Thor's Child ©
by K Pelle
Chapter 17
Actually Tor was only able to spend a half hour or so swimming and talking to the three girls that afternoon before he was called away by a shout from his dad. When he got back to the house his dad announced that they had a visitor coming and that Tor might want to be wearing regular clothing, not a swim suit when Wally Friedman arrived.
"Why is Mr. Friedman coming here?" he asked immediately. "He doesn't want any of the old car stuff back or anything, does he?"
"No, I doubt it, but I didn't ask," his dad chuckled. "He called and asked if I'd mind if he dropped around to see us and I told him he was welcome. We didn't talk all that much, so I'm not certain why he called or what he wants? It could be just a visit for all I know, but I thought you'd want to be dressed in clothing you could wear to show him around when he gets here."
"Okay, Dad, good point. I'm sure not going to try to offend him in any way," Tor nodded and headed inside.
He was met by his mom as he was going through the kitchen and she was frowning, so he paused.
"What's the matter, Mom?"
"Oh, nothing really," she smiled at him. "It's just that the visitor we have coming over threw a monkey wrench into my plans. I was going to go for a swim and I was thinking of skinny dipping, just to tease all your girl friends and to see what they'd do, but I can't very well do that with Wally Friedman coming here, now can I?"
"I don't know why not. This is your home and what you do here is your business."
"Tor, you know better than that. It would be impolite to greet a visitor in a way that might embarrass him. Now if I had met him before and had any idea of his character it might be a different story, but I don't know him and I won't offend anyone who treated a member of this family as well as he has."
"Sorry, Mom. It just seems to me that I'm under a bit of pressure today in strange ways and I guess it's making me touchy about stuff."
"You're not the only one," his mom snorted softly. "Alva came in here acting like she'd been bit in the butt and all because Sunny reacted badly when she heard about Dori and you getting together. Your dad and Jax are discussing some sort of deal that Jax needs advice on, and I'm not comfortable saying much about it, because I don't really understand the problem. None the less, neither you nor I should be rude to our visitor, okay?"
Tor nodded in agreement and went to change into clean clothes, but not anything fancy, just jeans and a T-shirt, since it was too warm for much else. He'd been back downstairs and out on the back porch with his dad and Jax for several minutes when a huge old Cadillac, towing a small trailer pulled into the yard and drove up to the house. Tor wasn't surprised to see Wally Friedman step out of the fancy older car.
Mr. Friedman accepted a seat and an iced tea, then they all talked about the weather for a few minutes, but not long enough for Tor to get impatient, then the old, heavy set man turned to him.
"I understand that you have decided to build the Ford coupe, Tor. Is that correct?"
Tor nodded, then went on to tell him that he was trading off the spare parts for help from Jax and Rick Chance.
"Enterprising of you, I like that," Wally Friedman smiled and nodded. "Then I think a discovery my workers made as they were shifting some of our excess salvage in one of our buildings may please you greatly. They discovered a large box, addressed to my eldest son, bearing a label, 'wheels for 31 Ford Coupe.' When they opened the box, they discovered six, steel spoked wheels for fifteen inch tires, which are meant to fit the tire lugs of a Volvo. My son checked our salvaged tire pile and found six tires in decent condition which would fit on those rims and he mounted them for you. The wheels are new, the tires are used, but still road legal and will make it much easier for you to move the frame about to work on it. I thought I would deliver them to you in person, and had a few moments to spare today."
"Wow, that sounds great, Mr. Friedman," Tor enthused. "What do I owe you for them?"
"One penny, for the delivery charge, as well as the boon of calling me Wally, as a sign of your friendship," Wally held out his hand.
"I can shake your hand now, unh Wally, but I need to run upstairs to get a penny. I just changed my britches and I don't usually carry any money around when I'm home," Tor shook Wally's hand then asked, "By the way, what year were you born?"
"Oh, I doubt very much if you would have a penny as old as me," Wally chuckled. "I'm an old man who was born in 1918."
"Oh!" Tor said trying to sound a bit disappointed, but he still rushed off.
Tor's dad didn't say a word as he left, but his mouth quivered on the verge of a smile. The conversation shifted back to the weather for a moment, then Tor reappeared and held out his hand to Wally.
"One red cent, 1918 vintage," he grinned. "You were lucky. I had two of those."
"Oh for goodness sake, would you look at that? I remember these big pennies from when I was a child, when a penny was actually worth saving. But, I have to ask, is there value in this penny to a collector such as yourself?"
"Nah, maybe a buck or two at the outside. Nothing worth very much in dollars and cents, instead let's call it a show of friendship, okay?"
"Young man, I am no fortune teller, but I can safely predict that you will go far," Wally grasped Tors hand and shook it again. "Not very many of the younger generation impress me, but you have done so, admirably. I have heard stories, both rumour and fact, but the real person impresses me far more than the tales I've been told. I like you, very much and I like your family."
Suddenly he got serious and he turned to Jax. "And you, whose skin is dark enough that I doubt if your ancestors were original residents of this fine country, how have these people of obvious Aryan decent treated you?"
"Well, Tor is dating my daughter and I've made a deal with him that I feel is advantageous to both of us. Then just this morning I made an offhand comment about the local banker and this afternoon Ollie and Olga have been giving me some advice about how to deal with the man," Jax smiled. "My family has eaten with these folk, partied with them and worked at their side, so I count them as friends, why do you ask?"
"Well, to start with I was simply curious, because from the rumours I have heard it would seem this friendship is relatively recent. If you really wish to know how I have heard of that, my daughter-in-law works at the hospital with your wife," Wally smiled. "However, I may disagree with the Eklunds since if you had asked my advice, I would suggest not dealing with the local banker at all. Before I leave today, we might discuss just what it is you wish to do and what sort of funding you require. Only, right at the moment I would imagine young Tor is impatient to see the wheels I have brought him. Right, Tor? "
"Well, in a way," Tor grinned.
"Actually, Tor is being polite," Jax chuckled. "He was up at the family swimming hole with three very attractive young women when you called, so you can see how highly he rates your visit."
"Then it definitely must be time to show Tor his new wheels for his car," Wally got to his feet and led the way to his trailer.
One look at those wheels and you could see that they had been professionally built, the outer rims looked stock, but the spokes and the inner hub were made of steel, welded into place. Then the whole unit had been heavily chrome plated. Wally handed Tor a certificate from a firm in Calgary which stated that the wheels were balanced, certified to be safe at highway speeds and had a ten-year warranty for material and workmanship. As soon as he saw those wheels, Tor wanted to see what they would look like on the frame, so Wally moved the trailer down near the little workshop and they carried the wheels inside. In only a few minutes, Tor and Jax had four wheels mounted and had taken the blocks from under the frame.
"That frame looks fantastic on its own. I can just imagine how good the whole car will look when it's finished," Jax nodded.
"I think my son will be very happy to hear that the car is being finished, especially if you do a good job on the rebuild," Wally patted Tor on the back. "I am quite impressed with your workshop."
"Hah, you don't know the half of it. This building was completely empty when I saw it at seven this morning," Jax announced. "I came back shortly after two and it looked like this. Tor and my daughter, Dori, moved the workbench and the frame down here from the machine shed before lunch. Then Dori told me that Tor's dad, mom and sister helped them to install the shelves and move in the tools between noon and two."
"Quite impressive," Wally nodded. "Tor I have one request. Do you suppose you could take pictures of the process of rebuilding the car as you go? If you would, I'd like two copies, one set to display at my office and a second set to send to my son, who collected all the parts to build the car."
"No problem," Tor nodded.
"Then I think it is time for me to get back to my business, but Jax, give me a call about that funding problem you've been having. Perhaps we can work something out to our mutual benefit, after all, you rebuild damaged cars and I sell parts for most of those same cars."
Ten minutes later, Wally Friedman was driving away, Jax and Tor's dad were having a further conversation and Tor was heading back to talk to Dori and the other two girls. Tor's mom was already there and he paused when he saw that she was talking quietly to the three girls.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
"No, if anyone is interrupting anything, then I think I am," his mom smiled. "I was just asking Em and Sami about Sunny's behaviour in the last while."
It wasn't much later before Jax and Dori were heading for home while Tor and his dad were walking toward the barnyard to do the evening chores.
After supper that evening Tor and his father used a farm trailer and the front end loader on the tractor to shift the body of the coupe, still mounted on the old frame. They set it up in the new shed on the same blocks that Tor and Dori had used that morning under the new frame. Now Tor's workshop looked much different, with far less free space, but when they went back up to the machine shed the difference in the amount of parts was also quite noticeable.
"Looking at what you have left to move, the front fenders of that car are going to be the only other parts which will really take up much space. Everything else looks like it could be stacked off along the sides of the shop, hung on the walls or put up on the shelves," Tor's dad commented.
"Pretty much, but picking the right parts out of this mess of bits and pieces is going to be the problem," Tor nodded. "I want parts that seem to match the car and that match with each other, but I'm really uncertain which ones are which."
"Well, you could think of it as a king size jigsaw puzzle and enjoy yourself while sorting it out."
"Dad, I hate jigsaw puzzles!" Tor snorted.
"Well, you have over a week left before you leave on holiday. I'm sure Jax and Rick will be able to help you in that length of time, but then comes the question, what are you planning to do with the spare parts, or have you made a final decision yet?"
"Yep, I'm going to tell them to haul the rest of the junk out of here," Tor grinned. "If we make our choices carefully, there shouldn't be any problem putting together all the parts I need. Of course there are a lot of things that I don't have here that I'm going to need. Right off the bat I know I need gauges, a steering wheel, a gas tank, seats, seat belts and all sorts of other bits and pieces. This is actually a big project for a guy who is entering grade eleven next year and who plays hockey, does judo and who will be trying to find time to spend with Dori too, not to mention the work here on the farm. I'm going to be so busy I'm going to make a bantam hen scratching for food for a dozen chicks look lazy."
"Oh, you're young, you'll survive," his dad chuckled, "but I can't help you with your choices and there isn't much more here I can do tonight. I think I'll go inside and have a talk with your mother since it's still too early to put the farm to bed."
"Okay dad and thanks for the help today."
"Pfft, forget it. I enjoyed myself, so thanks are unnecessary," he started to walk away, then paused and turned back. "By the way, that big penny? I don't think you could have possibly done anything which would have pleased old Wally more. You brought tears to his eyes. That was a stroke of genius and I think you just made this whole family a friend for life."
"It just seems to suit the situation, Dad. When someone is old fashioned enough to ask for a penny as payment for something worth as much as those wheels are, I knew he was making a symbolic gesture. I thought one symbol deserved another and I was lucky enough to have a penny collection which included the one penny that filled the bill."
That evening, before Tor went up to bed, his mother had a chat with him about Sunny, but neither of them really had enough information to come to any conclusion about her situation. Instead they both felt it was something that Sunny and her family were going to have to work out and that both of them were going to leave it alone for now. Only it seemed plain to Tor that his mom didn't want to do that.
"Mom, the strange thing is that I still care about her, even when she's acting weird, but not the way I used to. It's almost as if I think of her as family or something," Tor frowned. "Her actions not long after we came out here sort of killed off any other feelings."
"I understand exactly what you mean," his mom looked thoughtful. "She did seem to grow much more self-centered at that time, but then the adoption had just taken place, as well as the move, which meant a new home and new friends. I felt perhaps that the combination had something to do with her changed viewpoint, now though I'm wondering if the changes have more to do with her development.
"I just wish there was something we could do for her. I've always wondered what her real mother was like, but considering her birth father's character, it's surprising that she is doing as well as she is."
"Mom, leave it alone. It's none of our business," Tor finally said.
"Unfortunately, I don't think I can," she sighed. "After almost ten years of having her constantly underfoot, she seems like part of the family and I can't simply shut off my cares and concerns for her."
Tor just sighed, shook his head, and wished his mom goodnight as he went up to bed.
Dori wasn't extremely happy over the next few days because she and Tor weren't able to spend a lot of time together since Tor was extremely busy. They did get to have a few hours together, but she was jealous of the time he spent with anyone else, since she knew he was leaving so soon.
Over the next two days and especially over the next two evenings, when he had either Jax or Rick there to help him sort things out, Tor was busy choosing and moving car parts. Not only that, but he also spent time with the two horses that he'd been training, and when his uncle Nils came to load them up to take home, Tor spent a long time with him. Dori was there on Wednesday evening with her dad and she frowned when Tor shifted his hands to his hips and stared at the pile of old car parts that were left.
"Well, I think that's it, isn't it?" Tor asked Jax. "I don't think I'm going to need the rest of this junk to fix my car, will I?"
"No, in fact you may have one or two extra fenders, but then we may need to do some cutting and welding to make one rear fender out of two of the damaged ones. Now though the question is, what do you want us to do with the rest of this pile?"
"I don't care what you do with it, just get it out of here," Tor grinned at him. "As far as I'm concerned you and Rick can fight over who gets what bits are left. Otherwise I'm going to have to haul it outside and pile it somewhere, just to get it all out of the way. I promised Dad that I'd leave the floor of the machine shed clear and put the tractors and equipment back in here before I left for my holiday."
"So you aren't going to want to store any of this here in case you need a part or two?" Jax looked as if he was surprised.
"Nope. I've decided that I want to clean up this mess and I'm going to use the space in that lean-to on the back of my workshop for storage of some stuff I need. For now that's where I plan to put the front fenders of my coupe, since they take so much space. The only job I've got left that I'd like to do before going on my holiday is to break the coupe body free from that frame and get the old frame out of my workshop."
"Well, I think we could do that this evening. It isn't really that bad a job," Jax looked concerned. "Are you sure about the other parts though, I mean you were quite adamant before that . . ."
"Jax, at that time you hadn't convinced me that you were seriously committed to helping me out. Now that you've done that though, I have no worries. I trust you."
"So just like that, we're done here?" Dori snapped.
"Oh, no! Not at all!" Jax snorted loudly. "Now we get into the real work on his car. Before we get too far into that though, you and I are going to have to spend some time hauling away all Tor's extra bits and pieces, all the goodies that Rick and I want."
"On top of that I need to take some time to get ready for my holiday," Tor smiled at her. "Don't forget I'm going to be away for a while."
"I know. You're going off on holiday and I'm not going anywhere this year. Instead of Mom and me heading to California for a holiday, my cousins may be coming here for a visit. Only you won't be here to meet them."
"Sorry, but you already knew that I've been planning for a year to visit our valley hideaway with my uncle and aunt," Tor shrugged. "This year I want to build a small log cabin of my own and I'm hoping to take a few days to explore the area. Even Uncle Nils doesn't know much about the upper valley, so I'd like to look around it a bit."
"Well, just don't get yourself in trouble with a bear, or a cougar, or anything else!" Dori snapped.
"Yes, Boss!" Tor snapped right back and Jax broke into a loud laugh.
Dori just frowned, then sighed heavily. "I'm not trying to be your boss, but darn it, I care about you and don't want you to get hurt, so please be careful. You were telling me that the your valley is so isolated that you don't even have reliable radio contact there, so I'm asking you to be sure you don't get killed or even badly injured. I just want you to come back in one piece, okay?"
"Okay, I promise, I won't take any unnecessary risks while I'm there," Tor smiled, then gave her a hug.
"I won't be doing anything stupid while I'm there, you know," Tor sent softly. "I have no wish to be hurt in any way."
"I know that, but you're still going to be so far from anyone and you have no way to call for help," Dori squeezed him tightly. "I'm going to worry about accidents, wild animals and other things you can't control all the time you're away."
"Dori, I've spent some time there before and I have a fairly good idea of what to look out for. Besides, if all else fails, I can just teleport out of danger."
"Yeah, and I'm envious of that," she snapped silently. "I can barely flip my bedroom light switch on and off, while you bounce around like a rubber ball, not only that, but you can disappear too."
"Hey, it all takes time, practise and a lot of effort, so don't get discouraged if it takes you a while to do things. My being away will give you time to grow comfortable with what you can do, then I can help you to do more."
"I guess I'm just weak, huh?"
"No, you're not, just think of it as learning a new skill. I'll bet the first time you tried Aikido you felt the same way you do now, didn't you? Well this is harder than Aikido because I can't really 'show' you how to do it because everything you're doing is done inside your head."
"But you can 'look' right into my brain, so you should be able to tell me what I'm doing wrong."
"I wish, but doing that just makes me sick and I can't make any sense out of what I see anyway, so don't count on my being able to help that way," Tor sighed.
"Okay you two, enough of the moon eyes and deep sighs, Dori and I need to head for home soon," Jax chuckled. "I'll bring the panel van up here and we'll load that with small stuff tonight, then we'll go pull the coupe body off the old frame. I'll borrow Rick's stake truck tomorrow so we can load the two old frames and whatever else we can get on that truck tomorrow evening and I'll get it out of here tomorrow night. By Friday night we should have this floor clean."
"Okay, then I'll see if I can get Mom to take me to town tomorrow to do some shopping for my trip," Tor nodded.
"Oh, can I come shopping with you?" Dori asked instantly.
"Well . . . I suppose," Tor sighed. "You might want to ask Mom what shopping with me is like though."
"What do you mean?"
"Mom and Alva say I'm a typical guy. When I go shopping, I know what I want and where I plan to go to get it, I walk into the store, check their selection as quickly as possible, chose whatever I want, pay for it and leave. If I spend more than ten minutes in a store, then I must be buying several things, not just one. I hate standing around in a store waiting for Mom and Alva to look at things that they have absolutely no intention on buying."
"Well, don't laugh, but I drive Mom nuts because I do almost the same thing," Dori giggled.
"She does too," Jax snorted, "and Keisha blames me, because Dori has always been a bit of a Daddy's girl, so she spends a lot of time in my company."
"Are you telling me that my new gal friend is not only easy on the eyes, but also well trained? You know, if she likes old cars and can cook too, you might have a hard time getting rid of me," Tor winked at Jax.
"Huh, I'm the one who will make that decision and decide whether to keep you around or run you off," Dori snapped, then grinned and hugged Tor before she pulled back. "I do need to talk to your mom about tomorrow's shopping trip though."
By the time they quit working that evening they had the old panel van packed full of old Ford car parts and the coupe body off the old frame. Actually it had taken them longer to strip the doors, trunk lid and other parts off the old coupe than it had to take the body off the frame. The bolts that held the body to the frame had rusted solid, so Jax had started up Tor's air compressor and used an air-chisel to cut them off.
"You planned for this didn't you?" Tor grinned as Jax put the air-chisel back in the trunk of his car.
"Of course!" Jax grinned back. "We'll be replacing the bolts anyway, so just in case we had trouble, I brought along the tools I'd need to cut any old ones off."
After that Jax, Tor, Tor's dad and Dori managed to shift the body over and sit it on the new frame for the time being. It wouldn't fit where it should though, because the clutch housing and transmission from the Volvo were longer than those of the old Ford.
"It's going to look good," Jax nodded. "We'll need to modify the dash and floor boards a bit."
"Yeah, so what? I never expected it to look perfectly stock on the inside where people can't see what we've done. All I'm worried about is making it look as close as possible to the original on the outside, while making it comfortable to ride in and easy to drive," Tor was grinning widely.
They gave up then and closed up both Tor's new workshop and the machine shed, then after a quick hug and kiss from Dori, Jax drove the van home, leaving his car there for the night. Right after they left Tor and his dad checked out the farm buildings, then headed inside.
Alva came in just then and flopped on a seat in the kitchen after pouring herself a cup of herbal tea, but she pointed to another seat at the table as she looked at Tor, so he sat with her.
"Just for your information Sunny's doctor is going to run some tests on her next week," Alva said quietly. "I work with him occasionally and got a chance to talk to him. He didn't realize Sunny was having any problems, in fact she hasn't made any comments to him other than about menstrual cramps. He told me what medications she's taking and I checked them out, but they don't show any mention in their side effects of the temper problems or strange mood swings she seems to be suffering. We both wondered if she might be trying to self medicate using another drug, perhaps something she can get over the counter and without a prescription."
"Well, I can't help you there," Tor shrugged as he got back to his feet. "You might want to talk to Em, or Sunny's parents about that. To be honest, I really don't want to be involved in any way! I really don't think she's all that different now than she was a year or so ago and as far as I'm concerned she changed about the time we all moved out here, not recently. Now I'm very tired since I've had a hard day and I'm really not in the mood to get involved in this discussion. I just want to go upstairs, have a quick shower and get into bed."
The next morning Tor was up early and had most of the chores done before his father even got out to the barn, then after breakfast, he and his mom headed for town. Dori was ready to go when they pulled up in front of her house, but Keisha took them by surprise when she asked to join them on Tor's shopping trip. Even with the slower pace their mothers set while shopping, Tor had bought everything he wanted well before noon and was ready to leave town again. He was pleasantly surprised that Dori hadn't slowed him down at all, since he hadn't been sure whether to believe her about her shopping habits or not.
After more shopping and lunch in town, at the insistence of both of their mothers, Dori went home with Tor. That afternoon she helped him shift what parts were left in the machine shed near the door, but against the wall, then they swept up the rust, dirt and other debris left behind after the 'junk' was moved. Most of the machinery that had been moved outside was moved back into the machine shed then and finally they could take a break. By then the day was hot enough that they wanted to go for a swim and just as they were discussing the idea of skinny dipping, darn if they didn't have company appear.
Dori met Sami and Em with her hands on her hips as they rode up on their bikes.
"Hi, Guys, did you have this planned or did you just show up by accident right at this time?" she demanded.
"Hi, Dori, Hi, Tor," the two of them called, then Sami grinned.
"What did we do, break up something you had planned?" she asked.
"Yeah, a chance to go skinny dipping and sun bathing in the nude," Dori snorted, but grinned.
"Um, I don't think so," Em blushed, "not me anyway, but don't let me stop you."
"Aw, come on, Em, don't be chicken. I will if you will," Sami giggled.
"Unh uh, Sami! None of that!" Tor snapped instantly. "I don't care who you are, or how close a friend you are to Emily. You don't have the right to put pressure on others to do something they don't want to do, and I won't let you get away with it while I'm around."
"Oh, God, you're absolutely right, Tor. I'm sorry, Em, " Sami looked almost heartbroken.
"Forget it," Em waved a hand in dismissal. "I know you're a lot braver about that sort of thing than I am, but that's not important. Tor, thanks for being protective, but I can look after myself, okay? I don't need another big brother."
"Whoo, everybody, before we get all wound up here, lets look at this calmly okay?" Dori broke in then. "Sami, I know you were teasing, so I'm going to forgive you for that. Tor, I know you mean well, but I think perhaps you got just a bit over protective this time. Em, you have no need to explain why you feel the way you do. Each one of us is different and we were all raised in different ways, which means we all have different standards, but lets all make allowances for those and just get along, okay? I don't really mind wearing a bikini because I think if Tor and I went nude, you'd feel embarrassed and I won't do that to you."
Em tried to protest that she didn't care one way or the other, but Tor and Dori could feel her unease. Even after they dressed in bathing suits, Tor in trunks and Dori in her 'almost' flesh-coloured bikini they could sense a little of her discomfort, which was something of a surprise for Tor. He didn't usually feel the moods of others around him as strongly as he was feeling Em's that day.
"Is it just me, or is Em showing signs of being able to 'send' to others today?" Tor asked Dori mentally.
"Not any more than normally, but she is wound up about something. I don't know what, and I'm not about to try to snoop. If she wants to say something she will."
"Agreed," he answered as he flopped on an oversized towel near the pool.
It wasn't much later before Em heaved a heavy sigh, then sat up and looked over at the others.
"Look, it's really none of my business, but Sunny is really annoyed at you two right now. I know she doesn't really have any reason to be pissed, but she's not thinking straight and she's just plain jealous. I don't think she's going to do anything, but I thought I should say something about it."
"We knew that," Tor said quietly. "Has Alva spoken to you?"
"No why?"
"I'm not sure, but I think she was going to ask if you knew if Sunny was taking any extra medications besides those her doctor had prescribed for her to take."
"Oh, yeah, but only stuff you can buy anywhere," Sami spoke up instantly. "Just a few extra pain pills and some diet stuff, but why would Alva want to know that?"
"Because the extra junk might be counteracting the prescriptions the doctor has given her," Dori snapped instantly. "My mom is a nurse, just like Alva, and she's taught me about drug interactions. They can be vicious. They can drive you nuts or even kill you. If you know what Sunny is taking, I think you should tell my mom or Alva about it and really soon too."
"Actually Alva hasn't left for work yet, so she'd still be at the house if you wanted to talk to her today," Tor said, and before he could say anything more, Em was scrambling to her feet and dashing off.
"Excuse me guys, but I'd better go too. I think I know about stuff that Em doesn't," Sami said a second or two later as she scrambled to her feet and followed.
"Wow, that wasn't what I expected to happen," Dori sighed.
"Yeah, but the two of them are close friends of Sunny's while you don't know her too well," Tor rolled over and reached out to touch Dori's hand. "Sunny has changed a lot since we moved out here and I think the girls have noticed the change."
"You were really close to her before, weren't you?"
"Yeah, we were almost family, so we weren't as close as you and I are, but darn close buddies, then she changed. I guess I did too, so it's not altogether one sided, in fact I've probably changed more than she has."
"That's putting it mildly. You do stuff that would make any comic book hero jealous," Dori got to her feet. "Only I know one thing I can still do better than you. I'm going for a swim."
Tor just waved and smiled at her, not moving a muscle to stand. "I'm comfy, so I'll just stay here and watch my favourite mermaid frolicking in the water for now, if that's okay with you?"
"Yeah, I guess," she turned and grinned at him, then exaggerated her wiggle as she headed for the water. "Do you like that?"
"Actually, no, not as much as I like your normal walk. What you just did looked like you had just farted and a lump slipped out, so you were trying to get rid of it by waving your butt in the wind," he teased. "Your normal walk is far sexier."
"You're kidding me, right?" Dori paused to stare back at him.
"Nope, I'm not! When you walk normally, you look like a tiger on the prowl. What you just did looked more like a hippopotamus on the rampage. It just was too much for someone with a butt as sexy as yours, almost like you were trying to do a parody. I'm sorry, but I like movements that look natural, not forced."
"Wow. I've got to think about that. I'm not sure if I just got a hell of a compliment or a major put down."
"Oh that's easy, your natural walk is sexy as hell, but your catwalk strut isn't. One gives me a lift and the other leaves me limp and listless."
Dori giggled at that, then dove into the water. She was still swimming like a fish when Em and Sami came back and flopped onto their towels, looking like they'd been kicked in the belly.
"What's wrong?" Dori asked as she clambered out of the pool.
"Alva thinks maybe there is a drug interaction. She's not sure and says she'll have to ask a doctor, but she thinks the prescription medications Sunny is on and the diet stuff she is taking might be causing problems. I didn't even think of that and I feel like I let Sunny down," Em said quietly.
"Hey, you aren't to blame for anything," Dori protested. "You aren't the one who is mixing medications, but why the heck is she dieting anyway. I mean she's kinda skinny now."
"We've told her that, but she doesn't believe us," Sami snorted rudely. "I don't think I'm fat and I weigh a lot more than she does."
"Yeah, but you carry half of your weight on your chest," Em giggled as she looked at Tor and grinned.
"Yeah, and a lot of the rest is on my butt," Sami grinned, "but ask Tor what he thinks of my shape, or ask Kevin for that matter. Guys don't seem to mind me carrying a couple of extra pounds, so why should I worry about it?"
"Now that's a healthy attitude and a surprisingly rare one!" Alva said, making everyone jump, since they hadn't seen or heard her approaching. "Oops, sorry to make you all jump, but I wanted to ask you all to keep quiet about Sunny's problem for now. It isn't the sort of thing I'd like to hear spread around as a rumour, okay?"
All of them nodded and Alva explained that she was going to have to talk to Sunny's doctor and either he or Alva was going to have to talk to Sunny's parents and then to Sunny herself.
"That's gonna be a tough one and I hope the doctor decides to talk to her, because Sunny is almost like a kid sister to me, and telling her that she's screwing herself up would be awful hard," Alva sighed, then snorted. "Of course going to her funeral would be a lot harder."
"Are you serious?" Em sounded astonished.
"Yeah, in several different ways," Alva sat down and began to explain about how some chemical combinations became poisonous and how others could lead to suicide through depression. "I know I'm laying a heavy trip on you guys, but you couldn't really have known about this if someone didn't tell you. One day this will all be common knowledge, but it's still a bit of a dirty secret and something that the drug companies don't seem to want to make public."
Alva left soon after that because she was on the afternoon shift and it wasn't long before Tor had to do chores, but his mom invited the three girls to stay for supper.
They were hardly done eating before both Jax and Rick drove in with two trucks, a flatbed and a pickup, so Tor and his dad went out to help load up the remaining parts of the old pickups. The frames, motors, transmissions, rear ends and even the larger body parts ended up on the flatbed truck while the pickup was mostly loaded with fenders, hoods, and lighter parts. Tor was astonished at how large the loads on those two trucks were, especially since Jax had already taken away a panel van loaded with smaller parts. He was very glad to see them drive off though.
Tor went to bed early that night and the next morning he set out to do some of the little jobs that he hadn't been able to do around the farm over the last week. He was sitting on the riding mower, cutting the lawn between the house and his mom's garden when Alva waved him down and motioned to the back porch. She had a large jug of iced tea and some glasses set out on a table and had positioned two chairs beside that.
"What's up?" he asked as he took a seat and a large gulp from a glass of iced tea.
"Just letting you know that we think those diet drugs are Sunny's problem. There's a warning right on the label that they can interact with the prescription she is taking."
"You're saying she didn't even read the label?"
"No, I'm not. I'm saying that the labels are confusing. The drug is marketed under one name but is described on the warning by its pharmaceutical name. She might have even checked the label and still not have realized what was going on."
"Oh Cripes! Can the pharmacy companies get away with that?"
"Yeah, the different manufacturers of the drugs use their brand names, and add the pharmaceutical description on the little sheet of fine print on the inside of the box. Of course the drug store doesn't give you a copy of that when they fill your vial of pills at least not most drug stores. Sunny's doctor is going to phone her today and see her next week, but this afternoon we may see her over here, mad as a wet hen about interfering with her diet," Alva sighed. "Now I don't know that for sure, but it would go with the way she's been acting lately. I expect she'll probably chew me out and I don't care if she does, but I'm warning you that she may chew on you first. After all, you're working outside and she's going to see you before she sees me."
"Okay, I can handle it."
"That's it? You won't get angry or anything, if she loses her cool with you, will you?"
"Nope, after all she's under the influence of drugs that she took innocently enough, some by prescription and some because she thought they'd help her with a problem she felt she had. If the drugs she's been taking have been doing it, how can I be upset with her, especially since you're saying it isn't her fault?" Tor frowned. "Now her druggist and the drug companies are a different story, but even though I'm annoyed and maybe even angry with them, I don't know what I can do about it."
"Little brother, just about the time I think I have you all figured out, you become some darn stranger."
"Ditto," Tor grinned as he finished his iced tea, got to his feet and went back to mowing the lawn.
It was after lunch and Tor was replacing a cracked pole in the fence of the pasture where he normally kept the horses that he was training when Sunny showed up on her bicycle.
She never said 'Hello' or anything else in the way of a greeting. Instead she started berating him for ratting her out over her diet pills and Tor just stood there quietly until she paused for breath.
"What in hell are you talking about?" Tor barked then. "If you're trying to lose weight that's got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard of and if I'd have known about it before, I'd have bawled you out for being stupid. Don't you know that if you starve yourself in your teen years it can stunt the growth of your breasts? Do you want to have tiny titties all your life? Any fool knows that most of a breast is fatty tissue and if you're starving yourself, the body has no fat to spare to fill out your tits. Good lord, gal, no guy wants to cuddle up to a bag of bones, especially one who is so damn hungry that she's grouchy all the time. And what the hell is this talk about pills anyway? Are you taking some drug you shouldn't be or something?"
Sunny didn't seem to know what to say to that, instead she hopped on her bike and peddled off to the house, threw down her bike and dashed inside. It must have been almost half an hour later when Alva came out of the house, dressed for work, but she walked over to Tor first.
"What did you say to Sunny?"
"I bawled her out for dieting and told her that she looked like a bag of bones."
"Did you say something about her being so thin she was stunting the growth of her breasts?"
"Unh, gee maybe I did. I was annoyed that she was blaming me, so I don't really recall exactly what I said," Tor frowned, but knew he was lying.
"Well, whatever you said got through to her," Alva winked. "She's in there, talking to Mom and so far, she's eaten a bacon and cheese sandwich and two pieces of Mom's chocolate cake. How long her appetite will last, I don't know, but I hope it's not temporary because she simply doesn't look healthy. She's been slowly starving herself."
"Well, it wasn't until she was screaming at me about interfering with her life that I really noticed how thin she'd gotten. I sorta lost my cool and bawled her out. I guess I should apologise, huh?"
"Nope, not today. I think you should go hide somewhere, so you won't be in sight when she heads home. You can apologise another day. What you did might be wrong for most people, but I think she listened to you where she wouldn't have listened to most others. Somehow you got through to her, at least for now, but if you apologise right away, it might be the wrong thing to do."
"Well, that's one more job I'll never try to learn how to do."
"Pardon me?"
"I don't think I'd make a good psychiatrist."
"No, little brother, I don't think you would, now if I don't run I'm going to be late for work. I'll be home late tonight, so I'll see you tomorrow," Alva gave him a quick hug, then raced to her car.
"Drive carefully, Sis," Tor called as she hopped into her car and waved when she drove off.
Tor looked at the job he'd been working on and realized he could leave it for now, so he picked up his tools and headed for the cattle barn. He'd noticed that Sunny had been wearing open toed sandals and he doubted if she'd cross the barnyard in those. He was still working around the barns when his dad came up to start chores, so Tor pitched in to help and when they were done they walked to the house together for supper.
Tor expected to be grilled by his mom about what he'd said to Sunny, but she never mentioned it. Instead she'd made all of his favourite summertime foods for supper and when he noticed that, then looked at her in surprise, she winked at him.
After he'd eaten, he called Dori and chatted with her for a while, then, since he hadn't had a chance to really do much exercise lately, he went for a run. He didn't just jog either. He ran all the way to the upper pasture and back, with Ghost tagging along. Since he used his shield to keep off bugs and mosquitoes during the whole run, he was quite tired and very warm when he returned to the farmyard. To cool off afterward, he stripped and had a quick swim. After that Tor went down to his new workshop to think about the work he'd have to do on his car before spring. He was there longer than he intended though, since he'd planned to join his dad on their evening walk around the farmyard, but he was still planning things when his dad showed up at the shop door.
"Hi Tor. I hear you had a talk with Sunny about her stupid diet pills," his dad said quietly.
"Yeah, I sort of lost my cool, so I figure I'd better apologise to her tomorrow."
"I wouldn't, at least not yet. Give it a few days. Your mom thinks you got through to Sunny where others might have just angered her. If that's so, then apologising too soon would do more damage than good. Just let it ride and if an apology is necessary your mom will find out and say something to you."
"Yeah, but I'm gonna be gone for a few weeks come Wednesday night or Thursday morning."
"Thursday, sometime before noon, at least that's what Nils was saying yesterday when I asked him. He wants to catch the ferry to the island before the rush hour on Thursday, or else wait until early in the evening, but he plans to camp out that night near the place he rents the ATVs. He's already reserved a camping space and arranged for your buggies, so they'll be ready for you to load and you'll be able to leave for the valley on Friday morning. A week from tonight you'll be sleeping in the log cabin instead of here in your bed. Are you all ready to go?"
"Nope, but I've got five days. I want to go to town with you before I leave though."
"Oh, why with me?"
"Well, I want a box of shells for my rifle and when I went by the sporting goods store yesterday, I noticed he had a used 16 gauge pump shotgun for sale. I figured that would be light and easy to carry, but if I load it with double ought buck it would make enough ruckus to scare off a bear."
"Yeah, that's not a bad idea, but I'd rather you carried a 12 gauge, not a 16."
"Yeah, but the used 16 was on sale, fairly cheap too."
"Tor, never go cheap on a safety item and in bear country, a decent shotgun and shells loaded with slugs are good insurance. Most of the time just the noise of a shotgun will scare them off, but if it doesn't, you need stopping power. We'll have a look tomorrow morning and see what we can find, but right now it's time for the news."
Tor nodded and closed up the shop, but he was yawning before they reached the house, so his dad just chuckled and pointed toward the stairs. Tor didn't argue and after a quick shower, he crawled into bed, then since he was tired from his run, he fell asleep almost instantly.
Saturday morning was a bit of a rush. Tor and his dad did the chores, ate breakfast and were in town in time to see the shop owner open the door to his sporting goods shop as they pulled up and parked. The storekeeper was friendly and helpful, but like Tor's dad, he didn't recommend the 16 gauge pump for a weapon in bear country. Instead Tor's dad bought him a used 12 gauge pump which came with a hard shell carrying case, but had no choke on the barrel, so Tor could safely shoot slugs. They bought one box of slugs, but another box of shells meant specially to scare off bears. The 'bear scare' rounds were sold as blanks, but when they were fired they were not only noisy, but they used a special plastic wadding that whistled loudly when the shot was fired.
Since that led to talk about bear country, the storekeeper hauled out a few products he'd just had delivered the week before to be ready for the fall hunting season. First off he showed them a pressurized canister of something he called 'bear spray,' which according to the label was made from the oils of cayenne pepper. Then there were 'bear bells' and other noise makers, meant to be worn on your clothing, then as you moved, the bears heard you coming and avoided the noise.
"That might work well in areas where bears are familiar with people, but I'm heading into an isolated wilderness area with my aunt and uncle," Tor said quietly. "I thought bears were curious and would investigate strange noises or unusual happenings in their territory."
"Well, not anywhere around here. Where are you going, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Nope, not at all. We're heading for Vancouver Island and the isolated interior section north of Nanaimo. We'll be way back in the mountains with no one near us. It's quite wild country."
"Wait a minute, aren't you the hockey player who got into the fight with those drug dealers? What the heck are you doing exploring in the mountains?"
"Well, I've got to do something in the summer," Tor grinned. "Besides, the guys who attacked me were just thugs as far as I was concerned. I didn't know anything about the drugs. That came out a year or two later."
"Yeah, I guess that's still ongoing, isn't it?"
"I really can't say. I'm not involved in that at all," Tor shrugged then turned to his dad. "What do you think of this bear spray stuff, Dad?"
"Stick with the gun, we know that works," his dad grunted. "You wanted some shells for your rifle too, didn't you?"
Until the storekeeper had gotten curious about Tor's business they'd been quite comfortable to spend time in the store, but now they were all business and soon left.
"That guy is a nosy parker, isn't he?" Tor's dad said as they got into the pickup truck.
"Yeah!" Tor snapped.
"You handled him well though."
"Thanks, but I've had lots of practise in the last couple of years," Tor snorted, then grinned. "I think he got the idea that he'd annoyed us though."
"Good, maybe he'll pass that on to others so we won't be bothered so often."
"Say Dad, while we're in town, would you mind stopping off at the body shop for a minute? I wanted to ask Jax a couple of questions, if you don't mind."
"I was planning on it," his dad chuckled, "and I was going to stop by Dagny's shop too. I want him to come out and look at one of the cows that has come down with a sore foot."
In the long run, Tor and his dad spent most of the morning in town and Dori caught a ride out to the farm with them when they left. When she hopped into the pickup to sit between Tor and his dad she tossed her overnight case in the back and Tor noticed.
"Another change of clothes, or a different swim suit?" he asked.
"Just some things I might need," she shrugged. "Since my boyfriend is running off on me next week I want to spend as much time with him as I can before he leaves. Mom and Dad will give me a ride back to town, or I can catch a ride with Alva when she goes in to work."
"Alva doesn't work on the weekends, just weekday evenings, and I thought Jax said he was off to Vancouver this afternoon for a couple of days?" Tor was slightly confused.
"Right on all counts," Dori giggled. "You do realize that I turned down a trip to Vancouver just to be with you, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Tor was even more confused.
"Alva is letting me stay in a spare bed in her room and I don't know why, but your parents went along with the idea."
Just then Tor's dad cleared his throat, making both Tor and Dori jump.
"I know your curiosity must be driving you nuts, Tor, but for your information, Alva and Dori have convinced your mother and me that Dori should spend the weekend at the farm. Jax and Keisha have to go to Seattle to meet with relatives and Dori didn't want to be away for that long. Olga and I talked it over and we feel that both of you are responsible enough not to cause problems, but I want you both to realize that your actions over this weekend will dictate what happens later. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, Mr. Eklund," Dori said instantly.
"Yes, Dad, and just so you know, this wasn't my idea. Not that I mind in any way, but it might get people talking about us again."
"Tor, people are always talking about us," his dad laughed softly, "and most of the time you're involved in one way or another. I'm just surprised that Jax and Keisha went along with the idea so easily."
"Mr. Eklund, Mom and Daddy think your whole family is about the best thing that has happened to us since we moved to Canada. In fact they're meeting my aunt and uncle in Seattle this weekend to try to talk them into moving up to BC since Uncle Ari lost his job in California just recently."
"Oh, what did your uncle do before he lost his job?"
"He managed a store, but the place got sold and the new owners brought in a manager from one of their other stores."
"Mention that to Mrs. Eklund would you, Dori, and before your parents leave town today, please?" Tor's dad grinned and looked over at Tor for a second. "Nils and Hanna might be interested in that bit of news."
"Are you thinking of the development company, or the co-op, Dad?"
"Either, or both."
"That would pretty well keep anyone busy," Tor chuckled.
"I'm sorry, but I'm just a bit lost here," Dori said quietly.
"Oh, well let me explain," Tor's dad chuckled. "Our family believes in supporting the community we live in, so we own shares in the local Co-op store and in a new land development company. The present manager at the store is only doing the job on a temporary basis and the land development company is brand new. It would be an extremely tough job for one man to handle both of them, but we do need someone who has experience in management for both jobs. Your uncle sounds like he might be worth interviewing for either one or the other."
"Wow, the store sounds like something my uncle might be interested in for sure," Dori nodded. "I don't know about the other one though? That second job sounds like you might need a real-estate person, which is the sort of place my aunt worked, but she was just selling houses, not managing the office or anything."
"Well, someone will have to sell the houses and rent the office spaces we'll be building," Tor's dad chuckled.
The conversation between Dori and Tor's dad carried on until they got back to the Eklund farm. When they parked in the yard, Dori leaped out of the pickup and raced inside to talk to Tor's mom about her aunt and uncle.
"Okay, Dad, do you know if this idea of Dori spending the weekend was hers or her mother's and why the heck did everyone go along with it?" Tor snapped as soon as Dori was out of hearing.
"Actually I think it was Alva's idea," his dad chuckled. "As she pointed out to your mom and me, you've long since established a precedent for having girls over for the weekend. Just think back to how many times Sunny stayed overnight or over a weekend with us through the years."
"Dad, that was different."
"Not really," Tor's dad snorted, "at least not from your mom's or my standpoint, since we trust you and we're very rapidly learning to trust Dori. However as far as my trust is concerned, for all I know that salesman might have been slinging us a line of BS today. So now, before lunch, I'd like to hear what those 'bear scare' shells sound like, because if they aren't very loud or very effective, I want to take them back. I'm sure there will be some crows up in the orchard we can scare off, if the darn things do work."
"Okay, I'd rather do that than go inside right now anyway," Tor snapped. "Right about now Mom is busy being very calm, very quiet and very firm as she explains her expectations of the weekend to Dori. I think she's in for a surprise, but then I think Dori is too and to be honest, right now that house isn't somewhere I want to be."
So they walked off toward the orchard, with Tor's dad chuckling at Tor's last comment, while Tor was fighting off a feeling of confusion over the present situation.