funds for your research, there must be something they expect to be useful.

Jonas, be careful with these people. I've worked with the military for a long time. You'll be lied to if they think it necessary. Someone will monitor your work, probably without you knowing about it. Your every step will be watched. They have good intentions. But they can be heavy-handed and obtrusive when they're displeased. And if they decide you're not trustworthy, you have no idea the amount of trouble they'll make for you.'

My father was scaring me although I don't think that was his intention. 'Should I decline the project? I can come up with another area of research.'

'No, I don't think you want to do that. It will make them suspicious of you. That would make matters worse,' he told me.

'But . . . .'

'No buts, Jonas. Accept the project. In the long run it won't be a bad thing. It may even lead to good things for you. Just have to pay attention and learn to read between the lines of what you're told. Make sure you thoroughly analyze everything you're told and try to figure out what you're not being told. I'll make some more calls and get authorized to discuss your project with you. That way I can advise you when necessary,' he told me.

'You can do that? Even for something that might be a classified military program?'

'I have some contacts that can make it happen. I have a security clearance higher than Captain Duren. Now let's go back inside. I want to check a few things.'

'Do you know Captain Duren?' I asked.

'We've met, though I'm not well acquainted with him. I know his reputation. You shouldn't trust him.'

When we went back inside, my father asked the women to sit on the back porch for a little while. They resisted at first but he convinced them to cooperate.

My father went out to his car and retrieved an electrician's pouch from the trunk. I'd never seen my father use tools. He grabbed a chair from the kitchen and the two of us went room to room and checked outlets, switches, ceiling lights, lamps, and the telephone. In the ceiling fixtures in every room, there was a small box about half the size of a cigarette lighter wired in above the fixture base plate. He removed these. He didn't find anything in any of the lamps, outlets, or switches, but did find a small device wired into the mouthpiece on the phone. He removed that as well.

'I'll see to it that Captain Duren gets these and that it isn't done again.' my father told me. 'He won't be happy and I may get some grief but this was unnecessary.'

He returned his tools to the trunk and put the listening devices with them. We went to the back porch and joined the ladies. My father didn't mention what we had found. I followed his lead. We sat on the porch and enjoyed the evening and the company. Eventually, Jane and my father had to go home.

Gwen and Jane exchanged phone numbers. After we said our goodbyes, I went back inside and spent another hour with Gwen and Mike before going back to campus.

I did some reading and prepared lesson plans in my apartment on Friday. Parker and Tony were nowhere to be seen. Just before lunch I drove to Mike and Gwen's. An early thirties pickup truck with faded paint was in the driveway. I knocked on the screen and entered. Mike, Gwen, and another woman were having lunch on the back porch. Mike asked if was hungry and when I told her I was, she told me there was leftover turkey and fixings. I made a sandwich, grabbed a Coke and joined the women on the porch.

Mike introduced her cousin, Kate, who owned the house. She was an attractive woman in her mid-thirties. Shorter than Gwen but taller than Mike. Long, wavy, dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a yellow dress with pink flowers. The wire-rim glasses she wore seemed to fit her face perfectly, like something would be missing if they weren't there. She had an admirable figure but her modest dress down-played her curves.

She smiled brightly and shook my hand. Her grip was firm and confident. 'Mike has told me much about you, and Gwen has weighed in, too. It seems they're both smitten with you.'

I wondered what exactly they had told her but wasn't about to ask. 'I'm sure they spoke well but I bet they left out all the bad stuff,' I replied with a smile. -----------------

'Quite the contrary. They included all the naughty stuff. It sounds like that's a big reason they're both so fond of you.' Her sly smile suggested they may have shared much more than I would have liked. Gwen and Mike were trying to hide giggles.

We spent the afternoon getting. Kate's husband was KIA at Guadalcanal. She had three children, twin twelve-year-old daughters and a nine-year-old son. They were with their grandparents while Kate visited. She would be spending the night and driving home Saturday. Monday, she would return to work as a high school science teacher.

Kate was funny, with a quick, self-deprecating wit. Her conversation was peppered with double-entendres that kept us in stitches. She didn't take herself seriously but could carry on a serious conversation on a wide range of topics. She was particularly well-versed in physics and chemistry. After a couple hours with her, I was willing to bet she was very popular with her students, although I'd also bet she was a demanding teacher.

Mike looked into the refrigerator and commented that there were plenty of left-overs from Thanksgiving. But we unanimously decided we wanted steaks. I offered to treat. Kate volunteered to take me to the market. Kate took me to a large market that I was unfamiliar with, telling me that she had always done her shopping there.

We collected steaks, baking potatoes, and salad fixings. After checking out, she drove to a liquor store where we purchased two bottles of red wine and several quart bottles of beer. When we returned to the car, I asked Kate if we could sit for a minute and talk before driving back to the house. Her eyebrows raised at my request. I laughed at her expression and assured her I just wanted to talk for a few minutes without Mike and Gwen hearing our conversation.

'Damn!' she said with a grin. 'Here I was thinking I was going to get some of that special treatment Mike and Gwen were raving about!' When I blushed, she laughed harder. 'Don't worry. Your secrets are safe. Mike and I may be a few years apart in age but we have no secrets. When I was in my early twenties, Mike and I talked about boys, and men, quite extensively. In fact, we both share the same interests and proclivities.'

That piqued my interest briefly. 'Well, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to discuss the house. The for sale sign was taken away. Are you still interested in selling?'

'The sign came down because I didn't renew the agreement with the real estate agent. And, yes, I am still interested in selling. But I was thinking I'd keep it until Mike no longer needs it. I'm not in a difficult position financially. I have a good job. I'm living with my parents. They have a huge farmhouse with lots of rooms. The kids love being on the farm,' she told me. 'And my folks love having them around. My husband's parents live nearby, which is also convenient.'

'I'm interested in buying it, if we can come to an agreement on the price.' I told her.

We discussed her price, coming to an agreement rather easily. She accepted slightly less than she had been asking and agreed to include the furnishings, which she'd just have to sell off anyway.

'Please don't mention I'm buying the house to Mike and Gwen. I'd like to tell them in my own time.'

'You're going to let them stay,' she said.

'Yes. I have no intention of displacing them. I'm going to stay on campus for a while. I intend to ask Gwen to marry me, probably at Christmas or shortly after. We haven't discussed it yet. But I think she'll accept.' I told Kate.

Kate regarded me with suspicion. 'Not to pry, but can you afford to get married? You're both still university students. That's not exactly the most beneficial financial position to be in when beginning a marriage.'

'We'll be OK.' I told her. 'I have enough money that I can cover her tuition. We won't have to worry while in school or for quite some time afterward.'

We agreed to meet in a couple of weeks to close on the house. She gave me her phone number. I told her I would call her when I had arranged a meeting place. We drove back to the house.

After dinner, Gwen wanted to go for a walk. We left the house hand-in-hand and strolled toward campus. We didn't even look in the direction of Pollock's house. We didn't talk at all until we sat on a bench on one of the campus common areas. There was no one around. Most of the student body was either home for the holiday weekend or enjoying a Friday night out.

Gwen rested her head on my shoulder and spoke first. 'I hope you don't mind but I told my parents about us. They seemed happy for me. As you can imagine, they had lots of questions.'

'Why would I mind? I told my father we were getting serious.'

'I'm going to be gone for almost a month between semesters. I was going to ask my parents if you could join us for Christmas. But my mother beat me to it. My folks have invited you to come for Christmas. What do you think?'

I thought about it only briefly before answering. 'I'd like that very much. But I have to talk to my father first. This is the first time we can spend Christmas together since 1938.'

'I didn't think of that,' Gwen said. 'It's not fair of me to expect you to come meet my family when you haven't been able to spend Christmas with your own for so long.'

'No, don't feel guilty about it. I think my father will be fine with it. I can come back and we can spend a week or so together before next semester starts. I just need to talk to him.'

We sat quietly, just holding each other for a while, then walked back to the house.

When we got to the front steps, Gwen was looking at me with silly grin on her face.

'What?' I asked.

'If you come East with me for Christmas, we can take the train together again.'

I smiled. 'I can hardly wait!'

We found Mike and Kate sitting on the couch with their feet curled under them, wearing pajamas. Gwen moved behind me and closed the door. She wedged a chair under the door knob to keep it closed, then wrapped her arms around my chest and squeezed. One hand moved down my ribcage, across my hip and buttocks and between my legs.

Gwen gently pushed me toward the stairs. Mike and Kate got up and without a word, followed us up the stairs. Two candles illuminated the upstairs bedroom with soft, flickering light. Mike and Kate embraced each other and fell onto the bed.

After Gwen and I went to dinner while Mike was traveling during her first week at her new job, we talked about Mike and her relationship with Gwen. I already surmised that Mike was Gwen's teen masturbation partner and Gwen confirmed it. There were a few other interesting tidbits that came up. Mike had been one of the more sexually adventurous girls in high school. She had lost her virginity at fifteen to the smartest boy in her school. During her senior year, she had sex with a woman for the first time when she went on a college visit and roomed with her now ex-boyfriend's older sister. The seed had been planted during the sleepovers that Gwen and Mike had shared through high school. Mike had been attracted to Gwen, but Gwen had resisted Mike's overture. Mike hadn't pushed it.

Mike had hinted at having a threesome the night before I left Paris for England. Gwen slept on it and made a spur-of-the-moment decision that morning. Gwen had enjoyed her experiences while we were together so much that she wanted to include Mike. When she instinctively sucked my cum from Mike's pussy, she was so turned on that she knew it wasn't the last time her face would be between Mike's legs. Over the next several days, Gwen and Mike had slept together and experimented. Mike was ecstatic. Gwen enjoyed making love to Mike but couldn't imagine doing so with any other woman. And though she had enjoyed making love with Mike, she found it somewhat less satisfying without me. Apparently, I had got under her skin much more than she realized. She regretted not exchanging addresses so we could write to each other. If we had, we would have learned that we would both soon be in Pasadena to begin our graduate programs.

Gwen and I stood and watched Mike and Kate. They were lying on their sides. Each had a leg between the other's legs. They were exchanged as passionate a kiss as I had ever witnessed. Each explored the other's body with hands, fingers, lips, and tongues. Gwen arms were wrapped around my waist, pulling me to her, grinding her sex against my hip. I could sense her heat building. My cock was already hard, urgently demanding to be released from its confines.

Without taking my eyes off Mike and Kate, I reached behind Gwen and pulled her dress up until I could feel bare skin. Once again, she was wearing no panties. Gwen moved a hand to my waist and pulled my shirt tails out of my pants. She franticly unbuttoned my shirt and then slid a hand across my tee shirt. She found a nipple through the thin cotton cloth and pinched it until it hurt just a little.

I pulled Gwen in front of me and unzipped her dress. She shrugged it off her shoulders. I pulled it down until it came off her arms then bunched up the bottom of the dress and pulled it over her head. After I dropped it to the floor, I used one hand the unhook her bra. The other hand found the warm wet spot between her legs and gently caressed her sensitive little button. Gwen gasped at the first contact and spread her legs. My index finger pushed gently into her and she emitted a little cry as she threw her head back.