Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Codes ( M, F, g, no sex, slow) The Girl With a Bicycle - Part 6 by Wandering Lanes Monday morning found me eating breakfast, after having washed, shaved and dressed, I knew Sharon would be off to work at nine o'clock, and I would be expected to baby-sit Kylie. I didn't have anything planned, although I did want to go into town to get two more radio/receivers, one for myself and one for Sharon. Plus I didn't trust myself alone with Kylie in the house - that was the whole of the problem. Now if it were Sharon herself? No problem! But Kylie was too young. "Uncle Mike?" Kylie's voice came from the base station, I picked up the microphone. "Good morning Kylie, what's up?" Well I really knew, Sharon was leaving, and Kylie didn't know what to do? "Mummy say's goodbye, shall I come round to you?" "Yes please Kylie, I've got some things to do up town, but I'm sure you can join me." A different voice came over the airwaves, "Cool! Can I come as well, Mr. Mike?" "Yes Becky, as long as you're mother doesn't mind?" "She's gone to work already, I was left alone here for today." "In that case, then yes Becky, I'd be pleased if you come too." - pleased! Relieved was my main feeling. With two of them I'd have no time alone with Kylie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Becky was the first to arrive I was going suggest she waits in the garden when she pushed into the hallway. "Okay if I wait here Mr. Mike? Kylie should be here soon, she lives further away." "As long as you want to Becky, you don't have to force yourself, you do know that." "Mr. Mike if I thought you would do anything, I wouldn't have come round would I?" again the convoluted logic of children in action. As if I would do anything to hurt either Becky or Kylie, this jogged a memory. "Becky, if I should do anything that you don't like, even if I look at you in a odd way, say the word..." I hunted around for a word that Becky could use, my eyes landed on... "Teapot." She looked at me as if I was daft! Perhaps I was? "Becky, it's a word you wouldn't normally use is it?" She shook her head, "So if you start saying it, people would look to see why? - Wouldn't they?" understanding appeared on her face. "Does Kylie have a word?" I nodded, "What is it?" I shook my head. "Its Kylie's own word, for her to use against me, understand?" She nodded then added "Bet she doesn't use it though. You do know she has a crush on you don'tcha?" "Yes I did know, but don't tell her okay?" "Okay Mr. Mike, I'll keep quiet." Luckily there was the ring of the doorbell announcing the arrival of Kylie. I opened the door to the beaming face that was looking up at me. "Hiya Uncle Mike, Becky, what're we going to do today?" "Well first I have to go to town, then the rest of the day is yours, okay?" Both girls nodded, I turned to Becky, "What time's your lunch?" "We don't eat much at midday, its normally left 'till mum and dad gets home." "Doesn't Darren get you anything." She looked wide-eyed and answered. "What him, I don't think he knows where the kitchen is! Let alone how to make a sandwich!" "Okay, okay I get the message, well we'll go into town and see what we can find there, come on, I'll drive you there." - Kylie's face fell - why? But both girls followed me to my garage. I opened the garage door and, after ensuring the girls were out of the way, drove the car out into the light. I got out of the car, closed the garage door and opened the back doors for the girls to enter. Becky jumped in immediately, Kylie hung back looking at me and shaking her head. - DAMMN, I'd forgotten. "Hey, why ain't you getting in? Its comfy here." I turned to Becky, "Slight problem for the moment, can you just stay there while I talk to Kylie." Becky nodded her head, I turned back to Kylie. "Kylie, I'm sorry. I did forget. Can you try to get into the car?" she waited for a moment, screwing up her courage, she took a deep breath, then nodded. After she'd entered the car I put the seat belt around her, I didn't speak - she was acting like the sacrifice about to be put to the knife. I kissed the top of her head, looked at Becky, I mouthed 'bad memories' she nodded. Yes, she's had plenty of those and understood. I started to drive, carefully, into town. Kylie lasted longer than I'd thought. Just as we got into the outskirts of the town she began to cry, then she said. "Dinosaur, Oh Uncle Mike, DINOSAUR." I pulled over, made sure there was nothing coming, opened the back door and lifted Kylie out of the seat and onto the pavement, shutting the door afterwards. I held Kylie close to me as she cried herself out. "I'm sorry Uncle Mike, I didn't mean to be a bother." I tried to be as reassuring as I could. "That's okay Kylie, you did very well. Look." I showed her where we were, pointed out the multi-storey car park I was heading to, "Do you think you can last out until there?" "I'll try Uncle Mike, honestly I will." "Don't worry if you can't. Just let me know, okay?" she gulped and nodded, then SHE climbed into the car and did the belt up, I closed the door and got into the drivers seat, to be greeted with. "How come she got a dinosaur and I'm stuck with a stupid teapot?" Kylie and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. __________________________________________________________________ After managing to park the car, get the girls out - not forgetting to hug Kylie, we went down the lift to the shopping levels. The first stop was at Greg's electrical outlet, there was a woman already ahead of me, looking at a radio/transceiver set, then looking at the price! "Oh, I didn't realise they were that much!" she was saying to my friend, and handed it back to him saying, "looks as if I'm going to disappoint them then." She turned round, it was Paula - the Tawny Owl of Kylie's group (okay sixes - daft name I think!). She saw Kylie, "Hello Kylie." Kylie answered her and introduced me as her Uncle Mike - this got me a sideways look and so I explained. "I'm a friend of the family, and it looks like a child minder now!" She laughed at that, "What's the problem?" she looked awkwardly at me and pointed to Kylies radio. "The girls at Brownies were so enthusiastic about Kylie's radio that We had a discussion about them, and thought it would be useful, but with the price they are I don't think we'd be able to afford it!" "How many did you need?" "Well there are 24 girls in the group, and the three of us- so 27 in all, as I said at the prices they are, we'd never be able to raise that much." My friend behind the counter gave a 'what can I do' look. 27? I knew he didn't have that many in stock, and it was true this model was expensive, I asked Paula if she could look after Kylie and Becky while I had a word with Greg. "Mike what can I do, I've only got 12 in stock, and how do I know they won't return them after a couple of days? I've been burned like that before!" "Greg, what if I guaranteed that they won't be coming back, what discount could you give?" "For 12 I suppose 7%." I looked at him, "Oh come on only 7% we are talking about your last 12 here, you can do better than that, how about 20%?" He looked at me as if I'd insulted his mother. "20 you've got to be kidding, I could go to 10%, if pushed." We both knew the rules of this game, "10% that's peanuts to you, what about 17?" Finally we agreed on 15% discount for the 12 units, then I said, "Now to work out the discount on the other 20 we need!". We haggled with each other, then I produced my plastic which he swiped, charged and, after I signed the slip, smiled at me and said. "You could have got them cheaper, you give up too soon." We left Gary's small office, he retrieved the 12 units, of which I took 2 and handed the other 10 to Paula. "But we can't afford them." She was saying in a flustered manner, "How can I explain this to Brown Owl?" "Just say a family friend wanted to help." "Thank you, if you ever need a favour just call." She wrote her name and telephone number on some paper and handed it to me, I placed it in my wallet, then I suggested. "Paula, since there are 3 groups in your pack - is that the term?" she smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, we have three sixes, they are Elves, Pixies and Gnomes - Kylie is in my sixes the Gnomes." I nodded remembering Kylies monologue last night. "Right, well these can be tuned to any minor frequencies," she frowned at the term, I carried on. "what if you assign a different frequency to each 'sixes', that way they can stay in the same group, without interfering with the others," Then Becky piped up with, "Yeah, and they're good for 'hide 'n' seek' as well!" At Paula's puzzled face, I showed her the tracker feature with the explanation of "That's the real cause of the price, the tracker part is still being developed, no-ones yet really worked out a selling point for it, but hide and seek is still fun, even over a couple of miles." - I was sounding like a salesman with a winning pitch, but Paula didn't seem to mind. "Yes that does seem a good idea, Thank you again." "That's okay, when the others are ready I'll bring them to the church hall." "Thanks, well goodbye, see you at Brownies, Kylie, see you again Becky", and with that Paula left the shop. "I like her, she's nice," this was from Becky, "Why didn't you kiss her Mr. Mike!" "Becky, you know she's a teacher!" "So, she's also human you know!" "And I'm not really interested in her at this time, come on lets look around, okay?" and with a cry of 'Yeah!' and 'Cool', and after saying goodbye to Greg, we carried on out of the shop and into the town centre. _____________________________________________________________ While we were looking round the town there was a cry of, "Hey, Rebecca, watcher think you doing?", and a groan of 'oh shit' from Becky beside me. A youth, came up to us, he was about my height, slightly heavier, and had an attitude of 'I'm in this world and it owes me!' I took an instant dislike to him. "I thought it was you Rebecca, why ain't you at home? How did you get into town anyway?" "Kylie's uncle brought us in, Darren." - So this was the infamous Darren, no wonder I didn't like him, Becky continued, "It boring staying at home, and when Kylie invited me along I thought I'd might as well," Darren looked at Kylie, I almost felt like pulling her behind me, out of his gaze. "Oh well that's okay then, You'll keep an eye on my baby sister won't you?" I nodded, "Of course I will Darren, " he blinked at my use of his name, "I'll look after her as if she was mine." The battle lines were drawn, although he didn't realise it. "Fine then, Oh Rebecca don't forget you know what." She nodded her head, Darren left, but kept looking back now and again at Becky? His eyes seemed to be directed more at Kylie! We walked on. "What did he mean? 'don't forget you know what'" Kylie asked Becky, "He was reminding me to keep my mouth shut." Said Becky angrily, I hugged her, "But you have nothing to keep you silent, we both know what's happening. - I could still talk to people about it you know?" She thought for a bit, then shook her head. "No just yet Mr. Mike, I don't think it's the right time." After seeing Darren I wasn't sure. We arrived at the newspaper office at lunch time, I asked if Sharon Williams was available, and we were shown up to the Editors office. Isabel Crabb was a no-nonsense person, she seemed able to size people up within a few minutes, she gave me a firm handshake. "So you're Mike. Well Sharon was right!" I cocked my head at her, at which she smiled, "You look like one of the good guys, and after I found out you name I looked you up in our files, I didn't realise that you...." I cut her off at this point. "No, and I don't want Sharon to know, let me tell her in my own time. Please?", she nodded her head, "Okay Mike, I'll pass the word round, and I'll make sure Rob is told twice." Yes she certainly did know people, I smiled and said thanks, both the girls were looking up at me. "Uncle Mike, what wrong?" "Yeah, Mr. Mike -did you rob a bank or kill someone?" "Nothing is wrong, and Becky I haven't killed anyone, or robbed a bank, its just another stupid secret, which doesn't hurt anyone, but I don't want Kylies mother to know about, at least not just yet, Okay?", both girls nodded, I turned back to Isabel, "You don't know where Sharon is?" "She's talking to an colleague at the moment, I think you know him, its Richard." I nodded my head, "Ah yes, Richard, he's working on a story with Rob I believe." If Isabel wanted to keep the fiction alive then I should, relief showed in her eyes. "Er.. Yes that's right" I leaned in close and whispered "If you're going to lie, make sure you know what the lie is about first, that's the main rule" She nodded. "Yes, I know, but I didn't know how much you knew." "Richard spoke to Sharon at my house, He introduced himself to us both at the same time." She nodded. "Well they're talking in room.... Oh no, here they come now" and sure enough Richard was walking towards us with Sharon, who was dabbing at her eyes, Kylie ran up to her and held onto her hand. They both looked to me. "Hello Mike, I hope everything's okay," this was from Richard in a slightly guarded voice. "Hello again Richard, everything is fine, I hope the story is coming along?" - in other words, 'don't worry, I'm not here to rock any boats' "Oh fine, I think we'll soon be able to get it into print. Been able to get more background from Sharon here. Well got to dash. Bye", and with that Richard vanished down the hall. Isabel took at look at Sharon, then said. "Mike why don't you take Sharon off for a long lunch break, I think she could do with one. First day nerves and all that!" Now I was being told - calm her down and get her to relax. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We ended up in the park, Kylie and Becky ran off to play with the swings, and Sharon and myself ended up on a bench, my arm round her shoulder her head pressed against my neck. We watched the two girls as they played, normal excited children, swinging back and forth trying to beat each other in height. After the swings we walked along the path to the pond. The ducks were fighting for the food against the pigeons, Kylie said that the next time we came here we'd have to bring food, to which Becky agreed. Sharon was more relaxed now. We went to MacDonalds - yes I was splashing out! - The girls had happy meals, I had a Chicken Sandwich, Sharon had Quarter Burger. While we were eating there was the sound of sirens moving around the town. When we finished the meals, and the girls were finished playing with the dolls, from the happy meals, we started to walk back to the Paper. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We arrived back at the Paper's offices to find fire engines outside and police cars blocking off the road. Smoke was coming out of the second floor window and also from the ground floor. Sharon dragged us round to where all the office staff were gathered, she gave her name to a young lady who was holding a ledger, her finger was running down a list of names, found Sharons' and ticked it off. "Sharon, Mike, ain't we got fun." "Rob, what's happened?" "Firebug hits local paper, well that would be the headline, if we had a paper to print it on." "Much damage?" "Can't say yet, Firemen are still damping down, they hit the records and our offices." "Anyone hurt?" - Why am I asking the questions? He's the journalist! "No, maintenance found the first and everyone cleared out before it went off. We didn't know about the other until after we left." I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. "Lucky they found the first wasn't it", Rob started to look sheepish at this, Damn I knew it!. "They were looking for it weren't they?" "Weeell, yes. It was suggested that something like this may happen, so they've taken to doing spot checks. And this time they found something. We get cleared out, bomb disposal gets called, and before they arrive - 'boom'" "And if they hadn't have found it?" "Relax Mike, everyone's safe." Then Isabel arrived she turned to Sharon, "Well, I'm glad I sent you off early, this must be the shortest first day on record, Until we can get sorted out would you mind if we postpone your contract, at least for a few days? We'd still pay you, don't worry about that." I whispered to Sharon, "Take it, paid holiday after one morning, what could be better?" Sharon nodded, "Yes thank you Isabel, that's if its okay?" "That's fine, look we're too busy telling the cops where we were, if you can give your statement then you should be free to leave". Which was the case, apart from awkward question of why did you leave early, which Isabel, who was standing with Sharon, was able to answer. I held the two girls tightly to myself. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We got back to the car, I opened the doors to allow Kylie and Becky into the back seats, I tied the belt around Kylie and whispered into her ear. "Will you be okay for the trip back?" She nodded, but I carried on, "Don't forget if it gets too much, just tell me." This time the nod would have taken her head off. I closed the doors and got into the drivers seat, we left the multi-storey car park and drove home, passing the street where the police cars still had the road blocked, I turned on the radio, tuned to a pop station. Becky was soon singing away to the song, Kylie was just quiet. We got to my garage, "All ashore who's going ashore, " I said as the girls and Sharon got out, I opened the door and drove the car into the garage. I closed the door to the garage, and went to Kylie. "Well done, Kylie. You were very good, I'm proud of you." Becky was puzzled, as was Sharon, I turned to Sharon and said. "Didn't you realise this is the first time Kylie has been in a car, seated in the back, since..." She was by Kylie in an instant. "Oh Baby, I had forgotten, you were very brave." Becky pulled at my arm. "What's the fuss, Its only a car ride?", "I know Becky, but for Kylie it was more - she had to fight a personal daemon and she'll be fighting it for some time before she's okay with it." She still didn't understand, I can't say I blame her, I looked at Kylie. "Can I tell her, or do want to?" Kylie shook her head, "I'll tell her at home, later. Please Uncle Mike." I nodded my head, "Ok, Kylie. It's up to you who you tell, and how much you tell, but friends will always share, both the good and the bad." We started to walk back to Sharon's home, but Kylie suggested we went to mine. Once we got in, Kylie asked if Becky and her could watch the television, I let them and Sharon and I sat on the settee, snuggled up to each other, after half an hour Becky appeared to ask if they could go out to play, after they had gone, Sharon said. "Mike, since the girls will be away for some time, could we..?" I sighed, got up and lifted her up the stairs into my bedroom, "Sometimes Sharon you are insatiable." She smiled, "Only sometimes?" And with that she started to undress. - 30 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My apologies to those who were expecting a bit more sex in this story, I had to have a point to finish on, and this seemed to be it. The normal disclaimers apply. the story is fiction, the people involved do noe exist, the radio's don't exist either. Do I exist? Possibly. any comments? please send them wanderinglanes@aol.com, if you don't like this? let me know! comments can be good or bad! Wandering Lanes 9th August 2001.