Year 4 with Jane and Tony Pt. 01

JP thanked Aggie for her assessment and said, "I wrote that song for Jane. It's my only song in English, though I think I'll have to write some more if I'm being played in America now!"

Aggie said, "I hope you do. I heard a lot of love in that song!"

After a while Lily and the folks from Barb's house arrived for dinner. We introduced everyone to our neighbors from Nice and then sat down to dinner. As we ate JP asked me, "Who made the meal? This is the best food I've had in years!" I pointed to Mary down at the other end of the table and Gloria. JP stood and held his glass up. All conversation ceased as JP said, "My dears, I have to say this is the best meal I have had in years. In those years, I have eaten in many Michelin starred restaurants, but your food has eclipsed them all! You should be very proud of your work because it is excellent!" Mary and Gloria both blushed as everyone at the table stood and applauded.

When everyone had returned to their seats, Jane said, "I guess we should give you a raise in salary, so we don't lose you now!"

Mary, whose face was very red, said, "I will never leave you and Tony! I love you guys and I love everyone who lives here. I don't need any more money, though I can't speak for Gloria, she still has rent to pay."

Jane said, "Gloria, would you like to move here with the rest of us? You've never said anything."

Gloria replied, "I would love to live here. Everyone is so kind and fun. I spend most of my time here anyway."

"Well," Jane said, "We need to rectify this situation. I think Barb's house is full so we will put you in one of the rooms at the new house. Actually, Tony, I think we've found a use for Mrs. Miller's house. We should make into a residence for Mary, Gloria and whoever else ends up here. We should get Mary out of the basement and into suitable quarters. So, Jake, we will need to get that house figured out and link it to the tunnel system. I don't know about you, but I wish our skating pond would freeze already!"

When dinner resumed, Bea, Aggie and Judy were having an intense conversation while Jane, Axel, JP and Barb talked. Sofia, Cindy, Jenny, Elsie and Shelly were all talking and congratulating Mary and Gloria. Sue, Lily, Little Emily and Jake were all laughing and joking around. I just sat there with a smile on my face loving my family. After dinner, we found out that Bea had to ship the painting of Jane and Judy and that we should expect it tomorrow.

There were a few days until Thanksgiving, so most of us had classes, until Wednesday, to attend. Judy took Bea and JP on a tour of campus and then to Aggie's studio on campus. Aggie introduced Bea to a number of art professors and, one of those professors introduced JP to some music professors. By the end of the day, both Bea and JP were both invited to be guest lecturers in the coming days.

When we got home, we found Bea's crate that she had shipped. It was fairly large because it contained several paintings inside. Judy asked if Bea was interested in the offer she had made over the summer to have a showing at her friend's gallery. Bea decided, why not, so Judy made arrangements with her friend. Bea pulled out the finished painting of Jane and Judy so that the households could see it. At dinner, everyone was invited to view Bea's paintings that we lovingly propped up on chairs and sofas. The painting of Jane and Judy was the biggest hit. Sofia went so far as to say, "Just looking at that picture makes me horny!"

Jane's friend came the next morning to collect the paintings and took Bea and Judy with her. When they returned, Judy said, "My friend, Alice, is very excited. She had a reporter friend stop by for a preview and he's going to write up a big article about the showing which will be held starting Saturday and run for 1 week. When the reporter recognized that I was one of the models, he asked me to marry him! Bea thought that was hilarious! I, also, called the radio station that played JP's song and they're going to do an interview while he plays some songs live on the air!"

Bea and JP were very grateful for everything we had done for them, especially Judy. It was suggested that we spend Christmas in Nice and bring as many people as we could. Jane and I liked that idea so we made an open invitation to everyone. We told Mary and Gloria that they were to come and that we would pay for their passports. We told everyone who didn't have a passport that we would go into the city tomorrow and pay for expedited processing. We, also, had Judy work on flight tickets for everyone.

Thanksgiving turned out to be a cold and snowy day. When Barb arrived, naked, she was singing the praises of our climate controlled tunnel between our houses. Mary and Gloria cooked up a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, but before we ate I had everyone say a few words about what they were thankful for. Jane went first and she said she was thankful for my love and the love of all of our friends. When it was Bea's turn, she said, "I'm very thankful for having had the opportunity to have known Jane's parent's, Stan and Bettina. They were warm, giving souls who gave the world their beautiful daughter, Jane. And, because of Jane, we also get to count Tony and Judy as our friends as well. I just want to thank all of you for the love that has been shown to us during our stay and I hope we will stay friends forever."

Next up, JP mirrored Bea's sentiments and thanked us for the interest in their careers that everyone had shown, especially Judy. This year, I let Elsie go last. She said, "I felt like I knew everybody intimately through Jenny's emails. She painted a picture of kindness, generosity, friendship and love that I found very alluring. I wanted to be a part of that, but due to a money shortage in my family, it didn't look like I was going to be able to join my sister here. That was until Jane and Tony stepped in and made sure that I would have the resources to join all of you. "I discovered one problem with my fantasies of all of you...the fantasies didn't measure up to the reality. The welcoming kindness and love that all of you have shown to me has left me in awe of each and everyone one of you. I love you all so much! Thank you for making me a part of your family." Elsie got a standing ovation for her declaration of thanks which caused her to blush. When the applause stopped, I told everyone to dig in.

After dinner, JP stood and said, "I have read many stories about the American Thanksgiving holiday. Many of them talk about bickering relatives and the like. I have to say, that I really like this holiday and I think Bea and I should return here every year to celebrate love and togetherness with all of you. Thank you very much for including us!"

When we had finished dinner, Jake and I got dressed and went to check on the ice pond since it was so cold. There was a coating of snow on top, so we guessed the water had, finally, frozen. Jake ran over to my garage and grabbed a snow shovel and then, gingerly, stepped onto the ice and began pushing the snow off. When he had finished, Jake proclaimed that the ice was perfect. We went back to the house and told Jane about the ice and she let out a loud whoop! "Tomorrow we are going to that big sporting goods store and are buying ice skates!

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend eating, talking and skating. I had never been on ice skates before and found it to be quite a challenge. Jane, Barb and Jake were quite good on skates as were Cindy and Sofia. By the end of the weekend, I wasn't falling quite as much and began enjoying it a lot more. I did have a number of bruises on my hips and ass! Bea and JP gave talks to several different classes during the week following Bea's mini show at Judy's friends' gallery.

Finally, Bea and JP had to return home. We sent them off with Ernesto to O'Hare with hugs and kisses. The end of term was nearing as Christmas approached, so everyone was studying hard for exams and doing a lot of research for papers. Additionally, graduation was looming for Jane, Astrid and myself thanks to the summer sessions we took the previous year. None of us were particularly keen on the ceremony, so we decided to have a small party at our house.

On the last day of classes, we were notified by the Dean of students that Jane and I graduated 'summa cum laude', while Astrid graduated 'magna cum laude' (quite a feat since her studies were in her second language!). Unbeknownst to us, Judy had organized a party for us all to celebrate our achievement. She had invited Lane and Rose Prescott, Pearl and usual band of friends. We had fun catching up with Pearl and she told us how proud she was of us all. Debbie had also had her PhD conferred upon her, so we celebrated her achievement as well. All in all, we had a great evening.

I asked Astrid what she was going to do next and she said that she was going to pursue a teaching certificate. She wanted to gain some experience teaching English since that was what she wanted to do when she and Axel returned home. Jane said, "Ooh, that's a good idea. Perhaps I will do the same."

About a week before term ended, everyone's passports began arriving and everyone's excitement became palpable. Cindy wasn't coming with us because she was going to Hawaii with Matt. Sue wanted to stay home and spend more time with Jackson. Jenny and Elsie wanted to go but decided they should go home and be with their parents so they could go to Hawaii in the spring. Big Emily decided to stay behind because Bob couldn't get away. So, our Nice group was Jane, Barb, Jake, Little Emily, Judy, Astrid, Axel, Sofia, Evan, Lily, Shelly, Mary, Gloria and myself. Because of our numbers, we had to split into three different groups. The first group was Jane, Judy, Mary, Gloria and myself. We were going to go via Lufthansa all of the way via Frankfurt. The second group was Astrid, Barb, Jake and Emily and the third was Axel, Sofia, Evan and Lily. Astrid and Axel volunteered to split since they were both seasoned international travelers. The second group flying United to Frankfurt and Lufthansa to Nice and the third group Lufthansa to Munich and then on to Nice.

All of our flights left within minutes of each other so we had Ernesto use his coach to take us to O'Hare together. Jane's and my flight left a few minutes late due to a mechanical issue, but picked up time in route due to strong tail winds. We met our United group at the Nice departure gate for our continuing flight. Axel texted that their group arrived in Munich on time and that their Nice flight was planning to leave on time. Judy had arranged for 2 rental vans for our use for 2 weeks with Judy driving one and me the other.

As we pulled into the driveway, Madam Giroux was waiting for us with keys in hand. She gave Jane and I the traditional two cheek kiss, handed Jane the key and then made her way home. We unlocked the door and everyone schlepped their bags inside. Since the house had seven rooms, we let everyone sort out their rooms for themselves. Jane and I, of course, took the master bedroom and dropped our bags off. We then went to the kitchen to see what the food situation was. There was, basically, nothing. Too bad Mme. Giroux wasn't as obliging as Kaholo was. Mary wandered down next, so Jane and I broke the news that we would have to go shopping.

Mary sat down, took out her cell phone and began typing away. Jane and I watched her with quizzical looks on our faces and when she looked up and saw us, she said, "Working on menu's and a grocery list." Sofia came into the kitchen next and asked what we were up to, so we told her we were going to have to go to the store. Next to arrive was Judy and I asked if she wanted to go to the store with us and she said yes. Jane decided to stay behind.

So, Mary, Sofia, Judy and I headed out. Judy and I remembered where the stores were from our earlier visit and got there fairly soon. The grocery store was much smaller than the ones at home but were crammed with lots of items. We decided we would need three carts for our purchases, since the carts were smaller as well. As we slowly walked up each aisle, Mary grabbed the stuff she wanted and quickly filled up one cart. I told her we would stop at a produce shop and a bakery before going home. Before long, we had filled the third cart and Mary seemed satisfied.

We had grabbed shopping bags from the house, but they weren't nearly large enough for what we had, so we managed to procure some boxes from the store. The young woman at the check-out asked if we were feeding an army and I told her, "nearly"! Next we hit the produce shop. Mary's eyes went wide as she touched and smelled everything. "This produce is wonderful," Mary exclaimed! "You are going to like what I will make while we are here!"

I laughed and said, "I always like what you make." Judy and Sofia nodded in agreement. After the produce shop, we hit the bakery where Mary bought several loaves and several baguettes. As we were driving home, Mary saw a fromagerie and asked if we could stop. We could smell the shop from several doors down and were really hit with the aroma when we walked in.

Mary asked me to ask the shopkeeper if she could sample a few cheeses. The shopkeeper didn't seem to inclined to acquiesce. As he was telling me no, JP, who entered the store without my noticing, said, "Sylvain, let the girl sample your cheese. She's the best chef I have ever encountered."

Sylvain looked down his nose at Mary and said, "No way, she doesn't even speak French. She can't be better than Gilles!"

JP laughed and said, "She makes Gilles food taste as though it comes from McDonald's! Besides, Sylvain, you shouldn't discount someone because they don't speak French."

I interrupted and said, "Monsieur, I would be happy to invite you and your wife to dinner tomorrow night. I would invite you tonight, but we are suffering from jetlag having just arrived in Nice today from Chicago."

Sylvain stared at me for a moment and then looked at JP who nodded with a smile. He looked at me again, smiled, stuck his hand out and said, "I'm Sylvain Duclos and am the proprietor of this shop."

I took his hand and said, "My name is Tony Smith and this young woman is Mary Alcott. If you have some paper and a pen, I'll write down my address."

JP said, "There's no need, Sylvain, Tony lives next door to me, he's the son in law of Stan and Bettina Robinson."

The smile left Sylvain's face and as he grabbed my shoulders, he said, "I'm sorry I didn't know. Please accept my most heartfelt condolences on the loss of you in laws. They were amongst the nicest people I have ever met. I wept when I heard about their death. My wife and I would be happy to come to dinner. Also, the young lady may sample anything she would like."

I smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness regarding Stan and Bettina." I turned to Mary and said, "Which cheeses would you like to sample?"

Mary smiled having no idea what just happened and pointed to four different cheeses. To me, they all looked the same, but not to Mary. She took each sample and smelled it, then slowly broke a bit off and then popped a portion in her mouth and slowly chewed. She did this with each sample and, when finished, said, "My god! This is the best cheese I have ever tasted!"

JP, who was speaking English now, said, "Sylvain has the best cheeses in Nice!"

Mary told me which ones she wanted and how much. I told Sylvain and he sliced up what Mary ordered and then he said, "Please, allow me to give this cheese to you after having been so rude before." I thanked him, shook his hand again told him we looked forward to seeing he and his wife tomorrow.

I then turned to JP and hugged him and told him it was good to see him again. I invited he and Bea to dinner tomorrow as well. "I don't wish to be rude, but I really need to take a nap soon," I said, "Before I fall asleep standing!" JP smiled, said he understood and sent us on our way.

As we got in the car, Mary asked, "Why didn't he charge us for the cheese?"

Judy giggled and said, "Well, for several reasons. At first, the seller didn't want you to have a sample until JP told him you are the best chef he has ever met and that you are better than the local legend. JP says your food makes the legends food taste like McDonalds. Then Tony invited the seller and his wife to dinner tomorrow. Also, the seller was friends with Jane's parents and he expressed his condolences to Tony and felt badly for being rude to you. So, as a result of all of that, we got free cheese."

Mary shook her head and said, "I need to learn French! Also, you guys need to taste this cheese, it's heavenly! So, should I do something special for dinner tomorrow? I was planning on a chicken dish with these peas I bought and a chocolate soufflé."

Sofia said, "Ooh! I love your chocolate soufflé! Just cook your regular stuff. That's all JP got when he was staying with us and whatever you made nearly made him cum every night!"

"What do you think, Tony," Mary asked?

I smiled and said, "I agree with Sofia. Just make whatever you were planning. Don't worry about Sylvain. If you're making chicken, could you make that one sauce I really like?"

Mary laughed and said, "Of course! That's what I was planning on doing."

When we got home, I helped Mary put the groceries away while Sofia grabbed one of the Pepsi's we bought. Sofia took a sip of her soda, stopped, looked at the glass and said, "This tastes different. Not bad, just different."

Mary said, "It's because it's made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup like they use in the US. It's marginally better for you, but you still shouldn't drink that crap!"

Sofia laughed and said, "It's my only vice...other than sex, oral sex, anal sex, sex with women and my love of Tony!"

Mary laughed, shook her head and asked, "So, is Tony as good in the sack as I've heard he is?"

Sofia replied, "Oh no, he's better. You haven't been in the sack with Tony yet?"

"No," Mary replied. "I have often wondered though. Jenny gets all dreamy eyed and Judy walks 3 inches off the ground when she's been with him. And, don't get me started on Jane!"

"Well, if you want to give him a try," said Sofia, "Just have a talk with Jane. She loves to share Tony and she'll share him with you as well. All you have to do is ask. Oh, for the full effect, let Jane join you, she's a certifiable sex goddess!"

"I don't know, having sex with your bosses sounds, I don't know, kind of sordid," Mary said. "I don't want them to hate me."

I decided to intercede here and said, "Look, Jane and I don't hate anyone. Sofia, I don't think it's fair that you're putting Mary on the spot. It could be very uncomfortable for Mary getting intimate with her employers."

Sofia nodded and said, "I'm sorry Mary, I shouldn't have done that to you. But, still, talk to Jane!" Sofia winked and left the kitchen.

When we had stowed everything away, I said, "We should take a nap for a few hours. You don't want to sleep too long so set your alarm for 6pm. I see you in a little while."

I went upstairs to find Jane in bed already but reading. She said, "It's about time you got here. I've read the same page for 30 minutes because I kept nodding off. Let's take a nap!" And with that, we fell into a nice slumber.

The next day I arose feeling really good. I was the first downstairs and started the coffee. Axel joined me just as I poured the first cup, so I poured one for him as well. It was a beautiful sunny day, but was fairly cold and the high temperature was forecast as 58F...not exactly swimming weather! After a while, Mary and Gloria showed up and I poured them cups of coffee as well. As Mary and Gloria busied themselves with getting breakfast ready, it dawned on me that I hadn't, really, ever talked to Gloria.

"So, Gloria, tell me a little about yourself. Where did you grow up, what kind of schooling have you had, what do you like to do and so on?"