Chapter 6

Once the family left, Betsy and the staff settled into the process of learning to live together. There were quirks to learn and preferences to discover. The house, with its wide open spacious rooms, was designed to give great views of the exotic landscape. It did not promote privacy, particularly with six people living in the house.

Betsy was willing to drop her clothes without a moment’s notice, and head out to the beach. She was just as likely to wear clothes around the house as not. About the only time she wore shoes was when she was away from the house. Her shiny black hair was always tied back in a pony tail that never seemed to stop bouncing around.

Alice was one of those women who didn’t appear to care that she was aging. She didn’t dye her hair to hide the gray. She wore conservative dresses around the house. She preferred sensible leather shoes without heels over sandals or high heels. When going to the beach, she changed into a one piece bathing suit which showed that she still retained a good figure.

Stacy was nearly as conservative in her fashion sense as Alice. It was hard to say if her choice of clothing was due to the need to provide security, which could be threatened at any time, or to the presence of her brother in the house. She normally wore pants or skirts with blouses with practical shoes that she could run in, if necessary.

Sam’s dress around the house was somewhere between Betsy and Stacy. Most times she wore jeans and button shirts, particularly when she was fixing things or working out in the yard. Other times, she would wear the bottom half of her bikini and nothing else. She had numerous bikinis which ranged from decent to obscene.

The odd woman out was Wheels. She was either in conservative clothes appropriate for a chauffeur or in overalls appropriate for a mechanic. When heading to the beach, she’d strip naked revealing a body with generous proportions in all of the right places.

Then there was Gary, the only male in the house. He wore dress casual pants most of the time, although he did occasionally wear shorts when the expectation was that he’d be around the house all day. He wore pull over shirts and a light sport coat when traveling away from the house with Betsy. The coat hid the gun he carried. When he went to the beach, he always wore a baggy surfer style bathing suit. He also made it a practice to go to the beach alone when no one else was there.

While there was a large degree of variability in fashion sense, all of them were the same in terms of keeping their individual living areas neat and clean. With Alice dusting, vacuuming, washing windows, and doing laundry almost constantly, the house was almost always spotless. For a house on a beach, it would be extremely difficult to find a grain of sand in the house.

She wasn’t alone in keeping the house clean. Everyone contributed. It was seldom that something was left out of place. Each person would take their dirty dishes or used glass to the kitchen, rinse it off, and put it in the dishwasher. A casual inspection of the house before breakfast would show every bed was made and nothing out of place.

Alice was a good cook. She prepared simple, delicious, and healthy meals. Although she had been married to a Marine and had raised three growing boys who became Marines, she was, at times, astonished by the quantity of food consumed at meal time. Betsy ate as much as any three people. Gary and Stacy, who worked out every day to keep fit, tended to eat a lot of food. Sam ate a lot compared to most women because of the physical nature of her job. So although there was only six people in the house, Alice was effectively cooking for twelve.

There were some rough areas in their relationships. Betsy’s constant high speed movement, rapid fire speech, and impatience would get on people’s nerves after a while. There was always a hint of tension between Gary and Stacy. Sam was more or less a loner, claiming that it was a result of her time on a submarine where it was impossible to be alone. She could deal with people for a while and then she just needed to get off by herself. Wheels was difficult to take for extended periods of time as a result of her less than modest opinion of herself, but, fortunately, she spent a lot of her time in the garage working on cars. Alice had a tendency to be judgmental and that often caused a little friction.

It was two weeks after moving into the house when Charlie showed up to start working. She lived in a nice condo that was located a twenty minute drive from the house. She kept a nice mini-office at her condo where she could handle most emergencies from home. She typically arrived to work shortly after breakfast and left almost immediately after dinner. Initially, Wheels would take her to and from work since Charlie hadn’t yet begun to relearn how to drive after losing her right foot.

After having run out of excuses for not visiting, Bess had finally accepted an invitation for an afternoon tea. Alice had prepared some finger foods appropriate for the occasion. Betsy, anxious to make a good impression on her neighbor, was running around the house checking and double-checking that all was ready for the woman’s visit. She had popped into the kitchen so many times that Alice told her that she’d throw everything away if she didn’t stop pestering her.

There was a sigh of relief when the perimeter alarm sounded to let them know that someone had turned into the driveway. Gary checked the video feed using his cell phone and then headed to the door to greet the visitor. Betsy gave a last minute check of her outfit hoping that it was conservative enough for Bess.

Bess parked her car in the driveway near the front door of the house. She slowly got out of the car with an expression on her face that she’d rather be anywhere else before marching up to the front door as if she was going to her execution.

Gary opened the door and greeted her, “Hello. Please, come in.”

“Thank you,” Bess said.

Betsy was bouncing from foot to foot waiting for Bess to enter. Once the woman had come inside, Betsy resisted the urge to hug her. Instead, she held out a hand.

“I’ve been looking forward to having you over for ages.”

“Thank you,” Bess said politely.

She did notice that Betsy was wearing a very nice dress and was rather impressed with her choice of outfits. She had no clue what style of clothing Betsy normally wore. This was the first time that she had ever seen Betsy wearing clothes of any kind. To be honest, she had expected find a houseful of nudists after her experiences on the beach.

Seeing that Bess wasn’t going to take her hand, Betsy used it to gesture to the living room while saying, “Please come into the living room.”

Bess followed Gary into the living room, having been left behind by Betsy. Gary led her to a chair and then stepped away so that he wouldn’t intrude on the visit, but staying within earshot should any problem arise.

Betsy came running in from the kitchen after having informed Alice (unnecessarily), that the guest had arrived, and that she could serve the tea anytime now. She climbed onto the stationary bike that was kept in that room and started pedaling, working off a little of her nervous energy.

“I hope that you don’t mind that I’m on the bike. We’ve found that it makes it a little easier to talk when I’m on it,” Betsy said.

“That’s fine,” Bess said with a raised eyebrow. “I’m sure it will be better than watching you jump from place to place all of the time.”

“The stationary bike is a whole lot better than the treadmill. It’s also a little quieter.”

“That’s nice.”

Betsy was finding it very difficult to talk to the older woman. For one, she knew almost nothing about her neighbor. For another, she was trying to follow Gary’s advice and not talk so fast. For her, it was a lot like holding a conversation in slow motion.

“I really like living in this area. There are a lot of nice little shops not far from here.”

“It is a nice area,” Bess said.

“It’s not like my old home town in Arizona. Everyone there knows everyone else and you can hardly take ten steps down the street without getting stopped by someone to exchange gossip,” Betsy said.

Bess said, “Wealthier neighborhoods with more educated people tend to be a little more reserved.”

Betsy looked a little puzzled at hearing that. She said, “That’s odd. There were more than a dozen millionaires in our little town and almost everyone between twenty and forty had college degree. My Daddy Leroy says that our town has a higher density of college educated people than the average college town.”

“Really?” Bess asked.

“Daddy Leroy would know. He did win a Nobel Prize and goes around to a lot of college towns on speaking engagements,” Betsy said.

“I had forgotten that you have a Nobel Prize winner in your family,” Bess said.

“He’s my biological father,” Betsy said.

“He is?” Bess asked.

It was hard to believe that this hyperactive woman was the child of a Nobel Prize winner. She just didn’t seem intelligent enough to have that in her genetics.

“I’m really proud of him. He’s a very smart and thoughtful man. He’s a lot of fun, although not as much fun as Daddy Ed.”

Bess said, “I met your father, Ed Biggers. He doesn’t strike me as a fun person at all.”

“You’ve never seen him play hunt the bug-eye monsters. He’s a lot of fun,” Betsy said.

Bess said, “With such a large family it must be difficult to keep track of everyone.”

Betsy said, “I know where everyone is.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

Betsy said, “Daddy Ed is in Calgary, opening a new Fusion Foundation center; Daddy Leroy is in Japan, at a conference on diseases; Daddy Dan is in China, arranging for production of a new CPU chip; Daddy Bill is in New York, overseeing the construction of his waste recycling plant; Momma Kelly is in Washington DC, working on some healthcare legislation; Momma Linda is in Hollywood, where they are making a movie based on her latest book; and Momma Claire is in Arizona, watching over Michael.”

“What about your other mother? Ling?”

“She snuck back onto the island and is staying in my condo,” Betsy said. “She wants to be close in case something bad happens.”

“You don’t sound pleased.”

Betsy said, “She’s worried I’ll get into trouble despite the fact that she knows I can take care of myself. Give me a break! I, like, totally destroyed that pedophile; and I was only four at the time. I mean ... I put just as many people in the hospital as her when we took on those two Chinese gangs in San Francisco.”

“Chinese gangs?” Bess asked.

“Yes. There must have been fifty of them, and the only two standing at the end, were me and Momma Ling. That was a great fight,” Betsy said.

Horrified, Bess asked, “Do you get in fights often?”

“Not really,” Betsy answered. “I’m only allowed to use force when someone strong is physically harming or attempting to harm someone weaker. I had to promise William that I’d use the minimum force required to stop them.”

Alice came out carrying a tray with a pot of tea, cups, saucers, and plates of finger foods. She set the tray down on a small table.

Betsy said, “Ah great! The tea is ready.”

Bess stared at Alice. She was surprised to see such a conservative looking woman working in Betsy’s house. She was pleased to see how the woman carefully laid out the cups and saucers and arranged the plates with food.

Alice picked up the tea pot and said, “I hope you like Ceylon Tea. If not, we have several varieties of green and white tea.”

“Ceylon Tea is fine,” Bess said knowing that many people considered Ceylon Tea to be one of the finest teas in the world.

Alice poured the tea into two cups. She asked, “Cream and sugar?”

“One spoon of sugar, please,” Bess answered.

Alice fixed the tea for Bess and handed it to the woman.

“Thank you,” Bess said appreciating the golden color of the tea.

“You’re welcome,” Alice said.

Alice turned her attention to preparing Betsy’s tea. She placed the cup and saucer on a small tray. She then prepared a small plate of foods for Betsy and then added it to the tray. She handed the tray to Betsy who held it in on the palm of one hand while continuing to pedal. The tray was held absolutely steady without the slightest ripple appearing on the surface of the tea.

Betsy said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Alice said. “If you need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

After Alice left the room, Bess said, “Who is that?”

“That’s Alice. She’s my housekeeper,” Betsy answered.

“I’m rather surprised that you invited me for tea rather than coffee.”

Betsy said, “Momma Ling’s mother was from England. When Momma Ling was a young child, she and her mother would dress in Victorian clothes, and have very formal tea parties. Momma Ling passed on to me an appreciation of afternoon tea. We would have tea at least once a week. It was so much fun dressing up in fancy Victorian clothes, having tea, and discussing literature of that time period.”