Chapter 02

The Date

The final arrangements for Saturday’s date are set out at lunch on Friday. Hal is to buy lunch at the mall then off to the afternoon show at the movie theatre in the mall, followed by a snack, a second movie, and dinner, then back to the Smit house by 8:00 p.m. All goes exactly as Hal planned, right up to when his group of four ladies and he are met by his sister and the Denning girls near the restaurant intended for lunch. Liz and the Smit girls all giggle at the look on Hal’s face when Jo says, “Fancy meeting you here, bro!” He sighs as he waves toward the restaurant entrance a couple of paces away.

No one’s surprised to find they have a table for eight available. He sighs and says, “Jo, I love you dearly, but there are times you can be an absolute pain in the arse.”

She grins, “If it had been just the two of you I wouldn’t have even considered joining you. But heck, you already have a few extras, so why not get a good movie and feed from you!” This is a clear statement and not a question at all.

Later, Hal isn’t surprised to find his reservations for five tickets to the two movies is now eight tickets for both films. He simply pays and collects the tickets. Greta, Jenner, and Julie wonder about how easily he accepts the extra costs while the others just smile as they already know.

It’s not until late in the afternoon when they’re sitting down for the second movie does Greta becomes aware of the fact her sisters have been manoeuvring the seating arrangements all day. They have her sitting beside Hal with them outside of the pair. She had thought he was being nice to invite her along while dating her twin sisters, now she’s starting to wonder who’s dating who.

Else can see Greta thinking hard, so she leans over and says in a very soft voice, “Correct, Freda and I make good camouflage until Dad gets used to him being around you. We’re enjoying the nice shows and feeds, so don’t do anything to get Dad too comfortable too fast.” Greta grins once she realises Hal is slowly, so very slowly, courting her and this is his way of being with her in a way her parents will allow.

Hal sees the sisters talking, but he can’t hear what’s said. However, he gets the idea when Greta leans closer to him, picks up his right hand, and places it over her shoulders. In a moment she’s snuggled into his right shoulder while holding his hand to her right breast. She was worried he might be rough or not do anything. But all he does is add a little extra pressure to what she’s applied, and she enjoys the way his hand cups her breast. Soon after that she snuggles in closer when she remembers her conversation during cooking class about wanting to see these two films but not being able to afford it. It’s at that point she’s sure this whole afternoon is about making her happy, and that thought makes her very happy.

When they leave the theatre Greta decides to confirm her suspicion. Turning to Hal she says, “I know you’ve got a booking for dinner at a restaurant, but after that movie I really feel like sitting down to a pizza at home with Mum and Dad. Do you mind if we change things?”

She enjoys the huge grin on Jo’s face when Hal pulls out his phone to ring Mrs Smit. “Hello, Missus Smit, Hal. We’ve just left the second movie. I was wondering if it was OK for us to come back now to sit and watch a DVD while we eat delivery pizza?” A break. “Good. Thank you. Can you order as you know what the girls like. Just add two large pan Hawaiians for Liz and me, with a couple of bottles of cola, please. We’ll be home soon. I’ll pay for it all when it arrives.” His next call is to the restaurant so he can apologise for the change of plans. No problems for them because they have people waiting for tables.

There’s a taxi rank near the theatre entrance so Hal sees Jo, Julie, and Jenner into a cab, handing Jo fifty dollars to pay for the cab fare. It’s just on dark and he’s not having them walk home. Jo is to see the girls home after getting some drive through take away on the way there, and then to go home herself.

In a few more minutes Hal is in the back seat of the Subaru with Freda on his left and his right arm around Greta on his right while Else drives them home with Liz as the front passenger as the supervising driver. Earlier, Freda drove them to the mall. Both girls are already very good at handling the Subaru. While they drive along and Hal fondles Greta’s breast he wonders if either of the twins have told their parents Liz has booked them into an advanced driver training course for next weekend. He also thinks about how quick the Smit girls were at working out what the real situation is and adjusting to it while helping him and Greta out.

They’re soon at the Smit house and getting out of the car. Once inside they spend a few minutes working out which of the DVDs to watch from the ones they bought earlier today. Just when they reach an agreement the doorbell rings. Hal gets up to pay for the pizzas, which are soon spread out around the room and everyone takes a seat to watch the DVD while eating.

When everyone gets comfortable Mrs Smit doesn’t miss the fact her eldest daughters have pinned Greta and Hal together in the middle of the main sofa. What’s comfortable for three is squashing room for four. But they all seem happy when Hal puts his arms on the back of the seat while Greta leans into his shoulder as she feeds them both from the Hawaiian pizza on her lap. Else has a look of glee whenever she lifts a glass of cola up for him to have a drink out of. Mrs Smit shakes her head while she smiles at their antics as she wonders if any of them realise how obvious they are. Then she catches Hal’s eye on her, he simply raises an eyebrow, so she now knows he’s aware, but he also doubts the girls are aware of how obvious they are being.

When the movie ends Mr Smit heads off to bed while the twins go to organise a small snack and drink before Hal and Liz have to leave. She can’t hold it in any more so Mrs Smit says, “Greta, please be a bit more discreet in front of your father.” She gets a blank look in reply. “You were so obvious about Hal that to get any more blatant you’d have to rape him.” That gets a deep blush. “Oh, I know he’s good boy. The fact he organised today to be with your sisters as chaperones shows that. But your father will need time to accept his little girl isn’t so little now. Until I say otherwise I want you lot to continue with the group outings. But no more sitting on the lounge like you just did here, save that for Hal’s house or the car. I want to see a lot more discretion around your father, right?” All three girls nod while Liz laughs. “Now give Hal a kiss goodnight on the cheek and get upstairs. I want a word with him.” Greta does as told, and she quickly vanishes up the stairs.

He looks at Mrs Smit, “I had planned for things to go a little slower and to take longer, but certain young ladies of the Smit family decreed otherwise. They’re just too damn smart for me to handle.”

Mrs Smit laughs, “I figured that was the case, Hal. Which is why I waited until her father left before speaking. If I’d tried anything before then he’d have become aware of what those girls were up to. I was a bit shocked to see Greta in what I can only describe as ’full seduction mode’ with her older sisters not only helping her, but encouraging her. She won’t be sixteen for another seven months, so watch it until then.” Hal’s eyes go very wide at the statement. “Once she’s legal her father has less grounds to complain. Neither of us will be happy about certain things then, but we’ll have to accept them. OK!”

“Yes, Ma’am. Message received loud and clear, and understood. But please understand I’m out numbered, out gunned, and out thought by the Smit sisters. I’m totally at their mercy.”

She laughs, “I realise that and I’ll be speaking to them as well, and at length. Just make sure that when they’re over there working that’s what they’re doing.”

“No doubt on that one, Ma’am. Mother will see to that.” Hal and Liz leave while Mrs Smit is still laughing. On their way home Liz has a good laugh while she tells Hal how she enjoyed watching the show of him getting well gaffed by a fifteen year old girl.

Interlude

Things go along about as well as you can expect for the next few months. Classes are attended, tests are taken and passed, by most. Jenner and Julie enjoy their work, and they enjoy the extra food they get from the cooking classes as well as the after work snacks. They also enjoy being able to buy a new item of clothing now and then. They let most of their work money build up in the bank because they know anything new that catches their mother’s eye will only end up with the pawn broker.

Else and Freda pass their Advanced Driver Training Course, and when the date comes around in early May they pass their tests for a driver’s licence. The biggest problem on the day is proving to the two examiners each of them did take a test and not the same person twice. The examiners had been tricked by some twins once before. They do use the Subaru for the test drive, and even the examiner loves the car. Hal gets them each a present of a sterling silver key ring with the Subaru symbol and a key to The Beast. He also gives one to Liz.

The Smith house and yards are maintained in a very good condition by the hired work crew. Mrs Smith believes in paying a person what they’re worth. The five schoolgirls are doing ten hours a week at a rate of two hours a day five days a week, and switching to two and a half hours a day for the weeks when there’s only four days due to public holidays. After the compulsory government taxes etc. the girls get an in hand rate of fifteen dollars an hour, that’s one hundred and fifty dollars a week. Much better than what most of their peers get at other jobs where they work for much longer hours, in most cases.

Mr and Mrs Smit enjoy not having to make time to take Freda and Else out for driving practice. They also enjoy the extra time at home alone while all of their girls are out on a date with Hal.

One real funny event in the situation is about three weeks into Hal’s dating Greta he’s taken aside by Mr Smit to ask him to take care about not letting Mrs Smit know about his courting Greta. He says, “Hal, for some weeks I’ve known Greta has her cap set on you and is actively working at landing you as a boyfriend. In fact, I think she has. But please be careful around her mother as I’m not sure how she’ll react.”

The next weekend Hal discusses the situation with Greta, Liz, Else, Freda, and Jo. The consensus of opinion is both of the Smit parents know what’s going on so they’re playing the girls and Hal for more time to be alone themselves. After that the movie visits often become a case of Hal and Greta watching one movie together while the other girls watch another movie of their choice. Both Greta and Hal appreciate the open secret of their relationship, along with the ability to snuggle and cuddle while being driven around in the car.

Most Saturday mornings are spent shopping or window shopping in the mall with Hal sitting at a coffee shop while the girls shop. The afternoons are usually spent in the movies or back at one of the houses watching DVDs. All of the kids involved try to give all of their parents plenty of time to themselves by going around as a group and splitting the time between their homes...

Mrs Denning enjoys the extra alone drinking time. Neither daughter notices any change in her attitude or behaviour, despite her increased rate of consumption of alcohol.

All seems to be going along well for all of them and their families.

Trouble

About eleven o’clock on a nice Saturday morning in mid-May Hal is standing at the cold drink cabinet of a coffee shop in the mall. The girls have just left him to launch a seven way attack on the new range of tops at the teen clothing store just up the mall walk. They’ve left Hal at the shop to await their return in an hour or so, then they’ll head off for a movie. All in the same movie this time as it’s a new release they all want to watch.

Hal is turning away from the cabinet with a can of coke in his hand when he spots a young man with large sunglasses suddenly rise from a seat in the middle of the walk area. It’s the rapid movement that gets Hal’s attention. The young man looks out of place, but not that much out of place. A well-dressed woman is about three metres this side of the young man and walking toward Hal when the man’s movement gets Hal’s attention. As the man runs by the woman he shoves her in the back while he grabs the strap of her large handbag. While the woman falls the man runs down the mall. The mall entrance is just past this coffee shop and the young man is about eight metres away as he races toward Hal. The man glances over his shoulder to check for anyone chasing him.

Hal can’t run because of his left leg, but he has very strong arms. He developed them soon after the problem with his leg happened, and he’s kept them strong since - in case of a further need. With a big smile Hal half steps toward the running man while holding his right arm behind him with the can of coke in the palm and his fingers curled around the can. When the young man starts to turn forward while still running toward the exit Hal leans forward while his right arm snaps forward. His arm flies past his head and when it reaches full extension in front of him he lets go of the can of coke to spin it out of his hand like a cricket ball.

Everything is happening so fast: the woman is still falling, the young man is only another metre toward Hal, and the can is spinning off his hand like a cannonball. The man takes another pace while his head finishes turning forward again, just in time to take the hard thrown can of coke in the middle of his face. The can splits open and sprays coke everywhere while the edges of the damaged can cut his cheeks. But the real damage is the kinetic energy of the thrown can plus the runner’s forward momentum. His head snaps back and all can hear the crack when his neck is broken by the impact. The feet continue on for a half pace before the runner goes down on his back to slam his head on the hard tile floor. A crunch is heard when his head hits the floor then a bloody smear develops where his body slides along the tiles. The body slides into a rubbish bin to knock it over, but it’s stopped by the impact.

Some people are screaming while a few are trying hard not to throw up. The woman has hit the ground hard and is rolling over nursing her arm. A security guard standing just inside the doorway of a shop on the other side of the walkway is leaving his position while talking on his radio. Hal is surprised at how effective his impromptu missile was while he has a hard time holding on to his last snack. He changes his mind about what he wants to drink and he walks toward the counter.

In the few minutes it takes Hal to walk across to the counter the security guard has organised for someone to help the lady pushed over as her arm is broken and he also has a couple of extra guards roping off the area where the young man went down.

On reaching the counter Hal asks for some very strong black coffee. He pays for both it and the can of coke he threw. He didn’t drink it, but he did remove it from their stock so he feels he owes them for it. The girl at the register is still having trouble with what she just saw, but she takes his money and she starts making his coffee. He goes to sit down close by.

By the time he reaches the nearest empty table she’s there with his coffees as he’d ordered two. Hal doesn’t like coffee, but one thing he found out, a few years back, is it helps him to get himself settled in some types of situations. The first cup doesn’t last long when he drinks it down in two big gulps. He’s just starting to sip the second one when the police arrive. They speak to the security guard who talks to them for a few minutes before he points to Hal.

The senior police officer, she has two stripes and the other has none, asks Hal for his version of events. Hal tells her what he saw and did. It’s all noted down. When he’s finished they ask him to read what’s written down. He does, it matches what he said, and he signs it. The police officer asks, “Why didn’t you just run out to trip him up?”

Hal gives a weak smile, “Ma’am, I’ve a medical condition which means I move at about the same speed as a startled snail with a broken leg, or half of normal walking speed. He’d have been two suburbs away before I could’ve got far enough into mall to intersect with his flight path. My only way of stopping him was to throw something, so I did. The results are a lot more than I expected. I thought I’d cut his face and maybe knock him down for someone else to grab, not kill him.”

She sees the pain in his eyes so she reaches out to grab his shoulder in a gentle hold. Giving it a squeeze while she hands over a card, “Don’t you worry about what happened to that shit. The woman he hit today has a broken arm. The woman he hit in the next suburb on Thursday night is still unconscious. We’ve got a string of about twenty people he’s put in hospital with that tactic. We’d have liked to have had him in the lock up, but we’re happy just to have him off the street since he’s not putting anyone else into the hospital now.” Hal gives her another weak smile while he accepts what she says. It helps him accept he did the right thing, but it still doesn’t settle down the queasy feeling in his stomach about killing someone, again. Hal sits there and he finishes his coffee while watching the police and associated services do their thing, followed by the clean up when the police are finished.

The mess is cleaned up with the mall back to normal before the girls return. Hal is still at the table drinking another black coffee. When the girl came to take his empty cup he ordered another. She remembered his odd way of walking so she’s been bringing his extra coffees to him when he orders and pays for them. The girls are laughing when they walk into the shop. Jo sees him drinking coffee and she stops laughing. Her serious look has the others go silent and look concerned too.

They all walk up and sit down around the table. Hal looks up and gives them all a very weak smile. Jo gulps, “OK, what happened to make you drink coffee? And how many?”

“I haven’t counted.”

Jo turns to the girl at the register, “How many coffees has he had, please, Miss?”

“That’s his ninth coffee he’s on, black, no sugar.”

Jo turns back, “F•©k! What the hell happened?” The others all stare at her. “He hates coffee. The only time he has any is when something’s happened to really upset him.” The girl at the register is surprised by this because she was sure he was a coffee fiend due to the way he’d been drinking them for the last forty minutes or so.

Hal continues to stare into his coffee. The girl walks over and says, “A thief knocked a woman over and broke her arm while stealing her handbag. Your friend here threw a can of coke at the thief and broke his neck. The thief went down and split his skull on the tile floor, smearing blood all over. They only finished cleaning it up a few minutes ago.”

Jo sits there staring at her for a few minutes. After gulping hard she says, “Shit, no wonder he’s into the coffee.” She stands and she takes his wallet out of his coat pocket. She opens it up to pull out a fifty dollar note. Handing the note to Freda she says, “Grab a taxi to take Jenner and Julie to my place.” She turns to the others, “Else, you drive. Liz, you and Greta help him to the car. He won’t be able to walk at all now, not after all of that coffee. We need to get him home, a.s.a.p.” With that Liz and Greta help Hal stand. Between them they half carry him and half drag him out of the coffee shop toward the car. The others grab up all their shopping bags and follow them. At the car the shopping is shoved into the back while Hal is shoved into the back seat. Greta gets in on his right with Jo on his left. Liz drives off while the rest go to the taxi rank.

Humpty Dumpty

Mrs Smith is very surprised to see them all back so soon, and very worried when she sees them almost carry Hal in. She races over. Jo waves her back while directing the girls to lay Hal on the larger lounge. She slips a pillow under his head and tells Greta, “You’re his blanket, lie on him.” Greta grins when she lies on Hal as they usually get into trouble if caught like this, a position she really likes to take. He half smiles while his arms go around her. Mrs Smith gives Jo a very concerned look.

Moving away from the lounge Jo says, “Mother, you need to ring the police to find out what happened in the mall today. All I’ve got is a report someone got hurt being robbed. Hal tried to stop the robber and he ended up killing the man. He’s had nine large black coffees while waiting for us to return from our shopping.” Mrs Smith’s face loses colour with each item listed, and the last makes her gulp.

She calls out, “Jack, call the police to find out what happened at the mall today. Hal was involved.” She hears a reply while she reaches for the phone. She knows he’ll make the call and he’ll get more out of the police than she will. She’s calling his specialist to find out exactly how badly that much coffee is likely to affect Hal. For some odd reason coffee has always had a bad effect on Hal’s system, but it’s worse with some of his current medication since some of the components interact in the wrong way. Two years ago they did some tests on how bad, and the specialist has that information. It takes a while to reach the doctor and for him to check the files once it’s explained to him.

Doctor Davidson tells Mrs Smith, “OK, nine large cups of black coffee, no sugar. Well, that’s not too bad, as having too much sugar is the biggest problem for him now. You’ll be lucky if he goes to sleep before breakfast tomorrow. His bladder should start working overtime about four hours after he started drinking, and continue to do so for about an hour longer than when he was drinking. But he’ll be hungry as hell for several hours. I suggest you feed him as much high protein food as you can get him to eat because that will help process everything. Nothing major to worry about since we changed some of his medications last month.” With her worst fears relieved she rings up to organise for a number of hot pizzas to be delivered over the next few hours. All of the cheese should help.

She hangs up to see Jack standing there with a very concerned look on his face. He explains what he’s got from the police. He was able to speak to the senior constable involved and she read Hal’s statement as well as giving her opinion of his condition at that time. It’s a pair of very worried parents who walk back into the lounge room.

Mrs Smith makes an executive decision to ring up Mrs Smit to seek permission for the girls to stay the night to help with Hal. She agrees after hearing about what happened at the mall. They don’t need to go and get extra clothes because the shopping has what they need.

A very worried group spends the next several hours trying to watch DVDs while watching Hal. He eats a lot more than normal while he tries to regain his mental balance and get over the emotional shock he’s had. Greta falls asleep on his chest about 2:00 a.m., and he falls asleep about 5:00 a.m. Knowing it’s going to be a long watch Jack and Mary swap off during the night to take some naps during the evening.

At 7:00 a.m. Roland makes his quiet way in the back door as Jack rang him yesterday to get his help. Roland smiles on seeing all of the teens sprawled out asleep in the lounge room. He waves to Jack to show he’ll take over supervising the sleeping teens while Jack drags his tired self upstairs for some much needed sleep. Like Mary, he did get a bit of sleep yesterday and last night, but nowhere near enough. He’ll see about getting enough to get through the day now the relief watch is on hand.

The adults take turns looking after the teens during the day. The girls wake up at various times around lunchtime, but Hal sleeps on. They follow the doctor’s advice of letting him sleep until he wakes.

Dinner is being served when Hal wakes up at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. He opens his eyes to see a very concerned Greta staring into his eyes. He smiles his usual smile at her and she smiles back. He groans when she helps him to his feet. A trip to the toilet and then to the dinner table for a meal. He seems like he’s back to normal, but all know it will be a while before that’s true. The girls go home after dinner.

The Next week

The buzz in the school on Monday is the local news about how a local high school boy killed a violent criminal wanted for putting many people in hospital while robbing them. All of the kids gossip about who it is, except for the few who actually know who it is. There’s six public high schools and five private high schools in the city, so they’ve a huge range of suspects to discuss. Some gossips base their choices on the likely size of the boy who did it; some on the school itself as some schools have reputations for having tough kids; and some on the likely age of the boy involved. A whole lot of discussion, but no facts. Hal’s name has been withheld since he’s a minor, and Hal is very thankful for that fact.

All in his classes notice Hal isn’t his normal self. Oh, he isn’t, and never has been, the most vibrant of personalities in class. But they can see he’s a lot more subdued than normal, and they wonder why. But few care enough to try to find out why he’s like that. The few who do ask are told he’s not feeling well today.

In cooking class Hal is a bit more upset with Greta’s cavalier attitude to measurements than usual. He’s never been happy with it, but today it’s more wearing on him than before. He doesn’t say anything because he knows it’s a waste of time, due to previous discussions on the issue.

Lunch passes as normal with Jenner helping him consume his lunch as well as an extra sandwich she buys herself. Her lunches are a bit more filling now she can buy food for her own lunch from her work income. The table has six servings of lasagne on it for her to take home as well.

While doing some hedge trimming with Freda in the afternoon Hal asks her to bring certain clothes along as extras for tomorrow’s work. He tells her why, and she gives him an evil grin in reply.

Tuesday

The day goes by like a normal Tuesday. Hal is a little closer to his normal self. But the real fun starts when they get home and they’re ready to start work.

Hal leads the girls into the house, but he stops at the dinner table. He holds his hand out and Freda hands him some of her clothes. He holds them out while he says, “Greta, I need to make a very important point clear to you. Over the last few months I’ve spoken to you about this several times, but you’ve not listened or acted on it. So I now plan to make it clear to you through a physical demonstration. I can tell you now, you will not be comfortable with this, but I need you to do this because this is a lesson you really need to learn.” All of the girls except Freda stare at the clothes he’s holding out. Greta frowns at him. “I’ll explain it all later. But you have to go and put on these clothes of Freda’s to wear while you work today. No ifs, no buts, no objections of any sort will be accepted. Put these clothes on.”

Greta gives him a glare when she takes the clothes, then she goes to Jo’s room to change. A little later she has trouble walking down the stairs. Greta is shorter than Freda, but she has the same chest size with a larger bra cup size while having a smaller waist size. The result is the clothes that fit Freda well don’t fit Greta well. Her breasts are pinched in the smaller bra cups, the top feels tight, while the panties and skirt keep sliding down on her. Hal had warned his mother about what he wants to do, and why, so she has a list of chores for Greta to give the most emphasis to the educational project.

For the next two hours Greta is constantly cleaning things high up or low down. In both cases she spends a lot of time pulling the panties and skirt back into position while cursing Hal. Reaching up encourages the panties and skirt to fall down while bending over puts extra stress onto her breasts so they hurt a bit more because they’re pinched by the bra.

When they’re finished work Greta is allowed to change back into her own clothes. She joins them for the snack and drink, glaring hard at Hal while she eats today’s snack: a caramel tart.

Hal smiles at her. “I know that hurt, and I’m sorry I had to hurt you to make this point. But I’m not sorry about having to make the point this way.” She continues to glare at him. “I think you now fully appreciate the fact a cup is only good when it’s filled properly with the correct amount of contents. Too much is wrong and too little is wrong. Correct?” Her glare vanishes as she stares at him while processing his comments. He’s said this to her during cooking class, and now he’s applying them to her bra cups and panties. She stops to think. He waits a moment. “Also, I think you’re now fully aware that you must have the right sized container to accept what’s going in it. In short, putting your body into the wrong panties and bra is the same as putting the wrong amounts of ingredients into a recipe as they just don’t fit well at all. In some cases they will pinch, in others they don’t fill the pan properly. I do hope this gets the message across to you. Since the next possible way to do it is to take you for a drive with insufficient fuel to have you walk back to get the can of extra fuel.” Greta is back to glaring at him, but she’s also thinking very hard about what happened today and what he just said.