JC: Ed Biggers
Part 4: Adjournment
Chapter 1
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

… to live a full life. 

How to measure a full life? Is it the number of days that the body 
has walked upon the planet? If one day is the same as the next, 
should they not be counted as one day of life, rather than two? If 
one year is the same as the previous year, should they not be 
counted as one year?

When a man lies dying, his whole life flashes before his eyes. It is 
not the day to day life that is replayed, but only the moments that 
are different. The tears that run down the face of a dying man is 
not from the loss of life. It is the sadness that comes from the 
realization that after eighty years of walking around on this planet 
that he had only lived a hundred days. There is the regret that 
twenty nine thousand days were not lived. Twenty nine thousand 
days wasted pursuing the mundane rather than the passion!

The elderly look back to their days as children with fondness. 
Those were the days when each day was an adventure. There was 
growth, there was change, and life was vibrant. Later in life, adults 
live through the lives of their children, tasting of it second hand. In 
old age, life becomes filled with the aches and pains of a body 
slowly losing vitality. The days that are lived become trips to 
hospitals, funerals of old friends, and the entry into a nursing 
home.

The childlike behavior of the elderly can be viewed as an attempt 
to reach back into the well of wonder and newness that defined 
living for a child when all things were possible. The adult behavior 
exhibited by those from their mid-twenties to late fifties can be 
viewed as a quelling of life's experiences. Adults don't run or play 
with little toy cars or leave work to have an adventure. Adults 
perform their adult responsibilities, responsibilities that are entirely 
artificial. Adults may dream, but to pursue those dreams is 
irresponsible. The growth of assets is achieved at the expense of 
living. 

The furniture that was new when they were twenty becomes out of 
style when they are forty. The furniture bought at forty becomes 
out of style at sixty. The old dusty houses of the elderly are not a 
comment on not caring about their environment, but recognition 
that changing the furniture is not living a life.

Many of the elderly give up, realizing that they have lost their 
chance to live. Fragile bones preclude skiing down a steep slope. 
Erections are difficult to achieve and the potential for orgies is 
greatly diminished. Sitting on their front porch, they watch as the 
world passes by, becoming embittered that they are not part of it. 
The episodes of anger when disturbed by children that run and 
scream, making noise of joy, is not anger at the children, but anger 
at the fact that they can't run and scream. The days of joy have 
passed for them.

Twenty nine thousand days wasted when they could have been 
lived.

Awake, Ed sat at the table eating his breakfast watching 
Marguerite. He asked, "What's going on?"

"I know nothing," she replied smugly.

Her words rang true, she knew nothing about what was going on. 
He asked, "So where is everyone?"

"I don't know," she replied with a wry smile knowing this was 
driving him crazy. 

The entire household had disappeared right after breakfast, leaving 
him sitting alone at the table. They had taken advantage of the fact 
that he was slow first thing in the morning to leave before he 
realized that something was going on with them. Looking at 
Marguerite, he said, "Let me guess. They are planning something, 
but left you out of the plans so that you wouldn't be able to leak the 
secret."

"That's right, buddy," replied Marguerite enjoying the moment 
tremendously. Her role in the plan was to be the secret keeper. 
With Ed, that meant she had to know nothing about what was 
happening.

"Where's Beth?" asked Ed feeling that he could at least spend the 
morning with the baby.

"Kelly took Beth with her when she went out," replied Marguerite. 
The reason wasn't that they were afraid that Ed would find 
anything from the six month old little girl, but that Kelly wanted 
her close so that she could feed her.

"Cathy?"

"Out."

"Who do I ask about my schedule today?"

"As far as Cathy would let me know, you have nothing scheduled 
today," replied Marguerite with a smile.

"Did she tell you that?"

"Yes, she told me that you had nothing scheduled today."

"So I guess that means I could go out into the desert for the day."

Marguerite's smile faltered as she replied, "Ah, I don't think that is 
in the plan."

Ed smiled at her discomfort and said, "Maybe I should call 
someone and find out if I can do that."

Frowning, Marguerite said, "That would spoil things."

"Oh, so there is something to spoil." 

Frustrated, Marguerite said, "You are horrible. How is anyone 
supposed to surprise you if you can question them to the point of 
discovering everything?"

Thoughtfully, Ed said, "I don't even know why they would want to 
surprise me about anything."

"You don't?" asked a very surprised Marguerite.

"No clue," replied Ed. He hadn't had a major accomplishment in 
the past few months that would warrant a celebration. He asked, 
"So you want to tell me what it's all about?"

"No!"

"Okay, I'm going for a swim. At noon, I'm going to go to Shirley's 
for a coke," said Ed. It was funny, but he actually felt lonely. 
Mornings were usually spent with Ling, rubbing body lotion onto 
her swelling belly. Then he would go to work at the University for 
several hours. After that he would swing by the IRS, the Fusion 
Foundation, or his investment company for an hour or two. 
Coming home, he would spend the late afternoon with Beth 
reading to her while she held his finger. His typical schedule for 
the end of the day included dinner with the family, sunset with the 
men, and the evening with one of the wives.

Marguerite smiled and replied, "That sounds like a good thing to 
do."

With a sad long face, Ed asked, "Would you like to join me in the 
pool?"

"No. You may have a day off, but I have work to do."

Ed walked back to the poolroom, pausing for a moment to examine 
the new glass door that now blocked entrance to the poolroom.  
The door, with nice frosted designs etched into the glass, had been 
installed as part of baby proofing their house. That had not been 
the only change, a number of plants had been removed from the 
atrium when it was discovered that they could be poisonous when 
eaten by young children. 

Once inside the poolroom, he undressed, placing his clothes in a 
neat pile on one of the chairs. Sitting on the edge of the pool with 
his feet dangling in the water, he considered what kind of 
celebration his family could possibly be organizing. Deciding that 
he would never be able to figure it out, he slid into the pool and 
stretched out on his back. With slow kicks of his legs he traveled 
the length of the pool, stopping just before his head hit the edge. 
Turning around, he swam twenty-five vigorous laps using the 
breaststroke and ten laps using the Australian Crawl. Breathless, he 
stood in the pool to catch his breath for a minute before swimming 
at a slower pace to allow the muscles to relax properly.

Exiting the pool, he went over to the Jacuzzi and sat down to let 
the jets of hot water massage his body. With his head tilted back, 
he wondered what he could do for the rest of the morning. The bar 
was closed until lunchtime and Maria's Restaurant wouldn't open 
until evening. Climbing out of the hot tub, he dried off and 
dressed. 

Swinging by the kitchen, he told Marguerite, "I'm going for a 
walk."

She asked, "Where are you going?"

"I thought I'd head into town."

Marguerite laughed and asked, "Would you like to try my 
lemonade?"

Ed hadn't drunk any lemonade since returning from Bill's house on 
the way back from Antarctica. He said, "Sure, I'll give it a try."

After hearing all kinds of noises coming from the kitchen, 
Marguerite returned with a glass of lemonade complete with half a 
lemon floating in it. There was actual pulp and seeds in the glass. 
Taking a sip, he was surprised by how sweet it was. Looking up at 
Marguerite, he said, "This is the best lemonade that I've ever had. 
How did you make it?"

"The juice of two lemons in a shaker with lots of sugar and crushed 
ice. Shake it until your hands can't hold the shaker anymore and 
pour it into a glass. Add half a lemon and serve immediately."

"Wow, this is outstanding," said Ed as he took another sip. It was 
cold and refreshing in a way that iced tea wasn't. 

"You guys drink too much iced tea. I'm trying to expand your 
repertoire of drinks."

"Why?"

"You need a little vitamin C occasionally. You drink coffee and 
tea. At least the women drink smoothies." For years she had put 
glasses of various juices out for breakfast only to have them totally 
ignored by the men. John had a tendency to eat and run, drinking 
only a single cup of coffee. Ed drank cup after cup of coffee 
struggling to wake up. Leroy drank a cup of coffee to wake and 
then drank a second one while talking to everyone else. 

"I drink cokes," said Ed as though that meant something.

"Coke might as well be the same as tea. It has sugar and caffeine." 
Marguerite was about to add that he wasn't getting any younger 
and needed to take care of himself, but she bit the comment back. 
Deciding on a different tact, she said, "You want to set a good 
example for the kids, don't you?"

"Of course I do," replied Ed shocked that she might even consider 
that he wouldn't.

Marguerite said, "Well, that means drinking fruit juices with 
breakfast and milk with lunch and dinner."

"Oh," replied Ed. He hadn't had a glass of milk in years and could 
hardly remember how it tasted. As he tried to remember the last 
time he had drank any, he realized that it was when he was in the 
army. 

He took another sip of the lemonade realizing that the days where 
he sat around drinking iced tea was about to come to an end. 
Perhaps the time the men together spent watching sunsets would be 
the only time of the day when they could revert to drinking iced 
tea. As he thought about it, he realized that he could have 
chocolate milk and milk shakes. He asked, "Do you have any good 
milk drinks?"

The question surprised Marguerite as she thought about it. She 
remembered a Peachy Apricot Milk drink that another chef had 
served in cooking class when she had just entered the Culinary 
Institute. Smiling, she said, "I think I have some experiments to 
perform."

Watching her dance her way into the kitchen, Ed knew that she 
would busy for the next couple of hours coming up with milk 
drinks.  He finished the lemonade and wandered out of the house. 
Noticing Maria outside her house, he walked in her direction. 
When she saw him and ran into the house to avoid him, he was 
absolutely floored. It reminded him of his days as a bully. Looking 
around the street, he noticed that other neighbors ran into their 
houses when they saw him coming.

When he reached downtown, all of the stores had signs on them 
proclaiming that they were closed. It was a plot to keep him from 
finding out what was going on and he couldn't believe how well it 
was working. The family must have thought this through very 
thoroughly to be able to keep it from him. It dawned on him that 
there was one place that would always be open. Smiling, he 
walked across the street to the Sheriff's office. 

Entering the Sheriff's office, he saw the Sheriff sitting at his desk. 
Sauntering over, he said, "Hello, Sheriff."

"Hello, Ed. How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine. Can you tell me what is going on?"

The Sheriff came out from around the desk and smiled at Ed. He 
said, "Let me show you something Ed."

The Sheriff led Ed over to one the cells and pointed inside. He 
said, "John said that if you were to come by that I was supposed to 
show you that envelop."

The Sheriff's words were the truth. Still Ed was suspicious and 
said, "Would you get it for me?"

Shaking his head, the Sheriff answered, "Nope. John said that if 
you wanted to know what was going on, that you would get it."

The Deputy came in and looked at Ed. Shaking his head, he said, 
"I've been real curious as to what that note says."

Everyone was telling him the truth. He asked the Sheriff, "Are you 
going to lock me inside?"

"Nope," replied the Sheriff. He turned and left the room. 

Ed went into the cell to get the letter with the Deputy. As Ed bent 
down to get the envelope, the deputy stepped back and closed the 
cell door. When Ed turned around, the deputy closed the door 
separating the cells from the Sheriff's office. Angry with himself 
for having fallen for the trick, he opened the envelope and removed 
the letter inside. He read it aloud, "Gotcha!"

After testing the door and confirming that it was locked, he sat on 
the bed and thought about the extreme measures they had taken to 
hide whatever they were doing. They had succeeded beyond what 
he thought was possible. He sat back and waited to be released, 
somewhat amused at the situation. 

A couple of hours later, the door opened and John walked into the 
room. Leaning against the doorframe, he said, "I hear that someone 
was disturbing the peace."

Ed looked over at John and said, "Yes, you disturbed my peace. 
Now get me out here and tell me what is going on."

John went to the jail cell and unlocked it. Laughing, he said, 
"Come on, I'll buy you a couple of wimps over at Shirley's."

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" asked Ed frustrated 
by the lack of information about what was happening around him.

John said, "Come on, I'll buy you a couple of wimps over at 
Shirley's."

"You're not going to tell me are you?" He could tell that John 
wasn't telling the truth about buying him a drink.

Smiling at Ed, John walked out of the room and dropped the keys 
on the Sheriff's desk. Turning, he waited for Ed to come shuffling 
out of the cell room.  When Ed caught up with him, John asked, 
"Did you have a nice morning?"

"Bah!" 

When they left the building, Ed stared at the street in amazement. 
The whole town was standing in the street shouting, "Surprise!"

He took a look around the street. There were tables with food and 
drinks. One table had a huge pile of presents on it. A fifty-five 
gallon drum that had been turned into a barbecue grill was over by 
one of the tables piled high with steaks. A huge sign hung across 
the street that read, "Happy 40th Birthday, Ed Biggers."

John said, "Speech!"

Hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand, Ed shouted, "I 
forgot that it was my birthday."

His announcement was greeted with laughter, as no one believed 
that he could possibly forget his birthday, particularly his fortieth. 
A number of people shouted, "The first thing to go when you get 
old is your memory!"

Laughing at the good-natured jibe, Ed said, "I am completely 
surprised. My family went so far as to throw me in jail to keep me 
from finding out about this party."

Nudging John in the ribs, he whispered, "I'll get even with you for 
that."

To the crowd, he said, "I love this town! Where else in American 
can a man have the entire town turn out for his birthday? Thank 
you so much for coming. I can't tell you how much this means to 
me."

Amid cheers, Ed entered the crowd getting handshakes from the 
men and kisses from the women.  John shouted, "Time to have 
lunch!"

As people moved around, Ed took his time heading to the food. 
Kelly came up to him bouncing on her toes with a great big smile 
on her face. Giggling, she asked, "Did you enjoy your time in 
jail?"

Leering at her like a lecher, Ed replied, "I missed the prison 
babes."

Kelly laughed at the memories of the games they had played while 
sleeping in the jail in Colorado on the occasion when John became 
the Grand Druid. She replied, "We couldn't find any other way to 
keep the secret from you."

Ed asked, "Where's Beth?"

"She's with Leroy, over there," she answered as she pointed across 
the crowd. 

Hugging her, he said, "I love you."

Kelly glowed with happiness, but retorted, "Now that you're a dirty 
old man, I'm going to have to watch out for you."

"Let me tell you a little secret. I've been a dirty old man ever since 
I met you."

Kelly laughed and led him away to a crowd of his neighbors. 
Maria, Rosa, and Carlos were waiting to talk to him. Carlos 
greeted him with a handshake and said, "It's all down hill from 
here."

"Are you speaking from experience?" Ed joked as he looked at the 
older man. His neighbor looked younger today than he did several 
years ago.

Carlos laughed and said, "I have two wives to keep me young."

Putting her hands on her hips in a posture of mock anger, Rosa 
teased, "Then why are you always saying that you're too old to 
handle both of us?"

Backing away feigning fear, Ed said, "I'm not going to get in the 
middle of this!"

There was a general round of laughter as Rosa and Maria 
bracketed him and said, "Are you sure that you don't want to be in 
the middle? We're really good at double teaming men."

"Too late. I've been triple teamed and know my limitations," 
retorted Ed. He leaned over and whispered in Maria's ear, "You 
might want to ask Linda how to give a man a two hour long 
orgasm."

Maria looked at Ed with wide eyes. At his nod, she looked around 
for a second and made straight for Linda. Ed laughed and put a 
hand on the shoulder of Carlos as he said, "You have become a 
very lucky man. You're in for a real treat now."

Carlos looked at Ed and then over at Maria talking excitedly with 
Linda. Concerned, he asked, "What did you tell her?"

"I'm not going to tell you, but when she shows you what she is 
learning from Linda I'm sure that you'll erect a statue of me in the 
center of town."

"Or burn you in effigy."

As Ed turned to leave, he replied, "We'll see."

He headed towards other pockets of people that he knew. Joe 
Ortega caught up with him and said, "Ed, I need to talk to you for a 
minute."

"Ah, Joe. It's good to see you. How's business?"

"Business is great. We now have trucks working in Phoenix and 
most of this region of the state," replied Joe with pride. He added, 
"It's great seeing Dad walk through town with pride. For years he 
thought very little of himself and now he is a community leader."

"I'm so happy for him," replied Ed. The change in the Ortega 
lifestyle had been radical. For years, Manuel Ortega had been the 
poorest man in town. Now, he was one of the richest.

"I have some bad news for you," said Joe hesitantly. 

"Is everything all right with you and Juanita?" asked Ed with 
concern. He didn't want to hear that they were having marriage 
problems or that his evening spent with the wife had created any 
discord in their marriage.

"Oh, things are fine between us. We're even thinking about having 
a child."

"That's great. As a new father, I can tell you that having a child is 
wonderful," remarked Ed in relief.

"We're moving out of your house in a month. They've just about 
finished building our dream house."

Extending his hand, Ed said, "Congratulations. I bet you'll be 
happy to move into a new house."

"You're not upset?"

"Upset? Why would I be upset that you've done well enough for 
yourself to move out of that little house? Just the other day I was 
looking at my old house wondering why you were still living there. 
Since you're going to have a family, you'll really need the room," 
replied Ed surprised that Joe would be worried about his reaction 
to the news that Joe was moving up in the world.

Shifting from foot to foot, Joe said, "You've been so good to our 
family. I was just afraid that you would take it that we didn't want 
you around anymore."

Putting an arm around the young man's shoulders, Ed said, "Joe, 
I've never wanted anything more for you than success. I'm so 
happy that you and your father took that business to the level that 
you have. I hope that you guys become nationwide one day."

"Nationwide?"

"Sure, I'd be thinking about franchising the operation if I were 
you," remarked Ed as he imagined the Manuel and Son trucks 
running all over the country.

Joe stared at Ed with his mouth open and said, "I think I need to 
talk to my father."

"Are you going to have a house warming party?" asked Ed.

"Of course, we'll be sending you an invitation."

Trying to think about what kind of gift to get Joe and Juanita, Ed 
asked, "Can you tell me a little about your house?"

"Sure. It's actually two houses. The front house is larger for Juanita 
and I. It has four bedrooms and a huge kitchen. The back house is 
for my parents. Dad is looking to retire in a couple of years."

The news that Manuel was thinking about retiring was news to Ed. 
He asked, "Do you have a pool?"

Joe shook his head and answered, "No. It just seemed to be a bit 
too much money. We'll do that later."

"I take it that you and your father haven't given yourself a raise 
since your business started growing," remarked Ed.

"We're putting everything into growing the business. We are taking 
a long term perspective on it, rather than short term."

"Smart," replied Ed, deciding that he would give them a swimming 
pool or a Jacuzzi as a wedding present. 

Joe looked over at his father who was standing in line to get some 
food. He said, "Let me go talk to my father."

"Okay." Ed watched as Joe raced to his father and pulled him from 
the food line. The old man looked irritated for a minute and then 
got very excited. The two men walked off talking to each other 
with a great deal of animation. Manuel was waving his arms as he 
talked, reminding Ed of a parody of an Italian conversation.

Shirley startled him when she said, "So what did you tell them to 
do?"

"Nothing, really. I just asked when they were going to franchise 
their hauling business."

Shaking her head, she replied, "Nothing, really?"

"Yeah."

Just a couple of weeks ago, Ed had mentioned to Maria that she 
should open another restaurant in Phoenix since she made the best 
food in the state. Maria was seriously considering the suggestion. 
She said, "You aren't going to be satisfied until everyone in town is 
richer than you."

Laughing at the comment, Ed replied, "Nobody is richer than me. I 
have two husbands, three wives, and a baby that love me."

"Your husbands and wives must love to hear you talk about them 
like that," replied Shirley. 

Changing the subject, Ed said, "I can't believe that the whole town 
turned out for my birthday. Isn't it amazing?"

"Not at all. It seems that everyone has learned how to play in this 
town. By the way, are you doing the Haunted House this 
Halloween?"

The Haunted House had become one of Ed's favorite projects. He 
had hired a guy that made holograms to help make it very scary. 
The kids were going to love it. He answered, "You bet. I've 
arranged for all of the orphanages in the county to come visit this 
year. We have a couple of retirement centers coming in to play 
witches, too. They make great witches."

Shirley laughed as she imagined the green makeup on little old 
ladies turning them from sweet old grannies into horrible looking 
witches. The natural wrinkles would give the image a legitimacy 
that no amount of makeup could provide. Sidney, her blind 
husband, played a mummy last year with quite an impact as the 
bandages covered his eyes, but he could still find the kids in the 
darkened room. She said, "Sidney enjoys that so much. He really 
gets into being the monster in the dark."

"It's going to be incredible this year and I think Sidney will enjoy 
the role we've got for him this year."

"I'm glad to hear that. He's been bugging me if I've heard anything 
about it," remarked Shirley. The only one in the family that didn't 
participate in the Haunted House was Mary. It was a shame, but 
she felt that the scars from her burns made her freak enough and 
that showing them in the haunted house would be painful. Ed 
understood her feelings, always making an offer so that she 
wouldn't feel left out, but never pressing the issue. 

This year, he planned to have people working in the background 
running the holograms and active displays. Smiling at Shirley, Ed 
added, "I even have a job for Mary this year in the Haunted House 
and I think she'll take it this time."

"You know how she feels about this."

"I know exactly how she feels about this. That's why I'm confident 
that she'll enjoy doing it this time," replied Ed with a knowing 
smile.

Ed moved through the crowd, talking to one person after another - 
finding out what they were doing, making suggestions on things 
they might consider, and learning more about his neighbors. The 
character of the town had changed a lot from the day when he had 
challenged John in the bar.  

A third of the families in town consisted of more than two adults. 
Half of the other families had open marriages. There were still 
those that held to a conventional marriage, but their marriages 
tended to be based on more open dialog than ever existed before. 
Last year, there hadn't been a single divorce in town. Half of the 
graduating class from high school was headed to college. Others 
were stepping into family businesses or had other concrete plans. 

As Ed waited in line to get some food, he noticed that people 
talked to each other. There weren't any pushing, arguing, or nasty 
comments about the wait. No one tried to cut in line. If a friend 
came along, a person would move to the end of the line to be with 
them rather than squeeze the friend at the front of the line. He 
commented to Wanda, the owner of the flower shop, "You've got 
to love this town. Have you ever seen people this pleasant in a line 
before?"

Wanda smiled at Ed and answered, "No. I never thought this town 
would be more accepting of a Lesbian than a big city."

Ed smiled at her and whispered, "After watching my wives 
together, I know I don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of 
changing the mind of a confirmed Lesbian. I think most of the men 
in town know that now, too."

She laughed and replied, "I think you're right. I haven't heard 
anyone say that one night with a real man would change my mind 
in ages." 

Leroy came over with Beth and said, "She wants you."

Beth was repeating continuously, "Eh, Eh."

It took just a minute for him to put on the baby sling and get Beth 
installed in it. She settled down and fell asleep immediately. Her 
hand was closed around Ed's finger. Wanda looked at the sight and 
said, "She definitely knows what she likes."

Ed whispered, "It doesn’t get any better than this."