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 ï>¿The Trailer Park: The Third Year A Story in the Wynter/Trailer Park
Universe by Wizard CopyrightÂ(C) 2006 by Wizard

   Chapter 21

   "Now you've really screwed things up," Ashley accused as she got off the
bus with Tami.

   "What'd I do?  I've been here all day." I hugged Tami and gave her a
quick kiss.

   "You killed student government.  And on my first day."

   "I killed...  ?  Your first day?  Somebody give me a map, cause I'm
lost."

   Tami slipped her arm around me and her hand into my back pocket.  "Did
you know Danny Kelly moved?"

   "I heard he was going to.  He's gone?" My arm wound it's familiar way
around Tami and my hand plunged into her back pocket.

   "Friday was his last day.  He probably would have said goodbye, but you
didn't make it through the day."

   "Thanks for not rubbing that in, by the way," I said and gave her butt a
squeeze through her jeans.

   "My pleasure.  Anyway, he was the freshman representative to the student
council." As we walked toward Tami's house I slipped my other arm around
Ashley's waist.  "Dave Gladstone appointed her as Danny's replacement."

   "And why," I started and pulled Ashley close to me, "would Dave pick a
student who's only been here since October?"

   "He thinks she's cute."

   "No wonder we elected him class president." I gave Ashley a quick kiss
on the cheek.

   We got to Tami's house.  She unlocked the front door, and we went in.  I
sat on the sofa and pulled Ashley onto my lap while Tami got Cokes from the
fridge.

   "So now I know how you got to student council.  How did I kill student
government without even being within two miles of the school?"

   "Pretty much, by being you," Tami said as she came back balancing three
cans of Coke and a bag of chips.

   "Sorry, don't know how to be anyone else." Tami set down everything,
then settled in the chair across from the sofa.

   "Maybe you should try," Ashley said.  "Less wear and tear on friends and
family."

   I kissed Ashley on the nose and started rubbing her butt.  "Wouldn't be
nearly as much fun." I leaned down and kissed the top of her breast.

   "You want me to take a walk for a while?" Tami asked with a grin.

   "Nah, I figured we'd use your bedroom." I kissed the top of her other
breast.

   Tami stuck her tongue out at me, then popped the top of her Coke and
took a sip.  I don't think it would have bothered her if I had taken Ashley
to her bedroom.

   "I still don't know how I destroyed democracy at school."

   "You know we had a meeting today," Ashley said.

   "I know that the student council meets every Tuesday.  I'm still getting
used to you being part of it."

   Ashley stuck her tongue out at me, then leaned forward and stuck it in
my ear.

   It tickled.  and I grinned at Tami.  She shook her head and stuck her
tongue out at me.  I wondered if I could talk her into sticking it in my
other ear.  It might be a close as I ever come to a threesome.

   "Are you going to finish explaining how sitting on the sofa in my
underwear, with my feet on the coffee table and a bag of chips on my
stomach, watching General Hospital destroyed student self-determination?"

   "Thanks for the image," Ashley said, getting off my lap and moving to
the other end of the sofa.

   "General Hospital?" Tami asked as she took Ashley's place.

   "I was channel surfing and got sucked in." Two cute girls in bikinis got
me started, then I got hooked.

   "My football hunk boyfriend watching a soap.  That's just sick and
wrong."

   I grinned.

   Ashley giggled.

   "What?" I asked.

   "I was just thinking that our conversations have trouble staying on
track."

   Tami giggled.  "True.  And it's worse when Robbie's here."

   "Quiet woman!" I said sharply.  "Ashley's trying to tell a story." Then
I kissed her to take the sting out of my words.  Tami opened her mouth, and
my tongue plunged in to wrestle with hers.

   "By the way, man," Tami said when we'd finished, "talk to me like that
again and your tongue ain't comin' home."

   I looked at her hard.  "You've been hanging with Robbie too much.

   Tami just grinned.  Then she showed her teeth and pretended to bite a
couple of times.

   I considered emigrating to Australia.

   "Tell him about the meeting," Tami suggested.

   "I'm not sure I want to anymore."

   "Okay, I will."

   Ashley glared at her, and Tami laughed.  "Tell him."

   "We were at the meeting and got through all the business pretty quick.
Then Ricky suggested that we issue a formal protest over your suspension."

   "Really?"

   "We were discussing it when Mr.  Parker came in.  He listened for a
minute, then told us it was none of our business."

   "Darlene Chambers...  do you know her?"

   " I know who she is.  I know she's student body president.  I've never
talked to her."

   "Anyway, she'd been arguing against supporting you, but she told Parker
that the council had the responsibility to discuss school affairs and let
the administration know what they thought.  I thought he was going to
explode.  He said he'd decide what the council could or should discuss."

   "You would have been so proud of her.  She stood up and said, 'I move
that since student government is a mockery, that student council be
dissolved.  All in favor?' There was a dozen ayes, and we all got up and
left.  Mr.  Parker was standing there with his mouth open."

   "Wow."

   "By the end of school, Darlene had written it up formal.  'We the
undersigned, having been informed by the administration that our decisions
and discussions are meaningless, do, this day dissolve the farce known as
student government.' We all signed and she delivered copies to Parker,
Jeffries and the superintendent."

   "Mr.  Mulino," I supplied.

   "Yeah."

   "So it's all my fault?"

   "Pretty much."

   "I'm sorry." It was just words.  I wasn't sure how I felt.

   "Why?  It wasn't really about you.  It was Parker.  If he'd kept his
mouth shut, I think we would have voted to do nothing."

   "We?"

   "I was going to abstain."

   "Thanks a lot, I said.

   I kissed Tami again, slipping my hand up inside her shirt.

   Well, I've destroyed my athletic career.

   And I've killed student government.

   What do I do for an encore?



   Chapter 22

   On Thursday, I was just sitting down for General Hospital when the phone
rang.

   "Hello."

   "Tony Sims, please."

   "This is Tony."

   "Tony, this is Martin Mulino.  I was wondering if you could come see me
this afternoon?"

   "Uh, Mom and Dad are both at work."

   "Unless you think they'll object, I only need to see you."

   "Uh, ok.  When?"

   "As soon as possible."

   "Twenty minutes?"

   "That would be fine.  See you then."

   I hung up, wondering what was happening now.

   School was just over two miles from the park.  It took me about fifteen
minutes to get dressed and ride my bike there.  The superintendent's office
was in the high school, at the other end of the hall from the school
office. I chained my bike to the rack in front of the school and went in
the front doors.

   It felt good to be back, though I couldn't admit that to anyone except
Tami and Robbie.

   I'd gotten three steps inside the building when...

   "Mr.  Sims.  What are you doing here?"

   I turned, Mr.  Parker was coming out of a door down the hall.

   "I'm..."

   "When a student is suspended, the school is off-limits."

   "I know but..."

   "I realize that you think being a football hero frees you from all the
rules."

   "I don't think..."

   "You need to realize that the rules are for everybody."

   "I know the rules..."

   "There are rules for a reason, and they have to apply to everyone, even
football heroes."

   I decided I had two options.  Then I decided that option one.  Killing
Mr.  Parker wasn't practical, it was messy.  There was the body to get rid
of.  I turned and started walking down the hall.

   "Mr.  Sims, come back here.  I was talking to you."

   I ignored him and kept walking.

   "Mr.  Sims, you can't just walk away from me."

   'Wrong again, ' I thought.

   I turned and walked through the open door into the superintendent's
outer office.  The same old bat was sitting at the desk.  I didn't know her
name, and she didn't have a nameplate on her desk.

   "Hi, I'm Tony Sims.  Could you explain to Mr.  Parker that I have an
appointment."

   "Mr.  Parker?" she seemed confused.

   Just then he burst into the room.  "Mr.  Sims, I will call the police,"
he bellowed.

   "Mr.  Parker, what is this about?" the secretary demanded.

   "This student..." he started just as Mr.  Mulino came out of his office.

   "What's going on?"

   "Mr.  Parker thinks I shouldn't be on school property," I explained.

   "Did you tell him, I asked you to come?"

   "He never gave me a chance."

   "Tony, would you mind waiting for a minute?"

   I nodded.

   "Charley, could you step in for a minute?"

   Parker looked at me, then nodded and followed his boss into his office.

   He came out two minutes later.  He didn't look happy.  He glared at me,
then walked out into the hall.  The phone buzzed, and a second later the
secretary waved me into Mr.  Mulino's office.

   "Afternoon Tony," he greeted me.  "I appreciate you coming down to see
me on such short notice."

   "Not a problem."

   "Sorry about the mix-up with Mr.  Parker."

   I decided that silence was the best answer to that.

   Mr.  Mulino waited a few seconds for a response, then realized he wasn't
getting one.  "Tony, you're a problem for me."

   "Sorry."

   "You broke the rules, and got punished.  But it's not ending there.  I
gather you've heard about the student council."

   "Yeah.  One of the council members is a friend of mine."

   "Have you also heard about the baseball team?"

   I shook my head.

   "Your friend Roberta has been stirring things up.  She and six other
team members are planning to quit if you're not allowed to play."

   "I don't know what to say.  I'm flattered."

   "You should be.  I know Ricky Calloway.  He wouldn't do that for just
anyone."

   I grinned.

   "Coaches Calloway and Branson aren't very happy about you not playing,
either.  They seem to think a lot of you.  You've left me in an awkward
position."

   "Sorry," I said again.

   "Any suggestions?"

   "The only suggestion I could make, you won't like."

   "I assume it has something to do with Mr.  Parker?"

   "Fire him!"

   "I know you and Charley have some problems..."

   "It's not that.  Well, not all that."

   "Well...  ?"

   "Do you want me to answer that as a student or a people?"

   Mulino smiled.  "What would a student say?"

   I put a completely neutral expression on my face.  "Mr.  Parker is a
wonderful administrator in a wonderful school where I get a wonderful
education."

   "And what would a people say?"

   "Mr.  Parker will cause more problems because he has absolutely no
respect for the students."

   "I see."

   "Or their parents.  My Mom was ready to strangle him after five minute
in his office."

   "I see."

   I wondered if he really did.  "According to my source, the problem with
the student council is not because they wanted to stick up for me, but
because Parker told them, they couldn't even discuss it.  I think everyone
knows that the student government has no real power, but he told them they
couldn't even have an opinion."

   "I can't fire him."

   "Then promote him."

   "Promote him?"

   "Yeah, assistant deputy superintendent in charge of paperclips or
something." Mulino smiled at that.  "I don't know how he got where he is,
but he's not a people person, so he's going to make mountains out of mole
hills."

   "So Mr.  Parker is the cause of all your problems?"

   No, sir," I said emphatically.  "I chose my course of action, and I was
prepared for reasonable consequences.  Mr.  Parker over-reacted.  Like I
said, a mountain out of a molehill."

   "I think you overstate the problem."

   "Consider today," I suggested.  "I walked into the school.  Mr.  Parker
didn't ask why I was here, he started in on a long winded lecture on why I
couldn't be.  If I was a good little boy, I'd still be standing in the
front hall, listening, and you'd be wondering where I was."

   "I'm not firing Charley Parker.  And I'm not promoting him.  Where does
that leave me and the school?"

   "Do nothing."

   "Nothing?"

   "Today's my last day of suspension, so I'm back tomorrow.  I'll talk to
Robbie, Ricky and the rest, and I think they'll play."

   "And you?"

   "Maybe I'll go down to the middle school and see if Mr.  Hallowell wants
some help with his team."

   "And the student council?"

   "If you or Mrs.  Jeffries talk to them and tell them you actually want
to hear their opinions, I think things will go back to normal.  If you
could keep Mr.  Parker from going to their meetings it would help."

   Mulino nodded.  "And you think tomorrow, everything goes back to
normal?"

   I nodded.  "Pretty much.  Until the next crisis." He smiled and nodded
at that.  "Speaking of which, you might want to read today's Seattle
paper."

   "Why?"

   "They reprinted Tami's essay.  And they're nominating her for the
Bothwell Award."

   "You think that's a crisis?"

   "Just the potential for one.  The Bothwell is apparently for the paper
as well as the writer.  It could be embarrassing if we win and the word
gets out that a student was suspended over the article."

   "Is that a threat?" he asked darkly.

   "No sir.  I'm just stating facts.  I hope Tami wins, but if she does,
the school may take some flack.  I don't plan to start it."

   "And I'm guessing you have a suggestion." The sarcasm in his voice was
almost a physical presence between us.

   "I'm sorry if I'm being presumptuous."

   Mulino sighed.  "Tony, I'm sorry.  I asked for your opinions, and I want
to hear them.  I'm just annoyed by the situation.  One of our students is
nominated for a national award.  A prestigious national award, and I can't
be happy about it."

   "I understand." And I did.  It had to be frustrating.

   "Did you have a suggestion?"

   "It's kinda the same one.  Take Mr.  Parker out of the mix.  Let Mr. 
Walker and Toby edit the paper and choose articles on merit." Toby was the
paper's editor, I figured he knew that.

   "I'll think about it.  Thanks for coming in." I guessed I was dismissed.
I stood up and headed for the door.  "See you in school tomorrow."

   "Yes sir," I said as I put my hand on the knob.

   "And Tony..."

   "Yes," as I opened the door.

   "Plan to stay after."

   "Sir?"

   "Mr.  Calloway is expecting you."



   Chapter 23

   I couldn't help laughing.

   "You want to let me in on the joke?"

   "Us."

   It was the kind of night that seemed to define Washington.  Define the
northwest.  The air was clear after the afternoon rain.  The Moon was out
in force enviously trying to outshine her older brother, the sun.  The
stars shone brightly, cheering her on, yet twinkling at her forlorn
attempt. The air was cool, still filled with the moisture of the rain.

   Tami and I were taking our ritual walk, hand in hand, enjoying the
night, the moon, each other.

   The image popped into my head and I laughed.

   "We're funny?" Tami asked.

   "No, not us.  Our relationship," I said, still laughing.

   "Our relationship?  Or OUR relationship?  She asked, the capital letters
in her second sentence obvious."

   I let go of her hand and slid my arm around her, my hand sliding into
the far back pocket of her jeans.  "Both," I said, as I got my breath back
and stopped laughing.

   Tami glared at me out of the corner of her eye.  Not in anger, but in
the frustration of not understanding.  I gave her ass a squeeze.  "Did you
ever see The World According to Garp?"

   "I think so.  Robin Williams?  He was a writer or something."

   "That's the one," I agreed.

   "What does Garp have to do with us?"

   "After Garp sold his first book and married his sweetheart, I think it
was Helen, they were going to buy a house.  They looked at one and weren't
sure, then...

   "An airplane flew into it," she finished for me.  "I remember that
part."

   "Yeah, and Garp decided to buy the house because it had been
pre-disastered.  We're kind of like that."

   "Pre-disastered?"

   "Exactly.  Look at all the stuff that's happened to us.  If we can
survive this, we can survive anything."

   "Don't tempt fate," she warned, holding her fingers out in front of her
to form a cross.

   "I'm not.  I just figure we're pre-disastered.  We've had our problems,
and now we can go the distance."

   "You make me feel like I'm seventy years old, in my rocking chair on the
porch."

   "We'll be seventy all right.  But we'll be running our great grand-kids
ragged."

   "Great grand-kids, huh?"

   "Yep, Tony the fourth, star quarterback and short stop.

   "What about Tami the fourth?"

   "Super-model."

   "Super-model?"

   "Yep, super-model, just like mom, grandmom, and great grandmom."

   "Tony, you're hopeless."

   "I can see the sports illustrated cover now, Four generations in
bikinis. Tami the fourth, mom, grand-mom, and you."

   "I hope," she said stiffly, "that when I'm seventy, I have sense enough
not to wear a bikini."

   "Awww."

   "I've seen you cringe when you saw some old broad in spandex or a
bikini."

   "But they're not you."

   "Anyway, I hope I do more than become a super-model," she said as she
slipped her hand in my back pocket and gave me a quick squeeze.

   "How about super-model slash secret agent.  Keeping the world safe for
democracy."

   "If and when I decide democracy is worth saving, I'll consider it."

   "Going communist on me, babe?  I think we'll have to move to China or
Cuba, but I'll follow you anywhere."

   "No, I'm not going communist.  And call me babe again, and you won't
live long enough to follow me anywhere," she said with a laugh.

   I grinned back at her.

   "Besides, it'll be hard for you to be a pro football slash baseball
player in China or Cuba."

   "Who knows, by then they may have franchises."

   "The Peking Ducks?"

   "Ouch.  But I don't want to be a pro."

   "Weren't you and Robbie arguing about who would be first to be drafted."

   "That's different.  I want to get drafted, I just don't want to play."

   "I don't get it."

   "I play football and baseball for fun.  I don't want it to be a job."

   "So if the Miami Cowboys or Dallas Bears offer you ten million a year?"

   "I'd like to think I'll say no, but we'll have to wait until they
actually wave the green in front of my face."

   "So you want them to want you, just so you can say no?"

   "No.  I want them to want me because I want to be that good.  I want to
say no because there's something more important in my future."

   "What?" she asked bluntly.

   "Not a clue," I admitted.

   "Not even a little one?" she prodded.

   "Well, journalism with you was fun this year."

   "I can picture you running into the pressroom yelling 'Stop the
presses!'".

   I grinned.  "And I've thought about medicine, but blood is not my
favorite liquid."

   "Maybe you could be a reproductive specialist.  You seem to like sperm."

   "Only my own.  Maybe I could be a g-y-n, cause you know how I like
pussy."

   Tami giggled.

   "And I know it sounds like a little kid, but I've thought about being an
astronaut.  I mean, maybe, by the time I'm ready, NASA will get off it's
ass and make the manned space program more than a taxi service."

   "You read too much Heinlein," Tami accused with a laugh.

   "And Asimov.  And Bova."

   "I'll bet it was that damn Bova and his Grand Tour that did it too you."

   "Guilty," I admitted with a grin.

   "Anything else?"

   "Well, I could see myself sitting on the Supreme Court, shaping the law.
But, unfortunately they make you be a lawyer first, and I don't know if I
could stomach that."

   "Pretty unfair," she commiserated.  "But just because most lawyers are
crooks doesn't mean you have to be.

   "Oh, I could be an honest lawyer, but I'd have to hang out with crooks.
Don't know if I could bring myself to do that."

   "Poor baby.  I guess you'll have to settle for being the first g-y-n in
space who writes a column for the New York Times."

   "Pu-lease.  The Wall Street Journal."

   "Exxxx-cuuuuuse me."

   "Never." I leaned over and kissed her.  "Well, okay."

   "Any other big plans?"

   "Just one." I pulled away from her, and dropped to one knee.  "Will you
marry me?" I asked, looking up.

   "Tony, we're fifteen."

   "I figure if I start asking now, I'll wear you down by your eighteenth
birthday."

   "Mom says I have to graduate first."

   "That's perfect.  Today's the last day of school.  I'll ask you again
next year.  And the next year.  And the next year.  That'll give you three
years to practice saying yes."

   Tami grinned.  "I won't need three years.  Does this mean you're giving
up Robbie and the girls?"

   "In a heartbeat." I surprised myself by meaning it completely.

   Tami looked surprised.  I'd bet that she was expecting some smart and
somewhat evasive answer.  "Not just yet.  You know, if you marry Robbie
instead, you two could start an athletic dynasty."

   "Don't want an athletic dynasty.  I want you."

   I almost added, and only you.  But considering that she'd just told me
to keep fucking three other girls, I didn't know if it was appropriate. 
Why doesn't somebody write a training manual for these situations?

   We walked for awhile.  It was almost midnight, and I knew in a few more
minutes, I'd have to take her home.

   "You know Robbie was saying yesterday that Ashley looked horny." Tami
whispered.

   "No."

   "No?"

   "NO!"

   "You don't want to make love to her?"

   "I'll never make love to her.  But I'm not interested in fucking her
either."

   "Why?  She's cute."

   "She's a hottie.  But our lives are complicated enough."

   "But..."

   "There are three hundred and four guys in our school.  Some of them are
almost as cute as me."

   "But none as modest."

   "It's a gift," I said, using my free hand to buff my fingernails on my
chest and blow on them.

   "It's just sex."

   "You know that phrase, 'It's just sex, ' has caused a lot of trouble for
a lot of people."

   "But this is different.  I'd know.  And I asked you to."

   "If you asked me to, I'd even have sex with Brenda Walthan." Brenda 'the
Whale' Walthan probably outweighed me, Tami and Robbie combined.  "But why
ask?  She can find her own guy."

   God, I must be in love.  I was working pretty hard to talk myself out of
fucking a sexy young girl.

   "It's complicated," Tami said.  I really hate that phrase, especially
when someone else uses it on me.

   "Tami, there's three hundred and four guys at the school."

   "I know."

   "And three hundred and nine girls."

   "You knew?"

   "Tami, you and Robbie have had me making out with her all year.  It's
been pretty obvious that she might like it, but wasn't excited by it.

   "Robbie thought..."

   "I know what was on Robbie's devious and dirty little mind.  The
question is, does Robbie know?"

   "Does Robbie know what's on her own mind?"

   "No.  Does Robbie KNOW?"

   Tami sighed.  "That Ashley's in love with her?"

   I nodded.

   "I doubt it."

   "So the question is, love of my life, are you going to tell her?"

   "I don't know if it's my place.  Are you?"

   "I'm not going to walk up to her and blurt it out.  But if it seems
appropriate, yeah, I'll tell her."

   "Anthony Marion Sims.  Sometimes I really like you.  You're a sensitive
and caring guy."

   "Shhhush.  I have three more years of high school.  If that gets out,
I'm ruined."

   "You're also a putz."

   "Sensitive, caring, and a putz.  I can live with that."

   "So what about Ashley?"

   "Well, I'm not going to walk up to her, pull her shorts down and stick
it in.  But if the situation is right..."

   "You'll make love to her?"

   "No, I'll never make love to her."

   "But, you said..."

   I knew what I wanted to say, but wasn't sure it would come out right. 
"Tami, when I'm with you, it's about ninety-nine percent making love and
one percent sex.  With Robbie, it's about fifty percent making love and
fifty percent sex.  Cause, I do love Robbie too.  With the girls, it's
about ninety-ten toward sex.  Cause I've really gotten to care for them. 
But with Ashley, it would be all sex.  I like her, but I don't love her. 
Does that make any sense at all."

   "Tony, that was beautiful." Tami pulled me into a tight hug.  "Unless
it's your way of saying I'm not very good at sex."

   I wondered again how two such diverse species as men and women wound up
on the same planet.  "I..."

   "Tony, relax.  I'm not really that insecure.  I promise."

   "I thought maybe I said it badly."

   "No.  I understood what you were saying, and I do think it's beautiful.
And I do think it's possible to be in love with more than one person at a
time."

   "You do know it's not going to change anything with Ashley.  I'd like to
think sex with me is great, but I don't think it's going to change
somebody's orientation."

   "What about you?"

   "Me?"

   "Are you going to like having sex with Ashley?"

   "She's young.  She's beautiful.  She has a hot, tight body.  I'm sure
I'll hate it.  But I'll make the sacrifice for you."

   "My hero."

   "Just keep remembering that for the next three years, until you say
yes."