Chapter 8. To Swallow the Frog
I was alone about a half an hour, when the door of the nursery opened, then my dad and Natalia, with the baby in her arms, came out. The baby was sleeping peacefully. Dad beamed from pride. I knew and I understood that his first blood daughter was born.
Natalia smiled at me and she said, “Your Dad and I discussed it and her name is Valerie.”
I replied with genuine pleasure, “Valerie. Valerie, it’s a good name. I like it. I think Kate and Becky will also love it.”
Dad was pleased and explained, “I’m glad you like her name. Now Valerie is sleeping after her first suckling.”
Dad was a little disturbed, and he looked at me with a sincere face, “Ben, please calm down, I love Becky, too.”
Natalia confirmed what my dad said, “Ben, your dad loves all of his children equally.”
I looked at two fantastically happy parents, who could still think of us beside their greatest happiness.
I was touched a little, but I could tell, “I know this.” I continued, “I talked to my mom and she wished much happiness to you both and to my new sister. I know she was sincere.”
Dad was silent, but he smiled, so Natalia responded first, “Thank you to her. Ben, please convey her our warm thanks.”
I think this was an enormous gratification from my mom and dad appreciated it, “Ben, I’m happy now and I’m thankful for your mom’s best wishes.”
He looked at his new daughter and Natalia and he began to laugh, “It may be our happiness came from her.”
Natalia started laughing, too, and soon I laughed with them. I understood the humor of the whole situation. Natalia, who was without any exhaust asked me to call Kate and Becky. I went to Becky’s room to interrupt their study. They came with me to the living room where the happy parents and the sleeping baby waited for us.
Natalia said, “Your dad and I named our baby Valerie.”
Becky was the first, “Valerie. Valerie, I like this name.”
Kate said the same, “I also love the name Valerie.”
I was very pleased, “I told you they would like this name.”
My dad was pleased with us, “Thank you, for loving her name.”
First my dad turned to me, “Ben, today we’re the chefs, so let’s go to the kitchen.” Then to the girls, “Girls, go back to your studies.”
Natalia went back to the nursery with Valerie in her arms, and Kate with Becky to study again. We started to cook something from frozen materials. Because we used the microwave frequently, we did not usually have ordinary festive meals. Natalia got some extra food to maintain her lactation.
Dad said, “She prepared this food for herself some days before. She knew the child-birth would be soon.”
We set the table and we called everyone. Natalia came first and she left the door of the nursery room open to the living room because she wanted to hear her baby well. The girls arrived so we had our lunch. Natalia and Kate had been always the chefs and after the study sessions, Kate had gone to help her mom in the kitchen previously. The abrupt childbirth upset the normal timetable, but nobody complained about the modest lunch.
We had just finished our lunch when the baby cried, and Natalia ran to the nursery instantly. Valerie stopped crying soon because she got her milk from Natalia.
We discussed the morning’s events. I told the girls about my mom’s solid best wishes to dad and Natalia. I also told everyone mom was glad Kate was my girlfriend, and mom praised my sister and me that we helped Natalia in her labor. My dad said again this was nice from her. Kate was glad my mom accepted her and Becky was happy for the lower emotion stress between our mom and my dad’s new family. I knew my dad did not forgive my mom’s betrayal, but he got a true gratification from her which was important in the connection of his ex-wife to achieve a more peaceful state in his soul.
We planned the afternoon program. The younger ones would go to the indoor swimming pool after a one and a half hour learning session. I had brought my school and exercise books as usual and I studied in my room similarly to the girls. We brought our swimming dress, too, so soon we went to the pool in Kate’s Prius. We wanted to stay until closing time. It was simple, because the weather conditions were nice and the streets were free of snow and ice.
After some swimming Kate surprised us and said she wanted to teach us diving. My sis and I agreed and we went to the deep pool equipped with diving boards. We went to the five meter diving platform and she explained the simple jump and she said we had to watch her dive three times. After her, we would dive using a basic method. Before her dive, she explained how we had to arrive into the water. If it was possible, we should arrive with our heads 80-100 degrees to the water surface to avoid a painful encounter.
First I tried. I was almost successful, I got a little pain on my body. When I came back, Kate explained my mistake to Becky and me. Soon Becky came and she was successful on her first attempt. Kate explained why she was successful. My second jump was good. Becky and I became good simple divers from the five meter platform. We went back into the pool and Kate did a performance from the high board. We clapped and shouted as always.
After Kate’s presentation I thanked her for the training with a hot kiss and hug. She clung to me with her beautiful body and we looked for our tonsils. We forgot the world around us, but Becky laughed at us a lot, so we stopped. She said we would have two whole nights together. We were at dad’s house for two nights on every second weekend, so we came on Friday evening, and went home to mom on Sunday evening. This time we had come Saturday morning, so we planned to go to school in my car from dad’s house, carrying all of our school things with us.
Kate said something interesting. Becky had good talent to become a good diver – not an Olympic Games participant, but a local good athlete, so Kate would train her until she joined the diving branch of the local swimming sports club. Kate explained I was too old to become a good diver athlete, but she would train me only to enjoy diving. Kate was a fortune-teller because Becky became a diver later, not a member of the National Olympic team, but a medium level athlete. Kate taught us the principal steps and, with permission of the school and parents, she joined the diving branch of the local swimming sports club. But this was the future. We went to dad’s house after nine o’clock.
Dad and Natalia had eaten dinner so we, the young ones, ate together in the kitchen. Natalia was in the nursery. Dad and Natalia moved into the room next to the baby’s room. They opened the door between the two rooms so she could hear the baby well. The young occupied the first floor and we barely heard the baby’s crying through the closed doors. After dinner, Kate and I went to my room and Becky went to her room. Becky said some humorous words, with full of teasing about my usual night activity with Kate. Becky said we should wait for the production of a kid. We were cheerful and laughed. Becky was good at guessing our activity because Kate and I had excellent sex practice night and early morning.
Kate and I got up first after sex at seven o’clock and did our morning routine. Then we started the breakfast preparation for everyone, Kate knew that Natalia needed extra food for breastfeeding Valerie. Becky joined to help us with the serving on the table. The happy parents got up. My dad was sleepy but, a surprising thing, Natalia was without any fatigue against the baby’s night crying. She called us to look at Valerie, who had just slept soundly. She looked at the baby with undisguised pride and she told us she nursed her baby one hour before we woke up. We had breakfast and we discussed our Sunday program. We had studied almost enough, so Kate and Becky would finish their usual study for one and a half hours similar to me. Natalia and dad washed the dishes and they took care of Valerie. We did not plan the Sunday program yet at all but we only thought of a late afternoon swimming pool with diving training.
During study, Frank my friend phoned by mobile from his parents’ farm that the weather conditions were good. It was cold without snowfall and their pond, which was a good summer swimming facility, was covered with thick ice. He tried one week ago and now the ice was thicker for skating. He phoned Bill and Sam. He told me they accepted his invitation and they would bring their girlfriends as his girlfriend was on the farm. Everyone would bring skates. He said I should bring Kate. I said I would take Becky too. Frank told me it was not a problem, his younger sisters would be there also. I said I would discuss it with Kate and Becky and, of course, with dad. Becky was still under eighteen so dad’s permission was important. Naturally, she got the permission.
After study Kate and Becky were enthusiastic. We planned to arrive at two o’clock and, after three hours skating, we wanted to go to the swimming pool until nine o’clock. Dad agreed as long as we phoned them from the covered swimming pool that we were well. Kate and Becky went to admire the baby and to help Natalia with the lunch. My dad worked on something and he told me I did not need to help him. So I surfed on the net.
Frank phoned again with a surprising request. They heard Kate was good at figure skating so they brought two big loudspeakers to the frozen pond. He asked Kate to bring music for figure-skating, because his sisters and his mom were figure skating fans. I discussed this with Kate who had a few half-hour figure-skating files on a USB stick. Becky was fantastic happy. The lunch was very early so we could prepare everything and we went in Kate’s Prius. Natalia and Kate baked a few Russian “sirnyki” pastries for a gift.
After a half hour of driving we arrived at Frank’s parents. The farm was huge, they produced mainly wheat, corn and other animal feed, and produced a little biodiesel material as well. The crops were ripening at different times so the farm job was more balanced. My dad’s firm bought their products and delivered the animal feed mixture which they used for local fodder grown on top for about forty cows. They separated a portion of the farm like the cow pasture. They did all the work on the farm with machines. Moreover, they went to other farms to work with special machines. They had a well-equipped cow-shed with milking machines, so his mom could manage the milking alone. They had a biogas generator with a gas tank, and a small wind machine. Frank told us he had done the half of the harvesting with their super computerized harvester-thresher in that year.
In summertime, we friends often swam in the pond. Sometimes we helped Mr. James Barth in a summer job to earn pocket money. Billy especially worked a lot on the farm to earn more. Mr. Barth was an agriculture graduate, and Frank wanted to go to the same university to study agriculture. He was the head of the farmers’ association of our county. Mrs. Mary Barth was a simple shop assistant and she became a good farmer’s wife and mother with three children.
Their marriage was successful, not similar to my mom’s. Her older daughter Margaret was the same age as my sister and he attended another class of the same high school as my sister. So I understood how they learned Kate’s figure skating skills, my sister boasted about it. Violet the younger sister of Frank was twelve years old. They were in the church before lunch and Frank phoned after the worship.
Billy was there with his girlfriend, Clair Stone, from the third class of our year and Sam arrived after five minutes with his girlfriend Linda. Frank’s girlfriend, Angela Middleton, lived on the neighboring farm and she attended the fourth class of our year with Linda Johnson. They played on the girls’ soccer team similar to us who played on the boys’ soccer team.
Linda Johnson was a mixed race girl, her father was a black policeman at the sheriff’s office of Sam’s father. She wanted to be a policewoman, and Sam and she planned to attend the Police academy together. The local State government rule allowed the employment of married pairs on the local Police force. Clair wanted to be elementary school teacher and Angela wanted to study business administration. I have already written about where my friends were during the virginity loss process. At this time Frank, Sam and I had already been beyond. After some weeks, Billy also was not a virgin.
When we arrived, Frank’s parents and his sisters welcomed us. They met Becky before because she swam in their lake with me several times here. So I introduced Kate to them. They thanked Kate for saving the Prom and its participants, especially their Frank. My friends, Clair and Angela knew Kate from the Prom. We gave the “sirnyki” pastries to them and they thanked us. Soon, Sam and Carol arrived. After a little pastry eating, we went to the frozen pond and put on our skates. The family had cleaned almost a rink sized area and they tied two long ropes to a strong post on the dock which was beside the pond and pulled the ropes towards the two sides of the cleaned area. In case of broken ice, these ropes would be for safety in an emergency to pull out the distressed people. The parents of Frank brought hot tea in thermoses. Two large loudspeakers were facing the pond.
The young people skated on the ice. The weather conditions were cold without strong wind or snow, suitable for skating. We could skate well and everybody could see Kate was fantastically confident on the ice. After more than one hour of skating, I knew everyone was very curious to see Kate’s figure skating performance. Kate went to her car and gave her thumb drive to Frank, who inserted it into his computer in the house and soon he started the figure skating music. Kate put on her skates again and she waited on the ice for the start of the music. First, she began simple figures until Frank arrived to the dock, where everybody watched Kate’s performance.
I learned that all of the women were figure skating experts like my sister, and they explained to the boys, each other and Mr. Barth which figures were performed by Kate. Axel, Rydberg, Lutz and etc. figures were in her performance and she jumped a triple at the end just as she did in St Moritz. The women shouted and clapped during Kate’s performance and we men joined them at the end.
I admired my beautiful girlfriend and her performance and I knew my friends were a bit envious of me despite that their girlfriends were nice pretty girls. After the performance, the women told each other and us men what a nice figure skating performance it was. Kate behaved modestly to avoid any boasting, her performance spoke alone. I was very proud of her and everybody could see Kate and I were deeply in love with each other. Kate came to me and we hugged with a passionate kiss.
We drank hot tea and went to the house. Here we did some the pastry tasting again, with an account of Kate and me and the Prom events. Everybody was grateful of Kate’s action to save me and the others. My friends and their girlfriends told their stories as witnesses and Kate brought the video of the local TV channel on the thumb drive. We watched the TV program video for the umpteenth time. Everybody was grateful to Kate. At the end, Frank and Mr. Barth showed the farm from the mechanized cow-shed to the bio-gas generator in a short walk mainly for those guests who were at their farm for the first time. It was almost dark, so Kate, Becky and I went to the indoor swimming pool and the others went home.
When we arrived at the indoor swimming pool Kate phoned to dad that we were in the city again. We swam and Kate trained us to dive from five meter platform. Natalia and dad waited for us with the supper and we ate supper together. Naturally, the girls looked at Valerie’s nursing by Natalia. After almost two days from the birth, we could see my step-mom was an excellent and proud mom and my dad beamed, too. I was with Kate in my room and we did our usual sex practice at night and in the morning. After breakfast, I took Becky to our High School.
I met my friends and with their girlfriends at school. They praised Kate for her figure skating performance and they unanimously told me how lucky I was to be with her. The girls said what a pity it was that Kate was a private student, she would have been a good friend to them. We got information that the next day, instead of soccer training, we would go to the indoor swimming pool. I phoned Kate to join us next day. I took Becky home. Becky said she felt Margaret or, as she called her, Maggie, became her friend.
When we entered our house, my mom was not at home, she worked in the other high school. Becky and I wanted to go to the swimming pool so we called Kate about our idea. She found this a good afternoon program. We phoned our mom to tell her where we wanted to go to and I told her that our baby sister’s name was Valerie. Mom told us we should get home at about seven o’clock.
We met Kate in the hall of the indoor swimming pool. Kate and I kissed passionately and she welcomed Becky with warm hug. She told us dad and Natalia started the proceedings for Valerie. After swimming, Kate trained us in diving. As Kate predicted, Becky learned diving much faster than me. At the end of our swimming pool time, I suggested to Kate to ask my mother that she might come to us on Tuesday night. I phoned mom and, after a short explanation, I gave my cell phone to Kate, who asked my mother if she might come visit us on Tuesday night. Mom gave permission and as every time and Becky was almost so pleased for Kate would be with us next day as I was.
We came home about seven o’clock as we promised, our mom sat in the living room waiting for us. She was very serious.
After greeting she began, “I’m glad you helped with Natalia’s labor.”
Becky said, “Mom it was natural. What we did was nothing compared to what Kate did. Kate was a live whirlwind.”
Mom looked at me, “I know Ben chose a good girlfriend.”
Becky was very quick to interject, “It is good to see that you’ve acknowledged that.”
Mom changed the direction of her gaze with a small annoyance at Becky’s impudent words, “Becky I was wrong, but don’t judge me! You can see she will be with us tomorrow.”
Mom turned to me again and asked me, “Did you convey my greetings to your father and Natalia?”
“Yes mom, I did.”
She was very curious, “What did they say?”
I knew I could not tell her that my dad and Natalia laughed at the funny fact that their happiness came from my mom. It would have been very rude, if I had told mom about this, because I also laughed with them.
So I responded only, “They thanked for your good wishes. My dad asked me to give their thanks to you.”
Mom did not give up and she questioned fearfully, “Was he angry at me for my good wishes?”
I answered with a convincing voice, “Mom, dad didn’t say any angry words. Moreover, he and Natalia were pleased for your good wishes. They were honest….”
Becky interrupted again, “My dad and Natalia didn’t say any wrong words about you. Please believe us!”
I was sure that the “MY DAD” words from Becky’s mouth, together with the recognition that my dad was so happy, caused Mom to understand that her betrayal had became a second or third level past to him, and this made her cry. Becky and I looked at each other, shocked.
Mom looked at us and she said, weeping, “Becky, Ben, I’m sincerely glad your dad is happy with Natalia and with his new daughter, Valerie.”
Becky wanted to say something, but mom showed she wanted to stay alone so we went to have dinner in the kitchen.
Becky and I were in the kitchen and Becky remarked, “Our dad is much happier than mom.”
I agreed, “You are right.”
I thought to myself, “Mom must swallow this frog.”
To be find the happiness again and that person who betrayed us is unhappy is alone REVENGE. I will carry on this story, but I want to write my other ideas.