BEARPIECES -

DIME A DANCE -

The Saga of

Frankie and Tess

Book 1 - Part 2 / The Plan

From Chapter 7...

"Howard and I have something to tell you two sweet boys," she said, looking from Frankie to Kenny and back.

"Yes, mom?" Frankie and Kenny said simultaneously…while holding hands under the table and squeezing said hands and also while trying to keep from fainting. Pretty quickly, their brows began to show beads of anticipatory “fear-dew!” Yep. Something told both of them this was not going to go well. They looked at their mother and gave sidelong glances to each other, and also to Howard who was looking singularly uninvolved in the calamity that was about to unfold. That, of course was his well-worn chosen path…after years of having been married to Elke.

"Honey! Both of you Honey’s!”

Elke flashed her biggest smile…"Howard and I…are…in!

That's what you need to know, and BOYS! NOTHING ON THIS EARTH is going to keep us from helping you. We just need to know where you want us to go…and what you want us to do! Where do we…

Uh, what's that word Howard? Oh yes!

IN – FIL – TRATE!”

Elke accentuated each syllable just so her sons wouldn’t miss her meaning. Then she settled back in her chair and proceeded to just sit there…all smiling and self-confident and,

for lack of a better word, looking SPUNKY!

Frankie, totally taken aback, lost his grip and then very unceremoniously and very very ungracefully; he fell off his chair. ALWAYS the take-charge type, that boi. ALWAYS in control. Yep yep. He had turned absolutely white and literally fell off his chair, while Kenny gasped.

Yep, these were definitely S U P E R H E R O' S! No question.

I'm sure the director of the FBI would be beaming with pride at these two hardcore WOOSIES right about now.

Frankie was looking pretty sheepish as he struggled to get back up into his chair. Eric looked down at him and thought to himself, "Oh God! If that is all it takes…”

Then Eric looked at Kenny who had gone as white as a sheet. You could hear a pin drop in that room about then, and through it all? Elke just continued to merely sit there, looking all SPUNKY!; (As I sat and watched all this, there wasn’t a scintilla of doubt in my mind. Not only did Elke know exactly what she had just done, she was now reveling in the results. No dummy she.

Frankie wanted to die, and Kenny wanted to help him and then commit suicide.

"Mom! You can’t…I mean…uh, oh God. Frankie, say something for God's sake..

MOM!

DAD! Please. Talk to her!"

(Howard was obviously being no help at all…for he had learned over the years that when Elke made up her mind, she just jolly well made up her mind and that was that. Period!)

"FRANKIE!" Kenny was pleading now. "Mom. What ARE you talking about?" Frankie said after finally finding his voice.

"I am talking about helping my two little boys of course…and their, uh, ‘friends.’ What kind of parents would we be if we weren't there for our own children when they obviously need us. Right, Howard?"

"Absolutely, dear."

Frankie went white again. Kenny turned even whiter, and it got REAL quiet…as Elke just sat there looking all SPUNKY!

(A bit smug, too…if you ask me. But then nobody did so I just thought it!)

Frankie looked at Kenny. Kenny looked at Frankie, and then at Tess, who was looking a bit peaked herself. Then Frankie looked at his shoes and then at Eric. Then back to Tess, and then he looked back to Kenny.

Then at his shoes again. "I need new ones!" Frankie thought to himself... "OH GOD!"

Then Frankie looked at Billy Ray and then pleadingly at Rose, who looked back at Frankie with a “gotcha” gleam in her eye, who looked at Jake, who looked at Elke and, to Frankie's surprise, smiled.

"By God, the woman has…SPUNK!” Jake thought to himself.

Frankie still didn't have too good a grip on that chair he was in, and Kenny was about squeezing the life out of Frankie's hand under the table. In fact, he was coming periously close to completely cutting off all of the circulation in it!

Kenny just looked at his mother…and what he saw was SPUNK and determination.

"Oh God...not that, Mom! Oh please, Mom…not THAT look,” Kenny thought to himself…for he knew Elke when she got “determined.” In fact, both of her sons knew ‘that look’ only too well.

Then, Billy Ray, who had been totally silent throughout the whole exchange, said, "Mrs. Mc Alester, welcome aboard! You too, sir,” as he directed his gaze to Howard.

Frankie and Kenny looked at Billy like he had taken

TOTAL leave of his senses and had just totally lost it. Gone mad…stark raving mad.

Then, Jake, who had also been quiet, said, "I echo that…and by God those damn mugs better know one thing. You DON’T mess with mama Bears when their cubs are endangered...trust me! I got a mom too, ma'am…and I wouldn't tangle with that woman, at gunpoint…'specially if she’s the one holding the gun!”

Elke sat, smiling.

Yep. Elke has spunk all right, and she knew exactly what Jake meant even if she didn’t know his mama. Elke didn't have to know her. Yep, Elke had spunk all right, and we were gonna find that out, too. BIG TIME!

Frankie felt nauseous and Kenny felt numb. By now so was Frankie's hand…and before anyone else could say anything, another entry came galloping into the mix.

"RYAN? TONY?"

"MAMA?" ...Tony.

"MOTHER?" ...Ryan.

“Oh God! “ I thought, while laughing to myself. She nodded to me, and I said..."Mornin', Ofelia!"

Frankie fell off his chair again, which was getting a bit tedious…not to mention painful. Kenny thought he was gonna throw up. Rose, being a woman and fervently so sat beaming!

“O KAY! YEP, YEP! This is gonna be a real humdinger," Rose thought to herself. Billy Ray sat smiling and thinking the same thing.

Eric, at that point, began to wonder at exactly what point he had completely lost control of this entire operation. Perhaps his superiors had been right, but it was a teeny bit late for that! Mentally, he began the suddenly painful mental process of adjusting to these new circumstances. Rosie heard him sigh.

HELL, the entire planet heard him sigh. She saw him roll his eyes and she knew he was thinking…and WHAT he was thinking was..."Oh, dear Lord,” and he began to reflect on the time he had felt bullets whizzing over his head…and how much simpler that seemed now. "Oh, dear Lord...please!"