Chapter 60

Roger watched as the Toyota rolled past the ranch house on its way down to Phillip and Ayesha's for his breakfast rendezvous with Katherine.

The front door to the ranch house opened and Freya's towering form emerged with Natalie and Zenobia right behind, her arachne legs now in plain sight since she was at home.

He smiled as he saw the three young demi human women shouldering their rucksacks prior to heading out into the desert to explore.

A persistent tugging on his sleeve caused him to look down and Sophie asked, "Why're you smiling Unca Roger?"

He grinned at his niece and replied,"No reason in particular, I was just watching the ladies as they set out on their hike."

With the boldness of her youth, Sophie slithered up Roger as if he were a tree stump and looked where he had been looking.

Moments later, she commented, "They're going to the Hidden Springs to swim there."

She eased herself back down a bit, then with her slit pupilled yellow eyes on par with his, she smiled at him, flicked her forked tongue in and out a few times and asked almost bluntly, "You and Auntie Freya sleep together don't you? Are you going to marry her? She does love you, I can tell!"

Moments later, Sophie asked innocently, "Gee Unca Roger, why're you so red?"

Roger could feel his face flushing at her directness and he stammered, "F,Freya's only 13, she's not nearly old enough to marry anyone, not yet."

He muttered, "You are, your grandmother's granddaughter!"

"What was that, Unca Roger?"

"Oh, nothing..."

Setting the precocious child down again, Roger was almost relieved when they led him off to see the huge bones they had found with their grampa.

Their little hands tugged on his as they sinuated easily over the sand, gravel and rocks in their path.

Roger couldn't help marveling at their confidence in the desert.

He knew Phillip had been an oil company field prospector when he found and fell in love with Ayesha, only to disappear for the next 25 years or so, until he and George had come out of the desert in their ungainly looking Unimog.

Since returning to the U.S. With his family, Phillip had been mapping and exploring the ranch and its surrounding area.

Naturally the twins had tagged along just like their mother had done when she was young and it was they who'd spotted the huge bones eroding out of the hillside.

Now they were leading their Unca Roger to see what they had found.

Coming around the rocky shoulder of the hillside, Sophie let go of his hand and surged forward, crying over her shoulder, "They're right here, come see!"

Maria's little hand squeezed his and she too, urged him forward in her excitement.

Roger laughed at the antics of the little lamias and marveled at the stamina of their parents in keeping pace with their serpentine energy.

Just ahead, Sophie had coiled up and was literally bouncing up and down on her tail coils, while grinning hugely.

Stepping past the last of the underbrush, Roger stopped dead in his tracks and gaped.

There, crumbling out of its rocky tomb was a skeleton of tremendous size.

Two of its stupendous legs were already exposed and even though the exposed bones were broken, he could see how big they were, the broken humerus alone was nearly longer than he was tall.

From where he stood, he could see a long string of neck vertebrae, a huge scapula and numerous rib fragments.

Many fragments of its gigantic pelvis and a long row of tail vertebrae that curved back into the hillside.

Roger laughed and exclaimed, "You two found a dinosaur, that's amazing!"

Two little faces grinned at him, then Maria said,"Grampa said a bad word when we found it!"

Roger chuckled and replied, "I'm sure he did but it wasn't meant in a bad way, he was just surprised to see it."

At their puzzled expressions, Roger grinned and said, "Sometimes a bad word can mean a good thing has happened or that like here, a wonderful thing was found.

"A bad word can also mean that something bad has happened like when your dad bumped into that jumping cactus like you two warned me about."

"So grampa saying "Holy Shit!" was a good thing?" Asked Maria in her innocence.

"Yeah something like that, only don't go around saying it because it is still a bad word, regardless of whether you're an adult or not...Okay?"

They heard voices behind them and turned to see Natalie, Zenobia and Freya toiling up the trail they had just exited.

Natalie smiled and waved while Zenobia smiled shyly as Roger waved back.

Freya grinned at him and called out, "Hoo lang hae yoo ben haur?"

"Just a few minutes, this is amazing!"

Moments later, the trio had joined them and Freya was marveling at the huge skeleton eroding out of the rocks.

Roger smiled at his towering companion and said, "This is what a dinosaur looks like when it is first found. What you saw at the museum was the end result of a lot of hard work."

Freya smiled and murmured, "Onie idea ay whit kin' it is?"

"Not sure, I do know it's one of the long necked variety. Paleontology's not really my field...Maybe Phillip would know."

Natalie grinned at Roger and said, "So, where're the the squirts taking you next?"

He shrugged and replied, "I've not a clue. My mission is to keep them out of your sister's hair for the time being or until Tom and Katherine have gotten to know each other better."

Natalie giggled and said gaily, "It's crazy isn't it? Katherine meets mister tall, dark, and handsome and she loses her mind. Mom's already planning the wedding and dad's just trying to stay out of the way."

Roger chuckled at her remarks and asked, "Do all lamia marriages begin this way? Girl meets boy, girl grabs boy, boy accepts his fate, that sort of thing?"

Natalie smiled, "It sure seemed that way when Mia met George. She was always the level headed one, the smart one, daddy's little buddy and all. You and George showed up one day and wow! Everything changed, for the better I might add."

She murmured, "George will always be special to me,"

She looked at Roger and said, "He saved my life you know, those jackals had me cornered and were about to finish me off. I was never so scared in my life and he came out of nowhere, yelling like a crazy man and waving his shirt around his head. He scared off those jackals, they took off like he was a lion or worse. Mom showed up right after that."

She smiled, "Say what you like about George, but he will always be my hero."

Natalie grinned, "And here we are today!"

Natalie looked thoughtful, "It was different with Rosalind and Brad. He actually courted her, brought her flowers, candy, the works. At first she wasn't interested, I guess she wanted to get swept off her coils like Mia did, but one day she realized that Brad was serious about her, it wasn't a flirtation. He was really interested in her, she accepted his proposal and now she's really happy with him and her life in general."

Natalie grinned, "We're going to Hidden Springs to go skinny dipping, want to come along..."

Roger laughed and replied, "I'm not sure that would a good idea. Me, a grown man, an adult, alone with a bunch of naked teen age girls, unsupervised, naked teen age girls, I might add."

"Afraid my mom'd kill you?"

"Yeah, that and Mia too, remember, I've got the kiddos with me."

Natalie grinned and said roguishly, "They could be your chaperones! You know they'd blab if anything inappropriate happened."

"Yes, that's part of my point...They'd blab. I know they'll tell Mia everything we've said and done up 'til now, that's what kids do. Them telling her that we all went skinny dipping, will likely be the end of me."

Sophie's tugging on his shirt sleeve interrupted him and when he looked down at her she said firmly, "Let's go to Hidden Springs, we wanna go swimming!"

Right beside her was little Maria nodding her head in agreement.

Roger reluctantly caved in to the tiny twins and he heard Natalie murmur teasingly, "Jellyfish."

They admired the huge fossil skeleton a bit longer, then they set out for Hidden Springs to Roger's bemusement.

He hadn't planned on going swimming and hadn't thought to bring anything resembling swimming trunks.

Freya meanwhile, walked alongside her friends with a little smile on her pretty face.

Roger'd gotten roped into going skinny dipping by the little lamias he was supposed to be watching over.

She looked over at him and smirked at his situation.

He, a rugged adventurer-scholar who thought nothing of driving deep into forbidding lands in search of clues to the legends he was investigating.

Who essentially stole a seaplane out from under the drug lord who had coveted it and flew it thousands of miles back to the U.S. in the hopes he would survive the attempt, was now being led by two tiny girls into doing something he had objected to when it was brought up by an attractive young woman.

When they arrived at Hidden Springs, it was quite obvious why it was called Hidden Springs, unless someone knew where to look, they would never find it.

Local paleoindians had carefully enlarged an existing pond fed by a spring and had created quite the little bit of paradise.

The petroglyphs scattered over the rocks attested to the antiquity of the springs and its long gone builders would've been astounded to see its current users.

They stood for a few moments admiring the cool, clear pond floored with clean sand and lined with large flat stones.

Roger smiled and said cheerfully, "Woah, this is pretty nice, someone went to some trouble to build this..."

He smiled and said, "Welp, enjoy your swim, I'm gonna wait just over the hill...Call me when you're all decent!"

Freya burst out laughing and said gaily, "Ye dorn't min' when onie ay us walk abit th' hoose aw nekkid at haem. Why're ye objectin' noo?"

Roger smiled at her and replied,"I don't mind at home because your parents don't mind. Hell, I've taken a bath with you and your mom waiting to grab my clothes so they could be washed. And since when did Anastasia, Sheila or even Anita, care if I saw them naked?

You certainly don't mind going naked in front of me, and don't get me started on that little nudist Dena."

He took a breath and said, "I'm objecting because I'm not comfortable being naked in front of young women I barely know...Humor me here, when you're ready to leave, come get me!"

With that said, Roger made ready to leave, but not before he saw a naked serpentine streak named Sophie dive into the water.

In the water, she resembled a large python with a child's body attached just below the hips, her tail sinuating rapidly as she swam about the pond grinning hugely.

She was too young to care about nudity, that would come later.

A few minutes later, Roger settled comfortably under the shade of an overhanging rock.

In the background, he could hear the joyful splashing and chattering of girlish voices.

He almost regretted his decision but knew it was the right choice.

Besides, he would just been a damper on their fun.

As fond as he was of Freya, he knew she needed to have friends her own age, even if some of them resembled a giant python or an enormous spider.

The existence of Lamias and arachnes had really upset the carefully arranged applecart of science.

Jotuns at least looked human, only they were huge.

Lamia anatomy so far, was known only by the extensive scans taken of Mia and her family.

Zenobia's anatomy was the only source available for the study of arachnean anatomy.

Fortunately for them all, modern medical imaging technology allowed a thorough examination of their inner workings without breaking the skin.

Roger smiled to himself, the world had yet to really hear of wood elves and he intended to keep it that way.

Something moving in the distance caught his eye, someone was approaching, two someones.

Before long, he discerned it was Katherine and her guest, Tom Threepersons.

They looked very happy with each other as he climbed and she sinuated gracefully, their hands clasping all the while.

It was Tom who spotted Roger sitting quietly in the shade and he said, "Mornin' sir!"

Katherine looked at him and asked, "Is someone here?"

Tom smiled at her and pointed out Roger, who was grinning in the shade.

Katherine looked mildly surprised and she asked, "Where're the girls?"

Jerking a thumb over his shoulder, Roger said,"They're all in the water, naked I might add, and that's the reason why I'm out here in the shade, safe from harm."

Katherine looked slightly puzzled while Tom got the inference.

"Why would you get harmed?" Asked Katherine.

Roger smiled and replied,"There's a pool full of naked girls behind this hill and I don't need anymore excitement than I'm already getting, as it is.

"Hello! Grown man plus underage girls, divided by angry mothers, equals not good for my health."

Katherine smiled and said, "Gotcha! You don't want my mom or Mia pissed at you, right?"

"Roger that!" said Roger.

Tom chuckled and said, "Like Roger said, I'll wait out here 'til the coast is clear."

Katherine rolled her amber eyes and sinuated over the little hill shielding the springs from view.

The two men heard girlish voices raising in protest, "Awww man, we just got here!"

"Meanie!"

Tom glanced over at him and Roger simply shrugged. "Their house, their rules...Wait'll you meet Freya's folks. They're idea of a tankard of ale would put lesser men under the table."

Tom chucked and remarked, "I've seen some pretty serious drinkers, especially in Germany, I'll bet some of them could handle their ale pretty good."

Roger grinned, "Hello! Former embassy guard here! Yes, I've seen drinkers too. Hell, the military's full of them. Thing is, Freya's only 13, she's got some more growing to do yet.

"Her mom is nine foot tall at least and weighs about 450-500 pounds and her dad is over ten feet tall and has to weigh around 750 pounds...Her people are big!"

At Tom's raised eyebrows, Roger commented, "Yep, the physics are not in our favor when it comes to drinking. By the time a Jotun is half buzzed, you, my young friend, will be sleeping under the table."

Tom whistled softly and remarked, "Thank goodness my momma didn't raise a fool, those kind of odds just don't look good."

Their exchange was interrupted by the departure of Freya and company.

They had hastily dressed and their wet hair was slicked back, not having towels meant that their clothing was stuck to their still wet skin in places.

Both men were inadvertently treated to quite the peep show as the young women trooped past.

Natalie was definitely her mother's daughter in the generous bust department and Zenobia with her nearly transparent top, was quite the eyeful, only her fully exposed spider's legs and lower abdomen became the focus of Tom's attention instead of her swelling bosom.

He barely noticed her extra eyes, now revealed by her slicked back hair.

Freya walked past, her more modest bosom well hidden by the khaki safari shirt she was wearing, she smiled and muttered, "Enjoyin' th' show?"

Roger could only grin at her remark, yes, he had enjoyed the show.

"Unca Roger!" Cried Sophie as she snuggled against him, her wet hair also slicked back.

"Auntie Katy kicked us out, Imma tellin' mommy!"

"Okaaay, you wanna do that right now?" He asked.

"Uh, huh!" she replied, and with that Roger and the twins headed back to the ranch house while Freya and her friends took a different route.

Tom Threepersons joined Katherine in the cool, clear and now, very private, Hidden Springs.

By the time they got back to the ranch house, the girls' hair was now quite dry and needed to be brushed.

Somewhere in George's ancestry was a relative with very curly hair and it had reappeared in Sophie and Maria's hair to the surprise of their parents.

Mia diligently brushed out their hair on a daily basis to keep the unruly curls under a semblance of control

What Roger was returning to the ranch house with, was now two little tumbleweeds, instead of the neatly brushed, nicely dressed, adorable twin lamias he had left the house with that morning.

They had even switched outfits to add to Mia's consternation.

"Ahhhh!" she had gasped upon his return, "What'd you do with my babies?!" cried Mia in her dismay.

While Mia fretted over their appearance, George asked quietly, "How was the water?"

Roger smiled at his old friend and replied, "I wouldn't know, I didn't go in."

"Oh? You sat and watched?"

"I had no choice, Freya and her friends showed up at the fossil skeleton and they all decided to go skinny dipping, while I sat outside the dell under an overhanging rock, in the shade."

"Okaaay..."

"Tom and Katherine showed up, Katherine pulled rank, booted them all out and here we are."

"She pulled rank? Hoo boy, tongues are gonna wag tonight!"

Roger grinned, " Oh yeah, the girls did put up a fuss and once Mia calms down enough to listen, I'm sure she'll hear about it."

"She, did, what?!" Came from the living room and the two men looked at each other.

"Here it comes..." Muttered George.

"Roger?" Cried Mia from the family room, "Did you let Katherine boot my kids out of the pool?"

Sighing, Roger stepped into the family room where Mia was tussling with Maria's hair while Sophie waited her turn at the brush.

Mia glared at him, "Well, did you?"

Clearing his throat, Roger replied, "First off, I wasn't actually there, I was sitting under the shade just over the hill talking with Tom.

"I wasn't watching them because they were there with Natalie, Zenobia and Freya.

I did not actually hear her tell them to leave, I did hear them objecting and saw them leaving."

Taking a breath, Roger continued, "Katherine lives here, I don't. I'm just a visitor, I'm not blood related."

Mia seemed to deflate slightly as he spoke and she muttered, "I hope some good'll come of this nonsense."

He smiled,"You might end up with a new brother in law and the squirts'll gain a new uncle."

"There is that to consider." remarked Mia.

She absentmindedly rubbed her swollen abdomen and smiled at a pleasant memory.

"Are you reliving a very pleasant memory?" asked Roger teasingly.

Mia smiled and said wistfully, "Hidden Springs can be quite the romantic setting for us lamias.

"We love places like that, an oasis hidden in the desert."

Hearing a noise behind them, Roger turned to see George blushing rather nicely, evidently he felt the same way too.

They did not see Tom or Katherine for the remainder of the long week end.

They did see Ayesha smiling a great deal as they prepared one of the houses for Tom and Katherine to live in.