"Country Treats"
TunnelsOfTheSouth
Chapter Two
Kitt and Kaboodle
Bonnie's lips compressed as she surfaced from beneath the raised hood of Stevie's newly purchased station wagon. She wiped her hands on the rag she pulled from the back pocket of her white overalls.
"Sorry…" She shrugged. "But this'll take me all afternoon to get to the bottom of what's wrong. There's a good-sized oil leak, for sure."
"Blast," Stevie replied shortly as she glanced at her wristwatch. "It's almost noon now. I promised Amanda I would take her and Baby Michael down to the beach to build sandcastles and go for a swim."
Michael slung an arm around his wife's shoulders. "You can always take Kitt," he offered. "RC's gone out on his bike and I've given Danny the afternoon off."
He frowned through the glass partition to where Devon was seated at his office desk, busily working on the firm's books. "Devon wants me to go over the expenses for this June quarter."
He laughed shortly. "I'd rather be running away down to the beach with you guys. Bookwork bores me rigid. But it's gotta be done."
"Well, if you're sure…" Stevie replied. "I mean, maybe we should ask Kitt if he minds becoming a baby carriage. We've got a lot of stuff."
"It's the only way you'll get down there today," Bonnie added. "Kitt will be fine with it. He's not doing anything but relaxing in his garage. He's probably bored already."
"Well, I did promise Amanda we would go to the beach." Stevie glanced at her daughter, who was seated next to her brother's carrycot.
The little girl was kicking her heels restlessly, and her small mouth was set in a determined line. She knew something had gone wrong with her promised treat. Tears of disappointment had already gathered on her lashes.
"All right, then it's settled," Michael asserted. "Come on. Let's get all this stuff unloaded and into Kitt before Devon comes looking for my blood." He threw open the trunk of the station wagon and began to unload it.
The pile beside him quickly grew taller. He frowned as he unloaded the last item. "Looks like you're planning to be away a week, instead of just an afternoon."
"You can't be too careful," Stevie replied as she gathered up some of her things. "I need everything here."
"Uh huh…" Michael looked disbelieving as he crossed the large garage to a side door and opened the way into Kitt's personal space.
The Trans Am was parked with all his windows down. The soft strains of Vivaldi could be heard playing from his speakers. He was dreamily humming along to the tune.
"Hey, Kitt," Michael called over the classical music. "Cut the noise, will ya. I've got a mission for you."
Kitt ceased to hum. "If I have told you once, Michael, I have told you a thousand times. Vivaldi is not noise!"
The music was abruptly silenced. "And what mission? I thought I was on my own time this afternoon since you and Devon were going over the books. I was looking forward to some peace and quiet."
"Yeah, well, all that's changed now," Michael replied as he dumped piles of child gear behind the car. "Open up, will you. All of this has got to go inside."
Kitt's tone rose with disbelief. "All of it?"
Michael grinned. "Yeah, all of it. I said you had a new assignment."
"Unka Kitt!" Amanda shouted happily as she followed her mother into the garage. "We get to go out in Unka Kitt!" She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled.
"Go?" Kitt cleared his throat. "Um, go where, exactly?"
"You're taking the three of us down to the beach to build sandcastles," Stevie told him. "My station wagon has developed an oil leak. Bonnie's going to fix it. Michael said you wouldn't mind."
"I see…" Kitt measured the information. "How unfortunate."
Amanda scrambled into the back seat and sat there proudly. "And I want the 'Yeah, yeah, yeah' song, please, Unka Kitt. You said I could."
Michael's eyebrows rose as he buckled his daughter into her seat. "What song is that?"
"It seems Miss Amanda has developed something of a passion for Elton John," Kitt replied in a long-suffering tone. "She means 'I'm Still Standing.'"
"Well, at least that's music," Michael informed him as he buckled his son's carrycot securely into the seat next to his sister.
Stevie finished filling the trunk with her gear. The remainder that didn't fit in there, she brought to the passenger seat and stowed it. "Well, I think that's everything I brought with me," she mused.
"I believe the idiom could well be the whole Kitt and kaboodle," the car replied with an edge to his voice. "I cannot see how anything could have been forgotten."
"Go on, you know you enjoy getting out into the fresh air." Michael patted the car's roof as his wife got in behind the wheel. "Have fun and don't forget to buy ice creams on the way home. It wouldn't be a day at the beach without them."
"Ice cream…" Kitt sighed heavily. "I will require Bonnie's services when we return."
Michael leaned in through the open window to kiss Stevie. "Think of me while you're frolicking in the sand and surf."
"We will," Stevie promised him. "See you later."
"Later…" Michael eased to his feet with a troubled sigh. "Still wish I was going with you." He ran a dissatisfied hand up and around the back of his neck.
'Yeah, yeah, yeah' song…" Amanda chanted as she bounced in her seat. "Now, Unka Kitt!"
The garage door rolled up, and the sleek Trans Am drove out into the street and turned left. Strains of the Elton John song began to flow from the car's speakers. Michael grinned as he heard Kitt's long-suffering groan over the music.
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