Still don't own them.

Enjoy!

HOME WORK - RAINY SATURDAY

Saturday morning my alarm went of at 5 am. I thought half an hour was enough for me to get showered and ready to go sailing. A peek through the window and my spirits came down. It was pouring outside. Not weather to go sailing. I know people who do sail says all weather is sailing weather but I was just not feeling it. I wanted my first time to be calm, sunny and warm. Not just that I could show off my new bikini, all though that played a significant part, but I was afraid of getting sea sick in the rocking boat. And I imagined rocking the boat a different way. I got up any way and started the coffee, I'd call Carlos and cancel the trip. I hope he's as bummed out as I am. Well there's no time like the present I thought and reached for my phone. It started ringing at the same moment, speak of the devil, it was Carlos.

"Morning Babe. Did I wake you?"

"Morning to you too Carlos. I just got up and put on the coffee. I'm afraid I'll have to cancel the sailing."

"Yeah, it's why I'm calling. I'm sorry but I'm not all that confident in my abilities to master the boat in this weather. I was hoping for a sunny day."

"You and me both. Maybe another time."

"Definitely. Did you have any other plans for today?"

"No, as I told you, just hanging with my boys. Why?"

"How would you like to spend the day with me and Julie anyway? We could go to the Seaquarium."

"I'd love to. Would you mind if I asked Joyce and Laura to tag along?"

"No, I don't see why not. Michael's gonna be here in about ten, he still thinks we're going sailing, poor guy."

"You didn't call him to cancel?"

"No, Julie wouldn't let me. I think she wants to spend the day with him anyway."

"I think so too. Do you know what time the Aquarium opens?"

"Well I know it's not at 0600 that's for sure. Oh, here it is. It opens at 1000, is that too early?"

"Carlos, it's five in the morning at the moment. I don't think 10 is too early."

"You're right. Would you like to have breakfast with us? Julie had this home work where she had to make a traditional Finnish breakfast pastry."

"Oh she did, did she. And how did you enjoy the Karjalan piirakka?"

"The pastry it self was fine, really tasty, but the butter with the shredded egg, maybe not so much."

"Did she actually make the pastries her self?"

"She had some friends over, Michael was here, and Marisol has really nimble fingers. I googled the piirakka and they're not all that far off."

"Ok, I'll be over a little later, say about an hour and I'll bring some different toppings for the pastries. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me. What time do you think it's ok to call Joyce? I don't think either she or the Dick will be up yet?"

"Joyce will probably be up in a couple of hours, she's on a morning shift-wake-up-schedule and they were not staying at the same hotel as Dick."

"They weren't? Why?"

"Dickie compromised to pay for her and Lauras flights as a birthday present, but they had to sort out the accommodations by them selves. The cheap bastard."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. That's how cheap he is."

"If I'd known, I would have let them stay here. It's not like I don't have the room."

"I offered for her to stay with me but Joyce found a really nice little B&B online and didn't want to cancel on that."

"Did they have any plans for the day?"

"I think they were going to scope some celebrities in Hollywood. Laura thinks she might see Cinderella or Snow White or some other Disney Princess walking the streets."

"They do know that 'the real Hollywood' is in California, right?"

"I think Joyce does, Laura, not so much. I think she would love the Seaquarium, I'll call and ask her anyway."

"You do that and we'll see you in a bit."

"Later."

With almost an hour to spend I started carrying out my house plants to the part of the patio that wasn't covered. Nothing like rain water to cut down on the watering of plants. The rain had frizzled down to a slight drizzle now and I think they might survive. I knew that either Hector or my dad would take them inside later. They still thought I was going sailing. That done, I got dressed for a day in a humid aquarium. Remembering Carlos saying that he didn't have parking I put on my rain coat and jumped on the bike. The one with pedals, no engine.

I arrived at Casa Mañoso a little after six. It seemed like an ungodly hour to be awake on a Saturday morning but never the less, here I was. Julie opened the door alert and very much awake. There has to be something wrong with her. Aren't teenagers supposed to like sleeping in on week ends? I remember I was dead to the world before 10 am. Well, times change.

"Morning Mickie, it's really nice of you to spend the day with us. We've got a jam packed day planned with Michael. First we're going to Ikea, then the Miami International Mall and finally the Mall of Americas and then well have dinner at Magic City Casino with the famous Hamburger Museum and dessert at Wall's Ice Cream. What do you think? It's a good plan isn't it?"

"I thought we were going to the Seaquarium?"

"Well, we went there on a school trip just last November and our plan helps us with the assignment. We get to shop for furniture and stuff for our apartment."

"You're really taking this project seriously aren't you?"

"I think it's fun and we really learn a lot."

"Well I'm good with that plan, unless your father disagrees."

"Trust me, he'll follow you any where. Even to Ikea."

"You think so?

"I know so. I might be just a teen but I know my dad likes you. He's never before invited any women to join us in anything we've done before."

"He's usually not here for very long so he wants to spend his time with you."

"But now he's here, maybe even permanently, if there's someone special."

"I wouldn't go that far. Lets just spend the day and have fun. OK?"

"Ok, but I know what I know."

"What I know is, that I bought over some different toppings for your pastries and I was promised breakfast. So you lead me to your kitchen and lets eat."

"Just follow the sound, dad and Michael are there already. I'll just go and put some socks on."

I followed the sound and found Carlos and Michael finishing setting the table. I brought out the smoked salmon mousse, the lingon berry cream cheese spread and the carrot puré with crispy bacon. They were in for a treat. Breakfast was a fun affair and I think all of them liked my toppings better than the traditional egg-butter that goes with the pastries. An hour and a half later I called Joyce to ask her what they were up to. She said they were in fact going to the Seaquarium but by boat. They were enjoying breakfast in the garden of the B&B and she called a friend from nursing school who relocated to Miami. They were spending the day with the friends family. She did not know or care what Dickie was up to. Their flight back to Trenton on Monday left at 3.55 pm from Fort Lauderdale. We agreed on having dinner Sunday night.

Around 9.30 we piled in Carlos' metallic ice white Volvo CX90 and head for IKEA. There were hundreds of cars on the road to and in the parking lot. IKEA opened at 10 and it was still a few minutes before. I don't think Julie and Michael had this thing quite thought through. There were some exasperated moans from the back seat. The queue moved by snails pace.

"What if we come back later?"

"No, we can't do that, we've got the day mapped out by the minute."

"And how many minutes did you allocate for finding parking and going inside?" Carlos had a slight smile on his lips while asking Julie.

"Well, about five minutes."

"We're about 13 minutes in to your five and it's going to be at least another 15-20 minutes before we find parking. Luckily we don't need to park by the entrance or exit as we're actually not buying anything."

"This seriously cuts in to our dessert time at Wall's."

"You're actually cutting of your time for dessert rather than shopping?"

"Duh!"

"I would have to disagree on that Julie, I'd rather skip both the malls and head straight for dessert after IKEA."

"I'm with Michael on that one, skip the malls and have ice cream."

"Dad, you want to go with me to the malls right. Spend quality time with your only daughter on a rainy Saturday, right?"

"I love spending time with my favorite daughter any day of the week, but I'm afraid you're on your own on this. I'll endure IKEA, hamburgers for dinner and ice cream for dessert. Besides, isn't online shopping a thing when you don't really shop."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Lets just find a spot to park and go inside."

The really cool thing about IKEA is that they're all mapped out the same, world wide. You begin in the living room, scouting for sofas, arm chairs and coffee tables, book shelves and entertainment centers. Next up is the bed room, beds, bed side tables, dressers and armoires. Wardrobes, closets and textiles. Then you got your kitchen, cabinets, fridges, freezers, stove tops and ovens. Bins, cooking utensils and porcelains. Next up; bath rooms, showers, bath tubs, toilet seats. Shelving and washing machines. Last the foyer or entry way. Mirrors, shoe storage, hangers etc. etc. Not to forget the carpets, lighting and other decore. It's a place to spend a day. If you get hungry you can always visit the restaurant for Swedish meatballs with mash, cream sauce and lingon berry. If you're just peckish you can have hot dogs or wiener cups. I love IKEA! (for real, if you've never been, I suggest a day trip to any IKEA) Julie and Michael had a floor plan of their apartment and with the planning program that was provided they got it furnished by the end of the day. They got the print outs for free when mentioned it was for a school project. It was almost 8 pm when we finally left, all of us completely exhausted.

"What if we just forego the hamburger joint, order in some take away and see a movie at home?" Maybe do some necking on the couch.

"Carlos, that is the best idea you've had all day." I'd love to wedge on the sofa and snuggle up to this gorgeous guy.

"Dad, I don't think we're in to the same movies that you and Mickie are."

"How do you know what kind of movies I like to watch? I think Michael rather watches any action movie than a sappy rom-com. Right Michael?"

"Uhh, I like rom-coms too."

"But you'd rather watch an action flick, right?"

"Nooo, I'm good with rom-com if that's what Julie wants."

"Well, Julie does not want a rom-com, Julie wants the new Aladdin movie."

"Oh, I'd like the new Aladdin too."

"So now it's girls against boys."

"It doesn't have to be. Aladdin has sword fights, high speed carpets chases and magic."

"Ok, so Aladdin it is. What about food?"

"Thai"

"Tacos"

"Pizza"

"And here we go again. Can we actually agree on some thing on the first try?"

"Obviously not. Don't you have any thing in the freezer? Maybe home made by Marisol?"

"Come to think about it she said she made some lasagna last week. Every body good with that?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, I could eat lasagna."

"Yeah. Home made lasagna sounds awesome."

"So lasagna it is. Lets make a salad to go with that and maybe some garlic bread as well. Michael, maybe call your dad and tell him about our plans."

As a group we trouped to the kitchen and got to work. Half an hour later we all had our plates loaded with goodies, drinks in our hands and tromped of to the home theater. There were comfortable single leather seats and a couple of love seats in three rows and a giant floor to ceiling screen. Can you believe, Carlos also had a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine and a soda dispenser.

"If you ever get tired of the security business you could go in to the cinema business. Maybe only show foreign films with no subtitles and old black and white classics, like Laurel and Hardy or early Charlie Chaplin."

"Would you be my cigarette girl?"

"I could be, but I'd only sell fruit and soda. Smoking is so passe."

"Shh, the movie starts."

We got comfy and had dinner and a movie. Half way through you could hear faint snoring from the first row where Julie and Michael were sitting, they were pooped out. Carlos and I sat in the back enjoying the movie and the wine we had. We didn't even notice the final credits, we were busy making our own magic.

"Babe, lets go upstairs." God I want her so bad.

"You think it's smart to leave these two here?" Luckily it's a big house and their bedrooms are in different wings.

"I'll wake them and Michael can stay over in the guest room on the third floor."

"I like the way you think." Mickie old gal, it looks like you'll get some tonight.

"I like the way I think too." I'm rock hard just thinking about her. Quivering under me, riding on top of me. I've got to stop or I'll come in my pants like a horny teenager.