Master Yoshi

I laughed, "In my sleep, no problem, but ... You figure..."

The elevator door opened and we got out but stayed right there by the ice machine. "You figure Jergins got a replacement?"

Mack considered, but Carrie shook her head and overruled us. "No, Kevin, sir. We HAVE to go."

Even Joanie was surprised.

"We have to stand up in front of everyone and say we're alive, we're proud, and we're together. News on this is already, has to be, across town. The nurse that took pictures of us, she was a chatterbox with us, I think there's no way this is going to stay quiet. If we don't show..."

Mack made palms-down calming hands. "You can be on your honeymoon. It's fine."

Joanie was thinking. "Rumors. By tomorrow morning, we're both pregnant and meth addicts and you're our dealer, Kevin. We announce today, or tomorrow in school at the latest, somehow, or it turns ugly. The faster we're out with it, the more we're selling the story, the less newsworthy it is."

Carrie was nodding, looking at Mack. She said (in a considering-it voice), "We were CastleRock [my church] for a couple of years, before Duke showed up. I liked it. Some people will know us."

Mack shrugged. "Services are...9:15?"

I shook my head, "Yeah, but I gotta get there at 8:30, choir does a run-through."

Carrie looked at her and Joanie, "We'll need clothes."

Mack looked back, "Your bags back at the farm?"

"We left most of our clothes. We just have family photos, school stuff, underwear. I'll need a white blouse? Better if there's two of the same type, one for each of us."

"Size?"

She told him and he nodded, then texted someone.

The reply was fast. He said, "Marta says, 'will get early am. Be at hotel lobby 8:15. Will have white cotton conservative feminine tops, sizes ___ and ___, goes w jeans."

They smiled, and Joanie said, "I like Marta."

"Let's get to bed. It's almost 2."

We walked down the hallway. It'd been absolutely forever since I'd been in a hotel, like from when I was 6 and Mom was still alive. From the looks on Joanie and Carrie's faces, this was a first for them.

Mack had the room on the other side of the hallway, 'for safety' he'd said.

We used a keycard and went in.

They looked around, same as I did.

"There's one bed."

I inhaled, sighing. I was prepared for this since I'd listened in at the desk while he got it arranged. I said, "Mack had limited choices, but I asked, the couch folds out, I'll take that, you two can have the bed."

They ignored me and walked around, turning on lights. The switches were in funny places. We noticed the fridge and TV, and the fact that the window didn't really open.

My phone was low on juice, but I texted Jane, "In hotel room. Safe. I will need Sunday clothes for church tomorrow b4 8:30. Marta getting clothes for C, J. Marta may need help."

Thinking about it more, despite the strife between Jane and I, she did put her life at risk by being there and helping. I added, "Thank you so much for your help today. You saved 2 lives, maybe 3. Love you, sis."

I hadn't said that, well... a long time, maybe.

She texted back instantly. "Will help w clothes. I love you too, Bro."

I hadn't really called her 'sis' before, and she hadn't called me bro. Brat, sure. Lots of demeaning mostly-animal names, sure, but never 'bro'.

Huh.

Looking down at myself, I realized something. "Uh... I can't believe I ran a track meet this morning and haven't changed yet."

"They asked me about that."

"The police?"

"Yeah. 'Is there a reason he's dressed to go running?"

"What'd you say?"

"I repeated every conversation about four times... sir. We both did, apart, and then together. We had to explain every single decision."

I sighed, "Yeah, same for me." I got up and went over to the bathroom, "I really, really have to pee, and... shower?"

They urged me on, so I got in, to discover the soap was tiny and the shampoo was the size of my pinkie. I laughed, but got clean. FINALLY, Finally, I was clean! I admit I stood in the hot water a minute extra to relax. My brain said the hotel didn't care, but I had years of being yelled at (and made to feel shame) for wasting hot water.

Getting out, I just had my track shorts and super-tight running underwear (sweaty? No thanks!), so shorts it was.

Carrie and Joanie were sitting on the far side of the bed, covers pulled down, waiting for me, obviously.

I nodded to them. "All yours." I figured we'd do goodnight hugs later, and went over to get the cushions off the hide-a-bed sofa.

Joanie stood and stopped me with a firm, "No. Don't."

I was confused, "We're 3 people in a bed, and I'm not going to..."

She got a grin on her face, "You're going to sleep with your WIFE."

I laughed, then tilted my head, "Well, I'm not going to refuse, but I need to be able to look at myself in the morning. I ... just... I can't. I'd be taking advantage of you. It's not right."

She nodded firmly. "Put the couch back, SIR." This was an order, not a request.

I did, then looked out the window and waited.

Carrie got out of her shower and called out, "Your turn," and Joanie headed in. I heard some chatting, mostly whispered or at least said quietly, and then the shower turned on again.

I put my damp towel on the easy chair by the window and leaned back.

This was a full day!!!

Wow.

It kind of rang with me, a mess - a risky, horrible, almost-dead, wow is it done, mess.

Things were different.

What did I want, out of this night? I was thinking, hey, it's my wedding night! Times TWO!! But, it's also Not my wedding, we have an affidavit, it's not official that way, maybe they want to take it back.

Considering the potential for there to be relatives like the ones we'd met, if it wasn't a real wedding, then they'd be in a world of hurt. We'd already talked about going to the county clerk's office on Monday. I wondered what that'd be like. I'd never been in the building, it was really imposing-looking with pillars in front. I wondered if the clerk's desk would be too high to see over, like a judge in a courtroom? Or, just sort-of high, like the school office? Or, maybe, like a teller window at the bank, all locked up to keep the documents safe.

My thoughts were just spinning.

Finally, they finished up and came out.

Both girls were wearing bra-and-underwear, not matched and pretty threadbare.

I watched them move around the room turning off lights, well, that was sweet. I had to temper my lusting thoughts with, 'Yeah, Not Quite Yours, Dude'. Really, I didn't know yet. This thing was Uncharted Territory.

Carrie's chest, as most of the runners, was medium-small and her body was super-fit. I didn't think I'd ever seen her that way. She always wore tights and a turtleneck, or a long-sleeved tee, even in late spring when it was hot, and had bigger shirts and shorts, just like her sister.

Her arms and some of her torso, lower ribs area, had a mass of bruises, really prominent ones.

The bruise I noticed most was a red mark on the side of her neck.

Joanie's chest was definitely bigger, enough that I suspected she had strong jog-bra's. I had read bra sizes from my sister's laundry ("C" for her) and from conversations at school, but I couldn't estimate things at a distance. There was only, A-B-C-D-Anime.

The estimation effort ended at 'probably C, maybe D' when Carrie turned the lights off.

We still could see, there was an orange glow coming in the window from the parking lot lights.

She called to me, "Come on, sir, get in. You're in the middle. Girls have to pee in the middle of the night sometimes, we get the outsides."

I shifted up off the chair, yawning and stumbling slightly, "Uh.. Okay? Huh. My legs are really, really aching."

"You used them today."

"Won the 3200, got a PR in the 16. 300 lows were a joke, but fun."

"Why do you even do those?"

I got up to the bed and she held the covers up for me to get in before her. I couldn't talk about what was happening so I kept talking about track? It felt surreal. "Sprinters have good form early in the year, but have no stamina. Coach says, just run fast, even with bad form you might beat some of them. I did. It's a blast. You know those guys make fun of us distance folks, and here we are beating them at their own game."

They laughed.

I thought back. "Wait, don't you do them, too?"

"Sure! But with us it's just we don't have enough runners. Always short-handed. We have to run everything, 'iron man' is what Coach says."

They settled in beside me, facing up. Our elbows touched side-by side, and I felt cold feet on either side of me, too, rubbing slightly.

Carrie stared off. "If you want to back out of this marriage, these, marriages, whatever, I'm okay with that, I think. We'll have to find a place to live, maybe another country, but you've done enough, Kev."

I made an 'uh-uh' noise, but countered that with, "Really, if you leave, I get shot. I'm coming with you. If I leave, I'd need to bring my sister with me. We're orphans."

They looked over at me, their faces dim in the orange parking-lot lights. Carrie said, "I thought... Marta?"

"Nope. We call her Marta, not 'mom' or anything. Not technically related, we used to call her 'Aunt Marta', and the guys, cousins, but my dad was friends with their dad, died at the same time. So, yeah."

Carrie and Joanie both made noises that let the emotions out, sorta 'Huh' things, and we were silent a minute.

I was getting tired, but it was technically our wedding night.

Carrie said, "So, I had an idea, Kev. A plan. You can agree, or not. Ready?"

"Okay?"

"It's called Hanna's Pendant. It's like a charm bracelet, only for, like, growing into an arranged marriage? Joanie and I listened to a sermon on this once, I remembered it just now, and I think we like the idea. Not everything in our church is oddball and conservative, some of it's good."

I was nodding, "And, so, what's the pendant?"

"It's a sequence of steps, really old, from India or China or maybe Syria, I have no idea. Mental, physical, emotional steps, a 'get to know you' thing."

She took a long sigh.

"Seven days in the pendant. Tomorrow's 1. We're ignoring, this is ... crazytown day."

"Gotcha."

"So, mental physical emotional; mental is, first day, we do family history, basics, who we are. Second day, life plans, marriage expectations, negotiating who empties the trash. That kind of thing, on up, until the last day, the last family secret gets let out."

Joanie echoed this, "Yep. Work. At least an hour a day, lots to talk about.."

Carrie continued, "Physical. We don't do sex right away. We start with various nakedness, touching, kissing, that stuff. Work up to it. We need trust, and too soon with trust, the Pendant structure says, means not deep enough trust. Plus, if you weren't you, there would have been some hard rules to tell you about what would happen if you tried something _bad_, too soon."

"My God, I'd never..."

"We know. Duh. You're here. So, third, emotional. We all have secrets, everybody does, he said, and, Wow is that true. So over the week, we have to share family stuff, AND our own secrets, things that make us worry. It's kind of power-sharing, he said - a secret can be something that would emotionally hurt, if misused. That allows us all to be vulnerable."

"And you want me to..."

"Go to sleep, Kev. We're going to sleep. Tomorrow is day one. I'm giving you a heads up, there will be no hanky panky tonight. Hugs and kisses only, on the lips, only, when requested and agreed only."

"Cool by me. I'm ...about done. May I kiss you goodnight, then?"

"Joanie first. She got first kiss at the wedding ceremony, but I got double-kissed during the pictures."

I rolled over slightly towards Joanie, but didn't try to lean up too much. She rolled and got her face near mine, our night light coming from the parking lot lights. We kissed, slowly, softly, an amazingly tender kiss.

She pulled away and said, "Thank you, sir."

Carrie did the same thing, a different feel to the kiss but the same intention and caring.

I rolled more on my side towards Carrie (since I usually slept that way) and I don't think I was awake more than a minute or two.

Sunday

Starting awake to the sound of the room phone, I mumbled and Joanie got it, blurry-voiced. "Hello?" ... "Oh, Marta, yeah... come on up. We're in room _____."

Carrie was behind me, her arm over my chest, I realized as I came awake. I made a yummy noise and said, "Hmmm.... Skin."

Joanie had hung up and was getting out. "Sir. Do you want the bathroom first?" She was walking towards it in a hurry so the answer was obviously no.

I laughed and said, "Go, go."

There was a knock on our door, so I got up, but before I could open it, Mack said from outside, "Rise and shine, Marta's on her way up."

I called, "Got it, thanks."

Carrie came around the bed as I stood and stretched, arms high overhead, waiting, open arms for a hug. "Sir."

I pretended to be irritated and was smiling and hugging her as I said, "This 'sir' thing is gonna get old."

"Rules."

I had realized my shorts were tent-poled and was trying to avoid them, Carrie positioned herself to allow me to do that and I appreciated the effort.

The toilet flushed and Carrie went to trade places.

Not ten seconds later, Marta's voice and knock came through, "Rise and shine, campers!"

I had to grab a towel to hold in front of me, then opened the door.

Tallia and Marta came in, carrying bags from a local store that I didn't know opened that early on a Sunday.

Tallia ducked back out and grabbed a rolling suitcase and my school backpack from the hallway, bringing it in and shutting the door.

I got my backpack from her and helped out.

Suffice to say, there was a lot of conversation between the girls and I stepped out of the way. Tallia's haul included a rolling suitcase she used for her business sometimes, but when she opened it for me, it had most of my school clothes neatly and very dense-packed.

The girls came in and chatted and I turned around while they dressed; I used the bathroom to put on clean underwear and my nice black jeans and white button down shirt, my normal piano-church attire.

As soon as I came out, Carrie (looking sweet in a dark skirt that I recognized as one of Tallia's and matching one Joanie had on) pulled me over next to her. She halted what Marta was doing as she and Tallia stood up.

They obviously wanted to say something formally, so we waited.

Carrie said, "Marta and Tallia. I have something you heard me mention. I am saying, clearly..."

Her enunciation was theatrical and deliberate, this was 'official'. "Marta, you should know, just in case there's any question about legalities. Kevin and I consummated our marriage last night."

As she was saying this, her head went from side to side in a 'no' implication. "Isn't that right, Kevin?"

I was smiling and said, "What she said," but waved my hands no and grinned, calmly, sedate, comfortable with what happened.

Joanie spoke up and said, "Same for me and Kevin. I'm no longer a virgin." Her head was swinging side to side, but smiling.

Carrie spoke clearly, conspiratorially. "We have to have a fiction that we did it last night in case anyone wants to declare it not valid - I read that it matters to the Catholics, I'm not sure about..."

Marta gave a long sigh, like she was putting up with something. "Girls, It doesn't matter. They got the guys. All of them are in county lockup - terroristic threats, 7 counts each of attempted murder, criminal threatening, criminal trespass, two counts of attempted first degree kidnapping, weapons charges for the grenade and the explosives in the house, all that."

That was new to me. "Explosives?"

Carrie sounded disgusted, "They kinda had a thing going on downstairs. Those guns were always way too loud."

"Uh...."

Marta made hand motions, "They're away for a while, ATF is like a plague over the place, I heard at the gas station this morning."

I laughed, "Oh." It was the laugh of someone who'd just dodged a bullet.

We all finished dressing and packing, then headed downstairs. It was only 8:15, so we stopped at the hotel's included-free-breakfast area and wolfed down some stuff. I was starving, I hadn't eaten much the previous day. The police gave us meals, but it was meager.

Walking into church, Carrie said, "We're going to have to stand up, I'm pretty sure, and announce ourselves to the congregation. Or, we'll need to tell Jergins exactly what to say."

"I don't know how to tell a church full of people I'm a bigamist."

She laughed, "We'll flip a coin for who of us we tell the county you're married to first. Or, do the standard immediate divorce thing, and remarry the other of us. Simple stuff. Happens a lot around here, at least I've heard of a couple at school."

"Oh."

"How do we tell it?"

"Want to flip the coin now?"

I didn't have a coin.

We went into the back room where the choir rehearses. Jergins was there with the choir director lady. Some of the choir was there doing arpeggio warm-ups and plunking out the starting note on the piano.

Jergins came over. Carrie asked, "Pastor, do you have a coin?"

"Uh... no, I don't... uh.."

One of the older ladies, Grace, got her purse and fished out a quarter. "This what you need?"

We thanked her and filled Jergins in on the plan.

The choir filtered in and I sat at the piano, limbering up with some scales. I hadn't practiced much in the previous week.

Once everyone was there, Jergins interrupted. "Kevin has something to say in a minute."

Per our plan, as people were watching, I flipped the coin to fall on the ground just as Joanie called, "Heads".

It was tails.

Carrie said, "Me first."

We stood, me behind the piano bench, and them by my side. I addressed the group, a friendly crowd if ever there was one (they'd known me for... Forever). It was a little daunting to be doing this in front of people that mattered to me. I said, "Okay, so, you're going to hear it later, we're going to announce it. There's several big things happening at once. Number one, by a longstanding religious tradition of Carrie and Joanie - they're half-sisters...."

Joanie said, "Sort of. Adopted."

I looked over, startled, "Oh. Uh, do I still say?...?"

"Keep going."

"Yeah. By their long standing religious tradition, yesterday, Joanie, and Carrie, and I, were married. Since that's kind of bigamy, we'll tell the county that I married - by coin flip just now - Carrie. Yesterday."

These people had known me my whole life, and I'd known them, so this was kind of a big announcement, and they started to stand up to congratulate me, but I waved for them to sit down.

"So part of this news is context, and it's important because there's lives at stake, literal life and death stuff, so sit down a minute...?"

They were very concerned.

"Some of their relatives were planning an arranged marriage - to an abusive man who has been arrested - and who attempted to kidnap them and murder my family and me yesterday. If you didn't know already, now you do."

Lots of gasps ensued.

"Their ceremony - to this abusive guy - was going to be to both of them. So, our ceremony was for both of them, only to me instead of that... guy." I left out the choice words, but my face made some expressions. "We've thus prevented them from doing anything. We even had their minister as a witness."

I pointed to Jergins and he nodded. There were still gasps and the women were holding their hands over their mouths in shock.

"So, we're now a happy family of three, for legal, and protective reasons. The bad guys have been arrested and their house raided. We strongly suspect that the bad guys have friends and family that want some kind of other plan to happen. So, we, _three_ are officially and in the eyes of God and ourselves, married together. It happened for millions of years, plural marriages, it's common in Islam, but here it's... technically, bigamy, but only if we try to register the second one with the county, so we're not doing that. So, it's unofficial in one sense, we're only going to be able to file with the county for one pairing. But, really, it's official. And, thus, we're safe, and that is The Most Important Thing."